“So I won’t be making a birthday wish today, because my wish has come true. My wish was for the Cruz family to come together again, as you all have done every year for me, but it was always missing something, someone. But she has found us, and now I want to invite my daughter Margaret and my granddaughter Diana to cut the cake. With me.”
A hush of words rippled through the crowd. From elsewhere someone gasped. Colette burst out into happy sobs.
“Margo, Diana,” instructed Flora.
Margo followed, caught in the flow of the moment. The band strummed the birthday song.
“Just to be clear, it was me who suggested the PI,” Diana cheered to no one in particular as she joined her hands on the cake knife. Together they lifted the knife. It sliced through the cake with ease, but as she caught the interested stares of the guests, Margo was aware that despite this joyful moment, their happily-ever-after was still to be determined.
* * *
The day-to-afternoon transformation of Flora’s home was drastic. After the hours-long party, the big room was now devoid of people, and its comfortable plush furniture and greenery and various jugs and antique pieces were back in their right places.
Margo was still on edge. She’d survived the pointed looks and circling questions of Flora’s guests. She’d even found a way to keep her daughter from saying something scathing, though she mostly had Joshua to thank for that.
“I trust you had a good time today?” Flora asked. They were in her private dining room, sitting at a mahogany table inlaid with gold leaf. The chair backs were carved into a flower design Margo couldn’t help but finger as she sat down.
“It was wonderful.”
“It’s only wonderful with a good nap slipped in.” Flora’s face squeezed into a grin. “Escaping in the middle is the secret. Sometimes you just need a break.” She eyed the bowl of rolls on the table. “Can you hand me one of those, Margo? My doctor wants me to give up bread, but I still refuse to give up my pan de sal. One a day is worth it.” As Margo placed a roll on her plate, Flora’s eyes flicked up to Joshua, then to his girls, dropped off by his ex earlier in the day, still in their party dresses.
“YOLO, Lola. You only live once,” Joshua announced.
“YOLO,” Flora enunciated. “Halika dito, children. Come.” She turned to the children as they got in line to mano, bringing her hand to their foreheads. “Don’t forget to greet Lola Margo, too.”
Margo steeled her insides to keep her emotions from flowing out. She would never tire of this. She loved being a mother, and she could see herself spoiling these little ones rotten.
“Okay, everyone go to the living room and play,” Joshua said.
“And if you’re good, Lola will give you a snack,” Flora added.
“Lola, it’s too late for merienda.” Joshua frowned. “They’ll never sleep.”
“Did someone say merienda?” Philip walked in with small paper sacks and held them up. Colette followed him, still with a bounce in her step despite being on her feet all day.
“I smell sugar,” Diana said, as if suddenly awake in her chair. She’d had a nap sometime during the party, and her hair was slightly unkempt.
“Banana cue. Fried sugared plantains.” Colette set sacks down in front of Margo, Diana, and Flora. “A snack, but since this is a special day, served before our meal.”
“Perfect, because I have the munchies,” Diana said.
Joshua took the seat next to Margo and sighed. “Nonstop spoiling. Whenever we come here it’s like taking the kids to Disney—it’s the happiest place on earth.”
“It’s different when you can send them back to Mom or Dad,” Margo said, taking out the banana cue by the stick, though she hesitated in eating it. Bananas and sugar might not do well with her blood sugar. She’d already had a piece of cake, and pancit, and little precious steamed rice cakes called kutsinta.
“YOLO,” Flora said, placing the tip of the banana cue into her mouth. She moaned.
Margo smiled and followed suit, taking a small bite. The dessert was heavenly; the banana was a perfect complement to the sugar, and she couldn’t resist taking another bite. But when she looked up at her daughter, she found Diana slack-jawed, eyes darting back from Flora to Margo and back in disapproval.
Setting the banana down, Margo sipped some water and let the treat wash down her throat. She eyed her daughter a message, to ask her what was wrong, and Diana responded with a look that she could not decipher, complete with hand gestures that made her look like she was cheating at Pictionary.
“Esme,” Joshua’s voice rose above the increasing squabble in the living room area, interrupting Margo’s thoughts. “Share your toys, okay?”
“I don’t want to.” The older child’s shoulders slumped a little.
“Hey.” He gestured for Esme to come to the table. Once next to him, he wrapped an arm around her, brought her close. “Your sister just wants to spend time with you and play with you, just like how I always wanted with Tita Colette.”
“Except he tortured me,” Colette added from the opposite end of the table.
“Anyway.” Joshua rolled his eyes. “Your tita shared all her toys with me, even her teddy bear. You should do the same.”
“She might break it.”
“Maybe, maybe not. But even if she did, you both would have had a good time playing with it together, right?”
“Okay, Tito.”
He kissed the little girl on her forehead, turned her around, and sent her on her way.
I like him, Margo thought. The man showed such care toward these girls.
She stole another glance at her daughter. Despite the tension earlier between those two, there was something more, something unsettled between them. Curiosity, if she had to name it, and a little bit of play. He’d kept an extra eye on her today, took her side as she flitted through the crowd, as if knowing Margo had been overwhelmed herself. And the greatest indication of all—Diana had let him.
Sure enough, her daughter was now sneaking looks at Joshua.
As the cook brought in food from the kitchen, an older gentleman walked into the room. “Oh, oh.” Next to her, Flora covered the banana cue with a napkin. “Docktór, please come in! Just in time. Sit here.” She raised a shaking arm to the free chair next to Diana.
“Oh, no, Manang Flora, I don’t want to intrude. I couldn’t make it earlier but wanted to come to wish you a happy birthday.”
“No, no. Come and stay. We’re about to eat.”
The man took a hesitating first step, but as if deciding he didn’t really have much of a choice, strode to the table. As he neared, Flora said, “This is Dr. Troadio Sison. He has been my nag for decades.”
A wary smile graced the doctor’s face as he greeted those he knew and shook Diana’s hand. When he turned to Margo, he said, “Though we know who’s really in charge. Please call me Junior.”
“Margo.” She offered her hand.
“This is Antonio’s daughter. My daughter,” Flora said.
His eyebrows rose as he took a seat.
“You aren’t the only one who was surprised,” Margo said in an easy matter-of-fact way that astonished even herself.