He sniffed a laugh, though an incredulous, serious expression fell upon him.
Flora invited her caregiver to the room. “Edna, have dinner with us now.”
“Okay, ma’am,” she said, taking the seat on the other side of Margo.
And as she sat, Margo shook her hand. “I don’t think we properly met.”
“Edna Ramirez. I’ve been taking care of Manang Flora for a long time now.”
“Family, I keep saying, the two of them,” Flora said, then rang the bell next to her plate. “Junior is a neighbor.”
“And how about you?” Margo asked Edna, intrigued. The relationship between the two was easy, but there seemed more to this than the traditional caregiver/patient arrangement. “Where do you live?”
“Down the hallway.”
“She makes sure I don’t sneak out,” Flora supplied, then purposely glared at Dr. Sison. “I am watched everywhere, all the time.”
At this Dr. Sison smiled. “I promise you, we don’t always succeed.”
The table laughed, including Margo, though her memory harkened back to her mother, always surrounded by people who cared for her. Friends who respected her independence and who stoked her feisty nature that endured until she was finally bedridden. They’d gathered at her dinner table much like this group was around Flora, the banter plentiful.
No one could tell Leora what to do, either.
Across the table, Diana rolled her eyes slightly, unimpressed. Margo would need to have some alone time with her soon. She was seeing her daughter’s walls go up, brick by brick.
Two women came into the room with platters of food. They were not dressed in the same clothing as the servers who assisted during the party, and Margo once again wondered the extent of the Cruz’s wealth, at the history that brought Antonio’s family to this success. Where had it begun? Or was this opulence from Flora’s family?
Why didn’t Antonio return to her mother?
She heaved a breath to snap herself out of that last question, which she had been asking herself since she read his letters. Besides wanting to be with Diana, that curiosity ultimately put her on that plane to Manila.
Thank goodness Joshua’s girls led grace, and their voices shoved her out of her circular thinking. Thank goodness, too, for the food. While Margo was still stuffed from the party, the meal itself was so tantalizing that it found a different part of her stomach. Fried fish, lugaw, a rice porridge, tocino, fried eggs. All savory and hearty, and she could have eaten two helpings of each.
The table descended into relatively comfortable conversation while everyone ate. Shortly, Dr. Sison bid the party farewell when he was called to visit another patient.
Once everyone was served coffee and tea, Margo leaned toward Flora, compelled from the entire day’s experience. “Thank you for hosting us for this dinner. This is delicious.”
“Breakfast is my favorite meal at all hours. And I expect for you to visit every day while you’re here.” Flora stirred her cup of tea. She watched Margo, making her feel more like five instead of seventy-five. “Since we have quite a bit to talk about, some personal and also business to discuss. Don’t we, Joshua?”
Margo’s heart began the quick trill of a hummingbird’s.
Joshua cleared his throat and said something under his breath.
Flora raised a hand. “Joshua, why don’t you take Diana to the little house.”
“Now?” he asked, frowning.
“What’s the little house?” Diana asked. “And why shouldn’t my mother come, too?”
“Because I have a few things I want to talk to your mother about, privately, and you might find the little house interesting. There is some … thing … for you to bring back. Is that okay, Margo?”
Margo glanced at Diana, whose pointed look was pure objection. To keep the peace, her answer should have been a resounding no! She and Diana had to stick together. But if Flora could explain everything, truly everything, then Diana would have to concede.
She pulled her eyes from her daughter. “It’s okay with me.”
New Guinea
November 18, 1944
My dearest Leora,
I haven’t received a letter from you in 68 days. Every mail call, I hope for a note from you. Every morning I pray for you to contact me. Every night I wonder what you have been doing. Onofre says you no longer live at home, and I can only guess that you have told your father about our child. Though he has seen you at Mrs. Lawley’s and has been leaving letters in the usual spot, he has not found a letter from you to send. I can’t do anything else but trust that all is well.
I will be in the Philippines soon. The men are nervous and excited. We have lost people, Leora, but my friends are still here. And soon, we will land together as a family. Ignacio is especially excited. It is his joy that’s giving some hope, since mine is slowly fading as the days pass.
But I will keep writing. I will keep writing until you tell me otherwise.
Iniibig kita,
Antonio
Chapter Twenty
So she says jump, and you say how high?” Diana asked as she paced after Joshua in the hallway outside of Flora’s suite.
“Yep.” He reached for his pocket and deftly popped out a cigarette box. He kept walking, leaving her to chase after him, which, of course, she did. “It’s called respect for elders.”
Diana harrumphed.
She had been dismissed, which put her in a mood. That woman back there with Flora? That wasn’t her mother. Her mother included Diana in everything. Every doctor’s appointment, every decision, even if simply for support.
Diana didn’t have a choice but to follow Joshua, tail between her legs, with the hope that she would be able to glean her own information about those letters.
But if she was being honest, she hadn’t minded escaping from the dining room. It was too close for comfort in there, with everyone shooting questions across the table to get to know one another. As if it was a casual gathering of friends, not a reunion of a broken family unit.
When they both stepped out through a back-patio door into the warm night, Diana inhaled deeply, closing her eyes. Too much time had passed since her last outdoor run, and she missed the freedom of it, of letting her arms dangle at her sides while careering down a hill, or challenging her legs to lengthen their stride.
And then she smelled smoke.
She scrunched her nose and opened her eyes. Joshua was up ahead a few feet. His back was to her, and a sliver of smoke trailed up from where he stood.
“You know that’s bad for you, right?” Diana called out.
“That’s interesting because I don’t remember asking your opinion on it,” he said, turning. The backyard spotlight cast a shadow over his face, but she caught a trace of a smile on his lips.
“Doctor’s prerogative to educate you on the consequences.”
“Ah. Doctorsplaining.” He blew out a smoke ring, which she waved away. “And what would a doctor say about attempting to lick icing off a cake knife.”
“Whatever, totally different!” Her face burned with embarrassment. She was never going to have champagne again, ever. Not only did she lose her verbal filter, but she also lost all composure. “I was being safe. It just looked so good, all that icing clumped together.”