Separate Bedrooms...?. Carole Halston

picking on your baby sister,” scolded Rose LaCroix, eyeing her eldest son fondly.

      The twins were more interested in their pile of presents than in adult verbal exchanges. They tore the wrappings from two more packages and drew general attention back to themselves, but Cara knew it was only a matter of time before she came in for more half teasing, half serious ribbing about her single status. She’d almost come to dread large family gatherings like this one.

      Today the crowd on her parents’ rear lawn included all eight LaCroix siblings, the wives and husbands of the seven who were happily married, twenty-five grandchildren and assorted neighbors and relatives. Cara hadn’t counted heads, but there were between fifty-five and sixty people present. The youngest was her brother Sal’s six-month-old baby boy, Stevie, who was being passed around and tossed in the air and played with. The oldest was Sophia, holding court in a lawn chair and looking frail in a new ruffled pink duster.

      Cara had helped her grandmother get dressed earlier. She’d combed Sophia’s fine silver hair, dusted face power and a touch of blush on her dear old wrinkled, gaunt cheeks, and fastened her antique garnet earrings in her ears. While she’d chattered on about various subjects, Cara kept remembering the conversation she’d overheard yesterday morning when her grandmother had described her wonderful dream about attending Cara’s wedding. Cara had imagined Sophia’s thrilled reaction if her youngest—and favorite—granddaughter confided, “Nonna, guess what? The man I’m dating, Roy Xavier? He proposed, and I’ve decided to say yes!”

      Cara had almost decided. She’d gone over and over the pros and cons of marrying Roy and come up with all pros except for one single con—she wasn’t crazy in love with him. But maybe she never would fall crazily in love. A year or two from now, Cara might look back and regret turning Roy down.

      The only thing holding Cara back at this point was Neil’s opposition. She’d always valued his advice and sought his approval.

      Neil was the only person in her circle of important people Cara could trust to be discreet. That was why she hadn’t confided in any of her three sisters or her mother or Sophia. Rose would tell Sophia, swearing her to secrecy, and vice versa. They would tell Natalie, Cara’s oldest sister, once again admonishing her not to tell a soul. Natalie would pass along the news to Angie in strictest confidence. Angie would tell Mia. Inevitably the three sisters’ husbands would be made privy to the secret and they’d tell Cara’s brothers, who would tell their wives. It would be just a matter of time before Cara’s personal business would become the hot topic of family discussion. Everybody would have an opinion and state it— To one another and to Cara, who had learned the hard way not to be a blabber-mouth about her private life.

      “We love all our presents!” sang out Lea and Lauren once all the packages had been opened, responding prettily to coaching from their mother.

      “Now can we play Pin the Tail on the Donkey?” asked one of the twins’ cousins, setting off a litany of childish requests to play the traditional LaCroix birthday party game.

      Eighteen-year-old Mark, the oldest LaCroix grandchild, good-naturedly carried out his assignment for the afternoon, herding the crowd of children over to an outside wall of the garage. A large poster of a donkey, much repaired with transparent tape had already been thumbtacked to the white-painted boards.

      “There’s more cake and ice cream for seconds,” Rose informed the adults over the din of laughter and a dozen different conversations.

      Cara was just now taking her turn at holding six-month-old Stevie. “Aren’t you precious?” she cooed to her little nephew as he gurgled and smiled at her.

      “Hey, could Carmen and I have everybody’s attention? We have some big news to share.” The request came from Cara’s youngest brother Frankie, who at thirty was only a year and some months older than her. Heads turned in his direction. Frankie hugged his wife close to his side, and the two of them grinned at each other, like co-conspirators. “Looks like Stevie’s gonna have a little cousin playmate in less than nine months. Carmen’s expecting again.”

      Cara added her sincere congratulations to the cacophony and tried not to look wistful. She and Carmen had been classmates in school, and now the other woman was pregnant for the third time and obviously blissfully happy about her condition.

      For a few seconds Cara fantasized, visualizing Roy and herself here in the midst of the LaCroix family, making a similar announcement. Roy would look every bit as proud as Frankie did. Cara could feel his arm around her, strong and supportive.

      The fantasy could easily come true. All Cara had to do was tell Roy she’d made up her mind and wanted to marry him. Immediately she could set a date for just a few months from now and start making whirlwind wedding plans to insure that Sophia was well enough to attend. How Cara wanted her grandmother to be there when she walked down the aisle, finally a bride instead of a bridesmaid.

      It would make Sophia so happy. It would make the whole family happy and would mark the end to Cara’s being the lone unmarried sibling.

      Stevie had begun to fret. His mother, Barb, appeared and reached for him, saying, “I’ll bet my little guy is hungry.” Feeding Stevie was strictly his mom’s job, since Barb was breast-feeding. Cara handed the infant over reluctantly. Her arms felt empty. She felt absurdly alone, an oddity, in the midst of her large, affectionate family.

      I want to be half of a married couple, she thought. I want to get pregnant and have a baby. I want to be a wife, a mommy, a married daughter and granddaughter and sister.

      She could have what she so badly wanted.

      I’ll do it, Cara promised herself silently. She sucked in a breath of deep relief as the vapor of indecision evaporated. In its place grew an urgency to talk to Roy as soon as possible. She would tell him right away, before she even said hello. Yes, yes, yes, I will marry you.

      Cara didn’t want to waste a minute getting things in motion now that her mind was made up.

      “That’s really eye-catching,” Cara said. She’d walked up behind Neil. He was near the front of the store setting up a display of car waxes and polishes. “Is that a new product? The bright blue can?”

      “Yes, it’s supposed to be the hottest new car wax on the market.”

      “Really. I’ll have to tell Roy. He keeps that car of his so shiny you can see your reflection in it.”

      “Yes, he does keep it waxed to a high shine. But then cars are his business.” Neil managed to keep his voice even, not an easy feat when he was talking about Cara’s husband-to-be. The more he was around Roy Xavier, the more Neil disliked the man.

      And since Cara had gotten engaged to Xavier two weeks ago, the car salesman had taken to dropping by the store often. Neil’s gut instinct told him that, despite a phony show of friendliness, Xavier didn’t like him, either.

      “Roy is coming by to pick me up. We’re meeting with Father Kerby at the church.” Cara had tipped her head back and hunched up her shoulders.

      “What’s wrong? Tense muscles?” Neil asked.

      “Planning this wedding is killing me,” she declared, rolling her head in a circle. “I try not to get uptight, but there’s so much to be done in such a short time.”

      “You’re pushing yourself too hard. Here. Let me work out some of the knots for you.” Neil turned her so that she faced away from him. Then he began to massage her neck and shoulders.

      “That feels so good,” she said. “I need you to do this before I go to bed at night. Then maybe I could fall asleep right away.”

      Roy Xavier spoke from behind Neil. “Hey, I object. The only man who’s giving my woman a massage at bedtime from now on is me.”

      “Oh, hi, Roy,” Cara said, her voice lazy with relaxation. “Just give me another minute or two of this heaven.”

      “We’re kind of short on time, baby,” he replied.