What Family Means. Geri Krotow

sounded like a first-class martyr.

      Will’s hands rested on his still-slim hips, his stance combative.

      “Is that what this is about? Do you need a break? I know it’s been a long year for you, Deb.” Will referred to my looking after his elderly mother, Violet. She’d become more dependent on us the past nine months.

      He didn’t give me a chance to answer.

      “I’d be home more if I could,” he went on, “but I need to take care of these last projects, then I’ll go down to just a few a year, let Blair and my associates run things.” Will zipped up his suitcase as I watched from my perch on our bed.

      It was a ritual we’d shared since the early days of our marriage. I brought in the piles of clean laundry, he chose what he needed for his business trips, and we talked while he packed.

      We usually didn’t fight.

      “Honey,” I said now, “I don’t want to argue. I just want to be here for Angie. And I’d love to have your support.”

      “I know, baby, she’s your only daughter.” Will smiled at me despite his anger at my too-familiar behavior.

      I sighed.

      Will walked around to my side of the bed.

      “The twins were much more difficult when they were younger,” I said. “Now that they’re grown, it’s as though they don’t need their mama so much. They’re men. But Angie—a daughter always needs her mother.” I couldn’t help the tear that slid out from under my closed lid as Will pulled me into his embrace.

      “Honey, I’m just asking you to focus more on yourself, on us. You’ve given Angie and the boys the childhood, the family, you never had and we’re richer for it.”

      I soaked up his love, but the question that wouldn’t die nagged at my conscience.

      Had it really been enough?

      April 11, 1957

       Buffalo, New York

      SOMETIME AFTER THREE, the school bus churned to a stop in front of the clapboard house. Debra knew the house; it signaled the end of her half day of kindergarten. She was in Miss May’s afternoon class at Lakeview Elementary. Debra liked riding to school on the noon bus because there were only five-year-olds with her. But in the afternoons the older kids came on, all the way up to fourth grade. She thought some of the boys were scary and did her best to sit with her friends.

      She got off the bus with four other children. Linda and Lori, twins with matching everything from their blond braids to their saddle shoes, walked to the right and headed toward their duplex.

      “Come on.” Will tugged at Debra’s jacket sleeve.

      Debra stared at the older boy who ordered her around.

      Will. Her mother told her this morning just to go home with him. Debra didn’t like it that she couldn’t go to her own house and be there with Mommy. But Daddy had been gone a long time, and Mommy said they needed grocery money.

      So Mommy, who quit nursing school when she met Daddy and had Debra, got herself a job at the doctor’s down the street.

      Mommy said the doctor hired her because she needed a job and he didn’t care what color her skin was. Besides, Mommy said she was the best receptionist around and Dr. Bradley knew it.

      Dr. Bradley was Will’s daddy.

      Will was several steps ahead of her before he turned around.

      “Are you coming?”

      He seemed so big. He was in the second grade and had homework every night. She brought home her crayon drawings but she’d seen Will’s big-boy artwork. He’d even made a round blue ball one day, painted like a globe.

      Debra heard him tell another boy it was “papiermâché.” She didn’t know what papiermâché was but couldn’t wait to get old enough to do her own papiermâché.

      Will sure must be smart.

      “Coming.” She forced her sneakered feet to walk faster. She’d never played with Will, even though they rode the same bus and his house was just one block from hers.

      Will was Colored, and Mommy said Debra needed to play with girls her “own age.” But Debra figured that her “own age” also meant her “own color.” None of their family had the same skin color as Will.

      Will looked like Gladys in third grade, who rode their bus, too. But they were the only two dark-skinned kids Debra knew who attended Lakeview Elementary.

      She found it strange that Mommy hadn’t let her play with Will before but now it was okay to go to his house. She didn’t ask Mommy about it, though. Mommy was busy with work.

      They got to the top of the steps at Will’s house. Will looked at her with the nicest brown eyes she’d ever seen.

      “Here you go. Your mama’s inside.”

      Fear twisted her tummy.

      “But where are you going?” He wasn’t leaving her alone here, was he?

      “Home.”

      Tears welled up in her eyes and she scrubbed at them with the back of her hand. Her hand had freckles, but Will’s was smooth and a rich dark brown that reminded her of the chocolate frosting on her favorite doughnut. The kind with the pink sprinkles.

      “But this is your home, Will. My mommy said to go home with you.”

      “This is my father’s office. Our house is round back.” He jerked his thumb over his shoulder.

      Her bottom lip shook and she tried to be brave and keep her chin still.

      Will sighed. A big-boy sigh.

      “I’ll take you in.” His voice sounded mad, but he put his arm around her shoulders and guided her through the front door, which he opened with his other arm.

      Debra decided Will wasn’t so bad, after all. They stepped together into the front parlor. Debra saw lots of folks, mostly Colored like Will, sitting in chairs and on sofas around the room.

      “There you are, pumpkin! Come on back. Thanks, William.” Mommy was sitting behind a counter and still had her suit on.

      “You’re welcome, Mrs. Schaefer.”

      William left then, and the warmth of his arm around her was gone.

      “Hi, Mommy.” She stood at the back of the counter with her mom.

      Mommy leaned down and kissed her cheek.

      “Listen, sweetheart, Mommy has to work for a couple more hours. There’s a little chair and table for you, see?” She pointed at the corner, where it was set up, kind of like in Debra’s classroom.

      “Okay, Mommy.” Debra unzipped her jacket and hung it on the back of the chair like she saw grown-ups do. She could work just like Mommy but on her drawings. If she stayed quiet, she knew Mommy could work longer and earn more money for groceries. Last time they went to the grocery store, Mommy didn’t have enough money for cereal. “Bread goes further, Debra,” she’d said. “We can have toast in the morning and sandwiches for supper.”

      But Debra hadn’t been able to take her eyes off the bright cereal boxes, with pictures of the prizes inside. Maybe this time Mommy would have enough for the cereal with the rabbit on the box.

      CHAPTER TWO

      Present Day

       Buffalo, New York

      WILL PULLED the vibrating cell phone out of his pocket. He cast a quick glance at his watch. He had plenty of time before his flight left Buffalo International for L.A.

      “Hi, Angie. What’s going on with my favorite daughter?”

      “Hey,