“No, no, it wasn’t your fault. It was me. I thought I could handle everything . . . that the pills were helping me handle everything . . .” I reached over the gearshift for his free hand, and he let me take it, and hold it, until we left the highway. We sat in silence until Dave parked in front of our garage.
“Mommy, Mommy, MOMMY!” Ellie shrieked once we were inside, racing into my arms, almost knocking the wind out of me. She wore a party dress with a purple sash and crinolines, her hair in a neat French braid, her feet in lace-cuffed socks and Mary Janes.
“Hi, baby girl.” Oh, God, she’d gotten so much bigger. I lifted her up, burying my face in the crook of her neck, inhaling the scent of her skin. “I missed you, oh, so much.”
“Why did you have to LEAVE?” She wriggled out of my arms, planted her hands on her hips, and scowled at me.
“Because I needed to get some help. Sometimes mommies need a time-out.”
“Hmph.” Ellie looked as if she’d heard these lines before. “Well, you’re all better now, right?”
“She’s getting better,” said Dave. “Mommy can spend the day with you, and then I need to take her back.”
Ellie’s eyes filled with tears. “Why do you have to go BACK? You aren’t even SICK. You look FINE.”
“Remember what we talked about, Ellie?” And here was my mother. I blinked at Casual Ronnie; my mother without her lipgloss, without foundation and mascara, with her hair—I could barely believe it—pulled back in a ponytail, dressed in jeans (jeans!), with an apron (another item I’d never seen or imagined her to possess) wrapped around her waist. A pair of sneakers on her feet, where I’d only ever seen high heels or jeweled sandals, her fingernails clipped short, filed, no polish. “The doctors are taking good care of your mom, and she’ll be home as soon as she’s ready.”
“But there is nothing WRONG with her!”
“Ellie,” said Dave, “why don’t you go count the apples and make sure there’s enough for everyone to get one?”
Ellie gave us a darkly suspicious look before stomping off toward the dining room. “We’re bobbing for apples,” she called over her shoulder.
“Isn’t that more of a Halloween thing?” I looked around, with a feeling of dread gathering in the pit of my stomach. There was an old-school portrait of a donkey taped to the dining-room wall, along with a metal bin full of water with a bowl full of apples beside it.
“I thought we’d play party games,” my mother said.
“Party games,” I repeated. It didn’t sound like an awful idea, and maybe it wasn’t, unless you knew that these days, in our neighborhood, a typical six-year-old’s birthday party might include an outing to the local bowling alley, where the lanes were equipped with bumpers and at least some of the snacks would be gluten-free, or a scavenger hunt at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, followed by a make-your-own-sundae bar.
I followed Ellie into the dining room and found her sitting in the corner with an apple in her hand. “Hey, El,” I said, and began to sing. “?‘I did not live until today . . . how can I live when we are parted?’?”
“?‘Tomorrow you’ll be worlds away,’?” she sang, eyes wide, one hand over her heart, teenage Cosette falling in love. “?‘And yet with you my world has started.’?”
“?‘One more day out on my own,’?” I sang. “?‘One more day with him not caring.’?” I tried not to look at Dave, who was standing in the kitchen with his back to me as Ellie sang, “?‘I was born to be with you!’?” She stretched out her arms and I lifted her up, holding her against me, singing, “?‘What a life I might have known.’?” I tickled her ribs and she wrapped her arms around my neck, cheeks pink, a picture of delight. “?‘But he never saw me there.’?” I peeked over her head. Dave was watching us—maybe, I hoped, preparing to launch into the Valjean/Javert section—but before he could start a car pulled up the driveway and Hank emerged from the backseat.
“MY PARTY FRIENDS ARE HERE!” Ellie shrieked, vaulting out of my arms and hitting the ground at a sprint. I got one last whiff of her scent, a final instance of the sweetness of her skin against mine. Then she was gone.
“Happy birthday, Ellie,” Hank said shyly, wiping his nose and handing my daughter an enormous, elaborately wrapped box with pink-and-white-striped wrapping paper and pink-and-silver ribbons.
“Wow,” I said as Mrs. Hank smiled indulgently at her son. She wore dark glasses, skinny jeans, and a silky sleeveless top. “Looks like someone blew his allowance.”