"I think she is used to it, Ryan, but I also think she’s had enough. I think she’s finally trying to be an equal partner, and he doesn’t like it."
Ryan looked at her as she bit her lip anxiously. "Jamie, I care very much about how all of this affects you, but there’s a great big flower bed in the shape of Mickey’s head, and I can see Sleeping Beauty’s Castle, and it’s getting to be too much for me to stay focused." The look on her face was nearly pleading, asking for permission to lose herself in the fantasy, and Jamie happily acceded to her wish. She decided that a couple of hours of fantasy was what they both needed, and she resolved not to think about the whole mess until they returned to the hotel.
Against all odds, the pair spent a totally enjoyable hour and a half on their tour. Summoning powers of denial that she didn’t know she had, Jamie was able to lose herself in the moment, likely aided by Ryan’s boundless enthusiasm for the entire experience. The larger woman hopped around on the tram like a three-year-old, bubbling with excitement as they were shown nearly every part of the park along with a good bit of the behind the scenes workings of the enterprise.
As soon as the tour was finished they rushed back to the room, the monorail expediting their journey. Ryan regaled Catherine with minute details of nearly everything they had seen, while Jamie went in to check on the baby. When she emerged from the bedroom 15 minutes later, she carried a gurgling infant with her. The baby wore a fresh diaper and nothing else as she held out her little arms to her cousin. Ryan gladly accepted the bundle and spent a few minutes talking softly to her, filling her in on the tour and their plans for the evening.
Jamie brought Catherine up to date simultaneously. "We thought we could go over to the park and have dinner and just walk around. They have a big parade at six that I think Caitlin would enjoy, so we’d like to do that. Then we thought we’d bring her back here and put her to bed. If we did that, would you be averse to watching her while we went back to go on some rides?"
"Not at all," Catherine said agreeably. "There are a couple of movies on pay-per-view that I’d like to see, and I’m in the middle of a fantastic book. I can easily entertain myself."
"Great. Let’s go over around five so we can be sure to find a space to see the parade. You don’t mind just grabbing a hot dog for dinner, do you?"
Catherine gave her daughter a fond smile as she teased, "You know how I love hot dogs, Honey." At Jamie’s droll grin, Catherine suggested, "Let me take care of dinner. I have an alternative to hot dogs that I think you’ll be happy with."
"Um...okay," Jamie agreed as she joined her companions on the floor. Ryan was lying flat on her back and Caitlin was climbing all over her like she was a living jungle gym. Both the gymnast and the human apparatus were giggling as they played their little game. Before long Jamie had joined the game as an auxiliary gym, lying shoulder to shoulder with her partner as Caitlin expanded her territory. She poked and prodded and teased her big babysitters as she explored their faces with a thoroughness that amazed Catherine when she came back into the room to watch. Whatever part Caitlin grabbed, they would identify it for her verbally and then touch her corresponding part in a more gentle fashion. Her concentration and enthusiasm seemed endless as they continued for nearly an hour, accompanied by Caitlin’s frenzied laugh.
As they rode back to the park on the monorail, Catherine could not help but ask, "How did you learn how to treat Caitlin with so much patience, Ryan? Is that how you were raised?"
"I think so," she agreed reflectively. "I think my Aunt Maeve was the truly gifted one. She taught my parents a lot about raising children, according to my father."
"She’s your father’s sister?"
"No, she’s my mother’s older sister. According to my father, Maeve spent a terrific amount of time sharing her gifts when they had my brother Brendan. Her youngest was three or four when Brendan was born, so she had the opportunity to help out a lot."
"How did she learn?" Catherine asked.
"My father says it surely was not from my grandmother, and I’m inclined to agree," she said with a laugh. "I’ve spent a lot of time with my grandmother, and I must admit that her childrearing techniques are mostly along the lines of ‘children should be seen and not heard’."
"That amazes me," Jamie said. "You’ve told me that she was strong willed, but I guess I assumed that she was the force behind all of the love in your family."
"No, I don’t think so. I think my grandfather was the one who made the girls feel loved and enabled them to express it so well."
"I would not have guessed that, Ryan," Jamie said thoughtfully. "I picture your grandmother as an older version of Maeve…all cute and sweet and loving."
"Lord no!" Ryan laughed. "And if you told them both that, I’m not sure who would be more insulted!"
"Are you serious, Honey?" Jamie gaped. "I’ve never heard Maeve say a bad word about anyone."
"Oh, she’d never say a bad word about my grandmother, but it’s pretty obvious they have their struggled. It doesn’t take too much intuition to guess why a young woman would leave her home mere moments after she graduated from secondary school. She had no obvious skills, only enough money for the plane fare, and had never been farther from home than Dublin. She had to be as interested in the leaving as she was in the adventure."
"Did she come alone?" Catherine asked, amazed that a young woman would be so bold.
"No, she came with a friend from school. My mother stayed in Ireland until she was 18, then she followed her, as every one knew she would—even though she was fairly happy in Ireland." Ryan smiled at Catherine and said, "You’ll really like my aunt. She’s quiet and very loving, but she has an inner strength that I envy. She had the misfortune of choosing the wrong man to marry, and she was in a loveless marriage most of her life, but none of her personal troubles ever seemed to dim her spirits. She’s the epitome of a survivor, Catherine. She just has a pure heart that can’t be dimmed, and I must say we’re all lucky to have her."
"Is she still married?" Catherine asked.
"No, her husband died a little less than two years ago. They'd been separated for many years but they never divorced." A shy smile lit up Ryan’s face as she revealed, "She is going to marry again though."
"Really?" Catherine asked. "You must be very happy for her."
"Oh I am, but the rest of the family doesn’t know yet. She’s a bit afraid of the reaction she’ll get when she informs everyone of her selection."
"Why would that be?"
"Because it’s my father," she said simply.
Catherine looked puzzled for an instant but the light quickly dawned on the root of the problem. "Are they afraid that it looks odd to marry your deceased sister’s husband?"
"I think that’s most of it," she conceded. "Plus, it will be odd to get used to the two of them being in love. Da has been single since we were small, and Aunt Maeve has been alone for so long that you just don’t expect that to change. But we all love her like a second mother, so I hope it will go well."
"Will they live in your house?" Catherine asked, not having any idea of the size of the O’Flaherty manse.
"That’s a big issue. My cousin Kevin lives with Maeve, and Rory and Conor live with Da. Plus, Jamie and I live there on the weekends. Our house is pretty big," she said, nearly causing Jamie’s eyes to bug out of her head, "but it’s full at this point. Maeve’s house is quite small, so it’s going to be hard to come up with a solution."
The monorail had reached its destination, and they spent the next few minutes getting through the crowds to reach Main Street and stake out a place in line. Catherine and Ryan sat on the curb to save spaces while Jamie carried Caitlin around in her baby sling to keep her occupied.
Catherine continued the earlier conversation by asking, "Could your father buy a new house?"
"He would have to use the proceeds from the sale of the old one, and he swears that he will never throw any of us out. What we need is at least one big house to use as a gathering place for family events. Jamie mentioned that I have 14 male cousins in America, but only Tommy is married. We hardly fit in our house now. When they all start having kids it will be mayhem!"
Catherine had a hard time imagining what a house full of boisterous young men would be like, but then she remembered her days at Stanford and tried to recall what the fraternity houses had been like, drawing an apt comparison. "What do you two want to do when you graduate? Do you want to stay in the East Bay?"
"No, I don’t," Ryan said quickly, her face showing her discomfort with the idea. "I can’t imagine living away from my family permanently. I really love Noe Valley and I want to make it our permanent home. I guess buying a house is something for the distant future, now that it looks like Jamie won’t be able to control her money for quite a while."
"Ahh, now don’t even think like that, Ryan. My husband has more than his share of faults, but he’s not intentionally cruel. Just give him some time."
"We’ve got that, Catherine. I’d be happy to live in my room until we decide to start our family."
Catherine looked askance and asked, "Will that be a while, Ryan?"
"Oh, I think so, Catherine," she assured her. "I know how much work kids are. I want to enjoy being with Jamie for a good long while before we add to our responsibilities."
"That’s good to hear, Ryan," Catherine said, beaming a smile at her. "Don’t make the same mistake I did in having a child before you’re
both
fully ready."
Well, well, I guess she doesn’t mind if I know the family secrets
, Ryan mused.
Actually, she’s really treating me like a member of the family.
Her pleasure was short lived as she added,
Now I only have to win Jim over!
Much to everyone’s pleasure, Caitlin turned out to be a big fan of parades. She sat on Ryan’s shoulders and babbled away as she kicked her little legs so frequently and so enthusiastically that Ryan was sure she would be a mass of bruises. But she gladly suffered for her little cousin, happy beyond measure that the baby was enjoying herself so thoroughly. In truth, it was a tossup as to who was having a better time. Ryan repeatedly turned to Jamie to point out some little tidbit that caught her watchful eye, and Jamie also enjoyed the extravaganza. Catherine was a bit overwhelmed to be surrounded by so many people and so much noise, but she handled it well. She was having so much fun watching her daughter that she eventually ignored all of the noise and just focused on her.
For the thousandth time, she felt the sting of regret for having missed out on all of the chances to do things like this for Jamie when she was young. Once again she thanked the heavens for providing a second opportunity, even one coming this late in her daughter’s youth.
When the parade was finished, they strolled along Main Street for a few minutes as Catherine started to get into the experience a little more. Shopping always got her involved, and she would have stayed in the stores a lot longer if Ryan hadn’t finally put her foot down. By the time they started for dinner, Caitlin had a new navy blue swimsuit with little Mickey heads across the chest, a cute little yellow canvas hat to keep the sun from her eyes, 101 Dalmatians pajamas, a white T-shirt with Goofy embroidered on the pocket, and a matching pair of shorts in a blue and white check. But her most adorable gift was a pair of pink mouse ears with her name embroidered on the back. Unbeknownst to her partner, Jamie had purchased a matching pair for Ryan, and she snapped an adorable picture of both cousins with their ears on—Caitlin sitting happily on Ryan’s shoulders. Ryan stared right into the camera with her relaxed, confident smile, and Jamie thought once again that Ryan could have easily made a very good living as a model. She was so completely comfortable with the camera, looking past the device to gaze into the photographer’s eyes when she was photographed, and Jamie knew that was not a skill that was easy to teach.
Catherine expertly led them over to Adventureland as Jamie and Ryan paced along behind her. More than once Jamie informed her that there weren’t any restaurants listed for that part of the park, but Catherine blithely ignored her warnings with the reply, "Trust me, Dear."
When they reached the Pirates of the Caribbean she looked around carefully until she spotted a small gift shop called Pieces of Eight. Right next to the shop, an etched glass door bore the legend, ‘Club 33’. Catherine rang the nearly hidden bell, and moments later a tuxedoed gentleman opened the door.
"Good evening," he said with a smile. "Have you dinner reservations?"
"Yes, we do," she answered. "Catherine Evans."
He scanned his list and quickly found her name. "Very good, Mrs. Evans," he responded. "Come right this way." Jamie and Ryan shared puzzled glances as the man led them up a staircase to a very elegant dining room on the second floor. The room was small, but each of the tables was generously sized. He pulled out chairs for each of them and quickly signaled someone to bring a seat for Caitlin. A large booster chair was brought out and properly secured to the wooden backed chair. Caitlin liked the freedom of the padded chair and didn’t seem to mind having to be strapped in. As the menus were presented she began to babble quite loudly, but Jamie quickly stilled her with one of the biscotti that she still carried in her bag.