Mary and Alvin Ch. 10

"Property is theft," Mary muttered. Charlotte looked at her and nodded.

"Damn right, sister."

The waitress came and took their drink order, and they all concentrated on studying the menu.

"I don't know what half this stuff is," Alvin said.

"Oh bullshit, you do so," Charlotte muttered.

"Like at the sushi place in Rockland," Mary said, "you played it like oh gosh, what's all this, but when the food came you knew what every single item was."

"Suzuki?" Charlotte asked.

"Yes. He pulled that country boy crap there, too."

"Uh huh. That place is fabulous though, isn't it?"

Alvin chuckled.

"You see what he just did, right?" Mary asked Charlotte.

"Oh yeah, he pulled that on me and Jen every time we'd argue."

"Were we arguing?" Mary asked. Charlotte looked embarrassed, but said nothing. The waitress came and took their orders.

Charlotte ordered linguine with clam sauce and Mary asked for the mussels marinara. Alvin ordered mushroom sacchetti.

"Do you even know what sacchetti is?" Charlotte asked him sarcastically.

"Why, yes I do," he grinned.

They made small talk about the end of the summer season and Jennifer's house until their food arrived.

As they began to eat, Alvin explained to Charlotte that Mary had never eaten mussels until she came to Maine and he had prepared them for her.

"Well, seems that she likes them now," Charlotte replied.

"Want to try one?" Mary asked.

"Sure." Mary spooned up a mussel and handed it to Charlotte, who gave her a forkful of linguine in return.

After only a few bites of his sacchetti, Alvin declared Carlino's the best restaurant in town.

"What, better than Wendy's Diner?" Mary joked.

"He loves that greasy spoon," Charlotte said, shaking her head.

Alvin shrugged. "It's not so bad. Best onion rings in town."

Mary and Charlotte agreed that he was right about that, but Charlotte added, "It's the biscuits and gravy and shit like that I wish you'd lay off."

"I don't eat there that often," Alvin said with an embarrassed grin. "But it's cheap and it's filling and besides, I knew a girl named Wendy once..."

Mary and Charlotte both shook their heads. They ate in silence for a few minutes. When it started to feel awkward, Mary asked Alvin if she could try one of his sacchetti. He nodded, his mouth full, and she speared one with her fork.

"Oh," she said, "I'm getting that next time."

"Let me try," Charlotte said. She took one and popped it in her mouth. "Mmm, yeah, those are good."

"Hey," Alvin grumbled, "leave some for me."

"You've got one left," Mary said.

"I knew the two of you together would be trouble for me." He cleaned his plate and said, "Now that you ate half my supper I've got more room to get a tiramisu for dessert."

They all ordered the tiramisu and agreed it was delicious.

"This confirms it," Alvin said, "we will be coming back a time or two. Wicked convenient, Mary, right across the street from your apartment."

"Spending a lot of time there?" Charlotte asked.

Mary stiffened defensively, but when she looked up from the table, saw that Charlotte was gazing at her father with a mischievous grin.

"Yes, it's got some lovely views," Alvin said.

They finished their meal. As they were leaving the restaurant, Charlotte touched Mary's arm. "Listen," she said, "I ought to finish my work at the courthouse by eleven tomorrow. I'm going up to Orono to spend the weekend with Jen and Danni afterward. But that leaves me with some time between. I wonder if you'd like to have lunch with me."

Mary was surprised, but eagerly agreed.

"Cool," Charlotte said, "I'l pick you up at work at eleven if that's alright."

They hugged gingerly, and Charlotte turned to go back to her father's car, while Alvin took Mary's hand and walked with her across the street.

"Well, I guess that's good, her asking you to have lunch," he said.

"I hope so."

They reached Mary's front door as Alvin asked, "What do you think it's about?"

Mary shrugged and smiled. "Hard tellin', not knowin'," she said. She kissed him and went inside.

Charlotte was already waiting in her Prius when Mary came out of work to meet her. Mary climbed into the passenger seat and Charlotte took off before she could fasten her seat belt.

"Where did you have in mind for lunch?" Mary asked.

"Oh, I thought we'd have a picnic," Charlotte replied, taking the turn out of the parking lot too fast. Mary put a hand on the dashboard to steady herself.

"Sorry," Charlotte laughed, "My Dad always says I drive like a maniac."

"That's okay," Mary said, as Charlotte slowed down. "So, are we going to the park?"

"Nope," Charlotte turned off Main on to a shady side street and then, almost immediately turned again on to a narrow dirt lane. Mary was surprised to see they were entering the cemetery.

"Yeah, I know. Weird." Charlotte said, "But bear with me."

Mary had not been in the cemetery before and she was struck by its beauty. She had assumed it was like those she had seen in California, neat rows of stones, dotting an immaculately trimmed lawn. But this was different. It was somehow wilder. There were many ancient trees and stands of lilac and rhododendron dotted the landscape. The pattern of markers was less organized, and the stones themselves more varied. Obelisks rose in several places, and some graves were topped with marble urns. As they bumped along the narrow roadway, Mary read the names on some of the graves. Moody. Larrabee. Pinkham. Chase. She realized that many of them were the same names she saw on the street signs in the town. Reading the dates below the names gave her a sense of the age of the community. Some well worn stones dated back as far as the seventeen hundreds.

Charlotte pulled to a stop near the center of the cemetery. "This is a good place for a picnic, right?" she said as she opened her door.

Mary got out and looked around. It really was a lovely spot, but the idea of having a picnic there was disconcerting.

Charlotte retrieved a blanket and a cooler from the back seat and began walking between the rows of graves. "All these are Faulkers in here," she told Mary, waving her hand, "over by that big oak there are some Alexanders. That's my Dad's Mom's people. Grandma is here with the Faulkners, though.

She set down the cooler and unfurled the blanket on to the ground.

"This is my Mom," she said, looking down at a pink granite stone.

Mary stepped to the stone and read Bonnie's inscription. Beloved Wife and Mother.

"Sit with me," Charlotte said. Mary sat down crosslegged on the blanket. Charlotte opened the cooler and reached in. She pulled out chilled bottles of iced tea and handed one to Mary. She took it and twisted off the cap as Charlotte laid out plastic containers of cheese cubes and sliced fruit and opened a sleeve of Ritz crackers. They ate quietly for a few minutes before Charlotte spoke.

"Now, Mary, it's very important that I tell you something."

"Sure, Charlotte, what is it?"

"I'm not crazy."

"I didn't think you were."

"Good, because, um, I like to come here and talk to my Mom."

Mary looked at the stone, then back to Charlotte, who was looking at her with a concerned expression.

"I don't think that's crazy at all, Charlotte. I imagine conversations with my Dad, sometimes."

Charlotte shrugged. "You don't actually go and talk out loud at his grave though, I'm guessing."

Mary smiled. "No, I never have."

Charlotte ate a couple of pieces of cheese, then looked up at the stone.

"Hi Mom," she said, hesitantly.

Mary sat quietly and listened. Charlotte took a deep breath and began again.

"I'm sorry I haven't come for a while, but it's hard to get the time. I'm doing alright, mostly. I don't know about things with Jake. I don't think it's going to work out. But, that's not why I came today. I came here because I have to tell you something. And I want you to meet somebody."

Mary swallowed hard.

"Mom, this is Mary. She's from California. There's a lot of new people in town because a big bank opened up data center place here and, well, that's not important. What's important is that..."

She paused for a moment.

"Mom, Mary and Daddy are in love. And it's a really good thing. He's happy Mom, happier than he has been since, you know."

There were tears in Charlotte's eyes as she continued. "So, I thought you should meet her. She's very sweet and she's wicked pretty and I think you'd really like her. So, alright. I love you, Mom."

Charlotte sniffled and wiped her nose on her napkin. She looked at Mary with a bashful expression.

Mary reached over and squeezed her hand. Then she turned towards the stone.

"Hi, Bonnie," she said.

She heard Charlotte gasp, but she continued. "I, um, I wish I could have met you. I mean, you know, face to face." She blushed and glanced at Charlotte, who was staring down at the grass.

"I think you should know that your daughters have grown up to be amazing women. You would be so proud of them."

She heard Charlotte sniffling and took her hand.

"You must have been a wonderful mother and role model to them. And Alvin..." Her voice broke and she had to take a few deep breaths before she could go on. "Well, I don't have to tell you about him. I do love him, Charlotte is right. I know she had some fears that I might, I don't know, hurt him somehow, but I think she knows now that I won't."

"I do," Charlotte whispered.

"Bonnie, there are places in his heart that will always be yours, that I know I can never touch. I'm okay with that. You were his first love, you are the mother of his children. But I don't believe you would want him to be lonely. I think you would want him to have love in his life again. I will do the best I can by him, and when I don't know what to do, maybe, if Charlotte doesn't mind, I can come by here and you can help me out."

Mary and Charlotte sat side by side in silence and finished their lunch. When they were done, Charlotte reached over and touched her fingertips to the headstone and whispered, "I love you Mama."

They stood up and put their trash inside the cooler. Charlotte looked back down at her mother's grave. "Thank you for coming here with me, Mary. And for what you said."

Mary hesitated, then put her arms around Charlotte and hugged her. Charlotte hugged back, and said, "Do you have time I could show you just one more thing?"

"Of course," Mary said. They got into the car and Charlotte drove towards the cemetery's iron front gate. She pulled over in the shade of a towering maple. Charlotte got out of the car and Mary followed her.

On the opposite side of the narrow lane stood two marble angels. Mary walked over to the closest one and looked up. It towered over her on it's granite pedestal. The angel stood erect, but it's head hung low, it's shoulders slumped. In it's outstretched hand it held a cluster of grapes. She walked over to the second angel. This angel did not look so profoundly sad. Its expression was serene. It was bent at the knees, stooping, holding out a single rose, as if it was gently handing it to her.

Mary stepped back to look at both angels together. They complimented each other. One spoke to her of grief, the other of salvation.

Charlotte was leaning on the side of the car. Mary joined her, wondering why she had brought her to this spot.

Before she could ask, Charlotte pointed to a low marble crypt that nestled between the two statues. "You walked right past her," she told Mary.

"Elizabeth Knight," Mary read from the front of the crypt.

"Elizabeth Knight was the daughter of the richest man in town back in the eighteen hundreds," Charlotte said. "Her family owned a lumber mill, and some sailing ships and all kinds of things. She married a guy named Charles Baxter. Poor old Charlie got tuberculosis and died at the age of, like thirty three or something. Elizabeth sent to Italy for the angel to put over his grave. That one over there," she said, gesturing to the left, towards the angel bearing the grapes.

"She must have loved him very much," Mary said.

"Yep, but that didn't stop her a few years later from marrying Isaac Young. His family still owns the hardware store out in Searsmont. Well, anyway, Isaac didn't do much better. They were married about ten years when he died, too. I don't remember what from."

Mary stared at the angel with the outstretched rose. "So, she sent for a second angel?" she asked.

"She surely did. And there she lies, in between the two of them."

"They are beautiful, thanks for showing me," Mary said.

"Well," Charlotte said, stepping toward the tomb, "I didn't just want to show you, I wanted you to see them because..." Her voice caught in her throat. Mary went to her and put her hand on her shoulder.

Charlotte looked up at each angel in turn, then at Mary. Tears were forming in her eyes. "I have always been afraid of my Dad finding someone because I thought it would mean he didn't love my mother anymore. I was furious when Jen told me about you. But then I thought about old Elizabeth Knight, and I thought, if she can have two angels, why can't Daddy?"

Charlotte turned to Mary and they stood together in the cemetery lane and hugged each other.

"He's already got two beautiful angels," Mary whispered. Charlotte squeezed Mary tighter for a minute, then stepped back.

"I had better get you back to work," Charlotte said. As they drove back to the bank, Mary thanked Charlotte for the lunch and offered to return the favor soon.

"So, what's going on with Jake?" she added.

"The Pirates didn't renew his contract. He can't accept that he's at the end of his hockey career. Its always been his dream to make it to the NHL and he didn't get there."

"Oh, that's too bad."

"Yeah, it has really messed him up. Now he's talking about signing with some independent team in Fargo." She shook her head. "I have been trying to build a career here, I'm not going to frickin' North Dakota."

They pulled into the parking lot at the bank and stopped in front of the door.

Mary started to open the door, but stopped and turned to Charlotte. "There is something I really need to ask you," she said.

"Sure, what?"

"Does the age thing bother you? I'm only four years older than you."

Charlotte shrugged. "I was a little upset about it at first, but then I thought of a really good reason to think it was cool."

"What was that?"

"You aren't ever going to try to get me to call you Mom."

Mary laughed. "No, I won't. I promise." Mary got out of the car and waved as Charlotte pulled away. Before she went inside, she got out her phone and called Alvin.

"Hey, honey, I'd really like to see you tonight."

"That would be great," Alvin replied. "Did you have your lunch with Charlotte?"

"Yes, I just got back."

"Everything go alright?"

"It went fine. Listen, Carlino's does carry out. Want to try one of their pizzas? I can pick one up."

"Better than Hurley's I will wager," Alvin said.

Mary felt the urge to tell him about the visit to Bonnie's grave and Charlotte's story of the two angels, but she thought better of it.

"Alright, baby, I'll see you tonight. I love you."

"I love you, Mary."

She ended the call and went back to work.

Mary and Alvin sat on the front steps of the farmhouse as dusk settled on the pasture and the last reflected glow of sunlight faded from the pond. The dark shape of the new house loomed across the field, empty and silent.

"Look, honey, fireflies," Mary said, pointing towards the edge of the woods where sparkles danced among the trees. Alvin looked where she was pointing, but only nodded in response and picked a piece of pepperoni off the last slice of Carlino's pizza.

"What's the matter Alvin, you seem awful gloomy."

Alvin shrugged, "It's just, well, I'm missing the girls. I look at that empty house and I want to see it full of life."

"I understand, sweetheart."

"It was alright the first few days because Charlotte was here, but now she's gone again..."

Mary wrapped her arm around his and kissed his cheek. "I know, baby. I miss my Mom and my brothers. And especially all my nieces and nephews."

"You don't talk about your family much."

"I think about them, but it seems almost like a dream that I ever had a life before I came here."

Alvin chuckled. "Don't go thinking you're a Mainer, now."

"I know, the cat and the biscuits and all that. But I was never this happy before I came here."

"I hope the locality doesn't get all the credit."

She put her head on his shoulder. "It would be a barren wasteland without you, my love."

"That what I like to hear," he said, rubbing her back. "By the way, you didn't have much to say about your lunch with Charlotte. How did it go?"

"It was nice, we got along just fine."

"Well, that's good. Where did you go?"

"She brought food with her and we had a picnic."

"Oh really? Where?"

Mary shrugged "Just...outside."

"Well, I'm just glad to see the two of you getting along."

The air grew chilly as night settled in. Mary pulled her sweater tighter across her chest.

"You want to go in?" Alvin asked, "We could get a fire going in the fireplace."

"No, I think I'll head home."

"Well, Mary, I..."

"What is it, Alvin?"

He took her hand in his and said, "I'd like you to stay."

She looked at him, surprised. "Are you sure, baby? You know I understand..."

Alvin stood up, pulling her with him. "Come with me," he said.

They went into the house. Mary took off her sweater and draped it over the back of the rocking chair. She turned and Alvin was standing right behind her. He wrapped her in his arms and kissed her, then took her by the hand and led her up the stairs.

When he flipped on the wall switch, Mary saw that the big four poster was gone. In it's place stood a double bed with beautiful carved head and footboards, decorated with a pattern of delicate leaves.

Mary put her hand to her mouth and gasped. "Oh, Alvin..."

He stood behind her and wrapped his arms around her. "Will you come to bed with me, Mary?" he whispered.

She stepped over to the bed and sat down on the edge of the mattress. It was covered with a beautiful red velour blanket. "Is this new, too?" she asked.

"It's all new, new sheets, new pillows, everything."

Mary held out her arms. "Come here, baby."

Alvin went to her and they embraced, lying back on the new bed. They kissed, and then Mary said, "The new mattress is a little stiff, it needs to be broken in."

"Do you think we could, I don't know, maybe bounce on it or something, would that help."

"I think so."

Mary sat up and took off her blouse and bra. Alvin leaned towards her and she cradled his head as he kissed his way across her breasts. He got to his knees, straddling her legs. Mary unbuttoned his shirt and he shrugged it off while she fumbled with his belt buckle. He leaned forward and kissed her as she lay back on the bed. The velour blanket felt lush beneath her.

Alvin rose up and tugged at the waist of Mary's jeans. She raised her hips, and he slipped the jeans and her panties down the length of her legs. He flung them to the floor and ran his hands up Mary's calves. He raised one leg and kissed the inside of her knee.

Mary giggled. "Get those pants off, honey," she said, running her hands over Alvin's chest. He kicked them off, and his erection sprang free. Mary took it in her hand and stroked it. He leaned forward and kissed her, his cock poking her belly. His lips moved to her throat, then her breasts. He rolled on to his side, carrying her with him and hugging her tightly against himself. Mary raised her leg and hooked it over his hip. He raised his face from her breasts and their mouths found each other with a deep kiss. His cock bumped against her mound and she anticipated feeling it inside of her, but he drew back.