‘Pretty much. My buddy Rob, you know, my old roommate at Columbia? Well, he works at theNYTand I was thinking of enlisting his help on this.’
‘The newspaper? Sounds intriguing. What did you have in mind?’
At that moment, the doorbell rang, signalling Karen’s arrival for dinner.
‘Hold that thought. Don’t want to let anything slip in front of her.’
‘I know. Dad, I have one other question … ’
‘Hit me, but hurry,’ he chided as he rose from his chair. ‘Maria will let her in,’ he said, referring to the hired help who ghosted in and out of rooms in the penthouse.
‘Well, remember how Mom put Nonna’s ring aside for me? I was going to ask her with that.’
‘Wonderful. There are a lot of happy times associated with that ring, a lot of history, and of course your mother would be happy to see it live another great life. I’ll need to search for it, though – she must have put it away somewhere … but I’ll get it for you soon, OK?’
Greg beamed and stepped forward to give his father a hug.
‘That would be great. Thank you.’
Just as hewas about to head down the hall to the front entryway to meet Karen, Jeff called out to him. ‘Greg?’
‘Yes?’ Greg turned around with raised eyebrows.
‘Just a thought. When I met your mom, I knew within two minutes that she was the one for me. We had a great life before … ’ He shook his head, sadly. ‘I hope it’s the same for you and Karen.’
So do I, Greg thought, heartened. Karen was the one for him, no question about that.
What his dad had said about his grandmother’s ring – that it would be good to see it live another great life - was exactly what he felt - what hehoped- for him and Karen. He just hoped she felt the same way.
15
It was late evening, and Holly and Danny were back at the apartment and trying to keep warm in spite of the plunging temperatures. Upon leaving Tiffany’s earlier, they’d gone into the park for a walk and, on impulse, Holly bought two tickets to the zoo. As they passed through the turnstile, she remembered back to when the kids’ zoo in Central Park cost only ten cents. Wow, things had changed in such a short time.
She watched Danny as he examined the mice and stood in the mouth of the blue whale, and then laughed as he tried in vain to feed the chickens, which refused to come out of their shed due to the snow.
‘Hmm,’ she said to him. ‘We probably could have just seen mice at home huh? How about some cotton candy?’
‘You feeling all right, Mom?’ Danny joked. She tried her best to keep him away from processed sugar and all the crazy things that passed for children’s ‘food’ these days.
‘I'm just fine,’ she replied. ‘Then let’s go and see the penguins.’
At the penguin exhibit, the penguins were out, themselves marvelling at the snow, and Holly realised the exhibition hadn't changed in the past twenty-odd years.
Danny tugged at her arm as she paused, lost in thought and memories. ‘Seriously Mom, are you OK?’
‘Yeah, I’m fine, I'm just remembering when I use to come here with your grandpa. I really wish you could have known him.’
Danny shrugged. ‘I know, you've said that before.’
Holly took note; maybe she was dwelling too much. She thought about who they did know. Maybe this year she should have Christmas dinner at her house, maybe invite Kate and be less dependent on her mother.
‘You’re right,’ she said, hugging Danny, who this time didn’t resist. ‘Maybe we should concentrate on the living. How about we have Christmas at our house this year?’
Danny stared at her. ‘Really? With a tree and everything? I mean a big tree,’ he clarified quickly. They always had a tree but a tiny table-top one; certainly no competition to Maggie's full-size live tree.
‘I guess so.’ Why not go the whole hog? Holly thought, deciding to throw caution to the winds.
‘Yay, Mom! I can’t wait!’
