STEPPING UP
PART NINE:
Steve insisted on hobbling along after Holli down the long hallway
into the kitchen. "I like to watch you cook," he smiled, settling
stiffly into a wooden chair by the small table.
She smiled back. "I like watching you cook, too." She remembered
how she'd been amazed by his expertise the other day.
This morning she took toasted English muffin halves, spread deviled
ham atop them then turned to separate several eggs. Whipping the
whites till they mounded, she piled several spoonfuls atop the muffins,
making an indentation in the top, center of each, then carefully dropping
in a yolk.
"Nests," she announced, popping a sheet of them into the oven to bake.
Pouring two cups of coffee, she sat at the table with him while the eggs
cooked. She craned her head, looking around the old kitchen with its
high, hammered tin ceiling and slowly turning fan. "Like this place."
"This place?"
"Yeah, I think it's become my nest. Always has been. I know that now.
I just didn't fully appreciate how much. Dad says I should go ahead and
keep it open as a bed and breakfast now that it's mine."
"You think you might do that?"
She rested her elbows atop the table, her chin on her laced fingers. "I'm
really starting to think I'd like to do that, you know. There's plenty of
room for me to set up an accounting office here, too, if I want to keep on
with that."
He took a long, slow sip of coffee, his lashes lowered. "Sounds like the
perfect set-up for you, Holli," he whispered.
"What about you?"
"Me?"
"Yes, what about you?"
"What do you mean?"
"Did you ask me to marry you, Mr. Moran?"
He set his cup down, meeting her eyes. "As I recall."
"Well, I recall that, too. So, my question is, 'What about you?'
Are you sorry you asked me?"
"You know that old line from the movie, 'Love means never having
to say you're sorry,'?" He rubbed his chin, "I always thought that was
pure bullshit."
Her face stiffened. "Does that mean you are sorry?"
"It means that I'll probably have to tell you dozens and dozens of times
over the years that I'm sorry about this or that, but...," and he reached
across the table, touching her cheek, "this is not one of them."
"It's...not?"
"No, Holli, it's not." He cocked his head, studying her face. "You are so
much...more...than I thought I'd ever find. I want to be with you with all
my heart. I...I'm...just trying to figure out how to do that."
"New York?" her voice was barely audible.
"New York," he affirmed.
"I know," she said sadly. She looked around the kitchen again, adding,
"I could...."
"How could I ask you that, Holli?" he interrupted.
"You could ask because I love you enough that you could."
"You haven't heard about my fire escape landing with the oak tree that
grows up through a hole in the sidewalk cement."
She gulped, her eyes flicking to the back door with its view of Tara's gardens,
the grape arbor, the path leading to the seat by the birdbath. "I could do fire
escape. Really I could."
"And how long would you be happy doing that, huh?"
"You make me happy."
He shook his head. "No, Holli, I can't ask you to do that."
"Then can I ask you to run this bed and breakfast with me, to set up a
photographic studio here in one of the rooms?"
"Oh, Holli," he sighed. "I'm such a stranger in Pittsburgh. I don't know a
thing about the place, I have no connections, no...contacts."
"What if...," she said, "what if we don't decide anything just yet. What if
we see where the next 2 or 3 weeks takes us, and then...?"
He smiled a bit wanly. "Ok. I don't know of anything else to do right now
anyway."
She got the eggs out of the oven, sliding a couple onto each plate, then
bringing them to the table. "This is just an odd little way to do eggs that
Tara showed me. Let me know what you think."
Not only were they delicious, they were actually rather fun to eat. She'd
gotten them out before the yolks set and the yellow ran like little rivulets
of lava down the slopes of the egg white volcano. "I bet kids would go for
this," he said.
"We could find out."
He raised his eyes from his plate.
"Some day," she added, "maybe we could find out."
It was then he realized he'd never really thought about fatherhood. She
saw it clearly in his expression.
"Oh," she said, blinking. "Wrong thing to say, I guess."
He set his fork down. "It...it's just I hadn't ever stopped to think...well,
I've never been with anyone where that thought was...well...part of anything.
I...I...wow."
She was silent, letting him digest the concept. His lips formed an "0" and he
blew out a slow breath then looked back at her. "Kids...with you." His
fingertips rubbed up and down one cheek then a smile slowly began to spread
as he thought about Holli playing with them and him taking pictures of it.
Like the photo of her with Tara and all the flowers in the hair. "Were you
laughing or singing?" he suddenly asked.
She had no idea what he meant.
"In that picture in the parlor. Your mouth is open. Were you laughing or
singing?" Somehow he just really wanted to know.
"I was singing, I think."
"What? What were you singing?"
"Um, I believe it was 'Aura Lee'."
"'Aura Lee'?"
"Old one from the time of the Civil War. 'As the blackbird in the spring,
'neath the willow tree, sat and piped I heard him sing, praising Aura Lee.'"
Something like that."
"Can you sing more of it?"
"Oh, gosh," she laughed, "I haven't thought of it in years. Let's see. 'Aura
Lee, Aura Lee, maid with golden hair...sunshine came along with thee and
swallows in the air.' Tara always said I was her Aura Lee."
"I know that tune. Why do I know that tune?"
She laughed. "You know it because Elvis put 'Love Me Tender' to it."
"That's IT! Do you know more?"
"'When the mistletoe was green, 'midst the winter's snows, sunshine in thy
face was seen, kissing lips of rose. Aura Lee, Aura Lee, take my golden
ring, love and light return with thee and swallows in the spring.'"
"They sang that in the 1860's?"
"Yep, it was really popular among the soldiers. Tara always loved the
words to it and taught it to me when I was still only 3 or 4."
"I love that picture," he said.
"What were you thinking about when you looked at it?"
"I was thinking I wished I'd been the one to take it so I could've been
there, could've seen the two of you so happy."
"There can be...other...days...."
"I'm beginning to see that," he smiled softly. "Will you teach it to her?"
"Her?"
"Our daughter. I want to take a picture of you and her singing it."
She grinned widely. "I take that as a 'yes'."
"Yes?"
"To the 'kids with you' thingie."
"Holli, I cannot begin to tell you how many new concepts are rolling
through my brain right about now. I'm a bit slow on the uptake at times.
Comes from too much time spent on a fire escape landing over a sidewalk
vent, I guess." Steepling his hands, he bit down on his joined index fingers.
"Tell me about Pittsburgh."
"What do you want to know?"
"Anything. What's here besides rivers and steps?"
"And me?"
"Well, you're the most important thing that's here. But what else?"
"Polar bears."
"Polar...?" That was about the last thing he'd expected her to say.
"I'm serious," she laughed, eyes twinkling. "They just opened the new
polar bear habitat at the zoo and you can walk through this clear tunnel
that goes under their big pool and they swim right over your head and
come down and peer at you."
"Sounds like a photo op," he replied, amused at her choice. "What else?"
"There's a boat from the time of Pharaoh Senwosret III, who according to
my personal calculations, was most likely the ruler of Egypt when Joseph
arrived."
"Which Joseph? I believe two of them arrived in Egypt."
"The first one."
"Ok, polar bears and very, very, very old boats. I don't expect they
put the boat in with the bears, do they?"
"Nope, it's behind glass in the museum."
He finished his last bite of egg and pushed his plate away a bit. "Seriously,
what's here?"
"Seriously, Pittsburgh is quite the corporate headquarters. Things like
Mellon and Heinz. We've got seven Fortune 500 headquarters here, along
with things like Bayer and GNC, American Eagle and Dick's Sporting Goods."
"Pittsburgh is the US headquarters for Dick's?"
"Yep."
"Wonder if there's room for one more?"
"Oh, Pittsburgh can always use another Dick," she chortled.
"Ok, that's good to
know. What else?"
"Ummm...well, this might interest you. We've got a cultural district that
runs for 14 blocks downtown along the Allegheny River. It's just packed
with theaters, art venues, that sorta thing."
His eyes widened and she continued. "We've got more bridges than
Venice. You could photograph those when you finish the paper streets."
"How many bridges?"
"446."
"And you know this...how?"
"I'm a Pittsburgher. Pittsburghers know these things."
"What other interesting things do you know?"
"We've got more Croats than any place other than Zagreb or Split."
"Croats?"
"Yep. Lotsa Croats came to the 'Burgh. And Scots and Irish, German.
They all kinda merged their lingo into what's called 'Pittsburghese'."
"You speak that?"
"Not really, but I understand it."
"Say something."
"I love you."
"I love you, too. Now say something in Pittsburghese."
"Yinz hainapposa be aht, yinzer sick."
He laughed. "More."
"Squattna porch." She stood up.
"Huh?"
"Squattna porch." She held out her hand.
"Ok, translate."
"Let's go out on the porch."
"Really?"
"Yes, really."
They settled side by side in the white wicker porch swing, listening
to the soft tinkle of the wind chimes. He closed his eyes, leaning his
head against hers as she gently pushed the swing with the tip of one
foot. "It feels like 1890 out here," he sighed.
"There'd be coal dust in the air if it were," she replied. "That's
where Pittsburgh got its bad rep of being ugly. People tend to still
think of it like that when it's not. Now it's one of the prettiest
cities around."
"Mmmm," he murmured, his eyes heavy from being up in the night.
She felt his head start to sag against her and slipped her arm around
his shoulders, supporting him as he dozed off. At that moment her
whole world centered round the simple motion of her foot pushing
the swing and the feel of his breath warm against her cheek. It was
a world that, more than anything, she wanted to go on and on.
ON TO PART 10
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