Sidestory:
One Sea
by Chris and Tami
More than two weeks had passed since Ian had become a regular at the Salter household. So far, he'd partaken in two Friday meals, and was closing in on his third. He'd yet to actually meet Wade's mom, but had been assured that he'd meet her eventually.
Currently, Ian was at Wade's house, rummaging through the kitchen, looking for something to eat. "Man, I'm starving. Don't you have anything good to eat in this house?" he asked the bigger, yet younger and much bluer guy as he held up a package of rice-wafers. "Monks eat better'n this."
"Mom'n me are going out shopping tonight," Wade said tranquilly, taking the packet and popping a rice wafer into his mouth. "See, that's why we're emptyin' the pantry."
"Always happy to help eat," he beamed, as he kept looking through the cupboards. Coming across a bag of half-eaten pretzels he took it upon himself to finish it off personally. "So, am I finally going to meet your mom?" he asked between bites.
The other boy looked a bit sheepish. "I don' think so. She won't be back for a while, y'know, she's a workaholic, we have to nail her feet to the ground t'get her to stay here..."
Ian grunted, "I see why you make supper now."
"Don't want mom to have to come home from a full day at work'n have to make it."
"Well, aren't you the sweetest thing on two legs?" A tall, attractive blonde woman wearing a business suit, hair twisted up into an elegant knot, moved forward to peck her son on the cheek; she had to lean up a bit. "I should have you barefoot and cooking for me right now."
"Mom!" Wade looked shocked. "What're you doin' home from - I mean, cool! But - "
"It was giving me a migraine. I decided to come home early, y'know?" The woman beamed and turned to Ian, pretty dark-blue eyes wide. "Now, you're going to be Ian, Wade's told me so much about yo - "
She faltered as she reached her hand out, staring at Ian's face as if it was the Rosetta stone to some unsolved mystery. Her eyes traced the lines of it, stuck, biting one lipsticked lip.
"You," she finished lamely, trying to get her composure back.
"Is something wrong, ma'am?" Ian asked, going up to her, a look of worry crossing his face. "Do you need to sit down?" His eyes were currently in a state of agitation, the blues mingling with the hazel.
She grinned, or at least made the attempt. Wade had already taken her briefcase off her and was fixing tea, keeping one eye on the situation in blissful ignorance. "Oh, honey, I'm sorry. It's just that... you have a face that reminds me of someone I knew. You must just have that kind of face, huh?"
"I've never had anybody say that before, no, not outside of the family. Gran'ma always said I looked like Gran'pa, but they're back in Cleveland," Ian said, trying to make some sense of the situation.
Her face froze again, but she shook her head, hand absently wiping over her forehead again as she turned away and kept her voice light. Wade handed her a cup of green tea and she sipped gratefully, leaning back against the counter; Wade himself busied with soda.
"Cleveland," Pauline muttered. "Y'know, Cleveland used to be my stomping ground, too." She smiled, taking another sip, staring off into the distance. "Beautiful city. Grew up there."
Wade raised an eyebrow. "I thought you grew up in New Mexico, Mom?"
"I didn't. You just never asked." She reached out to poke him in the side playfully, then looked back up again. "Yessir, you just remind me of Gwennie."
Interested now, Wade tossed Ian a soda can and clicked his open, looking at his pretty blonde mother with obvious interest. "Old friend, ma?"
Pauline winced, glancing from the brunette to her son. "Well, I don't like to bring up ol' family arguments but... you know I didn't get on well with my family, sweetheart, but... I did have an older sister. This young man reminds me so much of Gwendolyn it's just untrue."
Ian fumbled his soda can, almost dropping it to the floor, before catching it on his fifth try or so. "I'm sorry, but you just said Gwendolyn. Nobody is named Gwendolyn but my mom. Only my grandparents are crazy enough to name someone Gwendolyn."
She stared at him, face going ashen. "She always said she had the prettiest name on the block," she muttered. "They named me Pauline afterwards because it was a name you could scrub the floor with..."
"Mom?" Wade looked at Ian, then his mother, staring from face to face. "What's going on?"
Pauline's voice had gone odd; higher. "And - Saints alive, you really do look like... Jeremy. My father. But... this is impossible. Honestly."
At this point, Ian dropped the now open soda on the floor, not really caring that it was leaving an ever-growing dark stain on the floor. "My full name is Ian Jeremy Michaels," he stressed. "My grandfather is the Reverend Jeremy Colms."
"That's my father," Pauline whispered, and burst into tears.
"Mom! Ian!" Completely distressed, Wade picked up Ian's soda, dropped a cloth on the floor, grabbed a box of kleenex and steered Pauline to the living room where she was wiping her eyes. He looked at Ian, utterly confused, as his mother dabbed at her face with the kleenex and motioned for both of them to sit as she sat back on the couch.
"I can't believe it," she was saying. "I can't. But if there are two Reverend Jeremy Colms' in Cleveland, and if you aren't - if you aren't my sister's son, I'll eat my hat."
Wade dropped the kleenex box. "Ian is y'sister's son?!"
Ian, was to say, in a state of shock. "Mom's old photos, she had a picture... There was a picture... It said "Gwennie and Paulie" on the back, and it had some date, and it was Christmas... And it was of two girls... Mom never said who the other girl was... I thought it was a cousin or something..." he rambled. "... Aunt Pauline?"
"... my nephew. Ian." She stared, and then something close to a smile came to her face, eyes bright. "You and Wade and the twins are all cousins. You - do you have any siblings, honey?"
"-Cousins-?!"
"No, ma'am, I mean Aunt Pauline, I... I'm an only child... I'm.... I'm Wade's cousin?" he said, staring at the boy.
Wade looked as if all his Christmases had come at once, grabbing Ian in a huge bear hug. "We're cousins!"
The blonde wiped away another tear, staring in obvious amazement at the two. "I can't believe it," she repeated softly. "I just can't."
Ian suddenly snapped out of it, and bear hugged Wade right back. "I'm your cousin! I'm Danny and Simon's cousin! We're family. Man, this is the coolest thing, ever."
"How come you never -told- me about your sister?" Wade demanded, rounding on his mother. "I mean - why didn' Ian'n me grow up together? How come I have grandparents? You said they were dead!"
Pauline winced again. "Your grandpa's a preacher, honey. I loved him awfully but... well, I fell in love with a boy when I was sixteen who didn't quite make the cut. We eloped and I guess I made a black sheep of myself for a couple years. Then, when Marty and I divorced, I was too embarrassed to go back home. Didn't want to hear I-told-you-so's, I guess. I tried to contact Gwennie but... she moved. Michaels, did you say?" She brightened up, looking back at Ian. "Did Gwen marry Stephan?"
"Yes, ma'am, that's my dad!" beamed Ian. "Married him, moved to Baltimore when I was five or so. I moved to Roanoke, because they offered me a spot on the lacrosse team. Met your son as an English tutor, found that I liked him, became friends, and here I am. Your nephew. Want a hug?" he asked jovially. "And Wade, anytime you want, I'm takin' you to meet grandpa and grandma."
"That would be so cool."
"I would like a hug from my nephew, and I'd like to meet them myself," Pauline said wryly, then sat up straight. "Gwen? Gwennie lives in Roanoke?"
Ian went over and hugged his newfound aunt. "Well... mom and dad didn't move... Dad's job kept him in Baltimore, Vice President for some Ad Agency. But, mom comes down couple times a month for my lacrosse games," he said helpfully.
She shook her head in wonder, hugging him back. "I have a feeling we're going to have to have a few long talks about this, young man. And... I'd love to talk to your parents."
Ian went over to the table, took a pad of paper and pen, and scribbled down some phone numbers. "This's the home phone number, and this's dad's cell number, and this's the fax machine number," he said. "So, what do you want to know?" he grinned.
"Other than everything?" Pauline looked at the numbers like they were gold, and then at her son and Ian standing together. "Y'know, you two look awful alike."
Ian looked up at Wade, and looked him over. "He's too tall. And look at him; he's built like a tank. Ugly as sin, too," he said with a grin.
"Both of you are just ten shades of plain ugly, then."
"Mom!"
"Aunt Pauline!"
"Your grandma always taught me to tell the truth, boys," she said piously.
"As your older cousin," Ian said, turning to Wade, "I demand years of restitution. I should have been beating you up since third grade. I'll take it in home cooked meals, on Friday nights," he beamed.
"As your younger cousin, you kinda stiffed me nineteen years' worth of gifts so I wouldn' blackmail y'. I'll take it in icecream."
"And -I- missed out on nineteen years of showing you both pictures of the other running around naked in a backyard as toddlers," Pauline said cheerily. "Your penalty is to go out to dinner with me. I'll pick up groceries afterwards. What say you that we go pick up the twins and tell them the good news?"
"Fine, you'll get your ice cream. I hope you like mint-chocolate- chip. I'm good to go!" chirped Ian, turning his attention back to the woman. "This day rocks, Aunt Pauline. I can't wait to see the looks on Danny and Simon's faces."
"Me neither." Pauline looked wistful. "I hope Gwennie feels the way I do about this."
"I'm sure she'll be pleased as punch to see you," said Ian. "She's sure to have missed you."
"... I know I missed her. I'm... I'm honestly sorry you two never got the chance to grow up together. I can't believe she married Stephan! The stories I could tell you, Ian. My, she wanted to marry that boy since she was twelve - "
"Twelve, really?" grinned Ian. "Wish I could have grown up with Wade and Danny and Simon, too, but just be happy I finally found you."
"Me too, honey."
Wade waggled the car keys. "C'mon, you two. Let's go pick up Simon and Dan, huh? Then we can talk over dinner. I'm hungry."
"You're always hungry."
"Family trait," said Ian. "I'm always hungry, too."
"Makes sense. Daddy was a black hole."
"Come on, you two, let's go," said Ian. "We'll discuss family traits in the car. My `cycle isn't in the way, is it?"
"No. No, it's fine."
It was the most amazing thing, Pauline kept on reflecting, looking at both of the laughing young boys - men - in the back seat of her car. It was all too easy now to see similarities in the shape of their bones, the heavy lid of their eyes, that tilt to their noses. Wade's face was hopelessly his father's - strong jaw, where Ian had finer bones - but she could see their grandfather in both, and her sister in both.
Cousins. She'd moved to Roanoke to escape her marriage, a marriage used to escape her parents. She had done terribly wrong by all three of her boys by never letting them communicate with their family. They were a tiny splinter, dislocated enough. And Wade had been so miserable lately. Now he was actually smiling, all the way to his eyes, slow rumble of a voice venturing enough to talk to his cousin in teasing tones as the car moved on.
It is a small world, she decided. A wonderfully small world. Well, as her mother had said, all rivers did lead to the sea.