Tina Radcliffe - Oklahoma Reunion

It was not the answer Jenna wanted to hear.

Though it had been pouring since midnight, Kait wasn’t about to complain. The rain tapping against the bedroom window soothed her to sleep. It was the best sleep she’d had in a very long time.

As Jenna settled into the porch swing, rocking back and forth with a rhythmic squeak, Kait closed the screen. She wandered through the parlor to pick up her pile of papers before she made her way to the kitchen.

On a rainy day in the middle of the confusion her life had become, the century-old foursquare house was a haven, the kitchen her favorite room.

Kait inhaled. With the extra moisture in the air, it was possible to smell traces of the past—a hint of yeast and cornmeal mixed with the scent of cooking oil from the old deep fryer.

Elisi was still in this house. Kait had learned the Cherokee word for maternal grandmother when she was a child. In those days, this same house had been a magical place her parents took her to visit once a month. She never imagined she’d end up actually living here after her mother and her grandmother passed away.

Now the house was hers.

If she closed her eyes, she could easily imagine her grandmother standing at the stove stirring pepper pot soup for dinner and preparing traditional Cherokee fry bread.

Kait turned on the kitchen faucet. Water spit for several minutes before releasing a steady stream into the old porcelain sink. She filled a cast-iron pot halfway then heaved it onto the enormous white porcelain gas stove to boil.

Behind her in the pantry, a steady drip, drip, drip echoed into the air. Kait flipped on the light switch and discovered a puddle on the faded linoleum. A glance at the ceiling revealed a yellow circle where moisture dripped through and splashed to the cracked floor below.

“Great. Just great.” She lifted a dented tin kettle from a peg on the wall and placed it beneath the leak. Add this to her plumbing problems in the main bathroom and her list was growing.

Fortunately the dripping hadn’t come close to the shelves packed with jars of pepper jelly, fruit jams and vegetables.

She was grateful for a full pantry and a freezer stocked with home-baked casseroles. They would go a long way toward helping stretch her meager funds until the property sold. How she was going to pay the rent on the apartment back in Philly and manage the repairs on this house would be her next challenge.

Kait laughed. Life was never boring.

As she began to peel carrots for her and Jenna’s own pepper pot soup, her cell phone began to ring. The number was all too familiar, and Kait couldn’t hold back a smile.

Molly Springer.

“Kaitey-girl, you’re back.”

“Oh, Molly, it’s so good to hear your voice.”

“How are you doing? How was the drive?”

“Not bad. Jenna talked for twelve hours straight. That’ll keep anyone alert.”

Molly laughed. “Good. Are you settled in?”

“Getting there. There’s a lot to do around here. My father apparently hadn’t done any repairs since my mother was alive.”

“I’ll help. I have plenty of grandchildren who can give you a hand. No worries.”

“You’ve already done so much. Thank you for filling the pantry and the refrigerator and for getting the electricity turned on for us.”

“My pleasure.”

Kait could almost see Molly’s contagious smile.

“So how are you doing, Kait?”

“Overwhelmed but okay.”

“It can’t be easy coming home to all these memories.”

Kait looked through the kitchen to the front door. Her very last memory of home was her father demanding she get out.

She released a shaky breath. “I’m a coward, Molly. I haven’t even been able to open his bedroom door yet.”

“All in good time.”

“But I wasn’t there for him.”

Molly made a scoffing noise. “The man shut you and your baby out. Remember? Because if you don’t, I surely do.”

“Why do I always think I should have found a way in?”

“ Please. Jack Field was bitter to the end. He refused a memorial service just to be stubborn.”

“I know you’re right, Molly. At least my head knows that, but …”

“But nothing. No condemnation. That is not what the good Lord wants.”

Kait took a deep breath.

“Now then, when do I get to see your little girl?” Excitement laced Molly’s words.

“She’s not so little, Molly. She’s grown since you visited us.”

“Have you told Ryan yet?”

Silent, Kait stared at the bubbles rising and sinking in the cast-iron pot.

“You have to tell him. His mother’s threats can’t touch you anymore.”

“I know. And I will.” Kait exhaled. “ I will. That’s why I’m here. Finding a segue in a conversation to tell a man he has a child—well, that’s not going to be easy.”

“None of this is easy. But you did the right thing. You kept your baby. Now give your daughter a family. It’s time.”

Kait nodded, though Molly couldn’t see the gesture.

“Oh, and I have the youngest grandkids here for fall break. Does Jenna want to run around with us, maybe later this week? Go to the zoo?”

“I’m sure she’d love to,” Kait said.

“How long will you be here?”

“I only have over three weeks of vacation time accumulated.”

“Oh, that will never do,” Molly admonished. “We’re going to talk about that.”

Kait was still laughing when she said goodbye and put down the phone.

“Look what I found, Momma.”

Kait turned. Jenna stood in the doorway holding a drenched gray tabby against her sweatshirt. “Where did you find a kitten?”

“Under the porch.”

Kait moved to her daughter and gently pushed back Jenna’s wet bangs. “Jen, you’re almost as soaked as this poor little kitty.”

“I was sitting out there reading and I heard her cry. It took me forever to get her to come close enough to pull her out.”

“She’s bleeding.” Kait wiped her hands on her jeans and inspected the animal’s torn ear. “Poor little thing must have been hiding from her attacker.”

“Can we keep her?”

Moistening a kitchen towel, Kait gently applied a corner of fabric to the animal’s ear. She grabbed another towel to wrap around the kitten. “Jen, why don’t you change into dry clothes?”

“But can we keep her?”

Easing the shivering ball of fur into her arms, Kait looked at her daughter. “She might belong to someone.”

“I can put up signs. If no one claims her, then we can keep her, right, Momma?”

Kait hesitated.

“Please?”

“Maybe.” Maybe? Had she really said maybe? That was as good as a yes to her daughter.

Jenna’s face glowed.

How could she deny this one request? They’d lived in a tiny apartment without so much as a goldfish all Jenna’s life. Kait didn’t have the heart to refuse a simple thing like a stray kitten. For once, she wouldn’t be practical and hoped it wouldn’t become a habit. She’d worry about how they were going to pay for the pet deposit at their apartment back home later.

“Do you think she’s hungry?”

“Honey, go change. We’re going to have to get this baby to a vet. Right away. Then we can stop and get cat food.”

“Ryan is a vet. I heard him say so.”

Yes. He was a vet. Kait slowly inhaled and exhaled. Why was it that she had only been back in Granby a few days and circumstances kept conspiring to put her and Jenna in the path of Ryan Jones?

“Momma?”

“Go change, and I’ll get directions.”

Oklahoma State University College of Veterinary Medicine. Kait inspected the framed certificates on the wall. She smiled, so very proud that Ryan had gone after his dreams.