Previously, the Callahan home, Sunday Night...

Michael touched the girl’s cheek and guided her to pull up closer. Caden crawled up Michael’s body and was met with the one kiss that would surpass what had only moments before been supreme. She spoke as she kissed, her words still heard even as her lips brushed hard against Caden’s “I love you….I love you.” She pulled back and placed her hand on Caden’s head guiding her to the notch between her left breast and arm; inviting the girl to feel the warmth and safety and security that was made for her before the foundation of the earth; a gift of each girl to the other from a loving God. Caden kept repeating,

Michael cried softly as the warmth of the girl's body carried her away to dreams of marble halls and gowns and soft breezes on a warm summer night.

Newark Airport, the following morning, December 29...
Michael and Caden stood at the gate waiting for the door to open. A moment later a flight attendant shoved the door aside and they saw Linda pushing a wheelchair. Katie spotted them and waved vigorously as they approached.

“Well, I’m back,” Katie said with a lilting laugh as she quoted Tolkien. She was finished with her quest; a brave journey that was destined to come to an end soon. She had fought the good fight, as they say, but her body wasn’t strong enough to continue the battle without some miracle.

The trip from the airport was only slightly awkward as Linda engaged Caden in conversation the entire time; more out of a sense of protecting her mother from being overwhelmed after the flight than a worry about the girl. Caden proved to be dutifully curious about details of Michael’s childhood, and being in the back of the minivan while Katie had slept didn’t hurt either.

Hours later....

When is the hour at the end of the day
That we must take the time to pray?
And certain song our hearts do say
Our children had a better life todayl

“Mom….” Michael stood at the bedroom door as her mother sat in bed, reading a copy of A Ritual Bath.*** She looked up and smiled.

“Come in, honey. Can’t sleep either?” At four in the morning, they were still awake even though the house was warm and toasty and all of them were exhausted after talking for a few hours once they arrived back at the house. Katie patted the bed and Michael walked over. She went to sit down, but Katie shook her head.

“Nope…Momma needs some cuddle time.” She pointed to the bed and scooted over, making room in front of her for Michael to lie down. She pulled her daughter close and squeezed tight; the one thing the girl had never been able to resist. She wanted to turn her head around, but Katie had started to rub her shoulder; an action that had the same effect every single time. The girl began to cry quietly while Katie whispered softly in her ear,

“Ssshhhhhh…..my baby….” At nearly twenty seven, she was hardly a baby, but she’d always be ‘my baby’ to Katie; a fact that made their brief estrangement all the more painful only a few years before. The return of acceptance and love by her mother was met at first with tentative half-fear and cautious trust that eventually gave way to faith as Katie and Michael’s dad both proved how sorry they had been for rejecting her. And now that they had finally repaired the breach, Katie was leaving. Almost like being rejected once again, especially coupled with her father’s death not long before.

“It’s not fair, Mom…it just isn’t fair.” Only days before, Michael had served as the comfort when Caden lost her own mother, but now was almost inconsolable even though Katie Callahan still tenaciously drew breath. She almost flinched as Katie leaned close; her arms, weak as they had become, still proved to be too strong for Michael to resist. She turned around and buried her face in Katie’s shoulder and sobbed.

“Darlin? My mother used to say that all the time… But my darling daughter? There isn’t any such thing as fair. It just is what it is. No cosmic scale balancing out things. If that had been the case, I suppose we’d all be living in our own private hell. But we make choices, sweetie, even in the midst of pain we can choose to live, aye?” Katie Callahan seemed to return to her Irish roots when she had gotten sick; an émigré from Roscommon at the age of fourteen, she had met Michael’s dad when he was at the police academy. Two daughters plus a terrific son-in-law and two grandchildren and then a widow, she had gotten a ‘second wind’ of faith in her battle with cancer. And she knew that she knew that she’d be ‘okay,’ as she’d tell everyone who would listen. It made little difference to Michael, since she felt all alone.

“Mom…I don’t know what to do…” She choked back a sob.

“I’m still here, honey. I’m not going anywhere for a bit,” Katie said it as if her passing was scheduled like a mid-week appointment with her hairdresser. She stroked the girl’s face softly.

“You want advice or opinion?” Michael shrugged her shoulders; any words from her mother would have been welcome.

“Advice is cheap, and unnecessary, since you already know what you need. So my opinion is that this girl seems to make you…happy.” It hardly seemed that Katie would have known Caden enough to formulate any opinion about the girl, but she continued,

“I saw the way you looked at her when she was talking with Linda at the airport. I’ve never seen you look like that at anyone, honey. And she just hangs on every word you speak.” Her words evoked a slight smile from Michael and she braved the next few words knowing that they needed to be said.

“If I wasn’t going anywhere, I’d still be nodding and smiling at the two of you. You hardly know the girl and yet you and she behave so comfortably around each other; like you’ve known her all along. She’s special to you.” That word, ‘special,’ seemed to hit a raw nerve with Michael. She recalled all the times her mother’s friends would make an issue of how ‘special’ she was after she and Rosa Pentangellis were caught making out after field hockey practice in High School. And now…how would she ‘explain’ how ‘special’ Caden was? What could she say? Katie made it easy for her.

“Honey…I know about Caden. She and I had a talk when you nodded off in the recliner. I know what happened between her and her mom, and it’s so sad….” Katie’s voice trailed off when it came to her in mid-sentence just how much Michael and Caden had in common.

“I don’t want you to go, Mom…please don’t go?” It was almost a foolish childish plea, but it was also a prayer. Katie looked at her daughter and smiled.

“Honey? I don’t have any control over what happens. Either my body is going to do what it needs to do or it won’t. I want to stay around just as much as you want me to. Maybe a bit more, aye?” She seemed to grow stronger, and she nodded her head as if she was agreeing with what she was about to say.

“I’m hanging around just as long as God allows me, and I’m not going to spend it tucked away in a room in a bed.

“We’re going to have a nice time getting to know each other, sweetie. I’m not too well-versed on what’s allowed, but I know that someday it will be okay, aye?”

“I don’t understand, Mom?” Michael’s eyes widened in confusion.

“Well, child, I do know things move exceedingly slow, especially in New Jersey, but until things change, I suppose I’ll just have to be content with what does work.” Michael’s expression didn’t change and Katie smiled, a soft laugh escaping her lips.

“I might not be able to see my baby girl get married, but that doesn’t mean I can’t welcome my new daughter into the family, aye?”

Now is the hour at the end of the day
That we must take the time to pray
And certain song our hearts do say
Our children had a better life today
Our song and dance will bring us peace today

Next: Arrivals and Departures - Finale!

*You're beautiful. I'm in love with you.

**My pulse, my heart

*** The Ritual Bath by Faye Kellerman

A Celtic Prayer
words and music by
David Agnew
as performed by
Méav Ná­ Mhaolchatha
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FO2J2EI2FI