Twice in a Lifetime  an anthology of sequels to Chances Are

 
From Melina’s Chance

“You have a daughter, Nicko. I think you should take the time to get to know her. She works harder than your sons ever did combined. And she loves you. After all that you’ve shown her? After the teasing and the hitting and the insults? She loves you, Nicko. Your sister still loves you, but you won’t have her. Make room in your heart before it’s too late. I can never hold my Alexandra…ever again. Hold her while you have a chance, my friend.” Alex stood up and patted his friend on the shoulder before walking toward the door.

He smiled and helped his daughter Ariadne to her feet. Ari in turn stood and waited while Stephanie Elias made her way out of the booth. And finally, needing a lot of assistance was a very sweet Emo Girl with a face streaked with makeup from crying; Melina Macros stepped gingerly out of the booth and to the door. She waved to Helen who just sighed as her daughter walked out of the restaurant with her friends. And Nicko sat at his booth still shaking his head.

Hawthorne, New Jersey, Christmas Eve, several years later...

“Mel?” The voice called from the bedroom. Melina turned and walked down the hallway. She heard her name, but any attempt to hold a conversation with three rooms between them under the best of circumstances would have been difficult at best. And even now, things were getting more difficult in some ways though ever better in others.

“Yes?” She poked her head into the bedroom doorway, finding her bride lying on the bed in a come hither pose. Stephanie patted the bed and waved in beckon to Melina. She walked over and stood. A smile was met by warm and caring hands pulling her down on the bed, and quickly following the embrace with an even warmer kiss.

“We have some time, you know.” Stephanie grinned and pointed to the clock CD player sitting on the night stand. Three O’Clock; their guests weren’t due for another two hours, and even at that, at least one of the four would arrive late anyway, if at all. Dinner was going to be simple; intention to detail would be focused solely on the company and the hope of some interaction between both sets of parents. Actually the interaction would hopefully be between three and one, since it was the estrangement that they had hoped to at least bring to some tentative conclusion.

“I’m scared, Steph,” Melina said as she mumbled between kisses. Undaunted, Stephanie continued to keep her focus and continued to kiss Melina. The attention was greeted with a different if understandable reaction than what Stephanie had hoped for as Melina began to sob. Sometimes even the kindest and most assuring acceptance can be trumped by past hurts and rejection.

“It’s okay, honey. It’s okay.” Stephanie continued to kiss Melina, but with much greater attention; redoubling her efforts. Soon the two lay side by side; spooning they used to call it. Melina’s sobs had subsided to soft weeping as Stephanie etched hearts and ‘I love you’ on Melinas’s back with her nails. A bit playful perhaps, but necessary for both of them given the evening they had in front of them.

It would be nice to spend time with Stephanie’s parents, of course. Melina loved her mother and welcomed any time together with her, but considering the circumstances for both her and Helen, it would be difficult at best. That they had chosen to reach out to Melina’s father once again after three years was going to prove the most difficult.

Too many old hurts mixed with too many new challenges; not a very appetizing menu for a Christmas Eve dinner. They could only do what they had done all along; hope and pray, since Nicko had been estranged from his wife and daughter for nearly four years. How they managed to get him to agree to a visit remained a mystery even though it seemed that he was eager if completely out of character in insisting that he indeed would attend dinner.

Melina and Stephanie had so much to share with Stephanie’s parents and with Helen Constantanopolous. What Nicko had to share with all of them would change their lives forever.

December 27….

New Years being just around the corner, so to speak, Melina and Stephanie were finalizing plans for the holiday. While both would have preferred to have Helen join them ringing in the New Year with Stephanie’s family, the dreaded day approached with Melina understandably anxious over the hope that the family would be finally reconciled. And of course his not-surprising absence at Christmas left Mel wondering if her father would show up at all. Just what Nicko had to share with her and her mother was enough to foster worrisome speculation. Stephanie could do only so much to assure Mel that things would be okay. And with the anticipated continued absence of her brothers, Mel felt that she and Helen would be left alone to face one more disappointment.

The doorbell rang; Stephanie had her hands full with a basket of laundry and she shouted from the back bedroom.

“Mel? Would you get that?” Melina pushed the cat off her lap; his claws stuck to her jeans and she practically dragged him to the front door. She opened it to find two familiar faces.

“Hey….” The young man waved weakly from behind his older brother. Nick remained silent and nodded with a half-smile.

“Oh….” Melina bit her lip. Since college her brothers had maintained an all-too-infrequent connection with her; mostly due to the pull of their own lives The two turned to each other and frowned; an sadly anticipated reaction by the girl at the door fueled by their protracted absence in her life. Chris stepped out from behind Nick and opened his arms, begging for a forgiving hug. Melina pulled back a bit, only to bump into Stephanie.

“I’m sorry, Mel,” Chris said with a shrug; as if just showing up at her door would heal so many years of neglect and absence, no matter what the excuse. Nick put his hand out.

“We are both sorry….I’m sure Pete would say the same thing if he was here. Pete had been the only one in frequent contact with Melina even though his deployment kept him away half-way around the globe.

“Why don’t you two come in and we can have some coffee, okay?” Stephanie said as she squeezed Melanie around the shoulders.

“Yes…c…come in.” It hardly seemed fair. When she and Stephanie wed, no one from the family besides their mother Helen attended. It was a heartbreak for Melina since she had hoped at least to see her brothers wish her and Steph well. And of course she held out no hope whatsoever that her father would give anything but an angry curse to them. She sighed at the memory of the biggest disappointment in her life.

“Mel?” Nick actually stooped a bit lower and looked up into his sister’s face like when they were little. Always the baby in the family when the word ‘baby’ was almost an insult. The little boy who didn’t fit into his own family had become the younger sister they never knew they had despite her sad, frequent pleas.

“What?” She had begun to cry; their sudden return into her life was disconcerting at best, and it was too hard to reconcile the hurt so quickly.

“I am so sorry.” Nick bit his lip; even with all the teasing within the family, he had been her protector from the bullying and taunting from the neighborhood kids. Yanni Macros was the baby brother Nick remembered even as he stood face-to-face with the younger girl everyone else seemed to recognize. However ironic the name calling had been, Yanni had always been Melina in a way. Somewhere between then and now, a young woman had finally begun her life, and it was literally better late than never that the two oldest Macros children came to realize that.

“I…I know.” She reached out and grabbed Nick’s hand and pulled him close.

“Please….for…forgive me?” The words were hesitant; not because of conviction, since Nick was very much convinced of how awful he had been to his sister. He just didn’t feel that he deserved forgiveness. Grace was very infrequently and sparingly offered to all of the Macros children and to their mother. Nicko Macros was at least judicious in this manner; he gave as much grace to his family as his father had given to him; perhaps more. And in a world of dysfunction, any improvement is considered good, however small.

“Y…yes….” She pulled him close and buried her face in his shoulder. She had worshipped her brothers like many children do; the betrayal all the more painful for the loss of relationship with someone she believed loved her. He did, as did Chris and Pete never stopped loving her. Chris stepped close and reached around Nick, touching Mel’s hand. She blindly grasped his hand and squeezed tight; that signal that forgiveness was never to be reserved and was offered freely.

“Why don’t you guys sit down in the living room and I’ll just put on a pot of coffee, okay?” Steph said as she ushered the three over to the couch. Nick stepped back and sat down on the old rocker facing the couch, leaving Chris to sit next to Mel. Even in the midst of reconciliation, Nick was once again abdicating any responsibility; leaving the comforting hugs to his younger brother. He seemed completely satisfied with himself until Steph walked in with a tray with four mugs of tea. She placed the tray on the coffee table and pulled a dining room chair into the living room; sitting down next to Nick.

“Join the party, pal!” She said with a laugh. He turned to her and she grinned a toothy grin and pointed to the two on the couch. What tension remained seemed to dissipate quickly as Mel spoke.

“I’m still angry, Nick. Chris.” Chris seemed almost put out since he was the one who had offered a conciliatory hug.

“I thought you said you forgave us,” Chris asked as he shook his head in disbelief.

“Yes…but I’m still angry. I could have understood if you had at least said you couldn’t come. You never once told me you were upset with…..” She practically glared at Nick. Chris turned away, as if by diverting his attention to the attractive vase of daisies sitting on the kitchen table he would somehow drift away from the conversation. Mel turned to him once again and grabbed his arm.

“No, Chris. This isn’t something you can just nod and say…okay; now that that’s over we can move on!’ He turned to face her and found her sporting a half-smile. She didn’t want to stay angry, but he had to know how much disappointment he and Nick had practically ignored for the past several years.

“Steph and I are okay. I’m not happy with what you did to me and her, but I’m a big girl.” She bit her lip in thought even as the irony seemed to sink in. Chris laughed and she shook her head with a bit of a glare.

“I mean it, Chris. It’s Mommy you owe the apology to. Your presence here is…well it’s enough for now to begin to fix things, but it’s not just going to be all rosy now that you’ve decided we don’t have the plague. Mommy was so hurt. It wasn’t just my wedding …our wedding you missed. It was …It felt…” Melina began to tear up and Stephanie took over.

“Helen cried over your absence. It felt like you took sides. You didn’t have to stay away. Unless you actually agreed with your father about Mel.” She paused and turned to face Nick. His face had grown red and he was looking down at the floor. Chris wore a nearly identical expression.

“You DID agree with him. What a couple of….” Now it was Stephanie’s turn to be angry. Melina had pulled away slightly from Chris and was sitting back with her arms folded around her in a self-hug. She stood up and walked to Chris. Grabbing him by the hand she spoke.

“Get up. Come on.”

“What…you want us to leave?”

“No…I just want you to get up.” She shook her head and looked over at Nick.

“Go sit by your brother.” She pushed him almost gently toward Nick, sitting down where Chris had been only seconds before. She grabbed Melina’s hand and squeezed.

“I’ve only met the two of you a handful of times. It strikes me that you’re fairly reasonably intelligent young men. So how is it that in growing up with a mother like Helen and a brother like Pete and a sister…” she paused for effect and began again, repeating herself.

“With a sister like Mel here and you two turned out to be such jerks. Oh…yeah… the Macros family business.

“Restaurants?”

“No…. unrealistic expectations! You guys are just like your Dad. I’ve only met him once. If looks could kill I would have been the star corpse on CSI: Bergen County. The only redeeming part of the whole thing is that if I’d been a guy he still would have hated me because he still hates Mel so much. Which is why what you two did hurts even more.”

“We don’t hate you,” Chris said, turning to Nick for approval. Nick shook his head with a half-frown as if to say ‘of course we don’t.’

“I…We know. That’s what makes it hurt so much. You should know what’s what, but you both decided that it was better to placate the father that treated you all like you were employees than love your own sister.”

“I do love Mel.” Nick said with a sigh; almost an angry protest by an innocent man.

“Really?” Mel snapped at him but softened just a bit.

“How many times have you called me Yanni… ‘Just kidding.’ Just kidding? You can’t know how much that hurts.”

“You know I’m teasing, right?” Nick half-smiled in accomplishment.

“Really? No kidding.” Stephanie rolled her eyes and went on.

“It’s hard enough to get any affirmation anywhere, and your own sister has to practically beg for you to be kind. When your father makes a point in the very few times he’s spoken to us to call her his son? So, yeah. She’s knows you’re kidding. We just can’t figure out it hasn’t sunk in for the two of you how much it hurts her.” She patted Melina on the arm, prompting the girl to speak.

“I know you love me, Nick…Chris… But there’s loving someone and really showing that. You want to make Daddy happy. And what has that gotten you? Is he proud of you? Nick? You started your own catering business. And Chris? What about you?” She faced him and he put his head down once again.

“You’re married to a very nice girl with the only Macros grandchild…granddaughter, right? You’re a successful lawyer in Newark? Got that big house in Essex Fells? Daddy ever say he was proud of you? Or is it just another chance to fall just short of what he never even told you he expected?” Mel eyed the mug in front of her. Stephanie grabbed her hand and whispered.

“Honey….you can do this.*” She made a point to place the mug of tea in both of Melina’s hands, urging her to take a sip.

“You’re right. I don’t know what it will take to make him happy.” Nick shook his head. It wasn’t a time for maudlin reflection or sentimentality. Tears came to his eyes as he looked back and forth between Stephanie and Melina. Angry, self-remonstrative crying while offering tears that helped clarify what he already knew.

“Nothing makes him happy. I…I don’t think….”

“I’m so sorry,” Chris spoke up. His eyes had welled up a bit, but he spoke with a confidence rarely shown to his family.

“How fucking stupid. What a waste of time. He arose and patted Nick on the back before stepping closer to the couch. Stooping down, he pushed the coffee table aside and leaned close to hug Mel.

“I am so sorry,” he said, repeating himself. If his earlier apology was entirely self-serving, this one was authentic. No regrets merely to not be in trouble with his sister, but a real heart-rending understanding of just how sadly foolish he and Nick had been. And that meant to his mother and perhaps even Pete. The two would soon find out just how much Pete had been hurt as well. As much promise of a crying fest that gesture might have meant, it was brought home, so to speak, with serious clarity as Stephanie spoke.

“So what do we do about this, guys? I mean…you’re not alone in this. We’re not expecting you to fix this on your own, but if this family is going to get right somehow, what do we do?” Mel turned to Stephanie and practically beamed. It was comforting; encouraging in fact, to know that Stephanie felt as much a part of her family as she did. What is that old expression? She that findeth a wife findeth a good thing? In New Jersey of all places.

Nick breathed out a sigh of relief before waving to the three across the room.

“First thing? Chris and I … We should go see Mommy.”

He shook his head. Better late than never is small compensation when you realize it’s your own fault that things were frightfully delayed. His face was red; not guilt-ridden shame, but rightfully ashamed at his behavior toward his sister and his mother. He stood enough to sit down next to Melina, looking a bit nervous until Stephanie reached across Melina’s lap and squeezed his hand.

“No…You two and we two will go see Mommy together.” Mel brightened at Stephanie’s words; the idea they would all begin to reconcile as family was heartening, but hearing Stephanie use the word ‘Mommy’ as an endearment was just plain nice.

Willow Creek Townhomes, Fairlawn, New Jersey…the following day….

Five adults stood crowded on the front steps of Helen’s townhouse. Nonee Macros held baby Kyra in her arms as Melina hugged her shoulders. Stephanie stood behind the two, a figurative support for the siblings as Chris and Nick stood in front of the door. After a sharp knock, they stepped back a little, waiting for Helen to answer. A moment later she opened the door. A look of sad confusion seemed to almost cover her face.

“Oh…hi…” she said quietly, as if a visit from Chris and Nick was commonplace. She turned and walked back to the couch and sat down. She looked away for a moment as they all ushered through the front door and into the living room. She looked at Nick; practically shrugging her shoulders at his presence as her mind seemed almost distant.

“Mom? What’s wrong?” Melina said as she sat down on the couch next to Helen. Her mother turned to her and sighed before security of her daughter’s love gave her permission to break down.

“Oh….honey….I….” She gasped and then sat upright, collecting herself.

“I just….just got off the phone with your Aunt Kallie….Your….”

“Daddy?” Chris said; the boy of twelve asserting himself in the adult at the anticipation of bad news of his father. Helen shook her head, and everyone knew immediately what the gesture meant, but it took Stephanie to speak it.

“He’s gone, right?” Helen looked up into Stephanie’s eyes and nodded as tears came to her own. She fell into Melina’s embrace and began to sob softly. Stephanie walked into the kitchen and a few minutes came back.

“I put on some coffee.” She walked over and grabbed the remote and turned the cable to a quiet music channel before turning down the volume to a soft whisper. Walking over to Nonee, she held out her arms and her sister-in-law handed Kyra to her before walking over to embrace Chris as he sobbed in her arms. Nick stood alone before Stephanie walked up and rubbed his arm. He put his hand to his face and began to cry as he spoke.

“I …why am I so …he was such a….” He paused, not wanting to speak aloud anything that would hurt his mother.

“Because he was your father. I don’t know why else, but you miss….” Stephanie hadn’t meant to take charge, but she was just enough detached to be the strong one and just enough included to know she could. She leaned closer.

“You miss the things that were good and maybe you miss the things that never were? It’s okay to be sad, Nick. You don’t have to stay angry at him…especially now.” She turned to Melina and Helen and back.

“Time enough to sort things out. It’s okay.” She pulled the baby over to her other arm and leaned close, kissing Nick on the cheek.

“Go ahead, bro. It’s alright.” The few last words were enough as Nick leaned close to Stephanie and began to sob. As she consoled him she looked back to see Melina staring at them; a tearful smile had emerged as she nodded back at her spouse in pride.

“She that findeth a wife......”

to be concluded...