A Second Meeting

Pru sat at the kitchen table musing over her steaming cup of English tea, her sturdy Stoneware mug held tightly in her trembling hands. The pleasant aroma of baking bread lent a portion of peace to her anxious state, as did the familiar comforts of her relaxing home. Staring at the photograph on the table, she scanned every line of the handsome face once again as she had so many times in the last day or two. She was perplexed by the emotions rising up inside of her every time she looked at it, uncertainty being at the top of the list, if she was to make a list. She almost spilled her tea as the doorbell shrilled startling her out of her poignant reverie. Picking up the photograph from the kitchen table she hurried to the front door only to realize that she didn't want to be caught clutching the photograph so she slipped it behind the flowers in the hall before opening the door.

"Oh, Margie, I am so glad you came." She said, nearly falling into her best friend's arms as she opened the door wide in welcome. "I've never been so glad to see you, I am falling apart."

"Of course I came, I'm only a phone call away. Now what time will he be here?"

"He said early morning, what time is it now?"

"Only 8:30 a.m. I am sure he meant 9:30 or 10. Where was he driving from?"

"I don't know, he said 40 miles but I didn't get any details, where he is coming from or anything, just that he would be here this morning sometime. What a dope, I don't even have a phone number to call him back if he doesn't show up. Margie, I'm nervous, what if he doesn't like me?" Pru said, the lines in her forehead creasing her worried face.

"He'll like you, stop it, he isn't coming here to reject you," Marge answered. "Did you talk on the phone, or, was it only on the Internet?"

"Mostly on the internet, but then on the telephone last night. He sent the photograph on the Internet earlier this week and I have been falling apart ever since. Is my hair okay? What about this dress, is it too bright?" She said looking down at the dress with its red and brown swirls.

"Maybe when he meets me he will change his mind, that can happen you know."

"Pru, really, stop this. Take a deep breath, calm down and enjoy this. It is a wonderful opportunity to get to know someone who could end up being the most important person in your life. And, if it doesn't work out, what have you lost, at least you made the best of an opportunity like this?"

Pru moved back into the kitchen and took her seat at the table, then nervously shifted about, still feeling stressed, stomach churning. "Tell me the truth, do I look like an old lady?"

Margie smiled, "You look fine, your hair is great, and the dress is lovely."

Pru got up and started to pace, "I don't think I can do this, I'm about to be nauseous and my heart's pounding out of my chest. I might have a heart attack; I need more time to prepare for this. I'm not ready!"

"You are more than ready, and from what I am smelling you have been up baking instead of sleeping. It does smell wonderful though. Now calm down and show me this photograph you have been talking about."

"Oh dear, the photograph, now where did I put it?" she said, frantically searching the kitchen for it. "I thought I had it in here when I was drinking my tea and then where did I put it?" She scurried about and then she smiled, "Oh yes, it is in the hallway, you have some of this tea and I'll get it."

Margie poured herself some tea and checked on the baking bread, which looked ready to come out of the oven. She retrieved the oven mitt and put the bread out to cool turning off the oven before sitting at the table to sip her tea. Pru was normally the most organized friend she had, so seeing her in a dither was a new experience for Margie.

Pru sat at the table and handed Margie the snapshot, "Can you believe somebody like that could be anything to me, or find me interesting in any way?"

"Oh my" Margie said as she studied it. "He looks like a movie star, Wow, I bet women chase him all over the place."

"Well if it wasn't for the Internet I never would have found him, that's for sure. I guess you can find anything you are looking for on there if you are persistent enough. Believe me I was, it was too important not to be."

"Everything certainly looks lovely in here." Margie's eyes traveled from the open kitchen and dining area into the neat, orderly living room with its comfortable sophistication. The blue and white accents gave it a Newport feel but comfort was the overriding impression. She always admired her friends decorating skill and the open layout of her small home.

"Thank you for coming over today, I don't know how I would have done this alone, I was so apprehensive just considering it. How will I ever repay you for this?"

"I'm not just your business partner, you know, I am your friend and always will be. I know you would be there for me if I needed anything at all." Pru's eyes widened as the doorbell once more chimed. She trembled so much she was unable to make her legs move. Margie got up and went toward the entry way.

"Wait, how do I face him, he has traveled here just to meet me, he could end up really disappointed."

"Pru you are as ready as you will ever be, he will love you, what's not to love? I'll get the door, you compose yourself." With that Marge winked at Pru then walked to the front door and swung it open.

"Pru?" the handsome young man said.

"No, I'm not Pru, I'm Margie her business partner, and you must be Mark, I've heard all about you." She said shaking his hand and noting the firm handshake "We have been waiting for you. My, you are a striking looking young man, please come this way." Margie's smile lit up her face as she led him to the living room where Pru was sitting on the overstuffed white couch.

"Mark this is Pru," she said motioning toward Pru who gasped at his resemblance to his father. Memories came rushing into Pru's mind as she stood and they quickly hugged each other, both of them tentative and shaky. Instincts she had internalized poured from her when she realized he was as emotional over this reunion as she was. She wanted to protect him and make him comfortable, she realized they were the feelings of love any mother has for her child. She hadn't seen his face in 29 years, and yet it was a day!

Hugging him closer unbidden tears began to flow from her gentle brown eyes and down her cheeks. "I'm sorry," she said her voice trembling, "I didn't want to cry." Then she noticed the tears in his eyes and patted his hand trying to reassure him.

"I have dreamed of this moment your whole life, imagined you at every age and on every one of your birthdays," she said.

"Yes, I have thought of you every year on my birthdays too." His voice was strong and clear. She could tell that in other situations he would be the type of man who would be confident and in control. But right now she sensed that he needed her approval maybe more than she needed his and it took away much of her nervousness as her overriding desire became to comfort him. With no experience at mothering the need to put her child first swamped her.

Margie quietly left the room. "You look like your father," Pru said. "He was the most attractive man I ever knew." Looking at his eyes she noticed they were the same sparkling azure blue eyes she remembered John having, his hair the same sandy blond, and he had the same aura of competence, but he was taller, his nose thinner and his smile more quirky than John's.

"You know I'm usually not speechless but I don't know what to say. I'm glad we found each other, more than you can possibly imagine." He took her hand and held it tightly. "I had a good life with good parents, but somehow I needed to find you, needed to know who you were and the need was so great I began to spend every waking hour searching.

The smell of fresh brewed coffee drifted through from the kitchen where Margie was obviously working. Pru could hear the coffee brewing and she did not have to glance into the kitchen to know her friend would soon produce strong coffee for the good-looking young man with the unusual blue eyes. Pru moved to a small desk in the living room and picked up several small black and white photographs. "I, uhm, thought you would like to have this, it's a photograph of your dad. Your eyes are so like his, the same startling blue." She said, as she handed it to him and then stepped back and watched the intense interest on his face while he studied the photo seeing for the very first time the father he had only previously imagined.

"You may keep that; he was just sixteen there. Here are two more photos; one of me at that age, and this one is of you, taken just after your birth. It was the last time I ever saw you." She said, her eyes once more filling with tears as he studied the grainy black and white photo of a sad teenager holding a very small newborn baby in her arms.

"After giving you up, the pain of being apart from you ate away at me. I often thought of you, I stared at women with their babies and shed cruel, jealous tears; heartbroken, regretting my part in the decision that was made. My mother said it was more loving to give you to a good family than to raise you alone with no job and no prospects or skills. I thought I should have fought harder to keep you. I have been searching for you too."

Just then Margie came in to the living room and sat a tray on the coffee table. On the tray was fresh coffee, hot bread, and jam. She poured a cup of coffee for Mark and then once again quietly left the room.

Picking up the mug of warm coffee, Mark looked into Pru's eyes and whispered "We have all been backed into corners where we did what we had to do, retrospection is useless so let go of the hurt, it is past and now we have this opportunity to get to know one another." It is a strange feeling, as if we had never been apart, had always known each other. It is as if we are linked in some way, since the first day I spoke with you, I have felt more complete somehow."

They were the words Pru dreamed of hearing for 29 years, she embraced her son once more as joyful, contented tears flowed down her cheeks. She looked around her cozy house and for the first time she felt truly at home, a great weight had been lifted from her. After all, it is people, not buildings, which make a home and now this home would shine with the love it was meant to hold. He was a grown man with his own life to lead but he would know that this would always be his home and a secure place to come when he needed her love and support. She looked at him as he once again studied the photographs, and smiled. Blue smiling eyes looked into brown smiling eyes and hope for the future filled the air mixing with love, and expectation for happiness to come.