“Why are you making it?” Aaron asked. “That’s a girl’s job.”

Carrie and Genie exchanged a look. Genie signed, Aaron gets oatmeal for a week. Carrie smiled and signed agreement. Aaron hated oatmeal. Mom said the boy-girl thing he was into was just a phase, but it seemed like a long phase.

“No, no, it’s not a girl’s job,” Dad said. “When you and Troy are a little older, you’ll learn to cook, too. Boys have to be able to take care of themselves. You might not always have a girl in the house to cook for you.” He paused, then said, “Go on, go upstairs before Mom gets up. Hurry. Stay up there with her-it’s your job to make sure she doesn’t get up before we bring breakfast to her.”

The girls waited for the boys to go upstairs before they entered the kitchen. Dad was washing a small bowl at the sink. When he saw them he wished them a good morning and told them his breakfast-in-bed plan. Although he was trying to act cheerful, Carrie could see that he was still just as upset as he had been earlier this morning, when they sat on the stairs together.

Carrie suddenly thought of Uncle Dex, and wondered if Dad was doing this to make Mom like him again.

“How can we help?” Carrie asked.

“Would you please make some eggs and bacon? You know how Mom likes them.”

“Sure. Over medium.”

“I’ll make some toast,” Genie said.

“Thank you, girls.”

“What’s this for?” Genie asked, holding up a stalk of celery.

“Oh, for the special drink I’m making her.”

“Celery juice?” Genie said with disgust.

He laughed. “No, no. A Bloody Mary-a type of one, anyway. One without alcohol in it.”

“Bloody Mary? Like the queen?” Carrie asked.

“Yes, although I don’t think she actually had anything to do with the drink.”

“What queen?” Genie asked.

History was one of Carrie’s strongest subjects. “She was the queen of England. Mary Tudor, daughter of Henry the Eighth and Catherine of Aragon. Queen Mary I.” She began to tell the tale of how the queen got her nickname. It was a good and comfortable thing to do, to talk about history, even sad history. She noticed that Genie and Dad seemed to relax, hearing her little kitchen lesson. Genie asked questions, and Dad did, too. They could forget about any problems or worries they had right now and concentrate on the troubles of people who lived centuries ago. History was something she knew, something certain-or so it seemed, even though Grandfather told her that history changed depending on who told it. She could understand that.

She fell silent, thinking that maybe her father-Mr. Ives, if he was her father-might have one version of history to tell and her mom another. More than what was in the newspaper. She would have to listen to both versions. And to Dad’s, too.

Genie glanced at Carrie in concern, then asked Dad about the Bloody Mary drink. When he told her the ingredients, she said, “That sounds weird.”

“Mom will think of it as a special treat.”

Something about that upset him again. Even Genie noticed that. She looked at Carrie and quickly signed, What’s wrong with Dad?

Carrie made the sign for mother and left it at that.

Carrie was making up the tray, which usually only got used if someone was sick and couldn’t get out of bed, or on Mother’s Day or Father’s Day.

Genie said, “Dad, is Mom sick?”

Carrie wondered if she had been reading her thoughts, but turned to see her holding a prescription bottle.

“No, no,” he said, taking the bottle of pills from her. “This is an old prescription, see?”

They saw that he was right.

“Go on, take breakfast up to Mom before it gets cold. And Genie, thank you for finding these. It was dangerous to have them down where the boys might get to them. Mom probably meant to throw them away. I’ll go do that now and be right up with you.” He started toward the bathroom, then turned back to them and said, “Don’t mention this to Mom, okay? She’d probably get upset if she realized she left them down here. I don’t want to ruin her breakfast.”

As they went up the stairs, Genie whispered, “Does he know about Uncle Dex and Mom?”

“I don’t know. I-I think so.”

“That stinks.”

“Yes.”

DAD joined them upstairs. Dad was supernice to Mom. The way he looked at her made Carrie want to cry. Mom was enjoying all the attention, but she gave Dad a kind of look that Carrie spent a long time trying to name. She finally decided that the right word was cynical. As she looked between them, she felt sure that Mom didn’t love Dad anymore.

If she had realized that yesterday, Carrie thought, it would have caused her to be really upset. Added on to everything that was hanging over her head right now, she just felt sad about it in a distant way, the way she felt sad about the reign of Mary Tudor.

“Well, this has certainly been a nice surprise,” Mom said, as if no one had done more than said “Happy Birthday” on her birthday.

“I have another one for you,” Dad said. His voice trembled a little.

Mom smiled and raised an eyebrow. “Oh? I can hardly wait. Then again, there are good surprises and bad surprises.”

“Kids, I think Mom needs another break from all of us, so today we’ll spend the day in Las Piernas, and Mom can just relax here in peace and quiet. Or go for a drive, or whatever she wants to do.”

Mom studied him, then covered a big yawn. “I am tired. Where will you be?”

“Oh, I thought I’d take them to see some of their aunts and uncles.”

“Are we going to Grandfather’s again?” Troy asked happily.

“We might. Get your own breakfasts, then let’s clean up the house for Mom before we go, so she can just relax all day. We’ll leave here at about ten. Will that give everyone enough time?”

The boys shouted gleeful agreement. Carrie and Genie looked at each other. Carrie said, “Maybe I should stay here with Mom, in case…in case she needs anything.”

“Don’t be silly, Carrie,” Mom said. “You go along with the others. I’ll be fine.” She gave Carrie a little kiss and a hug, and then gave hugs and kisses to the others, too.

Dad stayed behind as they cleared the tray and herded the boys out. Carrie glanced back and saw him giving Mom a long kiss, and Mom seemed to be kissing him back. Any other time, such a display of passion would have embarrassed her. Instead, she found it gave her a little bit of hope. Maybe Mom just didn’t know what she wanted.

Maybe they would be all right after all.

AFTER breakfast, as the boys raced to their room, Genie whispered, “I’ll call Ms. Kelly back and tell her not to come by today.”

“Thanks,” Carrie said.

SHE started cleaning up the kitchen. She noticed that the little bowl Dad had used was a mortar. The pestle had been set alongside it to dry. Poor Dad. He must have gone so far as to crush fresh spices for the Bloody Mary. Thinking of this made her feel another wave of hopelessness. One kiss wasn’t going to change things between Mom and Dad.

Genie came running into the kitchen. “Shit!”

Carrie’s eyes widened.

“When I called back,” Genie said, as if she hadn’t just spoken a totally forbidden word, “it wouldn’t let me leave a message.”

“What do you mean?”

“It says her voice mail is full.”

“Don’t feel so bad. She’ll drive here, I won’t be around, and she’ll drive away. I mean, I’m sorry that she’ll waste her time, but we can’t help it.”

“I guess not,” Genie said. “But it might be hard to get her to come here again.” After a moment she said, “Let’s bring the camera Grandfather gave you to his house today and take pictures of you, and then ask him to get them developed for you. When they come back, we can mail them to Ms. Kelly.”

Carrie could think of a number of ways this could go wrong, but agreed enthusiastically, because she could tell Genie was trying so hard to be helpful. She didn’t think she fooled her sister, but maybe Genie was just disappointed about having to change plans.