Being Alive: A The Queen's Gambit Story

Chapter 19

For some seven years, the Watts family had enjoyed a relatively stable existence in Lexington, Kentucky. They settled into the practiced routines of daily life, the years passing almost without notice. If it hadn't been for Alma and the visible changes in her that each year brought, one could have hardly differentiated one year from the other. However, other changes were afoot, even if they weren't readily apparent. In the summer of 1979, a widower moved into the tidy Tudor situated at the end of the block. The man fastidiously maintained his front yard and so it wasn't uncommon to see him out on a weekend, either with a lawn mower or a pair of hedge clippers. One afternoon, Mrs. Watts passed the house on her daily walk and she stopped, pointing out a protruding bit of the hedge that he had missed with the clippers. He had smiled slightly, lopping the offending protrusion off with a snip, and Mrs. Watts continued on her walk, thinking little of the interaction. However, the next day, he stopped her when she passed, asking her opinion on whether some planting beds would fit with the angular hedges. The next day, they discussed the merits of beach pebbles versus lava rock.

It continued that way for a few weeks, and it was around that time, Mrs. Watts started preparing her face for her walks. Beth watched her mother-in-law carefully apply a bright red lipstick – a far cry from her normal understated pink – and after she left, asked Benny, "Have you noticed anything different with your mother?"

Benny shrugged. "Not really."

Beth glanced out the front windows and watched Mrs. Watts disappear around a corner. "I think she's seeing someone."

"Who would she be seeing?"

"I don't know. She put on lipstick for her walk."

"She always wears lipstick."

"Not red lipstick."

"Maybe she just liked the color," Benny said off-handedly, flipping through his magazine on the couch.

Beth leaned against the couch and said, "All these years later, and you still know nothing about women."

Some weeks later, Mrs. Watts started mentioning the widower in conversation. His name was Henry and he had two grown children who lived Louisville. Henry came over for dinner a few times, and even as the pair grinned and preened at the table, Benny hard-headedly refused to acknowledge that anything was happening, proving that stubbornness really could outweigh reason. He did a fairly consistent job of ignoring the obvious, until one evening, Mrs. Watts unceremoniously announces, "Henry and I are getting married."

"What?"

"He proposed last night and I said yes," Mrs. Watts says tidily, the statement punctuated by a sip of wine.

Benny blinks rapidly, not understanding what his mother had just said, because it was absolutely ridiculous.

"How can you two be getting married? You barely know each other."

"We know each other very well," Mrs. Watts corrects.

"How? It's been like two months. How can you possibly know each other very well in two months?"

"It has not been two months," Mrs. Watts says with a dismissive wave of her hand.

"Does this mean I get a grandpa?" Alma asks excitedly. "I've always wanted a grandpa."

Mrs. Watts grins. "Yes, Alma. You are getting a grandpa."

"No, she isn't," Benny interrupts. "Mom, you barely know this guy. You can't actually be thinking of marrying him."