Being Alive: A The Queen's Gambit Story

Chapter 20

TWO YEARS LATER

When Beth was a young girl, she used to dream about her future. It was usually after the pills had spread through her body like ink in water. Her eyes would drift shut and the expanse of space above her would turn back into just a ceiling. Oddly enough, she never dreamed of chess. That was her reality. Instead, she dreamt of family. True family. A concept as foreign to her as Paris or London. For most of her life, she had only known people who were family in name. Her birth parents. Mr. Wheatley. Even Alma in the beginning, before their relationship had developed into something real.

In truth, Beth never thought she would find a family. Not the type that she saw other people have. Warm bodies around a dinner table. Easy comfort. Interest that had nothing to do with achievements, but rather everything to do with the person. Becoming a grandmaster seemed more plausible, and yet, here she was. Somehow, she managed to achieve both.

It's New Year's Eve and there is an electricity in the air that that only comes once a year. Beth and Benny are hosting a small get together for some friends and Beth is, predictably, running late. She used to have everything together, but then she became the mother of two children, instead of one, and everything went to hell a bit. She finishes up the appetizers while Benny vacuums in the rec room. When the vacuum switches off, Beth hears Christopher crying and then Benny's voice as he tries to calm their son.

Alma walks into the kitchen and unceremoniously says, "Christopher is crying again."

Alma pops a cube of pumpernickel bread into her mouth. She has fully embraced the 1980s aesthetic. Crimped hair paired with a nylon zip-up and neon leggings. Beth finds the fashion mildly horrifying, but her daughter likes it enough. Besides, she is just at that age where fitting in is paramount, and all her other friends were similarly outfitted. Beth saw them all grouped together one day when she dropped Alma off at the mall and all the neon had been nearly blinding.

"Did you vacuum the stairs?" Beth asks.

"Yeah. I still don't get why I had to. People don't go upstairs."

"But they can see the stairs."

"So what?"

Beth presses her lips together to stop a smart retort, knowing better than to pick a fight with her daughter, because she would necessarily lose. While she had the advantage of being the mother, Alma had the advantage of being a pre-teen who didn't care. Her daughter pops the third or fourth cube of bread into her mouth, and Beth says, "Instead of eating all of that, why don't you bring it out to the table with the spinach dip."

"Okay," Alma tosses off, picking up the two dishes and heading out of the kitchen.

Christopher continues to cry, and loudly, and before long, Benny comes into the kitchen and holds him out toward Beth. Behind them, the front door rings.

"Why did we agree to host this again?" Benny asks. Over his shoulder, he calls out, "Alma, can you get the door?"

Beth takes Christopher and props him on her hip, beginning to shift her weight between her feet. "Because we're gluttons for punishment?"

"That must be it."

Benny leans in and gives her a quick kiss before dropping a quick one on the top of Christopher's head, which only makes him shriek louder.

"He does know I'm his father, right?"

"I think we're both a little murky on that fact," Beth teases.

Townes walks into the kitchen, Roger behind him, and says, "Why is my godson screaming like a banshee?"

"It's his thing as of late," Beth says.

Benny adds, "It's very fun for his parents, as you can see."

"Come here, little guy," Townes says, coaxing Christopher from Beth's arms. Within a few seconds, Christopher had calmed, looking over at his parent's stricken face with minimal interest.

Benny shakes his head and says, "How is that possible? I was trying to calm him for five minutes and nothing. You pick him up and he immediately stops."

"I'm good with babies," Townes says with a shrug.

"He really is," Roger intones. "My sister has a five-month old and I swear the last time we saw her, she tried to send her home with us."

"I can't totally blame your sister."

Over the evening, the rest of the party gradually filters in. Harry shows up with his new wife, Annette, who Beth had improbably met all those years ago at her first chess tournament. It was funny sometimes how things turned out. Jolene and Rick come about an hour in with their daughter, Nicola. She's a few years younger than Alma and looks up to her in a way that reminds Beth of her and Jolene when they were kids. Alma pours them each a fizzling flute of sparkling apple juice and they finish off nearly the entire bottle before their parents tell them to save some for midnight.

The evening is filled with the sort of easy and meandering conversation that happens amongst people who see each other often enough to not require anything more. Townes and Jolene discuss his new kitchen renovation over cubes of pumpernickel bread with spinach dip. Annette excitedly talks about the new Prince album. As midnight approaches, Beth and Benny prepare the flutes of champagne, passing them out to their guests. Christopher has long since been put to bed, and despite Alma and Nicola's best efforts, they are passed out on the couch. However, they are awoken by the adults' booming voices as they count down to 1982, and waiting for them on the coffee table, is the last of the sparkling apple juice in their flutes.

Five.

Four.

Three.

Two.

One.

They cry out with glee at the turn of the year, Auld Lang Syne playing from the television where Dick Clark announces the start of 1982. Beth and Benny kiss before making their way around to hug their friends, but they end up back together, Beth's arms slung around her husband's waist. She feels warm all over and knows that it has absolutely nothing to do with the champagne.

"So, what are you hoping for in the new year?" Townes asks, finishing off his drink.

Beth looks around her, at her friends and family, and says, "Nothing. I have everything already."