A Shattered Glass, My Life Without Her

The Venuhrable

I walk downstairs towards the voices in the kitchen and hesitantly poke my head into the door frame. I think I appear okay but in my head, I was still mentally disconnected, the day's fog wouldn't clear that easily.

'I think, like if you lower your head slightly, then I could just...' I see a hand with dark polished nails reach up to Kat's jaw, Kat's hands on the petite lady's hips, her head bowed down. And on tip toe, red lips reach up to peck Kat's own.

Looking up from the trial, Kat catches me peeking and her dimpled smile appears. 'Dom, you finally get to meet my sister.' Kat gestures for Dom to turn around. 'Dommie, this is my sister, Iev...Iev, this is...'

I cut her off. 'Dominique Provost-Chalkey, the venuhrable mastuhmind behind Wavuhly Earp.' I suddenly state, looking into her sparkling eyes. Her smile lifts the fog in an instant and I find myself grinning ear to ear.

'Seems you have a fan,' Kat tilts her head and raises an eyebrow in surprise, a smile gracing her face. I know Kat is all too familiar with my act. My shrewd remarks easily shield like a veil my own inadequacies.

I retreat slightly from the false overconfidence and quietly revise my response. 'It's... a pleashuh to meet you...Miss Dominique.' I reach out to shake her hand.

She takes a grasp of my outstretched hand lightly, 'Iev, the pleasure is all mine. And please, call me Dom.' Her British accent was emphasizing the authenticity in her statement.' Kat said you two are not just sisters but best friends as well. And any dear friend of Kat's is a dear friend of mine.' She offers.

'That's generous of you...Kat says I need more friends...and deah friends are hard to come by.' I couldn't take my eyes off her face. Her eyes twinkle and that smile. She is unbelievably mesmerizing.

'And, am I getting a hint of a New York accent?' Dom asks intrigued.

'You could tell just from those two sentences!?' Kat jumps in, astonished. I smile not needing to respond. 'It took me months and I still wasn't sure until Iev told me where she was born.' Kat continues still stunned by Dom's accuracy.

Dominique just giggles. 'I'm sorry Kat...it was really obvious when Iev said deah friend.' Dom imitates my muddled twang. I find her laugh so cute. 'And how could I ignore such a compliment, calling me a venuhrable mastuhmind?' She smiles at me and I notice those cheekbones. Her toggling from her native English accent to my crude New Yorker inflection was impressive and delightful.

I finally peel my eyes away, turning to Kat who was still in awe. 'Well, to be fair Kat, when we first met, I might've spoke all of ten words those first two months.'

'Thanks Iev.' With a tilt of her head, Kat appreciates that I have her back. Yet another skill I learned from her.

'Well, let's take this bottle of wine to the patio and you can tell me how you both met.' Dom turns to slide the stems of the wine glasses between her fingers and with her other hand, she snuggles it into my elbow. As we turn towards the patio, I catch a glimpse of Kat sending me a smirk and a wink.

***

'Hi Iev. Hi Carson. How are you both today?' Karen welcomed them in. I retreated to my seat next to my dad, intimidated by Carson's presence. My mom had walked slowly near Iev who bravely hobbled into the room towards our seats.

'Hi Karen. Thank you for asking. Iev, do you want to tell Karen what you were up to today?'

Iev stopped in front of Karen, shuffled slightly forward and wrapped Karen in a one-arm hug. When they separated, Iev took a deep breath, 'Karen, Car helped me to decuhrate my crutch with tape. I picked black because it's soft. And Dr Malcolm gave me a new book....b,but I, I fuhgot it upstaehs. I wahnid tuh read it to my fostuh family.'