Building Bridges

“Oh, my stars! Look at you!” Catherine Delaney’s smile was hidden behind a blue paper mask, and the clear protective glasses she wore covered the delighted crinkles at the corners of her tired-but-still-twinkling gray eyes, but she still managed to radiate pure joy. The sight of her daughter and her wife, even if only over FaceTime, was enough to keep her going, a reminder of the beauty that still existed, despite the virus that had turned every hospital in Seattle into a combat zone these past few weeks. 

Tears filled her eyes, but she blinked them back to keep her lenses from fogging so she wouldn’t miss a second of the show as Anna stepped back, phone in hand, and motioned for their little girl to twirl around. Josie was eight going on sixteen, and she loved to dress up, almost as much as Anna enjoyed having a daughter to spoil that way.

Giggles filled Catherine’s ears as Josie spun, cutting through the coughs, the beeps and hums of respirators, and the rustling of paper gowns as other nurses rushed by to check on the never-ending flow of patients. Catherine remained aware of the action, but for just a few seconds she allowed herself to focus only on the adorable girl blurring into a cotton candy cloud of pale pink taffeta and silk ribbons on her phone.

“Perfection,” she sighed. “You really outdid yourselves, as always. I hate that I can’t be there.”

“We hate that you can’t be here more!” Josie and Anna replied in unison. It had become their mantra, their ritual in every conversation, since these video chats were the only time they’d spent together in days. Though she took every precaution to keep herself safe, Catherine had begun staying with a friend and fellow nurse closer to the hospital to lower the risk of exposing her family to the virus. Four staff members had already tested positive in the past two days.

“Do you think Gramps will like it?” Josie asked, nervously checking her caramel colored curls in the phone.

“Stop primping. You look just right,” Catherine told her. “And you look so much like Grammy when she was young. Gramps will absolutely love all of this. It’ll be the best socially-distanced virtual spring dance in history.”

“And I told you I’d clean out the attic,” Anna chimed in, giving her wife a 360-degree view of the newly-organized shelves.

“Wow!” Catherine exclaimed. “Remind me why I let you wait til the first day of spring to do this?”

“Because you love me,” Anna smiled. “And you put it on the calendar for today.”

“The only way to get anything done is to put it on the calendar!” Catherine saw the top of Josie’s head as she jumped up to get in on the family discussion. The scheduling of projects was Catherine’s speciality, while Anna’s was usually procrastinating and finding more fun things to do, like getting Josie ready for this dance with her grandfather.

“But, if it hadn’t been for spring cleaning, we’d never have found your mom’s dress, and all of these treasures for your dad,” Anna said, holding up a stack of old letters and photos. “We haven’t even begun to go through them all, but wow, could your mom write a love letter!”

“My parents were definitely in love.” The tears were threatening to fall, but Catherine had to hold it together and get back to work.

“Okay, enough mushy crap.” Anna saw the struggle, and knew her wife all too well. “Go save the world so I can get this girl ready for her date!”

Catherine laughed as Anna lowered the phone and Josie puckered up, leaving a pink lipstick kiss on the screen. They all waved as Anna clicked to end the call.

She looked at Josie and then at the lipstick on her phone, shaking her head. Josie just giggled and shrugged.

“You’re lucky you’re cute,” Anna teased. “Let’s fix the lips and find you some earrings.”

Once she’d found the perfect pearls, Anna stepped back to get a good look at the masterpiece that was her daughter. From head to toe, Josie was her mini-me, but her big heart and poise under pressure were all Catherine. 

The minute they’d pulled the pale pink gown from the layers of crinkly tissue paper in the old hope chest in the attic, Josie knew exactly what to do. She’d raced downstairs and grabbed a framed photo from the bookshelf in the living room and came flying back up to the attic.

“This is the same dress!” She was breathless, bouncing with excitement as she held out the frame. “Grams wore it to prom with Gramps! Can I wear it tonight? Please??”

Anna’s heart crumbled when she remembered the Spring Fling at the Veteran’s Center. It was an annual event that Catherine’s dad looked forward to, and he always joked about having the three hottest dates in the place. 

Hadn’t Catherine told Josie the dance was cancelled because of the virus? Like almost every other business in the country, the Veteran’s Center had closed its doors indefinitely to help stop the spread of COVID-19. With social distancing and stay-at-home rules in effect, and because the older population was at such high risk of acquiring the disease, there would be no dance this year.

“Honey, you can wear it, and I’ll even fix it up so it fits you,” Anna said. “And we’ll do your hair and makeup and everything. But there isn’t going to be a dance this year. That’s why we’re doing this attic cleaning party today instead.”

Josie’s face fell. “I almost forgot for a minute,” she sighed.

But somewhere behind those blue-grey eyes, an idea formed, and just like that, her smile returned. “I know what we can do! We can just have a virtual dance. Gramps can Skype.”

Anna thought for a moment and nodded slowly. “I like how you think, kiddo. Let’s make that happen.”

And here they were, just a few hours later, with a perfectly-fitted, well-accessorized outfit, an absolutely ecstatic little girl, and a clean attic, too. 

“Photo shoot?” Josie asked after she checked the mirror one last time, proud of her grown-up appearance. She didn’t always get to wear make-up, usually just a little lip gloss, but tonight she had real lipstick and mascara and everything!

“You know your mom would destroy me if we didn’t send her at least a dozen pictures!”

Josie was a natural in front of the camera. “You need to stop growing up so fast.” Anna gave her a big hug as they reviewed the images. “When did you get so gorgeous?”

“I look just like you!” Josie laughed.

It was time to turn the living room into a dance hall. They dug through the holiday decorations and settled on strings of tiny white lights from Christmas and pink hearts and streamers from Valentine’s Day, along with two stuffed rabbits from Josie’s room, since it was the first day of spring, after all. Between the bunnies, they placed a bright yellow posterboard that proclaimed, “Spring Fling” in glitter letters - their art project for the day. 

Anna found her own pink dress, since Josie insisted they match, curled her shoulder-length beach-sand blond hair and pinned it back on the sides, and added her favorite dark red lipstick. A few more pictures sent to Catherine and posted to Facebook for Anna’s sister and all of their friends to see, and they were ready.

“Gramps has no idea, right?” Josie asked. “It’s a surprise?”

“All I told him was to be decent for a video chat after dinner,” Anna assured her.

“Eew, Mama, I don’t want to think about Gramps not being decent!” Josie giggled.

“Are you ready?” Anna asked, reaching for the laptop on the coffee table as she sat down on the couch.

Josie nodded excitedly, then shook her head. “No, wait! Alexa, play old people music!”

Anna laughed. “I think you’ll need to be a little more specific.”

“Alexa, play jazz,” Josie tried again. That was her grandfather’s favorite, and some of it was fun to dance to, even if it didn’t always make a lot of sense.

The music started, and Josie nodded. “Now I’m ready.” She tapped her white kitten heels on the floor as they waited for George Delaney to connect.

When the image appeared on his computer, the old man blinked. Then he reached for his bifocals and looked again, leaning in.

“Oh, my stars, little princess! You had me seeing things for a second there! I almost thought you were my Laura. Aren’t you beautiful.”

“Thanks, Gramps! This is Grammy’s dress. We found it in the attic and I wanted to wear it for you for our dance, but they cancelled the Spring Fling because of this stupid virus. So we decided to bring the dance to you this way instead! Look, we decorated and everything!”

Anna followed with the webcam as Josie walked the perimeter of the living room, showing off every last decoration and ending with a slow twirl in her dress before she stuck her face right up close. “And Mama even let me wear real lipstick!”

George’s warm laugh filled the room. “Mama did a fantastic job! You look amazing. And those decorations are fantastic! You must have worked so hard!”

“We did!” Josie said. “And that was after we cleaned out the attic. Mommy had that on the calendar, so we had to.”

“Oh, yes,” George agreed. “The only way to get things done is to put them on the calendar. It’s been that way since birth with your Mommy. Her mom had her birthday written on our calendar for months before she was born, and she showed up right on time.”

 “I knew it had to be genetic,” Anna laughed.

“Can you hear the music?” Josie asked. 

“I sure can,” her grandfather grinned. “That would be John Coltrane. He’s a legend in jazz.”

“Like John Legend?” Josie asked. “He was on The Voice.”

“Not quite,” George replied. “But he’s pretty good, too.”

Anna nudged Josie. “Don’t forget these,” she whispered, pointing to the stack of letters beside the laptop.

“Oh, yeah!” Josie reached for the stack and sat down beside Anna. 

“Hey, there, pretty lady,” George smiled at his daughter-in-law when she appeared on the screen. “Now I’ve got two of my three hot dates!”

“The third one’s still at work, unfortunately,” Anna said. “It’s been a long few weeks for her.”

“She’s dedicated,” George nodded. “I’m not sure she was ready to leave the Army when she did, and it’s showing now. She gets that from me. But hopefully she won’t be as stubborn as I was for as long. It gets hard to live with.” 

Anna smiled. She loved George. He was the dad she’d never had, since her own sperm donor had walked out when she was just a toddler, leaving her mom to raise three kids, resentfully, on her own. Which had made Anna really close to her older sister, who ended up taking on a lot of the motherly duties, like caring. 

She’d been determined to break that cycle and make sure her own family stayed strong and close. Catherine was a workaholic, yes, but she always made the right choice for the family, even if it took her awhile to get there. Anna trusted her. They both adored Josie, and they’d go to the ends of the earth to keep her safe and happy.

“Look what we found, Gramps!” Josie carefully slid a letter out of its envelope, unfolded it, and held it up to the webcam. 

The familiar script flowing across the flowered stationery took George back in time. He took off his glasses and closed his eyes as his granddaughter began to read the words that Laura had written on that spring day in 1969. 

He’d been in Viet Nam for almost a year by then, and those letters were his lifeline. He had joined the Army to work as an engineer, doing construction projects - he’d always been handy, and loved to build. At Cam Ranh Bay, he put those skills to use in ways he’d never imagined. 

“My Dearest George,” Josie read. “The cherry blossoms are so beautiful this spring. The whole campus is blooming in pink and white. There’s a dance at the Community Center this weekend, but I’m saving all of my dances for you, Sweetheart, so I’ll be babysitting for our neighbors, the Robinsons, so they can go and enjoy it. Their little girl is so precious. I hope one day we’ll have a daughter just as sweet. I miss you, my love, and I pray that you’re safe and well, and that I’ll be in your arms again one day soon. Build a bridge right back to me. Yours always, Laura.”  

Josie set down the letter and looked at the computer. Her grandfather was smiling with his eyes closed. “Did he fall asleep?” she whispered.

“No, Honey, he was just remembering,” Anna replied, wiping away a rebel tear that managed to escape.

“If I could build a bridge to Heaven,” George sighed, opening his eyes. “That was very special, Josie. Thank you.”

“Did you dance with Grams when you came back from the war?” she asked.

“Oh, you better believe it!” he laughed. “Those dances at the Community Center, on campus at UW, even in our living room, just like this.”

“Except not on Skype,” Josie added.

“No, definitely not on Skype,” George agreed. 

There was a noise at the front door, and before they could get up to see what was going on, Catherine called, “I couldn’t miss this! I’m going to shower really quick!”

“Mommy’s home!” Josie squealed. 

“All three hot dates,” George grinned. “It doesn’t get any better than this!”

As promised, Catherine joined them in no time, clean and fresh, and gave them both quick hugs. “Just to be safe, I’ll hold the computer and dance with Dad, okay? No taking chances getting you guys sick.”

“Gramps, what song did you and Grams dance to?” Josie asked. “Did you have a favorite?”

“Let’s Stay Together,” George and Catherine said in unison.

“Alright, Miss DJ, you’ve got your first request,” Anna grinned.

Josie beamed. “Alexa, play Let’s Stay Together!”

As Al Green’s smooth voice filled the room and Lexi and Anna twirled, George Delaney smiled at his daughter on the computer monitor. “You built some bridges tonight,” he said. “Your mom would be proud of you. I know I am.”

Catherine didn’t bother fighting the tears this time. “I learned from the best, Dad. I love you.”