xxx
"Simple lines and strokes, it's okay to go a little overboard here," the man's soothing voice came through the old fashioned TV.
Cheryl and Toni were sitting on the couch while Nana Rose took over the nearby armchair as they watched a Bob Ross special on TV. It was her Nana's favorite program. Cheryl had grown up watching the man paint on TV, and she's pretty sure it's where her love for art came from.
"We really don't have to watch this, I'm sure you think it's boring," Cheryl whispered to Toni quietly, unconsciously running her fingers across her girlfriend's cheek to brush some stray hair behind her ear.
"It's fine, it's actually pretty relaxing," Toni smiled over at her. She had to resist the urge to kiss her, considering her Nana was right beside them. Nana Rose knew about their relationship and seemed fine with it. But that didn't mean the girls wanted to flaunt it in front of her. Even if it was the simplest of chaste kisses.
"Oh, beautiful," Nana gushed, holding a hand over her heart as the man on the screen showed them what he had created.
Cheryl just blushed and whispered in Toni's ear again, "Nana's always been passionate about Bob Ross. I'm pretty sure she'd marry him, given the opportunity."
Toni just chuckled, still facing the TV.
"Girls, did you see how he used the swooping motion to create the blades of grass? So talented," the woman with silver hair pointed at the screen with a weak finger and a big smile.
"He's amazing," Toni nodded with a smile back at the older woman.
"You know, Cheryl and I? When she was a little girl, we used to watch Mr. Ross on Sundays after church and attempt to follow along with him while he painted. Do you remember, Cheryl, dear?"
"I do, Nana," Cheryl smiled, "Of course, when you're using markers and crayons, it doesn't turn out exactly the same, but we gave it our best."
"That's so sweet," Toni smiled warmly, looking between the two of them. She loved watching Cheryl and her Nana interact. She knew that Nana Rose wasn't all there, mentally. But she had actually been improving since Penelope had moved out. "Maybe you should start up that tradition again."
"Oh, I'd love to, but Cheryl lost interest in art quite a while ago," the old woman frowned.
Cheryl bit her lip. The last time she'd 'painted' with her Nana was when she was eight years old, right before her mother had so cruelly crushed her dream of being an artist.
"Nana, I'd love to try it again after you get home from church this Sunday," she offered, "I'll even go out and get us some paint and canvases so it will be like the real thing."
"Oh, that would be wonderful, Cheryl dear," Nana Rose gasped and held her hands over her heart. Toni couldn't help but smile at how the elderly woman's face lit up.
So it became a rekindled tradition between Cheryl and her beloved Nana Rose. Every Sunday after her nurse would pick her up to take her to church, Cheryl and Toni slept in before Toni would take off to spend time with the boys so Cheryl could have some one on one time with her nana. The redhead had explained to her grandmother why she had stopped participating in the tradition all those years ago, asking for her forgiveness. But Nana Rose understood and told Cheryl that there was no need to grovel. They all knew that Penelope was a horrid woman.
And she was just happy that they got to spend their special time together again.
xxx
"Nana, why don't we go back inside, it's getting chilly," Cheryl suggested, pushing her grandmother's wheelchair around the garden with Toni walking beside her.
"Just a bit longer, Cheryl, I need to check on my roses," she waved a wrinkled hand at her, despite the chill that ran through her. She was wearing a sweater, but it only did so much against the March chill.
Cheryl looked at Toni, defeated. Last thing she needed was her nana catching a cold. Her health was deteriorating enough as it was. Toni saw the desperation in her eyes and started shedding her serpent jacket, leaning over to drape it around the elderly woman's shoulders.
"Here you go, Nana Rose, that should keep you warm for a while," she smiled, getting it situated on her shoulders.
"Oh, thank you, Antoinette," she pulled it a bit tighter around her as she glanced at her rose bushes.
Toni just smiled and nodded, looking back at Cheryl to see her looking rather amused.
"What?"
"Nothing, it's just odd seeing my ninety-one year old grandmother wearing my girlfriend's serpent jacket," the redhead breathed a laugh and shook her head, continuing to walk with the wheelchair.
"Couldn't let her freeze out here, " Toni shrugged.
"That was really sweet of you."
Toni was surprised to feel Cheryl's lips against her own not even a second later. She'd never kissed her in the presence of her grandmother before. Usually Toni didn't care what people thought. Life was too short for that. But she found herself in a constant state of worry over whether or not Nana Rose liked her. It was important to her that Cheryl's only relevant family approved of her. But the way that the old woman looked up at them with a smile after they separated told her that she had definitely won her over.
xxx
"Um...what is this?" Cheryl's eyebrows raised to her hairline, showing Toni the notification on her Snapchat app.
"Oh, yeah, I was gonna tell you about that," Toni laughed a bit through the cringe on her face, leaning back against the headboard.
"You helped my grandmother create a Snapchat? What the hell, Toni she even has a Bitmoji to go along with it!"
"We were using it when the boys were over earlier!" Toni said defensively, "She liked the filters and asked how we were doing it, so we downloaded it to her phone."
"Do you realize how many unsolicited dick pics she could receive if she's not careful?" the redhead nearly gagged at the idea.
"Don't worry, we already told her not to accept requests from people she doesn't know."
"I can't believe you signed her up for this. What's next, Instagram? Tinder?"
Toni was silent.
"Tell me you didn't sign my sweet innocent nana up for Tinder, Toni Topaz."
"No! No, of course not, but we may have made her an Insta..."
As if on cue, Cheryl's phone dinged with an Instagram notification.
nanarose_blossom commented Hello Cheryl dear! Your friends showed me how to use the Instagram today! I can't wait to see all your gorgeous photos! Love, Nana Rose.
"Oh my god," Cheryl held her head in her hand, much to Toni's amusement.
A *ding* sounded from both their phones, their screens showing a Snapchat notification from the elderly woman downstairs. Toni opened it first and busted out in a fit of laughter. Nana Rose had sent them a poorly angled selfie with her eyes covered by fake sunglasses from a filter she had used.
"I don't actually have sunglasses on, it's a filter. So cool!" was the caption in the transparent black rectangle across the screen.
"I swear, Toni, if my grandmother turns into the next Baddie Winkle, I'm confiscating not only her phone, but yours as well," Cheryl couldn't stop shaking her head in disapproval. Though, she put on a smile for the selfie Toni took of the two of them to send back to her.
xxx
"Stop, you're crazy," Toni laughed heartily as she and Cheryl walked through the front door of Thistlehouse, having just gotten home from school.
"I'm telling you, it really works, you just have to be willing to try it," the redhead giggled, leaning in to kiss her through her laughter before they entered the living room. "Hi, Nana, how was your day," Cheryl leaned down to kiss her cheek as she watched her show.
"It was swell! Theresa helped my clear out my wardrobe," the woman smiled up at her, reaching out to hold Toni's hand in greeting.
"Find anything interesting?" the pink-haired girl asked curiously.
"A few pieces of jewelry I thought I'd lost, some old poetry books...Oh, and a beautiful photo album, you have to see." Nana Rose wheeled herself a bit away to delicately grab a book from the nearby table, handing it over to them.
Toni and Cheryl sat down with the album in their laps, starting to flip through it. It pretty much covered the woman's early years.
"Wow, Cher, you look just like she did," Toni pointed to a picture of Nana Rose, cascading red hair down to her back.
"I was about your age there. You can't tell from the photos, but I also wore red lipstick every chance I got," the old woman smiled, "It wasn't exactly proper. It actually got me into quite a bit of trouble at school."
"Why would you wear it to school if it would get you into trouble?" Toni chuckled, flipping through the pages.
"I was trying to impress a special someone."
"Grandpappy Blossom?" Cheryl smirked a bit, looking at her grandmother as she turned another page.
"No, he and I didn't meet until college. I had my eye on someone else in high school," Nana Rose sighed, turning to face them before pointing at the book, "There."
The girls looked down at the book, seeing a picture of the younger version of the woman in front of them with a raven-haired girl, smiling widely at the camera.
"That's who you were trying to impress?" Toni asked, shocked.
"Her name was Margaret, but I called her Margie," the woman nodded with a warm, reminiscent smile on her face, "We were inseparable back then." Cheryl looked at Toni before back at the picture.
"Were you friends?"
"Well, not at first. I was a proper girl on the cheerleading team and she was a bit on the rebellious side. Skipped classes, didn't adhere to dress code. Typical rebel. And I rather admired that. I was sixteen, I was getting fed up with everything being so perfect all the time. I craved adventure. And I saw adventure in Margie."
The two younger girls were captivated by the story, both wanting to hear as much of it as possible.
"Anyway, Margie was always looking for trouble. She couldn't get enough of it. She claimed it gave her a rush. And in a town like Riverdale in the 40s, a rush was hard to find, especially on the north side. Margie and I would skip classes to go swimming in Sweetwater River, or grab burgers at the diner that Pop Tate's Chock'lit shop is now. We were quite the scandal."
"Were you two..." Toni trailed off, hoping that Nana Rose caught on.
"Well, I believe we would have been. But her family moved abroad due to the war. Her father was high up in the military ranks. I never got to say goodbye to her," the woman folded her hands together, a bit solemn.
"I'm sorry to hear that, Nana," Cheryl reached over to place her hand on her grandmother's.
"It's not a bother, dear, it's in the past. But I'm glad you've found Antoinette. I see myself and Margie in the two of you."
The redhead smiled over at Toni, who smiled back before they started flipping through more of the album, eagerly awaiting the stories of Nana Rose's past.
xxx
"If you don't stop laughing, I'm breaking up with you," Cheryl held her head in her hands as she sat on the edge of their bed. Toni was struggling to breathe through a fit of laughter.
"I-I'm sorry, but your face was priceless," Toni doubled over with laughter at the memory.
"It was so not funny," Cheryl shook her head, looking up at her, "My sweet little nana called me a..."
"Oh, please, she wasn't calling you one, it's just the phrase," Toni had calmed down enough to reason with her a bit, though her giggles were still escaping.
"Toni, she literally said 'be gone, thot,' when I went to kiss her goodnight." Toni started cracking up once again. "It's not funny! Sweetpea isn't allowed over here anymore if he's going to be teaching my grandmother such things."
"Come on, it's not entirely his fault. I mean, she probably wouldn't have said it if you hadn't pissed her off so much."
"Well, what ninety year old woman wants to stay up past nine pm to watch TV? It was her bedtime!" Cheryl defended herself, crossing her arms over her chest with a pout. Toni sat down beside her with a sigh, finally calmed down from her laughter. Though, they only sat in silence for a mere ten seconds before she collapsed back on the bed with hearty laughter again.
"I've banned you to the couch once, Antoinette, I can do it again."
"Y-you can't sleep without me and you know it, Bombshell," Toni smirked, still laughing a little at the memory of Cheryl's face after Nana Rose pulled away from her goodnight kiss on the cheek.
xxx
"Antoinette, dear, will you take me to my room for a moment?" Nana Rose asked a bit weakly. She and Toni were watching an old episode of Antiques Roadshow (which Toni actually got really into) while Cheryl went out to have a girly spa day with Veronica. Toni was invited, but Nana Rose's nurse wasn't able to make it today, so she offered to stay home to take care of her, despite Cheryl's protests.
"Sure, Nana Rose," the pink-haired girl smiled and nodded, getting up to wheel the woman down the hall to her bedroom. Under her instruction, she wheeled her to the vanity, watching curiously as she sorted through her belongings.
"This," the older woman started, holding something out in her hand, "Is for you...to give to Cheryl when you're ready."
Toni held her hand out to accept whatever she was offering, her brows furrowed in confusion. She opened her fingers to see the silver band of a ring, making her heartbeat pick up speed.
"Nana Rose, I-"
"It was a gift to me from Margie. The hearts are pink and red topaz," Nana Rose smiled, watching as Toni turned the ring over to glance in awe at the two heart shaped gemstones, "She had given it to me one night when we were out looking for trouble on the south side. She said that if for whatever reason we were ever separated, the ring would be a reminder of the time we spent together and the love we shared. That was the night before her family packed up and moved."
Toni was in a trance, trying to focus on the woman's story while also speculating at the ring in her hand.
"I know it's not something extravagant and flashy, but I want you to have it to give to my granddaughter. I would have given you my own engagement ring from Cheryl's grandpappy, but that went to Jason for he and Polly, but..." the woman trailed off a bit sadly, "I thought this ring would be more special for the two of you."
Toni looked at the ring. It had lost its shine that she was sure it once had, but it held so much meaning. Not just of Nana Rose's past, but for her and Cheryl as well. Not only were the heart shaped gemstones their two favorite colors, but they were topaz, which of course was Toni's last name.
"Nana Rose, I can't possibly take this, I know how much Margie meant to you," Toni sighed, sitting on the edge of the bed across from the vanity.
"Margie meant the world to me, yes. But that was seventy years ago. That ring is representative of the love one woman can have for another. You love Cheryl, don't you, Antoinette?"
"I do...more than...well, anything," Toni felt a bit of a flutter in her chest just at the thought of how much she loved her girlfriend. They'd been dating for about a year now and Toni had known that she was in it for the long haul since the start.
"You know, I've never seen Cheryl so happy until you came along. When she was a child, she wouldn't even laugh too loudly in fear of what her parents would say. But even before she forced that wretched Penelope out of this house, she was her true self with you. I could see it at the reading of Clifford's will that you were something special for her."
Toni blushed and glanced down at the ring again, suddenly seeing bits and pieces of their future flash before her eyes.
"Cheryl's been hurt too many times by too many people. I have faith that you'll be her rock for the rest of your days."
"I'll take care of her, Nana Rose. I promise I will. I'd never hurt her on purpose. And if I hurt her on accident, I'll try to fix it."
"Good," the woman reached over to place her wrinkled and frail hand on top of Toni's before the serpent leaned forward for a careful hug.
"Thank you," she mumbled, trying to keep tears at bay. She knew that Nana Rose liked her. She knew that she considered her family. But even with that, she never thought that Cheryl's Nana would want her to actually marry her. Just a year ago, the serpents were the only family she had. Now she had them, their group from school, and the little family she had with Cheryl and Nana Rose.
She never thought that she would get so lucky.
"I'm home!" Cheryl called from down the hall, the sound of rattling keys following.
"Make sure you keep that ring somewhere safe," Nana Rose whispered as Toni tucked it into one of the pockets in her jeans.
"I will, thank you," Toni nodded, wiping her eyes a bit before kissing the old woman's cheek and wheeling her out of the bedroom.
"Hey, you two," Cheryl smiled as she hung up her coat by the door, "Has Toni been a good replacement for Theresa today, Nana?"
"She's been wonderful, dear," Nana Rose smiled as Cheryl kissed her cheek.
Toni wheeled her chair back into the living room so she could finish the show, telling her that she would be right back before going to meet Cheryl in the kitchen.
"Thank you for taking care of her today," the redhead smiled as she poured herself a glass of water.
"Of course, she's basically my Nana too," Toni chuckled, kissing her gently with as much love as she could muster as she pulled her close.
"Everything okay?" the taller girl asked quietly after they split, running her thumb against her girlfriend's soft cheek.
"Perfect."
xxx