[June 1, 1948]
It was a warm and breezy morning in Hyannis Port, the sun had only been accompanying the sky for a few hours — the Bellamy household was up and awake. Maurice was picking out the right tool to prune the flowers in the garden, while Julia was in the heated kitchen; cracking eggs into a hot pan as she hummed along with Édith Piaf's La Vie En Rose playing from their Magnavox record player. Evelyn swayed to the music while making a pot of Café au lait to complement their breakfast.
"Bonjour!" A young boy in a blue polo shirt and khaki shorts greeted Maurice as he was pruning red roses in the garden. "Ah, bonjour, Edward!" The older man put down the tool he was using inside a toolbox. "How are you, Mr. Bellamy?" Ted walked closer to Maurice as he was taking his gardening gloves off. "Mighty fine, how about you?" Maurice squinted his eyes; the sun was shining utterly bright. "Well..." Ted stretched his neck up, taking a good look at the bright-colored sky. "It's a beautiful morning, so I'm feeling good." He stated with a virtuous smile.
"Have you had breakfast?" Maurice roamed farther from the garden, leading Ted to the patio where he recently had tea with his daughter. "We're having Croque Madame with Café au lait." Though Ted already ate a buttered toast, he could always go for another mouth-watering breakfast. "If a buttered toast count as breakfast, yes I had it." He said as he was pulling a stool next to Maurice.
"Haha, Rose must've cooked up something nice, right?" Maurice interpreted Ted's words as a joke, but when a confused look appeared on the boy's face — he no longer thinks it was a humorous remark. "Well... my mom isn't exactly— you know, well enough to cook for all of us." Ted being so bluntly honest made Maurice realize how much Kathleen's death actually affected the mother.
"Bonjour, Papa— Oh, Teddy! What a nice surprise." Evelyn glowed, she quickly placed the tray with a teapot and three cups on the table. She jogged to Ted and gave the boy a brief hug. "I'm sorry I couldn't see you when, uh, it all happened. I just couldn't do it. But I'm happy that you're here— are you joining us for breakfast?" The words that came out of Evelyn just splattered all over the place. She was nervous and Maurice took notice of it.
"Yeah, I wouldn't pass on a Croque Monsieur—" "Non, Croque Madame." "Oh! Of course. Madame." Maurice chuckled and nodded in approval after he corrected Ted for mixing up the two similar dishes. "Also, it's totally fine, Evelyn." Ted dismissed everything the girl had just said. The eldest eyed them both — back and forth. "Well, I'm gonna see if my mom needs me. Oh, and get another cup for you, Monsieur." Evelyn felt like she just humiliated herself wilfully, she excused herself from the patio.
Maurice stealthily palmed his face as he realized Evelyn didn't make any effort to console Ted, it was clear she went to the house only for Bobby. "Well, on behalf of my entire family, we're sorry we couldn't visit — and when we do, we messed it up." Maurice glanced at the door Evelyn had just used to exit, indicating his words. "It was honestly a very confusing time, and as you know, your sister was somewhat like a daughter to me. I didn't know how to react." His lengthy apology received a weak smile from the sixteen-year-old boy.
"Mr. Bellamy, you don't need to do this. Wholeheartedly, I understand— the whole situation was perplexing." Ted spoke with politeness, but somehow Maurice sees through him; he was numbing himself from anything that was pertained to the tragedy. "My father appreciates that you still came to visit him, he said that you're a good man. And I agree." The young boy gifted Maurice a genuine smile.
"You're a dear. Here, have some coffee." Before Maurice could grab the pot, Ted intervened, "please, let me." He poured a good amount of liquid into Maurice's cup. "My mother taught me not to let elders pour the drink, unless it's the lady of the house."
Maurice took his bucket hat off from his head as he savored the Café au lait Ted had just poured, his eyes were locked on the boy. "You know, it's kind of rare to have you here." Maurice's cup clinked against the saucer underneath as he placed it down. "So, to what do we owe the pleasure?" He added a smile on his face, to not come across as rude.
"Oh!" Ted stopped sipping on his coffee, he wiped the remaining warm liquid from his lips. "Well, I wanted to ask if Evelyn would be able to join us this evening. We're playing beach volleyball." He shrugged. "Sounds fun! Will Bobby be joining?" And it got strange, again. "Uh— I think so. He's doing better now." Ted tried to soothe the tensions in the air. "Oh, I'm just asking out of... curiosity," Maurice emphasized.
"Also..." He turned slightly to the boy. "The other day— yesterday, actually," Maurice shook his head softly while rephrasing himself, "I heard voices coming from your house— at around dinner time?" Maurice felt it was rather important to mention it, but forgot it might be better left unanswered. "Oh," Ted shortly responded. "Our house's a mile away— I guess they must've been really loud." He laid a hand on the back of his perspiring neck, extremely uncomfortable with the situation.
"Shucks, perhaps it wasn't from your home, then." Maurice tried to wave it off like it was nothing, but then Ted opened his mouth to respond. "No... no, it was us," he hesitantly admitted. The grey-haired man nodded his head reassuringly, "Bobby, right?" Ted nodded along, "him and our old man." Sighing loudly, he took a quick sip from his cup. "Just a brief dispute about... who loved Kick the most— or who pretended to care the most." There was bleak emptiness on Ted's young face. Maurice reluctantly laid his gentle hand on the boy's back.
"Obviously, Bobby begged to differ— when he shouldn't have. It got heated just in a second, but then..." Ted narrowed his eyebrows, along with his eyes. "Mother spoke in a way I've never seen before. She was... emotional. It was unusual." He gazed into his pale coffee. "It was like... she finally broke down." Maurice stopped the boy from continuing and risking her mother's pride, "Ted, that's normal. There were... times when I, myself, would have a mental breakdown." The man paused. In his head, the memories of Delphine kept replaying over and over like time doesn't exist there.
"You have, sir?" Ted cocked his head, giving himself a clearer view of the pondering father. "Y-yes. It was a very dark time for me— for all of us," Maurice responded with slight stuttering. "I don't think anyone knows about this since we have tried to keep it unknown." He suddenly began to stir his coffee with a demitasse spoon. "But I lost a daughter." Maurice abruptly took a sip of his colder drink. Ted lowered his sight to be respectful.
"It was our firstborn, we placed our very high hope into her; she was gifted academically and creatively." The old grief kicked in, again. "When she died... we shifted all our hope to Evelyn instead. But before we did that, Julia and I would argue and abused each other, to the point we routinely break down." It was like a nightmare for Maurice to recollect what occurred after his eldest's death. He was a drunk, an adulterer — a loser who lost his job due to sexual misconduct at work.
"I can't imagine what it's like to lose a child," Ted quietly uttered, he was overwhelmed with the new information he now had — and he was sure nobody knew it other than him. "I would not wish it on my worst enemy." Maurice immediately wiped his eye before a teardrop could escape. "Honestly, sir, it's remarkable how far you've come— how you have changed," Ted spoke highly of Maurice, admiring him doubtlessly. "It took years for me to get myself together, even after we moved thousands of miles away," Maurice confessed. He took a final gulp and finished his cold, sorrowful coffee.
"Morning, Ted! Good to see you." Saved by the Croque Madames. Julia brought a heavy tray crammed with plates of food to the table. "Good morning. Wow, that is a lot of food, Mrs. Bellamy," Ted chimed in as his head craned up and down, trying to get a good look at the Croque Madame. "Oh, you should come over for dinner, it's like every day is Thanksgiving," Maurice claimed as he was helping his wife arranging plates on the wooden table.
Ted was taken aback by how Maurice acted. It was like he didn't utter anything sad or regretful; he was simply joyous and impatient for food. "Well, what are you waiting for? Dig in!" Maurice rubbed his hands together before grabbing the silverware. "Oh, is Evelyn... not joining us?" Ted questioned with furrowed eyebrows. Maurice and Julia glanced at Ted before looking at each other. "Oh, well— she must be caught up with something," The man responded. "Yes, don't mind it." Julia gestured to the young boy with her spoon.
"Oh. I thought she would be joining—" "Boo!" Evelyn cuts Ted's words off when she teased him by putting her hands on his shoulders. "Voilà." She lifted both her arms in the air before sitting down next to her mother — across Ted. "You cleaned up well, Evie." Maurice winked as he was joking around. "And you have dirt on your face, Papa," Evelyn commented with a playful smile on her sweet face.
"No, I don't— do I, Amour?" Maurice defensively asked her wife, they both laughed as Ted quietly ate his food with his ocean eyes gazing at Evelyn. "Enough talking, you two." Julia nudged her daughter on the ribs. "You should kick Papa's feet from below," Evelyn whispered as she leaned into her mother, but then she felt a soft kick on her foot.
"Hey!" Evelyn cried out, faking a gasp. "Gotcha." Ted smirked as he still had his shoes on Evelyn's slippers. "Anyway, aren't you going to tell her about your plan this evening?" Maurice leaned forward. "Why, yes. Miss Bellamy, would you care to join me, Bobby, and Jean this evening for a round of volleyball on the beach?" Ted used his hand to make gestures as a gentleman would do. Evelyn giggled softly, "of course, good sir." she accepted.
They resumed their breakfast with so much to talk about; an interesting topic regarding Ted's congressman brother, Jack, popped up. Another topic about Bobby —Evelyn was quiet the whole time — and the final one, a topic about Evelyn herself.
"Do you have a suitor, or something?" Ted asked in an uncompromisingly forthright way, Eve and Maurice unintentionally locked eyes. Maurice brings his cup to his lips. "What? No." The girl responded, she shoved her spoon into her mouth. What the hell is happening, Evelyn's mind screamed. "Oh, don't get me wrong, I'm only asking because, frankly? Bobby wanted to know." Oh, no. Oh, no. This can't be true!? Why would he say something like that?!
"Bobby said that?" Maurice's interest spiked. "Well, he was just curious, I think." Ted grabbed onto the napkin on his lap before using it to get all the grease on his lips. "Well, I'll be damned." Maurice raised his brows high, putting his eyes somewhere else.
Evelyn was uneasy, she gulped a mouthful of saliva as she began to wonder about Bobby's game. Just when she thought everything was getting on well, he had changed their plans entirely in his own ways— and that puts Evelyn into a difficult spot.
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PS: Whew, child. That was a 2000 words chapter. Must take a long time to read lmfao. I think I deserve some break from writing now haha.