Queen of Love by Cynthia Dane & Hildred Billings

Author:Cynthia Dane & Hildred Billings [Dane, Cynthia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Barachou Press
Published: 2022-05-26T16:00:00+00:00

“Ara, isn’t it fast?” Mari multi-tasked talking to her sister while cleaning up her daughter’s drink spill on the restaurant table. “You think Mom and Dad can handle it?”

Aya could barely think – let alone hear herself – over the loud rabble of the beef bowl shop, the one nestled deep into the outer pockets of Ikebukuro, where Mari had once again brought her kids in for doctor visits and discount clothes shopping. The dinner had been last minute, and out of Aya’s way, but this was the perfect opportunity to broach introducing the family to Genevieve.

“I’m the one who brought it up, so blame me for it,” Aya said, having hardly picked at her beef bowl. Across from her, Hisa opened the container of ginger and helped herself to a hearty pile. “Things are getting pretty serious with her, though. She was delighted when I mentioned it.”

“Ah, are you sure? Or could she be, like… really, really nice?”

“I think I know the difference by now.” Aya kept one eye on Hisa, who now had more ginger than beef bowl. “Don’t suppose the doctor told her to eat her ginger, huh?”

“Eh? Ara! Hisa! Yamede!” Mari jumped in to stop her daughter from stealing more ginger from its container. While Aya and her nephew Sho laughed, Mari began foisting the excess ginger into everyone else’s bowls. Great. More ginger. Aya didn’t hate it, but she could go without. “Mou, what has gotten into you two lately? Did I tell you that I found her in the washing machine the other day?”

“Really? That’s a tight fit.”

Hisa raised her arms in triumph. “I fit!”

“I don’t know whose children these are.” Mari picked up her own chopsticks and shoved rice into her mouth, still talking. “They’re definitely not mine.”

All around Aya, members of her family were eating as if this was their last meal ever, mouths full of rice and strips of beef. And ginger. “Uh-huh. I’m not sure how I’m related to any of you, honestly.”

“That’s because you take after Mom. Me and my lot here take after Dad.”

“I do not take after Mom!” Aya leaned over the table, hissing at her sister. “You take that back.”

Her niece and nephew laughed while Mari gave her baby sister a death glare. “You are soooo Mom. Nee?” She gently elbowed Hisa, who raised her arms into the air and immediately dropped her chopsticks. “Auntie Aya is like your grandma.”

“Obachan is obaachan!” Hisa dragged her empty hands down her face. “It makes sense now!”

“It’s bad enough your kids call me obachan,” Aya said. “Now they’re calling me obaachan, too.”

“It’s a rite of passage for everyone with nieces and nephews.”

“How would you know? You don’t have any.”

“Hng! That’s not true! Kentaro’s sister recently had her first baby. Cutest thing! Way cuter than these two sea monkeys.”

I can’t believe she said I’m like Mom. Sure, there were similarities, but wasn’t that true no matter what? Wasn’t like Mari was absolved from being like Rika Sugiya, either. If they called Genevieve “Queen of Love,” then they call Rika, “Queen of Soft Power.

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