The summer she turned 15 she went to the aunts by herself. Her parents had tried to convince her it was an adventure on her own. A chance to get a break from them. But she wasn't a stupid girl.
"I think my parents are going to get divorced."
Aunt Bets looked at Aunt Gloria quickly. Stacy was pretty sure she wasn't supposed to notice the glance but she did.
Aunt Perry was the one to step in though, "Why do you think that?"
"They've been fighting a lot lately. And then they sent me here without coming as well. I think they are splitting up and will break it to me when it's all over with."
"And how do you think you would feel about that?" Aunt Gloria asked. "If it were to happen?"
Stacy shrugged her shoulders, "I think it would make me sad, but if it was better for them? Maybe? I don't know. I have friends whose parents are divorced and some of them are okay, but some are just not. Like they went crazy, you know? Dating and acting like a kid. It's weird to think of my mom or dad having drama like that. If they did get divorced I guess I would wish that they would just be happy being single, like you guys."
Aunt Bets laughed loudly at that. "Your Aunt Gloria is the most often married woman I have ever known."
Stacy looked confused.
"Oh now, that's not fair. I was only married a few times."
"What? Wait, you were married? How did I not know this? Were you two married as well?"
Her Aunt Gloria smiled, "I was married three times. My husbands all had the bad manners to die earlier than I did. It's been a long time since my last husband. You weren't even born yet when he passed."
"But how did I not know about them?"
"Because you never cared to ask," said Aunt Bets, "You were a child and children are the most self centered creatures in the world."
"Oh now don't look so shocked, sweetheart, it's perfectly normal to be self centered as a child." Her Aunt Perry tried to comfort her.
"That is true, you show me someone who was not self centered as a child and I will show you a neurotic grown up."
"But I still feel badly that I never even knew. What about the two of you? Were you two married?"
Aunt Bets shook her head, "I never was. I didn't feel the need for it. I had the house and the gardens and my sisters off and on, but I just never felt that tug to have a partner."
Aunt Perry smiled a small smile, "I was married once. She was my heart. When she passed I didn't feel the need to try again."
Stacy looked shocked again. "She?"
Aunt Perry laughed, "I thought the youth of today was much more open to such things."
"No! I mean, yes, of course, it's fine. I just was shocked that I didn't know. Marriage hasn't been legal for very long, so how could I not have met her?"
"Oh pish. We cared about the legality about as much as your Aunt Bets cares about building permits. We didn't have a document from the government, but we had a lovely wedding and a delightful marriage."
Aunt Bets nodded, "It's true. And Sarah outlasted two of Gloria's husbands as well."
Stacy couldn't believe it. How in the world had she never even considered that her aunts had ever done anything other than just live in the house waiting for her to visit. But it was true. She had never given a thought to what their lives were like when her family was not around. "What about children? Do I have cousins that I have never met?"
Aunt Gloria shook her head, "No, it was never in the cards for me and any of my husbands. And as much as Perry and Sarah didn't care about rules the adoption agencies did. And of course Bets wouldn't have ever let any man get close enough to try!" Her aunts broke out into loud peals of laughter.
Aunt Perry walked over and picked up a framed photo that Stacy had never noticed. "Here."
Stacy looked and it was her aunts in front of the house, which was only two stories at the time, watching another man and a woman plant a tree.
"That's my Sarah, and that is Dean, your Aunt Gloria's second husband. They were planting the climbing tree. Bets was already planning the expansion of the house at the time and said the tree would be important but wouldn't tell us why."
"This is amazing." Stacy looked at the old photo. Looking at her aunts as younger women made her smile, but she spent most of her time looking at Dean and Sarah. Would she have liked them? What were they like?
They all spent the rest of the day reminiscing about their younger lives. It wasn't until much later that Stacy realized she hadn't worried about her parents all afternoon.
And it wasn't until years later that she wondered how old her aunts really were, and how long ago that tree had been planted.
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