Scott was about to slip away from the circle, having determined the conversation to be nothing but the usual boring stuff that adults find endlessly fascinating, when Tony joined the group next to Beatrice. He was all scrubbed and groomed, smelled like he had collided with an aftershave truck, and gazed at Beatrice like a rescue puppy.
“You look great tonight, Lady B,” he said with awkward, boyish charm.
Beatrice hooked her arm through his and clasped her hands together regally in front of her. “Oh, Anthony! “ Well, this was interesting. Scott decided to remain in the circle. He wanted to see more of this romance business close up.
Beatrice and Tony are one of those improbable couples whose destiny together, in retrospect, is inevitable. Physically they’re an odd couple. Their backgrounds and life experiences couldn’t be more different. But underneath all that, they’re made for each other.
Scott first meets Tony after he gets clobbered by a hard ground ball in his first baseball game at Dalriada.
The kids all greeted Uncle Tony, a favorite of the junior high crowd, beloved for his gruff good nature, fractured grammar, and heavy North End Boston accent. Tony was grungy, lumpy, and unkempt, had a perpetual scowl, and said whatever crossed his mind, like that one relative all families have who simply appears at gatherings but nobody’s too sure how they’re related.
After examining Scott’s impressive black eye, Tony’s only comment is, “Anyone every show you how to use a baseball glove, kid?” So much for bedside manner. But his affection for the Dalriada kids isn’t in words of sympathy but in working alongside them, helping them, sharing their goals.
Tony and Scott aren’t a good fit at first. Tony’s criticism of Scott’s hammering technique when they working on the fishing shed seems unnecessarily critical to Scott and he can’t understand what it is about Tony that the boys like.
By the time that Scott’s guilt over vandalizing Mrs. Bannister’s mailbox has gotten the better of him, the one person he confesses to is also the one person he trusts the most, Tony.
“So, I went to hang out with the guys and Xander Cropper the other night.”
“Aw, geesh.”
“I went on this bike ride with them. No reason, I don’t like the guy, I just wanted to see why Troll and T-Bone hung out with him.”
“A bombing raid?”
“You know about that?”
“Go on.”
“So, we were going down Old Post Road—”
“Got it. And they kept making fun of you and you had enough of it, and you whacked Mrs. Bannister’s mailbox.”
“How’d you know?”
“This is about Mrs. Bannister, right? And a bombing raid? And you? Cowboy math.”
“Yeah. It’s just so stupid.”
“So, you did that. Regret it?”
“I’d give anything to not have done that.”
“Well, good. You’re not hopeless. So now she’s dead. What are you going to do about it?”
“I don’t know what to do about it. “
“Well, what would Mrs. Bannister do? If she backed her car down the driveway and took out her own mailbox, what would she do?”
“Well, she’d replace it. Or have someone else replace it. A neighbor or somebody. That’s what I would do if it were me.”
“How much is a mailbox?” asked Tony. Scott shrugged. He had no idea. “Come on. Let’s go.”
Tony fronts the expense and the two of them replace the mailbox that Scott had crushed the other night. While they work, Scott gets some insight into Tony and his relationship with the Argylls. As a boy, Tony was a snoop for the crime bosses who ran Boston’s Combat Zone. By his own admission, he was in deep. Between his grandmother constantly trying to talk sense to him and a chance encounter with Bobby Argyll, which remains shrouded in mystery, Tony’s life took a turn for the best. Now, as the head of maintenance at Dalriada, Tony is very much a loved and respected mentor to the kids.
At the Independence Eve gala, Tony and Beatrice announce their big news.
At the end of the song, the band played a little fanfare and Henry stepped to the mic. He gestured to the crowd to quiet down. “There is a special announcement we’d like to share with all of you. Tony?”
Tony stood and took Beatrice by the hand. They walked to the microphone together and there was a buzz of anticipation at the junior high tables. Off mic, Tony said to Beatrice, “Geesh, I’m a little nervous.” He took a breath and looked out at the crowd. “I’m glad you’re all here because if you heard this from someone else you might not believe it. Beatrice and I would like to announce that we’re engaged. You know, to be married.” The crowd erupted in cheers and applause. “She said ‘Yes!’”
They were immediately swamped by all the junior high kids. The girls all clamored to see Beatrice’s engagement ring. Scott waited his turn to congratulate them and must’ve heard Tony say a hundred times that they didn’t have a date for the wedding yet, but it would be in the spring. Scott gave Tony a hearty handshake and said, “You old dog you!” He wasn’t sure why, but it seemed like one of those hail-fellow-well-met things to say to a guy who just got engaged. Unc grabbed him and put a big bear hug on him and turned him over to Beatrice, who threw her arms around him.
We’re not sure how the romance started, or how long it’s been growing, but Tony can truly thank the Argylls and Dalriada for bringing him together with Beatrice. Described as having the stature of a Wagnerian soprano, Beatrice also exhibits a practically unshakeable calm and an uncanny ability to know when the truth is not being told.
“Your parents are having quite a conversation with Beatrice,” observed Gizmo from their vantage point on the porch.
“What’s the deal with her?”
“Beatrice? She’s awesome,” responded Gizmo and took another bite of cheesecake. “And terrifying. You should always pay attention to what she says.” Another bite. “But you’ve really got be on your toes is when she’s not talking. That’s the scary bit.”
Beatrice’s role at Dalriada has no formal definition. She leads the junior high book club, The Inklings, through spirited conversations of fiction, philosophy, history, and art with an innate sense of the right question to ask at the right time. She also coordinates all the activity of every single kid in the group. She’s part camp counselor, big sister, trail boss, and trainer. Scott is a little hesitant about his first meeting with her, but it’s his turn to ask the questions.
“Well, I guess, what exactly is your job here? Are you a teacher? A counselor?”
Beatrice laughed. “Mr. Argyll tells me to think about what needs to be done and do it.”
“He would,” said Scott.
“Much of what I do is think about what comes next for each of you and help make it happen.”
“How does somebody get a job like this?”
She laughed again. “I couldn’t tell you. There is no plan that takes a military brat who grew up mostly in Germany, the only girl in a family of six children, who trained for the Olympic biathlon, to this job. Except that I met the Argylls quite by accident.”
“Whoa! The Olympics?”
“I have an idea. Let’s set aside some time and maybe you can help me figure out how I got here. Let’s get you active in the group and find out what works for you, and we can talk about that some more. In the meantime, is there anything I can help you get started with?
“Is that where you ski until you drop then have to shoot a target the size of a thimble?”
“And if you miss you have to ski even farther. Yes, that’s the one.”
“How is that even possible?”
“You just have to do it.”
“But your heart is pumping, and your lungs are burning and—”
“And you have to shoot a target the size of a thimble. You just have to do it.”
“How? I mean, there’s no way that’s even possible.”
Beatrice laughed. “And it’s a race, so you can’t wait until you’re ready. You learn to be calm in the middle of it all.”
As with Tony’s path to Dalriada, there is no model for how to land a job with the Argylls. Henry and Elena invite people to join them in the Dalriada project and, for the right person, are more than willing to fabricate a new role for them. Maybe this knack for bringing the right people to Dalriada is the best explanation for how Tony and Beatrice found each other and fell in love.
What Then? 