Full houses

"Linda M is Leo. It's her hair darlin'. Even if you didn't know August 15th is her birthday. Her mane is such a giveaway. Haflingers. Ever heard of 'em?" The tables were dressed for a fiesta. In full skirts the color of Goldenrod and Asters, Dumpling looked at the large clock on the wall, there was time to hear more about Haflingers. "Pop Molinas loved horses." Between them the women were exploding the Mr. Molina apparent love of beautiful Creatures. "Grow with revelations piling themselves up like a sky full of stars." Dumpling heard herself thinking. "And, Kiki went on, "He especially loved race horses, Haflingers in particular. Not much room for race horses on the island, and for all his passion, "Pops" had a peculiar ability ... discipline maybe. He contained his loved and lived separate lives to ride that passion within a closed circuit."

Dumpling sat down for that one. Plenty of people squelched their loves. "But Pop never appeared constricted in his life here -- the baking, the business, his place. His wife!"

"He never was. All of this," Kiki opened her arms to embrace the whole of it. "Pops loved the whole package. Mrs. M loved Pop, without reservation."

"No questions asked?" Dumpling didn't mean to put the question mark in her language, but there it came.

"For a BGF you have a few pieces missing from the picture of the Molinas Familia." Kiki was only half joking. "I know. You thought you knew all there was to know about this very public family, this very public place. Every body was in and out of this restaurant. But, the truth of living behind the scenes. We learned to scent the connections like trees on the down-stream draft."

"To answer your question. No Mrs. M never asked where Pop went when he was gone for days at a time. Jealousy wasn't part of her script, she never played those cards."

Funny her choice of words. Dumpling remembered what a great card-player Mrs M was. Poker mostly, but any and all card games were her delight. As kids, after the restaurant was closed she'd have a deck of cards in her still fresh apron. Crossing her legs at the knee heels crisp and high. "What's your fancy?" The gorgeous blonde Mrs. M was never too-tired for a game of cards.