SHE STILL DEFENDS HIM
1595 Words
Point of View — Maya
Linda remained silent for a lengthy moment following Maya's words.
That was how she realized the three words had hit as they were meant to. Linda constantly had a comment, on everything, at all times. Maya loved this area most about her and also one of the things that made her a little crazy. At that moment, Linda was silent, and that silence indicated to Maya that she had been listened to. Truly listened. Not just the words but the importance behind them.
Then Linda breathed out gently.
"Maya." Her tone was cautious. As if she were gripping something she wished to keep from falling.
"Yes, I'm aware." Maya stated.
"Duration."
Maya looked at the cake positioned on the table before her. Next to the superhero, she had placed the additional piece. David's vacant chair still sat slightly away from the table where she had positioned it that morning.
"I'm unsure." She spoke to her candidly. "A period of time."
Linda fell silent once more. Then she said, "I'll be there soon."
"Linda, it's after midnight."
"I am aware of the current time."
"I'm okay." Maya tightened her cardigan. "I simply had to express it verbally to another person." That's everything. "I only required it to be present somewhere beyond my own mind."
Linda produced a noise that didn't fully convey agreement. "Are you certain?"
"I’m certain."
Maya heard her shifting about on the opposite side of the call. She could picture her clearly, seated on her beige couch with her legs curled underneath her, wearing her satin bonnet, whatever show she had been watching paused on the screen ahead of her. She had an expression of worry. Maya knew about it without needing to look at it.
"Speak to me then." Linda remarked. "If I’m not coming by, you need to speak with me." At this moment. Everything.
Thus, Maya did.
She notified her about the chair. Concerning Ethan by the entrance. Counting to ten in the garden as David's apology resonated through the phone, quick and practiced, done before it genuinely started. She told her about the covered plate on the counter and how she had said “okay” three times without feeling anything at all while doing so. She described being left alone with the cake after everyone left, shedding tears that had been suppressed for so long they felt nearly strange when they finally flowed.
Linda listened to everything without interrupting once.
After Maya finished, the kitchen quieted again. A unique kind of silence , the one that occurs after something heartfelt has been shared in a room.
"Maja." Linda softly uttered her name.
"Refrain." Maya mentioned it before she could move forward.
"I have yet to say anything."
"I am conscious of what you are about to convey."
"Therefore, you recognize that I am right."
Maya shut her mouth and looked out the window over the sink. The glass was shaded. The garden looked like just a dark outline beyond it. Outside was the fissure in the wall that she had found earlier that day. She was unable to stop thinking about that c***k. She
was unaware of the reason. She continued to return to it.
"He attended a board meeting." She remarked, "It was truly an emergency, Linda." "He simply chose not to attend."
The quiet on the other side was extremely deafening.
"I understand how that may come across." Maya stated.
"Do you?"
"He's preparing something." She got up from the table and brought her plate to the sink, even though it had hardly anything on it. She needed to alter her position. She needed something for her hands to do while she said this. "Collins Dominion" didn't reach its current state by chance. There are genuine consequences. Genuine pressure. Elements that can disintegrate in one evening if an incorrect choice is made. "I was aware of how his work appeared when I became his wife."
"You were aware of how his work appeared." Linda echoed it back at a slow pace. "Did his job resemble neglecting his son's fourth birthday?"
Maya opened the faucet and washed the dish.
"It was my birthday." She spoke softly.
"Maja."
"I'm conscious this isn't the initial occurrence of something being missed." I'm conscious of that. She stopped the water from the tap. She arranged the plate in the rack and dried her hands on the kitchen towel that was hanging by the sink, taking a moment before she put it back in its spot. "But, he isn't a bad person, Linda." He is not choosing an alternative life instead of ours. He has a job. On our account. For this home. "Concerning Ethan's future."
"Ethan has no interest in what lies ahead." Linda mentioned. "He hopes his father will attend his birthday party."
Maya remained silent in reaction to that.
She could not.
Both acknowledged the truth of it and were fully aware; in her quiet kitchen at midnight, she was too exhausted to try.
"I defended him this evening." Rather, she noted. Not really to Linda. Mainly to herself. "While at the meeting." His mother asked where he was, and I said he was held up with work while smiling, to which she nodded. Before continuing. His cousin inquired, and I responded with the same answer. Ethan's teacher arrived , Ethan had personally invited her , and she inquired, and I repeated it once more. She hesitated. "I've become quite skilled at expressing it."
"I understand you have." Linda's voice had become gentle now. The sharpness had vanished. Only her beneath it. Only Maya's companion. "Darling, how often have you stood in for him?"
Maya parted her lips.
She shut it.
She reflected , not just on this night, but further back. During the school concert in March, when she told the other parents that David was on a business trip, her smile appeared so sincere that it made her a bit uneasy. At her birthday dinner in September, she told the waiter that her husband was coming, despite already knowing he wasn't. Returning to Christmas morning at his mother's home, where she had kept his plate warm and informed everyone he would arrive shortly for two complete hours before she eventually ceased to mention it.
The plates that are covered.
How many plates had been covered?
She genuinely tried to count but could not reach a figure. They combined into one, each looking the same as the last.
"I'm not certain about the frequency." She notified Linda. That comment was the most genuine one she expressed all night. "I've lost count."
Linda breathed out softly.
"Maya." "Listen to what I say." She stopped. "Shielding him does not mean looking after him." "You know that, don't you?"
Maya stayed entirely still next to the sink.
"You can feel affection for someone and still express truthfully about them." Linda stated. "Even just to yourself."
Maya looked at David's chair from across the kitchen. Beyond that was just a chair , an utterly ordinary chair slightly moved from the table, with a gold-trimmed plate placed in front of it. If you didn’t know the context, you wouldn’t think twice about it.
That was the part of not being present. It failed to leave a discernible impression that you could recognize. It created a shape. A shape where something should be present.
""I'm not ready to stop backing him." Maya mentioned. Her tone stayed serene. "I’m not ready, Linda." "Please don’t push me to visit there tonight."
Linda was quiet for a short time.
"Okay." She whispered gently. "Okay." "Not tonight."
"Thank you very much."
"Nonetheless, Maya." She stayed calm. "At a certain point, you must think about for whom you are defending his actions."
Maya stayed quiet.
"Given that Ethan knows already, sweetheart." Linda's voice turned almost inaudible. "At the age of four, he comprehends already."
Maya reached out her arm and placed her hand on the rear of David's empty chair.
The wood felt chilly against her fingers. She stayed there holding it, staring at the birthday cake and the drooping balloons and the dish covered on the counter and her own faint reflection in the dark kitchen window.
Abruptly, she caught a sound.
Small. Mild. From above.
Ethan's voice quality.
"Mother."
She swiftly pulled her hand back from the chair. "I have to go." She notified Linda. "Ethan is now awake."
"Go away." Linda commented. "Get in touch with me tomorrow." "Promise me."
"I promise you."
She terminated the call and moved towards the stairs.
"Mom." His voice came again , sleepy and small, completely assured that she would come.
She went up the stairs and opened his door wide. He sat in bed with the birthday crown on, his hair. His eyelids were somewhat closed. He raised both arms immediately when he saw her.
She walked into the room and lifted him up, all of him, his warm, heavy, sleepy weight pressed against her chest. She sat on the edge of his bed and held him close, while he faced her neck as he had done since he was a baby.
"Bad dream?" She asked softly.
He tilted his head in agreement.
"What follows, my dear."
He remained silent for a brief time. His tiny hand located her arm and held it.
After that, he spoke, painfully and straightforwardly.
"Is Daddy on his way back?"
Maya shut her eyes.
She held her son more tightly.
For the first time in as long as she could recall, she was at a loss for words.
- Writer
