Chapter 20
745 Words
The crowd was pretty modest, according as bashes go for these things with Yvette. She only decided to invite about 150 of her best known people, most of whom I had known for a long time. It’s no wonder my mom was able to pull them all together. Everyone from the current and former mayor, to the ambassador came to visit, all people my mother made sure she knew intimately. And she absolutely enjoyed performing for the role. Emilie reminded me so much of her sometimes.
I was having a hard time imagining how I would enjoy myself though. Yvette had yet to formally introduce us, and we were waiting in separate rooms. Malcolm had gone to get ice, which think was a dummy run, because no sooner did he leave did even pop up inside of the room.
“What’s this I hear about the not so happy couple?” she said, never one to mince words. I sighed and braced myself.
“We are still working things out,” I answered.
“But you guys were just fine a few weeks ago,” she said.
“Yea, we were,” I said.
“There are a lot of people out there waiting to greet you.”
“It won’t be hard to pretend that things are okay,” I bit out. “We pretend all the time. This pretending is killing me.”
“Then try to get it done right,” Yvette said. “You know, you father and I didn’t always get it right.”
I looked at her. My mother never talked about Carter, our deceased father. It’s like every single memory of him died with him that day. He was the love of her life and in order for her to deal she had to shut out every memory there ever was of him in her world. “But you guys were perfect for each other.”
“We were. And I thought that when he died that my entire world would completely cave in. We had the best of times, but it wasn’t always so good. I wanted him more than anything else in life when I was growing up, but I had a future. See, we were friends in high school and we kept up after graduation. It wasn’t until after my first year of college that we dated the first time, but I didn’t take it seriously. We broke up, remaining friends, but eventually kept ending up spending long days and nights together. I was insistent on remaining friends to keep our friendship going, which drove him crazy to no end.
One day, we were out doing some work and we got into the biggest argument we’d ever seen. We didn’t talk for about 2 months, and then one day I called him to talk about it. I gave him an ultimatum, saying that we should at least try to go there to see if it was anything worth doing. We did and we never had an argument after that.”
“So you see sometimes, there’s a price you have to pay to get the paradise you want. It may be putting your own pride aside for all the things you know will be worth it in the long run.”
“But what about her lying about losing the baby,” I asked. I understood where she was coming from but this was still hard.
“She is worried about your relationship. I would be too.”
“What do you suggest?” I asked.
“You actually interested in my advice now?”
“Mom…”
“Go talk to her before I introduce you.”
Just then Cindy burst into the room. I stood up quickly, because she was frantic.
“What’s wrong?” I asked. She was scaring me.
“I can’t find Tammy.”
“What do you mean you can’t find her? I send you up to hang out with her all day,” said Yvette.
“I was, but she asked for some ice chips because she was getting nervous. When I came back she was gone. “
“Did she leave any clues at all?” I asked hoping for some clue.
“We talked about the fact that she was scared of bringing a child into your union without love. She mentioned just wishing things were the way they were.”
I stood up. “I know where she is.”
“Do you need us to come with you?”
“No,” I said. I can handle it.”
“Well do it quickly, the guests are downstairs and waiting,” said Yvette.
I kissed her forehead. “I’ll be back soon.”
I left the house out the front door, knowing that I could avoid more guests that way.
- Writer
