Summer Love’s Second Chance

Chapter 4

Going to his mother’s for Christmas dinner was always miserable. The woman was beyond psychotic and believe her family looked up to her as the matriarch of the family; that she was the only thing holding her family together.

His older brother lived with his mom and his older sister would bring her family. His sister was nothing short of the snobbiest b***h Charlie had ever met in her life. Anything she said she wanted, her husband got her: expensive cars, designer clothes, a boob job, a new house with a freshly built addition and an in ground pool. She wanted it, he jumped at the chance to get it for her as fast as possible. She had given birth to her only child the same year Chase was born. Both. It’s had the same middle name because she wanted the name after hearing Charlie say it. She told Charlie to choose a different middle name, but Charlie had stood her ground. She was not going to be bullied into changing the name of her child for anyone.

Then when Charlie became pregnant with Marie, his sister became jealous and tried for another baby. Unfortunately, she suffered 3 miscarriages that year and then found out she could not have any more children. She would glare at Charlie every time they got together as a family during her pregnancy with Marie. She even told Marie what she should name her because it’s what she would have named her daughter if she had one. Again, Charlie stood her ground and would not be intimidated by her.

In all actuality, the whole family was just straight bonkers. Kevin’s mom had apparently tried to run over his dad with a car when he was a baby because she was angry with him for having a few drinks with some friends one weekend. His older brother who still lived at home used to do cocaine, but swears he’s clean now. His other older brother never comes to holiday get togethers because he knows they’re crazy and refuses to be a part of it all. Charlie jokingly thought she should have married that brother, but he was 11 years older than them, so that never would have happened anyway.

Kevin had been a surprise later in life for his mother. He was 10 years younger than his sister. He was the baby and was still treated that way, even today. He could never do any wrong and was loved as the angel baby of the family. After last night, Charlie knew better.

She also knew better than to say anything about last night to anyone here. The psychosis ran even further than you would imagine. Apparently, when his mom was a little, she was SA’d by her older brother. She was told it was normal and that her brother was just being a curious boy. That was back in the 50’s. Then in the 90’s, Kevin’s older brother, the cocaine addict, SA’d his sister. It was as if SA was a family tradition with these psychos. Kevin’s mother told her daughter it was normal and to just forgive her brother for it because she had done the same when it happened to her. The sister still didn’t like that brother, but she tolerated him.

This whole family believed s**ual deviance was just a normal part of growing up. Charlie had believed Kevin was different since always complained about being around his family. It turned out he was no different from them. His grandfather cheated on his grandmother often in the 40’s and due to the time, she was forced to endure it. Charlie was a woman of the modern age. She knew she didn’t deserve to live like this and the things this family participated were not normal. She was set in her decision and could not wait for the holidays to be over so she could file the paperwork that would lead to her freedom.

Another thing that was always horrible about holiday dinners at her mother-in-laws was that her food was always horrible. One night, she marinated steaks in nothing but vinegar. No spices, no other sauces, just vinegar. She also loved to put coconut flakes in every desert she made. Charlie already knew that the food would be horrible, but she always just ate it to not be disrespectful. She so wanted to be disrespectful and confront her mother-in-law about her horrible food, but she never did. The woman would not have listened anyway. She thought too highly of herself to ever hear any criticism of anything she ever did.

Tonight’s dinner was a baked ham, mashed potatoes, green beans, sliced tomatoes, rolls, and corn pudding. She had made everything but asked the sister and Charlie to bring desserts. Charlie had made her famous chocolate chip cheesecake bars, while the sister had made a pecan pie. There were also sugar cookies for the cousins to frost and decorate.

As Charlie had thought, dinner was horrible, and she had stayed more quiet than usual and as far away from Kevin as she could. She spent most of her time with the kids to avoid having to speak to any of the adults and be questioned about her own behavior. She wasn’t telling any of them anything. They could find out when Kevin was served with the divorce papers.

The kids opened their own presents from the aunts, uncles, and grandparents and then we were off to go home again. Charlie only had to survive 2 more days before Kevin would be gone again back to Knoxville, Tennessee is where he was this time.

She opted for sleeping on the couch again and refused to participate in any conversations with him. She tended to the children as she usually did like every other day and then curled into herself on the couch scrolling through the books she read on her phone. These last 2 nights were going to be rough nights to sleep, but she had endured worse when the kids were babies and had had to get up all hours of the night alone since Kevin slept through their crying. She never understood how the man could never hear when the babies cried. He probably did, just refused to have anything to do with his own children. He enjoyed the idea of having the kids around, just didn’t like having to do anything that provided care for them.

It didn’t matter, all that mattered was soon, he would no longer be a problem in her immediate life and she could go about her day to day life as she always did, just without having to take care of anything for him on top of everything else.