CHAPTER 83: TRUTH AND MEETING

PETERSON-MARCH RESIDENCE – SUNDAY MORNING

KITCHEN

LYNETTE

I still can’t believe what mother said to people!  She is so fixated on how people see us that she won’t support her own daughter.  Unless of course, she’s called Lindsay!  I sigh and stir my coffee vigorously before relishing the feeling of the scalding liquid burning down my throat.

I take some calming breaths and stand up.  I’m startled by the tapping on the window and find myself looking at Elspeth.  I rush to open the door.

“Elspeth?!  What are you doing here?”  I gasp as I let her in.

She smiles kindly at me and once again, I find myself in her gentle arms comforting me.  “I wanted to make sure you were okay.  I tried to call you a few times but it kept going to voicemail.”

“Sorry. When we got home, I just switched it off.  First because mother decided to have her birds of a feather around and I was so tired that I just took one look and went to bed.  I think they went home about two.”  I sigh wearily.

“Well the most important thing is that you are okay.”  She kisses my forehead and I struggle not to cry.  “Now I’ll be…”

“No.  C-could you help me?”

“Of course, name it.”

I look properly at Elspeth. She’s a purebred WASP but not once has she judged, cringed or blamed me since I told her.

“I need to...”  I trail off, my confidence from yesterday having evaporated a bit.

“With pleasure.”

NANCY’S BEDROOM

Elspeth and I watch mother sleep for a minute or two before I stride to the widow and wrench the curtains open, flooding the place with light.

“Good morning mother!”  I trill.

“For goodness sake, Lynette go away.  It’s too early!”  Mother grumbles.

“The early bird catches the worm Nancy.”  Elspeth calls from the door causing mother to sit bolt upright, clutching the sheets up to her neck.

“Calm yourself Nancy, it’s just us girls. No need to react like some virginal bride.”  Elspeth sneers.

“What on earth are you doing here Elspeth?”

“Helping your daughter more than you ever did.”  She replies coldly and heads to the wardrobe and pulls it open.  “Is everything in here hers?”

“Yes.”

I answer and fling open the window before turning to decant her bits of frippery from the dresser and watch with a smile as Elspeth starts to throw clothes out of the wardrobe over her shoulder.  This seems to galvanise mother into action but not out of the bed.

“What on earth are you two doing?!”  She yells.

“Helping you pack.”  I reply, putting the box on the bed.

“Pack?”  She repeats dumbly.

“Yes mother. I can’t bear to have you in my house a minute longer.  I will let you have a shower but I want you out of here in…”

“Now just a minute Lynette!  I am your mother and you will treat me with the respect I deserve!”

“And I am!!”  I yell back.  “And the amount of respect you are due is none!  Not a damn fucking thing!  My ex-boyfriend tried to rape me and instead of being supportive you go around telling people the reason that you don’t have grandchildren is that I am infertile!”

“Oh for goodness sake, is that all?!”  She snarls.  “If you hadn’t been there, then it wouldn’t have happened.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?!”

“Daddy!”  I gasp.

The room goes quiet.

“Ron…”

“Shut up Nancy!”  Daddy snaps before approaching me and pulling me into his arms.  “Oh my darling girl, why didn’t you tell me?”

“I was…”  I begin before I burst into tears and holding onto him as tightly as I can.

“I would’ve told you Ronald, but she begged me not to.”  Mother tells him.

“Again shut up Nancy!”  He barks before lifting my chin.  “How old were you?”

“I was 15.” I sniffle. “And I did ask her not to tell you.”

“I wish you had told me but I’m glad in a way.”  He smiles down at me.

“Um why?”  Elspeth asks, confused.

“Because I would be in jail. I would’ve hunted him down and killed him.”

“Really?”  I ask in surprise.

“Yes really.”  He kisses my forehead and then turns to mother.  “Regardless of what she asked you not to do, you should have told me.  She is my child!”

She glares back at him.  “And what would we have told people?  What…”

“Get the fuck out of my house!”  Oliver explodes.  “You unfeeling, noxious cow!”

“Oliver!  The window!”  She gasps.

“The window?”  Daddy repeats.  “You are worried about people hearing what?  How caring you are?”  He snarls, sarcastically.  “You heard my son-in-law.  Get up and get out!”

Gently he pushes me towards Oliver.  “Take care of her.  Elspeth and I will deal with the trash.”

RONALD

As she walks towards Oliver, Lynette pauses.  “What would you have done if it was Lindsay mother?”

“Comforted her of course and…”

“The exact opposite of what you did for me.”  She sniffs and lets Oliver lead her out.

Elspeth and I exchange looks and she goes back to emptying the wardrobe.

“Ronald, would you please just listen?”  Nancy begins in that tone which has always annoyed me.

“No. But I am curious as to why do you treat them so differently?”  I shut the window and sit down on the chair and wait.

“She’s no longer a lesbian and…”

“Oh for goodness sake!”  Elspeth snaps.  “What does her sexuality have to do with you as a mother?  Do you know how many straight children I have?”

She shakes her head.

“Two.  And do I love my other children any differently?  Of course not!”

“But…”

“Do you know how many grandchildren I have?”

“Three.”  She seems so proud of her answer.

“Six and if it works out with Lucy and her girlfriend, hopefully eight.”

“Six?”  Nancy echoes.

“Yes six.  Lucas and Miles have two.  There’s the three with Lyle and his wife, the only ones that most probably count in your world.”  She sneers.  “And then there’s one with Leonard and Patrick.”

She stares at her aghast.  “How can you be so accepting of what is so wrong?  It should be a man and a woman!”

“How can you be so accepting of what is so wrong?  No means no!”  She berates her.  “And not only do you not give her a grain of comfort, but you blame her for being there!  The blame lies squarely at the foot of one person and Lynette wasn’t, and isn’t, that person!”  She pauses and looks at her coldly.  “Because you still blame her, don’t you?  Not because of what almost happened to her.  No that’s not it.  You blame her for not being able to give you grandchildren!”

“She should’ve been over it by her first marriage. It was years ago!”  Nancy snaps back.  “It’s just sex!”

“No!  It was almost rape!”  Elspeth bellows.  “And you don’t just get over it!”

Nancy looks away and I feel sick to my stomach.  “Start packing your cases Nancy or I start dumping stuff out of the window.”

“You wouldn’t dare!”  She snarks.  “You’re not man enough!  Now both of you get out, I’m going back to sleep.  I fully expect apologies from all of you and before you go Elspeth, I need you to put my clothes back where you found them.”  

Elspeth just stares incredulously at her.

“Elspeth she’s right, an apology is due.”  I stand up and gather her clothes, carefully shaking them out.  “Dear clothes, I apologise for what I am about to do.”

I stride to the window and open it and drop them.  “Such a shame it rained last night.  More clothes please.”  I hold my hand out.  “Take them off the hangers first, they look like real wood.”

“Ronald!”  Nancy leaps out of bed and tries to grab the clothes out of Elspeth’s hands but she can’t stop both of us. Within half an hour, her wardrobe is in the garden.  

What happens next seems to be like slow motion.  We all look at the box on the bed but I get to it first and throw it too.

“RONALD HAVE YOU GONE MAD?!”  She screams, her face an unattractive shade of purple.

“Never been saner!”  I laugh.  “Is that all?”  I ask Elspeth, who is almost doubled over with laughter and she nods weakly.

“Oh my god, I’ve never seen the like!”  She gasps.  “You should have pitched for the...whatever our baseball team is called.  I draw the line at the bags though, no, I won’t let you do that.”

“Fair enough.  Now shall we grind?”

“Pardon?”  She frowns at me.

“I’ve always wanted to splash in muddy puddles and…”

Elspeth is down the stairs like a shot and much to my surprise, Oliver is following her.  

“Look after Lynette!”  He yells.  “I’ve got a dress to stamp on!”

MASTER BEDROOM

RONALD

I watch Lynette laughing like a loon at the window.  “Oh my goodness!  He’s always hated that dress. Said it made her look like a sofa!”

“The pink and red floral?”  I ask.

“Yes that one.”  She chuckles.

“Lynette, come and sit down.”  I pat the space on the bed and she sits down.

“What I need you to do is to get yourself cleaned up, pick the finest restaurant and you, Oliver and I will go to dinner to celebrate the ending of such a horrible person being in our lives.  She will always be your mother…”

“Biologically.”  She snaps bitterly and I can’t blame her.

“True. And there’s nothing we can do about that.  But we can be the one thing that she never ever wanted us to be.”

“Happy?”  She leans against my shoulder and lets out a breath I suspect she’s been holding since she was 15.

“Yes, be happy.”

“Excuse me daddy, there is one thing I need to do.”  She stands up and grabs my hand.  “Come on.”

She leads me outside and I try not to laugh at the sight of Nancy in her nightie, trying to pick up clothes and dig out her expensive make-up from the mud.  

“Mother!  I need to call you a cab.  Where is it dropping you off?”

Nancy whirls round.  “I am leaving but when I decide to, not you. These will need to be...”  She stops as Lynette approaches her, her face full of fury.

“The address mother!”  Lynette hisses.

“Fine! I shall give you a couple of days to calm down.  I’ll go to Andrea’s. Call the cab for an hour pickup.”

“Andrea’s?  Right, that address I know.”  She paces as she waits to confirm the cab.  “It will be here in 10 minutes and I’ve told him to wait.  Shower quickly or go as you are.”

“You are not tramping mud through my house!”  Oliver calls out and stands in the door and picks up the hose.

“Oliver no!”  Lynette shrieks and gets between him and her mother, unfortunately too late for him to stop.

Elspeth and I exchange mortified looks as Lynette is drenched from head to toe.

“Lynette!  I am so sorry!”  Oliver cries out switching the hose off quickly.  

“Oliver Christopher March!”  Lynette splutters and wipes her face.   “Take me upstairs right now so we share a shower!”

“Yes ma’am!”  He salutes her and helps her inside.  “Ronald, Elspeth can I leave you to deal with that?”

“Of course.”  Elspeth replies, wiping her eyes.  “It will be my pleasure.”

There’s a honking and I spot the cab.  “Nancy, you might want to put on a coat.  I’m pretty sure that the cab driver would want his cab clean.”

DINER – TWO HOURS LATER

ELSPETH

I haven’t had such a fun day in years.  I told Lewis about it and he howled with laughter.

“Lewis!  Over here!”  I wave at him and he comes over.

“Ronald and I are starving so we’ve...”

“How do you know about this place?”  He settles down, looking around properly.

“Slick eats here and said we need to order the tempura fish burger and the wings quickly.”  I tell him and wave at the 50s siren.

“What can I get you people?”

“Tempura fish burger and the wings for each of us.  Are we in time?”  I ask and we are all relieved when she nods.  “And string fries for three and the fried pickles and oh, what else did she say?”  I frown and then smile.  “Bacon jam and garlic on the burgers.”

“Gotcha.”  She smiles and heads to the hatch.

“Good lord!”  Ronald gasps and then goes red.

“What?  Ronald are you okay?”  Lewis asks and looks behind himself.

“Fine.” Ronald mutters and focuses on his cup. His face is still a bit red and we pass the time with chatter.  I’ve never spoken to Ronald without Nancy and he’s an entertaining and gentle man.

“Here’s your food.”  The waitress sing songs and puts down our plates.  “And this....”  She pauses with a smile.  “Is for you from the lady two booths down.”  She smiles and walks back a couple of steps.

We both look eagerly at Ronald as he looks at the note.  “I saw that.”  He reads.  “I’m Kimberly and would love to know your name.”  

Lewis quickly snatches the paper out of his hands and takes the pen from the waitress, who is waiting with a huge smile.  

“Lewis, what are you doing?!”  Ronald tries to reach for the paper but Lewis quickly hands it back to her and she’s off.

“Starting your life again!”  He chuckles.   

“Oh my God.  This is embarrassing!”  Ronald groans and hangs his head.

“So you’re Ronald then?  Mind if I join you?  My brother has run off in mortification.”

Ronald just stares at her.

“I’m Elspeth and this is my husband Lewis.  And yes, he’s Ronald and would like you to join us.”

An hour later he has a date and we have a new friend.