Skeptical, I answered harshly, “Yeah and you never actually even tried to work with me. You just came in and out of my life randomly, even though I wanted you there.”
Seeming upset by this, my mother’s face fell before she answered, “I’m sorry, Shawn. I could hardly get past your father. He was the one who made everything so difficult for us. He was the one who told me that you didn’t want to see me. He was the one who kept us apart all of these years.”
At first I didn’t respond. It was a lot to take in and I was very nervous that she was just trying to make things worse. After all, she had never even tried before now. She would always cancel and my father would always be there, telling me how much she loved me and how much she wished she could be there. I had always thought he was just lying to make me feel better, but the thought that he was actually the mastermind behind my ultimately motherless childhood was a far more intimidating option.
When I didn’t respond right away, she sighed and shrugged. “Look, I know this isn’t a conversation that we should have in front of anyone and I understand that it is a lot to take in, but I am telling you the truth when I insist that your father is the reason that I was such an absent parent. I never wanted to be this way.”
I narrowed my eyes at her before I finally got up the courage to ask, “Then why are you this way? Why now? After all this time…After all of this time that I have been living in your house and you were still absent, why would I believe you?”
My mother was quiet for a moment before she answered, “Honestly, I was afraid that you would leave. I was terrified to upset you.” She shrugged. “I’ve had a very long life. I have gotten into some situations that I am not proud of and I have some habits that I wish I could denounce, but right now, all I want you to do is to worry about your father and what he is capable of. He is a master manipulator and I do not want you to get caught up in it.” She shook her head. “It just isn’t worth it.”
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Valerie
I had watched the scene unfold before me and I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it. I certainly didn’t want to say anything, because I knew that it wasn’t my place.
In all of the time that I had known Shawn’s family, I had never seen his mother act like this. While I couldn’t say it was a welcomed change, since it muddled everything up and brought more questions out of the situation than answers, it was something that I just couldn’t shake. There seemed to be something going on that was too strange to comprehend.
Much like I am sure Shawn was feeling, I had the sense that my entire world was being turned upside down and I wasn’t sure who I could or even really wanted to trust.
As Shawn’s mother walked into her room, Shawn stared after her with an odd expression. I couldn’t help but wonder if this was what was supposed to come to pass.
If what Shawn’s mother was saying was true, then my mother needed to get as far away from Shawn’s father as possible. Instead of taking care of her, he was tricking and manipulating her; to what end, I had no idea, but I knew that it couldn’t be good.
After all, if the hurt I saw in Shawn’s mother’s eyes was genuine, then his father had taken everything from her, every single time she had ever tried to retrieve it; and now, it seemed like he was trying to do the same to my mom.
Therefore, when Shawn decided to leave the room without another word, after his mother did the same, I figured that I should call my mother and see how quickly she could get over here.
I waited a few minutes until I was alone and pulled out my cellphone. I called my mother to tell her to be right over and she said that she would have no problem with that.
The few minutes it took for her to make it to Shawn’s mother’s house was agonizing. With the new, increasingly plausible idea that Paul was behind everything bad that was going on inside the family, I could not help but think that there was something very strange going on. With that thought came a whole slew of possibilities circulating around inside my head that made me fearful about what exactly was taking my mother so long.
But I didn’t want to seem paranoid, so I refrained from calling her phone.
However, finally, I heard a knock on the door and I ran to answer it. My mother seemed slightly nervous and asked if I was all right.
I hugged her and told her I was, but that we really needed to talk.
Once we were settled in the living room, I told her everything that I knew about Paul and what Shawn’s mom had told us. Overhearing us, Shawn also came out of wherever he was and seconded my fears. “I think that it was Paul who messed with your phone and wrote the note to Valerie.”
My mother stared at him for a long moment before she shook her head. “I don’t think so…Not Paul.” She breathed in deeply and let a ragged breath loose before she added, “I just can’t imagine…I know you’re angry with him, but I just can’t see why he would do that to me…and to you both.”
I shrugged, trying to be diplomatic in the idea that both of them were having a discussion that I still had not taken a side of. True, the more I thought about it and the more that I thought about the way that Shawn’s mother had acted, the more it seemed as though there could be a sneaky side to Paul that none of us could have predicted. But then again, that sounded so absurd.
Paul was such a nice, mild-mannered man, except when it came to his son and the few times that his ex-wife was mentioned.
That was when I had seen a whole new side to him. I had always thought that he was just frustrated with Shawn and angry with his ex-wife, but right now, I was contemplating the idea that there was far more to my stepfather than ever met my eye.
My mother still looked skeptical, but in the silence that ensued between the three of us, she seemed less sure of her original conviction.
“Well, he was the only one who had access to my phone…and none of the other contacts were tampered with…” She shrugged. “I called a few of them, just to make sure and everyone answered.” After a few more moments of quiet thought, she looked between Shawn. “But why would he do that? What purpose would it hold?”
Shawn offered a consoling shrug. “If it’s anything like the reason my mother gave, it’s so that he could take total control. I don’t know what his end game is, but if any of this is true, and it is looking like it is, then it can’t be good for any of us.”
My mother sighed and shook her head. “I just don’t understand. Everything was going so well. We were finally a family after all these years…why would he take it from me?” She passed her eyes between Shawn and I before she amended, “From us?”
I didn’t want to believe it either and so, I carefully placed my hand on my mother’s shoulder, unable to imagine what she was going through. “Well, do you think that anyone else could have done it?”
At first, she shrugged before she answered carefully, “I don’t know, but I do think that our next stop should be to ask Paul a few questions.”
After a few seconds of thought, I nodded. “I think that is a very good idea.”
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Shawn
“What are they doing here?” my father asked as he eyed the two of us coming in behind Valerie’s mother. He was watching the news, his nightly ritual.
“They have come home for a chat,” Valerie’s mother answered, almost cautiously. Even though she had tried to make it abundantly clear that this had nothing to do with Paul and that we must be mistaken, regardless of the mounting evidence against him, there was still a sense of distrust in her voice.
He spat out a bitter laugh. “Well, I think that my son said quite enough when he moved out and apparently, Valerie decided to follow.”
I watched as Valerie’s mother drew in a long breath and then pulled the note that Valerie had given her for proof. She brought it over toward him and pushed it into his hand. “Did you do this?” she asked, obviously trying to keep her composure.
He glared at it for a long time, before his lips curved into a smile. “No.
I didn’t write this. Why?”
“Because I couldn’t imagine who else would. I didn’t…And no one else lives here.”
Casually, my father shrugged and ushered toward me before he answered, “Maybe he did it. You never can tell. He’s sneaky.”
I felt my blood pressure begin to rise as my fist clenched. I have been taking this kind of abuse from my father for too long. I certainly wasn’t about to take any more of it. He wasn’t going to make me out to be the bad guy this time. I was trying to help. I narrowed my eyes at him and stepped closer, but before I could say anything, Valerie’s mother answered him.
“He didn’t do it,” she replied solidly. This made me feel better about the situation. I figured that even if she was upset with me, she was still willing to help me figure out what was going on and that was important. She believed me and right now, she seemed to be the only person on the planet, besides Valerie, who had any kind of faith in me.
I calmed, feeling that at least someone had my back and sunk back a little to watch the scene unfold.
At this, my father turned off the television and stood up, now facing the three of us. Valerie had just come along to bear witness, because she really didn’t want to get involved, but she did want confirmation that what my mother said was correct.
I wanted the same validation, but I was a little more willing to participate, if I needed to, in order to have the truth come out.
However, I did realize that since my father had cut literally everyone else off, it was ultimately between him and Valerie’s mother. She needed him to tell her what happened. We tried to convince her already, but she wanted to hear it for herself.
Therefore, for as much as I could stand, I wanted to remain in the background. There was no reason for me to butt in when I didn’t have to. I remained quiet.
“How can you be so sure?” he demanded, after a condescending laugh.
“Because I know him. And right now, I’m thinking that I might know him even better than you do,” Valerie’s mother replied. “But this isn’t about him. This isn’t really even about Valerie.”
“Of course it is!” he hissed bitterly. “Everything is always about her.”
“No, Paul. You’re wrong. If this is about Valerie in the way that I fear, then the only problem here is between you and me.”
“You know, Diana, she could have written this,” he answered, thrusting it with his hand.
“I did not!” Valerie hissed. “If I wanted to leave, I would have just left!”
Her mother put her hand up to silence the outburst before she looked back at her husband. “No, Paul. Again, she didn’t write it either.”
“Oh and what are you? Some kind of teenage whisperer? You’re pretty naive to think that they wouldn’t pull something like that to tear us apart, just so they could be together…as gross as it is…” With that, my father’s lips curled upward in disgust as he looked between me and Valerie.
“No. I’m not naïve. I’m very observant and just like I know your son, I also know my daughter. I’ve spent far more time with them and don’t you dare say that their love is anything but beautiful!”
At this, everyone in the room gaped at my stepmother. I certainly didn’t expect that.
“They are just doing it to spite us!” my father insisted angrily.
“No. They’re not,” she answered. “I have watched the two of them try to navigate their feelings for one another since before we were even dating. While I hoped, for the sake of our marriage, that things would go differently, I can’t say that I’m surprised. The only thing that I could think of that did make me curious was the fact that they didn’t do something like this sooner.” She shook her head. “Seriously, think about it. You have been completely unfair to Shawn for years and he has tried to be good until now. Doesn’t that say something for the kind of man that he is?”
“Yeah,” my father spat back, “He’s weak. He couldn’t just pick any woman in the world. He had to go after your daughter.”
I felt my teeth clench as I growled at him. “I am not weak, Dad!”
At this, all eyes were on me. I hadn’t meant to speak, but his comment made me so angry that I couldn’t help but try to prove him wrong.
“Oh, really? Then why are you always the one to mess everything up for everyone. All you do is leave a cloud of destruction in your path. You’re just like your mother! All she ever did was build her life up, just so she could tear it apart. She had you and took off and you brought Diana and me together, probably just so you could watch us fall apart.” He narrowed his eyes at me and stared me down. “You’re not stupid, but you are pretty conniving…” He smiled in a wicked way and took a few steps toward me, “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you.”
“Just tell us the truth!” I answered, trying not to say anything that I was going to regret. Even though my blood was boiling and my level of aggravation was skyrocketing, having all of those things said about me that wasn’t true, I refused to stoop to his level. Now that all eyes were on me the only thing I wanted to do was ensure that the truth was spoken. That was it. “Did you write the letter?”
My father ignored me, continuing to taunt me with his words. “You probably don’t even like Valerie. You are probably just doing all of this so that you can make the world fall apart. You strive in destruction and chaos. While the rest of the world burns, you think you are going to rise from the ashes. Your mother thought the same thing, but look where she ended up…”
I asked him again, “Did you mess with Diana’s phone?”
“You’re pathetic!” he yelled.
“Answer my question,” I replied, trying to stay level-headed as my father moved swiftly into my personal space. He was crowding me profusely, and it was all I could do to keep from hitting him.
“Even if you did like her, she would eventually figure out what a loser you are and she would leave you, just like your mother left me!”
“Answer me!” I screamed, but just as I was about to lose all control, I felt an arm push me back, while Diana ended up between us.
“That’s enough!” she exclaimed, glaring between me and my father, until finally, she stopped to focus on my father. “You know what? I’ve had enough. Even if you don’t want to admit what you did, I have had enough of this! I’m leaving!”
At that, the whole house grew deathly silent and my father gaped at Diana, as though she was completely out of her mind.
I backed up and eyed Valerie. For as much as I didn’t want to be the cause of their unhappiness, it was Diana who had made the decision and to that, all I could do in response was smile.
Epilogue
Four years passed. The divorce was final and as I stood in front of the mirror, staring at myself as I reflected in awe of what was about to happen and as far as we had come, I heard my mother come in behind me.
She smiled as tears welled up in her eyes. Her hand covered her mouth carefully as she tried to hold back the rush of emotion she felt. Behind her, Shawn’s mother came in and beamed brightly.
“You look absolutely beautiful,” Cindy said. “Shawn couldn’t have asked for a more perfect bride.”
In the four years since the two women finally found the real culprit behind all of the lies and manipulation, they first found common ground, and eventually became friends.
Shawn’s father had never admitted what he did or his end goal, but eventually, his reason and even his admission ceased to matter. Life went on for the four of us without him.
Even with all of the planning, all of the memories and all of the excitement that had led up to this day, I still couldn’t quite believe that it was here.
I was nervous and the jitters of both my mother and my soon-to-be mother-in-law didn’t help. Still, I was happy that they were there.
“Everything is going to be perfect!” my mother answered. I could tell that now, even with all of the reservations she had about the two of us going through with this at such a young age, she was completely
content and at ease with our decision.
She didn’t say anything, but I could tell by the excitement in her eyes and that made me extremely happy.
“Thank you,” I answered, turning around in a flash of form-fitting white. My long train was my mother’s idea, but now that I was wearing it, I had come to enjoy the thought of having something traditional; even though we weren’t such a traditional couple.
I smiled and took a deep breath, trying to calm my frantic nerves.
“I think it’s almost time,” Cindy answered as she stuck her head out of the door and then made her way to her seat.
My mother hugged me briefly, probably afraid that she was going to lose it completely before she made her way back to her seat also.
It had been a long road. In addition to college and distance separating us at times, Shawn’s relentless, unsuccessful attempts to have his father join back into his life had caused a few highs and lows in the relationship, but we had persevered. And now, we were about to make our love official.
A few moments later, the organ started up and I began my walk toward my handsome groom. It was true, we were both young, but after dating through the rest of high school and college, we knew what we wanted so it didn’t make sense to wait anymore.
I smiled as I walked past the small congregation. Every face in the crowd I knew, but there was one that was not present, who I was certain would only be missed by one person.
Shawn’s father was invited to the wedding, but he never responded, despite the calls that Shawn had placed requesting his presence.
Still, even in his father’s absence, Shawn looked happier and prouder than I had ever seen him before.
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