When You Come to Me

by Jade Alyse

  “Exactly how am I, Asha?”

  “Oh,” Asha began, with a sigh. “Don’t get me started…”

  Scotty rolled his eyes in her direction, looked at Natalie with reassuring eyes and said, “Nat, don’t worry…I’ve selected sentimental, tasteful music that you, Brandon and your families will enjoy…”

  “Thank you, Scott,” Natalie smiled, breathing easily.

  “You’re welcome,” Scotty replied. “Besides, Asha’s just upset that you didn’t give her any responsibility…so she went and planned a bridal shower behind your back…”

  “Scotty!” Asha hollered, slapping him on the arm. “She wasn’t supposed to know!”

  “Of course I’m supposed to know! Ash, what did I say? Brandon and I weren’t going to do the cheesy pre-wedding crap…”

  “So, that means the bachelorette party’s out then?” Maya asked.

  “Maya, you can still have your bachelorette party,” Natalie said. “But I do remember saying, Asha Rosalie Castile, that I didn’t want a bridal shower…”

  “I know you did, Natalie, but I just thought that it would be a good way for us to come together before the wedding…you know, get to know the Greenes a little better…”

  “Ash, what do you mean by…Greenes?”

  “Nattie, Asha might have invited Brandon’s mother,” Sidney said subtly.

  “Great, this might be the worst day ever!”

  “Oh, don’t be so overdramatic, Natalie,” Maya said. “It’s not the worst day…your wedding is, like, three weeks away…it’s about time that you see your future mother-in-law again…it’s about time that we meet her…”

  “I agree…” Sidney said.

  “And I’m going to have to be the one who has to break the news to our mother, right?”

  “All taken care of,” Maya said. “Both Mama and Granny have agreed to provide food…”

  “And the backyard…”

  “What? It’s here? Ash, I could kill you!”

  “Nat, just relax,” Asha said. “We’ll all be there…and it won’t be as bad as you’re making it out to be…”

  “Yea, Natalie,” Maya said. “Don’t worry…”

  She’d brought Jack with her the morning of the shower. She looked the part of everything that represented summer: long linen pants, a flowery chiffon top, and wisps of white wavy hair, falling into her face. Her blue eyes seemed to pierce her with the same magnitude as did Brandon’s, and Natalie swallowed hard the moment she walked toward the lofty couple at the gate of the airport in Atlanta, waving her hand nervously from side to side. Scotty had come down from Athens with Asha again that weekend, and seemed the good source of moral support when Brandon wasn’t around. He stood beside her in that chilly airport with his arm around her, squeezing and rubbing, silently coaching her to breathe, while the girls remained in Decatur, amongst the backyard of the Green Hill house, setting up chairs and the table for the food and the music. Part of her wished that his parents had brought their son along, missing his touches and his kisses more and more each day. Yet, she understood. Just the night before, while she talked to him on the phone just before bed, he’d told her that he wouldn’t come down there. He was confident that she’d handle the situation with grace and ease without him. She hoped so. In the meantime, she would attempt to silence her heart pounding.

  Mark and Joanna appeared at the opening of the gate moments later, Jo still remaining one of most beautiful women that Natalie had ever seen. The Greene foursome approached them, Joanna, extending her arms wide in her direction.

  “Oh, little Tallie Chandler!” she’d said. For some reason, after hearing it from Brandon so many times perhaps, both Joanna and Mark had gotten in the habit of calling her that whenever they spoke. She liked it.

  “Oh, Natalie, you glow!”

  She hoped so. As soon as she’d heard about the bridal shower and seeing the Greenes again, she ran to the mall, and bought one of the most expensive sundresses; a coral shade, strapless and cinched at the breasts, falling freely at her hips, giving the illusion that she had curves. It was her favorite dress, aside from the one that she would be wearing quite soon.

  She’d hugged Mark, who, with his hair slightly longer than when she last saw him, made him look more like Brandon, making her heart do a subtle flip.

  Jack was warm, smiled grandly, and his enthusiasm made the situation a lot easier for her to handle.

  Martha was polite, but she still carried the air that had intimidated Natalie from the start. She extended her graceful hand in Natalie’s direction and said, “Good to see you again, Natalie.” She then looked at Scotty and said, “Good to see you again too, Mr. Kelly.”

  “The pleasures all mine,” Scotty said.

  Scotty had met Brandon’s parents way back in the winter of 1999, during their sophomore year, the same semester that they moved into the house on Trent Road, when Brandon invited his housemates to his parents’ ski lodge in Brantling for the New Years’ Eve celebration. From thenno, Scotty rather became the Greenes’ honorary son, spending a few more holidays in the north with them.

  Natalie hoped that if the Greenes enjoyed Scotty’s company, then they could enjoy hers.

  Scotty helped retrieve their bags from baggage claim, and shortly following, they were in route to a hotel in midtown, where the parents and son and wife dropped off their belongings.

  While Natalie nervously drove from midtown to her humble abode, with Mark and Joanna trailing behind in a cab, she fumbled through her story of her family, and how her mother came to reside in Decatur. She mumbled through the account of her mother, her grandmother and her five brothers and sisters’ move from the swamps of Savannah to the bustling life of Decatur, after her grandfather Joseph Chandler died. Marie Chandler created a life for herself and her six children the best way she knew how in the brick house on Hargrove Street. Helen Chandler, the fourth child of the sixth, met handsome Dominican-born Raphael Santos when she worked at Harold’s grocery at the end of Jones Street. It wasn’t long before they moved in together, got married and had Sidney Gabriela…and so on and so forth…

  Jack Greene seemed genuinely interested. Martha Greene, contrarily, stared out of her window, appeared stifled in her black, Camry. She said nothing, and made no noise, with the exception of a few sniffles and throat clearing. Natalie could see Jack look at his wife through her rearview mirror.

  “My family’s really anxious to meet you,” Natalie admitted. “No one down here really knows anyone from New York…”

  Natalie realized that she sounded so simple, so unsophisticated that it made her insides twitch.

  “Oh, we’re not that different,” Jack Greene said casually. “As you’ve noticed with Brandon…”

  Natalie disagreed. Brandon was nothing like his parents. He belonged to a region of his own—where white men infused with implausible soul loitered…

  Natalie reached the house on Green Hill and her heart pounded. She entered through the front door, called her mother’s name, and shortly following Helen Chandler appeared in the small foyer.

  Her mother wiped the flour onto the apron tied around her waist, and extended her hand. “Hello, Helen…Helen Chandler…”

  Natalie couldn’t believe how cordial her mother was being. She even questioned whether or not her mother had had anything to drink before they arrived. Maybe she didn’t need Brandon to be there after all…

  Martha Greene stood frozen looked down at her mother’s hand with superiority in her eyes and bit her lip back. Jack Greene stepped forward.

  “Hello,” Jack Greene said, shaking Helen Chandler’s hand. “Jackson Greene…I’m Brandon’s father…most people just call me Jack…”

  “Nice to meet you,” Helen said. “I can see where your son gets his looks from…a spittin’ image…”

  “Well, thank you,” Jack Greene grinned.

  Helen then looked at Martha…silence.

  It seemed as if they were studying each other, waiting for the oth
er one to flinch, move at least an inch, blink…

  Here was the mother of the young man who stole her daughter’s heart. What kind of woman was she? What kind of household did she run? She had her son’s zealous gaze…

  “Helen Chandler,” her mother spoke, extending her hand. “You must be Martha…”

  “And,” Martha Greene began, touching Helen’s hand. “You must be Helen…Natalie speaks very highly of you…”

  Mama served sweet tea in the tent that the bridesmaids set up all by themselves. Granny Marie showed the Greenes to their respective lawn chairs, beneath shade.

  Natalie managed to excuse herself to the kitchen inside. Scotty and her bridesmaids followed suit.

  As Natalie reached into the refrigerator for the banana pudding, Asha folded her arms and asked, “So? How did it go?”

  “Was she just a complete bitch?” Maya asked.

  “I bet she was,” Sidney speculated.

  Natalie placed the dish on the kitchen counter, sighed and said, “I don’t know what just happened…but it’s over with…we can move on…”

  “She looks like a complete bitch,” Maya said. “How dare she try to run you off?”

  “Mama should poison her food…”

  “Let’s not be too hasty,” Scotty said, raising his hands.

  “Of course you would say that,” Asha said, glaring at her friend.

  “What do you mean by that?” Scotty asked, crossing his arms.

  “Don’t start it, you two,” Natalie warned. “Please, don’t make me have to call Brandon…”

  Silence fell between them. Natalie chuckled to herself. “That’s better,” she said.

  “Mama made fried chicken,” Maya began, reaching in the cabinets for plates. “Is she too snooty for that?”

  “She’ll eat what your mother gives her,” Asha said. “How dare she?”

  “That’s right,” Sidney said. “She didn’t have to cook all of that food…”

  They fell silent, and stared through the kitchen window, where they each had a clear view of the tent and its occupants.

  “Look at her, sitting all cross-legged, chin all high,” Sidney said.

  “Snooty bitch…” Maya said.

  “If Mama heard you cursing like that, she’d kill you,” Natalie said, staring at her younger sister. “So, stop it…”

  “Nat, I can’t believe you’re so calm about all of this,” Asha observed. “Why are you so calm about this?”

  If they only knew…if they only knew that at any second she felt as if her stomach would shoot through her mouth…

  “You’ve prepared a sensational meal, Helen,” Jack Greene said, glancing down at his plate of fried chicken, potato salad and green beans. “It looks great…this is the best bridal shower that I’ve ever been too…”

  “This is the only bridal shower you’ve been to, Mr. Greene,” Jo said, smiling. “I don’t remember you being at mine…”

  “Nevertheless, the food is excellent…”

  “Thank you, Mr. Greene,” Helen said. She then looked at Martha while the others started their meals. “Mrs. Greene…will you please try my potato salad…it’s taken me over ten years to perfect the recipe…”

  Natalie sat with her bridesmaids and her fiancé’s best man, and they watched breathlessly. Martha Greene winced a smile, glancing over at the serving dish of potatoes, and eggs, and an assortment of other things.

  “I’m sure it’s wonderful,” the woman said, re-crossing her legs.

  “It is,” Granny Marie said. “My daughter is an excellent cook…”

  “I’m sure she is,” Martha Greene said, chuckling nervously.

  Helen Chandler rolled in her lips. “You haven’t touched your fried chicken, Mrs. Greene…”

  “It’s really excellent, Mrs. Greene,” Natalie encouraged, breaking off a piece and placing it into her mouth.

  “Have you ever eaten fried chicken before, Mrs. Greene?” Helen asked, arching her right eyebrow.

  “It’s been many years, Ms. Chandler,” Martha responded. “Many years…”

  “I’m placing you with a good opportunity to start again, Mrs. Greene…”

  “I’m not really hungry right now, Ms. Chandler…”

  “I see,” Helen said. “Perhaps, I’ll wrap it up for you and you can take it back to your hotel room and you can eat it later?”

  “Yes...perhaps…”

  Helen turned her attention to Mark and Jo. “You’re a lovely couple…”

  “Thank you,” Jo answered cheerfully.

  “How long have you two been married?”

  “Four years,” Mark replied, swallowing content of food in his mouth.

  “Natalie tells me that you have a baby girl,” Helen said.

  Jo nodded. “Yes, ma’am…Julie Ann…she’s three…Natalie will be an aunt soon…”

  “Isn’t that exciting?”

  Natalie felt slightly unhinged by the subtle tone of mockery in her mother’s voice.

  Mark and Jo both nodded.

  “And you’ll be baking my daughter’s cake for her wedding? Joanna, is it?”

  “Most people just call me, Jo,” Jo Greene said. “But, yes, Natalie asked me to do it…”

  “And you’re also her bridesmaid?”

  “Yes…”

  “It’s going to be a tough job, isn’t it?”

  “I can manage…”

  “You’re a spittin’ image of Brandon,” Granny Marie said, cheekily, glancing at Mark, who now wiped the corners of his mouth. “You two could pass for twins…”

  “We get that a lot,” Mark replied, turning flush.

  “Speaking of which,” Helen Chandler said with a sigh. “Where is that wonderful son of yours? He and Natalie are usually attached at the hip…”

  “He wanted a little peace and quiet before he came down here for the wedding,” Jack Greene said, shoving a spoonful of potato salad in his mouth. “Apparently, Natalie’s been driving our son a little zany with all of the wedding stuff…”

  Natalie sensed that Jack had meant this statement as a joke, but she watched her mother’s face sour.

  “A little zany? She’s simply planning the wedding of her dreams…can he not be civil with that?”

  Natalie made a desperate attempt to speak before Jack could part his lips.

  “Mama,” she began. “Brandon and I just needed some time apart…he’s been stuck in Georgia for years…he needed a change of scenery…there’s no reason to be alarmed…”

  Helen didn’t respond.

  “Your daughters are lovely, Helen,” Jack Greene said, nodding in the direction of the three Chandler sisters, who sat side by side.

  “Why, thank you, Mr. Greene,” Helen Chandler replied. “They’re the light of my life…”

  “Is their father around here somewhere?” Martha Greene asked.

  Silence fell over them; all that could be heard was the hush of the wind around them. Natalie was pressed to wonder why her fiancé’s mother decided to ask that question. She then wondered if Brandon had ever told her about his alcoholism, about his hostility. She sat back quietly, studying her mother’s face, awaiting the moment that she would explode.

  Helen only sighed. “Their father hasn’t been around for many years…I’ve raised them myself…”

  Martha Greene pursed her lips, made an indecipherable noise of dissatisfaction, but ultimately remained silent. She only stared at Helen.

  “Nat, why don’t you open your presents?” Scotty suggested, breaking the awkward silence. “In the meantime, Maya and I can go into the kitchen and get the dessert…if that’s okay with Ms. Chandler…”

  Helen Chandler nodded. “It’s fine with me, Scotland…”

  They watched Maya and Scotty head back into the direction of the house.

  Jo got up from her seat next to Mark, and reached for the small stack of brightly colored packages on the table next to the food.

  “Here you go, Tallie,” she said, placing the package
s at her feet.

  “Thank you,” Natalie replied.

  She stared at her presents, and she wasn’t really sure why she felt a stint of hesitancy run through her.

  “What’s the matter, Nattie?” Sidney asked her. “You’ll like what we got you…”

  “Open your presents, baby,” Helen encouraged.

  She reached for the first one.

  “That one’s from me,” Asha said, smiling.

  She pulled out a series of white pillar candles with Brandon and Natalie’s full names, written on the front.

  Natalie smiled in Asha’s direction. “Thank you, Ash…that is very sweet of you…”

  “You’re welcome…”

  Scotty and Maya returned with yellow cake and banana pudding, placing them on the table next to the food. Natalie then reached for the next present.

  “That’s from me,” Sidney said. Inside was a gift certificate for a couple’s spa weekend in Atlanta.

  “Thank you, Sid…”

  “You’re welcome, darlin’…”

  Natalie then retrieved an attractive black box, tied with pink ribbon at her feet.

  “Um, maybe you should open that one a little bit later,” Jo suggested, pursing her lips.

  Natalie looked at her. “Why is that?” she asked.

  “Just because…”

  “I don’t know about anyone else,” Helen Chandler began. “But I’m now incredibly curious as to what’s in that box…?”

  “Me too,” Natalie said, glancing down at it. “Why can’t I open it?”

  Helen Chandler sat up abruptly, extended her hands to her daughter’s lap and said, “Here, allow me…”

  “Oh…wait…” Jo said, breathlessly, watching as the mother tore off the ribbon and snatched off the black top.

  Natalie watched her mama’s eyes enlarge. “What kind of freak show is this?”

  Helen pulled out a pair of white crotchless panties for everyone to see. Natalie was certain that her heart stopped beating as everyone around them gasped in the heat of the summer afternoon.

  “What kind of sick person would give this as a gift? Do you think this is funny?”

  Helen only looked at Joanna Greene. Jo, the poor redhead, reached for her husband’s hand. “No—uh—no, ma’am…I just thought that…”