by Lila Felix
I didn’t want to leave their home after it was all over. They gave me a family that I’d never had and treated me like I belonged there instead of a person who was just in the way. Every time I thought about going to my parents’ house my stomach somersaulted and almost revolted against me.
It was a two hour drive to the Forrester mansion and I tried to enjoy Owen’s hand tangled with mine but my stomach wasn’t cooperating. I must’ve drunk an entire bottle of the pink stuff trying to calm its nerves.
“I’ve got an idea.” Owen said as he smiled over at me.
“What? Anything will help.” I shrugged my shoulders.
“Let’s pull over and make out.” He said and acted like he was turning off onto the exit.
“I’m right on the edge of vomiting so that might not be a good idea.”
“Look, your mom already hates me so let’s make sure Dad does and then Merry Christmas!” He smiled a really wide creepy smile.
“You forgot the berating and constant tattoo and piercing comments.” I joked.
“Oh, my favorite. Plus with you drinking all of that stuff—pink puke would really bring out your eyes.” He squirmed up his mouth trying not to smile.
“Wow,” I said flatly.
A while later we pulled up to the gate and he looked at me weird.
“What?” I asked as I leaned over to key in the numbers that would let us in.
“Your parents live in a plantation, a huge plantation.” He said incredulously.
“So? I’d rather be with you in my tiny apartment anytime than to be here.”
“Good answer.” He said and smiled genuinely.
When we parked there were some other cars that I didn’t recognize but it wasn’t out of the ordinary for Mom to invite people over for Christmas dinner. After all, eating with me and my boyfriend was going to give them a migraine or an aneurism.
I opened the front door to the mansion and let the cold and empty foyer echo ‘Mom’ until she heard me.
She rounded the corner with my dad who was stiff as a board and walked as if he was taking the plank to his sharky death.
“Nellie Michelle, you’re late. You know that dinner is served at promptly noon and no later. Yet here we are at twelve,” she looked at her watch, “thirteen and you are just getting here.”
Without consent my voice changed back to puppet Nellie and I replied, “I apologize mother. Thank you for having us here. Owen, you’ve met my mother Sabrina Forrester and this is my father, Alexander Forrester.”
Owen shook hands with both of them who in turn wiped their hands on their pants, the same gesture they used after a handshake with the plumber or the gardener.
“Well, let’s not dally here all day. We have guests waiting.”
Owen held my hand while we followed, our footsteps quiet next to the tapping of my mother’s designer stilettos on the wood floors. We entered the dining room and my heart stopped and for a moment the world became hazy.
“Nellie, you remember Corey and Cassandra and their children Christina, Colby and of course there’s another on the way. And their parents of course. Right? And everyone this is Nellie’s boyfriend Owen.”
I stood staring, not at the guests but at Mom. How could she do this to me? A tug on my hand brought me back to the present, the very ugly present and I called puppet Nellie forth to handle it for me.
“Yes, of course. So nice to see you all. Merry Christmas.” I sounded like a computer voice when I talked like that. We took our seats at the enormous cypress table and Owen whispered to me after a few bites.
“Calm down, she can’t eat you and neither can they. It’s going to be fine. I can take it. Your mom’s a good cook.” He was trying but I had given up a long time ago.
“We have personal chefs.” I whispered back to him and he almost laughed.
The food served was probably one third of what Owen usually ate and I knew he must be starving. The silence during dinner was smothering.
“So, Nellie, how is school?’ The icebreaker was provided by Cassandra and it was a lame attempt.
“School is great Cassandra. Thank you for asking. Your children are really beautiful. I’m sorry I couldn’t come to the shower.”
We had more of that shallow conversation for the rest of the meal. It was going unbelievably well in a fake kind of way. We went into the formal living room after the meal. The older adults were partaking in bourbon.
“Owen,” my mother started in and I could tell by the intonation in her voice what was about to happen, “would you like a drink? You are twenty one right?”
Owen glanced at me quickly and winked as if he could ‘one up’ her.
“No ma’am, thank you. I am twenty one but I don’t drink alcohol.”
She raised an eyebrow and I swore I saw flames rise up in her eyes.
“Oh? It is my experience that when a young person doesn’t drink it’s because either they have an addiction problem or because they have alcoholic parents.”
Owen’s massive frame flinched the tiniest bit at the mention of his parents and I immediately opened my mouth to defend them but Owen beat me to the punch.
“Mrs. Forrester, my parents are not alcoholics and I don’t have an addiction problem. I’ve just been a witness to what happens when people drink. Insane, critical and ridiculously rude things come out of their mouths and they hurt the people they are supposed to love.”
Before I could stop it I snorted and so did Corey and Cassandra. I don’t know why they were laughing, they were pompous asses too. Mom let out a curt ‘hmmm’ and went on with her snobby chatter.
Then she started in on me.
“Nellie Michelle, you’ve gone back to purple I see. It’s been so long I can’t remember what color it naturally is.”
“Really Mom? Because pictures of prim and proper Nellie are plastered everywhere. You usually get Leslie to dust them and put them around the house before I’m coming, right? All you have to do is look at one of those.”
She acted shocked and hurt and said she always kept pictures of me out in the house but I knew better.
I announced that I was going to take Owen on a tour of the house and my mother didn’t even turn around to acknowledge it. I took him through the downstairs rooms and introduced him to Leslie, the housekeeper and Christophe, the chef. They both hugged me and showed me more affection than my parents put together.
Owen didn’t say much and then I shrugged my shoulders and said, “That’s it.”
“You know that’s not it Nellie. You’re hiding your princess bedroom.”
I opened my mouth as far as it would go. “How did you know?”
“Really? Look at this house. I bet your room looks like the Easter bunny had diarrhea.”
I laughed so hard I could barely walk to my room. He was exactly right.
I opened the door and he cracked up. I slapped his shoulder and it made him laugh harder.
“It’s not that funny. This was my prison.” I said laughing, but now he stopped laughing.
“I’m sorry. I’m so glad you got out of here. This place, as big and decorated as it is, is kinda depressing.”
He walked around my room touching random cheesy things and laughed. We decided to make our excuses and go ahead and leave.
Mom and Dad looked more relieved than heartbroken that we were going and on the way out we heard them making plans to open presents with Corey and Cassandra and their family. They never mentioned a present for me; my gift was getting out of there fairly unscathed.
We got into Owen’s Bronco and the doors had barely closed and he started talking.
“Please for the love of all that’s holy, tell me we won’t ever leave our children with those two. They’ll turn into plastic or something. I know that’s your parents, but they’re so damned mean and hateful.”
After I finished laughing I answered.
“It’s ok, when you take me on long romantic trips we can leave the kids with your parents.” I smiled and
looked out of the side mirror as the mansion grew smaller and smaller behind us.
“And there will be lots and lots of trips for us if they are anything like our weekend on the houseboat.” His eyes gleamed with friskiness.
“That was a good weekend. We should do that again—soon.”
“My parents also have a small cabin in Arkansas that belonged to my grandparents—since it’s cold.” He was looking at the road but I could see the smile.
“How ever will we keep warm?” He took my hand and kissed the inside of my palm.
“I think I know a way.” His lips brushing my hand as he spoke.
“And by the way, I’m starving.” I knew he would be and quite frankly, I was too.
“Let’s go to your Mom’s place and eat.”
“Ok, let me call her and see how busy she is.” He picked up his phone and made the call. His eyes widened and he shook his head several times and answered ‘Yes Ma’am’—a lot.
“She says the next time we call ahead she’s going to maim me. So I’m supposed to bring your cute butt there before she has my hide and that’s a quote.”
“God, I love your Mom.” I said and I meant every word.
“She loves you more than she loves me but not nearly as much as I love you.”
We got to the restaurant and all ate together, even Falcon and Maddox showed up and were rowdy as ever. The three boys plus Chase, Owen’s dad, were all giving each other looks and were kicking each other under the table. Sylvia noticed too and wasn’t going to put up with it very much longer.
“All right you four, what in the hell is going on?” She commanded the attention of the entire table and some onlookers. The word ‘hell’ coming out of her mouth was odd and it was the first time I’d seen her fierceness.
Falcon spoke up first. “It’s nothing, Owen is just a chicken, that’s all.”
Maddox agreed, nodding his head up and down with a mouthful of pasta.
Chase cleared his throat and said, “Owen, I think the surprise is ruined, son.”
Owen looked deflated and pissed. But he got out of his chair and reached out a hand to his Dad. I didn’t know if they were going to waltz or what. Chase reached into the inner pocket of his jacket which hung on his chair and came out holding a black box and handed it to Owen. Sylvia, next to me, grabbed her cloth napkin from the table and hugged me around the waist in preparation.
He opened the box and looked at me and Sylvia trembled with sobs next to me. Chase grabbed her and hugged her to him as Owen bid me to stand. I stood on shaky knees next to him as he kneeled in front of me. And like a siren’s call, his kneeling attracted every eye in the place and suddenly his family wasn’t our only audience.
“Nellie Michelle Forrester, I have loved you since before I knew your name. Every time you walk into a room my breath is taken away. A life without you in it is simply unimaginable. Will you be my wife?”
I could hear the ladies in the room gasp and whimper.
“Yes.” I croaked out while the waves of water streamed down my face.
He placed the ring on my finger and I was surprised to see that it was an antique silver ring with a pink stone instead of the traditional diamond. Then again we were nothing even close to traditional, so it made sense. He stood up next to me and smiled bashfully as the entire restaurant was now clapping and his family rose from the table to congratulate us. Then as if no longer embarrassed he bent me backwards and kissed me long and hard and we received even more clapping.
He wiped my tears away with his knuckles and more moved in to replace them. Maddox and Falcon gave their brother hugs and slapped each other on the backs while Sylvia and I hugged and sobbed. It was a great ending to an otherwise crappy day.
After another hour or so, Owen took me home and I gave him my present. I bought him two things. One was a new backpack since his was raggedy. And the other was a set of rings that could be switched out for the barbell piercings. It wasn’t anything compared to what he had given me, but his face lit up just the same. The day had exhausted me and while he took a shower I felt myself drifting off on top of the comforter. The next thing I remember was a hand on my hip and an arm being slipped under my head and the words, “Thank you for the best Christmas.”
The rest of the semester was spent in bliss. We both got our schedules and found that we both had Tuesdays and Thursdays free of classes. Of course I had to work but only four or five hours at a time. We went out to the Black house for New Year’s Eve and I got to see how much of a pyromaniac Owen really was. He and his brothers were just relentless. I swear they popped firecrackers until two in the morning. Then they had to spend an hour picking up all of the mess with a very angry matriarch on their tails. All of this happened after he gave me the most amazing kiss right at midnight. This year was starting off on a good note.
32. Owen
On my way back to the dorms after a busy New Year’s Day, I called my mom. I needed to talk to her now while all of this was in my head. The phone rang only once and she answered.
“Hey honey. What’s going on?”
“Hey Mom. You have time to talk?” I hoped she did, I needed her.
“Of course. Come to the restaurant. I’m in the kitchen.”
I rode over there and walked straight into the back and sat on the only countertop that wasn’t used for food prep. She’d have my ass if I sat on one of those. This was our thing. I sat on the counter while she cooked. She didn’t push or pry. She just waited for me to talk and listened. Then she always gave me the best advice or called my dad in to do it.
She acknowledged my presence with a nod and then went back to shaving the zest from a lemon. More cheesecake I assumed. I let out my stress in a giant ‘whoosh’ of breath and just let my brain mouth connection flow uninterrupted.
“So Nellie’s parents are super rich and they hate me. Her Mom hates anyone who isn’t walking perfection including Nellie. Although I can’t see how she views Nellie as anything but absolutely perfect. She grew up in a plantation, a huge mansion of a house with two of everything, formal and informal. They have chefs and housekeepers. They don’t even put up their own Christmas tree. They have a decorator person come in and do it for them. I’m never going to make money like that—ever. And I know that Nellie doesn’t care about that stuff but what if one day she wakes up and realizes that I’m not enough? That I don’t have enough to offer her? And I told her all about Amy and the pregnancy and not knowing whether or not it was mine and she didn’t come down on me about it at all. She just told me that it was all in the past. It almost would’ve been easier if she hated me for it because that’s what I deserve. And I know that all of that broke you and Dad up and you’re never going to get back together because of me. What if I do the same thing to her—to us? What if things get a little bad and I go on a tirade again? I can’t lose her Mom—I won’t. Shit.”
My chest felt lighter. I carried this around with me since I proposed to her here in this very restaurant. I knew it was stupid and I could negate each and every feeling with one of the opposite side of the debate but I couldn’t help that they still ran through my head. Mom continued to shave each lemon one by one until their outsides were no longer yellow.
She got on her phone and called my dad and asked him to come in but never said anything to me.
My dad walked in and looked at me and then her with a ‘what the hell’ expression. Mom repeated the entire pathetic speech to him. Then they both lit into me. They told me that I needed to forgive myself for everything. Sounded like Dr. Phil crap to me. They also told me that they were getting back together but hadn’t told us boys yet and that none of it was my fault. I didn’t believe them until Dad practically bent Mom over the counter and made me gag while they made out.
“Ok, ok, I believe you jeez.” They both laughed and Dad said he wanted to talk to me in private and Mom said she was going home anyway.
“Son, listen to me. Everyone hangs on to the bad things about themselves. It’
s just life. But don’t let it get in the way of what you have with Nellie. That girl is special and anyone can see that she loves you more than most people hope for. Don’t ruin it with things that happened a long time ago that you can’t possibly change.”
“Ugh…why can’t you just be like Mom and listen to my crap and keep chopping stuff?”
“Because your Mom’s a good listener and I’m not. I’m a problem solver. So love her with everything in you and don’t go to sleep angry. Best advice my dad ever gave me except I was too stupid to follow it and I lost precious time with your mother.”
“Ok Dad, thanks. I’m going home now. I kinda just needed to vent.”
I made my way out and heard my dad yell after me. “I love you, Son.”
“I love you too Dad.”
On the way home I called Nellie who answered in her sleepy voice.
“Mmmm…” That was ‘hello’ in sleepy Nellie language and to wake up to that was heaven.
“I just wanted to call and tell you that I love you. Go back to sleep.” I started to hang up and heard her talk.
“I can’t go to sleep after you saying that. Come spend the night.” She said still half asleep.
“We have class tomorrow. You’re thinking with your—well, not your brain.” I laughed.
“Ugh—you’re so sensible sometimes.” She chuckled
“Go to sleep gorgeous. I will see you Tuesday.”
“That just makes it worse. And Owen?”
“Yeah?”
“I love you more every day. And you’re gonna miss me tomorrow and wish you’d come over here.”
“I’m sure I will. Goodnight.”