The Unwelcomed Child by Andrews V.C

Author:Andrews, V.C. [Andrews, V.C.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pocket Books
Published: 2014-01-21T00:00:00+00:00

11

To my pleasant surprise, Grandfather Prescott and Carlos were laughing when we returned. Grandfather Prescott was drinking some of the aperitif Carlos had brought. Carlos stood up immediately when we entered. I could see on his face that he was looking for some indication that everything had gone all right between my mother and me. She nodded and smiled.

“Short one?” he asked her.

“You bet,” she said. “And not too short.”

He laughed, then looked at me, held up the bottle, and glanced at my grandfather.

“God, no,” Grandfather Prescott said, looking toward the kitchen. “Perish the thought.”

I was disappointed. I had never tasted anything remotely alcoholic. Grandfather Prescott shook his head at me, and I hurried into the kitchen to help Grandmother Myra. She was banging things around, slamming pots a little harder, and clanking spoons and knives as if she wanted to take the kitchen apart. She turned sharply when I appeared, her hands on her small hips.

“I suppose she filled you with a lot of garbage and told you how wonderful her life is now, how she’s on the Easy Street that she never stopped believing in,” she said.

“No. I mean, she’s hoping to be happy with Carlos, but she had one unhappy marriage already.”

“Only one?” she asked with a wry smile. “You mean only one she admitted to having. I can’t imagine marriage ever being happy for her. Or for the poor soul who blindly says ‘I do.’”

She paused to catch her breath, her hand over her heart. Then she put her right hand on the counter to steady herself.

“Are you all right, Grandmother?”

“No.” She paused and shook her head. “I knew this day would come. I dreaded it, if you want to know the truth. It was easier to pretend she was dead.”

How hard, I thought. Does she really hate her own daughter this much? Will she come to hate me equally?

“That girl ruined her life. She could have had a decent life, even after . . . even then. Let this be a good lesson for you. Choose your friends wisely. If you lie down with dogs, you’ll wake up with fleas,” she said. She took a deep breath and returned to the food. “Let’s get this meal over with.”

She had made a pork loin roast with sweet potatoes and broccoli.

I quickly got to work chopping up the salad, and she checked on her homemade bread. The aromas were delicious. She never intended it, for sure, but this was a wonderful welcome-home meal.

“All right. Enough. It’s probably the first wholesome meal they’ve had in days, maybe months. Tell them dinner is ready,” she said.

All three were laughing when I returned to the living room. Grandfather Prescott’s glass had been refilled. My mother’s was nearly empty. They stopped and looked at me as if they had forgotten what we were waiting to do.

“Grandmother says dinner is ready. We should all go into the dining room.”

Grandfather Prescott’s face looked a little red from drinking the aperitif. Looking quickly at the bottle, I saw that more than half had been drunk.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.