“Well, good thing I have cut her off. He does not get to touch my fortune with his slimy paws.”
“Are you even listening to me?” Maria asked in an exasperated tone. “I worry for the poor girl. She is scared of him. I felt her stiffen beside me when he approached us.”
“This is no concern of mine, Maria. Emma made her bed, and she should lie on it. I do not see why you have to bother me with this issue. Like I told you, I have no granddaughter. I will appreciate if we drop this issue.”
Maria shook her head as she stood up, “Why don’t you forgive the poor girl? Do you know how much she is doing? You didn’t even attend her graduation because of your anger? She graduated even with all that’s going on. She is six months pregnant but didn’t let her condition deter her and strove to work harder. Can’t you see that she is responsible and though she made a mistake, she didn’t let it deter her from fulfilling her dreams? She is still going to be who she wants to be! Yes, the kids came earlier than planned but who cares? It’s happened. She is not her mother! You raised that beautiful girl well and you are making a mistake pushing her out.”
“Babies? What do you mean babies?” Maxwell sat up in his armchair.
“Your granddaughter is having twins. Look, why don’t you call her? She misses you so much. She doesn’t even care that you don’t take her back, but she just wants you to speak to her.”
The man shut his eyes, trying to hide the affection and angst he felt as he said, “No.”
“You are going to lose her forever if you keep this up. She is bound to get a job and stay back there if she has no home to return to. And then, you will truly lose her.”
Maria twirled on her feet and stormed off, muttering angrily in Spanish.
Maxwell drew the drawer open and as he stared at the picture, he whispered, “Twins, she’s having twins. My baby girl is having twins.”
He shut the drawer and held his head in his hands as the tears rolled down his cheeks. His heart was heavy with the pain he felt. Rather than see the love he felt for his grandchild, he was letting the betrayal and anger he felt consume him. Even with her mother he had not felt this bad. So why now?Probably because Emma is your best friend and confidante,a voice said in his head. He missed her so much, but the anger persisted. He wanted to deal with the fool that had gotten her pregnant if indeed he was hurting her but the anger, he still felt kept lurking.
He sighed and sat back in his armchair, feeling very drained.
Chapter Seven
“What are you thinking of that you’ve barely touched your lunch?” Didi asked Carrie.
Carrie looked up and let the fork clatter on the table beside her dish. She shrugged and said, “Emma’s lease will be up in a couple of weeks. She doesn’t have a good job yet what with her condition. I mean, who would want to hire someone who is due to give birth in three months? And of course, she won’t be able to work immediately after. I worry that she will move in with that buffoon and he is going to treat her worse than he already does.”
“Does he treat her bad?” Grant Jones asked. He was a retired General with a wife, two daughters and one son and Emma had become a part of their family too. “Well, why are you looking so dazed, Carrie? I just need definite proof that he is, I think he is, and I will stick him in a hole.”
“Okay honey, slow down, nobody’s sticking anybody in a hole,” his wife, the only person who had succeeded in stilling his anger over the years patted his arm. He shut up and chewed his food. Didi turned to Carrie, “Now Carrie what do you know? Did Emma tell you anything?”
“Well that’s the point, mom. She tells me nothing about their relationship asides ‘everything is fine’ but I know it’s not true. He cheats on her openly but she stays because she loveshim and doesn’t want the kids to not have a father and of course she still hopes he’ll love her. But, I am convinced he does more than that. She seems antsy always but it heightens when he’s around. And there’s the fact that he drinks like a fish.”
“He could be assaulting her,” Helen said calmly. Three pairs of eyes turned to Helen and she continued, “He sleeps around, he drinks, it won’t be a surprise that he beats her as well. But we cannot help Emma if she does not want to be helped. If she does not want to leave him, we can’t force her.”
“I don’t know what to do. I’ve spoken to her a lot on the grounds of the cheating but she is adamant about staying. If he has been hitting her indeed and she’s stayed all this while, I don’t know,” Carrie said tiredly.
“You can’t leave her side. It’s not easy for abused women to leave their abuser especially when they love him, actually most even stay out of love rather than fear. You have to keep reminding her that you’ve got her back. Keep advising her.”
“Is that the best we can do? Can’t dad get some of his ex-army buddies to mess up John’s face? That will show him.”
Grant was already smiling but a glare from his wife switched it off. She looked at her daughter and her husband sternly and she said, “You both better not do anything stupid. We have to do this right if we are to get Emma to disentangle herself properly, have you got that?”
“Yea, we hear,” father and daughter said grumpily.
“Emma will always have a place with us and a home here. All she has to do is ask. You tell her that, Carrie, all right?”
“Yes mom.”
The Jones’ family had no idea that Emma would be taking up their offer soon.
On the other side of town, Emma was in her apartment cleaning. The slam of the door jolted Emma up from her seated position in front of her closet. She stood up just in time to see an angry John charging towards her. He grabbed her arm hard and pulled her to the sitting area.
“I’m sorry, John, I know you wanted to have breakfast with Maria and I but Maria needed to leave and-”
“Do you really think I give a damn about not eating breakfast with your help?” John snapped.
