Carol sat up, trying to arrange the right words but nothing came. Did her mom really expect to meet in the Bahamas?
“Ed is driving me up a wall,” Mom shared. “Honestly, he’s just a big old grump. Worse than the Grinch who stole Christmas. I told him if he didn’t treat me better, I’d leave him to run away with my daughter and he didn’t even care. He said to go ahead and go, so I was searching flights out of Phoenix, and I found a seat for tomorrow night and—”
“I’m not in the Bahamas, Mom. I’m still in Michigan.” Carol leaned back against the soft bed. “And like I said, it’s rather late here, so if you don’t mind—”
“Why on earth are you still there? In the Michigan sticks of all places?Seriously?”
Carol quickly explained the situation. “So I just decided to give up on the Bahamas altogether. I plan to stay on here through the holidays.”
“Are you kidding? You’d give up the beach for that?”
Carol tried to sound more patient than she felt as she explained about staying at Maria’s house, about the injured arm, and how Maria needed help. But the other end of the line remained dead silent. Crickets.
“Mom?” She cleared her throat. “Are you still there?”
“Maria can just find someone else to be her handmaid.” Mom’s tone grew sharper. “You get yourself to the Bahamas, Carol Louise. First thing tomorrow. I will meet you there the next day—”
“I already canceled the whole works, Mom. I’m not going—”
“Why on earth would you give that up? The Bahamas for Maria’s old farmhouse? It’s perfectly ridiculous.”
“Ilikebeing here. Maria is family.”
“Family? Seriously?” Her mom made a strangled-sounding laugh. “Trust me, Maria isnotfamily.”
“She’s your sister.”
“Only by blood. Bad blood too!”
“I don’t get that, Mom. Maria is so sweet. Why do you refuse to even—”
“Maria is selfish and—”
“I don’t think you really know her.”
“Ha! I know her better than anyone. Don’t you understand that she abandoned me when I was a young child? She was much older, and she was supposed to take care of me after our mom died. Dad even paid her to do it. But she was so selfish. She just left me to live alone with our father like I was nothing to her. And he was a monster, Carol! Always drunk and abusive. It was a horrible place for a child to be. No, Maria isnotfamily! And if you’re helping her, you’re not family either.”
Carol sat up again, fully awake now. “You never told me any of that. I mean, you said Poppy drank some, but you said he always worked and supported you. Sure, you told me about being lonely, but you always said how he was basically a good man, how you never went without anything. And you never mentioned any kind of abuse.” Carol thought this might explain why her mother’s parenting was the way it was—bordering on abusive and certainly neglectful. Or else she was flat-out lying. And it wouldn’t be the first time.
“I wanted to spare you from the sordid details of my youth.”
Carol rolled her eyes at her mom’s characteristically melodramatic remarks. Guilt-tripping her daughter was her favorite MO for acquiring sympathy and getting her way.
“Maria ran off and got married to some old man. And he was a perfect stranger too. She didn’t even introduce him to us. Just snuck off in the middle of the night. She abandoned your poppy and me, left us all alone to fend for ourselves. That’s probably why he started to drink more heavily. Really, honey, that woman is totally selfish and self-centered, and it’s unforgivable that she’s now guilting you into remaining with her. But you’re an adult! Tell her to forget it! That you’ve decided to spend your holidays with your own mother. It’s your choice, Carol.”
“The weather didn’t give me much of a choice, Mom. And, honestly, I had no idea you wanted to go to the Bahamas with me. I’m sorry.”
“But I’m telling you that now. Aren’t you listening?”
“It’s too late. Like I said, I already canceled everything.”
“Well,un-canceleverything.”
“I can’t.”
“Or you won’t? I can’t believe it. You’re choosing that selfish woman over the mother who raised you? What an ungrateful child I suffered and sacrificed for—”
“Mom.” Carol couldn’t hide her exasperation at her mom’s dramatic efforts. She was familiar with the guilt-inducing manipulation her mother utilized to her own benefit. “No offense, but the way you raised me wasn’t ideal. I mean, you wouldn’t exactly have won any mommy of the year awards.”
