A laugh escaped him. “Some things never change. Sure, in a little bit.” He ran his fingers through his tousled hair. “So, you’re willing to introduce me to your mom tomorrow?”
“Way to ruin the mood, jackass.” His smile just got bigger. “Let’s not. Maybe next week.”
“Brooke, come on. You said tomorrow. The longer we put it off, the more nervous you’re gonna get. What’s going to happen? She’s not going to kill us or anything.”
“Don’t be too sure about that.”
He rolled his eyes dramatically.
Momand I had fallen into a routine of sorts over the past couple of weeks. I didn’t say anything to her, and in response she didn’t say anything back. The house looked as good as I had ever seen it. Even the bathroom was spotless. I fully expected to come in every day and find things on the floor or things spilled “by accident.” It seemed, however, that she was enjoying having a clean house. While she never helped, she didn’t go out of her way to intentionally mess it up either. She seemed not to be in quite such a bad mood lately either. I would return the next day to find the window blinds still open. She even watched TV sometimes, instead of just sitting in the dark. The only reason I knew this, though, was hearing it when I walked up to the door. She would turn it off the minute I turned the doorknob; she would turn it back on the second the door would close again when I was heading back to Maudra’s.
Other than her slur, which I didn’t get to hear much anymore, and her shriveled hand and painful limp, I really didn’t observe much impact from the stroke. I had researched several things about strokes online, and there seemed to be plenty of documentation about people losing their will after a stroke. They often expected everyone else to do things for them and didn’t really care if they simply withered away. From what Sue and Donnie had told me, it seemed like in Rose’s case that wasn’t such a big change from how she had been in past years anyway.
I told her at the beginning of the week that Jed had finally made it into town, and he wanted to come by and meet her soon. She didn’t respond.I wasn’t sure what to expect. She might treat him just like she did me, or she could be sugary sweet, which to her, was even more insulting than cursing someone out. As horrible as it sounds, I was really hoping she would choose the first option. It was easier for me to deal with and seemed less maniacal. I also wanted Jed to really see her for what she was. He had always been supportive of me when I needed to talk about my mother, and never questioned or tried to make me think it was all in my mind. However, it would be validating to have him experience her in person.
I wasn’t really sure what my goal with Mom was, or even why I felt like I needed to be here for her. True, she wasn’t capable of taking care of herself, or at least not willing. I could easily accomplish the same thing by hiring someone to come clean her house every couple of days and cook for her. The more I thought about it, I couldn’t bring myself to put her in the nursing home. I would rather die than be in there. Of course, when she was in one of her moods, my thoughts on that changed. She had been mostly benign lately, so that option had seemed even more remote. Jed had always said I needed to be with her more for me than for her, that there was something I needed to gain through this experience. Probably a stroke all of my own.
The only outburst she had thrown lately was after I’d finished cleaning the house. I decided I was going to open up my old room and clean it out, make it a useable part of the house. I got out the hammer and began to pull out nails. Rose had come completely unhinged. She was screaming and wailing. I couldn’t understand anything she was saying, but I’m pretty sure the demons of Hell thought their master was calling them into service. She’d gotten out of her chair and ran at me. That was her intention at any rate, I think. It was more like a deranged moose thatgot tangled in barbed wire during a rampage. She only made it a few painfully awkward and disturbing steps when she crashed to the ground. She landed on her good shoulder, and her wailing was horrific. She never shed a tear, but her pain was evident.
Nolan came to see if she needed to go to the hospital. He gave her the green light and said she would be fine in a few days—she just needed to take it easy. As if she ever did anything else. It was bizarre to watch her with Nolan. She didn’t say anything, but she was as docile as a puppy, and she almost looked at him with similar adoration. She had met him a few other times, before she shut herself in the house. Della said she had always responded to him in the very same way.
At that point, I decided whatever she was trying to protect in that room could stay there. It wasn’t worth it; I could let her win that battle.
“Takeme to meet her tomorrow. Let’s just get it done with. Then we can move on from there. If it goes well, I can go with you and help out for a while. Maybe we can even get her out of the house.”
I shook my head at him. “You have no idea what you’re saying, boy. Just wait till you meet her.”
“I will, tomorrow.” His voice was declarative.
“Fine,” I conceded. “Tomorrow.” I traced the tattoo on his side that went from under his armpit to the middle of his hip. I remembered how shocked I had been the first time I saw him with his shirt off, both because of his amazing body and because he hadn’t seemed the type to have a tattoo, especially one so massive. “I guess that is the last big thing you have left to do. That, and going to church on Sunday.Thatshould be fun.”
“You worry too much. Your mom isn’t going to kill me, and the church isn’t going to tar and feather and hang me from the cross. Plus, they need to get to know the husband of the future youth pastor.” He raised his eyebrow teasingly.
“They don’t know that yet.” My heart started racing just thinking about it. I nearly called Pastor Bron several times each day to tell him I had changed my mind. I never did, though; part of me was too excited by the idea. Plus, it had made Donnie so happy. He hadn’t stopped planning things we could do with the youth group now that there were two of us.
As if reading my mind, like he always seemed to, Jed propped himself up on his elbow. “I really like Donnie and the rest of your family. I can see why you love them so much. Sue is so sweet, as is Della. She is the perfect little mother. And those little girls. They’re worth moving back for, just so you can be closer to them and watch them grow up. Especially that little Willow and Savannah, they are too adorable.”
“They really are sweet, although I can’t help favoring Blaire. She reminds me so much of Della when we were kids.” Jed, Maudra, and I had gone over for dinner at Sue and Chuck’s last night. I was surprised how easily Jed fell into place. It felt like he had always been a part of the family. Even Sue’s reservations had left her eyes when we started playing Uno. By the time we went home, she took Jed in her arms like he was one of her own sons. I suppose that really shouldn’t surprise me, seeing as she had always treated me the same as she had Donnie. She was a mother, before anything else. With that came both her incessant worry and her seemingly endless reservoir of love. The only one who wasn’t there wasZephyra, who was entering finals weeks at her college, but she called on the phone to talk to Jed. Even over the phone, I could tell she was going to be his favorite. They were going to be quite the pair.
“Speaking of kids”—Jed placed his palm against my chest and let it glide down my stomach—“wanna try to make some of our own?”
I laughed. “You’re stupid.”
“Wanna?”
My body responded before I could.
He glanced down and chuckled. “Looks like that’s a yes.” He pulled me over until I was straddling him again. “Get to it.”
Twenty
Jedforced me to stop by the grocery store on our way to Rose’s. I tried to convince him it wasn’t necessary, that she wouldn’t want them anyway. He was determined, so we drove five minutes out of our way just so Jed could run in and get some flowers. He said a son-in-law shouldn’t arrive empty-handed the first time he meets his husband’s mother. I agreed with him—he should have a pistol handy. I managed to keep the thought to myself, for once.
To no great surprise on my part, there were no flowers at the supermarket. I reminded him again that we were now living in a small town. The grocery store is for food, batteries, and a small selection of greeting cards. If you wanted something fancy, you needed to live somewhere else. Hell, the only one-hour photo was in Nevada, thirty minutes away.
Still resolute, Jed then suggested we go to the florist. Luckily, or unluckily, I previously noticed the florist shop was still in business downtown, in one of the few buildings that was still in good enough shape to have a business in it.
When I’d given him the two-second tour of the town the day after he got here, Jed thought Main Street was “complete adorableness,” and the bandstand in the park was “beyond quaintitivity.” I’d rolled my eyes and told him he needed to move back to Denver. As we walked to the door of the florist, Jed was seemingly changing his mind.
