“ Aunt Mae.Father, Mother.I thought that I saw you three when we got here.Everyone, this is Zander.Zander, this is my parents and my Aunt Mae on my father’s side.It’s her birthday today.”He shook Hubert’s hand, and she just stared at it when he put it to her.“ Mother, don’t be a bitch.He was just saying hello to you.There is no reason for you to act like this with him.”
“ I know you.You turned us down as our attorney.”He said that he’d not, he’d remember that if that had happened.“ Then you have a brother or something that’s an attorney.He said that we couldn’t afford him.”
“ That may well be true.If he were to work outside the family, then he’d have to break his contract.That would be costly and no reason for him to do that.”She huffed at him and looked at her husband while he continued.“ I’m an attorney as well.My brother and I work on cases together, but sometimes he has to field calls that would take us away from the family.I hope you understand.”
“ I don’t.If someone wants to hire you, then you should be hired.”That made more sense in her head, but it pissed her off that she’d messed up.“ I don’t care for anyone telling me no.And that would include my daughter.I told her not to date, and here she is flaunting it right in my face.”
“ You told me not to date men who were related to your friends.Since I know for a fact that you don’t have any friends, that leaves the field wide open for me.Mother, your temper is showing, and I know how much Aunt Mae hates that.”Olivia looked at her aunt.“ I just wanted to say happy birthday, Aunt Mae.And I hope to see you around while you’re visiting.How long do you plan to stay?”
“ I’m leaving on Friday, a week from today.I have things that I must see to before I can go on that cruise that I’ve been thinking about.I’m going to see Europe.Won’t that be fun?You should come with me.Bring your young man with you.”She kissed her on the cheek and told her that it wasn’t possible.Caroline wondered why she never invited her on any of her trips and realized it was because they didn’t like each other.“ We’ll have to plan something soon, my dear child.Something that we can all enjoy while your parents are wallowing in their woes.”
“ For someone who didn’t want to bring up our woes, as you call them, you sure are bringing them up a great deal.What’s that all about?”Mae said that it was her birthday and she was able to pick the topics that she wished.“ So long as they’re about us and what’s happening with your only brother.Is that right?”
“ It is.I’m glad that you’re catching on.”Instead of getting into a shouting match with Mae, she slapped her daughter.It usually gave her a nice little buzz when she did something like that, knowing that she wouldn’t retaliate no matter where they were.But it was the man who was with her that scared her a bit.The look on his face meant something more than she thought that she could handle right now.Anger like she’d never seen before.“ I’m glad that you’ve shown yourself, Caroline.Dinner is over for the two of you.Get out before I call the police and have you trespassed.You’ve barked up the wrong tree.”
They had a little trouble leaving the table.They’d drawn quite a crowd of people with their phones out, recording them.Embarrassed beyond anything that she’d ever felt before, Caroline decided that she was going to get back at Olivia and soon.The blood on her lip gave her a brief satisfaction, but it was short-lived when Olivia and Erickson sat down at the table they were being shown away from.
“ You’ll regret this, Olivia.I promise you that you will.”She said that she already regretted being her child and that was going to end soon.“ What do you think you can do about it?Nothing, that’s what.And don’t think that you can have your little stash of money and me not get it.I’m going to go to the bank tomorrow and get it all out and leave you homeless.I’m sick of you acting so superior to us.We’re your parents.”
“ So it says on my birth certificate.But that doesn’t mean shit where I’m concerned.And you go ahead and try to get to my money at the bank.I’ve learned my lesson the last time that you did that.”She asked her what she thinks she could do to keep her from it.“ You’ll see as soon as you try.I’m not as stupid as you think I am.I’ve learned from the best, and I’m not going to allow you to rule me again.”
“ We’ll just see about that.”Standing up, she hated that the man, the Erickson man, was so much taller than her.It bothered her when people couldn’t look up to her, and this was no different.“ Come on, Hubert.I’m suddenly not hungry.We’ll go home and have a nice dinner like we usually do.”
“ There is no staff, so I have no idea what you think is going to happen.Olivia, you have a nice evening, and watch out for your mother.She’s on the warpath again.”Caroline wanted to hit Hubert, but he’d hit her back, and she didn’t have time to get into it with him.As they were leaving the restaurant, they were resetting the table for the three of them, and she felt her eye twitch when her anger got the better of her.
“ Mrs.Marsh, please don’t return to this establishment again.I will have you arrested if you do.”She just stared at the man at the front desk at the doorway.“ We all know your face now, and so to save you any more embarrassment, don’t come here again.I will have you arrested.”
“ I wouldn’t come back here if you paid me to eat here.I’m going to give you a bad review too, see that I don’t.”He said he wasn’t worried about her.Which was right on her part.She didn’t have a clue how to use a computer, much less leave a review for someone.“ You’ll regret this.See that you don’t.I’m going to own you by this time tomorrow.”
“ As I said, I’m not worried about you.Have the life you deserve, and like I’ve said to you several times, don’t return.Not even if you could prove that you could afford to eat here, I will have the police come by and take you out in cuffs.”She was being shoved out the door by Hubert and was pissed at him.As they were getting into their car, not even a limo could they afford to look good, she sat on her side of the car and fumed.Her eye was twitching again, and it pained her in the head.Damn it all to fuck and back, this wasn’t the way she wanted to spend the evening.
“ Well, I hope you’re happy.I was going to see if I could get Mae to lend us some money so that we could afford a real attorney.But you had to go and piss her off.”She said that she was pissed off, too, and asked him if that mattered.“ You’re forever pissed off, so now is no different.As soon as we get home, I want you to get in touch with Mae and tell her how sorry you are.Otherwise, sheand Olivia are going to gang up against us, and we’ll have no one in our corner.We can’t even get our daughter to give us money now.Don’t you understand how to butter someone up?Christ, this is so fucked up that I don’t know if we’ll ever see the light of day.I’m too old to go to prison, Caroline.So are you.We’ll never make it on the inside, and that’s the truth.”
“ Then we’ll have to hope that Olivia has enough money to get us a good attorney.”She wished that she could get the Erickson man to work for them, but she’d burnt that bridge.“ Maybe she’ll marry him, and we’ll have the money that we need.He’s supposed to be rich.Do you suppose that if he became our son-in-law, he’ll be more receptive to helping us?”
He just snorted and drove them home.There was nothing there to eat, and she was suddenly starving.They didn’t even have the money to stop at a burger place, as much as she hated to eat there, and that was all Olivia’s fault.The damned girl should know better than to cross her.
~*~
Zander didn’t know what to think right now.They were having a good time with her Aunt Mae, but he had a feeling that she was hurting not just from the slap that her mother had given her, but that he’d witnessed the entire thing.He wanted to reassure her that he was used to that kind of thing, but had a feeling that wouldn’t go over all that well.He decided to tell her about his family as soon as they were alone.It might not help, but he wanted her to know that he knew what abuse felt like.When she got up to use the bathroom, he watched her walk away.His heart really did hurt for her.
“ Young man, what are your intentions with my niece?”He said that they were just having a good time dating right now.“ You look at her like she’s the world to you.Are you in love with her?”
“ No.I’m just dating a woman who makes me laugh.And she does too.A great deal about myself as well.”Mae said that she was covering up for something.“ I’m beginning to see that.I think that until now, I didn’t know what to make of her parents.They’re not all that loving, are they?”
“ They only had her because of a mistake.If she’d been on top of things like I think she might well have been, she’d have aborted my niece right away.But I think she figured that she’d never get pregnant because she didn’t want to.She’s a fool.”He nodded and asked her what her intentions were about Olivia.“ Leave her with all that I have.She’s the only family that I love, and I do love her.So if you have any intentions of hurting her, all the money you have will mean nothing if I have to come after you.”
“ I have no intentions of hurting her at all.We’re only going out to have a good time.This is only our second date.”She nodded and looked in the direction that Olivia had gone.“ You love her very much, don’t you?”
“ I do.She’s everything that I ever hoped for in a child.And to be saddled with her parents has only made her better.They say that you are what you’re raised to be, and I believe that to be as true as it could be for her.”She looked at him.“ You’ll have to watch them.For her, too.They’ll come after her.”
“ I get that feeling as well.What do you know about her money?She told me that she’s saving for a home.”She said it was the first she’d heard of it tonight.“ I have a feeling that she’ll make sure that they can’t get into her accounts.I wouldn’t put it past Caroline to try, though.She’s determined to hurt her daughter.”
“ Hubert will as well.Tonight was a better night for him, though I don’t trust him as far as I can throw him.He’s just like his wife in that they’ll do what is necessary to get out from under going to jail.I think they’ll be lucky if they don’t go to prison for what they’ve been doing.Neither one of them could save a dime if they were forced to.They still spend it like they have it.”
“ I looked into their case.They don’t stand a chance of keeping themselves out of jail.For how long is the question.I’d go for all I could get, but then I’m not prosecuting them.”She threw back her head and laughed.Like her niece, she found humor in the strangest things.“ Olivia is a great deal like you.I’m surprised that you’re different from what I thought you’d be.”
“ I distanced myself from them as soon as I could.I’ve been keeping an eye on them as well.I know that Caroline hires some men to go after Olivia when she thinks about her.I don’t think that’s all that often, but when she does, it doesn’t bode well for our girl.”Olivia joined them at the table again,and he could see that she’d been crying.“ Are you going to let them get the better of you, or are you going to fight back?The Olivia that I know wouldn’t allow them to do what Caroline did to you today.”
