When we start eating, though, somehow, she gets worse.“Uh, oh.”She pokes at the center of her cinnamon roll.“This isn’t cooked entirely through.”She snatches up the twins’ plates, walks across to the trash, and dumps everything in.“What a shame, but we can’t risk anyone getting sick.”She glares at Quinn and her husband pointedly.
Quinn keeps eating, like she doesn’t see her mother or hear her either.
Mr.Shanahan says, “I shouldn’t eat a cinnamon roll at my age, so really you did me a favor, but the eggs and this other thing—what did you say it was?Hominy?”He smiles.“It was delicious.”
Again, I wait for Jack to comment, but he just gets another plate with some eggs on it and offers it to the twins.By the time breakfast is through, I’m about ready to kick him out myself.I’m not even mad at his mother.
I’m mad at him for being such a coward.
“Well, we haven’t opened gifts yet.”I point at the family room.“I don’t want to keepyourfamily from celebrating any longer onyourChristmas day.”I pick up Jack’s bag and carry it toward the door.
“Thanks.”He smiles.“Actually, I have something I forgot to bring yesterday.Mum, can you help me carry it inside?”
His mother beams and follows him out.
Quinn rushes to take the bag from me.“I’m sorry my mother’s such a mess.Here’s what you need to know, though.Being her child isn’t easy.She’s spent her whole life making us feel like we’re never enough.Not smart enough.Not hard-working enough.Just not enough.”She drops a hand on my shoulder.“Jack loves you, and he’s really trying.It’ll get better, because he’ll learn to be clear with her on the front end.”
I understand he may have some baggage there, but I’m not sure whether I can handle dealing with the way he lets her treat me.
“Ryan’s drawing on Trina’s wall with a black marker,” Bryce says, pointing.
Quinn swears.“I’ll go get him.”
Mr.Shanahan follows after her, “And I’ll find Rory.”He half-waves, even now, entirely pleasant and happy.He’s like a puppy dog to his wife’s Doberman.
I decide two adults should be enough to manage two small children, and if I have to repaint a wall of Trina’s room, it’s not the end of the world.I head for the door, needing Jack and his mother to be ready to head on home.I’m not sure how much longer I can handle the way he acts around his mother before I explode.
Only, when I start to walk outside, he and his mother are talking intently.I freeze, unable to help myself.That phrase, ‘all ears,’ was made for me in this moment.
“—how important it is that you don’t feel silly, especially in front of your own husband and daughter, but Mum, you were the one who was being ridiculous.You were out of line.”
“I’m the wronged party here,” she says.“I wanted to spend Christmas morning with my own son, but apparently now I have to pre-book just to see you.”
He shakes his head.“No, Mum, you just have to be polite—I’d settle for civil—to the womanI love.”He lifts a finger.“And if it comes down to it, I love her more than you.Don’t make me pick who to see.You won’t like what I choose.”
I’m still a little upset that he did nothing to stop her from dinging me, but I feel a lot better.He did eventually dosomething.He didn’t just let it pass, ignoring his mother and her behavior toward me.Maybe he knew that if he went head-to-head with her in a group, she’d resent me more.
But he also told her that if he had to choose, he’d chooseme, implying hewillchoose not to see her if she keeps belittling me.
I’m happy about it.
But I also feel guilty.I’ve ducked back into the kitchen, my back against the wall, so when the door swings open, I jump.
“Were you listening in?”He’s smiling.“You little snoop.”
“I—your mom was terrible today.She’s been like that since she found out we were dating.”
He sighs.“I know, and I’m sorry I let you take that abuse for too long.She’s my mom, and I’m not great at fighting her.It was always easier to just let her bully people.”
“I don’t want you to have to cut off your family because of me.”
“Which is exactly why I would pick you.I can’t stop her from being rude and making you sad, so I’ll keep her away so she can’t.If it comes to that, it’s her decision, not yours.”He runs a hand down my hair.“Don’t feel bad about that.Not for one second.”
“What if you resent me for it later?”
He shakes his head.“I won’t.I know my mother, and I know you, and you’re the person I want to be a mother to my children.Your love is the kind of love I want for them, not her conditional, dictatorial love.Your son has made some mistakes, and you stepped in to try and help, but you loved him throughout.I think if I ever screwed up, she’d have taken her love away, and I’ve lived in fear of that all my life.”
It hurts my heart to hear it.
