Page 55 of Ghosted By Texas

“It won’t matter because your son has a right to experience that, too.” I reminded her.

“You’re right, of course,” she murmured sadly.

“I guess that’s something I’ll come to terms with eventually,” I whispered.

“Are you sure there’s no hope of a reconciliation between you and Austin?”

I shook my head. “He didn’t just hurt me and leave me in the dark once. This was the second time he’s done it. I don’t even care that he thought he had a good reason. He could have told me.”

“From what I gather, Jordan forbade him from telling you about the pregnancy,” she mentioned.

I rolled my eyes. “Of course, she did because she’s an evil manipulative witch who knew exactly which buttons to push to make sure I never came back into the picture.” I took a breath and then apologized. “I’m sorry. I know she was your best friend’s daughter, and I can’t imagine someone saying something like that to me about Clea’s future daughter. I’d probably want to smack them.”

“Under normal circumstances, maybe. Jordan is a grown woman though, and she made some poor choices that led you to feel the way you do. I don’t fault you for it. In fact, I want to take her over my knee just the way I’m sure her parents would if they were still alive.” Mrs. Mercer shook her head. “I still can’t believe she had the audacity to lie to my boy about something so precious, and to ruin his happiness for her own selfish reasons. Her mother did not raise her that way.”

“From what Austin has said, I think she did.”

“Excuse me?” Mrs. Mercer sputtered, not with attitude but in shock over me calling out her dead best friend’s parenting.

“The two of you wanted Austin and Jordan to get married one day,” I stated.

“Well, it was a dream that two best friends had.”

“I understand that, but whereas you never pressured Austin to do that, I think Jordan’s mother did, from what he told me.”

Mrs. Mercer sighed. “Unfortunately, I think he’s right. Lydia was always very adamant about it happening one day. She even had a wedding book and started planning out their ceremony when they were still in middle school.”

“That’s not creepy or anything,” Clea muttered.

“I assure you, she had only the best intentions, even if she did go a bit overboard.”

“Well, if she allowed you to see that much of her going overboard, imagine what Jordan went through,” Clea explained.

“Yes, well, I suppose I see your point. Our dreams for them to be together one day should have never even reached their ears. That’s something I do regret. It made for a lot of false expectations. While I thought it would be neat, when they were younger, it was clear as they grew older that my son would never see her that way.”

“But he did.”

“No, he has never been in love with Jordan.”

“He still had sex with her, for years,” I tossed back, no matter how inappropriate it was to discuss her son’s sex life with her.

“That’s where he mucked everything up, and I know she pressured him to take that step, too. I overheard those early conversations, and wanted to step in, but that wasn’t my place since they were both adults by then. So, I let the chips fall where they may and simply encouraged him to find his happiness and to be careful in the meantime. Sometimes, that’s all a mother can do, otherwise we inadvertently end up pushing our children into something they don’t want, or to rebel against the very thing we want for them.” She shrugged her shoulders. “If only parenting came with a tried-and-true handbook.”

Mrs. Mercer stood. “I assure you that nothing Jordan says or does will ever affect how my family treats you from this point forward. I can’t speak for what Austin does, but the rest of us would like to welcome you with open arms into the family, and I meant what I said, please don’t hesitate to ask for anything you need.” She placed a folded piece of paper down on the coffee table next to the nearly depleted box of tissues. “Both mine and my husband’s numbers are on that paper along with my youngest daughter, Katy.”

She scrunched her nose up as she thought of something and then added, “I left Victoria off because she’s going through her own crisis, even though she won’t talk to any of us about it, and I don’t think she’ll be a big support right now.”

“Plus, she’s good friends with Jordan,” I added.

Mrs. Mercer nodded sagely and smiled at me. “Katy and Dallas have always detested Jordan, if that makes you feel any better. They saw through her many attempts to trick Austin into settling on her, and they never liked it. I’m not telling you that to ruin a confidence with either of my children or Jordan, but I thought you needed to know that you wouldn’t find our home unwelcoming to you. That seemed to be one of Clea’s worries for you before our dinner tonight.”

“Thank you, I appreciate you being open with me.”

“Please, use those numbers and keep us updated.”

Clea stood too. “I have to go, since we rode together.”

I nodded and saw them both out of my apartment. It had been a lovely gesture for Austin’s mother to come meet me and try to set the record straight about where their family stood. It also relieved some the tension I’d felt about them possibly ganging up on me and stealing my baby.

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