Page 113 of Falling in Love with Two

My sarcasm rides onto the scene. “Yeah, I’m a special case where I was able to get knocked up without the power of a wedding ring. They’re going to study me in a medical journal.”

She rolls her eyes. “I see that mouth of yours hasn’t changed.”

“Not even a little.”

“You still haven’t told me why you’re here.”

“Can we just sit down and talk for a minute?” I plead.

“Fine.” She walks over to the table in the kitchen and sits down.

I follow her and sit down.

I take a deep breath before starting to speak. “Lately, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking. More than anything, I want this baby to be surrounded by family. You’re my mom. I’d like to try to repair our relationship.”

“Ironic that you want to repair something that you ultimately broke.”

“What do you mean?” I ask, ready to go on the defensive.

“Leah, you left when you were seventeen.”

Out of habit, I start picking at my fingernails. “Yes, I did. And most mothers would have probably come looking for their daughter.”

“Why? You didn’t like it here. And those last couple years, you were nothing but trouble.”

“You think that I was the only issue in that situation?” I ask.

“Who else would have been to blame?”

I look at her. “Come on. You know who.”

“Larry? The man who came along and made all our dreams come true?”

“Your dream was for him to turn you into a Stepford wife?”

“No, Leah,” she spits. “My dream was to meet a wonderful man who would love and take care of me. A man who would give me the life I always wanted.”

“Mom, I’m happy that you got it. But was life really that bad when it was just you and me? We had some good times, right?”

She looks at me as though I’ve lost my mind. “It was terrible. I was working all the time, and we still had no money. We lived in that crap shack of a house.”

I’ve always looked back at that time in my life as the best part of my childhood. We didn’t have much, but we made the most of it—or at least I thought we did.

I guess Mom didn’t feel the same way.

Since I feel we’re getting off-track, I say, “I didn’t come here to talk about Larry. I came because I want my baby to know her grandmother.”

“Her?”

I rub my belly. “Yeah, it’s a girl. You’re going to have a granddaughter.”

I think for a moment that she’s going to show a hint of warmth.

“Well, lord willing, she won’t turn out anything like her mother.”

Man, right to the gut.

Before I can defend myself, she keeps going. “Actually, you know what? I hope she is just like you. I hope she constantly runs around when she’s a teenager, making you worry constantly. Then, I hope she runs away at seventeen to shack up with her boyfriend. I hope that she shows up at your door knocked up by some loser, and you finally get the chance to show her what a colossal disappointment she has been her whole life.”

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