Page 11 of Falkner
“She told me that I needed to be at her beck and call all the time because of her being my mom and that I should want to take her places as she’s couped up in the house all day with nothing to do.I even suggested she get a job, which has been something that the welfare office has said that she should do.Not full-time, mind you, but enough so that she could pay her bills.I guess me and my car are all right to take her places too, so that she can cash her check she gets each month.Again, because of me.”
Doone sounded like she was having more issues with her mother than she’d had before.All this has taken place since she had to move in with her mom when her place burned to the ground.There had to be something that had happened there that made them both seem to not care for each other at all.The more he thought about it, the more he thought that her mom just needed someone to talk to, and it wasn’t Doone.He’d offer himself, but he already had a thing against her for treating his mates like she had been.Perhaps Amy or one of the other women could talk to her.Maybe see what the root of the problem was for Meggie.
Falkner knew that he needed to ask Doone what she thought of his idea, but she was just too upset right now.He was going to wait and see how she felt after dinner and ask her then.With a full belly and the flowers he’d gotten her on the table, she might be better receptive to all kinds of things, like him telling her that he loved her.
Chapter 5
Meggie didn’t know what was wrong with her daughter all of a sudden, but she didn’t like it.Didn’t she know that it was her duty to do things for her?Ever since she’d allowed her to live with her for those two weeks, she’d been different.Like she was the bad guy or something.Well, it was going to stop, or she was going to have to have a little talk with her.
Doone had always been a dutiful daughter.Sometimes she’d have to bully her a little to get her to do things that she wanted her to do, but that was all right.So long as it was for her, she thought that Doone would want to make sure that she had everything that she needed and deserved, like this house.
It had taken her having cancer to get her to do that for her.Doone had wanted to get them an apartment together, share the load, she called it.But that would mean that she was going to have to share her space with her, and that wasn’t anything that she wanted to do.What was hers was hers.
Then, having her seek out a vampire to make sure that she didn’t die was something that had taken a good deal longer than Meggie thought it should have.But in the end, she saw it her way.And so what if the vampire had demanded all kinds of money for her to treat her?It was money well spent as far as she was concerned.Besides, Doone didn’t need a newer car.The one she had now ran well enough.
To think that she wanted her to drive places, too.In her ugly old car.Just because she was on welfare didn’t mean that she had to look like she was.She had a great deal of pride, and driving her car would have screamed that she was in the system.Something that she didn’t want until she found out that she could get her own home and food from the government every month.It was the best thing that could have happened to her, and she didn’t have to bully her little girl overly much to get it.
Doone was soft-hearted where she was concerned, and she liked it that way.But here lately she’d been talking nonsense about her going to her own appointments and even going to the grocery store.She didn’t want to have to put her foot down, but she was going to if things didn’t straighten out soon.Doone was getting out of hand, making her demands like she was.Meggie wasn’t going to put up with it.She deserved this and was going to get it.
“I wonder if it’s that man she’s living with?”She’d started talking to herself when her daughter had moved out—thank goodness, and it kept her from being alone.She was alone by choice but not lonely, she thought.Meggie loved her own company.That way, she could figure out what to do to get Doone to do what she wanted her to do.She should want to do them as she was her mom.As her mom, she deserved the very best.Then she thought of the man again.
He had to be the cause of her acting out.There was no other reason for her to be acting like she was, since nothing had changed for her.She was still her mom and still deserved the very best.Even if Doone had to give up something, she should want her to have it for no other reason than what she’d been thinking all along.She was her mom after all.
She loved being driven around.She was going to talk to her daughter about getting something more stylish so that she could look good when she got out of the car.She didn’t know how much rent she was paying to live with that man, but she knew that she’d do it for her.Not that she wanted her old car, however.That had been suggested today.Like she wanted to be responsible for something to drive.Meggie couldn’t think and drive.It was difficult enough just to get around in a car, much less being behind the wheel.No, she couldn’t drive herself around.
Meggie might well have asked about the man that she was living with, but found that she didn’t really care.He might well be a murderer living in a dump, but so long as she didn’t have to put up with her living with her daughter any longer than she had, then whatever he was wasn’t any of her business.
“Doone is too stupid to hold onto a man with any kind of intelligence.Nor one of looks either.She’s more suited to the kind of trash that lived down the street from me.Five kids and not a man on sight.”
She’d been snooping about her neighbors since moving into the place.She started out by making sure that none of them had anything that she deserved, and so far, all they had was trash.And kids.
“There must have been fifty kids getting on the school bus in the mornings, and don’t get me started on how many run through the neighborhood like they own the place.”She peeked out her window to see if any of them were in her yard again and decided that threatening them had worked.She deserved peace and quiet when she wanted it.
She didn’t care for kids and never had.If not for the fact that Doone had brought her all kinds of things that she deserved, then she wouldn’t have had her either.But her husband had wanted a child, and she said all right.Had she known how much work it was to have one, she might have told him to fuck off.They were just too clingy for her tastes.But she’d been able to train Doone well, and now, well, not of late but usually she got what she deserved when she wanted it.
Turning on her television, another thing on her list of things that she deserved bigger than the neighbors—she’d seen the big empty box out by the trash can and realized how small hers was in comparison—she watched a bit of news until it bored her to death.
Picking up her list when she turned off her too-small television, she read over the things that she was going to get Doone to get for her.First on the list, however, was the newer car.She didn’t care if she could afford it or not, but that’s what she wanted and deserved, and Doone would want her to have it except for today.
It still bothered her that she’d lost control of Doone since she’d moved out.Telling her that she couldn’t take her to the store tomorrow had been the first time that she said she couldn’t do something in forever.Doone had called off work before when Meggie wanted something.She just didn’t understand why now was so different.
It wasn’t as if her job was more important than she was.That couldn’t be it.Meggie knew that she was the only one in Doone’s life, and she liked it that way.Even the man—she couldn’t figure out why he kept coming to her mind—didn’t hold as much of her as she did.Unless they’d hit it off and she was liking living where she was.That had to stop.
Doone should never like anything or anyone more than her.She deserved all of her since she’d given birth to her, and no one had better say anything differently.When this man figured that out, the better things would be for him, too, if he had anything to do with what was going on with Doone.
She was going to have to figure out what he was doing to Doone behind her back.Meggie would teach him a few lessons, too, if he had anything to do with her daughter’s attitude.She wasn’t above planting some information about her daughter that would have him backing off.Doone wouldn’t mind either; it was what her mother deserved, and she’d be all for it in the end.
“The old saying, ‘Momma knows best,’ is the best line that could have ever been written.I’ll show them both so that they can see what I want, I deserve.And I deserve my daughter’s loyalty more than anyone else.”She thought about her daughter finding a husband, and that scared her more than anything.He’d be someone that she couldn’t deal with on a daily basis.He’d demand her attention, pulling it away from her, and that just couldn’t be.Meggie was going to have to think of some reason why Doone should never marry and think of it right quick.Marriage would be bad for both of them, but she would come out on top because Doone would want her to get what she had coming to her.It’s what she deserved.
When someone pulled into her driveway, she peeked out the window.She didn’t know the car, but she saw a woman getting out of it that looked like her Doone.Opening the front door to her home, she couldn’t believe that Doone had already gotten herself a better-looking car so that she could be driven around in style.
“I’m leaving my other car for you.”She thought that she had heard her wrong, as they’d already gone over the fact that she wasn’t going to be driving.“This one is Falkner’s, but he doesn’t drive it as much as he does his truck, so you can have my old one.”
“We’ve already gone over this, Doone.I’m not going to be driving anywhere.You’re going to be taking me.”She just slammed the door shut on the car she had driven over, and they both watched as her old car was pulled into the driveway.“You might as well just drive it back home and come to get me in this one.It’s so much nicer to be seen in.”
“I told you that you were going to have to drive yourself to your appointments, as I have to work tomorrow and I have no time left to cover it.”She held out the keys and stood there.“After I leave here, you can do what you want with the car, you’re going to anyway, and that’ll be all on you.Amy pulled some strings, so it’s in your name already, and it doesn’t matter to me anymore.”
“I’ll take the newer car then if I have to take any.I’m not used to driving anymore, so I might need for you to leave me the better car.You want me to have the best, correct?I deserve it.”She didn’t move yet, and it was starting to get on her nerves.Then the man stood next to her.When he put his hand around her waist and held her close to him, she saw red.“What do you think you’re doing?Get your hands off my daughter.She doesn’t have time for a man like you.”
