She cast her eyes downward for a few seconds before looking back up at me. “I couldn’t handle it anymore with your dad. I—I didn’t know what else to do besides leave. He was—out of control.”
I nodded and reassured her, “I don’t blame you, Marianne. And please, don’t think there’s anything you could have done to prevent it. This—this—thing—belongs to him. It’s his responsibility. Not yours.”
She nodded and then asked the question that I knew was coming, “How long has he been like this?”
I answered her quickly and honestly, “Since before I was born. Mom never went into specifics, but she did tell me that much.”
Marianne sat back on the couch and seemed to be thinking this information over. I waited quietly until she spoke again, “And,” she looked down for a second, then took a deep breath, “Trey?” Her worried eyes met mine.
I shrugged and leaned forward slightly. “I suspected a bit in the early days. He hid it pretty well from me.” Her face changed and she looked like I’d slapped her. “Until he didn’t. And I knew—” gosh, I didn’t want to say this next part to her, “I knew I couldn’t live with someone like that. I’d been—I’d been dealing with someone like that my whole life. I swore to myself I’d never get involved with someone who had a problem like that.”
She looked devastated, and I hated that I was the one to give her this news.
She asked more questions about Trey—and I answered them. And then she admitted to thinking he was growing more dependent on the pills when she was caring for him after his accident.
But Trey has smoothed over any concerns of hers.
Still, she’d felt slightly uneasy.
Then she asked me more questions about my dad.
Questions—and answers—that made both of us cry.
Many tissues later, I realized I was going to be late for practice. “I’m sorry, I have to take Hayley to daycare and get to practice.”
She stood up and smiled. “Well, your father’s last text to me said the house was a mess, and it was mostly because of my son.” She laughed despite herself. “So, I’m flying back to Alberta this morning to clean up. And—no matter what happens—” she walked around the coffee table to me, “I’ll always consider you family.”
That hit me completely out of nowhere.
Tears practically burst out of my eyes, and I wrapped my arms around her. “Same here, Marianne,” I sobbed into my mother-in-law’s shoulder.
“Aww, honey, you still love him, don’t you?” She sighed as she rubbed my back the way only a mother could do.
“Yeah, so much,” I cried in her arms. I felt like if she wasn’t holding me up, I might fall flat on the floor. “I miss him so much,” I sniffled, “it hurts.”
She squeezed me tighter. “Oh, honey,” she held my head against her shoulder, “have you considered marrying a nice, quiet, dependable accountant next time?”
That made me do some kind of weird, laugh-cry-snort. “No,” I said in a weepy voice as I moved back a bit, “how about you?”
She smiled through her tears and shook her head. “Nope.”
Then we both did the weird laugh-cry-snort together.
At the beginningof the next practice, I stood in the middle of the locker room. “As you all know, Gigi has passed down the job of captain to me.”
The room quieted down, and everyone stared at me and nodded.
I held up the white letter “C” in my hand.
“And, my first duty as captain,” I peered over at Gigi, “is to reinstate Gigi as captain.”
I strode over to her, and handed back the “C.”
Gigi tried to speak, but she was too busy crying. I hugged her tightly. “You were born for this job, my friend.”
She wiped her eyes and nodded.
After that, we headed out to the ice.