I stood. “Are you serious?”
“Do not raise your voice, Elizabeth.”
“For months you have been trying to get me home, begging and almost guilting me into coming. I finally come home, and you have the audacity to ask me not to cause trouble?”
“I wasn’t sure what you had in mind. The fact that you haven’t ever come home is exactly what worried me. Why now? Why at their engagement party?”
“Wow! Well, for one, you asked me to. And secondly, you think it’s out of respect for me that they waited? Like I was the one holding up their beautiful nuptials?” My voice was dangerously low. “Where was their respect for me when they were fucking in my condo?”
“Don’t say that word.”
“Oh, my god!That’swhat you heard?” I started to leave the room.
“I’m not finished, Elizabeth,” she said calmly.
I stormed back to her. “I am. I’m finished. Do you know how many times she traveled with him when I was off rotation? How many times they were off in the golf cart here, when I had to go home early for work, after a family dinner?” I could feel my tears starting to fall. I was afraid I would hyperventilate. “That I had to find out about them because I caught them in the locker room after a game? Why bother? Why not just break up with me and give it some time. Neither of them hasanyclass oranyrespect for me.” I clutched my stomach. “Oh, my god, I can’t breathe.”
“Elizabeth, sit down.” She rushed to me and guided me to the couch.
“This is why I never came home, Mom. I can’t bear to be in the same room as them.” I put my head back on the couch and stared up at the muraled ceiling. “I can’t stand to look at them.” She sat next to me on the couch. Tears fell from the corners of my eyes. “I don’t want to be here.”
“Elizabeth,” she said softly. “My beautiful girl. I know it hurts. And I know how hard this has been for you. But I wish you hadn’t run away.” I started to rise. She gently pushed me back. “No, you listen to me.”
I tried to relax. But pain, and disbelief that my own mother thought I would do something awful, had me tense.
She went on soothingly, trying to calm me down. “He was never good enough for you. And if you hadn’t run away, you would have given yourself time to see that. You are just now coming back, and all you remember is those last few weeks. The running from the pain. That’s all you remember.” My head spun as I tried to piece the events together. “If you’d stayed, you would have noticed how perfect they are together. She adores him. And you were always too strong for him.”
I wiped at the tears. “That’s not what a woman wants to hear, mom.”
She chuckled softly. “In time, you would have crumbled under the weight of his vanity. You are too beautiful for your own good, but you’re smart Elizabeth. And it is going to take a very strong man to bring out the best in you.” I rolled my eyes towards her drolly. “Don’t look at me that way. You know I’m right.”
My diaphragm shook as I tried to relax after the tears. I tasted the salt on my lips.
Depleted of energy, I took a deep breath. “Are you finished trying to keep my potential crazy at bay?”
“I just wanted to talk with you before the party got too late.”
“No, you wanted to make sure I didn’t cause a scene.” I stood. “I guess I should get this over with.” I held my hand out to her. She took it and I helped her stand.
“Now, remember, no trouble.”
She walked away and I said to her back, “Oh my God, didn’t we just go over this?”
She laughed and kept walking.
Out on the patio, heat lamps stood next to standing cocktail tables, keeping guests warm as they ate and drank. But now, the guests were coming inside.
We all made a half moon circle around the happy couple. Part of me knew that they were perfect together. They fit. Not only physically - tall and athletic - but also silly. They laughed together. Often. I’d seen it even before I had wanted to admit what I intuited. I had never really laughed with Clay.
My father took center stage to introduce them. “Ladies and gentleman.” He tapped his champagne glass gently.
A waiter appeared over my shoulder with a tray of beautifully stemmed champagne flutes, “Oh, thank you,” I whispered, plucking a glass from the tray.
My father continued. “I am very happy that you could all join us tonight for this beautiful celebration. We are especially grateful that Clay and Amanda could travel for this special occasion.”
A round of “Hoo-ahs!” went around the room.
“Especially since you have a game tomorrow night. Thank you for accommodating our humble family.”