As to the Davenports, well, there’s only one reason they’re here, which can be good or bad. Good, because mom had filled them in on my relationship with Cody, and bad, because she’d filled them in on my relationship with Cody. At least grandma Astor was here; she’d play buffer, I’m sure. But it’s never clear until the end which of the two of them will win.
We walked into the room holding hands. I kept my back straight and my face void of expression. They were all here except for Cody’s parents, who were on the screen. He seemed shocked to see them and looked at me for answers. I had none.
“Your dad is starting his first trial, so they couldn’t be here in person. We thought this would do for now.” Mom offered up that tidbit as we were ushered to our seats. The table was laid with snacks and beverages; it looked inviting and very civilized. I’m not buying it.
“Don’t eat anything off this table. Kitty Davenport aka Lucretia Borgia over there might be up to one of her tricks.” He laughed until he got a good look at my face.
“You can’t be serious!”
“I told you, follow my lead.” He seemed to get it but still wore a bemused look on his face.
“Mom, dad, I’d love you to meet my girl. Lisa, my parents.” We said hi and exchanged small talk with no interruption from my unruly relatives for the time it took. His mom gushed over me, but I couldn’t even enjoy it because of the dragon in the room. Other people have elephants, or so I’ve been told.
“Dad, what’s going on? I thought you weren’t scheduled to start the medical trials for another couple of weeks?” Thankfully he had that to focus on for now.
“Your dad and I didn’t want to tell you because we didn’t want you to worry. We know you have a lot on your plate right now, but don’t worry; it’s not like they’re hacking into him or anything. He’s just starting on the new medication.”
Cody’s mom was as beautiful as I expected the mother of my guy to be. But looking at her in her flannel shirt over jeans reminded me of how very different our worlds were. And then I looked at her eyes; the warmth and care I saw for her son as she beamed at him through the screen showed me that we were on the same playing field.
She loves her Cody. She didn’t give a fig that she was gazing into a room of women who were dressed better than she was, women whose jewelry alone could probably feed her family for the rest of their lives. Her smile for them was just as warm. If my elitist family says one word about their lack of wealth, I will disown them on the spot.
I shouldn’t have worried, though, or at least I realized that when she and mom started talking as if they’d been friends for ages. I know mom’s different tones of voice, and she was genuinely happy to talk to the other woman. That’s a good sign, I think.
“Hayden said you settled in quite well. Are they taking good care of you? Do you still have those numbers I gave you?”
“Yes, I do, and the staff and everyone have been very kind to us here, but I’m still a little nervous no matter how much they try to reassure us.”
“Don’t be afraid. I told you everything looks good from my end. I’m almost positive that we’d get the results we want.” Dad spoke up, and Cody turned to look at him.
“Really? Are you sure?” His voice was filled with hope, tinged with fear, which brought me crashing back down to reality.
Goodness, I’m the worst sort of girlfriend. In the midst of all my drama, I’d all but forgotten that he was dealing with this. How could I have been so selfish? I didn’t mean to be, but now I can see how I’d been blinded by my own thirst for vengeance and had completely sidelined the most important thing to him right now. I held my head down in shame as the enormity of it all came at me in full force.
Not only had I done all that, but I’d dragged him into it with me even though that had not been my intention. No one seemed to notice the change in my demeanor which was good because all I wanted to do was hide and lick my wounds after castigating myself for being a mindless twit. No wonder mom thinks I still need a keeper.
“We should know something by the end of the first week, though I expect it will take much longer than that for everything to clear up. We’ll know by the end of this week if the medicine is working to shrink the tumor, and then if things are moving in the right direction, we’ll continue. If not, then we’ll decide on the next course of action.” Dad continued to reassure Cody, who seemed to relax more as he spoke.