Chapter 25 Giselle
Giselle
Sunday afternoon, Giselle closed the drawer. “Where is that shirt?” she muttered, opening another one. Of course something
would fall out of the kitchen cabinet and knock over the half-full glass of tea and splatter it all over her when she was
supposed to be leaving.
“You’ve been slamming cabinets and drawers for the past fifteen minutes, and moping around since yesterday. What’s the problem?”
Shawn asked from the doorway.
“I spilled tea all over my shirt, and I’m already late for Patricia’s baby shower that I don’t want to attend anyway. I know
my mother is going to have a fit because she’s texted me twice already asking where I am.
I’m irritated because I know my sister is going to be begging even more now.
She can’t even afford the two children she has now, so I don’t understand why she’s having a third.
” Already her mother had been hinting that Pat would need some extra help while off work, but Giselle wasn’t biting.
Let baby daddy number three foot the bill.
“And I’m not moping.” Not necessarily the truth, but she didn’t want to rehash yesterday’s birthday party or the fact that she still hadn’t gotten pregnant while everyone else seemed to have no problems.
“You sure it doesn’t have anything to do with yesterday?”
Giselle finally found the shirt and quickly changed. “Can we not do this right now? I have to go.”
“Now or later makes no difference to me, but we are going to have to talk about it because you’re putting me in a difficult
position.”
She rounded on him. “And what position is that? Having to choose your wife’s side over your sister-in-law?”
He let out an exasperated sigh. “I’m not choosing sides, Giselle, and I’m talking about my family. I’ve pretty much distanced
myself from my brother because he’s wondering why my wife keeps going at his wife for no apparent reason for the past three years, and I. Don’t. Know.” She opened her mouth to speak, and he held up
a hand. “Please don’t start with the whole she-doesn’t-like-me spiel. I’ve watched Kamryn go out of her way to be nice to
you. The entire family has noticed, and my mom asked me about it yesterday.”
A twinge of guilt surfaced, but she pushed it back down. “I didn’t do anything but ask why she was wasting money throwing
a party for a baby.”
“It doesn’t matter why. It was her and Tariq’s choice,” Shawn said, his voice rising. “You did the same thing when Austin
and Taylor announced they were married. So does that mean you’re going to start acting the same way to Taylor because they
decided to elope? What about if Chanel does something different from what you would’ve done? Will you treat her the same?”
He ran a hand down his face. “I have tried to see it from your point of view, and I’ve got nothing. I don’t get it. I’ve got
to wonder if there’s some jealousy on your part.”
“You wouldn’t,” she said angrily and snatched up her purse. Her phone buzzed. Giselle picked it up from the dresser and read the text from her mother: The shower started 20 minutes ago. I bet you’re never late to any of those Bradley family things. Patricia is your own sister,
and you treat that other family better than her. She dropped it in her purse, her irritation steadily rising. She was two seconds from saying she wasn’t going. “I have to
go.” She brushed past him and hurried to the car, stopping to pick up the small gift bag from the kitchen counter. In the
back of her mind, she knew, somehow, that Pat and her mother would behave as if the gift card read one dollar instead of a
hundred dollars, or that she should’ve bought one of the high-cost items on the registry instead.
As she drove, her argument with Shawn replayed in her mind. Now it seemed as if the entire family was turning against her.
Even Mama Yvonne had basically taken Kamryn’s side when she told Giselle that everyone was free to choose how and when they
wanted to celebrate. That she and Shawn could choose to have their celebration at whatever age when they had their own kids.
She then told Giselle not to get so worked up over little things and that she should relax. She loved her mother-in-law, but
in that moment, she wasn’t sure she liked her. As for being jealous, she wasn’t. She just wanted to be treated the same way she had before Kamryn came into the picture.
Her mother-in-law used to rave over her, but now it felt like she’d been cast aside. So if she had any feelings of jealousy
or envy, they were justified in her mind.
Giselle searched for a parking space on the crowded street where her mother lived and finally found one at the end of the block, which spiked her irritation further.
She walked back toward the other end to the house and let herself in.
She heard the loud voices as soon as she opened the door.
Taking a moment, she braced herself before heading down the short entryway to the living room.
“Hey, everybody.” Giselle placed her gift on a table with the others.
Some of the women—friends of Patricia from school—responded with their own greeting, but her sisters barely spoke, and her
mother checked her watch. I should’ve just stayed home. Unlike the Bradleys, her sister had done the traditional women-only shower and they were sitting around talking. She didn’t
see her nieces and nephews and wondered if they were staying with relatives on their fathers’ sides.
“It’s about time you got here,” Lisa said. “We need some games.”
“Sorry, but I don’t have any games, and no one mentioned anything about it to me.” She hadn’t planned the shower, but they
expected her to provide all the entertainment, as usual. “I’m sure whatever you’ve come up with will be fine. Just do one
of those how many words can you make from baby shower or something.” She sighed and started to ask where the paper and pens were, then went still. This was exactly what they wanted—for
her to give in and run things like she usually did. Their expectant gazes confirmed her suspicions, but this time Giselle
held back. She’d given them a suggestion, and that was all she planned to do. As a result, they ended with only a few simple
games, including using yarn to guess the belly size and the one she’d recommended.
Her mother had catered in food and, when it came time to pay, had her hand out for Giselle to make up the difference.
“I’m a little short, so I need you to pay the rest,” her mother said after asking Giselle to come into the kitchen.
“I don’t have it, and I didn’t bring any money with me.” She had purposely left her debit and credit cards at home because
she’d learned that somehow, some way, one of them was going to ask for money. “You should see if Pat or Lisa can cover the
rest.”
“Cover the rest of what?” Lisa asked, entering the kitchen with empty water bottles.
“I need another hundred and fifty dollars to pay for the food, and your sister won’t help.”
“As usual.”
Giselle glared at her sister. “This isn’t my baby shower. You didn’t include me in any of the planning, yet I’m always expected to foot the bill. You never pay for anything, but you’re always trying to spend
everybody else’s money. As usual.” With nothing else to say, she walked out.
She made conversation with a couple of the ladies she remembered from high school. Both were married and had school-aged children,
and they happily showed off pictures.
“Do you and Shawn have kids?”
“Not yet,” she said, trying to keep her tone light. Between yesterday and today, being bombarded with all these happy baby
stories, Giselle was on overload and desperately wanted to just hide under the covers. A few minutes passed, then she saw
her mother and sister placing food on the dining room table and the caterer leaving. I guess she found the extra money. She tuned back in to what the woman was saying.
“Okay, it’s time to eat,” Lisa said. “Pat, come get yours first.”
Giselle waited until most of the women had plates before approaching the table. The spaghetti, fried chicken wings, green
salad, and rolls were a stark difference from gatherings with the Bradleys. She couldn’t recall one time in the eight years
she’d been around the family—six of them married—when they’d had food catered. Mama Yvonne always cooked. Early in her marriage,
Giselle had suggested catering once, and her mother-in-law said what she’d made would be just as good as or better than paying
someone else to cook.
“Oh, you couldn’t help pay for the food, but you’re over here making a plate now,” Lisa sneered when the last woman had gone back to the living room.
“Did you ask anybody else who was at this table to contribute before they fixed a plate?” She added a wing, small scoop of
spaghetti, and some salad, but skipped the roll because the last thing she needed on top of everything else was her mother
starting in on her weight again. “I thought not,” she added when Lisa didn’t respond. After pouring herself a cup of punch,
she joined the rest of the guests. Patricia shot her a glare, and Giselle figured Lisa had told her what happened. She’d seen
them whispering when Pat got up to fix her plate, and as much as she didn’t want to care, it still bothered her. Neither of
them had bought a wedding gift when she and Shawn got married, and the only birthday and Christmas gifts she recalled receiving
from them must have been when they were still teens. They took but never gave.
Giselle stayed just long enough for the gifts to be opened, then made a hasty exit. However, she didn’t really want to go
back home either. Shawn would definitely want to pick up on their earlier discussion, but she didn’t want to talk about Kamryn
or hear her name today.
As soon as she got to the car, her phone buzzed. Digging it out of her purse, she saw a group text from Taylor letting her
know that they’d start the spa evening at six thirty. Why had she agreed to go? The three of them had bonded but always seemed
to treat her as an afterthought. She read the enthusiastic replies from Chanel and Kamryn that immediately popped up, but
decided to just hit the thumbs-up emoji and leave it at that. It rang in her hand, and she sighed upon seeing Mama Yvonne’s
name on the display.
“Hi, Mama Yvonne.”
“Hey, Giselle. Did I catch you at a bad time?”
“No. I’m just leaving my sister’s baby shower.”
“Well, I won’t hold you too long because I don’t want you driving and trying to talk on the phone. I wanted to check on you
and see how you’re doing after yesterday.”
Giselle should’ve known she’d call. “Oh, I’m fine.”
“Glad to hear it. Taylor told me about you four having a spa night. I think it’s wonderful that you all are spending time
together. Hopefully you all can do it more often.”
“Hopefully.” What else could she say? She listened while Mama Yvonne went on and on about how much she enjoyed having four
daughters and wanted them to be as close as she was with her two sisters-in-law. They still made time to hang out, and she
was looking forward to their next lunch date. “That’s really nice that you still enjoy your time with them. I’d better get
on the road.”
“Sorry, baby. You be safe, and I hope you know you can always come to me if something is bothering you.”
“I know, and I appreciate it.” But how did you talk about the issues in your own family with the one you married into?
“I’ll let you go. Love you, and you all have fun next week. I can’t wait to hear about it.”
“Love you too.” Giselle disconnected, leaned her head back, and closed her eyes. She had a week to get herself ready to deal
with them. It couldn’t be any worse than what she’d just left, and hopefully she could maybe find a way to relax a little.