Chapter 6
Doone was having a good day. She had been at work since seven, and things, so far, had gone really well.
They’d been really busy for a Monday, and she was happy that she was at work instead of home worrying about what her mother was up to.
She hadn’t turned on her phone for fear of getting into it with her at work.
Yes, she thought, it was a wonderful day.
“Doonie, there’s a phone call for you.” She felt her steps falter a little bit and asked who it was. “She said she’s your mother. And that she’s not at all happy with you. I thought by the tone of her voice that was an understatement.”
“I’ll take it.” She dreaded every step she took toward the nurses’ station and picked up the phone with a bark of her last name. That would piss her off, too, and at this point, she wasn’t really concerned with how it would affect her. “What do you want? I’m working and I told you that.”
“You didn’t come and get me to take me to the grocery store.
Now I’m out of some things, and it’s all your fault.
Tell me when you’re coming here so that I can be ready.
And don’t think that just because I’m allowing you to take me means that I’m not upset with you still.
You know how much I hate to go to the store after noon.
There are more welfare people out and about then, and I don’t like them. ”
“You’re a welfare person now, Mom, so I don’t know what your beef can be about them.” Mom sputtered a bit, and Doone felt empowered a little. “I told you to drive yourself. I’ve spent enough time at the DMV for you to have your license; you should use it.”
“I don’t want to drive. I’ve told you this before.
” She asked her why she needed her driver’s license.
“Because I deserve to have it since I’ve worked so hard to getting it.
Listen to me, young lady, I’m sick of you being this person that I don’t like.
You’d better start treating me the way I deserve, or I’ll have to tell that boyfriend of yours some stories about you to have him back off.
I might do that anyway. Did he tell you that he threatened me? ”
“He did, and I’m happy for him to have done it.” She waited until her mother started to talk again and cut her off. “I called dad. I’m having dinner with him tonight. He seems to think he has a great deal to tell me.”
“You did not call that man.” She said that she had and was glad that he’d taken her call. “You’ll cancel that dinner date with him right now. I’ll not have you going behind my back and talking to him. He has nothing to tell you.”
“Is this something else that you deserve, Mom? Something about dad that you don’t want him to tell me, too?
I’m going to have dinner with him and find out if it’s just been me you’ve been manipulating all these years, or have you done it to us both?
” She said she was very angry with her. “I’m angry with you, so I guess we’ll both be pissed off.
I have to go. I told you that I didn’t have time to talk to you today, and I don’t.
So you have fun at the grocery store with people of your kind and leave me alone. ”
Gently putting the handle on the base, she walked deeper into the nurses’ break room and leaned against the wall.
She loved that she was able to stand up to her mother now, but it still hurt her heart when she had to do it.
And as if she had reached out to him and told him how she was feeling, she heard from Falkner.
“I’m guessing that you’ve just spoken to your mom.” She said that she had. “I’m sorry. I should have guessed that she’d call you at work, but she’s kind of hard to judge when it comes to things that she’ll do. Do you need me to do anything for you?”
“I’m all right for now. I just told her that I was seeing Dad, and you can imagine her reaction.” He said that he could and thought it was funny. “Why is that funny?”
“Because she’s losing control over you in a way that makes her afraid for you to be talking to your dad.
She might know what he’s going to tell you and is pissed off because you’re doing something that she doesn’t want you to do.
” She said that she could see that happening too.
“I’m sure that you can. You had a picture painted of him that your mom gave you, and I bet that you find out he was just as much a victim as you were. Still are for the most part.”
“I’m going to try very hard not to let her do this to me anymore.
It’s been a long time in coming, but I’m not going to give up.
” He said that he didn’t blame her and that it would be hard on her.
“I don’t doubt that at all. But you know, having you right there helps me in a way that I never dreamed of when you told me that I was your mate.
Just knowing that I can reach out to you and talk to you helps me a great deal. ”
“Good. I’m not having fun, not as much as I thought that I would.
I thought that I’d just come into the bedrooms and start tossing things out that they left behind.
But it’s been hard because I remember some of the items that they’ve left, like a helmet from when Dallas played ball in college.
I thought he’d want it back, and he said that he didn’t.
He told me that he’s making new memories with his wife and daughter.
” She said that was sweet. “Yes, it is, but I wanted him to hold onto these memories, and they’ll all moving on.
I guess, as one of the youngest, I’m having trouble letting go of things that I’ve had since I was a kid.
I’m sure as we make more memories of our own, we can easily shed the things from our childhood, but—I’m sorry.
I forgot about your memories that are all gone, and you have nothing tangible anymore. I’m sorry, love.”
“It’s all right. I kind of feel all right about losing everything that I had.
Oh, don’t get me wrong, because I do find that I miss some of the things that I owned, but it’s getting easier to let some of it go now that I’m, like you, making new memories.
I’ll never forget the look on my mother’s face when I handed her the keys to my old car.
I wonder if she’s set it on fire yet?” She laughed, and it felt good.
“I should get back to work. And to think I thought that I was having a great day so far. I guess it goes to show you that things can change before you realize it.”
For the rest of the day, she thought only of Falkner and what he might be doing right then.
Oh, her mother would intrude once in a while, especially with the look that she’d had on her face when they told her that they were getting married.
She thought that she might find that funny for the rest of her life.
But then she’d think of Falkner again and him telling her that he loved her.
That was the sweetest thing that anyone had ever said to her in such a long time.
At the end of her shift, she was ready to go home.
She didn’t have a lot to do tonight but to help out Falkner with his project, but since she had to work tomorrow, she knew that she’d have to go to bed early enough to be able to get up at five in the morning; she knew it was going to be a short night for her.
But then she remembered her dad and him meeting them for dinner, and her belly would churn up a little.
She wondered what he’d have to say about her mother and him leaving them when he did.
Her mother was in the parking lot when she came out of the building.
Avoiding her was going to be hard, but she was going to do it if she could.
Circling around to exit out the emergency room doors, she was in her car and on her way home before she let herself realize how pissed off her mom was going to be when she figured out that she’d missed her.
Since she’d not seen her old car there, she did wonder how she’d gotten there and was sad for her mom in that moment.
She’d been dependent on her for her entire life.
Not really dependent on her, but more bullying her into doing things for her lifetime.
When she thought back over the years a couple of times today, she could remember dates that her mother had thralled because she needed something or something done for her.
Prom one year had been a bust because, as she was getting ready, her mom had an episode.
She couldn’t remember what that had been about, but she’d been unable to go to her senior prom because of her.
There were other things, too, like her birthday.
Her mom would expect large gifts for her day, and even on Doone’s birthday, she’d get herself something nice and nothing for Doone.
“You’d not even have a birthday without me, so I get to celebrate the day too.
You’d not believe what I went through to have you, honey.
It was all labor from the time I figured out that I was going to have you until you were born.
And don’t get me started on raising you.
You were not an easy or even kind baby. I deserve this more than you do.
” There was that word again. Deserved. Why she thought she deserved anything was beyond her.
Little things like that would pop into her head when she was thinking about Falkner, and she hated it.
The memories were giving her a first-hand look at how she’d been treated all her life, and she didn’t like what she’d been made to become.
Mommy’s little servant. The one who thought she was doing good for her mother because she had deserved it from her.
Well, no more. She was going to make sure that she did get what she deserved and be damned what her mother had to say. The first thing was to do with Falkner.