at.
My eyes fixed on hers for a second; suddenly a flood of
memories overcame my already boggled mind. "Mom." I said,
jerking backward with surprise, nearly dropping my bunch of
roses. "What are you doing here?" I demanded, stunned at her
sudden appearance since her midnight departure so long ago.
I
felt so many overwhelming emotions run through me, like
electricity was building up in my veins, the noise in the parking lot
slowly began to quiet down where all I could here was the sound
of my heart beating; with every thump a new memory would pass
through, rushing over me like a waterfall, seemingly endless.
Hurtful memories, joyful memories, memories of when I cussed
her out; without her even being there to hear any of it. Memories
that I thought I let go of; letting it wash down the shower drain
every single night that I took a bath.
Then out of the crowd a tall thin white man dressed properly
with a black suite and a brown and black striped tie appeared
behind her. He looked hot on this sunny summer day. I looked at
him with a confused look as he reached my mothers side. "Hey
Lu, you left me behind back there on purpose didn't you?" He said
with a smile. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry but I didn't want her to get all
busy with all her friends without me getting a chance to see her
first." Mom said, with a big smile on her face, stepping closer to
this tall man with her pale colored arms extended.
"I'm sorry James. James this is Mia, my daughter." She said,
sounding so proud. "My Mia, I'm so happy for you and I'm also so
proud of you my love." She said smiling, reaching out for my
shoulders. I just stood there, I didn't know what to say or how to
react. My Mia, really; only my grandmother called me that. I
thought to myself with a cringe on my face. I let her hand fall off
my shoulder without even attempting to catch it. "Um; mom who is
this?" I asked motioning to this tall man standing next to her, still
stunned and caught off guard by her just being there. "Oh, Mia we
have so much to catch up on." She said now scanning the crowd.
She said it with such a pitiful sound to her voice and with such a
pitiful look on her face.
It wouldn't be fair for me to say that she
was my least favorite person in the world.
It would be fair for me to say that she took my dad for a ride
and then kicked him to the curb with two kids in tow.
But, my dad
never complained about her or anything that she did. He raised
my brother and I to be compassionate toward her, to understand
that sometimes things were just not meant to be. My dad did the
best he could to take care of my brother and I, on a mere
paycheck as an adviser to the National Forestry.
While my
brother and I tried our best not to make things hard; so we never
asked for more than we could actually afford, but we understood.
I often wondered if she thought about things like that when
she left; about how hard it would be for my dad to even begin to
care for a young girl, let alone a teenage girl.
Did she think about
the problems that we would face as a family? While whether she
did or not, it really didn't matter anymore because, I just finished
high school, I wasn't pregnant and I was well liked by the people in
town anyway. Not to mention she did still leave us flat many years
ago.
"Aah, David. It's so good to see you. How have you been?"
She asked, turning her attention to dad; as if she was no longer
interested in my stunned look. "Well, you know me Lu; I adapt."
He responded with a small laugh. I think he was just trying to be
nice, even if I thought otherwise. "How about you?" He said,
looking at this tall man standing next to her. She just nodded as if
saying fine and smiled. "It's so good..." She started. "I didn't think
that you would show, but I'm glad that you did. So, is this the new
husband?" Dad cut her off in mid sentence.
I glared at my dad
confused. He actually kept in touch with her and didn't tell me or
Tucker. I guess after so many years the feelings do change; but
really, we were her children and my dad was her husband.
"Husband?" I said, jerking my head back, with a surprised look on
my face. "Yeah. Sorry honey, but I've been so busy that I forgot to
tell you that your mom called and said that she would be in town
and wanted to come to the graduation." Dad said, with one hand
on my shoulder, slightly squeezing it as if tell me to relax.
"Yes, Mia this is my husband James." She said pulling him
closer to her side. "It was very spur of the moment. See we met at
work and he asked and well to make a long story short, I said
yes." She said, with a twinkle in her eyes. I looked over at dad with
my brows raised very high; who slowly slid his hand off my
shoulder, he seemed like he really didn't care, but how could he
not care. "We dated for about...um... oh, I don't know..."
She
pretended to count her fingers, before looking over a James who
stood quietly staring at me, but I just didn't want to know.
"You got
remarried?" I snapped, still shocked that she was standing right
before my eyes, but all the while trying to be polite. "Um, yeah
baby I did." She said, trying to sound like she cared about what I
thought. "I hope your not mad, I did want to talk to you first but I
didn't get the chance." She continued.
"So, you got married and
decided to come to my graduation and introduce your husband to
your children; here, at my graduation?" I cut her off sarcastically,
as I flipped my hair off my shoulder.
As she kept talking, trying to make excuses after excuse I felt
my anger growing, my veins felt like they were going to pop at any
minute now; with every breath that she took to speak the anger
grew, until I couldn't hold it anymore. "Wait. Stop, so you show up
here and make your announcement now; when this is supposed to
be one of the most happiest days of my life. First of all I haven't
seen you in ages. You left us, all of us without so much as a return
address and yet here you are; trying to rub your new marriage,
your new life at that, in our faces. I really wish you didn't come." I
said clutching the bunch of roses so hard the thorns began to dig
deep into my palms. Just then I noticed a little girl pushing her way
through the crowd.
"Mia, Mia, I have something for you." The little girl said as she
continued to push her way past my mother. My anger left me as
soon as I saw her little round pale face with her big blue eyes.
"Wow those are pretty Mia, where did you get those?" She asked
with her big blue eyes fixed upon the bunch of roses. "I got them
from Jon." I said softly, scooping her up into my arms. "Where's
your mommy Katie?"
Tucker asked, appearing out of nowhere,
twirling his finger through her perfect blond curls. She pulled back
quickly; she hated when Tucker did that to her. "She over there
with Nadia and the rest of them." She said pointing toward the
large crowd of girls standing only a few cars over.
Suddenly the noise of laughter and talking was loud again,
the sound of my beating heart got softer. Oh great I hope no one
heard me talking or let alone even my mother talking. "So who is
this lovely little lady?" Mom asked reaching out to Katie. "No."
Katie said, pulling away from her, leaving moms hand in mid air. "I
guess even little girls can smell a bad egg." I murmured. "I'm
Katie." She replied softly, before burying her face in my shoulder.
"Well, you're a beautiful little girl Katie, and it was a pleasure
meeting you." Mom said, turning to James. "Yes, it was a pleasure
Miss Katie." He said, slightly bowing at the waist.
I looked at him
funny while rolling my eyes.
Oh gosh you've got to be kidding.
I
thought quietly to myself.
"She my friends daughter." I said rather
swiftly, uncaring of the sarcastic tone that I had just given.
I
turned around before anything else could be said, and I walked
away without another word; just as she did so many years ago.
"Here Mia, this is for you. I got it when I was in the forest this
morning." Katie said with a smile on her face; as she held a
brown, white and gray feather in her hand. "I don't know what kind
of bird this came from, but I think it will give you good luck." She
smiled. "Why, thank you Katie I shall wear it forever." I said, taking
the soft feather into my hand, twisting it into my hair so that it
would hang behind my ear for her to see. She smiled in delight.
"David, is she always this angry?" She asked. "No actually
she's not. I guess all the excitement got to her or maybe she's just
truly angry with you." He said, with a smirk. "Well, what are you
folks doing for dinner?" She asked. "Um, there's a party going on
tonight for a friend of ours, and we were going to head over there
later on."
Tucker replied with a huge smile on his face. "Oh
Tucker, it's so good to see you too after all these years. My, my
you are really starting to fill out." She said, looking Tucker over like
he was a piece of art.
"Well, I was wondering if you folks would like to have dinner
with us tonight; you know to celebrate the big day; but I'm not sure
if she'll want to?" She said, as she nodded her head into my
direction.
"Yeah, I hope you don't mind the intrusion; I just thought
that this would be the perfect time to get to meet you folks." James
said with a small smile on his face; I guess trying not show any
expression about the situation. "Um. Well, we kind of did have
plans for dinner, but you're welcome to join us. It's going to be at
home, we're having Mia's favorite; steak and potatoes." Dad
offered kindly.
"Why thank you David, that is very generous of you, and yes
that sounds like a great idea. I just hope Mia's going to be alright
with this." She said, still looking at my back fading into the crowd.
"Ah don't worry about her, she'll be fine." Tucker said standing tall,
inflating his chest. "What time should we be there?" She asked
looking at dad. "Well lets see, it's about five now, how about
around seven?"
Dad said with a smile. "Sounds great, we'll be
there.
It was so nice to see you David. Tucker, my son you are a
handsome fella." She said with a smile. "Yeah, I know." Tucker
replied with a smile, while looking at dad. "Come on James we
have a few stops to make before we head out of town." She said,
tugging James arm.
"Alright, it was nice to meet you all." James
said with a smile.
Tucker and dad waved good bye until they
disappeared into the crowd.
"Um dad, I don't know if Mia's going to like this." Tucker said
worriedly, while looking across the parking lot. "Nope I don't think
so either son; but we'll deal with it when the time comes." Dad said
with a humbled look on his face. "Did you even give her the
address?" Tucker asked with a chuckle. "Nope didn't need to son."
He replied still with his humbled look on his face, as he reached
into his pockets to search for his keys. "Go get Mia, and she can
ride with you. I'll head home and let Lily know that we'll be having
us some guests." Dad said, as he jumped into his work Jeep.
Tucker turned and headed into the sea of black and gold gowns
that still crowded the parking lot, laughing and talking.
"Mia, there you are, we were all looking for you." Nadia said,
running toward me and Katie. Nadia was the most popular girl in
school. Perfect pale skin with not a single blemish in sight; big
blue eyes that could light up a room, long curly blond hair, perfect
long legs, your typical prom queen. Her sister Loren who
graduated one year ago and was just a little shorter than she was;
but they looked exactly the same, and just as Nadia was cheer
captain, so was Loren.
Last year Loren gave up her position as Cheer Captain to
Nadia. Loren was Katie's mom; she had Katie when she was still
in high school which wasn't all that long ago.
"Yeah sorry I had a
small upset but I'm better now." I said smiling at Katie. "Who was
that couple that was talking to you, you looked like you were ready
