Yule Tidings (12 page)

             
“I know.  I’m not upset with them. But my mom is not invited.”

             
“Did they find her invitation, then?” Alex asked, instantly relieved.

             
“No.  I’m going to call and tell her that I don’t want her to come.”

             
“What?” Alex was aghast.

             
“I’m calling her and telling her it was a mistake; she’s not invited.”

             
“Jason, you can’t do that.”

             
“Yes, I can.”  Jason looked at Alex in defiance.  He would not have his mother show up at the shower and that was final. It would be totally unacceptable to have her present. 

             
“But Jason, she’s your mother!” Alex looked at him, horrified.  The situation wasn’t the best, but she couldn’t imagine what would happen if he called Anne and told her she wasn’t invited to the shower.  What would she think?  Alex was certain that Anne would blame her for Jason’s decision.

             
“Lexi, you’re my fiancé, soon to be my wife and the mother of my child, hopefully children.  I will not let her treat you like this.”  Jason had spent the last hour thinking about his options, and as much as he didn’t want to hurt his mother, he wouldn’t allow her to continue on her present course.  He wouldn’t let Alex suffer because of his mother, and he certainly wasn’t going to change his plans merely because Mom didn’t like them.  He was a grown man, and it was his life to live.

             
“Jason, then tell her she can’t behave like this, but don’t tell her she can’t come.  How will that make things better?” Alex grabbed his hand, pleading with him.

             
“She won’t listen if I tell her she can’t act that way.  She’ll tell me I have no right to tell her how to behave.  The only thing I can do is to punish her.  The only way to punish her is to ban her and refuse to speak to her.”  Jason hadn’t come to this conclusion lightly, and he understood Alex’s concern, but in his mind it was the only plausible solution.

             
“Honey, listen to me.  She’s just going to blame me anyway, for forcing you to do this.  It’s the holiday season.  Forgive and forget, right?  Let it go.  I can handle it.”  Alex could tell her voice was becoming frantic.  It killed her to think that Jason might cut himself off from his mother because of something so asinine.  She could tolerate Anne’s cruelty and jibes if it meant that Jason could retain his relationship with his mother.

             
“Lexi, no.  I will not forgive and forget.  If she were asking for my forgiveness, then maybe I’d take it under consideration, but she isn’t and won’t.  I am not letting it go so you can suffer for the next ten years while she puts you down in every way possible.”  Jason knew Anne would never give Alex a break.  She’d always be ‘tainted’ to Anne, impure, because they’d had sex before marriage.  Brandon, Rose’s husband, still couldn’t be in the same room alone with Anne.  She would belittle him and criticize him whenever she had a chance.  He wouldn’t tolerate similar treatment of Alex.  So what if they’d had sex before their marriage?  So what if Alex was pregnant?  She
was a virgin before he came into her life
, his mind screamed.  Didn’t that count for something?

             
“She apologized, Jason.  At the restaurant, she apologized.”

             
“Only for making a scene, honey.  Not for what she said, but where she said it,” Jason said in exasperation. 

             
“You can’t know that for sure,” Alex told him, trying to defend Anne, though she wasn’t sure why she bothered.  Anne was mean and cruel, and Alex never wanted to see her again.  But, Alex was a good person, and it bothered her to think that Jason wanted nothing to do with his mother all because Anne’s reception of her hadn’t been friendly.

             
“I
can
know it for sure, Alex.  I
do
know it for sure.”  Jason looked at Alex.  She was pale and looked exhausted.  Her eyes were still red and puffy, her lips were chapped and her hair was everywhere.  “Honey, why don’t you take a shower or a bath and relax while I finish dinner,” he said, changing the topic abruptly.  He refused to continue discussing his mother.  Alex was too tenderhearted to understand his resolve and he didn’t want to cause her more distress.

             
Alex looked at him in surprise.  One minute he looked ready to do battle, and the next, immense tenderness filled his voice and eyes as he looked at her.  He touched her jaw line more softly than she’d ever experienced before.  She shivered under his caress.  “Jason, I don’t want you to ruin your relationship with your mother because of me,” she whispered, distracted as he bent down and kissed her, silencing her protests.

             
“Alex, I don’t want to talk about this more right now.  Take a shower or bath and relax.  I’ll come and get you when dinner is almost done.”  Jason spoke softly, coaxing her to leave it alone for awhile.

             
“Will you promise that you’ll talk with me
before
you fight with her?” Alex asked, hugging Jason to her.

             
“I promise that I will tell you before I call her,” Jason answered, urging her from the kitchen with a gentle push. 

             
Alex sat in the tub unable to relax.  Jason was going to ruin his relationship with his mother, and it was all because of her.  He was only doing this because he felt he had to defend her.  It wasn’t that she didn’t appreciate his devotion, but the thought of coming between Jason and Anne was devastating.  She couldn’t help but wish there was another way.  If she could only convince Jason that Anne wasn’t so bad, or that she didn’t mind or care how Anne treated her.  But truth was truth, and Anne’s treatment wounded Alex deeply.  When Jason knocked on the door half an hour later, Alex was no better off than she had been.  She couldn’t think of a single argument that might sway his decision.

             
“Dinner is almost done,” Jason said, opening the door slightly and peeking his head in to see Alex reclining in the tub. 

             
“I’ll be right out,” Alex said, standing up and grabbing a towel.

             
Jason waited in the living room for Alex.  “I thought we’d watch a movie while we eat for a change,” he said, hoping to avoid another discussion.  Alex sat on the black suede couch, and took the plate Jason offered her.  The flat screen television was already on, and Jason had put in one of her favorite vampire movies.  She wanted to smile at his ingenuity.

             
“Okay, but I’d still like to talk.”
             

             
“There’s nothing to talk about Lexi.  Mom is wrong.”  Jason knew his voice was cold and hard, but he refused to let Alex change his mind.

             
“Jason, if you could only give her another chance.  It can’t be easy being divorced and alone.  Maybe she just has a hard time with weddings and marriages.”

             
“Nice try, but that’s not her problem.”

             
“How do you know that isn’t her problem?”

             
“Because, Alex, I know my mother.  She likes weddings; it gives her a chance to get sympathy.  She cries discreetly in the bathroom, and all of a sudden she has an entourage of people looking after her, empathetic of her grief,” Jason said derisively.

             
“Jason, don’t be so harsh,” Alex admonished.

             
“It’s not harsh if it’s true, honey.  I don’t want to deal with her.  I’m waiting until Saturday before calling her, anyway.  I figure that should be enough time for me to cool down.  Hopefully my mother will have seen the error of her ways by then, also, and all this worry will be for nothing.  If not, I’ll have to take more extreme measures.”

             
“I don’t understand,”

             
“If she apologizes, then fine, maybe we can work something out.  I doubt it would be very companionable for a while, but it would be better.  If not, well, I’ll explain to her just how I feel and what I expect.” Jason looked at Alex pleadingly, “can we talk about this later?  Dinner is done.  I don’t want to fight with you, especially when you know I’m right but can’t find it in that sweet little heart of yours to punish someone.  Let’s forget about it for now and we can talk more on Friday evening.  Okay?”

             
Alex knew Jason wasn’t going to listen to her.  He didn’t want to hear what she had to say.  He was bound and determined to be angry with his mother.  He was intent on fighting with her and forcing her to see it his way, and if she didn’t, well, he was washing his hands of the matter.  It made Alex want to cry, again.  It was so sad.  Jason waited for her nod before he started the movie.

Alex couldn’t just sit back and let Jason ruin his relationship with his mother.  She refused to feel like the one guilty for the separation.  She had to take matters into her own hands.  But what could she do?  Her parents would applaud Jason’s decision to stand by her.  His sisters had already made it clear that they would support Jason.  Alex sat through the movie, paying little attention to the characters on the screen as she contemplated her options.  Waiting until the movie was over, Alex picked up the phone and called Franklin while Jason was in the shower.  She was desperate.  She didn’t want Jason to call his mother in anger, and Franklin knew Anne better than anyone.  Maybe he could reason with her.

Chapter Eleven

             
Anne went to work Wednesday morning in a relatively good mood.  Her car was running perfectly, she hadn’t hit any more animals in the road, and her ankle was feeling much better.  She made calls for the blood drive for the first hour or two before she started filing paperwork and preparing supplies for the various classes the Red Cross offered.  The CPR class would be tonight at 7pm, so she had to sterilize the masks.  It was a tedious process, but easy.  First she would use alcohol around the nose and mouth of the masks, then she’d soak them for several minutes in a strong bleach solution and 110 degree water; from the bleach solution she’d move them to another sink and let tepid water run over the masks for five minutes to rinse off the bleach residue.  Once she was confident the bleach residue was properly rinsed from the masks, she’d set them out to dry; after the masks were dry she would wipe the nose and mouth with another alcohol wipe just to be thorough, and then store them in equipment bags.  It wasn’t a difficult process, but slow and monotonous.  Plus, the bleach solution was strong enough to ruin clothes, so she always brought something to change into while she sterilized.  Today, Anne wore the stained white smock and drawstring sweat pants comfortably while she scrubbed the masks.  Claire covered the front desk while she was busy in the back, so Anne never worried about her appearance. 

             
It was today, of all days, that Franklin stopped in to talk to her about Ale
x.  Claire sent him to the back cleaning
area, having recognized him as Anne’s ex-hus
band.  Anne looked up to see Franklin
standing less than five feet away.  He was looking at her with an odd expression on his face; one that she couldn’t exactly read, but she thought she saw pity in his familiar brown eyes and it instantly incited her irritation.  “What do you need?” she asked, crossly.  It hadn’t escaped her notice that he was dressed in expensive suit pants, a lovely midnight blue dress shirt and a silver tie.  Even his leather belt looked new and little used.  His streaked gray hair was freshly trimmed, and his mustache was well groomed.  He had gained a few pounds since the divorce, but he carried it well and it made his face seem younger somehow.  It galled Anne to know that he had come upon her while she looked her worst; especially while he looked so distinguished and reserved.

             
“Well, I need to know why Trisha is calling me about paying for her books.  I paid last semester, it’s your turn to pay for her books.”  Franklin wasn’t angry with Anne anymore.  He was overwhelmed.  When they were happily married she’d been a fantastic wife and mother; so wonderful and giving.  The kids never wanted for love and affection. Though he was gone much of the time, Anne made a home for them and sheltered them with her caring generosity.  He’d considered her the perfect wife.  Even after the miscarriage the only thing she withheld from him at first was sex.  Now she was more than difficult.  She refused to pay for random things that Trisha needed, she gave Franklin a hard time whenever he asked her to pay for something, and she was downright vindictive.  She snipped at him every time he saw her, and he knew she despised his presence. 

             
“Because, Franklin, this semester Trisha’s books are twice as much as last semester.  I’ve paid four hundred seventy-five already.  I can’t afford the full six hundred and fifty dollars right now.  You paid three hundred last semester; if you pay one seventy-five then we’ll have paid equally for the entire year, which is what we agreed to do for the kids,” Anne told him matter-of-factly.  It was a reasonable compromise as far as Anne was concerned.  She looked at Franklin suspiciously, “is that really why you drove all the way down here?”