“Well, yeah.”
“I think I about lost my good sense when I found out. I didn’t want you to go through the same thing I went through. Until tonight, I thought Jacob was just like his father, a man who would fold under the
pressure of other people’s opinion. He proved me wrong.”
“Jacob is a good person. He made a bad choice once, but he has apologized and I forgave him,” I said, feeling the need to set the record straight about Jacob’s decision to rush to be by Justine’s side the night she attacked me.
“I know that now. At the very least, he will defend your honor,” Mama said and I figured she was making reference to the way her relationship ended with Mr. Turner.
“Is that how Mr. Turner hurt you? He didn’t stand his ground for you?”
“It was definitely that, among other things. Things I don’t want to resurface now, after it took me so long to heal.”
“Mama, you haven’t healed. If it were ever possible to carry around a grudge for over forty years, you have mastered that ability. What happened between you two is just as vivid today as it was back in the seventies.”
“It may still sting, but I ain’t hurting. I’ve been just fine without John. I’m not about to start acting like I need him now.”
“Yet, you went to his house to have dinner with no forewarning, knowing his wife would be there.”
“I did want to see him, but I didn’t mean for there to be a confrontation. I thought I’d see him sitting at the dinner table with his loving wife and son, as they welcomed my daughter into their family. I thought I’d get to see that he had in fact grown old with the love of his life. I hoped he wouldn’t even remember me, and that I’d be but a long, lost memory. I thought I’d be able to look him in the eye and that nothing would be there.”
“And what good would that have done for you, Mama? If Mr. Turner had looked right through you and said ‘pass the butter’, it would have hurt you even more.”
“No it would not have! I would’ve walked out of there knowing I was just a moment of his life and the love we shared wasn’t real. I would’ve been able to reconcile those feelings with the way I felt for so long. I would’ve been able to file him away as another asshole without a heart who became an old fart that obliterated like the wind.”
“That’s not what happened, is it?” I asked, sitting on the opposite side of the table trying to keep my composure.
“No, I had no idea Justine would be there. Seeing her got my engine fired up and when John waltzed in the room, I just let him have it for both of them.”
“Even as I sit here, I still can’t believe Jacob’s mother invited her. I just don’t get that woman.”
“She did it because she knew we would turn up. I might be sixty five, but I’ll still kick some ass about my only child.”
“I know you will, Mama.” I sighed. “I guess you’re right. She wanted us to act a fool so she could point her finger at us and say we were the bad apples. Why is everything getting so complicated?”
“Life is complicated. Show me someone who has an easy life and I’ll show you someone who has not lived. That woman John calls a wife didn’t see a problem with Justine being at that funky, no-class dinner because she doesn’t have a heart. She is the epitome of the devil’s daughter.”
“She thinks so low of me that she invited me to sit down with a woman who almost killed me only a month ago. She hates me that much.”
“Yeah, but she had the wrong ones, if she thought we was gonna sit down with the same bitch who walked away from an assault charge because of her family’s money and privilege,” Mama said as she slammed her mug on the table. “Ugh! Those kind of folks ain’t shit. They never take responsibility for the wrath they cause.”
Finally, the fury of the evening caught up with me and I let go, as well. “It was one dinner… for one damn day. She couldn’t give me the dignity to sit down for one dinner without disrespecting me!”
“Chile, that woman is going to get what’s coming to her and I hope I live to see it. You mark my words, she’s gonna get hers,” Mama said as she touched my hand.
“I don’t think I’ll ever get along with her, Mama. I’m done trying.”
“You can get along with anyone, so you’re not the problem. It’s her prejudiced ways that are the problem. She decided not to give you a chance well before she knew I was your mother.”
“She brings the worst out of me.”
“Avoid her like the plague, Destiny. That may be best for us both, because all I know is if she comes at you wrong again I’m going to deal with her. I’m not with that old biddy disrespecting my family. You are my child and I will protect you to the death.”
“Mama, this is a very fragile situation. Please promise me that you’ll keep your cool too.”
“I will, I don’t have any intention on seeing anyone from that family again, except Jacob.”
“I don’t think the feeling is mutual. I saw the way John looked at you. That man is uncontrollably in love with you and he will be coming for you soon.”