“You never tried to be my mother, and that was good,” he went on. “And yet you were always supportive. Always there. I never told you how much I appreciated that.”
“You weren’t at a very appreciative age,” I smiled. “One day when you have teenagers of your own, you’ll realize that.”
“Yes, but then what I did to you…” he went on more sullenly. “That wasn’t right. I left you high and dry, just like my father did.”
“David—”
“No,” he countered. “Serena, I ditched school — after having begged you to pay for it. I was a complete asshole. I left you with all these student loans…”
“Yes, but you didn’t mean any of that,” I cut in. “You met someone special. Someone you fell in love with. You ran off to be with her, and you built something together.”
Now it was David’s turn to look astonished. He couldn’t b
elieve I actually understood. Trying to ease his mind, I smiled.
“Sure at first I was a little pissed, but just looking at you now I can see I was wrong. David I’m actually very proud of you,” I said truthfully. “You followed your heart. I’m so thrilled you’re getting married. And I wish the both of you the best.”
His eyes filled with tears, and then suddenly I was in his arms being crushed by a tremendous hug. Letting my coffee drop to the garden soil, I hugged him back. We stayed like that for a while, the both of us glassy-eyed but smiling.
“What’s her name?” I asked abruptly.
“Mariana,” he sniffed.
“That’s a beautiful name.”
“She’s a beautiful woman,” he laughed, and I laughed along with him.
By the time we parted, tears were streaming down both our faces. Then I looked down, and he was handing me an envelope.
“What’s this?”
“A check,” said David. “It’s not all of it, but it’s a good chunk of what I owe you for school.”
I scoffed at him and shook my head. “There’s no way I’m taking that.”
“Serena please,” he said. “I’m doing really well down there. So is Mariana. We can afford this. We can—”
“Yeah, well I’m doing well up here,” I cut him off. “You’ve got a wedding to pay for, and weddings are expensive. Use this money for that. Or even better, put it toward a beautiful honeymoon.”
He paused awkwardly, still looking down at the envelope. I took his hand and curled his fingers back around it.
“Please,” I told him. “Consider it a wedding gift. Or just consider it a getting-away-from-him gift,” I said, nodding toward the spot where his father had made a complete ass of himself yesterday. “And tell Mariana I give her my blessing, but that she’d better take really good care of you. I can be wicked if I need to be.”
Slowly he pulled the envelope back and laughed. “A wicked stepmother, huh?”
“The worst,” I winked at him.
“Fine,” David sighed at last. “You have to do me a favor though. Actually two favors, if you can.”
“Alright,” I smiled. “What the first one?”
“Don’t you DARE give him that car,” he swore, shaking his head.
Reaching down, I picked up my dirty coffee mug and laughed. “Not gonna happen. Ever.”
“Good!” he breathed a sigh of relief.
“And what’s the other one?” I grinned.