Page 48 of Sullied Saints

I click my tongue. “No. I’m asking. Why didn't it work out with your other relationships?"

"Come on, El..."

"Really! You're doing a good job, considerate, sweet… aside from all the terribly kinky and degrading sex…"

"…you love it…"

"Shut up. Aside from that, I can't see why you haven't worked this out before."

"They weren't you." I open my mouth and close it again. "I always knew who I really wanted. Trying to make something else work was a waste of time, in the end."

“Oh…”

Pulling me close by the hips, Dirk kisses me. “Relax, El. She’ll love you, okay?”

“Are you sure?”

“Well, there is one thing she justhates…”

“What?” I ask, eyes widening.

“People who show up late to meet her,” Dirk quips.

I groan. “Uh, you can’t tease me at a time like this!”

Laughing, he follows me out, pulling the door closed behind him.

***

May is, as it turns out, nothing like Caleb’s mother. She’s nothing like most people’s mothers, in fact. Appearing older than her years, she’s a tiny figure waiting on the porch for us when we arrive, one and a half hours drive out from the city in a small village pulled back from the freeway.

Dirk dwarfs her in a hug, even standing on the step below the landing, and I wring my hands behind him, waiting my turn to make some kind of good first impression as her teary eyes turn to me. “Eleanor!” she smiles, eye uncannily similar to Dirk’s locking on me as she holds her arms open. “Beautiful! I’ve heard so much about you.”

Her arms are skinny but strong as I lean into her embrace, finding even myself over a head taller. “Have you?” I ask awkwardly.

“Oh yes. Dirk’s been talking about you for years!”

“Ohhh-kay, time for tea,” Dirk interrupts quickly, before I can press on that, ushering us all into the rowhouse.

After some bustling around with a teapot, what ensues is a warm afternoon in a cozy living room, May in a rocking chair within reach of the couch, where she reaches occasionally to squeeze Dirk’s hand. Watching him, so gentle, so easy with her, I can’t help but smile through the whole thing.

Looking at me, May says, “You may have noticed that I’m a little more of a silver gal than most.” I had, but I sure as hell wasn’t going to comment on her age. “I had Dirk, my one and only child… quite late. You’d think I would have been a responsible parent.” She sips her tea while I have no idea what to say.

“It’s in the past, mum,” Dirk says by way of consolation.

“Well, I should have left your father the minute he did the only thing he was useful for.” I suppress a laugh as she winks at me. “And dropped the drugs, too. I wasn’t there for him very much as a boy, or a teen,” she confesses, then reaches, squeezing Dirk’s hand in her own pale, bony one. “Oh, the things you got yourself into…” Her eyes are teary again in that way of old ladies who’ve become in touch with emotions they spent their lives bottling up. “I’m just glad to be part of his life, despite all the things I didn’t do. And now I get to meet you too!”

“He’s a very good man,” I tell her, because that seems to be what she wants to hear.

A shaky smile, and she nods. “I’m so happy.” Shaking her head towards him, she adds, “I wish you would get a different job though, God! It sounds dangerous!” I wonder how much she knows about the Cocooner encounter. “You ought to get him out of it.”

“I’m in it too, unfortunately,” I say.

“Both of you! God, go somewhere hot. Get a dog, do thenicedrugs. But not too much…”

Dirk pats her hand, diverting her, “Thanks, mum. Now, what’s for dinner?”

***

---