Page 64 of A Case of You
But with everyone obviously of the same mind, including Brandon, as he cuddled with him that night in their hotel room, Stuart tried to go to sleep. They’d have to be up and out early in the morning, before five, to make their flight.
He only hoped this wasn’t a decision he’d hate himself later for making.
* * * *
Monday afternoon, Stuart called his mom when they reached their car at Tampa International.
He put it in speaker mode, too, so Brandon could hear. “How’s Dad doing?”
“Lara said he’ll be discharged tomorrow, probably. He’ll be fine. Thank goodness for her. She is amazing. And he argued with the nurses this morning over his breakfast.”
Stuart logically knew he shouldn’t feel guilty, that he didn’t cause this, but he couldn’t help it. “That’s good. I’m sorry I had to leave.”
She made a noise. “Honey, again, wetoldyou to go. Wasn’t like you could do anything but sit there staring at him, and he doesn’t like people hovering over him anyway.”
She sighed. “Look, I don’t agree with what you’re doing, but you have a life down there, and you’re happy. Brandon seems like a nice enough guy and he obviously loves you. I’m sure that other guy does, too. Forget any nonsense Jake said. I don’t know why Jake has that in his head, but it’s bullpucky. Your father and I don’t want you to move back here and work on the farm. You paid good money and worked hard to go to vo-tech. We’ve got men working for us. That’s why wepaythem. Jake was out of line, and there’s no two ways about it. If he is so hot to trot to help your father, he should quithisjob and do it. Jake doesn’t make the rules around here. And since he’s too lazy to work at a real job involving physical labor, he needs to butt out.”
Stuart was honestly a little shocked to hear her talk like that.
Sticking up forhim.
Sort of.
“Thanks, Mom.”
“And no, I don’t think Jake being a jerk caused this any more than I think you showing up with Brandon caused this. Dr. Corning has been nagging him for five years to get a stress test. His cholesterol has been high and he won’t do anything about it. Your father’s just plain stubborn. He’d been having some chest pains on and off for weeks and insisted it was heartburn. Well, now he has to listen to the doctors. If anything, it was God’s will that John’s sister was there and able to save your father and prove what a good family they are. I takethatas a sign. Jake might not like that, but oh, well. John’s family are perfectly wonderful people, and Eileen’s lucky to have married that boy.”
“I don’t know what to say.” Which was the truth.
“I don’t expect you to say anything. I’m sorry we don’t see eye-to-eye on things, but you’re my son, and I do love you. Just like Jake being a jerk and a bully doesn’t mean I don’t love him. I can love him and still hate that he is the way he is.”
Well, the elephant had at least been addressed.
Sort of. “He’s been a bully for years. Ever since we were kids.”
“I know. Your father told me early on to stay out of it. That either you other kids would learn to stand up to him, or you wouldn’t. I had too much on my plate to worry about it. You weren’t beating each other up, so I let it go. Although I had hoped he’d grow out of it.”
“No, now he’s raising two as bad as he is.”
“Don’t be too sure of that. I think he might be divorced in a few more months. I think Shelly is sick of him. Never saw her grow a spine the way she did Friday night. And they drove in separate cars to the wedding.”
“I don’t blame her.”
“As much as I don’t believe in divorce, neither do I. Blame her, that is. I’m surprised they stayed together this long. The only reason she married him was because he knocked her up with Kevin.”
That shocked him. “What?”
“You didn’t know that?”
“No, I didn’t know that!”
“Oh, sure. I thought you did? No, wait. You would have still been a kid. Maybe we never told you. Yeah, her father showed up at Jake’s with her in the car. Jake was living in that trailer. Back then, he was sharing it with a buddy from high school. Showed up with a shotgun, too, and marched them down to the courthouse. Literally. Said Jake was going to marry Shelly, or he wasn’t going to be able to father any more kids, and he should pick quick before his trigger finger got itchy. She’d just turned sixteen four days earlier, and Jake was nineteen. He could have gotten Jake arrested for statutory rape.
“Her father brought them by our place after they did it and told us. Can’t say I disagreed with him. I didn’t want Kevin to be born a bastard, either. Besides, Jake’s lucky he’s not in jail. That’s why Jake didn’t fight the guy when he showed up. Well, that and the shotgun. Shelly’s father’s just plain mean.”
Aaaand that explained alot. It also explained why he didn’t have any memories of Jake’s wedding, and it wasn’t talked about a lot—as in atall. He’d assumed, due to their parents’ income, that the two had eloped.
It also explained why Shelly always looked especially miserable at family gatherings in the early days.
