Page 61 of Inside the Maelstrom: Part Two
Finally, the door was pulled open by a tiny woman who looked uncannily like Aviva, except her hair was a light brown, streaked with gray. It was a glimpse into how Aviva would look in the future.
Mrs. Robinson gasped when she saw her daughter, immediately dragging her into her arms. “Avie, I’ve been so worried. What happened to your arm?”
“Sorry, Mom. I’ve been fine, I promise. Just tripped and landed bad.”
Well, if you didn’t count nearly being run over in a failed assassination attempt, and having a mental breakdown on an Italian volcano. Let’s not even start on the shit that had happened before her and Drix got married.
Surprisingly, despite all that, she did seem more ‘fine’ now than she had when we’d first met her. Maybe that was just wishful thinking on my behalf, like I didn’t want to believe we’d fucked her up more for our own selfish desires.
Finally, Mrs. Robinson looked past her daughter to us. Her face lost all its friendliness, and my heart sank. Any dreams I had of this being a beautiful reunion disappeared.
She didn’t say hello. She just stared until it felt awkward.
“Hello, ma’am. I’m Otto Guyer. This is Hendrick Kenley.”
“I know who you are.”
“Mom, are we just going to stand out here all day?” Aviva’s words were light, but I could see the tension in her body. Her mom finally moved back into the house, and Aviva purposefully didn’t look at us as she followed after her mother.
I threw a quick panicked look at Hendrick, and while his face was pulled into pleasant lines, his eyes were wider than usual and he mouthed, “The fuck?” in my direction.
Aviva’s mother stopped in a living room that seemed like something out of a sitcom. Pictures of Aviva lined the walls, from when she was a baby to when she graduated high school. A TV was mounted to the wall, and knickknacks created dust traps along the shelves.
Aviva stood in the middle of the room awkwardly. Her mother wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her into her side. “Do you need me to get your father to grab your bags from the car?”
We all froze then, me and Hendrick not breathing as Aviva turned to her mother. “I’m not moving home, Mom. I’m visiting.” Her jaw flexed, and I could almost hear her swallowing hard. “I’m married. My home is in New York, with my husband.”
Unfortunately, that was the moment Aviva’s dad decided to appear. “Husband? You mean your kidnappers.”
“Dad!” Aviva gasped.
Hendrick’s whole body tensed, and I knew shit was about to go wildly sideways.
I stepped forward, drawing the man’s attention. “Sir, with all due respect, everything that happened was with Aviva’s consent or to her plan. She wanted to travel.”
“Which you knew, and denied,” Hendrick added.
“And we had the means to help her achieve that dream and find herself.”
“Find your way into her fucking pants—that’s about it. You took advantage of a girl who was mentally unwell, and you should fucking feelashamedof yourself. This marriage is a sham.” Aviva’s father turned to her. “You’re staying here and getting this marriage annulled. That’s final. I don’t know what the heck you were thinking—whether you were trying to be a good person and provide these two gay boys a meaningful cover for whatever bullshit they have going on, or if you were released from the wellness center too early and this is a side effect of… all that. But it doesn’t matter. I won’t allow you two rich assholes to take advantage of my sweet little girl.”
Holy fucking shit.
Drix’s whole body shook from holding himself back. No one got away with disrespecting him—or Aviva and I—like that, and normally he would be making the person’s life hell or throwing punches.
But that person was his wife’s dad. This in-law shit was complicated.
“Sir, I’ve made your daughter”—Drix paused, stepping closer to me—“we’vemade your daughter happier than she’s ever been. We accept her for who she is, exactly how she is, and not some false ideal of perfection that we can brag about to our friends.” The insinuation that they’d contributed to her depression by making her fit into some ideal daughter mold was about as subtle as a brick. Hendrick sucked in a deep breath. “In the end, what Aviva wants is what matters. But just so you know, I love her.”
Aviva’s mother frowned at us. “What wouldyouknow about love? Everything is disposable to people like you, including my daughter.”
I shook my head. “You couldn’t be further from the truth. Aviva is everything to us.”
Her mother shook her head. I hadn’t even got her name yet. “Us. You share her around like she’s a prostitute between you; you can’t even respect her that much. Her face is splashed on all those trash magazines like she's some fucking gold-digging whore.”
Aviva’s broken gasp was like a gunshot in the room. Tears streamed down her cheeks, and she moved around her parents toward us.
Her father stepped in her path. “You aren’t going anywhere, Aviva. You are staying here with us, getting the help you obviously still need.”
