Mitchell's Power Play

Us

MITCHELL

"Thank you, wife." I smiled at Sammy after she closed the door behind my siblings.

"You are welcome, husband," she grinned and reached for my hand.

We walk together, hand in hand, into the kitchen where we'd just fed and entertained Marshall, Sandy, Maria and Neil. I placed a quick kiss on the back of Sammy's hand before I let it go so I could clean up.

"I'm so glad I finally got to have that talk with Marshall."

"Mhm, it was long overdue."

It was. And while I had already realized that I was the lucky one that got away from our mentally and verbally abusive father, I never knew quite how bad it had been. The stories Marshall had told me when it was just me and him on the back porch were heartbreaking.

"It was nice to get to meet Neil too, officially," Sammy continued.

"Yeah." He was a cute kid. A little shy at times, and a bit rambunctious at others, but who wasn't at that age?

Sammy cleaned off the kitchen table and wrapped up left overs while I loaded the dishwasher and washed out the pots and pans we'd used. Sammy had suggested we eat the leftovers from the wedding, but it hadn't felt right. We have this amazing kitchen and since I liked to cook; it felt like it was the least I could do for my family.

So Sammy and I had spent the late morning cooking and baking next to each other on the kitchen island. She had made some kind of lemon cookies that melted in my mouth. Neil, especially, had enjoyed them. Sammy had in fact packed up the rest of them and given them to him to bring home.

"Can you believe that Sandy said she'd consider registering Neil for hockey?"

Yeah, I'd almost fallen off the chair when she said that. Hockey had been such a bad word in my house growing up, or maybe I shouldn't say that. It had been okay until I grew into my body and it became obvious - in high school - that I was better than most of the other kids. That was when my father had started to really bad mouth the sport. The rest of Michigan, including Sandy, enjoyed hockey.

"I think I was more surprised that Marshall didn't object."

Sammy handed me a couple of plates and grabbed the sponge to wipe the counter. It took her a while before she responded.

"I think Marshall is slowly changing the way he's looking at things. It's almost like he wants to do everything, or try everything, that your father was against. Like a stubborn teenager that's pushing the boundaries."

It sounded about right.

"But in Marshall's case, he needs to figure out what his own believes and opinions are. From what Sandy was telling me, Marshall was never allowed to have an opinion against what your father deemed right."

"Yeah, I got that too."

Sammy put the sponge back in the sink and kissed my cheek. "It will be good for Neil. He'll be able to experience things they never did."

"Starting with hockey..."

"Why not? Sandy and Maria love it."

"Neil might actually have talent. You never know."

Sammy rolled her eyes. "He's related to you, Mitch. I bet you he'll be great."

I laughed and placed the last dish in the dishwasher and started it. It was close to dinnertime, but neither of us was hungry. We'd had a late lunch with plenty of appetizers throughout the afternoon.

"Let's open a bottle of wine," I suggested and reached for the wine fridge. It had been a few long days, and I was tired. Spending time alone with Sammy on the couch with a glass of wine sounded like a dream.