Yes, It's Another Cliché Love Story

Twenty Seven

“She’s just upset right now, I’m sure she’ll come around,” Lee told me as we walked into my room.

“My mom doesn’t say anything she doesn’t mean,”

“Then apologize to her. Prove to her that you are not like them. She trusted you more than she does anyone in the world and what you did broke her heart not to mention you physically hurt her,”

“And I regret it. I didn’t want her to sleep without knowing how sorry I was. I wanted her to tell me that everything they had said was wrong, I only needed to hear that from her but her silence was only making things worse,”

“You’re making excuses for hurting the only person who has your back regardless of what comes your way. You shouldn’t have believed anything they said without listening to her. Your actions only proved her fears right,”

“I just…I shouldn’t even be here,” I said and started packing a few of my clothes.

“Where will you go?”

“I’ll stay at a hotel until she’s calm then I’ll come ask for her forgiveness,”

“You know she already forgave you, she’s just as stubborn as you when it comes to forgiving,” I didn’t want to read more to his words.  “I could tell because she’s still concerned about your safety. If she wasn’t she wouldn’t have told you to leave in the morning,”

____

It didn’t take long for mom to take me back but that didn’t mean she’d automatically forgiven me. It took grandma’s deteriorating health to have her talking to me again.

I had cut communication with Uncle P and my father. I couldn’t understand why they had chosen to lie to me and I didn't want to.

My grandmother had confirmed to me that mom had gone back home with bruises and when I asked her why they didn’t believe her, she said that at the time they didn’t because Frank’s and Paul’s story corresponded and since Paul was Frank’s alibi they had their doubt about what mom said.

How sad she must have been. To feel so alone and have no one believe a word she said. To have the people who ought to stand by her doubting everything she said. It all made more sense to me. I finally understood why she was so protective of me, why she made it her business to listen to me no matter how small my issues seemed and why she was always in my business.

I shouldn’t have doubted her in the first place. I should have known better than to ever doubt her after everything she had done for me.

Grandma had asked to have the kids over for a weekend. She had been in and out of the hospital and her health was affecting mom’s mental health.

Grandpa’s death had greatly affected her and she’d been in and out of her reclusive state more often than usual and what was happening to grandma ruined whatever progress she’d made so far. Mrs. Ali had left the country and mom had stopped going to therapy. They’d argued about it over the phone and hadn’t spoken to each other in over a week.

“Come in,” she said in a hushed tone when I knocked on her bedroom door. I walked in to find her cradling baby Lisa. “Was I ever a good mom to you?” she asked out of the blue.

“You still are the best,”

“I always disliked my parents. I loved them but I disliked them. I don’t know if that makes sense,” she said putting the sleeping baby in her crib. Baby Lisa slept in mom’s room. “I loved my parents, I would give a kidney or a limb for them but I didn’t like them. I didn’t like what they stood for. I couldn’t tolerate being in the same room as them but I loved them. Sometimes, I thought I was going crazy and I was weird for feeling that way. How could I claim to love them when I couldn’t stand them? You know, I felt like an ingrate.