True Blue

Chapter Thirty One

After a brief phone call with Caleb, Norma found herself right back in her sticky situation. She knew that turning Caleb over to Chick meant Caleb dying. And she couldn't do that, not to Dylan. She couldn't live with herself if she had him killed.
So that left her with one option: she had to kill Chick.
It was just past 9 at night when Norma found herself parked on a bridge, Chick's car parked a few feet ahead of her, facing her. She slowly steps out into the cold, rainy night, her hand shaking as it grasps the revolver Dylan got for her last year in her pocket.
"You have something for me?" he calls out to her, stopping a few feet in front of her.
She slowly takes the gun out of her pocket as an answer, knowing if she tried to speak her voice would surely shake. And she wanted to seem tough right now. She needed to.
She slowly raised the gun and pointed it at him, struggling to keep her hand from shaking as she aims it at him. All she could see in her mind was Alex's disappointed face. He wouldn't want her doing this, not again.
Chick just continues to stare at her, watching her struggle internally as she looks away from him with a gasp before finally lowering her gun.
"I can't get Caleb killed, and I can't kill you, so I'm screwed." she says, still breathing heavily as her world crumbles around her once again.
"I'm screwed! You got me!" she shouts at him, her anger rising.
"All I wanted was my freaking window fixed, and now you're gonna destroy my life! So just go right ahead. Just go right the hell ahead!" she screams at him before spinning on her heels and marching back to her car before she actually does manage to kill him.
She drives home in an anger filled haze, her thoughts going too fast to comprehend, but there was one thing she knew she had to do. She needed to tell Alex the truth before Chick had the chance to. It would be better if he heard it from her, she had more of a chance of keeping him that way.
She had just started chopping vegetables when she heard her front door open. Her heart raced as she thought of what she could say to Alex, how to even start a conversation like that, and she began chopping faster.
"Hey." Dylan says from behind her, making her turn to him with surprise. She had forgotten he said he would stop by.
"Hey." she says with relief as she leans back against the counter.
"You okay?" he asks.
"Yeah. I'm good." she says, forcing a smile.
"Okay. I just came to get some of my stuff." he says, and it's only now that Norma notices the box he is holding and the smile drops from her face.
"Okay, have fun leaving me." she says bitterly as she turns back to continue chopping vegetables.
"Norma-"
"I'm fine, okay?" she says, glancing back to him briefly before going back to aggressively chopping.
"I'm just in a bad mood. I don't want to talk about it."
"Okay. I'll see you later." Dylan says simply, turning to leave.
"Yep." she says bitterly before slamming a pan down onto the stove. She hated when she got like this, but she couldn't help it. Her emotions were just too much to handle sometimes and she ended up lashing out and pushing people away. It was what she did best.
Dylan left not long after that with a quick goodbye and guilt flooded Norma. Dylan was at the wrong end of her anger too often, to no fault of his own, and now she was losing him again. All she wanted was her family together and happy. She had never had that before.
She had just finished setting the table when she heard the front door open again and her heart skipped a beat as nervousness flooded her once again. She was normally excited to see Alex but she felt nothing but fear, knowing the conversation she needed to have with him.
"Hey." he greets her with a smile as he slides his jacket off.
"Hi. Sit down. Everything's ready." she says, setting the last of the food on the table as she expertly avoids his warm gaze.
"You okay?" he asks, searching for her eyes.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sit down." she says with a breathless laugh, still looking around the table as she begins to take her seat.
"Oh, you know what, Chick's here with the window. I'm just gonna help him." he says, setting his jacket on the back of his seat.
"Chick?" she asks, quickly standing back up and looking at him with worry.
"Yeah, he's just got the window-"
"What did he say to you?" she asks, watching as he stares at her with a confused half smile.
"He said, 'Here's the window. I could use some help unloading it.'" he says, not knowing why she was so interested in their conversation.
"Oh." she says, looking past him in thought.
"What's wrong?" he asks, knowing her enough to know when something was wrong.
"I just...um..." she trails off, looking back down at the meal she had taken so long to prepare. This was not how she wanted to tell him. She wanted them to at least get through dinner before she ended their relationship.
"I love you. I want you to know that." she tells him softly, looking back into his eyes for what seemed like the last time. She memorized the way his lips slowly stretch into a beautiful smile at her words.
"You-You're telling me this right now?" he asks, still not believing that she finally said it.
"Yeah." she says with a shy smile, looking back at him nervously.
"Well, I love you too." he says, watching her smile widen as she stares back at him lovingly.
"I'll be right back, you know." he says, trying to bite back his laughter.
"Okay." she says, watching as he leaves the kitchen. She leans back against the counter and sighs, knowing that would've been the time to tell him. All she can do now is hope that Chick doesn't pick tonight to share her secret.
Alex assists Chick with the window, carrying it carefully into the house.
"We can just set it here." Alex says as they walk through the front doors, carefully resting the window against the wall of the living room.
"Hello, Norma." Chick says as Norma appears from the kitchen, staring daggers at Chick.
"Yeah, hello." she replies dryly, making Alex send her a look. He didn't know what happened between her and Chick but her tone was not friendly.
"I'd like to unwrap it so that I could show you." Chick says, gesturing to the window. Alex was about to agree when he heard Norma scoff from behind them, making them both turn back to her as she continues to chuckle bitterly.
"Yeah, no. Yeah, we'd love to see it." Alex says awkwardly, sending Norma one last look before turning back to Chick who is uncovering his work.
"That's great. That's really amazing." Alex says, admiring his work. It really was even more beautiful than the last window.
"It's really beautiful, Chick." he adds honestly, his fingers slowly tracing the patterns.
"You know what they say: You never know what you're capable of until you're tested." Chick says to Alex before slowly looking over to Norma.
"Isn't that right?" he asks her.
"Well, what are you saying? Are you saying that we all have things "hidden" inside of us? Secrets we don't want anyone to know, things that other people might know and hold over your head, even though you personally have done nothing to them?" she asks, glaring back at Chick. Alex had no idea what she was hinting at and he didn't know if he wanted to.
"I think he was just talking about the window, Norma." Alex tells her, trying to defuse the tension.
"You're gonna be packing your bags soon, so just stay out of it." she snaps back at him before looking over to Chick, ignoring the hurt look that flashed across Alex's face. It would be better for him if he hated her again. It would make it easier for Norma when he inevitably left her.
"Go ahead, tough guy. Come on, do what you're gonna do. Okay, break the woman in half. But you know what? I'm not broken. I am still standing. So go ahead. Do your best, you giant, lame asshole!" she shouts at him, feeling her emotions consume her again. Alex just stared between them in shock as Chick slowly walked to her and removed his hat from his head.
"I hope you enjoy your new window, Norma Bates." he says slowly as he leans in to place a kiss on Norma's cheek, only furthering Alex's confusion. Chick places his hat back on his head and turns to Alex, pulling a piece of paper out of his pocket.
"You can mail me a check." he says, handing the paper to Alex before leaving them without another word. Alex follows him out, closing and locking the door behind him before slowly turning back to Norma. She stares at him with tears in her eyes, obviously still processing what just happened.
"What the hell?" he asks softly, walking towards her, his mind reeling on what the hell could've happened between them to make her this upset.
"What the hell? What was that?" he asks again as she fails to answer. She looks away from him in shame, her arms still crossed tightly around herself.
"What?" he asks again gently, seeing her internal struggle.
"When I was, um, a teenager....it was a long time ago, uh...." she trails off, knowing this was it. This was the moment he would look at her differently. The moment he would stop loving her.
"I slept with my brother." she finally says, still not able to look at him, afraid of what she might see.
"I'm sorry. God, I'm sorry to have to tell you this. Oh, it's horrible. I'm sorry. He's Dylan's father." she breathes out shakily, finally finding the courage to look at him. She can see him putting the pieces together in his head.
"The guy that I had dinner with?" he asks, still struggling to understand.
"Caleb, yeah." she says, looking away again. She didn't want to see the way he was surely looking at her with disgust.
"Norma, you were young. It-it was a mistake-"
"Mistake? It was not a mistake. It was a way of life. It happened for years. I loved him. Our home life was torture, and we were all we had." she tells him. She looks up and is surprised that he didn't stare at her with disgust, only confusion and sympathy.
"I finally tried to stop it, and, um...he got really upset, and he raped me. You know how horrible it is to be raped by someone you love?" she asks to no one in particular, her eyes still haunted by the memory of that night.
"And I hate him. I hate him. I hate him. But I don't hate him enough to hurt him. And it's a mess because I don't know if part of why I hate Caleb so much is because I hate myself." she finishes softly, tears finally forming in her eyes as she sniffles lightly.
"All in a days work." she says tiredly, looking up at him as if she had finally given up.
"So now you know who you're married to. And I should have told you before but I've never loved anyone enough to feel obligated to be honest with them." she says, making his heart swell again at the sound of her saying that she loves him.
"And...And I just...It-it sucks. It sucks because I can't hide. And I want to, but I can't. And Chick found out. He met Caleb when he was up at the farm working with Dylan. He-He just figured it out. And he has issues with my brother and he was trying to find him, and he told me that if I didn't help him that he would tell you all of this, that he would spread it around town and that he would humiliate you." she says, the last words coming out in a cry as her emotions finally consume her completely.
"So...So...I don't know. Just go pack your bags." she cries, finally looking back up to him with guilt and sadness. It broke his heart to see her like this, to know that she had been targeted and black mailed again.
"Okay." he says softly, watching as she looks away from him in an attempt to hide the tears that are now streaming down her cheeks.
"Where are we going?" he adds gently, making her look back to him with surprise. She opens her mouth but still can't find her voice so instead she quickly wraps her arms around his neck, letting her sobs take over her body as he holds onto her tightly.
Her soft sobs fill the air as they continue to grip onto each other, as if they were the only things keeping them both afloat. They were each other's life rafts. They stayed like that for a moment, Norma crying into Alex's chest as he continues to hold her tightly, rubbing her back the way he always did, the way she loved.
"Why do you still want to stay here?" she asks with confusion as her cries subside and she finally finds her voice again. He leans back slightly to stare into her eyes, his thumbs gently drying the tears from her cheeks.
"None of it changes who you are today. And I love who you are. I love you, Norma. So much." he tells her softly before pressing his lips against hers lovingly.
"I love you." she whispers again against his lips, allowing him to scoop her up into his arms and carry her to bed, intent on kissing her worries away.