The unavoidable
713 Words
Elena POV:
It had been two weeks and Mason and I had finally settled in. I still had not called my mother. Every time I tried, I was pulled back by my anxiety. My mother's thoughts and opinions on divorce were clear, it was a line in the sand that she would not cross and she wouldn't want me to cross it either. Mason had just finished nursing and had fallen asleep, I put him down for a nap and was about to start eating the toast with avocado that I had made breakfast but never actually gotten to eat. Now the toast was kind of soggy but I didn't really care.
I wolfed that down and finished my cold cup of coffee. Then headed back into the lounge and sat back down, focusing intently on the job advertisements in the newspaper, pen in hand. The doorbell rang and my head snapped to Mason who was still asleep, thank God! I stood up and walked to the door and opened it, before I could do anything. My mother pushed through.She was wearing a fur coat, with black sunglasses and gold sleepers in her ears, her hair was pulled into a sophisticated bun and the look on her face was stern but her face didn't move at all.
I nervously closed the door, "Mother, it's -" She raised her hand cutting me off. "Don't bother Elena," she said, whipping off her glasses, "Mother-" I was pulling at the skin on my thumb, "Ah! No! Why did you not call me Elena!?" She snapped and Mason stirred, "Mother please," my eyes focused on Mason. She was cold towards me, "I am deeply insulted by you Elena, after everything I have done for you, is this how you treat me?" She asked and I could feel the guilt setting in, my anxiety worsening. "I wanted to call and I wanted to tell you, but-" "But, what?" She was growing increasingly annoyed with me.
"To say that I am disappointed in you would be an understatement." Her words were stabbing at me, the strength that I had managed to build was falling apart. "How could you allow him to divorce you?" She asked, crossing her arms and walking towards the window, "mother, I really had no choice!" I snapped, "tsk! You had a choice," she said waving me off, "you are just too sensitive Elena, you are weak just like your father. Do you know what I had to do to secure this match for you?" She asked and my head dropped in shame, "and you couldn't even keep the man!" "Mother," I started to sob, "he cheated on me with a prostitute!" Tears were falling now and my mother looked irritated. "Elena," she said sternly, "what do you think marriage is?" She asked, "Do you honestly think that you marry a man like him and live happily ever after?" I sobbed harder at her questions. Yes. I did think that we would live happily ever after. "Men don't cheat, they release stress and I can't believe you threw such a fit about it and now look at you," she said gesturing to all of me, "frumpy and alone with a child. Such a disgrace!" She exclaimed and then put her glasses back on, "I will speak to your father to discuss what we can do about the problem moving forward, "in the meantime, try not to embarrass us further!" She picked up her Prada handbag and walked out the door. I slumped to the floor and pulled my knees to my chest, my depression was back, and my mother was right. This is all my fault, I should have just kept quiet.
I heard my mother's sports car pull out the driveway and speed off. What will my father say? My stomach was in knots just thinking about it, I went and looked to see how much cash was left and felt even more depressed to see that I was only left with a $1000. I started to feel bitter about Christmas and Mason started to cry, so I got up, wiped my tears and my nose and went and picked him up. "I love you baby," I said and kissed his cheek, eliciting a smile.
- Writer
