The Price of Freedom

Chapter 24: Mommy Dearest

DINAH

I’m supposed to meet Liam’s mother today. Panic had been consuming me since he let me know of his plans. I’ve never met a boyfriend’s mother before, so I don’t know what the proper etiquette for this situation is.

I have been rummaging through my closet all morning looking for the perfect outfit. Serena was supposed to help, but she’s still mopey about the whole Sacha situation. He went back home a few days ago, and I think the reality of their relationship was finally sinking in.

After tossing out countless items of clothing from my closet I sank to my knees in a puddle of desperation. “I don’t have anything to wear!” I yelled out hoping Serena would hear me and come to my rescue.

I guess she heard my obvious plea for help and walked into my closet. When I saw her, I noticed that her eyes weren’t as bright, and her smile didn’t reach her eyes. Serena was wearing one of Sacha’s large baggy sweatshirts that went down to mid-thigh, that she hadn’t given back. She looked miserable and here I was complaining about not knowing what to wear.

“What happened to the dress you were wearing, it was perfect,” she asked looking through my hangers.

“I looked too slutty,” I responded.

She simply rolled her eyes at me and picked up the dress she was referring to, “Dinah, it’s a turtleneck dress that went past your knees.”

“It didn’t cover my ankles!”

The doorbell rung and Serena immediately dropped the dress to the floor. That must be Liam, which meant I was late and he was going to hate me. He’ll think that I don’t want to meet his mom and he’ll dump me for someone who knows how to be on time.

This was the end of our relationship; we had a good run. This was probably the longest relationship I have had. I am absolutely pathetic.

“Oh, look at that the doorbell is ringing I’ll go get that and leave you to whatever this is,” she grumbled while pointing at me on the floor in a fetal position. Serena swiftly ran out of the ran out of my room to open the door.

Dread was beginning to fill me, or I was already filled. I don’t know why this has me stressing out so much. I should be excited that Liam wants me to meet his mom. If my dad were still alive, I would have loved to introduced them.

At this point, I was hysterical. There was no fixing me. I had nothing to wear, and my makeup was probably ruined by now. There was no time to do anything.

“Dinah love are you read—“ I heard Liam’s deep voice speak from my bedroom door. I’m sure he must have found all my clothes tossed everywhere and was taken aback by the mess. I was still crying on my closet floor in nothing but my underwear when he walked in and squatted in front of me.

“Dinah what’s wrong?” he asked sitting me up and holding my chin in his hand. I couldn’t help the tears that continued to stream down my face as I looked at him in his nice dress shirt and slacks. He was too good for me.

“I don’t have anything to wear,” I cried out.

Liam looked around at all the clothes casually thrown about and all the items that were still hanging on their hangers. He was probably trying to figure out why I was complaining about not having clothes when there were hundreds of items in this very closet.

He turned to look back at me, “What’s this really about?”

What does he mean ‘What’s this really about?’ has he never seen a woman cry over clothes. I know I’ve done it before, it hasn’t gotten to this extent, but I know for sure that I cancelled plans because I couldn’t find anything to wear.

As much as I wanted to blame it on the lack of clothes, I knew the real reason. The nerves of meeting his mom were tearing me apart, and I don’t know how to handle my emotions. Call me emotionally stunted.

“What if your mom doesn’t like me, then you’ll have to leave me” I hated sounding so needy, but family is everything. At least it was when my dad was still alive. And I’m sure that Liam loves his family.

He softly caressed my cheek with his thumb, “Relax gorgeous, she’ll love you.”

“It’s easy for you to say, you’re like the blueprint for the golden boy. Everyone loves you,” I retorted. And I was right, he was quite literally perfect, it was nauseating. He was the type of man that any parent would want their daughter to get married to. Lily excluded.

“Look why don’t you go fix your makeup and I’ll pick out a dress for you?” he coaxed helping me stand up. I simply nodded and left my closet to fix my face. Ten minutes later and I was finally somewhat fresh-faced waiting for Liam to give me the dress he chose.

“What about this one? I remember you saying these types of dresses were your favorites,” he held up a white floral dress with long puff sleeves and a sweetheart neckline in his hands. He remembered when I looked at a dress similar to it when we passed a store window. It was a quick observation, we didn’t even go in, but he still remembered.

The dress was beautiful, but I wasn’t too sure it was the right type of dress to meet his mother. “Isn’t it too short?”

Liam shrugged his shoulders and handed it to me, “Does it matter?”

“Your mom is going to think I’m a whore.”

“My mum is going to think you’re beautiful,” he corrected me.

After a short ten-minute drive, we arrived in a gated community that just screamed money. If I wasn’t already nervous, I sure as hell was now. He held my hand throughout the entire drive rubbing circles over my thumb trying to soothe my obvious nerves.

Liam parked his car in front of a lavish home, the garden was bright and beautiful and the hedges were perfectly manicured. He said that I would only be meeting his mom today because his dad was on a business trip. That did calm me a bit, knowing that I wouldn’t have to meet both of them at the same time. I can focus all my energy on his mom, I just hoped that she liked me.

Liam intertwined our fingers and knocked on the door, waiting for his mother to open. A small woman opened up, she was beautiful, time was gracious towards her. Her blonde hair was perfectly placed in a low bun, her cheekbones were very prominent, and her eyes were a few shades darker than Liam’s.

“Liam, how is my baby?” She asked pulling him into her arms. It was very clear that she loves her son.

“Hi mum,” he responded giving her a one-armed hug.

She pulled back looking at everywhere but me, “Where is Elsa? Is this your assistant?”

Okay, that hurt a little bit, but no problem. I can stay positive. This was going to go great, and she would love me by the end of this day.

“No mum, this is Dinah, she—” Liam started trying to introduce me. I put on my biggest smile trying to hold my tongue, I do not need to lose my cool especially with the mother of the man I love.

Mrs. Evans interrupted before he could finish, with a sickly-sweet voice she began her questioning, “I thought you were bringing your girlfriend, how is Elsa?”

Okay, so maybe this meeting had already gone to s**t. But it wouldn’t be because of me, I’d make damn sure of it.

Liam shook his head at his mother, “Mum this is Dinah Muñoz, she is my girlfriend.” I could hear the annoyance in his voice, he must have sensed his mother’s pettiness as well. Or at least I hoped he did.

Her eyes skimmed my body from head to toe, and stopped at my hand. Only now was she realizing that Liam and I were holding hands.

Mrs. Evans eye twitched slightly, only to where I could notice it. She plastered a fake smile on her face and looked at me with murder in her eyes.

“Hello Mrs. Evans,” I greeted her holding out my hand for her.

She did not accept my gesture, she completely ignored it, or pretended she didn’t see my hand. I wasn’t sure what to do at this point, it was going terribly.

“Mum can we come in?” Liam asked bring her attention back to him.

“Yes of course,” she answered with a genuine smile.

We were ushered through the house and into a large sun room. There were windows from wall to ceiling, it was stunning. Liam pulled out a chair for me and waited for me to sit before doing the same for his mother, which earned me a scowl.

Before Liam could sit down, Mrs. Evans stopped him with a sway of her hand. “Liam sweetheart, can you go get the tea ready?”

I was prayed hoping he would say no and not leave me alone with her. She obviously didn’t like me, but men could be so oblivious sometimes. My prayers were not answered, and he left me alone with his mother to go fix the tea. I don’t know how you fix tea, you get warm water and put a tea bag in it, end of story.

Mrs. Evans sized me up for a few seconds, her face still held a scowl and I tried to smile at her, but she was clearly not having it.

“Do you know what happened to Elsa?” She asked me looking over towards the door that led into the house, making sure that Liam was out of hearing distance.

“I’m not sure, I came along a bit after,” I answered honestly.

What was this woman’s obsession with Elsa? Yes, she was very beautiful, but she isn’t even giving me a chance. I have been nothing but kind towards her even though she doesn’t deserve it.

“You’re not good enough for my son,” she stated coldly. Now she was just saying s**t to hurt me, I could feel it.

I tried to say something, anything, but words couldn’t escape my mouth and I looked like a guppy

She narrowed her eyes at me before speaking again, “Elsa had so much to offer, she was beautiful and talented, they were the perfect couple. And you, you’re no one.”

I could lie and say that didn’t sting, but she was mildly right. I didn’t have much going for me in the fame department, but I’ve worked hard to get to where I am today. She can’t just ignore that either, just because I chose a different path.

“I love your son.” I told her, I have had enough of her bullshit, but I was still going to remain civil, for Liam’s sake.

“You love his money,” she shot back in a low whisper.

I looked towards the door hoping that Liam would come back and save me from his mother, but he was nowhere in sight.

“I don’t need his money; I can provide for myself.”

“That’s what they all say,” she snarled.

Who is all? She was comparing me to gold diggers, of which I have nothing against either. If men are stupid enough to get seduced by a woman based on her appearance and just hand over all their money, that is their fault. I on the other hand have never asked for a man’s bank account, I’ve worked for my money. The only time I have used my inheritance was to get away from Jacob.

“It doesn’t matter what the rest say, because I’m telling you, I didn’t even know of his existence the first time I set eyes on him, much less his net worth.” And that was the truth, I didn’t know who he was until Serena told me, and even then, I have no plans of ever seeing him again. I even told him to stay away.

“Miss Muñoz—”

“Dinah,” I corrected.

“Miss Muñoz, I suggest you forget about my son. He and Elsa will end up together, and you’ll just be a blip in his story. Save yourself the heartache,” she advised me.

Why was she being incredibly difficult? I just wanted to love her son, but she is making it difficult for me. I would never ask him to choose between me or his mother. I want a big family, and that includes grandparents, mine are out of the question, but his are still here.

“Mrs. Evans, with all due respect, don’t you think Liam should be the one making this decision? If he doesn’t want me then so be it, but I would like to hear it from him,” I tried explaining to her in the calmest voice I could muster.

She chuckled lightly, scaring me half to death. She was definitely planning on killing me. I could see it now. “He’s smitten with you now, but once he realizes that you’re not in his league, he’ll leave you behind and go back to Elsa. It’s only a matter of time”

“I guess we’ll just have to wait and see,” I smiled back.

Liam walked back in holding a tray with a teapot and cups on it. He looked livid; I wonder how much of that conversation he heard. He sat the tray down on the coffee table, grabbed my hand and pulled me up.

“We’re leaving Dinah,” he commanded not even looking me in the eye.

“Liam sweetheart what about the tea?” his mother asked him standing up as well.

“I’m sorry mum, we have to go.” Liam dragged me out of the house without glancing at me once.

This was bad, I thought I was being nice to his mom, but I was being a total b***h. He must have heard something. If I thought he would break up with me this morning for being late, he might actually break up with me because of his mother.