AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Shit,” I said, leading her out of the extravagant ballroom. “I’m sorry. Jesus, I hate this more than you’ll ever know. I’m sorry I even brought you into this.”
“John,” she said, her beautiful eyes glittering under the crystal lights of the hallway, “what is going on? First, I’m dressed like I’m attending a ball for a king and queen, then I’m meeting Cinderella’s stepsisters, and now, you’re acting like you’re about to punch someone in the face.”
I ran a hand through my hair. “I guess I just…” I trailed off, at a dead end when it came to words to explain any of this.
“You thought bringing me to the wedding would help your parents approve of me?” she questioned, remembering when I practically begged her to join me, insisting that my parents would have no other option than to approve of her because I knew they’d adore her.
I finally nodded, “I feel like I’ve unknowingly thrown you to the wolves.”
Unexpectedly, she smiled. “You know what I find most adorable about you?”
“Must be something spectacular after you’ve just had a sample of the kind of family I come from.”
“That you’re so impulsive and do these things without thinking sometimes. When it comes to life and apparently love, you fly by the seat of your pants.”
“Yeah, and in this situation, I definitely threw caution to the wind,” I said, looking at her pathetically. “Fuck, this is not how I expected it to be when you met my family.”
“Isn’t it, though?” I heard my mother’s voice from behind me. “I’m Margot Aster, and you are Miss Mikayla Smith, I presume? The lady of the hour,” she mocked with a voice that made it seem like she was perfectly proper and not the least bit snarky.
“Doctor Mikayla Smith,” I corrected my mother.
“I see my son has not only developed feelings for you, but he defends you as well. Perhaps that is why your relationship thrives so well that he dares to leave a room without a proper exit?”
My mother wasn’t speaking to Mickie. She was looking at and speaking directly to me. I’d never seen my mother behave in such an appalling way, and I was shocked that she was doing this. Speaking to Mickie would give her respect and attention, and it seemed Margot was not about to do that.
“I’m not sure I’m following,” Mickie truthfully spoke out.
“I feel the same way,” I agreed with Mickie, looking at my mother for answers to her insulting and uncouth behavior.
“Simple, Doctor Smith,” she turned to Mickie with a slippery smile that mortified me, “my son defends you to me because he feels I may have harsh intentions toward you.”
Mickie’s eyes were set on my mother as I began to develop a sudden headache from my blood pressure skyrocketing.
“I didn’t think he was defending me, but yes, he’s right. It is Dr. Smith, but I prefer Mickie instead of Mikayla.” Mickie smiled unflinchingly, trying to diffuse the postured woman who may as well have been staring down a sniper rifle at her. “Only my mother calls me Mikayla, and that’s when I’m in trouble.”
“Ah,” my mother clutched her hands together as if she and Mickie had just formed a bond from nowhere. “Then I’m sure you haven’t been called that name in years.”
“Thankfully not,” Mickie answered. She wasn’t trying to stand up to my mother but wasn’t backing down either.
“Well, then,” my mother gave Mickie a kinder expression, “it is nice to meet you, and though tensions might run quite high at this event, I want you to be as comfortable as you are wearing those stunning jewels.”
I refrained from rolling my eyes, surprised that my mother could rein herself in and not let this conversation go where I thought it was headed.
“Dr. Smith,” she said, her voice returning to its usual crowd-pleasing tone that made everyone kiss her ass, “I noticed you and John seemed a bit uncomfortable at the table reserved for you?”
“When you seat me and my girlfriend at a table filled with ex-girlfriends, you can’t think it will be comfortable, Mom,” I said, arching my eyebrow. “However, Mickie wasn’t the one who wanted to get out of there. I insisted we leave because those women were well on their way to embarrassing themselves.”
“And we don’t want that,” she said coyly.
She wasn’t teasing us. She was patronizing me while remaining perfectly proper to command Mickie’s respect, avoiding any negative opinions of her.
“Childish women fawning all over the man who rejected them is not something I find in good taste,” my mother continued.
“And that’s why we removed ourselves,” I said, ready to leave. “Unfortunately, there are no free spaces to fill, and I’d rather hunt down a Burger King and eat there than be a part of that.”
“John has never been one to approve of our family events,” my mother said, treating Mickie now as an instant best friend. “It doesn’t take much for him to find a reason to dismiss himself from these occasions, but I hope you will both rejoin us. It was never my intention to make anyone feel uneasy.”
“That’s fine,” Mickie finally spoke, “and we’ll be okay at the table. Seeing how those women interacted with someone they’d never met was interesting. Honestly, I expected they’d have been raised with better manners, but what do I know? I’m just now finding out they’re John’s exes, so it makes sense that I might not have been their favorite person in attendance.”
