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Happy Birthday, doll. I miss you. xo Axel.
I hold the note to my chest and feel the weight of a thousand missed opportunities crushing me. First, the text and now flowers. He’s slowly chipping away at my resolve.
“None of your business, mom.”
“Like hell, it’s not. You moved my grandson halfway across the country so you could shack up with some man,” she accuses. “How could you? You’re a married woman!”
Her words are like a slap in the face. “William is dead, mom.”
“So you’re a widow! How could you betray William’s memory like this? It’s barely been three years.”
“Donna,” my dad butts in. But my mom is on a real tangent now and refuses to get off her soapbox for anything.
“I can’t believe you would do such a thing. Did you bring this Axel around Henry?”
When I just stand there staring at her, she takes my non-answer as a yes.
“How could you?! You can’t just bring some random man into his life. I never should have let you take Henry.”
That knocks me right out of my stupor. “Letme take Henry?”
“Yes, let you. I knew this was a terrible idea. He should be in a stable household.”
“Henry ismyson,” I say, slapping my chest.“Mine.”
“The son you abandoned for the first three years of his life. What would you have done without us there to take care of you both?”
“I didn’t abandon him,” I argue.
“You might as well have.”
Ouch. That’s a stab right in the heart. She just found my biggest button and stomped all over it. The guilt I feel over losing myself to my grief rears its ugly head. She’s right that I wasn’t there for him like I should’ve been. But I was there. And I’m making up for that lost time every minute of every day.
“I didn’t abandon him,” I say again.
“Donna, that’s enough,” my dad says.
“Tom, she’s been shacking up with some man. Bringing him around our Henry!”
“Donna. She’s a grown woman. She’s allowed to date if she wants to. And I trust that she wouldn’t bring anyone around Henry that she didn’t trust implicitly.”
“She’s a widow, for crying out loud! What kind of man would prey on a woman who just lost her husband?”
“Mom, Axel didn’t prey on me. He’s a good man. Besides, none of this matters. I ended it with him already.”
“Then why is he sending you roses?”
“Donna. It isn’t any of your business. Addy is an adult. She can make her own decisions.”
“I don’t know why he sent the flowers. He knows we are over…” I say, my shoulders slumping. My dad lays a strong hand on my shoulder and squeezes it gently. I have to fight back my tears at his show of solidarity.
“So he’s stalking you now. How is this possibly safe for Henry?”
“Oh my God, mom! He isn’t stalking me. He’s just a nice guy that I broke up with because, like you said, I’m a married woman.”
“Addy,” my dad says, looking shocked. “William is gone. You don’t have to live your whole life grieving for him. You deserve happiness.”
“Tom! Don’t encourage her behavior.”
