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Iunfold the paper. It’s an old check that hasn’t been cashed. The date is the day I left for MEPS. I got called in early and had tried to call Scout, but her phone kept going to voicemail. I had asked my mother to go out there and tell her, but she told me in no uncertain terms she wouldn’t and that there were rumors Scout had been seen in town with a young soldier.
I’m still processing everything, but all I can see is my mom’s face the first time I saw her when I graduated from boot camp. She wouldn’t look me in the eye and avoided all my questions about Scout. When I contacted her parents, they would only say she moved out of state.
I look at the check again. Five thousand dollars. It was signed by my mom. I look at the memo line and stop.
To take care of the little problem, and for pain and suffering.
The words roll through my head. I move to my truck as if in a trance. I head right for my parents’ house. Ryder is in summer camp, so I don’t have to worry about him. When I pull up, my mother is already on the front porch as a man carrying a clipboard moves away from her. He stops and looks at me before looking down at something on his board.
“You Thaddeus Abbott?” he asks me with surprise on his face. “Dang, two in one stop.”
“Yes,” I say and wait. He pulls something from under the top paper and hands me the official envelope.
“You’ve been served.” He chuckles as he moves to his car.
I look at the envelope and up at my mother, who has one similar. Mine’s thicker. I don’t open it because I’m pretty sure I know what it is. I move toward my mother. She’s opening her envelope.
“That little lying whore. Can’t trust anyone these days.”
I hear the words coming from her mouth and reach for the paper. I yank it from her hand. I quickly scan it, noting a cancellation of contract along with notes stating they will be seeking reparations for threats, defamation of character, and legal proceedings for unlawful contract.
I read the citation and can’t believe the words. They swim across my vision for a moment. My eyes mist and I’m afraid I’m going to lose it. My own mother did this to the girl I loved.
“You fucking pressured an emotionally pregnant woman into signing a document, or you’d sue her, take away everything her parents worked for?” I yell at my mother so loud I know the neighbors and valley probably heard me. “You fucking paid to have my baby murdered? Your grandbaby? Is this fucking for real?” I shake the paperwork in her face. “How could you?”
“I was protecting you. She’s a little tramp.”
I lean over my mother, my body shaking. “If you weren’t a fucking woman, I’d knock you out. I’m done. My attorney will be in contact with you also for loss of time with my daughter. You’d better hope Scout forgives me and I get to see Skyler, or I’ll sue you for everything.” I stomp back to my truck.
“She didn’t abort the baby?” Her words make me pause.
I hold up the tattered check and wave it at her.
“No, she didn’t. She didn’t cash your fucking check either.” I see the wheels turning behind her eyes.
“She broke the NDA.” Her sinister smile has me stomping back toward her.
“No, she didn’t. She was a minor. You’re fucking out of plays. Give up.”
My father pulls up and gets out of his vehicle. He takes one look at me and then my mother.
“What did you do, Cheryl?” His voice is laced with anger when he looks at her. I remain standing there and wait for her to admit what she did.
“I didn’t do anything.”
I wave my father over and show him the check. He looks at it, then at her.
“Oh, and there’s this.” I realize I still have the court paperwork in my hand. He takes it and then looks at me.
“Got a spare room I can use?”
“Yeah, I do.”
He moves toward the stairs where my mother is still standing. He hands her the court document and then moves back to his car.
“Terrence, where are you going?” She moves, her voice quivering now. But I know it’s fake, she’s just playing him. She’s the only person who calls my father by his full name. Everyone else calls him Terry.
“My attorney will be in contact. Pack your things, you are out of my house.” He doesn’t say more but gets back into his car and follows me out toward my place.
