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“Mom, I don’t think he meant any harm. I mean it was a legit question. You do have an accent.” Damien had opened the door and now was the perfect time for me to ask again. “I mean I’ve wondered about it myself. Although I haven’t heard you speak the language in a long time, I still remember the sound of it. It’s unlike any that I’ve heard before. Is that your native language?”
Mom sighed. “MaKayla, I have a headache. I don’t want to think, never mind talk right now.”
I crossed my arms and said, “Why is it your head didn’t hurt when you were telling me you don’t want Damien to drive us but hurts now when I ask you about your past?”
“MaKayla, please. I don’t want to talk about it,” she replied.
I got up from the couch and said, “Neither do I. Damien is driving me back home. I hope you’re going to be in the car with us.”
This was unlike me, but I walked off and headed into my room to pack. I made sure to close the door behind me so I could text Damien without my mother seeing me.
SHE IS NOT HAPPY YOU ARE DRIVING US. I TOLD HER I AM GOING WITH YOU EVEN IF SHE DOESN’T.
I could only imagine what was going through her mind. She was probably blaming Damien for this, but this wasn’t his fault. He never asked me to question my mother. If anything, he asked me to step back and let him do his job.
I hope I didn’t screw this up by pushing her.
DON’T WORRY. SHE WILL COME WITH US.
How could Damien be so sure? I was her daughter, and I didn’t even know what she was going to do.
HOW CAN YOU BE SO SURE? I asked, still filled with doubt.
NO WAY IN HELL IS SHE ALLOWING YOU TO GO ALONE WITH ME.
Good point.
I wanted to keep texting with him because he made me feel confident this was going to all work out. But there was a knock on my door, and this moment was over. I silenced my phone and put it on the nightstand, face down, in case Damien decided to send me anything more.
“It’s open.”
Mom opened the door and asked, “Can we talk?” I nodded and she walked over and sat on my bed. “I don’t like it when we argue.”
It wasn’t something we did often, but lately, it had become more frequent. Probably because I had become more persistent and determined in my search for answers. But I didn’t want to damage my relationship with my mother to the point of no return. That was going to defeat the purpose of me doing all this.Family is so important. I want more, not less.
“Neither do I. I wish you didn’t get so defensive when I ask anything about your past. It’s not like I was asking about my father. And yet you still put up this wall and shut me out. It...hurts,” I admitted.
“MaKayla, I’ve explained it to you before.”
“No. You told me about my father’s family, but what does that have to do with you and your family?” I asked.
She was quiet for a moment, then said, “Nothing and everything. It was because of his family that I needed to leave my homeland. They are the reason I never went back or contacted anyone from there again. We went into hiding from them and I couldn’t risk being found.”
I couldn’t imagine people being so viscous that she felt she had to run from everything she knew. There had to have been someone there to help her. Even if her parents or family couldn’t, why didn’t she go to the police and turn them in? That’s what they are there for. Protection.
There was one thing that came out of this disagreement. Mom admitting Canada isnotour homeland was no surprise to me, but the first time she uttered the words. Maybe I could encourage her to tell me more? “Mom, that was years ago. We don’t need to hide any longer. No one is looking for us and no one is going to hurt us,” I stated, trying to let her know that we are safe.Especially now with Damien watching over us. He said nothing would happen to me. I assumed that included my mother as well.
“You don’t know that MaKayla. Evil doesn’t change.”
“I have friends from high school who were considered the ‘mean girls’. They grew out of it and now are running a non-profit animal rescue.”
Mom snorted. “There is a major difference between name calling and threatening someone’s life.”
That was true. And I didn’t want to bring any harm to her by doing this. Damien said he would be discreet, and not just with my mother, but with our families as well. They won’t even know someone is looking for them.
“Agreed. But what does that have to do with you teaching me how to speak our native tongue?” I asked. “Don’t you miss having someone you can converse with in your language?”
“Where I come from, most people speak fluent English as well.” I thought that was the end of it, but suddenly she spoke something in her language.
