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“Raising my children is career enough,” Marion said primly. “As you can tell, none of them appreciate the time and effort it took me nor did they listen or follow directions well.”
“These look beautiful,” Daisy said.Now she knew why Jerry was trying to keep the peace. How the heck did Theo and his sisters deal with this all the time?
“Of course they do,” Erica said. “Everything my mother arranges looks perfect. She didn’t cook these though.”
“That doesn’t matter,” she said. “It’s the effort to prepare and present that counts.”
“I like you,” Jerry said. “And my wife is a wonderful cook and hostess.”
Daisy liked how Jerry complimented Theo’s mother. She’d heard all sorts of negative things about the woman and now she knew why, but husband number two seemed to be looking past it. Maybe Theo’s mother had some redeeming qualities that no one saw but him.
“We are having a rack of lamb,” Marion said. “I decided to spend my time on the dinner and have the hors d'oeuvres and desserts catered.”
In her world, they were called snacks or appetizers. She tried not to giggle when she kept hearing hors d'oeuvres.
“I haven’t had rack of lamb in years,” Theo said. He was almost wrinkling his nose when he said it.
She’d never had it but didn’t want to say that either. She’d force it down with a smile on her face if she discovered she didn’t like it.
“Theo never developed a taste for it,” Marion said lifting her nose. “Neither did Harmony. Erica is the only one that cares for it. I tried to broaden my children’s palate so they could understand there was more than burgers and hot dogs in the world.”
“We never had hot dogs in this house,” Harmony said and burst out laughing.
This just begged the question why Theo’s mother would make something to eat that she knew two of her kids didn’t like. Unless she was still trying to “teach” them things even though they were all full-grown adults capable of making their own food decisions.
“I love it,” Jerry said. “But I told Marion to make something else. This was about her children today, not me.”
“My children don’t come visit enough for me to go out of my way for what they would prefer,” Marion said. She said it with a straight face and Erica snorted. It was as if Marion actually believed what she said. That it wasn’t worth going out of her way for her children. What a sad thought.
“Which is why we don’t come often,” Erica said. “But I’m good with the food.”
“We eat it,” Theo said. “Mom knows that. Just not a lot.”
“Daisy, where are you from?” Marion asked.
“Just a small town closer to upstate on the Hudson. Not very big. You probably never even heard of it,” she said.
“Small town upbringing doesn’t normally cater toward worldly knowledge.”
She really had no comment on that. It was the truth and really made her feel extremely small.
But she wasn’t going to let this woman know she was affected by her words. She was going to get through it for Theo.
For the next two hours she fielded more questions than she would have if she was being interrogated.
Actually, that was what it felt like. All the questions normally were followed up with a slight insult that was a dig implying she wasn’t worthy of being with Theo.
She was surprised she wasn’t asked to give her social security number at some point.
The only saving grace was the fact that Theo and his sisters either answered some things before she could, redirected the questions, or told their mother to cut it out.
“I’m sorry,” Theo said when they were driving home. It was past six at this point. They’d been at his mother’s since one and she’d been dying to get the hell out of there before dinner was even served.
“Don’t be,” she said. “Although, you could have warned me.”
“I didn’t know she’d be that bad. I felt like she was trying to write a book.”
“Which you told her at one point,” she said, laughing.
