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She sniffled some more and then confessed what was said to her at Theo’s work Christmas party. “I don’t want to be an anchor that drags him down. I don’t want people to look at me and him and talk about us behind our backs.”
“Please,” Rose said, waving her hand. “You are going to be talked about in life by all sorts of people. It’s what happens. I’m angry for you. I am. I’d be livid if Thomas’s mother did that to me. And trust me, I wouldn’t have put it past her.”
Daisy knew Thomas’s mother was another one that was controlling too. She never thought of that. Judgmental on top of it. Thomas didn’t have the best relationship with his mother, but she was part of his life.
“I just don’t know how to move on,” she said. “I love Theo and don’t want to leave him but don’t want to hold him back either.”
“I don’t think he feels that way by the sounds of it,” Lily said. “You probably hurt him leaving last night rather than talking it out too.”
She started to cry even more. “I know. But I couldn’t stay. I know he’d try to talk rationally about it and I just couldn’t.”
“Sometimes in life you need to be emotional,” Poppy said. “I know that more than anyone else. But now that you’ve got it out of your system, you need to decide what to do next.”
“Wow,” Rose said. “Poppy just gave some really good advice. I’m stunned.”
“Oh, bite me, Rose. This is about Daisy, not you and me.”
“Girls,” Lily said, grinning, the same as Rose and Poppy. “Let’s focus on Daisy and give her the support she needs.”
“I talked to my mother last night,” she said to Heather. “She listened. She didn’t give me advice or anything, but she didn’t try to act all silly or emotional. It’s what I needed too.”
“I’m happy for you,” Heather said. “We are all your family and you know it. We can’t tell you what to do, but we can help you see what might be a good decision.”
“I know,” she said. “I don’t want to lose Theo, but I don’t know that I can be around his mother either.”
“I understand that,” Poppy said. “Hey, just like Thomas, Reese doesn’t talk to his mother much either. You know that. You’re not alone here, and that being said, we all stayed with our men and made it work.”
Daisy hadn’t thought of that. “You’re right,” she said.
“Yes,” Rose said. “We are. Parents are a fickle thing.”
“Our father is in prison right now,” Lily said. “We had a single mother and a childhood similar to yours. Yet the men in our lives stood behind us. Give Theo the benefit of the doubt. He might be insulted if you didn’t think he could stand up to his mother.”
She cried even harder. “I’m making a huge mess out of this.”
“No, you’re not,” Heather said. “We are letting you see all sides of it so you can work it out. Do yourself a favor and give him a chance.”
“I’ve got to,” she said. “If he’ll talk to me.”
“I’m positive he will,” Heather said. “Reach out and let him know you need to talk it out.”
“I will,” she said. She hugged all the girls and they left. All but Heather.
“I wish you would have called me last night,” Heather said. “I would have come home to be with you.”
“I needed to be alone. It did help to talk to my mother. Maybe if you were home I wouldn’t have called her. But it was a conversation we needed to have too.”
“Then I’m glad it worked out. It will with Theo too. You know it and I know it. He’ll stand up to his mother because he’s done it before. Just like it sounded as if he did yesterday. Have faith in him.”
“I’m trying to. I don’t want him to have to choose.”
“In life we have to make decisions and choices that we don’t want. Is it worth throwing something so wonderful away because you don’t want him to make a tough decision?”
“No,” she said. “You’re right. I should give him a chance to decide and then I can go from there.”
She just hoped Theo chose her.
40
