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“My father is a bit old fashioned. The boys did other things. I think my mother had more of a hand with Chase though. He can do just about anything. Mark is engaged now. He got engaged at Christmas. We didn’t even know he was dating someone. With any luck his new wife makes him do his share.”
“Meaning your father didn’t do much to help your mother?” he asked.
“Not that I can remember. I’m not trying to be mean. I get it. He worked like fifteen hours a day. My mother didn’t work.”
“I thought she was a teacher,” he said, frowning.
He handed her a cup of coffee while she mixed the eggs. She’d brought her own creamer since she knew he didn’t have any. She’d keep it here and with any luck she’d be back again.
“She was. She was teaching us during the day anyway, so it didn’t seem like a job to him. It’s not like she was paid. It gave us a classroom and helped the area we were in. At the end of the class day though we went back home and my mother cooked and cleaned. We all had chores and had to help out. She shouldn’t have had to do it all.”
“No,” he said. “My parents worked hard. My mother served people all day long. She worked when we were in school. When Raine was still home, she worked nights and weekends to avoid daycare costs. The same with us. So yeah, until Raine started school, she was home all day with us or running us to school and back, then going to work when my father got home.”
“You had chores too, right?” she asked.
“Always,” he said. “I hated my mother working so hard. My father too.”
“It bothers you they still work?” she asked.
“Yep. River and I help out now. Money is better for them. The house is almost paid for. They don’t have the extra mouths to feed, but we never went hungry or anything. We had clothes and did things. But we all had jobs too.”
“Your parents went without,” she said. “Like my mother. They are both simple people.”
“They have to be to live that lifestyle,” he said.
He handed her the sausage and she chopped it up to put in with the eggs and then poured it all in one big pan. She’d divide it when it was done.
“Yeah. My mother is a saint for wanting it. Her choice, but we didn’t want it. Not that we had control. Now we all send her things to pamper her.”
“Blossoms products?” he asked, moving closer. “You still smell like it.”
“Lotion,” she said. “And yes. We send her clothes. Both of them. Anything we can send her she’d appreciate we do. She enjoys going out to eat and they don’t get to do it often. That bothers me it’s the one thing she likes and it’s not like my father can give it to her.”
“They’ve been married a long time,” he said. “Is she happy?”
She frowned. “I guess so. I’ve never noticed anything other than she was tired at times, but aren’t we all.”
“Then it works for them.”
“Yes,” she said. “It does. I need to understand that what works for some people doesn’t for everyone. My mother always told me I wanted more than I should.”
He moved closer to her, pulled her back against his chest and kissed her on the forehead. Every once in a while he showed her a part of himself she’d bet no one else saw.
Or at least she was hoping that she brought it out.
“Don’t let other people tell you what you should and shouldn’t have or dream for. They are your dreams and goals. Not theirs. No one has a right to take that from you.”
She dropped her head back and looked up at his chin. He looked down, his facial hair still there and she loved it.
“Did someone take yours away?”
He kissed her and walked away. Guess he wasn’t going to answer that question, but it only made her wonder more.
Brooks sure was a complex man.
Hewasher complex man, but she was wise enough to not voice those words to anyone.
27
