All I'll Ever Need
Page 25
But as she went about her dinner preparations, placing chairs around the table, she began to think.
The fortitude and determination I needed to succeed was within me all along. All I needed was to believe in myself and allow my self-esteem and self-confidence to sustain me.
It had been a hard-fought battle to win over her mother. As she took an apple pie and sweet potato pie from the freezer, placed them on the table to thaw, she thought back to that day of confrontation.
After Barry’s death, her parents had insisted that she have occasional Sunday dinners with them. She knew it was their attempt to ease her sorrow. It was on one of those Sundays that she’d told them of her plans to have Barry’s child.
She remembered she was twirling her coffee cup around in its saucer. Noticing this, her father had asked, “Something on your mind, Leese?”
Her dad was always the perceptive one, and she had responded, “Yes, Dad, there is. I’m going to have a baby!” she blurted out.
Her mother slammed her hand on the table, sputtered, “What on earth are you talkin’ ‘bout? What do you mean, you’re ‘having a baby’?”
So, she had explained the whole situation to them. When she added that she was two months into her pregnancy, her fathers had said, “Good for you, Leese, good for you!”
“My God, Jerome,” her mother had cried, “are you crazy! This is the dumbest thing I have ever heard! You must be out of your mind! Why on earth . . . ? Don’t you know how hard it will be to be a single mother?” Without waiting for an answer, her mother threw her napkin down and ran into the kitchen, but not before Elyse had seen the tears cascading down her mother’s cheeks.
Her father indicated to his daughter that she should go and talk to her mother.
“If it’s what you want, child, go and help her understand. She is your mother.”
She found her mother standing beside the open dishwasher, preparing to load it.
Elyse sat at the kitchen table, waited for her mother to face her.
“Mother, I’m sorry if I’ve upset you. I know how hard it must be to raise children and I thank you for giving me life . . . being my mom. It’s the greatest gift anyone . . .”
Her voice began to quaver a bit as her mother, openmouthed, stared at her child, almost as if not believing what she was hearing.
Elyse saw the look, the anger rising in her mother’s widened eyes at this unexpected defiance from her daughter.
“But Mother, that is the bottom line! You gave me life, but how I live it is up to me!” She held up her hand to stay the comments that she knew her mother was forcibly holding back. Elyse could see the cold anger on her mother’s face.
She got up from the table and went to the sink to face her mother. She wanted her mother’s understanding.
“Momma, you never had your husband snatched away from you.” Her voice broke and tears welled up in her eyes. “Never had to see his body lowered into the ground, thank God. You never had to go through that, but I have and now I have the chance to do something . . . reach for a dream we both had, to have our baby. And,” her mother heard the determination in Elyse’s voice, “that’s what I’m doing. I’d like to have your blessing, but if you can’t give me that, so be it.”
She felt as if her knees were turning to jelly, and knew she had to sit down quickly. She stared at the obviously shocked woman, who remained speechless and continued to fill the dishwasher.
Frances Joyce, stunned by Elyse’s news, finally closed the dishwasher, straightened her back and crossed the kitchen to sit at the table across from her daughter.
“I don’t like this idea, Elyse. Not at all. But if you’re woman enough to take this on, having a baby, no husband, I’m woman enough to say as long as you know what you’re up against . . .” Her voice trailed off as the tears continued to well up in her eyes. With a brusque gesture, she attempted to wipe her eyes.
“I do, Mother. Know it won’t be easy, but I’m ready for whatever comes . . .”
“Well, all right then. Like you said, ‘It’s your life.’ ”
That had been over five years ago. Elyse was finally the serene, fulfilled woman she had always wanted to be.
It was apparent that this was Thanksgiving Day and she was truly grateful. She removed the turkey from the oven, turned off the heat, placed the pies into the warm oven. Then she heard the sounds of cars coming up the drive. She removed her apron and tossed it onto a chair in the kitchen. She went to the front hall, called upstairs to her husband.
“Ace, they’re here.”
“Coming,” was his response as he bounded down the stairs. Elyse thought he looked so handsome dressed in black slacks and a white silk turtleneck shirt.
She smiled at him. “You look great, husband mine.”
“Think I’ll pass muster?” he teased.
“Absolutely! You’re top ace with me,” she quipped, “and you always will be. And all I’ll ever need is your love.”
He kissed her cheek and linked her arm with his, and together they walked to the front door of their home to greet their guests.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mildred E. Riley is a native of Connecticut. She is a member of Romance Writers of America and is the author of ten romance novels. A retired nurse, she lives in Massachusetts.