“Aw, come off of it! Silvia!” He laughed out loud, “She’s attractive, she is, but not nearly as pretty as you are!”
“Now you’re a liar!”
“Am not!” He was still laughing, “Settle down! She’s not that pretty! Sure, she’s tall and she’s got all that…American stuff...going on, but she’s got an odd mouth and…wow! That accent is bloody awful!”
“You wanted to tell her to shut up as well?”
“Well, didn’t you know? She talks too much and too fast,” He was always good at imitating accents. He launched into an American accent, waving his hand in the way that she did as he spoke, “An-duh…oh, my God! An-duh it was like reeeeely just cra-zay and-duh I was like holy shit! An-duh then I was like…oh, my God, yeerrrrrr joking! Uh-no way! An-duh ya think?”
He had me laughing so hard I had to wipe tears away, “I thought you got on so well!”
“We did! But honestly! She’s a nightmare, I swear!” He pulled away from the curb. “My brother would marry a monster, wouldn’t he?”
We drove on for a few minutes before I spoke again, “I reckon I should apologize to her.”
“You should. You were a complete cow back there, Love.” He smiled and shook his head, “It was quite humorous. I haven’t seen you that angry since Serena McLaughlin and Amber Monaghan set about their skulking in the common room.”
After that party in Ebbw Vale when we were kids, Serena McLaughlin, Amber Monahan and Peggy McGhee went on a calculated crusade to break up Oliver and me. All three of them mercilessly stalked him around campus, getting in his face and being extra cutsie and ever-so-sweet. Oliver couldn’t stand Peggy so I was bothered very little when I saw her approaching him. Amber, on the other hand, had a lovely face and not only that, she was fairly clever. She was meaner than a skinny dog as well. Attractive, clever and unkind are a dangerous combination in a teenage girl and I knew that even then. Amber made me nervous. Not that I thought she’d take Ollie from me, I just knew sooner or later there’d be an ugly confrontation and I wasn’t interested in getting into trouble. Serena, on the other hand, just made me insane. She was not particularly pretty, although not ugly, either, and I wasn’t impressed with her intelligence, but she had dedication, let me tell you. She was tenacious.
Sandra came to me on afternoon before class and told me she’d heard Amber talking about how the free period she and Serena shared with Oliver was the perfect time to “home in because Silvia’s in class and can’t watch his every move”. I went through the roof! Sandy asked me to settle down and told me that she’d been watching and Oliver was ignoring both of them, but I didn’t care. The very nerve of those bitches!
I was so angry I swore I’d kill all three. I skived off class and marched straight into the common room where they sat across from Oliver with their backs to me. Ollie was studying and didn’t notice me come in, so I began the conversation by kicking the back of Amber’s chair. What ensued was your typical altercation between teenage girls, complete with the boy telling everyone to quit squabbling and the girls ignoring him while hurling insults and threats. What was not typical, however, was when I reached out and grabbed Amber by her gorgeous blonde hair and shoved her so hard she flipped over her chair onto the table. She tried to stand, but I bitch slapped her back down.
Serena hadn’t possessed the brains to run away like she should have and gave me a push. I glanced a blow off of her shoulder, at which point she decided she didn’t want to get beaten up like her friend, and tried to run off to hide in the girl’s lavatory. Ollie insisted I let her go and got in my way, but by that point I was quite literally seeing red. I stormed past him into the toilet. Serena thought she was going to fight me and took another chance at striking me. I hit her once in the stomach, but beyond that, it only took about forty seconds before I had her head stuffed into a toilet. Ollie and Merlyn burst in and hauled me off. I still can’t believe nobody told on me.
“They got what was coming to them,” I mumbled, releasing the memory.
“Alexander loves Melissa, yeah? She’s an odd fit for him, I admit. He doesn’t do well with the insecure type, but if he feels that strongly about her, we have to give her a go. We have to accept her and at least try to love her, too,” I forgot sometimes how thoughtful Oliver was. He was the kindest person I ever knew, “If you think about it, Sil, she was probably nervous. Alex said he had her meet with us first because she was way too wound up to meet with Mum and Dad. I can‘t blame her.”
He had stopped speaking too suddenly. I knew immediately he was not telling me something. “Oliver, what is it?”
He stared straight ahead and screwed up his face.
“Oliver, Xander tells you everything. What did he tell you that you’re not telling me?”
“I know it won’t make you any happier, Love.” He warned.
“Tell me! I’ll find out sooner or later, won’t I?”
Oliver sighed, “I want to get home first. It could take a while.”
“Tell me, Oliver!”
He said nothing until he stopped the car at the bottom of our hill. He made me get out before he told me that Melissa was pregnant.
Then he held me while I cried.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
It took me two days to phone Melissa. I hadn’t been sad about our baby for a long time, but finding out Alexander’s wife was pregnant had brought back the emptiness inside. It wasn't fair that they were having a baby without trying and Oliver and I weren’t. It made me hate her all the more that on top of not liking her, I was jealous, too. But regardless of how I felt, she was family now. Alexander had married that dim tart monkey and there wasn’t anything I could do to change the fact. Family was everything and I wasn't going to create a rift in it that I could avoid. So I decided it was better to gather myself than to act like a troll again.
I was at the greengrocer’s when I finally did ring her. “Hello, Melissa?”
“Yes, this is.”
“Well, I know it’s you, you twit. Who else would answer Alexander’s home telephone?” I thought, but I said, “It’s Silvia. I’m dreadfully sorry for the way I behaved the other night. I was right awful and I didn’t need to be. I got my monthly the next day, maybe that had something to do with it, but it doesn’t matter. I want to apologize.”
“Oh, it’s OK,” She laughed, but it sounded forced. “I’m sorry, too. Maybe I was trying too hard. I didn’t mean to put you off. I get nervous and I don’t know how to act sometimes.”
“Listen,” I told her, “I know Alexander very well. He has no tolerance for stupidity. If he married you then you must have something special. Loads of girls have tried hard to peg him down and he tossed them off like rubbish. He chose to keep you on. It says a lot, it does.”
“Well, he has nothing but the best things to say about you.”
“That’s kind of him. I can be a bit of a cat, if you didn’t see.” Slight pause, “Has he taken you to meet his parents?”
“Not yet. Tonight.”
“Oh, heavens!” I rolled my eyes, “Do they know you’re married?”
“No, Alexander said not to tell them until we get there.”
“Alexander is a dolt,” I dropped the cucumber I was holding into my basket, “Listen to me carefully. Those two boys thrive on chaos and discord. Their parents are very conservative to say the least. How two people so by the book could have produced a pair of hell raisers like those two I have no idea, but bringing their parents to the brink of a stroke is sport to them. They enjoy watching them turn blue.”
She was quiet.
“They have a bet, you see, to see which twin can kill which parent first. Believe me, you can’t just walk into Edmond and Ana’s home and say, ‘Hi! I’m Melissa and I’m all banged up! By the way, I married your son this afternoon!’ They will have nothing of it, let me tell you!”
“What…what can I do then?” She sounded sincerely frightened.
“I’m going to do you a favour. I’m going to save you
from what happened to me when Alex and Ollie decided the best thing to do was to drop a bomb on their parents laps and his father shouted until I was in tears,” I paid the grocer.
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to phone up his mum and I’m going to tell her myself!” I answered bravely as I left the store, “Believe me, you’ll be happy I did, too! I’ll do it straight away as soon as I hang up with you! Your phone may begin to ring the instant I’m through. Do not answer it yourself under any circumstances. Is Alexander there?”
“Yes.”
“Good. By the time he has time to want to ring me up and shout at me I’ll have done it.”
“Uh…ok.”
“Whatever his parent’s say, don’t take it personally. They’ll get over the shock. They always do sooner or later. Honestly, they’ll love you in a couple of hours, so just relax and make sure you keep that muffin safe.”
“What?”
“Your baby. Think of your baby and stay calm. It’s not going to be ugly if I do this right, but be ready if it goes bad. Oh, and you’ve been married more than a month, remember that!”
“OK.”
“Right then! Cheers!” I clicked the phone closed.
I walked to a bench and set down my groceries as I hit speed dial for my mother in law. She answered on the third ring. “Hello, Mummy!” I sang in my sweetest voice, “How are you?”
“I’m wonderful, Darling!” Her voice was light. I knew she'd probably been preparing all day for Xander and Melissa to arrive. She was blissfully in her hostess element. I bet the tea tray was already laid out. I almost hated to be the one to toss the grenade into her kitchen, “Xander is bringing his American girlfriend over to meet us tonight! I’m so excited to see him!”
“Yes, well, make sure you serve decaffeinated tea.”
“Oh? She doesn’t take caffeinated tea?”
“Oh, Mummy, don’t you know? All the doctors say a pregnant woman shouldn’t have caffeine!” Silence on the line. Dead, cold silence. “Mummy, are you there?”
“She’s…” Ana couldn’t say it. I never did understand why pregnant was a dirty word.
“Baking a muffin, yes!” I answered brightly, “But everything’s all right! They’re already married! Didn’t Xan tell you?”
“He said he had a surprise.” She muttered.
“Oh, stupid me! I’ve gone and ruined it!” Alexander was madly beeping in on my other line, “Yes, yes. They married a month ago or so and he didn’t want to tell you and break your heart that he’d denied you being there the way that Oliver and I had. He said he loved her so much he just couldn’t wait! Who am I to fault him for that when I did the same?” I rolled my eyes as far back in my head as I could and hung my tongue out.
“Oh, my,” There was a great amount of relief in her voice, “I’m shocked, but that was thoughtful of him since I couldn’t be there! I do wish I could have seen one of my sons married!”
“Oh, she’s beautiful, Mum. She looks like a Barbie doll. And very nice, too, I think. It’s hard to tell, though. She might be a toad.”
“She’s having a baby?”
“Full on baking, she is! But they just found out, quite a shock. Must have happened on their wedding night, yeah?” I leaned forward and pretended to vomit into my sack.
“Oh, how sweet!”
It was all I could do to hold back my disdain, but I had done it! Alex was still ringing me, “Oh, Mum, that’s Alex on the line. I should pick it up and tell him I’ve ruined his surprise!”
“Oh, tell him to ring me straight away!” She was terribly excited.
“I will. Speak soon, Mum. Cheers!” I clicked the line over, “Alex?”
“DAMN IT, SILVIA! I CAN’T BELIEVE IT! YOU DIDN’T JUST RING MY MUM!”
“OH, SHUT YOUR NOISE BEFORE I COME OVER AND KNOCK YOUR ROCKS, BOYO!” I yelled back, “YOUR MOTHER IS SO HAPPY SHE’S ABOUT TO POP!”
There was silence again. “What?”
“I told her you’ve been married a month and didn’t want to break her heart by telling her when she couldn’t be there to see her last remaining single son married! You just loved Melissa so fucking much you couldn’t wait to get her to the church! I almost threw up, Alexander! I even told her you felt terrible for hurting her like Oliver and I had. I told her that you only just found out that Melissa is baking a muffin and that Melissa is beautiful and wonderful and you’re both so happy you’re blowing bubbles out your bums! She got banged up the night you got married, I said! Can you believe your mother believed that rubbish?”
“You told her all of that?”
“I did! And do you know why?”
“Why?”
“I did it for you! Because you’re my brother and I love you and you’re so incredibly fucking stupid! Your bloody wife is pregnant! That’s why I did it! Because I treated her like the road the other night and I would never, never do anything to upset her again and have anything happen to that baby!” I was so angry I was drooling. Literally, slobber was flying all over. It was disgusting, which made me even more upset, “You are a thoughtless moron, Alexander Martin Dickinson! As if Melissa needed to go to that house and have your father scream at you two like he did when Oliver and I got married! And she DOES have a muffin! She was freaked out meeting the two of us! Do you want her to get so upset that she loses that baby like I lost mine?”
“I didn’t think about it like that.”
“You didn’t think at all, did you?”
“No. I’m sorry.”
“You should be, Fuckhead!”
“Fuckhead? Jeez, Silvia, are you feeling all right?”
“No! You are an arsehole, Alexander! You fuckhead!”
He ignored me, “So Mum’s… she’s happy?”
“Oh, yes! She wants you to phone straight away. When you do you better remember you just found out! You were married more than a month ago and you’re regretful that she wasn’t here! Tell her if it’s a girl you’ll put Ana in the name! Just make her happy!”
“Right! Brilliant, you are!”
“Tell me something I don’t already know! I’ve got to go! I’m so angry at you I have to go walk until I calm down or I’ll crash off the road!”
“Don’t do that, Sil.”
“I won’t, no thanks to you! It’s my good sense, not yours!”
“Thank you for calling Mum.” He was dripping with gratitude. I'm serious. I could feel it coming across the line. It was like a pulse and it weakened the resolve I had to hate him.
“Piss off.” My voice sounded soft, even to me.
“You’re a daisy, you know that? I love you, Silvia!”
“Shut up. I hate you. Ring your mum.” I hung up on him and stomped to my car.
I tossed my groceries into the back seat and walked around the village. I didn’t know if I was upset because I was angry at Alexander for not thinking about the wellbeing of his wife and child or if it was simply because Alexander had a wife that I didn’t approve of and a child I couldn’t have.
After a while I knew it was only because of the child.
It wasn’t fair! I kicked some rubbish on the side of the road and told a stranger to piss off for looking at me like I’d done something wrong. It was not fair that Alex and Melissa should accidentally become pregnant and I couldn’t carry the one child I’d conceived. Eight years! Almost eight years we’d been married and they’d only known each other a couple of months. Already they had a child together and me and Oliver…we were hopelessly barren. I felt that hot bubble of envy swell up and pop in my gut. It burned across every inch of my body.
Oh, damn it! Damn it! Damn it! I wanted a baby so badly I ached all over. Stupid, worthless womb! I hit myself twice in the belly and immediately regretted it.
I hadn’t realised how late it was getting. It was almost dark by the time I got back to the car. I knew Oliver was home by then. He wouldn’t be worried, but he’d be wondering where I was. I turned the ignition and hurried home.<
br />
Oliver was sitting on the porch with the dog when I came up the hill. “Hello, Love!” He met me for a kiss at the edge of the yard and took the groceries. Duncan kept jumping as high as my waist, his little tail wagging frantically, “What were you up to? Concocting more alibis for Alexander?”
“He told you?” I lifted Duncan in my arms and rubbed his ears. He licked me wickedly.
“He caught me just before I left school. Bloody clever of you! You make me so proud!”
I had to smile, “Yes, it was rather sly, wasn’t it?”
“Brilliant!” He put his arm around me as we entered the house, ignoring Duncan as he tried to press between our feet, “I made toasted cheese sandwiches for dinner. They’re probably even still warm.”
“Excellent. I’ll make the salad then.” I began to take the vegetables out of the sack.
Oliver stood beside me and watched me chop. He moved the hair from my neck and put his face into my shoulder, “It was a big thing you did, Love,” He said quietly, “I know you don’t like Melissa. It must have been hard for you to say nice things. You protected her.”
“She’s married to your brother. I have to do what I can.”
Oliver nodded, but said nothing. He just stood straight, looked down at me and grinned.
Three weeks later my mobile rang while I was on my way home from school. It was Melissa. “Lucky thing you caught me!” I told her, “I’m almost out of range.”
“Can we get together?” She asked, “Just you and me?”
“Sure. Everything all right?”
“Yes. I just need to talk to another woman.”
“I’ll have to get turned around,” I really would have rather gone home, but I decided that to uphold peace in the family, I needed to make an effort to find something tolerable about her.
“Can we go somewhere? I’d like to get out for a while.”
“Like where?”
“I don’t know. Is there a restaurant we can sit and talk at?”
“Not around here. There are a couple of pubs, but they’re not intimate. Where is Alex?”
After Forever Ends Page 30
