“I love it! I want to wear it forever.”
I couldn’t contain the size of my smile. “I love you. It represents that promise. Merry Christmas.”
“I love you too, Chance, Merry Christmas.”
Once Hope and I were ready to let go of each other, we both finally made our way into the main house. Like always, my sister had made a huge spread of food. She greeted me with a big kiss while I snatched her up for a hug.
Hope and I had already sat out the gifts under the tree; we’d even shook the ones with our names. Once we had breakfast and coffee we headed into the living room to exchange presents.
Hope and I handed Buffy her first box. Buffy smiled and began opening it. When she pulled out a custom made apron she stood up and put it on. Her name was embroidered at the top and all kinds of pastries were in different patterns all over it, but the best part was that it was almost all pink. “Oh my gosh, I love it! Thank you guys so much.”
I looked over to Hope and smiled. “Hope picked it out. She wanted you to have something for your new shop. You’re going to need something like that with all the cakes you’re going to be making.” Part of Mark’s big deal was that he got to lease one of the properties for his and Buffy’s new bakery. She was more than thrilled about it. I think it helped Hope see that even when her dad was being selfish, he had more than money riding on the deal. He was doing it as a surprise for his wife-to-be.
“You’re right, little brother. Here.” She handed me a package. “This is from Mark and me.”
The small box looked like it could only fit jewelry, but when I opened it I found a set of keys. “What’s this?” I asked.
“We got you an old clunker. Don’t get too excited it barely passed inspection, and could use some TLC, but Mark knew this old man who died, and his son just wanted to get rid of it. You need something that has four wheel drive and a roof on it,” Buffy announced.
“Thanks, guys. This is awesome.”
After walking out to check out the old red Chevy truck, we went back inside and continued to exchange gifts. Hope and I had gotten Mark some new towels that attached to his golf clubs with his initials sewn on them. We also gave him two packs of his favorite golf balls and matching covers for each of his clubs. He seemed thrilled.
Hope gave my sister her last package from us, which turned out to be her favorite gift. She had taken a picture of Buffy and I with our mother, and had it enlarged and put on a canvas. We both had tears in our eyes when she saw us standing there with Mom. “This is amazing you guys. Thank you so much.”
Mark got right up and started hanging it at the top of the stairs for her. She just kept looking at it. She and Mark had given Hope something to hold her IPod to her arm while she ran, and some new running shoes. They gave Hope a gas card that contained two hundred dollars. She was elated with that gift. Gas was expensive after all.
“Here, Hope. I got you a little something,” I said as I handed her the package. She opened it up and saw that it was two concert tickets to one of her favorite bands.
“Wow. Are you going to go with me?” She asked.
“If you want me to. I bought the second for whoever you wanted to take,” I said, knowing darn well I’d be her date.
Hope handed me a large box. “This is for you, Chance.”
I looked up at her, wondering what could be in this box. When I opened it, I gasped. Inside were three separate canvases, kind of like Buffy’s. All three were of me playing baseball and she had them done in black and white. They were all three about ten inches square and I traced my own image, as I looked at them. “These are awesome. Where did you get these pictures?” I asked.
“Actually, I gave them to her when she told me she wanted to get them done. Your living room needs some help brother,” Buffy admitted.
“Thank you so much. I reached out and hugged her with one arm, and it took everything I had not to pull her in for more.
Finally, when all of the other small gifts had been exchanged, Hope and I handed Mark and Buffy one last gift each. They both looked to one another and reached into the matching gift bags. When they pulled out a sweatshirt from each bag, they seemed confused, until they unfolded them and saw what they said.
Large letters saying VT were written across the front. They looked to each other and then to us.
“Hope? Does this mean you’ll transfer and go to Virginia Tech too?” Mark asked.
“Yeah, it does,” she replied.
He took her into his arms. “Thank you, sweetie. I’m so proud of your decision.”
Hope hugged him back. “You should probably thank Chance. He practically begged me,” she fibbed.
Mark extended his hand out anyway. “You’re a good guy, Chance. I’m happy to have you as part of this family.”
I shook his hand back and wondered how long he would think that.
For the rest of the afternoon Buffy fed us until we couldn’t move any longer. The snow continued to fall, but Hope still needed to visit with her mother. I didn’t want to worry about her out on the roads, so I asked Mark if I could just drive her over in the new truck. I’d never met her mother, but now was as good time as ever to do so.
Mark didn’t hesitate to say yes, considering it was for his daughter’s safety. I think he and my sister wanted some alone time anyway.
I helped Hope get her gifts together and we climbed into the truck. I hoped that meeting her mother wouldn’t ruin the perfect day we were having, but prepared for whatever might come.
52
I managed to wear the ring backwards on my right hand so that no one would notice, but I refused to take it off. Chance kept looking at me admiring it as we drove to my mother’s house.
“I’m going to tell her about us.”
“You don’t want to wait?” I could sense he was nervous. We’d waited too long already though. I was sick of keeping it a secret. Chance was my future and there would soon be nothing standing in our way.
I shook my head. “No, she’ll be able to tell. It’s best that I just tell her.”
Visibility was becoming difficult, but he still took one hand off the wheel and grabbed mine. “Whatever you want to do, Hope. Your parents knowing won’t change the way I feel about you.”
“I know.”
We pulled up at my mother’s house and she opened the door to greet us. When she took one look at Chance, I could already see the curiosity in her eyes.
“Merry Christmas, honey. Come on inside and get warm. This weather is beautiful, but so cold and dreadful as well.”
“It’s great to see you. You look well.”
“I am. I’m doing so much better. My new medication is keeping me going, that’s for sure.”
It was good to hear. I worried with my decision to go off to college if she’d have another flare up. That would be difficult to handle being a couple hours away. Still, it wasn’t far enough to where I couldn’t drive to reach her.
Once we were in the house and had removed our coats we sat down in front of my mom. “Mom, this is Chance,” I announced.
My mother leaned over and shook his hand. “Nice to meet you. So you’re the guy who lives out back?” She asked.
“Yes, ma’am. I’m Buffy’s younger brother,” he explained.
My mother looked from me to Chance. “May I ask how much younger?”
“I am twenty-one.” I watched his Adam’s apple move as he swallowed. I could tell from the way he was carrying himself that he was nervous.
After she just sat there staring back at him, I couldn’t take it anymore. “Mom, Chance is my boyfriend,” I blurted out.
She smiled briefly then got her motherly look going. “It’s not surprising. Living under the same roof had to help that along.”
From her sarcasm I could tell she wasn’t thrilled. “Chance lives out back in the pool house. We aren’t under the same roof.” I gave him a smile before continuing. “I’m practically eighteen already, but if it makes you feel better, I can brea
k up with him for the next seven days, and then get back together.” My flip comment caused her to calm down.
“That’s not necessary. I want you to be happy.”
“Speaking of that…Chance talked me into attending Virginia Tech. We’re both starting there next semester. He’s playing baseball for them,” I explained.
“Where did you attend school before?” She asked.
Chance cleared his throat. “Penn State. I had a full ride there, but after my mother died, I took some time off.”
He didn’t have to tell her about what else happened. The past was in the past, and I wanted him to not have to think about that part of his life anymore.
“Wow, Penn State. That’s amazing. You must be extremely smart,” my mother noted.
I looked over to Chance and noticed he was blushing. “I think school is important. That’s why I kept pushing for Hope to go. I think she needs to get a degree in something that she loves.”
He reached over and grabbed my hand. My first reaction was to pull away, and my mother caught on immediately. “Exactly how long have the two of you been hiding this relationship, because I know your father and he would never allow this to go on in his house?”
I squeezed Chance’s hand. “Since June. We met before we knew about Buffy and Dad. When I moved there we’d already…ugh-gone out. We tried to stay away from each other, but it became difficult. You’re right, Mom, he doesn’t know. We’ve only told you.”
Chance squeezed my hand tight. “I love your daughter, Miss Ryan. I’d never hurt her. I realize you might think I am too old for her, or that us living so close is a bad idea, but I can assure you that Hope is in good hands.”
“I appreciate your honesty, Chance. Actually, I think you’re wrong - at least about my approving. Honestly, I couldn’t have picked a better person myself. I didn’t care for her last boyfriend very much. Excuse my French, but he was a bit of an ass. She needs someone that appreciates her. You seem like you have that taken care of, so you have my blessing. With my recent health problems, it makes me happy knowing she’s not alone.”
“Mom? Really?” I couldn’t hold my excitement in. I ran over and hugged her. “Thank you so much. This is the best present ever.”
“What are the living arrangements going to be?” She asked. “When you do tell your father, granted he doesn’t want to cut off this guy’s genitals, what are you going to do?”
There were some things that my mother did not need to know. “Chance and I will be living in separate buildings at school.”
“I would be a bad mother if I didn’t ask,” she admitted. “Though, it doesn’t really matter. Once she turns eighteen, I have no say.”
“Are you going to tell Dad?” I asked.
“As much as I would like to hurt your father, I think I’ll keep my mouth shut about this.” She ran her hands across her legs. “How about we open some presents?”
I liked that my mother changed the subject. All in all, she seemed to genuinely like Chance. I wasn’t sorry for waiting to tell her. Who knows how she would have reacted before, but today was Christmas and I was almost legally an adult.
“Chance helped me pick out your gift, Mom. I hope you like it,” I said as I handed her the box.
My mother opened the neatly wrapped package and her eyes lit up. While she took her time looking at all of the separate charms, I started explaining what each one represented.
“The baby boot is to remind you of me. The house is to remind you that you always gave me a wonderful home. The heart signifies how much I love you. The book is to show that you have a daughter who is attending a university.”
She had tears in her eyes. “Oh, honey, I love it so much. Thank you.”
Once my mother calmed down she handed me a small package. “I wanted you to have this. Your grandmother gave it to me before she lost all of her memories. Since I didn’t have a lot of spending money, I decided it would be something perfect that you could always keep.”
I opened the box to find a diamond tennis bracelet. “Holy Crap, mom. I can’t take this.”
“Yes you can. I never get dressed up anymore anyway. Here, let me put it on you.” She reached over and wrapped it around my wrist. As she was doing so, she noticed my ring that I had turned backwards. “Oh my goodness what a beautiful band. It’s so small and dainty.”
She looked at the ring, but never noticed that the other side had a rock on it. “Chance gave it to me for Christmas.”
She looked up to Chance. “You did great picking it out.”
We spent the afternoon with my mother. She made us lunch and we talked about how her boyfriend was taking her to see his whole family. When I asked where he was, she stated he had to work at the nursing home until four.
The weather was getting worse and we knew we couldn’t afford to stay much longer. My mother seemed to be getting concerned about it herself. I was surprised when we went to leave. She reached up, hugged Chance, and said something in his ear. He smiled and nodded his head before following me to the truck.
The day was going great. I had my girl around my arm, and we’d just told her mother about us. She took the news better than I could have imagined and Hope seemed thrilled about it.
The roads were really getting slick and I had to drive slowly in order to keep us from sliding off into a ditch. The entire ride home we’d been the only vehicle on the road. It made me nervous when we reached the country roads that a snowplow hadn’t even visited yet. I wasn’t used to driving such a big vehicle, and I worried if I took a turn too fast we would be in big trouble.
“I’m just going to take my time, Hope. I want us to get home in one piece,” I announced.
“That’s a good idea,” she said as she scooted in the seat right next to me and buckled back up. “I hope you don’t mind me changing seats. I felt so far away from you.”
“Have I told you how awesome you are?” I asked.
She put her head against my side. “Not in the last ten minutes.”
“I love you.” I never hesitated when I said it, because it was the one thing I never doubted.
“I know you do, Chance. This really is a beautiful day.”
After a long ride, we made it home in one piece. I almost choked when we pulled up behind a Jeep with Pennsylvania tags. “Oh, shit!”
“What? Who is it?” Hope asked.
I should have known that our perfect Christmas would have come to an end sooner than later. I shook my head and placed it on the steering wheel once we came to a stop. “It’s Susan’s.”
Hope grabbed my arm. It was snowing too hard for anyone to see us in the truck. “Who cares. She can’t hurt us right?”
I shook my head again. “Here’s the problem. She likes to drink and run her mouth. Knowing Buffy, she won’t tell her about us in fear that she will blab after a bottle of wine. If she doesn’t know we’re together, she’s going to try to hook up. I swear to you that I have no interest in being with her, but not being able to give a reason could become a big problem.”
“I appreciate your honesty. It’ll be fine. It’s just a few days anyway. After that we can tell everyone.”
I looked into her eyes. “You’re right.”
“Then let’s go in and say hello to this Susan.”
I was reluctant, but we couldn’t sit outside and contemplate our plan. It was going to be a long couple of days, even if Hope thought it wasn’t going to be a big deal.
53
I wanted to picture Susan as some older woman who was overweight and maybe missing a few teeth. She was the opposite of that. In fact, she was the opposite of me. She had very long straight hair that was obviously professionally styled. Her face was beautiful and the makeup she was wearing made her look like she was a movie star. Unlike Buffy, she was dressed classy in some kind of tunic sweater and her long legs were exposed with only a pair of leggings that accented her narrow hips. She had a glass of wine already in her hand, and as we strolled in the door, I watched as
her eyes lit up. It was like she immediately had locked Chance in as a target. It was that moment when I knew she was exactly the threat Chance had warned me about.
The beautiful woman walked right past me and took Chance into a long embrace. “Oh my God, Chance, it’s been so long. I’ve really missed you. I hope you don’t mind me coming in a couple days early. I just wanted to be able to catch up with you. You look amazing.” Before he could get a word in edge wise, she leaned in and kissed him straight on the lips.
I swallowed hard and tried to keep from screaming. Buffy came up behind me and sensed my anxiety. She grabbed me gently by the arm. “Susan, don’t be rude. This is Hope, Mark’s daughter I was telling you about.”
She slowly let go of my boyfriend and turned to face me. I watched as she looked from my hair to my feet, and then finally extended her hand. “Nice to meet you. I guess I didn’t realize he had a kid in high school.”
“Actually, Hope’s in college.” Chance corrected her and gave me a wink before anyone could notice.
“Well you’re very cute. I bet she has lots of hot young men coming over to swim in that pool with her.”
“Not if I have anything to say about it,” my father interrupted.
I watched him walk into the room. They were all holding drinks, and when Susan, the now bitch-I-wanted-to-choke noticed Chance was empty handed, she took it upon herself to drag him into the kitchen by his hand and attend to his thirst, or whatever else she had in mind.
When I couldn’t see them any longer it made me feel jealous, vulnerable, and mostly angry. Chance was mine, and beyond the fact that we were together in secret, I wasn’t going to let ANYONE, especially this chick ruin my life.
“How was your visit with your mom today?” My dad asked.
“It was nice. She was impressed with Chance for some reason,” I tried to say nonchalantly.
“Well he’s an impressive kid. It looks like he may be preoccupied for the next few days though. The way Susan talked, they go way back,” he replied. I couldn’t help but notice how my dad seemed excited for Chance. More than anything I wanted to run to my room and cry.
A Hope and a Chance Page 33
