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Chapter Four

Summary: Talia was unable to show her emotions and feelings at her Mom's news, which led to some tension between them.

I dropped my dessert fork on the table with a clang. The silverware rattled noisily as it hit the plate.

"What?" That was all I could say.

Celia frowned and said, "Are you serious, Mom? If that's a late April Fool's Day joke or a prank, it's not very funny. Or extraordinary."

Mia was quiet, still stuffing her face with fudge. She had a smear of chocolate around her mouth. She looked from Mom to Celia and then to me and back to Mom.

"Calm down," Mom said. "Of course, I know it seems like it is whirlwind but I'm serious. We're serious." She smiled and continued, "We're thinking of having the wedding in about three months before the onset of the busy holiday season." Holidays meant countless orders of all sorts of cupcakes and pastries, which meant nonstop baking. Last year, one of Mom's staff got sick so Celia and I had to pitch in and help. I baked two hundred sugar cookies with little snowflake sprinkles.

I regarded Mom. Why was she so happy?

"You mean you're getting married in October? That's less than three months." I countered.

"It's the perfect time. You, Celia and Mia will be on your short school break." She smiled as she ate a piece of cake. "By Christmas, we can take a family trip. If you want to be with your dad during the holidays, we can take a trip after that. That sounds fun, right?"

Celia stayed quiet.

"No, it's not," I said. "I won't be on break by then. I have classes until the last week of October." That was true, even if I threw it in the conversation to make a rude point. I refrained to comment on the holidays. Since our parents separated, holidays had been tough. Mom and Dad tried their utmost best to make holidays the same but they never were.

Mom reached for my hand across the table but I pulled it away. I could tell by the hurt expression on her face that she was not expecting that reaction from me. Mom and Celia were the ones who often disagreed on everything, from Celia's set of friends before (who I must say, were truly a bad influence as they knew nothing but party all day and all night) to the set of clothes that she used to wear (which I must add, were far from modest) in college. Whereas, Mom and I hardly quarreled about anything. But that night, I was feeling frustrated and a bit angry, admittedly. Mom was being an impulsive person.

Mothers were not supposed to make capricious and whimsical decisions, especially not our mom. She was level-headed, a no-nonsense person.

"It is so unwise," I said in a defiant tone. "A person can't marry someone that they've only been going out with for only five months. That's irresponsible." I was speaking generally but of course my broad words were aimed right at my mom.

"Talia, I can't believe that you can be that harsh," Mom said in a voice that was both surprised and saddened. "I anticipated Celia to be difficult on this but not you."

From out of the corner of my eye, I saw Mia starting to tear up. I hated that. I hated making her cry.

"What do you expect, Mom? That I would applaud you for your decision to walk down the aisle so suddenly without even thinking about it, with a man that we don't know and you barely know yourself?" I excused myself from the table and stalked out of the room.

When I reached my bedroom, I closed the door behind me.

I opened my window and went into the tree house. I sat in the wooden floor for about five minutes. The smooth yet hard surface welcomed me.

After, the tears came. I did not know the exact reason why but I cried and all the frustration from Mom's so-called good news spilled out of my eyes. My parents' separation was like a sinister ghost that had been haunting me for years. At that time, I acted like I understood but I did not. Until now, I still do not understand. I lived with it but it still baffled me, like the concept of left and right. When did left become left? And, how did right become right? I was not sure it would ever make sense to me. Now, another snag was added to an already complicated situation, which was Tim.

When I knew that it was late, I went back to my room using the light of the full moon as my guide.

I sighed as I tried in vain to fall asleep.

Image Source: Artnet

"Sabel in Blue" by Benedicto "Bencab" Cabrera