MAYA POV
The Christmas season flew by, the conversations with my mom was long forgotten for the most part. The confession that I'd perceived as her not wanting us was later discussed in therapy and I'm feeling better about it... not perfect but better. It was a big discussion, tears and misunderstandings, and comparisons of myself as a parent and her as my parent. But the tears had eventually dried and despite the fact that I'll never fully accept the words of my mom, I've decided to just 'forget' about them.
The big thing that has been hard to forget is the whole drama between brothers. Nathan has just about made a board full of string lines and photos about the drama, he wants a part in revealing the truth but we're not too sure. Well, I'm sure that I'd enjoy the hell out of seeing Nathan do the big reveal but sadly my wife quite literally would kill Nathan. He's seen her evil eyes and has dealt with her Italian attitude; she knows not the mess with the Carina.
The drama was big, it took up our whole lives. Each message sent from Mason or Andrea sparked a conversation between me and Carina. It fuelled discussions at all points of the day, in the shower, cooking, cleaning, and almost sleeping. And today, we finally found ourselves invited to Mason's house.
He'd bought the house about two years ago, he wanted to buy a house that was a fixer upper. He loved the challenge until the big expenses and scammers started to appear randomly. We hadn't had the chance to see his house, Alex and Isabella had had that luxury way before us. But this evening, after a day of sweat, blisters, and probably tears, Carina and I will survive our day off and meet this 'amazing' Jasmine.
I'd woken up this morning to a bruise on my forehead, I quite literally felt the impact and knew who the culprit was within seconds. Alex was growing, exploring the world and at the latter part of being a toddler – he has found himself testing boundaries. Testing boundaries is probably the more acceptable terminology instead of 'being a dick'. Testing boundaries never included having a dinosaur thrown at your forehead so hard that you'd gained some red outlines of feet – the feet of a stegosaurus.
"I need you to listen Alex" Carina repeated, she'd been awake and had caught our son red-handed. She'd directed him downstairs and onto our couch. I'd followed shortly after, a hand resting on my forehead wanting to replace said hand with an ice pack.
"We don't throw things, do we?" Carina asked Alex, he was sitting and staring at the floor, his weapon of choice was still in his hand. As Carina had finished her question, he'd shaken his head and looked up, he had tears brimming and a pout had soon followed.
"What do we do when we hurt someone?" Carina asked, her hands had found Alex's legs, softly stroking up and down in a calming and loving way. But these motions were interrupted, a conversation ending and light footprints following me, you could guess what was coming.
"I'm sorry mommy" Alex had exclaimed, running into my leg. Apologies was something he'd mastered; he's become an expert at saying those precious words.
"Mommy, are we going to Uncle Mason's tonight? Could we go shopping first so I can buy a dress" Isabella asked, I didn't think we'd told Isabella about the plans for the day and I sure as hell wasn't aware that she'd needed a dress.
"Why do you want a dress, angel?" I Asked, Carina had finally joined us in the kitchen, breakfast had become her main focus.
"Daddy and Daughter dance" Isabella said, she looked resigned.
"She's upset because she doesn't have a 'daddy'" Carina fills me in, noticing the confusion etched across my face.
"I'm sure Mr Smith would love for me to take you. Would it be okay if I was your date to the dance?" I'd asked before my brain could really catch up to the idea. Arms wrapping around my other leg answered my question. Despite my lack of dancing skills... and lack of body parts... I was going to take my daughter to her dance and make a night of it.
-
Shopping for dresses wasn't fun, Carina's pickiness had been inherited by our daughter. She wanted a pink dress, but each dress either was a shade too light or dark. If the colour was right, the frills were wrong, or the glittery stuff wasn't quite in the places they should be. Carina was accommodating, she loved this shit. She was perfect, she told me to take Alex to the park instead... fucking god sent.
She'd eventually found the dress; it took a Pinterest board and three hours of time in different stores... but at least it was successful. I'd taken Alex home for his nap before they'd even left the first store, I'd escaped a monotonous few hours. When they'd come back, we'd had a little snack and got ready for the long-awaited dinner.
The drive was quick, our kids were asleep in the back which left us to actually talk; to go over the plan for the evening.
CARINA POV
Today had been perfect but we all predicted that would change. We all had it in our brain that the woman Mason loves are the same as my brother's. Maya's brain had been exploding with expectations, you could see her eyes flicker left and right as if she was scrolling through endless ideas about how to truly break the news to her brother.
She'd knocked on the front door, three deep breaths were her attempt at controlling her nerves. We could hear loving shouts about who was going to open the door.
"Ah my favourite niece and nephew" Mason exclaimed, as he hugged both. He pulled us in, revealing Jasmine. The darker lipstick didn't change a thing, her confidence didn't waver as she smiled. Grasping Mason's hand, she shook ours, a respectful introduction. There was a gleam in her eyes, something hidden there that I couldn't place, that Maya definitely couldn't place.
We were directed into the dining room; you could consider it very similar to just a few weeks ago. The table was laid, and the smell of food was something, Maya would probably critique it; something I'm guilty of inspiring.
"So, tell us about you Jasmine" Maya probed, our children had been seated at the table. Isabella was just tall enough to properly sit in a chair whereas Alex had found himself nestled on Maya's lap, happily stealing food from her plate.
"There's not much to tell." Jasmine quietly mutters, looking down at the food in front of her.
"There must be something you could share" I state, Mason looked over at us.
"I guess I could say I'm a writer, and recently I found the perfect man." She gives a reasonable answer, an answer we all would believe. Stating she's a writer was new, she'd never said that at the last meal. How was it possible that we could compare 'first' meetings.
"What type of books do you write? Are any published?" Maya interrogates, she finds my hand and squeezes it.
"She writes fictional books about a woman who travels all over the world. The character ends up dating an Italian Man who's a vet" Mason cuts in, a smile adorning his face. Jasmine and Mason shared a look, a look of love; truly sickening in this case.
-
MAYA POV
Two hours of learning about a new person. Two hours that we'd never get back. Isabella and Alex had left the table, their small voices created an atmosphere as they played together. The dinner was quick and tasted okay. The conversations flowed, Mason forced conversations and we all followed along. Jasmine had a look throughout the night, she'd try to keep eye contact with me which was amusing. What the hell does eye contact mean in this situation?
The night had drawn to a close, deserts eaten, and the buttons on our jeans open; we found ourselves emptying the table for our hosts.
"Can I speak to you?" Jasmine caught me off guard. I nodded, following her through the house and outside.
"Look, I know you know who I am. I know that you probably hate me, but you can't tell Mason or Andrew about this." Jasmine begged.
"God, I'll give you a week to tell them. Any longer and I'll tell them everything." I threatened, marriage pulled the threatening behavior out of me... mostly. Jasmine nods her head hastily, running back into the house to find her 'boyfriend'.
