Dirty Gold ✓ [bxb]

Chapter 36 - The Storm Comes

"Awww poor guy. You know that you really didn't tell me how the two of you met?" She asked causally but I knew that this was anything but casual. She was really going for the kill.

"Uh yeah it's a bit of a long story." I said with a blush forming.

"Care to tell?"

I interlocked my hands together "Well we both met by accident. I was hanging out with friends - more like getting high with most people who I didn't even like - and we met on a Latina. He was in his boat." There were obviously a series of events before we really got together but this was already too much information as it was.

I should have just said we met at a bar or something. Axel will always back me up.

The pan sizzled as my Mom poured in the batter.

"Looks like the two of you are quite smitten with each other." She said turning to face me.

I shrugged "Yeah. We're really good together. I haven't felt this way about anyone else. I love him."

She tensed a little but recovered so quickly that it was almost not noticeable.

"That can be quite tricky you know." Mom said matter-of-factly.

"What do you mean?" I asked frowning my face in confusion.

"Kendall, dear, you're really young. Don't you think that you might be moving a little too fast?" She enquired. I frowned a little more.

"No we're not moving fast at all. I mean we've been together for a few months but I'm sure that he's the one for me. And I'm also the one for him." I explained to her.

"Sweetheart, I understand that this is a new relationship and you're caught up in the romance of it but I'm trying to make you look realistically at this. Axel is much older than you and has an already made out life for himself while you're just starting out. I'm just afraid that you won't have time to discover yourself because you're already so dependent on him."

"I'm not dependent on him Mom. Sure we are in tune with certain things but I'm my own person and he respects that." I argued already not liking the way this was going.

She sighed "I'm just worried that you're rushing through this whole things without properly thinking it through. I mean who knows, in a month he'll probably convince you to move in with him."

"We're already moving in with him after the winter break." I said testily even though it wasn't helping my case with Mom.

"Lord." She mumbled.

I stood up and walked in front of her "Look, Mom, I know how this looks and I know that you're worried about me but I know what I mean when I say that Axel is the one for me. Trust me on this. We've both seen each other at our very worst and our very best and I can say without a doubt that I love every single part of him which I've seen. I'm not expecting you to just like him right off the bat but please just trust me on this Mom. Please."

She nodded and then to my utter surprise, she burst out in tears.

"Wait, Mom please don't cry. I didn't mean to make you cry." I pleaded holding her.

Mom hugged me right and cried a little into my shoulder before raising her head and staring me in the eye.

"I'm such a bad mother." She claimed.

"No Mom you're not." I said to comfort her.

But she shook her head and went to the table to sit. I turned off the stove before going to join her.

"No I am. If I wasn't, then I might have seen all that was going on with Mara on time." At her words, my blood went cold. She knew?

"A week before I called you to come down, I was approached by some Interpol agents. They wanted information about your sister, they said that she was in hiding." She started explaining rubbing her red eyes.

"They said that she had done some." She swallowed "Things. Illegal things. Basically she's been accused of several crimes ranging from fraud to theft. I told them that it didn't make sense since she had a great job that paid well and she'd always make me believe that she was very comfortable and secure. But they told me that she'd been fired from her job a year ago and that her fiance called off the wedding after she'd been caught trying to defraud his father's company."

I really couldn't believe it. I always thought that I knew how far Mara could go, but this was like hearing about a whole different monster all together.

"At first I didn't believe them. I told them that they had made a mistake, she was being framed, anything to convince them that it couldn't be her. But it was." Her voice was so sullen and broken at the end that I handed her a Kleenex and kissed her cheek.

"How could I have not noticed all of this?" She asked clutching the tissue in her fist. "I mean ever since she was a little girl she'd always been able to talk and convince her way out of anything. And I let her. I taught her to become a manipulative and greedy young woman without even knowing it."

"It wasn't completely your fault Mom." I said holding her hand.

She blew her nose into the tissue "No no, it was. I'm her mother, I should have seen this coming. I raised her. I praised her in everything she did without even checking it all."

I sighed "Mom, there's something I also have to tell you." I knew that I shouldn't have told her in the state she was in, but my mother was hurting from everyone always lying and deciving her. People always kept things from her and I decided that I wouldn't be on that list any longer.

I told her about the Mara from my childhood and everything she put me through and even the incidents in London. Surprisingly, she didn't cry or seem sad. She listened intently to all I had to say.

After I was was done, she held my hand as right as possible and said "Thank you dear. For telling me the truth."

"You deserved to know mom." I assured her. You do. And please don't blame yourself for any of this."

"I'm so sorry that I allowed you to go through all of that. I'm so sorry that I didn't let myself see what was going on in my own house." Tears gathered in her eyes again but I hugged her and tried to also suppress my own. "I feel like I don't know who she is anymore."

"Now here I am trying to control you because I feel like I've lost all control in my life." Mom placed her hand on her temple.

"You're human, you make mistakes. We all do Mom. But the best thing to do is improve ourselves and our mistakes and not let them get the best of us. You're a great person Mom, you really are."

I kissed her forhead and she smiled for the first time since we'd started talking about Mara.

"Look Kendall, about Axel." She seemed hesitant. "I still feel a bit uneasy about all of this but if he really does make you happy and he does love you the way you love him, then go for it. I'll support you the best way I can."

"Thanks so much. He'll be glad since he's been trying to win your favour since we came." I stated with a grin.

Mom laughed at that "Well I'm sorry for giving him a hard time."

"Nah it's ok. He needed less ego polishing anyway. Too many people like him too fast." I said.

She snorted "Well you did find yourself a gorgeous Brit there son. Your cross to bear."

"And I bear it gladly." I said with one final kiss to her cheek.

"I'm so glad that you're home baby."

"Me too mom. Me too."

This was a long ass chapter. Very long. Merry Christmas to those of you who celebrate!