His Olivia: Side Reel; A Mother's Love
A mother knows best.
She knew. It didn't even take a second trip over here for her to see it in his eyes. She knew the second he walked into the kitchen dressed in black. She was his mother after all. It had been 20 long years since she had last seen him, but this changes a person. And she could see it in his stance. It wasn't a disease or illness. It was love.
He was in love.
A mother knows. Just like her mother knew when she fell in love with Walter, she knows that he's in love. His eyes admit mostly joy as he sees her and she feels overwhelmed as well. But it's there it's resting in the back of his eyes, waiting for a moment alone to be brought to the surface. She wonders what woman could hold her son so captive. He was infatuated with a woman, but she didn't know who. It was then she realized it.
What he left behind.
And now as he argued with Walter she felt sick. She felt ill that she could so selfishly take her son from another woman. That she could sleep at night knowing that another woman was out there in tears because the man she loved was gone. She wondered then if he was married, if he had a family. Had he left behind a family for her? The sickness caused her to stop moving in the kitchen then.
What if she had selfishly torn apart a family? What if she selfishly took a father away from a son or a daughter? How could she live with herself knowing someone else was going through almost the same pain she felt? His mother was a good person, she believed in God, she saw they best in everyone, but now she couldn't see the best in herself.
She felt like a monster. She looked at her husband as if he were a monster. She had seen it when he first came, his happiness of being home. But that was so short lived. She saw it in his eyes when they were having tea, he was unhappy. He did well to hide it, but she could see it. She wanted to ask then what she was like, who she was, but she didn't. And now as he yelled at Walter in the kitchen, she really must have been someone.
But that's not why she was startled then. These were only speculations. Part of her (the selfish part most likely) wanted her thoughts about him having a family or having someone to be wrong so that she could have him back without hurting someone else. That was when the words, "I love her" slipped from his mouth and she lost all her control she had gripped. The glass in her hand hit the ground with a loud shatter and she slumped to her knees silently. Her selfishness had made her feel this way.
She picked up the pieces with solemn and she hit with the sense of guilt. Was this how the other woman felt when she realized Peter had left? Did she even know about Peter in the first place? Then the selfish thoughts returned to her.
She remembered sitting with him at the table in the sun, drinking tea. He had not mentioned her, had they fought? She wondered if the other woman was pretty or friendly. Was she just like Peter or was she opposite? She wondered if the woman knew or if she had been kept in the dark. But she shook her head at these thoughts. Peter had loved whoever she was and she could still see it in his eyes then, he wasn't ready to leave her.
Walter approaching her pulled her from her thoughts. His expression was passive, a scary emotionless look she rarely saw. This side of her husband was rare to her and she couldn't help but suck in a breath. He crouched down to help her pick up the shards of glass and gave her a smile, a wicked smile that frightened her, so she shooed him off. He dropped the shards of glass in the trash and looked down at her. His eyes read, "We'll talk about it later" and hers couldn't quite comprehend what he meant. As he went back to talking to Peter she realized it.
The sensation almost made her sick again. Her husband, the man she loved kept the woman her son, another man she loved, captive. She couldn't fathom it. It was almost impossible. She knew he hadn't come back just for her, there had to have been another reason. She knew it now. This woman, whoever she was, was being held here in this universe. By her husband. What monsters had they turned into?
She thought hard about the places she could be. Her husband had properties, yes, but she tried to figure out which one she could be in. Her mind mentally scanned over the bills and invoices of places he purchased. There was immediately a flag in her mind, a piece of property, an old storage building. He said he was going to make it the new headquarters of a division of something, but nothing had happened to it, unless it was being used for other purposes that is.
She looked down at the glass as Peter continued yelling. Walter had long since left and the sound of her son's angry voice in her ears almost made her cry. She cared so much for Peter, for her son, that she couldn't bear to hear him with that much hate in his voice. He sounded weak and lost, fragile and hurt. He sounded heartbroken. It broke her heart to hear his shouts this way. He quieted down moments later.
She focused on picking up the shards of glass on the ground as he approached her. She wanted so much to have him stay with her, to stay with her as a family, but she knew he wouldn't. Walter had severed any chance of that. He bent down and picked up the glass avoiding her eyes. She was so conflicted, she wanted to keep him with her, but she wanted to fix it, she wanted to see her son happy, even if it meant leaving her behind.
She was a mother. She wanted to make her son happy. It was part of her. The moment she gave birth to Peter, his happiness became everything to her. She wanted to see him smile, to see his happiness. She wanted to remember the joy in his eyes. She could see the joy this woman brings to him. She wanted nothing more than to see this anger, this scary side of Peter disappear and be replaced with joy and happiness he once had. She sighed heavily and looked up.
"I know where we can find her."