A/N: Hello again friends! You all have been amazing throughout the creation of this fic. Your comments have been motivational and a pleasure to read. Thank you all for sharing your thoughts with me. To all who have been following and favorite-ing, I'm pleased that you are enjoying the story. Thanks for stopping in again! Here is another installment. Happy reading!
Maura checks the hour on her cell phone and realizes she only has time to grab a protein bar for breakfast on her way out the door.
As she selects something to take with her, her phone indicates an incoming message.
Thnks 4 helping me this a.m. I just can't scrub my back as good as u do ;)
Maura rolls her eyes, but can't stop from grinning. Take a shower with me…Jane asked. We don't have to do anything…she said. It'll SAVE time…she promised. And Maura was foolish enough to believe that she could deny a slick, soapy, Jane Rizzoli in a steamy shower when her hands became more insistent and suggestive as they glided over her skin.
Jane, of course, did not have the negative consequences of a drastically extended shower. After throwing on her standard work attire, and tying her wet hair up in a ponytail, she was out the door and on her way to work.
Maura, on the other hand, did her best to rush through her standard morning routine despite the spontaneous extracurricular activities. Now she is running late for a very important appointment. One she took off a few hours of work for to be able to make.
I'm happy you enjoyed it. However, if I miss my final fitting because of your unusually high morning libido and maddening persuasiveness, I won't be 'scrubbing your back' for a while.
Maura smirks as she sends the message, satisfied with the threat. She can almost picture Jane's face as the color drains from it. She isn't blaming her current predicament entirely on the detective. After all, once she became aroused, she was just as eager a participant. Unfortunately, the fact remains that she only has eight minutes to get to the dress gallery...and it usually takes her fifteen on a good day of traffic.
With that thought in mind, Maura puts her phone on silent, snatches her purse off the kitchen counter, and heads out. She doesn't have time to address the flood of apologetic texts that she knows Jane will send in response. She can reply after she has safely arrived at her destination.
As soon as she opens her front door, she freezes in place. It takes her a moment to fully comprehend the person who is standing before her, and she almost forgets her appointment all together. Almost.
Constance Isles stands on the stoop, looking uncharacteristically like a deer caught in the headlights. Her hand is stretched out toward the door frame, finger hoovering a centimeter away from the doorbell.
Maura's lips set into a hard frown.
Constance takes a deep breath, and smiles a sad kind of smile. "Hello Maura."
The two women stand, staring at each other, before Constance speaks again. "I'm sorry for not calling ahead. I just…took a chance that you might be home. I've been wanting to speak with you for quite some time."
Maura does her best to conceal her scowl. She has received nothing but complete silence from Constance since the negotiations.
"Now will not work for me. I'm already running late for a fitting, and they'll likely have to cancel my appointment if I'm more than fifteen minutes past my time."
"Oh." Constance says.
Maura planned on stepping around her and walking to her car. However, the genuine sadness on her mother's face tugs at her heart. It isn't an easy thing to do, in light of the recent bad blood between the two of them, but if her mother is there in an effort to mend their relationship, she decides that now is the time to extend an offer of truce. If Constance's intentions are malicious at all in nature…well, at least Maura will be able to walk away with a clear conscious.
"If you'd like…" Maura pauses, still hesitant to mar this experience with a potentially negative encounter. She clears her throat before continuing. "…you could join me."
A spark of reserved hope lights up the elder Isles' eyes. "I wouldn't want to impose." She says, although the excitement in her voice and restrained smile betrays her modesty.
Annoyed, Maura steps onto the porch and turns to lock her door. "Either way, I need to leave. Now. You are invited to come along. Whether or not you do is up to you."
She walks around her mother, then, and strides to her car. As she reaches the driver door, she looks up to see that Constance has followed. She is standing at the passenger door of the vehicle, looking at Maura for a final confirmation that she is, indeed, allowed to come.
Maura gives her a curt nod and the Isles women slide into their seats. They buckle their seatbelts, and Maura starts the tense journey to the dress gallery.
After several long moments, Constance speaks. "What fitting is this for?"
Doing her best to keep the terseness from her voice, Maura answers. "My wedding gown. They completed the last of the alterations…hopefully. It shouldn't take much time."
Constance nods her head and silence engulfs them once more.
"I doubt it will amount to much…words are so meaningless without action to validate them…but I'm sorry."
Maura spares a skeptical glance at her mother. "For what?"
Constance stares out her window, watching the world go by. "For many things, I suppose. The most recent of which is my response to your engagement."
The doctor's knuckles turn white as she grips her steering wheel in agitation. She would very much like to unleash a verbal torrent of years' worth of pent up sadness, loneliness, upset, and ire toward the woman. It would be incredibly easy to do. In the back of her mind, a bitter part of her whispers that it would make her feel so much better. In the forefront of her thoughts, however, her analytical brain tells her that harsh words cannot free her of unpleasant memories, and will only serve to breathe new life to yesterday's unhappiness in the present.
With a deep, almost meditative breath, Maura forces her grip to relax.
"I will do my best to offer an explanation…if you care for one." Constance continues. "I understand if now is not the best time to bring up this topic. But, I am here in the hopes of resolving some of our current discord."
Constance pauses. Her voice is strained and quiet when she speaks again.
"I…haven't received an invitation to the wedding, and I realize by now that it's because I wasn't sent one. I understand why, but I want you to know that I would like to attend."
Maura barks a humorless laugh. "Why would you want to attend something that offers you no benefit? You made it clear that my happiness is not reason enough for you to support my marriage to Jane. And, let's not forget, she is obviously just using me as a means to access my vast wealth."
"I regret the things I said." Constance admits. "I know Jane isn't with you for the Isles fortune. She obviously cares for you a great deal. And…I'm grateful to her for how happy you are now."
Maura feels the winds of resentment suddenly leave her sails. She is not a confrontational person by nature. Through life, she has had to learn that abrasiveness is sometimes the only way to get a point across or stand up for yourself. If given a choice, Maura would much rather just 'get along' with people. So when Constance concedes to the points Maura is making, Maura feels herself start to emotionally disarm.
Maura's voice is more monotone as she merges onto the highway. Traffic is relatively light, considering the time of day, and she estimates she will arrive approximately ten minutes past her scheduled time.
"So…you are fine with Jane and I being married. And you want to be at our wedding." She sighs. Why did this have to be such a round-a-bout conclusion? "Why make such a fuss about it in the first place?" She asks.
"Ah," Constance sighs. "…the explanation then."
The mother looks to her daughter then. Maura glances over in time to make awkward eye contact with her, then quickly focuses back on the roadway.
"I want you to know, first of all, that I understand none of what I disclose will excuse my behavior. I am a grown woman, and I am responsible for the way I act and the things I say."
Maura nods in acknowledgement, prompting Constance to continue.
"You didn't know my mother and father. They both passed away before you joined the family. You may or may not believe that I was quite a rebellious teenager. In my younger years, both of them were distracted by their business ventures, and I was often left to the care of nannies. When I was old enough, I attended private school and soon found a love for art. Following the artistic culture of the time, as I matured, I began to act out."
"At first, my parents didn't seem to take much notice. But, when word spread amongst their social circle of who their daughter was associating with, they took more interest in what I was doing and who I was doing it with. We quarreled for years over what I could and could not do with my life…until my father's unfortunate death of a heart attack when I was seventeen. Despite our differences, he was still my father. I grieved for him, and felt guilty for many of the things I had put him through."
"Without his contribution, the family business fell on hard financial times. As cliché as it may sound, my mother began pressuring me into dates with the sons of wealthy businessmen. I loathed it, but she hung my father's death over my head as a way of keeping influence over me. It was quite a feat when I attracted the attention of your father. He was wealthy beyond measure and I, at least, did not despise him. After we married, I gave domesticity a go. I really did. But, it did not suit my free spirit to be a kept housewife. Although we have stayed married over the years, Arthur and I's marriage is more one of convenience than anything else. A part of me loves him, but when we are together, I realize how little I actually know him."
Maura feels something in the pit of her stomach that she hasn't ever felt for her mother before. Pity. What a terrible thing…to be guilted into a relationship and marriage with a man that you merely tolerated in comparison to others.
Constance laughs sadly at the upset expression on her daughter's face. "I don't want anyone's pity, Maura. And, like I said, my past is not an excuse for what I choose to do with my life now. Or how I choose to treat others. I just want you to consider…I wasn't taught well when it came to parenting. I was a daughter that became a successful bargaining tool for the advancement of my family's business. My relationship with Arthur is not all bad. I have some good memories of our time together. He has otherwise been respectful of me, and allowed me to pursue my own interests. We make our marriage work, but it is nothing like what you have with your detective. I'm embarrassed to say that I am a tad jealous of it. And, I suppose, I have become bitter toward the notion of true happiness and love."
Maura thinks over the information for a while. She never heard much about her family history growing up…and these new details are certainly enlightening. They don't rectify past transgressions, but they do make them easier to understand.
The rest of the journey is made in contemplative silence. By the time Maura parks her car, and walks through the front door of the shop, she is eleven minutes late for her appointment.
After apologizing heavily for her tardiness, Maura is assured that her appointment can be kept. She's quickly ushered back to the fitting rooms, while an associate fetches her dress.
Constance sits in the waiting area, entertaining herself with her thoughts. She doesn't know how much her relationship with her daughter can improve at this point, but she's more invested than she has ever been in finding out.
Fifteen minutes later, the shop associate emerges from the dressing room, followed by the seamstress, and finally, Maura.
Maura is clothed in a simple, white, tulle A-line dress. It has a small amount of lace adorning a modest sweetheart neckline, and a scalloped lace hem. It fits her body in a way that shows her exquisite feminine form, but is also appropriate for a formal gathering of friends and family. The dress's simplicity enhances the quality of its craftsmanship…and it allows Maura's own beauty to reign supreme as the visual highlight.
She steps up onto an elevated platform and blushes as she catches herself in the curved mirror. The dress is exactly how she envision it, and the final alterations have made it feel like a second skin. She runs her palms over her midsection as it flutters in excitement. She and Jane will be married in less than two weeks. Standing in this gown, staring at her own image as a blushing bride, makes it so real to her that her head spins a tad.
"You're beautiful."
Maura catches her mother's eye in the mirror and smiles. "Thank you."
After the seamstress takes a few last measurements, ensuring that she completed her work to her own and Maura's satisfaction, she leaves the group to tend to the next appointment.
Maura goes back into the fitting room and changes out of the gown. She pays for it and carries it out to her vehicle, with her mother in tow.
As she carefully places the dress in her car, she speaks to her mother. "I need to take my dress back to the house, so I can drop you off if you'd like. I don't want to seem rude, but I do have to go to work today. If you'll be in town long, perhaps we can have a meal together."
"Don't worry about me. I'd like to peruse the boutiques in the area, then I'll call a cab to take me to my hotel. I'll be in town until tomorrow evening. I'd love to meet with you and Jane. Please call me and let me know when it is convenient for you both."
Constance hesitates, then steps forward and pulls Maura in for an awkward hug. Maura grimaces at the unfamiliarity of it, but her heart warms at the sentiment.
"Drive safe, darling." Constance says as she steps back.
"I will." Maura answers. She sits down in her driver seat and starts to close the door. She pauses and calls out to her mother, who has already turned and is walking toward the sidewalk.
Constance turns back with a questioning gaze.
"I…would like you to come to the wedding. I'll bring an invitation for you tomorrow." The desire to have her mother present is sudden and unrelenting.
Constance, for the first time this day, smiles with genuine excitement. She nods, waves goodbye, then turns back and disappears into a nearby shop.
Maura smiles to herself, feeling optimistic in light of the day's events. She takes her phone out of her purse and checks the time, forgetting that she had turned it to silent to tease her fiancée. She unlocks the phone, giggling as she reads through the messages that await her.
Lol. Very funny.
Funny, right?
Maura? Don't play.
Hello?
Dear Lord. Please tell me you made your appointment.
Tried to call. Got ur voicemail. U okay?
Gettin a little worried here. Call me.
Maura quickly calls her concerned lover, feeling guilty for being so distracted.
The phone doesn't finish one ring before Jane answers. "Damn, Maur. I was getting worried. Are you okay?"
"I'm sorry, Jane. Yes, I'm fine. I made it to my appointment, although late, and I'm on my way back to the house now to hang up my dress. It looks wonderful."
Maura can hear Jane's smile on the other end. "I can't wait to see it…better yet, I can't wait to see you in it. What's with the com silence? Were you just punishing me for making you late?"
"No…at least, not entirely." Maura replies. "I had an unexpected run-in with my mother on my way out the door this morning."
There's a moment of silence, and Maura can picture Jane setting up in her chair.
"Really?...How did that go?"
Maura smiles and leans her head back against her headrest. "Let's just say, we have another guest to add to our attendee list."
A/N: Thanks again to all! I wish everyone health and happiness! Until next time.
SJR