Chapter 12

Freddie's dad was about the same height as him. If she didn't know better Carly would have sworn the man was an English professor. He wore the requisite tweed jacket with suede elbow patches, a sweater vest underneath and no tie. His facial hair was neat, a simple mustache/and very short beard combination, obviously darkened with the help of a bottle, given the color of his perfectly groomed hair. It had light gray and white strands intermixed with the dark brown, and the obligatory gray at the temples of a man over forty.

"I'm so happy to meet you." He pulled the girl into a hug. "Freddie has told me so much about you. And I hope you don't mind me saying, but you're even more beautiful in person than the pictures Freddie's shown me."

"Thanks." Carly blushed. "I've got to confess, I was surprised when Freddie told me we were going to be meeting up with you."

The three ordered their drinks and made small talk until Carly finally mentioned the part that had piqued her curiosity. "I guess Freddie's told you, we've known each other since middle school. The thing is, he never mentioned you when we were younger."

"Well, I suppose that was all my fault. See, when Freddie was young, his mother and I had some problems with our marriage. I guess I went through my mid-life crisis a bit early and I ended up leaving, something I regret for Freddie's sake, but I just couldn't live in that home any longer. No offense son and sorry to be so blunt, but anyone who can live with that woman should get a Nobel prize or at least be knighted."

"Preaching to the choir here, Dad." Freddie said as the three were settling back into the booth and picking up their menus. "She went off the deep end last week, let me tell you."

"Because of the baby?" Karl questioned.

Carly's mouth dropped open. "How did you . . .? Are you psychic or something?" She looked down over her front, knowing she couldn't possibly be showing at less than six weeks pregnant.

He chuckled. "Um, actually Marissa called and told me. Accused me of passing on my wild genes to my son and trying to convince me to speak on behalf of your not even having the child. Which, though none of my business, is a totally preposterous idea. And, frankly, I am shocked your mother would even suggest such a thing, given her convictions."

"Oh my God!" Freddie dropped his head. "That's not how I wanted you to find out, Dad. We were intending to tell you today."

"It's alright, son. You don't owe me any kind of explanation. I've not been enough of a parent to you to have a right to judge, so don't worry about me. In fact, don't worry about anyone but you two. No matter what, I want to see that you're happy, son. And I'll do everything I can to help your dreams come true."

"I know Mom's wazzed off something fierce. But I never thought she'd call you to enlist your help with trying to convince us to get rid of the baby."

"Oh, it's not just the baby she's upset about. She tells me she demanded you two break up and never speak again. She's convinced herself that Carly is the embodiment of evil and your life is basically headed downhill as long as she's in it."

"Holy crabs!" Carly clasped a hand over her mouth. "I know she's upset, and she's never been all that truly fond of me, but this is ridiculous."

"Well, from what I see, Carly is a beautiful and articulate young lady and you two make a nice couple. And the most important part is that you're happy together. Happier than Marissa and I ever were I could see that plainly in the first three minutes."

"Wow. Thanks, Dad." Freddie was shocked at his father's laid back attitude. "That-that means a lot."

"And for what its worth, if there's anything I can do to help you kids, I will."

"Actually there might be one thing." Freddie wasn't sure how to approach this. "I don't know how much Mom told you, but she sort of kicked me out. Not in so many words, but I certainly don't feel welcome."

Karl Benson nodded. His ex-wife neglected to mention this part.

"And I'm staying with Carly at her brother's apartment and, I can't really say I'm comfortable there with Mom right across the hall and everything."

"Say no more. I was actually going to get together with a realtor tomorrow to look at houses. I was thinking of a duplex, you know so I could rent the other side out. But good tenants are hard to find. Maybe you two would want to come along. We could see if there's any place where I could have one side and you could have the other."

"Uh, that's really nice, Dad. But I'm afraid until after graduation, we won't have a lot of money and then with baby expenses and stuff for school and all, we won't be able to pay a lot for rent or anything."

"It's fine, son." Karl smiled at them. "I know, we both know, I've been a pretty rotten parent for a long time. Your mother, despite her flaws, did everything for you. She got you through your teen years, out of high school, she started you through college. It's the least I can do to help you through your senior year and give you a boost until you get on your feet. And hey, if you live right next door, I get to not only see you every day but I get to be right next door to that grandbaby." He smiled at Carly. "And if your mother won't come around to the idea of being a grandparent, well I guess I'll just have to spoil him all the more."

"Do you think Mom's ever going to calm down about all this?" Freddie asked his dad.

"Well, honestly, you know her better than I do. You've lived with her a lot longer than I did. But from our short phone call, I'd have to say there's little chance of her getting off her high horse any time soon. Your mother wasn't always so controlling and neurotic about everything and it sounds like she certainly hasn't mellowed with age. I probably shouldn't be telling you about this, but on the other hand, you have a right to know."

Freddie and Carly just looked at his father funny.

"It started when you were three, Fredward. Your mother and I decided to have another child. We both thought we wanted to have a big family and we tried and tried, but it just didn't happen. Not right away anyhow. After almost two years, we finally conceived. It was the day we registered you for kindergarten when we found out she was expecting again. I doubt you remember too much of this. We didn't tell you about the baby and you were actually too little to understand a lot about it."

"So what happened?" Freddie looked puzzled.

"It was during her fifth month, your mom went into very premature labor. We don't know why, the doctors couldn't figure it out. It's just a blessing it happened when she was at work. She was right there at the hospital and they managed to stop it but she was put on bed rest for the rest of the pregnancy."

"Gosh." Carly exclaimed. "Sitting in bed for four months would be horrible."

"Not even a month later, it happened again. This time it was more serious. Long story short, the baby died and it really changed your mom. And that's understandable. Losing a child is traumatic for any parent, but especially its mother. Sure, I was upset, too but Marissa went into an almost catatonic depression."

"Is that why I lived with Grandma and Pop-pop when I started school?"

"Yes. When your mom was put on bed rest, your grandparents suggested you move in with them. Everyone thought it would be less stressful for Marissa and since they lived so close by, you'd be in the same school and everything."

The waitress brought their food and sat it down, made sure their drinks were full and left them to eat and continue their conversation.

"So because Marissa was so depressed, we started seeing a therapist. And she really helped us for a while. Your mom got better, went back to work, she got involved with that new church and stuff and we thought she was on the road to recovery. But all of a sudden, one day, something inside her snapped." Karl pointed to his own head.

"I don't know why or what brought it on, it may have been one of her new friends or something when she had to go into that hospital every day, but all of a sudden she became obsessed with germs and cleaning things compulsively. She convinced herself that she had gotten bit by a tick when she was weeding out in the garden and that's why she lost the baby."

"My God!" Carly gasped. "Is that why she's obsessed with ticks?"

"We could find no medical evidence to support it, but she somehow thought that if things were cleaner and there were no germs or dust spores, there would be no bugs or anything, that we'd all be healthier and, I guess, never get sick. And God help us if we did. There was one time when a cold was going around the office and she actually had me admitted to the hospital she worked at. I spent four days there with an IV and everything just because of the sniffles."

"And now I understand why mom is the way she is about cleanliness." Feddie stated as he ate.

"Yes and the longer it went, the worse she got. First it was just taking your shoes off by the front door. Next it was sterilizing the bathroom every few days and dusting the whole house every week and then finally the plastic covers went on everything. She got so bad with bathing you, slathering you with antibacterial lotions and pumping you full of vitamins it wasn't funny."

"Tell me about it." Freddie mumbled. "She made me wear antibacterial underwear until I was seventeen."

Carly snickered, remembering those days.

"It got so bad she wouldn't even let you out of her sight from the time she got home from work. Thank goodness it was over summer and there was no school or she would have probably went along to clean the classroom. I tried to talk sense to her, even suggested going back to the therapist but she refused, saying she knew better than some over-educated person with a bunch of letters behind her name."

"Well, that sounds like mom. I don't know how many times she tried to act like she knew more than my teachers. And she told the doctors what to prescribe if I ever did get sick."

"It started getting hard to put up with and I rebelled. I know I was wrong to act that way, but after a year or so, I could only take so much. It seemed like every week there was some new rule to follow or a different disinfection process. No matter what I did or how hard I tried to conform, it wasn't good enough and I just had my fill of it."

"It's a wonder someone didn't have her committed." Carly remarked.

"I considered it but in the end I simply decided to move out and give her some time to cool off. I was hoping to shock her into reality and maybe get things back to normal in time for the holidays. Well, let me tell you, it only took her a few days to have divorce papers drawn up and accuse me of desertion."

"That's what she always told me, you ran off."

"The judge bought her story that I ran off on her with a co-worker, which I didn't. He awarded her sole custody of you. I tried to maintain contact but she threatened me with a restraining order because I was endangering your health. The company offered me a position heading up the Portland office and I took it, moved away and never looked back. I'm sorry, son."

"I'm sure you weren't really endangering anyone." Freddie reasoned.

"Well, no. But she thought I was because I was 'riddled with germs from that filthy office', to use her exact words."

"Wow, I've really learned a lot. Mom never said anything about any of this, only that you left us. I thought it was because you just didn't want to have a family any more. Mom never left me think anything else. I didn't even know if you were still alive or left the country or whatever until my birthday last year."

"Like I said, it's my fault and I'm truly sorry, son."

"Sounds like you didn't have much choice if you wanted to keep your sanity." Carly sighed.