Chapter 29 – June 5th, 2012
The three of them got into the truck and Ronnie felt like she ate a thing of lead before leaving the hotel. Her leg was bouncing up and down, she felt like she was going to throw up; Will had to put his hand on Ronnie's leg so she would stop. She looked at him apologetic and when they were stopped at one of the stop lights in the town he motioned that she needed to take a deep breath. She nodded and the rest of the ride consisted of Jonah playing on his Gameboy and Ronnie taking deep breaths every second.
"What are you so worried about?" Will asked her when they were parked in front of the mansion. Jonah had never seen it before; she could practically hear his shock from the front seat.
She stared at him with an unbelieving look on her face; he couldn't have forgotten the last time that she had talked to Susan. The wedding was a drastic affair and Ronnie would love if she could erase the whole thing from time but that wasn't possible, she didn't know how Susan felt about it now – having had time to think it over – but Ronnie was feeling horrible just being near the house.
He reached over and took her hand, she noticed the expression on his face that made sure that she wouldn't interrupt whatever he was about to say.
"She did let me come out to New York, if she wouldn't have helped me I would've had to wait longer to move to Columbia. She put forth a lot to get me to go there and since they normally don't let in mid-year transfers and they did to me after they talked to my mom I know that I owe her for that."
"Okay," she whispered. They got out of the car, Jonah putting his Gameboy in the backseat and not bringing it with him, and walked up the stairs. The door opened before they got there and Susan and Tom stepped out, there was no awkwardness in the air since Susan went straight to Will and gave him a hug. Ronnie could tell that she was crying and Will held her for at least ten minutes before she sniffled and released Will. She surprisingly reached out for Ronnie and grabbed her into a little hug while Will and Tom shared their own hug.
Ronnie could tell how they felt about Will being gone so long, all their kids were out of the nest, and it had to be hard for them since their littlest child died. Ronnie knew that the hardest thing for any parent to face is outliving your child; Ronnie knew that she wouldn't want that when she became a parent. It would be horrible for her and she had respect for Susan and Tom going through that with two other children.
"I'm so glad you guys are home," Susan said as she pulled back from Ronnie. Ronnie couldn't help the confusion she felt as Susan released her; she had never been overly affectionate with Ronnie ever. Not even a little affectionate. The most emotions Ronnie had ever seen out of Susan was her screaming that Ronnie was no good and middle class compared to Will, the hugging and crying was a little unsettling with their history.
"I am too," Will said after hugging his dad.
Tom bent down to Jonah's height and smiled at him, Ronnie could tell that Jonah felt a little uncomfortable being around people that he didn't really know.
"Hey there, what's your name?" Tom asked in a softer voice.
"Jonah," Jonah said.
"Hi, Jonah, do you like toy airplanes?" Tom asked him. Ronnie laughed at the expression on Jonah's face as he nodded enthusiastically. "Well, come on; let's go get 'em. If it's okay with you, Ronnie," he asked Ronnie.
"Of course it is," Ronnie said. Tom put his hand on Jonah's shoulder and led him into the house. Ronnie, Will, and Susan followed behind them but sat down in the living room while they went out to the back patio.
"So, how's college, Will?" Susan asked.
"It's really good. Like I thought in the beginning, it's a great school and I'm really lucky to be with Ronnie," he said. Ronnie smiled at him but couldn't help eyeing Susan to see her reaction to Will's declaration of love; she was surprised that there wasn't much of one. Susan just smiled and then turned toward Ronnie.
"So how are you doing since the crash?" She asked in a soft voice that made Ronnie feel like she was ten years old.
"I'm doing well, I just had my leg cast taken off a couple of days ago and it's nice to be able to walk again," she told Susan.
"Yeah, I would think that," she mumbled with a smile on her face. They talked for a couple minutes and it almost made Ronnie feel like they were a regular family and she found herself smiling more with Susan.
"Can I go to the bathroom?" Ronnie asked Susan. Susan nodded and Ronnie got up to leave the room.
When she was gone Susan turned to Will with a straight face, Will knew the smiling and laughing wasn't going to last much longer.
"How are you two, really?" She asked. She used the same tone that Will was used to when he lived here and she would always ask him that but she hoped that he would say something horrible happened and they were going to break up. He knew that her view of Ronnie wasn't going to change, god forbid that she lost her father and got into a nearly fatal car crash. Nothing was going to make Susan like Ronnie if she wasn't from rich money.
"We're good. You know that we already have an apartment together, things are great and I don't want you to ruin them by saying something or doing something that will make us fight like you used to," he pleaded with her. He wanted to get on his knees and beg her but knew that it would make no difference.
"I still don't approve of her. She could be with you for the money or to get knocked up so you would stay with her, I don't want you to have that kind of person in your life," she stressed. She was trying to get him to break up with Ronnie but it wasn't going to work and he knew that he was going to leave if she kept on trying to butt into his personal life. If Ronnie and him did have a kid together she wouldn't know and would be lucky if he even let her see it after tonight, he really hoped Ronnie didn't believe his mom's act
"I don't care what you think about Ronnie. It's not going to change anything that I feel for her, I thought I made that clear last time you tried this. If you keep doing this I won't be in your life anymore, you can be sure of that," he said in a stern voice.
-TLSC-
Ronnie got out of the bathroom, she didn't really have to go but she knew that if she stayed in the same room with happy go lucky Susan she was going to strangle her. She hated that she thought Ronnie was so dumb, she saw straight through the stupid façade that Susan was putting up, that she didn't hate Ronnie. Ronnie stopped in the hallway when she heard voices coming from the living room, she knew that Will and Susan were talking and Ronnie hated her for it but she crept closer so she could hear what was going on.
Will sounded annoyed and when Susan got to talking she sounded stressed like nothing was going the way she wanted it to. Ronnie hated when Susan started talking about her getting pregnant on purpose so she could keep Will, she knew that she didn't have to do any of that and felt dirty even thinking about it, she didn't like that Susan thought she was capable of that. But she didn't know Ronnie at all and this proved it.
Ronnie walked to the side, quietly, to check on Jonah. She knew, based on experience, that if she moved a little bit over that she could see to the back patio and to where Jonah and Tom were playing. She knew that Jonah wasn't going to like this but she also knew that Will wouldn't be able to stay any longer based on the tone of his voice that he was using with his mom at the moment.
"Will," Ronnie said quietly when she entered the living room. She wasn't much of an actress but she knew that they wouldn't be able to get out, with no fights, if she didn't think of something to say on the spot.
Will looked over at her and she could tell that he was debating whether or not to tell his mom what was really on his mind, she didn't like the look in his eyes so she stepped up to him and grabbed his arm.
"I'm not feeling too good right now, I think we should head back to the hotel," Ronnie told him in her best sick impression that she could. She felt Susan's gaze on her but looked at Will while she was talking. She didn't know if Susan would be able to look through her lie just by staring into her eyes.
"Okay, let's go get Jonah," he grabbed her, gently, by the waist and pulled her to the back patio. When she looked back she wasn't surprised to see Susan on the couch staring at the ground like someone had run over her dog, more like Ronnie had.
"Jonah, it's time for us to go," Will shouted. Jonah's groan was audible even from a distance and it took him longer than it should have to walk up the porch steps.
"Are we coming back?" He asked.
"Maybe, we'll see," Will said in a voice that told Ronnie he was barely holding it together. His dad understood, probably better than he should have and led them to the front door, after giving Jonah a hug they left in peace.
