Chopping Down the Acorn's Tree (Chapter Seven)
Topanga's Bakery- One Hour Later
"Shawn! What are you doing here and why are you wearing plastic gloves?" Cory asked as he was putting the last of that evening's display in storage for the next morning.
"Keeps the Vaseline on my hands," Shawn explained.
"Vaseline?" Cory asked.
"I'm not going to be the only dad in the park with hand wrinkles pitching baseballs to my kid," Shawn added.
"OK. Thanks for coming here and telling me that but ." Cory gulped as he started to open the door to lead Shawn out.
"Nice try but I feel like tearing something or someone apart right now," Shawn seethed as he closed the door and stood in front of it.
"Have a gingerbread man," Cory half-laughed as he uncovered a glass dome over a cake tray then handed Shawn a cookie.
"Nope! That's not gonna cut it," Shawn fumed- as he crushed it into mulch. between his right index and middle fingers.
"Gingee! Uncle Shawnny didn't mean it," Cory sniffed in a baby talk voice as he picked up the remains in his hands.
"CORY!" Shawn screamed.
"Oh, so Topanga told you about Maya's call to her awful great-uncle. Yeah, Maya shouldn't have done it but what's done is done so we just have to make the best of it," Cory nervously laughed.
""Make the best of it!?' My wife and my daughter are both sitting in their bedrooms just staring at the walls so I've got to be getting back to them soon but not before I get this out," Shawn fumed.
" Shawn, I'm so sorry that this has happened," Cory gulped.
"Good! You should!" Shawn snarled.
"What you mean? 'I should'," asked Cory.
" Just what I said. Do continue," Shawn sniffed.
" Well, Topanga's really gone down on Riley for not discouraging Maya but Maya shouldn't have called a stranger and I hope she's learned her lesson," Cory pleaded.
"' Not discouraging'? Is that another term for pressuring a friend?" Shawn boiled.
"Well, Maya did make that call!" Cory half-laughed.
" Only because YOUR daughter egged her on! Katy and I have told Maya countless times never to call strange men. ." Shawn seethed.
" Well, I guess she's learned her lesson," Cory half-laughed.
" Again, you say 'learned her lesson' , but who was the one who taught YOUR daughter to encourage smart girls to ignore all the lessons their parents spent years teaching them?!" Shawn snarled.
" Years? You've only been Maya's dad for two months! That's nothing compared to 15 years I've been Riley's dad so you can't tell ME you're an expert!" Cory boiled.
"Well, I guarantee you I've learned enough in two months to know not to encourage my daughter to stick her nose where it's not needed or wanted!" Shawn seethed.
" Wait! Are you blaming me and Topanga for how we've raised Riley?" Cory sputtered while raising himself as high as he could on his toes and trying to tower over Shawn.
" Of course not. .!" Shawn started to say.
"That's good. ." Cory said with a whistle.
"Topanga's on my side here and she's verbally tearing your daughter a new one but she wouldn't have had to have done so had YOU not raised her that way all these years!" Shawn boiled as he climbed on a barstool to stand over Cory.
"Great advice coming from someone who ran out on us when Riley was born to sulk in the woods for 13 years! " Cory snarled as he climbed on the adjacent barstool.
" Hey! I'm not proud of that but I wasn't ready to play 'Riley's Two Dads'," Shawn replied.
" No, better you play Sulky Luke Skywalker and let the whole galaxy go to crud!," Cory seethed.
" It was Superboy going to the Fortress of Solitude so I could get to be Superman- and I HATED that Abrams' sequel! " Shawn snarled.
"We agree on something! I hated it,too!" Cory snapped.
A/N- So did I!
"Good, but that's not why I came here! And , oh yeah, I regret not staying around to help with Riley- not for the least part because had I done so, I would have raised her not to do that to Maya!" Shawn boiled.
"Oh, yeah! Like Maya had no choice but to do whatever my big bad daughter ,who I deliberately raised to be nosy, told her to do!" Cory sneered.
" Glad you see it my way!" Shawn gloated.
" I was being sarcastic, you gingerbread murderer!" Cory seethed while slapping the side of Shawn's head with his left hand.
"Cory, you're really nucking futz! " Shawn sneered while he shook his head.
"Gingee assassin!" Cory screamed.
" Whatever. Anyway, I knew that but a sarcastic guilt admission is better than none- ask any police interrogator! " Shawn seethed.
" Well, I wouldn't know would I?" Cory sneered.
"What's that supposed to mean?!" Shawn sputtered.
"You're the one who brought the police into this- which I'm about to do if you don't get the Hell off my property!" Cory snarled as he pointed to the door.
"Oooh! I'm shaking in boots, the big teacher is going to call the principal on me!" Shawn taunted while rubbing his hands together
"Try me!" Cory seethed as he took out his Smartphone and held it up.
"You don't have the guts which is why this bakery's in your wife's name instead of yours!" Shawn taunted.
" Guts? I stayed around the whole time and raised Riley and Auggie!" Cory sneered.
"You lucked out with Auggie but you did a ROTTEN job with Riley! I'm going home to try to undo my family's damage from it! " Shawn boiled as he stormed out of Topanga's and slammed the door front glass behind him almost hard enough to break it.
"Go ahead and run off again, Trailer Trash Gingerbread Assassin ! Who needs you?!" Cory opened the door called out into the street.
Thirty seconds later. .
"Shawn! You're supposed to turn around and come back! Why aren't you coming back to beat me up?! Shawnny, " Cory whined as he called into the night.
.
.
Topanga's - Next Morning.
"Morning, Topanga," Katy sighed.
"Morning, Katy. How are you and Maya after that horrible call?" Topanga asked.
"It was awful and I wish it had never happened but I'm over worrying about it for that now," Katy replied as she put her handbag behind the counter.
"Hey! You're not worried about our two rams banging each other off the mountain last night, are you?" Topanga asked.
" I've never seen Shawn this upset. Have he and Cory had other fights like this?" Katy asked.
" Those two practically wrecked our entire wedding in front of everyone!" Topanga laughed.
" I guess sometimes you have to laugh to keep from crying," Katy sighed.
"Try screaming," Topanga groaned.
"Well, I want you to know that I'm not blaming Cory or Riley for what happened," Katy explained.
"Well, it IS Riley's fault that she encouraged Maya to do something they both knew could blow up in their faces," Topanga sniffed.
"Now, don't be too hard on your daughter. My daughter didn't have to call that. . person!" Katy replied.
"But Riley's done this so many times. I'm glad Cory's encouraged her to seek answers but, at times like this, I think he over encouraged her," Topanga sighed.
"Wait! You're siding with Shawn and against your own husband?" Katy sputtered.
"Well, as much as I hate doing it, this time he's right!" Topanga countered.
" Perhaps but Shawn was out of line coming here just to dis Cory's parenting!" Katy sniffed.
"Cory deserved it! He meant well but this is hardly the first time Riley's crossed the line from being helpful to a friend out of concern to sticking her nose into where it wasn't needed or wanted," Topanga sputtered.
" Are you saying that I raised Maya to be too weak not to get talked into things against her will? We both heard the entire exchange on speakerphone! Maya never does what she doesn't want to do!" Katy exclaimed.
"I'm not saying that at all! Quit putting words in my mouth!" Topanga fumed.
"So now you're accusing me of lying!" Katy seethed.
" Since we seem to have different viewpoints on this. Perhaps it's better we agree to disagree and quit talking about it so we can just do the work we need to do here," Topanga declared.
"That's fine by me, Ms. Lawrence-Matthews. At least I can count on Cory to be a fair and impartial professional in the classroom to Maya despite whatever conflict he has with my husband," Katy sniffed.
. .
.
Abigail Adams High School, Cory Matthews's Classroom
"You okay, Maya? " Riley asked.
"For the zillionth time, I'm fine!" Maya snapped.
"Maya, are you really?" Riley asked.
"OK, I'm not fine with what Great-Uncle Whatever said but it's NOT your fault, Riley. We both wanted answers and you were trying to help me!" Maya exclaimed.
" So are your parents still sore?" Zay asked.
"Colossal understatement," Maya and Riley sighed together.
"And our dads have gone to war," Riley gulped.
"From our text exchange, it sounds as if Mr. Hunter and Mr. Matthews are about to enact what happens with an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object," Farkle gulped.
"Just ask a certain gingerbread man in the crossfire," Maya sighed.
"You mean?" Zay asked.
"Dad had us all come downstairs to its funeral while he played taps to it before throwing it in the trash," Riley groaned while shaking her head.
"Well, if nothing else,Mr. Matthews is fair and professional. He'll keep his issues with Mr. Hunter outside of class," Lucas exclaimed.
"Want to take odds on that?" asked Farkle.
"Good morning, Class! Last week we touched upon the Trent Affair in which a Confederate blockade ship carrying British subjects got intercepted by the Union blockade. Does anyone want to venture WHY the Union put a blockade around the Confederate waters?" Cory asked.
"To try to starve them out so they'd have to surrender and end their push to spread legal slavery to other states?" Zay asked.
"Very good, Zay! Yes, although it took four years, this is exactly what happened ! This resulted in everyone in the South considering themselves lucky to be drinking peanut coffee since real coffee was too rare, the Confederate soldiers marching on Gettysburg to confiscate boots for their troops with bleeding feet and in General Lee having to borrow someone's white shirt to surrender to General Grant! " Cory beamed.
"But that was over a century and a half past, what good can it do now?" Lucas asked.
" Things don't change too drastically. The British and their Allies also blockaded the Central Powers in the First World War- which resulted in turnips, that had been strictly horse fodder beforehand, getting so precious that mothers in Berlin rioted to get them just four years later. Now, it is well known that George V of Great Britain was the first cousin of Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany but could this whole war have started due to Kaiser Wilhelm criticizing King George's parenting?" Cory sputtered.
"No, Mr. Matthews, that's not why. .." Farkle objected.
"Yes, Farkle, it was a whole chain of horrible events starting off with the Assassination of the Austrian Archduke Ferdinand but it COULD have started out that other way!" Cory fumed.
"Mr. Matthews, what does this have to do with. ..?" Lucas asked before Cory continued his lecture about how blockades could force the enemy to surrender (and how those who criticized others' parenting deserved to suffer) for the rest of the class.
" Before I forget. Next week are Parent-Teacher Conferences!" Cory exclaimed.
The whole class groaned.
" I expect all students to notify your parents or legal guardians of it as early as possible so we can make the most convenient times for everyone. Oh, and Miss Hunter. .." Cory started to say.
"Ms. Hunter," Maya corrected.
"Miss Hunter- in my classroom and elsewhere by myself from this point on, please be advised that Mrs. Hunter is to attend your Parent-Teacher Conference on her own, if at all possible ,or else I might just have to throw myself and another possible gingerbread assassin attendee out the window. Just kidding. Ha. Ha," Cory said in a voice of stone while pointing to said window before the bell rang.
. .
.
Riley's Bay Bedroom Window that Afternoon. .
"Coast clear?" Maya asked as she climbed in.
"Yeah! Am I glad to see you again! Your dad didn't try to forbid you from seeing me, did he?" Riley gulped as she and Maya hugged.
"No, but I didn't wait to ask and I'm not going to say I'm sorry if we get caught," Maya fumed.
" I hate that our parents are all fighting!" Riley sighed.
"Me,too. So are Aunt Topanga and Uncle Cory around?" Maya asked.
"No, they're at the farmers' market warehouse buying new supplies. Ava's mom is here so we'd better stay quiet, " Riley pleaded.
" It just sucks that they're all at war with each other over something that someone else did who none of us ever heard of before last night," Maya groaned.
"What about Aunt Katy and Uncle Shawn? Do they know you're here?," Riley asked.
"Of course not! I've got Farkle to cover for us saying I'm working on a project at his place," Maya beamed.
"It's great he'll cover us. At least we'll have tonight to try to figure out our next plans without parental interference," Riley exclaimed.
"Yeah! Got any ideas how we can get them back together in the same room?" Maya asked.
"NO! But I've got the idea that you lied to us and came here without my express permission!" Shawn boiled as he climbed into Riley's room via the fire escape while he pointed at Maya.
"Daddy!" Maya gasped.
"Uncle Shawn, how did you. .?" Riley sputtered.
"Oh, call it parental instinct- or call it saying that Mr. Minkus called me wanting to know how to return your Frida Kahlo book you left behind there last week and adding that you weren't there, "Shawn fumed.
" Daddy, it's not as it looks," Maya pleaded while standing up and waving her hands in front of her face.
" How many times I used try that line with Mr. Feeny, Mr. Turner and . ..two folks who brought forth a mortal foe of mine?" Shawn sighed.
"Mortal foe?" Riley and Maya gasped.
" Miss Matthews be sure to give Mr. Matthews my compliments on his excellent security system. We're going now!" Shawn fumed as he clasped Maya's right hand.
"No, Daddy, I'm. .." Maya started to say as she broke her hand out of his grip.
"Who said you could have guests in this room without our express permission- especially an interloper?" Cory fumed as he wagged his right index finger at Riley while he came into Riley's room.
" Interloper? Well, I was just leaving! Don't worry! You'll never have to worry about either of us again and I'm going to have Maya transferred out of your class so she can get the chance to learn from a real teacher!" Shawn boiled.
"Don't worry about Riley because she's learning from a real PARENT!" Cory fumed.
"STOP IT!" Maya yelled.
"BOTH of you!" Riley added.
" OK, I'll show I'm the bigger man and communicate the first move. Riley, tell Miss Hunter to tell Mr. Hunter that he was totally out of line to dis my parenting and teaching and blame me for how Miss Hunter's phone call turned out," Cory fumed.
"Oh, yeah?! Well, Maya,tell Miss Matthews to tell Mr. Matthews that I hated seeing my little girl and my children's mother cry over something that could have been avoided," Shawn sneered while he clenched his fists.
"Shawn! You're supposed to. . That is. .Riley, tell Miss Hunter to tell Mr. Hunter that he can kiss my. .." Cory boiled while he clenched his own fists.
"Ooh! Teacher's going to say a no-no word! I'm telling the principal. Er that is, Maya tell Miss Matthews to tell Mr. Matthews that he's going to say a no-no word!" Shawn taunted while swinging at Cory.
"ENOUGH! ! Uncle Cory what was it you said about forgiveness being one of humanity's greatest gifts?" Maya asked while she did her best to hold back Shawn
"That doesn't apply to non-humans!HA! " Cory sneered while Riley did her best to hold him back.
"Uncle Shawn, remember that Christmas in which Maya reamed you out something good because she didn't like to see me hurt any more by you? Well, I'm going to do the same to you because I don't like seeing HER hurt either!" Riley proclaimed.
"HA!" Cory taunted to Shawn.
"And to you,too. Dad! Don't you EVER take out your baggage on Maya or any other student again!" Riley boiled.
"Fine," Cory groaned.
"HA!" Shawn taunted to Cory.
" Look, hearing my great-uncle say those nasty things about Gammy Hart, my grandmother Katharine Daly and Mom was one of the most hurtful, awful things that happened to me and I'm not going to pretend I'm fine with it but it happened," Maya started to say.
"Yeah, it happened and we can all blame . .." Shawn seethed.
"No one but my great-uncle for it and I'm just going to have to get through it!" Maya insisted.
"But I just hated seeing you so upset and since I couldn't get to your great-uncle to tear him a new one I had to. .." Shawn sighed as he hugged Maya's shoulders.
"Daddy, my whole life I wished for a father who wanted to slay all scorching dragons and I'm thrilled you're doing it. .." Maya started to say.
"But.. ." Shawn sighed.
"Ha! Ha! You've gotten 'butted'!" Cory taunted.
"Not now, Dad!" Riley sighed.
"'Kay," Cory groaned.
" But you can't slay all of them. Some of them will get through the moat and I'll get scorched while fighting their flames then move on, " Maya sighed.
" And truly is Maya's great-uncle worth trashing the lifelong friendship with Uncle Shawn?" Riley asked as she looked at Cory while Maya looked at Shawn,
"No," Shawn and Cory groaned together.
"Now, you two have trash talked plenty. How about you two listen to each other? " Maya asked.
" OK, I was wrong to say what I did about your raising Riley and your teaching. In fact, I think we've butted in quite a few times ourselves over the years," Shawn sighed.
"Well, I was wrong to have to not call you on your stuff over the years with Riley instead of having my daughter's friend have to do it," Cory replied- to which both Riley and Maya cringed worrying about Shawn's reaction.
"You're right! You should have called me on cutting out on all of you ages ago but it was worse for me to have done so and hurt Riley and cheat myself in getting to know her and Auggie until afterwards. I could kick myself for having wasted those years," Shawn groaned.
"Well, if it's any consolation. We've still got the rest of our lives for your family and mine to be as one as it should have always been!" Cory exclaimed as he hugged Shawn as the two of started to bawl.
"Cory, Riley!I'm sorry" Shawn bawled.
"Shawnny, Maya !Me,too! We can hug and make up!"Cory bawled.
Then the two of them hugged.
"Well, even though I didn't raise you from birth. I've got to say, I've always admired your guts, Maya! Not just in what you said now but if you hadn't said what you said to me that Christmas, my life would have stayed in that stupid tailspin forever. You took a big risk doing that to me, a stranger, on behalf of a friend. Thank you," Shawn sniffed as he hugged Maya.
"Yeah, I knew back then that it was technically not by business and you could have just dissed me, taken off permanently and Uncle Cory might have blamed me for that but I had to take the chance that there was something good that could come out of it for Riley," Maya explained.
" Not just me, Yama," Riley laughed while hugging Maya who nodded.
"Well, I guess it goes to show that putting oneself on the line and taking risks of stuff blowing up in your face . . sometimes good things can happen,"Shawn sniffed.
Then Shawn placed his hands on Riley's shoulders.
"Riley, please know that as angry as I ever got over Maya's great-uncle's rotten dis, I never thought for a moment you didn't do your part out of anything but love for my daughter," Shawn admitted as he looked straight into Riley's eyes.
"So we can all be friends again, right?" Riley asked.
"We never weren't even when we trash talked each other," Cory exclaimed while Shawn nodded.
At that point, he and Shawn did their goofy duo dance.
"Man, your dad and his pal sure are mushy!" Ava exclaimed as Riley's door opened to reveal Ava, Auggie, Judy Morgenstern and Topanga on the other side.
"Tell me about it!" Auggie groaned.
"I'm taking Ava home now and leave you lovebirds alone," Judy Morgenstern laughed as she took Auggie and Ava away.
"Topanga? How long did you listen to this? "Cory asked.
"The whole time," Topanga laughed.
" I almost wish Katy had. ." Shawn started to laugh.
"I have, too!" Katy replied as she popped up from beneath the window ledge climbed into Riley's bedroom
"Mom?!" Maya gasped.
"You shouldn't be climbing in your cond-" Shawn advised.
"Condition?! Please! I climbed trees and walls until almost time to bear Maya. Where do you think she got this trait from?" Katy laughed as she hugged Shawn and Katy.
" I know it's impossible but I like to imagine she got it from me," Shawn laughed.
" Why didn't you just climb the stairs like I did?" Topanga asked.
" An actress can't resist chances for dramatic entrances!" Katy laughed as she and Shawn hugged.
" Here's $5 for your gingerbread man, Cory," Shawn sighed as he took out the bill from his wallet.
"I'll try to bribe his eleven brothers downstairs to refrain from attacking you," Cory half-laughed.
" Cory, we bake those for customers to eat," Topanga laughed.
"SHH! Good thing we're two floors above them so they can't hear you!" Cory whispered.
" I don't know why you tried to seek out more kin, Maya. It looks like we plenty of loony ones as it is," Katy laughed.
"True but why not see if there might be some sane ones out there?" Maya replied.
"Sometimes it's not worth it," Shawn sighed.
"Is that why none of your family was at your and Mom's wedding?" Maya asked.
" Maya, that's different. Your daddy cut off his relatives for good reason," Katy explained.
"Katy, you know Jack was sequestered in that jury pool and the Matthewses got stuck in Philly until the reception was almost over while New Jersey got fogged over again," Shawn explained.
" Gorgeous, I'm not talking about Jack and the Matthewses. I'm talking about the rest of the Hunters," Katy sighed.
"Yeah, I was wondering about that,too. Now that you mention it,"Topanga offered.
"Have either of you ever MET any of them?! Shawn was like a prince among the lowlifes. I wouldn't want any of them within a hemisphere of my family either," Cory sniffed.
" Cory! You're talking about the folks I grew up with and loved!" Shawn gasped.
" Shawnny, you're a million times better than the whole lot of them put together and always were. No one blames you for cutting them out!" Cory pleaded.
" Aren't any of you listening? I didn't cut them out! They cut ME out!" Shawn shuddered as he started pacing back and forth.
"Oh because you didn't want to follow their scummy footsteps?"Cory asked.
"Not exactly," Shawn admitted.
"But why would they do that?" Topanga asked.
" Cory, remember the letter I got from Virna almost a year after Dad died?" Shawn asked.
"Yeah, she admitted that she wasn't your birth mother but what does that have to do with the other Hunters?," Cory asked.
"Well, remember how it came in a big envelope and I shredded it immediately?"Shawn recalled.
"Well, I can't imagine anyone would be happy to find out that the woman who raised them wasn't their actual birth mother," Topanga sighed as she and Shawn both patted Katy on the shoulders.
"Yeah, it was a shock but I never for a moment doubted Mommy loved me like a daughter even though I was really her granddaughter," Katy gulped.
"Gammy Hart showed her love in millions of ways every day to you, Maya and, for the brief time I knew her, me- and I'll always treasure having known her even if she wasn't entirely honest in who she was to you," Shawn exclaimed as he hugged Katy and Maya who nodded.
"Shawnny, Virna didn't say that she'd always love you as a son regardless of not having borne you, did she," Cory gulped as his eyes got wide open.
"NOPE! She sure didn't- and she only echoed what all the other Hunters except for Dad and Jack said," Shawn shuddered.
"What did she say?" Topanga gulped.
" Katy, Maya, remember when Angela came by the bakery?" Shawn asked.
"Yeah, sure. We were curious about your onetime love," Maya recalled.
"No doubt when you first saw here there, you thought that this would be a test to see if our new bond would last," Shawn recalled.
"Yeah, I did. It's not everyday that a woman that my man had loved before would walk into our lives," Katy admitted.
"Exactly! You were worried she might be a rival or might try to take me away. Nothing less but nothing more," Shawn pondered.
" Well, yes, but we've all become friends with her and her husband Jerad so what does that have to do with. ..?" Katy asked.
" Cory, did I ever tell you about that Saturday that Dad blew into Philly for a few hours a few months before he died?" Shawn asked.
"No, I don't recall that. Did it go bad?" Cory asked.
"Not at all. I introduced him to Angela and he shook her hand and said ' Nice meeting, you, Angela!' then a moment later he looked me in the eye and said,'Son, as long as you two love an' do right by each other, that's all that matters!' and gave a wink, " Shawn recalled- having uncannily recreated Chet's Georgian accent and wink.
"That's nice and all . .. " Cory started to say.
"No one has to tell me Dad had countless faults. I knew that better than anyone but that was one of his saving graces," Shawn recalled.
"That's great you have that memory of him but. ."Katy started to say.
"Katy, Maya. You may have thought Angela coming to the bakery was a test for me but, truth be told, how you reacted to her was a test for you two also!" Shawn admitted.
"What do you mean?" Katy asked.
"You two Hart ladies passed with flying colors! You treated her as you would have any other former flame of mine you might have met but, once you saw she had nothing but good wishes for our bond, you became friends with her! " Shawn beamed as he hugged the two of them.
"It was no big deal. Why wouldn't we have treated her any different?" Maya asked while she shrugged her shoulders.
" I think I'm getting it," Riley gulped.
"Me, too!" Cory added with a troubled expression.
"Wait a minute! Don't tell me Virna didn't. . I mean, I know she wasn't an educated person but surely she wouldn't have done. ..that," Topanga sputtered.
"I shredded her letter as fast I read it but those words will be scorched in my brain forever," Shawn boiled.
"Oh, no!" Katy gasped.
"This is something like why Lucas was willing to get expelled from his old school in Texas while defending Zay, isn't it?," Maya shuddered.
"YEP! She wrote 'I hear tell that you've taken up with some'. .. I can't repeat the next word, then she wrote' gal. I thank God I didn't bear a . ..' I can't repeat it .. .'-lover like you and my Eddie and Stacy are my pride and joy so I don't have to claim you no more now that Chet's a carcass,' end quote as Mr. Feeny would have said," Shawn seethed- having also uncannily recreated Virna's Southern accent.
"But. . Eddie and Stacy already had criminal records a mile long even then. Why would she think they were good and you were awful?" Cory gasped.
" I guess they could do no wrong in her eyes, "Topanga shuddered.
"She never even thought to give Angela a chance to get to know her for herself as she was instead of just hating Angela's outsides forever- despite all her bit. . .er. .wailing about being dissed for having an 'Eye-talian' father," Shawn groaned having again imitated Virna's Southern US accent when saying 'Italian'.
"No wonder you immediately tried to find your real mother instead of just staying shocked at the news," Cory sighed.
"Folks thought I envied Jack because his mother took him away from the trailer park and found him a rich step dad but that wasn't it," Shawn sighed.
" Really?" Cory asked.
"It was because his mother Elaine loved Jack enough to risk her own life to give him a chance to thrive by getting him away from our abusive,ugly drunken dad when he was still a baby! Why didn't Virna love me enough to ever take me with her whenever she'd run away from him? Why did she always leave me WITH him!?" Shawn sobbed.
"Shawnny,"Cory sniffed as he, Katy and Topanga all hugged Shawn while Riley and Maya patted Shawn on the back with their hands.
"You remember the look Angela gave me when I drunkenly shoved her into the door?"Shawn sniffed.
"Yeah, I've never forgotten it," Topanga shuddered while Cory sadly nodded.
"I saw Virna's face in that look and I didn't want that for Angela or anyone else I loved any more than I'd ever wanted it for Virna so that's why I've stayed sober all these years. I loved Virna and all of them but they ALL threw me away like garbage just because I didn't see Angela the way they did," Shawn sobbed.
"Daddy, maybe your real mother might be better. .." Maya pondered.
"My real mother? They never gave me a clue who she was, " Shawn sobbed.
"No one?" Katy asked.
"Except for Dad telling me in a vision after he'd died that she was a stripper who ran out on both of us after bearing me. How can someone who'd prefer tassels and feathers with strange men giving her perv looks to staying with me be better?" Shawn sobbed.
"It's not that high a hurdle, Shawnny," Cory sighed.
"But whoever she was, she never seemed to try to crawl over it. Why did she leave me with them? What could I have done that she'd dump me without a backwards glance with those two in that place?" Shawn sobbed.
"I don't know, Daddy, and it totally sucks but maybe she might have had good reason," Maya pondered.
"NO! I looked but she's stayed hidden. It's OVER! You, your mother, your new brother or sister, Cory, Topanga, Riley, Auggie ,all the Matthewses and, I guess, Jack are all the family I need! All the family any of us need," Shawn proclaimed after drawing his breath.
"But maybe my brother or sister. ." Maya pleaded.
" They've got all of us! I had to make it from babyhood to adulthood with a drunken, faithless, abusive dad and a nasty,abusive, neglectful step mom but I did it so who needs her now?," Shawn insisted.
"Shawn, you know Maya wants the best," Katy pleaded.
" We've already GOT it! " Shawn proclaimed as he and the other adults left Riley's Bedroom and headed toward the living room.
.
.
"Maya, you have that look," Riley shuddered.
"What are you talking about, Riles?" Maya said sweetly.
"Don't try the innocent, naïve deal with me," Riley insisted- as she grabbed Maya's arm.
" Don't worry. I'm not going to rock the boat seeking out missing Granny Hunter . . today,"Maya insisted while whispering 'today' in an almost inaudible pitch.
"You'd seek out Virna Cordelli Hunter after what Uncle Shawn just . .?" Riley gasped.
"Not her, Petunia! I wouldn't even spit on that one! I'm talking about Daddy's real. ." Maya insisted.
"Maya, your father just had a big meltdown recalling his rotten so-called parents and don't forget that our families nearly got train wrecked by that one phone call last night," Riley sputtered.
"Aren't you the one who always tries to look at the bright side? Besides, how could Daddy's mother be worse than either Virna Cordelli Hunter or my great-uncle?" Maya asked.
"Look, I remember how Mom and Dad got when she was carrying Auggie. It's tough enough to deal with parents normally but ,trust me, pregnancies make them more high-strung than the New York Philharmonic !" Riley pleaded.
"OK, I'll keep in mind what you've told me," Maya sighed and hugged Riley -all the while trying to think of when a good time to seek out Shawn's missing birth mother would be to say nothing of how.