Truth Aftermath

Chapter 16

As Phillip and Lee entered the house, Dotty and Amanda were finishing getting everything to the dining room table, and Jamie, spotting the two, shook his head as he asided quickly to Phillip, "You've seen Mom mad before?! Well, look out, because she's really-"

Just then, Amanda came to the foyer, stating to Lee evenly, "Thank you for finding him...Everything's ready, so let's all sit down..."

As they entered the dining room, Lee seated Amanda, while Jamie seated Dotty, and soon they were all concentrating on the food.

After a few bites, Phillip took a sip of his milk and asked, " Excuse me, Mom, can I tell you why I left after talking to Dad?"

Amanda swallowing a bite of food, took a sip of her water, answering with a shake of her head, "No. Not in front of company, please-"

Phillip interjected, "Look, Lee said he offered to go find me! If you'd just listen-"

Amanda sighed and responded firmly, "Young Man, we will discuss this and your further grounding after dinner-"

Phillip, throwing up his hands, bewilderedly queried, "Further? I've already got two weeks! Why more?"

Amanda, putting her fork down, commented crisply as she pointed her finger at him, "You watch your tone! Because you left without letting me know when all you had to do was ask me, and explain why you needed to go-"

Then Lee, finishing a bite, and taking a sip of his water, stated calmly, "Amanda, take it easy, huh? Yes, he left without telling you, but that's still no reason to ground him more. Look, he needed to talk to his friend, and let him know that-"

Amanda then answered curtly to Lee, "Was I asking you anything? I'm talking to my son. Please do me a favor and stay out of it-"

Lee, incredulously blanched at Amanda's attitude, stating with a hand up in the air, "Hey, what the- Hold on-"

Dotty jumped in then, querying with a ramble and a gesture, "Wait one minute, Missy! Why are you getting upset with Lee? You explained Phillip's situation to him, and you let him go find the boy, and now you ask him to stay out of it? By the way, you never did tell me what happened to make Joe upset you! And if you two hadn't gone to California for your honeymoon, I don't think any of this would've happened!"

-SMK-

There was an immediate clattering of forks hitting plates as the entire group grew silent, with warning looks passed between Lee, Amanda, and then at Dotty, who then put her hand to her lips muttering, "Oh, my gosh..."

Lee and Amanda felt as if the earth would swallow them up at that moment as Phillip, in disbelief, glanced at Jamie, who was equally as confused, and then Phillip commented slowly, looking over at Amanda, "Wow, Mom...And you talk about me keeping secrets?! No wonder Dad was acting all weird before he left!"

Then looking over at Lee, Phillip added with a hurt expression, "And you?! Trying to be all "buddy-buddy" with me in the car?! What was all that about? So, what do we call you now, huh? "Pal" or "Step-Dad?"

Before Lee could respond, Jamie, shaking his head, asked Dotty, "Grandma, when did you find out? Why didn't you tell us?"

Phillip, then rising from the table, waved it away as he put his hand up to silence his brother, answering tersely, "It doesn't matter, Jamie. How I think it went down was like this...They got married, went out to California, Mom got shot, and then somehow, Grandma found out in the hospital about them being married, and Lee told her not to say anything!"

Jamie, seeing Phillip heading out of the dining room, got up from the table to stop him as he noticed Amanda's pained expression and said, "But Phillip...If we just let them tell us-"

Phillip, ignoring Jamie's response, sighed irritatedly, remarking, "And to make it worse, Mom tells Dad, and tells him to keep quiet! What a bunch of great role models we have, Jamie!"

With a final gesture towards the kitchen to the upstairs, Phillip answered, "Let's go! I've had it!"

And as the two were leaving the dining room, Phillip, with a look back at the three adults seated at the table, commented disdainfully, "And we're supposed to know right and wrong from you? Sure!"

The boys went up the stairs, and hearing their bedroom door close, Dotty swallowed hard, looking at Lee and Amanda both, and responded sadly, "I-I'm so sorry! It-It just slipped out! I didn't mean to-"

But Lee, clearing his throat, sighed, and shaking his head, and got up from the table, answering to Dotty with a shrug, "Of course you didn't, but it happened and that's that!"

Looking at Amanda, Lee remarked, "I was just telling Phillip in the car on the way back here, that like a man, you have to face the music when you do something wrong. So, in order to prove my point, I'll talk to them both, and try to set things right."

Amanda gulped, asking as she then rose from the table slowly, "L-Lee, it's my fault as well here. Why don't we both-?"

But Lee shook his head frustratedly answering, "No, Honey...It was my stupid idea to elope...I would've married you anyway, but I let my insecurity about the business get in the way...I should've just talked to Billy about it to begin with, and then we wouldn't have had all this-this-"

Dotty interjected, "Bruhaha-"

Lee nodded remarking with a snap of his fingers, "Right...What your mother said..."

Kissing Amanda's temple, he whispered, "I'll be back. Wish me luck..."

Then as Lee left the dining room to go upstairs, Dotty sighed, and getting up from the table, replied to Amanda with a gesture, "Alright...While Lee is trying to mend the family fence here, why don't you help me clear the table, and we'll do the dishes, and maybe you can finally tell me what happened with Joe, hmm?"

Amanda did what her mother asked, but thought worriedly, Do I really want to go down that rabbit hole with her? Don't we have enough to deal with here?

TBC