The meal is very tense tonight. You could cut the tension in the room with the knife Eric was buttering his bread with. As the family eats, they stare at Mary, waiting for her to break into tears at any moment. This makes Mary very angry. She just wants them to leave her alone right now- that's all she ever wants, really.
"What?" she says, almost startling the table. "I'm fine. Stop staring at me!"
"Are you sure?" Lucy asks, actually being compassionate towards Mary.
"Yes!" she says, her tone of voice turning form angry to irritated.
"Ok."
"Mary, could I talk to you later?" Ruthie asks trying to change the subject.
"Um, maybe tomorrow." She says, raising her fork to her mouth.
"Fine, tomorrow it is. First thing tomorrow morning?" Ruthie asks excited.
"Sure."
"No way, you're not talking to Mary before I talk to Mary." Lucy says out of the clear blue.
"Why do you all want to talk to Mary?" Annie asks.
"Oh, no reason." Lucy responds.
"Yeah, no reason," says Ruthie.
"Do you both have the same, um not reason?"
"No." They both answer at once.
"So can I talk to you later?" Lucy asks one more time.
"Sure, I guess. Tomorrow."
Mary can't eat anymore. She's too nervous about her impending conversation with her parents, and too distressed to shove one more bite into her mouth. She only finished half of her plate, and she knew everyone would take note of that, but she didn't care. She just wanted to get out of there, and get away from all of the eyes watching her every move. Mary looks over at Wilson's plate, and sees that he's finished eating.
"May we be excused?"
"Honey, you barely touched your spaghetti." Annie says.
"I'm not really all that hungry."
"All right, you can go."
Mary takes Wilson's hand, and the two of them take their plates into the kitchen.
"May I be excused, too?" Lucy asks as soon as the door swings closed behind the couple.
"Sure." Ann answers.
Lucy grabs her plate and practically sprints into the kitchen. She sees Mary and Wilson walking out into the hallway, and yells for Mary to wait.
"Luce, I said I'd talk to you tomorrow, and I promise I will." Mary says sounding very tired.
"I know, and I believe you, but can I talk to you for just one minute."
"I'll be in the living room." Wilson says to Mary, giving her and Lucy a moment alone.
"I just wanted to apologize to you."
"Apologize for what?"
"For the way I've been treating you lately- well not really lately, for a while."
"How have you been treating me?"
"Well, I haven't been all that nice to you. We all haven't. I guess we just can't see that you're a different person now. You'll never be the Mary you were before you left for New York, but you're better than ever. When you left two years ago, I was glad."
Mary frowns. She doesn't have time to deal with this now, nor does she want to.
"And I'm still glad that you left before, but now for a different reason. I'm happy that you're a better person, and changed once more to become a person I can look up to, and Simon can look up to, but more importantly Ruthie can look up to. She idolizes you, and I don't know if you realize that or not. You mean the world to her, you really do, so try not and break her heart."
"I won't."
"But anyways, I'm getting off track. I wanted to say that I'm sorry for being so mean since you got back- last winter and now. I don't know if you've noticed, but I've said some pretty mean things behind your back. I realized, though, when I saw you walk in with Wilson before, that you still are a good person. I don't know what you're hiding, but I can tell its something important. And I want you to know that if you want someone to talk to, besides Wilson or Mom and Dad, I'm here. I'll listen."
"Thanks Luce." Mary says, almost in tears for what seemed like the hundredth time that day.
The two sisters hug, and when they pull away Lucy speaks again. "And I also wanted to tell you not to listen to Kevin. He's just angry with you, probably about Ben, but it still doesn't make any sense to me. Something weird is going on in that head of his. I know you're strong, but if he says anything to you, just shrug it off. He doesn't mean it, at least I don't think he does."
"OK Luce, I'll keep that in mind."
Mary smiles at her politely, tweaks Lucy's nose, and then turns to walk into the foyer.
"And Mary…" Lucy says when she is almost out of sight.
"Yeah?"
"Thanks for being my sister."
"Oh, yeah, well, I didn't really have a choice." Mary laughs and Lucy does, too.
Mary enters the living room, and finds Wilson sitting on the couch.
"You better now?"
Mary sighs as she sits. "Kind of."
She rests her head on his shoulder, not noticing that he has something on his mind.
"Tell me everything is going to be OK." He asks of her.
"Only if you tell that to me." Mary says with a smirk. When he does not answer, Mary lifts her head and looks up into his face. "You were serious, weren't you?"
He doesn't answer her, but she can tell by the look on his face that he is.
"Everything will be fine." She says. "It will all work out in the end."
"Oh yeah, when's the end? Three and a half months from now? Because I don't feel like it will end there." He answers her, his voice choking up.
"Oh gosh." She mutters sympathetically. "You OK?"
"No. Mare, I can't take this anymore. Seeing my parents did me in." He pauses, closing his eyes for a couple of seconds. Wilson uses all of his strength to keep from crying in front of Mary, but he can't do it anymore. He lets all of his inhibitions go, and tears stream down his face at whim. "I want my son back."
Mary pulls Wilson tightly to him, so tight it almost hurts. She begins to cry, too, seeing her man in tears. She knew that this was tearing him up inside, but she never really knew how much. Now that she can see his pain, it almost upsets her too much to watch.
Simon and Ruthie come out from the kitchen and walk into the foyer, casually talking to one another. They pass the living room, and see Mary and Wilson crying together. Surprised, they both stop and stare. Ruthie's jaw drops open in disbelief as Robbie walks up behind them. He is about to ask them what they are doing, when he spots Mary and Wilson. He puts one hand behind Simon's back, the other behind Ruthie's, and lightly pushes them along towards the stairs. Robbie sees that they walk into their rooms, and then walks into his.
Ruthie walks halfway up the stairs to the attic, then runs down them again. "This is too good to pass up," she thinks to herself. Ruthie takes the stairs that lead to the kitchen, where she knew she could find her parents.