Chapter 21
Previously: Carly had just learned Freddie and Melanie got married.
"And why the cheese am I just hearing about this? I never got an invitation or anything. Was Spencer there? Or Gibby?
"It wasn't some big, over the top church wedding with a couple hundred guests. We went to town hall and the mayor married us, her mom and some dude name Davey that she was seeing at the time and my mom were witnesses. They were the only ones there."
"Holy crabs! Freddie, you guys got married?" Carly held a hand over her mouth in shock. "Like, for real married. All legal and chiz? Are you still married?"
"Well, kinda. I guess." He replied quietly.
"How is someone kinda married? Is that like kinda having a broken leg?" She asked with bulgy eyes. "I know you guys aren't together. Was there an official divorce or anything?"
"Uh, no. Not really. I mean, I talked to a lawyer about filing but Mel never got back to me on it, she never called me back, period. I never really pushed it, like took it to court or anything. The lawyer says I should but I don't know if I really want to do that to her. Melanie doesn't deserve that and you know her family already has a reputation with the legal system."
"And is that why you say you're not interested in dating or anything? Because I've got to tell you, if I found out some dude was still married, I don't care if it's been two days or two years since his wife left, or if he was the cutest guy in America, I wouldn't touch him with a ten foot pole."
Freddie sighed.
"You still love her, don't you?" Carly asked. "You're afraid of hurting her."
He nodded. "I can't hurt her. No matter how many sleepless nights she's caused me or how much heartache, I can't do that to Melanie. And I do love her, even if I'm not in love with her, like that way anymore. I just hate it for our daughter."
In truth, there was another reason he wouldn't push divorce. Something he only became privy to after a very awkward conversation with Pam Puckett. Something he never told anyone until now.
Flashback to Summer of 2016
As was their typical routine, Freddie and Melanie talked regularly. Sometimes just by phone, but usually by video chat. They were only 2 hours apart, not the 9 hour difference to Italy, so a chat session with her was far easier to arrange than with Carly.
In their latest conversation Melanie had told him that their baby was due to be released from the hospital before long. The girl had already put in notice at her job and ever since his visit seven weeks earlier had completely packed up all her things, sold off big furniture, and was prepared to leave at a moment's notice.
Freddie had made arrangements with Socko to pick up the R.V. and head east on Saturday morning. With a any luck, he would arrive at Melanie's late Monday and they would be able to load up her things and the baby and begin their journey west in a day or so. He hoped to complete all this and by able to be back to work the following week.
Melanie had told him that she spoke to her mother about moving back to the Puckett house for a few days until they got their own place and were able to settle in. Pam agreed and Freddie previewed several apartments and condos for them to look at as soon as she was in town. Neither of them wanted to see her and the baby at Pam's any longer than necessary.
Knowing that a proposal was in the future, and wanting to do the proper thing, Freddie decided he needed to speak to Pam about the idea of marrying one of her daughters. It took him several tries but he finally managed to find the woman at home one day on his way home from work. At least her car was there. He approached the front door and rang the bell.
A TV could heard from the front porch, playing some daytime talk show at high volume. A curtain moved slightly and the TV went silent. Soon the door swung open slightly and the middle aged woman appeared. She was surprisingly normal looking. Well, except for the bikini top.
"Hey, Freddie." Pam called. "What's up kid? You wanna come in and have a beer?"
"Um, thanks Mrs. er, Pam." He walked inside, looking nervous. "No beer necessary. I just needed to stop by and talk to you about something."
"Well, pop a squat, boy." She pointed to the sofa. "I'm ready for a cold one. Give me a minute."
She returned shortly with a bottle in hand, a flannel shirt covering her upper half and took up her perch on the very worn tan and gray recliner sitting by the TV.
"So what did you need to talk about? Any news on that grand daughter of mine."
"Yes, actually. Mel says she's due to be released from the hospital any day now and I'm going to go out and get them. I'm driving out that way Saturday." Freddie said with a happy look.
"Hmmp. You know that's a heckuva drive, fella?" Pam shook her head and took a sip of the drink. "When she first was in that boarding school, I drove her out there and it took forever. Had to stay in a motel 2 nights. I met this dude named Jason. Man, was he a piece of work."
Freddie steered the conversation back on track. "Yeah, I've looked at the drive time online. But I'm taking an R.V. so I don't have to rent a hotel or anything."
"Right. And then you can bring back all her junk without renting a U-Lug-It truck or anything." Pam had already learned of their plan from her daughter.
"And with the baby being sick and all, and Melanie and I getting to know each other again, well you know we'll be looking for a place together once she gets back to town."
"Yep. I told her she can stay here as long as she wants but she's determined to do it on her own. Or with you anyway."
"At some point, I'd like to ask Melanie something." His nerves began to show and his voice cracked a bit. "I was thinking of asking her to make things official between us, for us to get married and all but I thought I should talk to you first. See if you'd give us your blessing."
Pam just looked dour and chugged down the rest of the bottle she had been sipping at. "Well, I've gotta admit that I appreciate your asking me and showing me respect by talking to me first. Not a lot of guys your age have those kind of stones. But it's a bad idea, boy."
He just looked at her funny. Did she not approve of him? Was she miffed at the idea that they had a child together without being married in the first place? Was this conversation going to lead to the woman sending one of her seedy relatives after him or at the very least hissing the attack cat on his shins.
Pam elaborated with a deep breath. "With the baby and all, I can see why you think you need to do the right thing and marry her but Melanie comes with a lot of baggage. Unseen baggage."
"I know, but that baggage is half mine and I want to be part of their life. The baby and Melanie both."
"Sure you do, but are you really sure what you're getting yourself into?" Pam queried with an eyebrow raise. "You've dated Melanie, and obviously done more than hold her hand given that you knocked her up and all, but do you know the real her? More than just a date here and there and hopping in the sack?"
"I'd like to think I do." He nodded with a blush. Similar to Sam, Pam wasn't one to sugar coat what she was thinking. "You know her and I are, or were pretty close when we went out the other year."
"She told you about the thing, then." Pam pointed to her own head.
Freddie was confused. "The thing? What thing? Something with the baby?"
"Aw, Christ! She didn't." Pam huffed. "You know, this is the kind of crap people don't like to talk about. But you do have a kid with her so you sort of have aright to know. I want you to promise me you won't go making a big deal out of this or say a word about it to her. She has to tell you herself when she's ready. Kapeesh?"
"Ohh Kaaay." He reluctantly agreed.
"Because if you do, I will hunt you down and personally castrate you. Understand? I have never breathed a word of this to anyone."
"What's this about, Pam?" He now sounded worried. "Is it something with her health?"
"This is something I've never talked about. Like, her dad and I know, and no one else. Not even Sammy. You cannot say anything to anyone about it that it gets back to her. Sam is to never find out."
"Uh, no worries there. Sam hasn't spoken a word to me since I learned about the baby and she bolted. I doubt she'll ever speak to me again. Well, other than to curse me out and kick me in the crotch."
Pam sighed deeply, this was obviously painful for the woman to talk about. "Hey, you sure you don't want a beer. I need another one." With that, she jumped up and headed to the kitchen.
"No thank you." He was more nervous now than when he walked in the door.
When she returned, she had two bottles. Freddie looked at her funny, he made it clear he was not interested in consuming alcohol with his baby's grandmother.
"They're both for me." She smirked, plopped down in the chair and drew in a deep breath. "Mel has some issues. Like, upstairs." She poked at her own head again, this time with the top of the bottle in her right hand.
Obviously this young man wasn't picking up what she was laying down. He glanced toward the stair steps.
"Melanie is bi-polar. It's why her dad left, it's why we sent her to that special school, it's why it's a bad idea to get too involved with her. Well, maybe a little late on that one."
He didn't believe the middle aged woman. He blinked several times. Maybe the beer would have been a good idea. Maybe something stronger. He'd be tempted if he didn't have to drive home and go to work in the morning.
"I know, you'd think Sam was the one who needed a regular checkup from the neck up, but other than that time she convinced herself she was looney just because she had feelings for you, she's never showed one sign having a loose screw. Melanie, on the other hand . . . we started noticing it when they were real small, little things like temper tantrums and then sitting and bawling for hours when there was nothing wrong. At first her dad and I kind of dismissed it as she was just being a bratty kid."
Freddie just stared at this woman in awe.
"About the time they started school, it got worse. The doctors said it was from being around other kids that she wasn't used to. They put her on some pills and she evened out. Sammy kept getting her butt in trouble but Mel was an angel. As long as she took her pills. It comes from their dad's side of the family and he couldn't live with the guilt that he was the cause of it so he ran off. That was the big trigger. She got worse and worse, she was seven when I moved the girls here to get a fresh start. I had her in a private school, a school for kids with mental health issues, Sam was in regular school."
"Right. I remember Sam telling me one time that she met Carly in second grade. That must have been about the time your family moved to Seattle."
"And I ruined Sam because I was so focused on Melanie that I didn't pay any attention to her. She got in trouble more and more, got in fights, even got arrested a couple of times. I was too busy focusing on one daughter to see that the other was calling out for help."
'Well, this certainly explains a lot with Sam'. He thought to himself.
"Half way through fifth grade, the special school I had her in told me about this boarding school. They thought it would benefit her, so I talked to their dad. I have regular contact with him but neither of the girls know it. Anyway, he agreed to pay for it if it would help her and it did. As long as Melanie took her meds and talked to the counselors out there, she was the model teenager. She got good grades, she didn't get in trouble, she did real good but it was once she got back here that she tripped up."
Freddie flushed, was this woman trying to say it was his fault?
"Now, I'm not blaming you or Ridgeway High or even the college but I'm sure you noticed a change in her at some point, right? I think she should have stuck with seeing the shrink, but she was eighteen, what could I do?"
He thought back to not long after they started their freshman year of college. How she became clingy and then almost angry that he was not spending every waking moment with her. At the time he thought she was just one of "those girls" who didn't want to let her boyfriend out of their sight. Then there was the time he ran into her and they ended up hooking up casually for just a few weeks, she was vastly different then. This certainly shed some new light on the subject.
"She had a pretty tough go of it after you guys called it quits. Then she got the opportunity to go back out there with that scholarship for college and I encouraged her to take it. She even agreed to go back into counseling again. I guess somewhere along the line you two managed to spend some time together and next thing I knew she was calling me and telling me she thought she had a bun in her oven."
