Chapter 14
"Why are you here?" I asked my mother and grandmother again.
"We're here for the wedding and bridal shower." My mother growled at me a bit as she came into my apartment. She looked around, her nose turned up at the family pictures of Jonathan, Alex and me, I had placed on the walls.
"I'm not; I'm here to see that hot hubby of yours." Grandma Marge piped in following my mother into the apartment. I closed the door behind them. The wedding wasn't for another two weeks and the bridal shower was a couple days before that. So those two being here, two weeks early made no sense.
"Is that your son?" my mother asked now looking at Alex who was still happily playing in his bouncer.
"Yes, that's Alex." I answered as Grandma Marge walked over to Alex and gently picked him up.
"Emily, he's so handsome. Congratulations!" Grandma Marge complimented as she admired my son.
"Thanks Grandma." I smiled; glad that at least my grandmother was happy for me.
"He looks like his father." My mother stated looking Alex over.
"Where's the rest of the family?" I inquired, not knowing if the boys and my father would be here soon.
"They're still in Iowa working on the farm. We decided to come out early and meet the two newest members of the family." Mom said as she gave Alex a slight smile. She was warming up to him.
"He really is adorable, Emily." My mom beamed at bit at my son.
"He's been a lot of fun." I told them as Grandma Marge handed Alex to my mom. It was interesting to see how something that could have easily turned into a yelling match turned into such a peaceful moment. My mom smiled softly as she held her grandson.
"He's wonderful Emmy...I…I'm very happy for you." Mom choked out a bit as looked from my son to me.
"He is. Jonathan is too. I think if you gave him a chance you may like him." I suggested.
"Oh I don't need to give him a chance I already do like him." Grandma Marge chimed in, giving me a sly smile and wink.
"You're really happy here, aren't you Emmy?" Mom questioned me as she looked back to my son to the pictures on the wall.
"I am." I replied. Her smile widened a bit as she pulled me into a one armed hug as she was still holding Alex.
"I can tell. I'm happy for you. You have a cute family of your own; you've made your own life. Good for you." My mom congratulated me, something I didn't expect.
"Thanks mom." I said to her.
"So where is that cute hubby of yours? I can't wait to see him." Grandma Marge asked as she wandered around the apartment, clearly looking for Jonathan.
I looked up at the clock, realizing I really needed to get started on dinner if I was going to finish by the time Jonathan came home.
"He's working." I informed them as I walked back over to the kitchen and worked on getting the roast, potatoes and carrots ready to tonight.
"Did we come at a bad time?" my mother asked as she and Grandma Marge followed me into the kitchen.
"Well, today is Jonathan's and mine 1st wedding anniversary. I wanted to make a special dinner to celebrate." I happily replied as I chopped the potatoes and carrots up while the roast was cooking in the slow cooker.
"Really?"
"How exciting!" my Mom and Grandma Marge said in unison.
"It is exciting. I can't believe it's been a year already." I happily chatted away. It was nice to be able to talk to them about this.
"You're enjoying marriage?" Grandma Marge asked.
"I love it. Jonathan has been working so hard. He just finished finals and is working full time at the pharmacy until the next semester starts."
"So he's finished his first semester of medical school?" My mother inquired.
"Yep. He actually gets to sleep for now. He's been pulling all nighters doing homework. He's a great hardworking man."
"Sounds like it. When will he be home?" mom asked.
"Hopefully around 5:30-6. We used to live over by the pharmacy but moved here to be closer to campus." I lied not wanting to tell them about the shootings.
"Karl told us you were having some problems with shootings and that kind of thing. I'm glad that you're in a safer place now." Mom said. I nodded.
"So did Karl tell you where we live then?" I asked.
"He did, he also told us when the baby was born and that you had a boy. That's pretty much all he would tell us though. He didn't even tell us your address until we showed up at his door today." Grandma Marge informed me.
"So he didn't even know you were coming?" I questioned her.
"Nope, we just kind of took off, deciding to surprise you guys." Mom answered. That was weird my mom never did anything like that. She was a very proper, do everything that you're expected to do type person.
"You definitely surprised me. I didn't expect to see you guys until the wedding, assuming I go." I continued the conversation.
"You don't think you'll go?" Grandma asked.
"Will dad be here?" I inquired.
"Yes, they'll fly in the day before the wedding." Mom answered. I nodded, yeah now I was definitely not going.
"I can't go if dad's going to be there. I don't want to ruin the wedding and I'd rather be here with Jonathan and Alex anyway." I confirmed what I had been thinking.
"Emmy, Karl wants you there. You mean a lot to him and he's really gone out of his way to include you guys in his life." My mom scolded me a bit.
"I know and the best thing I can do is not cause a problem at his wedding. We all know how dad is when he's around me. I don't want turn their day into a family feud." I explained.
My mother went to reply when there was a knock on the door. I put the remaining veggies in the slow cooker with the roast and walked over to the door. I opened it to reveal a man in a red uniform holding a bouquet of flowers.
"Emily Crane?" the man asked.
"I'm she," I answered as the man handed me the flowers and quickly left. I closed the door behind me as I walked into the dining room, staring at the flowers I was holding.
"What do you have Emmy?" my grandmother inquired as she walked over to me.
"They're Forget-Me-Nots." I replied setting the beautiful boutique of small purplish blue flowers on the dining room table. I smiled; remembering Jonathan had asked me what my favorite flower was a week ago. They were such small, beautiful and dainty flowers. I looked the flowers over when I saw a note. I picked up the note and opened it.
"Emmy,
Happy 1st Wedding Anniversary, thank you for the year and I look forward to several more years together.
Jonathan
P.S These flowers are hard to find in Gotham, so I hope you like them."
I smiled at the note and looked back at the flowers. Now I really couldn't wait for Jonathan to get home. I was grateful he cared enough to remember our anniversary. I was surprised he bought me flowers though. He hated spending money and he just didn't seem like the type to send flowers. I was going to make sure he got a proper "thank you" when he got home tonight.
"They're from Jonathan." I commented still looking at the flowers. They were stunning.
"You always did like Forget-Me-Nots." My mother stated.
After another hour my mother and Grandmother left and I set up the table getting things ready for our nice anniversary dinner. I looked up at the clock realizing that Jonathan would be home any minute and I couldn't wait.
Jonathan's P.O.V
I dragged myself home from a long day at work. I couldn't wait to have medical school and residency over with. Then I could quit this job and be busy doing something I would hopefully enjoy doing more. It was better than some of the jobs my peers were working to get through medical school though and it did pay better.
I unlocked and opened the door to my apartment as was struck with the yummy aroma of a roast. I knew Emmy had been planning a big dinner to celebrate tonight. I was looking forward to this feast. I was amazed Emmy and I had made it this long; I was also amazed at how my feelings for her had changed. She could still be annoying and high energy but those traits seemed more tolerable now. I hadn't told her I loved her since Alex was born and I had no intention of verbalizing it again. I hoped by my actions though, she would know I loved her.
As I walked into the apartment I saw the flowers I had ordered for Emmy a couple of days ago. It took forever to find a flower shop that had Forget-Me-Nots available, I hoped she liked them.
Emmy was putting the food onto a platter as I walked up to her.
"Hey. How are you doing?" Emmy asked me as I put an arm around her waist and gave her a quick kiss.
"I'm fine. Tired but fine. Happy Anniversary Em." I replied.
"Happy Anniversary! Thanks for the flowers I love them." She happily said. I smiled, that statement made it worth the time I took trying to find them.
"If you don't mind waiting a few more minutes I'll have everything set out on the table." Emmy told me as she went back to the food.
Emmy's P.O.V
After we finished dinner I started to gather dishes up when Jonathan put his hand on mine.
"How long has Alex been asleep?" he asked me.
"He went to sleep right before you came home." I answered. Jonathan nodded pulling me to him, his lips crashing down on top of mine. His arms went to my waist as he lifted me up and set me on the table. Things were quickly moved out of the way before he got on top of me. His hands wandering my body. The next thing I knew we were making love on the kitchen table.
…..
The next two weeks went by quickly. My mother and grandmother had visited me on occasion but they were obviously here for my brother and his fiancé. The bridal shower was lovely, I got to know Barb better and from what I knew I really quite liked her. Jonathan was keeping busy, only having one more week until school started back. He took a few days off of work; he let me know he had no interest in going to the wedding but would go if I wanted to.
I talked to Karl who pretty much begged me to come to the wedding, telling me dad's presence at his wedding was optional…mine was not. I felt conflicted, I really wanted to go but I didn't want anything to do with my dad. He had made his decision and he didn't want me in his life unless it was by his rules. However that shouldn't stop me from going to my brother's wedding right?
"Do you think there's any chance we could go and just ignore my dad?" I asked Jonathan as we sat on the couch. Jonathan was holding Alex and talking to him, trying to get him to smile.
"Em if you want to go, then let's just go. If at any point you want to leave we'll leave. It's as simple as that." Jonathan told me, making things simpler than I felt they were.
"The wedding is tomorrow. I guess it couldn't hurt to stop by and congratulate them." I suggested.
"That would be fine."
….
"You may now kiss the bride." The priest told my brother and his wife as their ceremony had finished. It was a beautiful ceremony; however I liked my wedding ceremony better. Jonathan brought was on his textbooks to review during the wedding as he tried to get a head start on his classes for the next semester.
Once the kiss was over and they walked down the isle together, everyone filed into their cocktail hour. I held Alex as Grandma Marge and I talked. True Grandma Marge was talking to me, but her eyes stayed on Jonathan. He ignored her and continued with his studies even when she tried to flirt with him.
"Emmy!" I heard someone call. I turned to see Mark, another one of my brother. I smiled at him as he gave me a hug.
"How are you doing Mark?" I asked him.
"Pretty good; just working on the farm. We had a pipeline freeze before we came out here, that was fun to fix." He sarcastically answered. I went to say something but was interrupted by someone else saying my name. I turned to see my father. I felt my heart start to speed a bit as I realized he was going to make a scene.
"Look I don't want to cause a scene here.." I started to tell him but he snapped his fingers warning me to shut up. I didn't understand, when was such a kind gentile man when I was growing up, when did that change?
I was quiet as I waited for him to speak; a few minutes of silence went by. I looked over where Jonathan was sitting. He was still very absorbed in his book.
"I just want you to know that you are the biggest disappointment of my life." He growled at me. "I never thought, of all my kids, you would be the one to rebel and leave the family farm. You're a disgrace to the family. You left, became a whore and gave birth to that bastard."
"You can say whatever you want about me. I don't care about that. But don't you ever say anything bad about my son." I warned me as I felt myself grow angry.
"It's a good thing I disowned you. You're nothing to me." He said trying to hurt me with his words.
"If that were true, you'd have been able to ignore me." I spat back at him. Suddenly my father threw the table next to him into the air, the dishes, décor and food flew in the air for a moment before they plummeted to the ground with several loud bangs. The room grew quiet as all eyes were on us.
Not a moment passed before Jonathan was by my side.
"Lets go." He whispered to me taking my hand.
"Damn you Emily. Damn you and your family. You will all rot in hell." My father said with a venom in his voice. I turned back to him.
"I just have one thing to say to you before I walk out of your life forever. I am not dirt under your feet, dad. I don't deserve the way you're treating me and I can and do stand on my own. I don't need you and I never will need you. I'm sorry that you're so miserable because of my choices. But I'm not sorry for happiness both my son and husband have brought me. I have made my own life and I love it. Goodbye dad." I told him before turning back to Jonathan and walking out of the banquet hall with my own little family.
….
Jonathan was in his office, as usual when I heard a knock on the door. I picked Alex up as we walked over to the door to see my mother.
"Mom?" I asked her a bit nervously.
"I just came to say goodbye. We're leaving for the airport soon. I just wanted to tell you, I'm proud of you and I hope you always find happiness." She told me as a silent tear fell down her cheek. I smiled at her and gave her a hug.
"It was good to see you mom." I told her. She nodded and gave me one last hug before walking away. I watched her leave, not realizing I would never see her, my father, my grandmother or any of my brothers (with the exception of Karl) again.
