See what happens when Shreek doesn't join me on my trip to and from work? I get stuff done! Speaking of which, don't forget to read and review her story "A Plum Fairytale". There's some extras at the end of the chapter that show how crazy we are together... and they're just the ones that happen over the internet that we have a record of... can you image the kinds of things we come up with in person?

Chapter 26

It took far less prompting to get Mom to lay out her story that I ever would have thought. In my youth I'd once pestered her to tell me about her first love, but she'd down right refused, insisting that I was too young to understand. Thinking about it now, in light of everything I'd learned so far, she was probably right. No way would I have even thought about obeying her oppressing rules if I'd known what she got up to at my age.

Now, as she explained that she had forced herself every second of her pregnancy not to care about the child she carried beyond ensuring it got the nutrients it required, I was struck by how hard it must have been for her. I remember the awe and adoration I'd had to the life growing within me from the moment I discovered I was pregnant. And that had only doubled when we found out it was twins. To be uncaring about your offspring went against every maternal instinct there was. And my mother had more of those than most.

I reached across the table space between us and wrapped my hand around hers. On the outside it didn't appear to be much, but when we locked gazes I knew she could see the forgiveness and understanding in my eyes. She'd been a teenager when all this happened. Not yet emotionally equipped to deal with such situations in a mature and rational manner. She'd made decisions about her future and stuck to it, and it had haunted her ever since.

"I told Kendrick I never wanted to see him or the baby again," Mom explained, tears falling freely down her face. "And at the time I'd meant it. My father tried to get me to change my mind, told me I would regret it later, but I didn't listen to him." She paused to use a tea towel and dab at her cheeks. "I'd decided what I wanted my future to be and couldn't fit a baby into my plan."

"What was your plan, then?" Brodie asked. I'd expected his voice to be cold, or scathing, but there was no evidence of either. In fact, he was being incredibly understanding for a man who'd believed his entire life that his mother was dead and his grandparents hated him for taking her life. He may even have been more understanding than me, and I was feeling pretty damn understanding right then.

"I wanted to be a chef," she declared wistfully. "I'd discovered a passion for cooking just before I discovered I was pregnant and decided then and there that I wanted to own and run a restaurant. I did some research and found out it would take a lot of commitment. Long hours and little pay for a lot of years. That was no way to raise a child. I figured if I kept the child I'd have to give up my dream. I was indecisive for a while, battling all kinds of emotions, but when I went to bed at night and dreamed, my dreams were never of a family. They were of being head chef in a busy kitchen, the smells and sound of top quality food surrounding me until I thought I would pass out from the utter bliss it brought me."

"So you chose cooking over your child?" I found myself asking. She'd never mentioned being a chef to me before. My curiosity was instantly and undeniably piqued. "You pushed Kendrick and Brodie away. Did you pursue your dream?"

"Fiercely," my mother assured me. "I felt like I owed it to my son to become the best of the best."

"But why?" I questioned, confusion hitting hard and fast. "You said you forced yourself not to care for Brodie from the moment you found out you were carrying him. You wouldn't even hold him when he was born. Why would you feel you owed him anything?"

For the first time since she'd come downstairs, Mom speared me with one of her stern stares. The kind I knew entirely too well from my childhood. "Have you ever tried to no love Matias and Eduardo?" she asked. "Have you ever tried to not care about them?"

I shook my head, not even needing to think about the answer. "Of course not."

"I may have tried to deny any connection with my child, but it was there. And every time I mastered a new dish I thought of my baby and how one day I would reconcile the great wrong I'd dealt him by showing him it was all worth it in the end, because I could now provide for him everything he would have been denied if I'd kept him."

"So what happened?" Lesley spoke up. Though she had disobeyed her father's instruction to keep quiet, no one reprimanded her, because it was the question on all our minds.

"I met Frank," Mom admitted sadly. "My focus changed from cooking to prove my decisions weren't unwarranted to cooking to make a man happy." She paused a moment, taking a deep breath and avoiding looking directly at any of use while she fiddled with the tea towel in her hand. "At the end of my apprenticeship Frank proposed and I accepted. I was twenty three at the time. We were married for a year and I'd gone through a dozen or so kitchen hand jobs when frank suggest we have a child. 'Forget about work,' he'd told me after I'd been laid off yet again. 'Let's make a family. You can cook for the family. We'll never criticise you for over salting the broth.'" She smiled softly, but it was tinged with sadness. "I'd refused, of course, determined to make my way in the culinary world. It only lasted another seven months, though, before I found out I was two months pregnant with Valerie and Frank managed to convince me that all he wanted to do was provide everything I'd ever wanted for and if I was earning my own money he couldn't do that."

"Sounds controlling," Brodie mentioned mildly, just as I was thinking that Dad using so many words to express himself was impossible. Clearly our minds had gone if completely opposite directions with this new section of story.

"He wasn't, though. He just wanted me to be happy." Mom met Brodies eyes solemnly. "And making me happy made my husband happy."

"But you wanted to be a chef," Lesley pointed out. "You wanted to prove yourself."

"I am a chef," Mom smiled. "I cook for my family every day. I get more satisfaction from making sure they are fed than I ever could have dealing with whining customers complaining that their steak is over cooked or their salad is too dry."

"So you just gave in and had another child?" Lesley asked, squeezing the silly putty rapidly. I had a feeling she was currently refraining from saying a lot of things.

Mom shrugged. "I felt ready," she said before looking at the table top and adding. "And making my husband happy was important to me. As long as he was happy and I could watch him adoring our daughter I could ignore any ill feelings I had about giving up on the dream I'd abandoned my child for." As she finished her sentence she met Brodie's eyes hesitantly. "I'm sorry," she uttered.

"I had a good life," Brodie assured her, like the fact that she'd abandoned him didn't matter anymore. "I never wanted for anything."

"I know I did ill by you in those very first moments of your life, but I'd like it if you would let me make it up to you now," Mom said, not quite meeting his eye anymore.

A grin spread across his face. "I think I'd like that too," he agreed.

Suddenly feeling very tired and extremely overwhelmed, I sat back in my chair and a slow, amazed breath leaked out my nose as my vision blurred with tears.

"Are you crying?" Lesley's voice penetrated the light fog I found myself in.

"I was just so afraid that Mom would try to push Brodie away again after he went to all the trouble of figuring out the crossword," I defended my current emotional state. "And relieved that there hasn't been the customary Plum House Screaming Match."

Mom cut her eyes to me, confusion evident as I wiped the moisture from my face with the back of my hand. "What crossword?" she asked.

"The crossword Kendrick left for his son as a vague map to meeting his mother," a familiar male voice explained from the doorway behind me.

I twisted my body, and sure enough there stood my father and grandmother. Silence stretched through the room for a moment or five until I was just starting to work up enough courage to ask the questions in my mind when Dad spoke again.

"I've know about Brodie since the day I asked your father for permission to marry you," he said to Mom, completely blowing my mind. "He explained the circumstances and spoke of his suspicions that the guilt would continue to eat at you. That you wanted to make yourself worthy of the son you never forgot. He also explained that he kept in contact with Kendrick's father once or twice a year, unable to put his first grandchild entirely out of his mind for long. When Brodie's grandfather passed way he kept the line of communication with Kendrick instead, always ensuring that Brodie was well."

He let us process that for a moment as he and Grandma Mazur moved into the room. Carlos, whom had been silently ovserving the situation for most of the conversation, rose from his chair and waved Grandma into it like the gentleman he'd proven himself to be.

"What happened when Grandpa Mazur died?" I asked curiously once we were all settled again, Carlos gently kneading the back of my neck and shoulders.

"Frank took over," Grandma Mazur said. "Your grandfather made him promise that when the time was right Brodie and Helen would meet."

"And that time is now," Frank added.

The tears started flowing from Mom's eyes once more and Dad instantly pulled her into one of the warm comforting hugs he was known for. A man of few words, my father was, but when he spoke, whatever he had to say was worth hearing... Unless he was grumbling about Grandma being a crazy old bat. That could generally be ignored.

Seeing my parents locked in a rare display of genuine lovee and affection was causing all kinds of things to happen in my chest, emotions bubbling and brewing and preparing to spill over. This whole situation was just overwhelming me with happiness and hope. I reached up and placed my hand over Carlos's on my shoulder, squeezing it in thanks that he was so good to me, and he dropped a kiss on my hair, effectively communicating that he felt the same way about me.

"Right," Grandma announced, drawing everyone's attention with that one word as it cut through the mood. "It's almost lunch time. I assume you're all hanging around to be fed."

With a quick glance to Ranger, making sure he didn't have any meetings that he had to get back to the office fore, I confirmed that we would be staying.

"Oh!" I exclaimed, a second later as a realisation occurred. "Brodie, I just remembered your came with us, are you alright to stay?" I felt it was important to offer him an out in case he needed some time to process all the changes that had happened in his life in the past couple of days, especially these last few hours. Before he could answer, though, Lesley jumped in with a reply.

"Of course we're staying," she said in that beautiful accent of hers. "Gran needs to prove her worth with food, ye remember?" The last was said with a wide grin to let us know she was teasing.

"I know just the thing," Mom said, nodding firmly to herself as she stepped out of Dad's arms. She turned to move to the pantry but paused and looked over her shoulder at me. "It may take some time, your beast isn't going to start growling impatiently at me, is it?"

Eager to keep this new teasing side of my mother going, I replied wittily, "Carlos can contain himself just this once, don't worry."

Everyone chuckled at that and I watched as Mom set to work with a twinkle in her eye that was entirely foreign to me.

Thanks for reading. Your commitment is greatly appreciated. Don't forget to drop me a line.