Chapter 21
Nora
Dinner at the Stone household was different today. There was a palpable tension in the air, and I already regretted my decision to come here. I should have used my better judgment and stayed home, stayed out of Felix’s way.
His words had been like salt to my wound. He said it himself; he was waiting for his mother to leave so that we could move on. As though the fact that he’d kissed me, touched me…could just be forgotten. I couldn’t even make myself look at him.
“Will you pass me the potatoes, please?” was the first thing Felix said at the dinner table in a long time. He had been exceptionally quiet tonight, while Cici, Helen, and I did most of the talking. Even though the potatoes were in a dish right next to me, I pretended not to hear him.
“The potatoes, please!” he exclaimed, in a louder voice now and I looked down at my plate and continued to eat. I had no interest in passing him the potatoes, not after what he had said to me.
Helen cleared her throat, got up from her chair and took the dish to him. When she sat back down again, she cleared her throat again.
“So, son, do you want to tell us how your day was?” she asked in a cheerful, casual voice. I avoided looking at Felix, but I could sense him glaring at her.
“You weren’t interested in my day two minutes ago when you were deep in conversation about the inches of snow in Minnesota!” he snapped, as he pierced a baby-potato with his fork.
“Well, I’m interested now,” Helen replied, still calm.
Felix scoffed and shook his head.
“It’s funny, Mom, that you’re trying to pretend like this is normal…that this is some family gathering,” Felix remarked. Helen dropped her cutlery on the plate, making a loud clattering sound.
“Well, I’m not going to apologize for trying to expose my granddaughter to a nice, normal formal dinner. The poor child eats by herself every night. She told me! She said she couldn’t remember the last time she ate with you!” Helen had lost her cool now, and she was glaring at her son, while he glared back at her.
“I am doing the best that I can,” Felix replied, through gritted teeth.
“Well, it’s not good enough then! She is growing up without a father; she has a parent, but she feels like an orphan. It is cruel to do that to a child!” Helen continued, and I shifted in my seat. I did agree with everything she was saying, but I could see the way her words were affecting Felix. He had been mean to me, but now I felt sorry for him. His handsome face was dark; his eyes were burning up.
“You’ve always thought you know what is best for my daughter. You have no right! No right!” Felix growled, and I saw Cici look down at her plate and fat tears bubble up in her eyes. I knew it wasn’t my place to say anything, so I remained silent. None of us were eating anymore.
Helen scoffed.
“Well, I’m going to fight to the end to ensure that my granddaughter is happy, even if you don’t care about it,” she hissed.
Felix banged his fist on the table.
“Don’t assume for one second, Mom, that I don’t know what this is about. You are lonely up in Florida, you want company, and you’re trying your best to convince me to send Cici to live with you, just so that you have something to do,” Felix was growling now, with narrowed eyes staring at his mother.
“How dare you!” Helen snapped.
“It’s what you do, don’t you? Poke your nose into my life, pass your lofty judgments on me, force my hand into doing things I don’t want to do!” Felix continued.
“How dare you speak to me that way? I have done nothing but give you good advice,” Helen cried, and Felix clenched his jaw. He was breathing fire, his wide chest was heaving.
“You made me marry her. I knew her for two months, Mom, two! You forced me to marry her when I had already made my decision. Natalie agreed. We were not in a position to have a child together; we didn’t even know each other. And then you came along and filled her head with ideas for a wedding!” Felix barked.
It was at that moment that Cici burst into tears.
“Stop it! Both of you!” I shrieked, jumping up from my chair. “Look at what you’re doing to her!” I ran over to Cici, pulling her out of her chair and into my arms. She wrapped herself around me, and I looked at Felix and Helen, glaring at us.
“This is not a conversation you should be having in front of a child. In front of her! I don’t know what happened in the past, all I know is that Cici is a wonderful, intelligent child and she does not deserve to be treated this way, by either of you!” I was speaking in a shrill firm voice, stroking Cici’s hair at the same time.
Helen stood up, guilt marring her face now, and she opened her mouth to say something.
“There is no point apologizing to her now,” I snapped, and with Cici in my arms, I rushed out of the dining room.
She was still crying as I carried her up to her room.
“I’m sorry you had to hear all that, honey. They didn’t mean any of it; that’s how adults fight, they say mean things to each other. It’s stupid,” I whispered to her, but she couldn’t stop crying.
“Daddy hates me. He hates me!” she whimpered.
“Don’t say that, Cici. He doesn’t hate you. He just doesn’t know how to tell you how much he loves you. Please trust me,” I said.