Chapter Eight
“I knew the only way to get through to you was by coming in person. I was the one who called Tony and his mother to come with me. We figured it would be strength in numbers. You wouldn’t be able to say no to all of us. I’m very disappointed in you. You’re damn well going to listen to reason.” Lupe was aghast by her daughter’s behavior and felt it was necessary for some kind of intervention.
“Your mother is only saying what all of us are thinking. I would’ve said it a little less without the caustic attitude, but sometimes a raised voice can be heard easier.” Tony’s mother, Helena wasn’t all that concerned and felt it was best to cut the strings on the marriage before children became involved.
She was only there because Lupe was a woman who didn’t know how to take no for an answer. It took some convincing to get Tony to join them. Helena knew he hated being told what to do. His independence was part of his psychological make-up by the time he was barely in his teens.
“Yvette, I forgive you for leaving me, but I’m willing to give you another chance to make me happy. I won’t apologize for my indiscretion and I have no intention of going to counseling. I won’t let you make a fool out of me.” He did enjoy being married, but there was always something complicated he couldn’t quite put his finger on about his wife.
“I wouldn’t bother taking your coats off. It doesn’t look like any one of you came here with an open mind. You want me to knuckle under and become your doormat. This whole thing has taught me there’s more to life than pleasing others.” She wasn’t going to do what her mother said and was determined to show strength in the face of adversity.
“This has got to be the influence of that young man we saw. How can you stand there and believe what you are doing is right? The church stresses that marriage is hard work and takes a woman of strong conviction to make it work. I thought I raised you to do the right thing.” Lupe was trying to hold her tongue but was having trouble not grabbing her by the collar and dragging her home by bodily force.
“I always thought you were happy together. It was stunning to learn of your divorce. It has to be something you did. My little boy deserves more consideration. He had a little slip-up, but it’s not like it’s uncommon. Men have a tendency to look elsewhere when they are not getting what they want at home. You can’t make it on your own without him holding your hand. Stop being a petulant child and take him back.” Helena was feeding on what Lupe was already saying.
“I’m sure in your day this was normal, but I don’t have to stand for any of his shenanigans. God knows I tried to turn a blind eye, but he continued to be reckless.” Every time she closed her eyes, she saw her husband in another woman’s arms. There was no going back as far as she was concerned.
“I’m through with making allowances for you. You come home and make this work or you’re never coming home again. I will disown you and in my eyes, you will be dead.” This was Lupe’s idea of tough love: to lay down the law. She expected her daughter to follow it without deviation.
“I will be more than happy to pack your bags. It’s time for you to come home in time for Christmas.” Helena started down the hallway but found resistance from Yvette blocking her way.
“My patience is wearing thin. I’ve tried to have a civil tongue, but this ambush is raising my temper to a boil. Take one more step down the hall and you will regret it. I’m not the same little girl I was when I married him under protest. I knew deep down we were never right for each other.” She was saying everything she had always wanted to but never had the chance.
Tony was pacing back and forth, and then there was this sudden loud clap of thunder when he smacked his fist into his hand.
“I will not tolerate you speaking to my mother like that. We can do this the easy way or we can do this the hard way. It doesn’t really matter to me. I will be more than happy to drag you by your hair, kicking and screaming.” He had never been shy to put his hand on any woman and Yvette’s attitude was really vexing him.
“Don’t even think about putting your hands on my daughter. If anybody is going to take matters into their own hands, it’s going to be me. You do raise a valid point and sometimes a daughter needs to understand her obligations to her family.” She was standing defiantly with her arms crossed over her yellow, ‘70s-style jacket.
“My boy could’ve done a whole lot better than her. We had a frank conversation before he went down the aisle and I expressed myself eloquently. I told him she was nothing but a gold-digging tramp trying to trap him by getting pregnant.” Helena was pulling on her black hair, which had come straight out of a bottle. She had turned gray by forty years old, and was hiding her age by any means necessary.
“This isn’t good for my image. The other partners have been looking at me funny lately. My wholesome image has been tarnished because of this ugliness. I can still get things back on track, but only if you are by my side, smiling and being the dutiful wife you’re supposed to be.” Tony wasn’t tall, but he had a reputation for using his 5’8 frame to intimidate those in the courtroom. This was the same tactic with the same booming voice and conviction behind every word.
“It has always been about you and never once have you considered what I want. I’m window dressing and you would rather me be seen and not heard. It’s no wonder my father left to get away from my mother’s shrill voice. I’m taking a page from his book to find my happiness with someone who can truly appreciate me.” She wasn’t going to sit back and allow them to browbeat her into doing something she was never going to do.
“I have a good mind to slap the taste out of your mouth,” Lupe said, and raised her hand to her daughter. Yvette grabbed it in midair with her eyes burning. She was never going to allow her mother to lay her hand on her in anger again. They stood toe to toe, looking at each other like two immovable forces unwilling to bend.
“This isn’t the woman I married. I told you what to do and you did it without hesitation. I made the rules and you followed them. I don’t want the woman I don’t recognize as being my wife.” Tony’s eyes were cold and calculating like that of a seasoned psychopath.
“I will get through to her if it’s the last thing I do. Don’t give up; the woman you married is still in there. The devil can be excised from her soul.” Lupe tried to pull her hands free but found Yvette’s grip to be like iron.
“My boy deserves better than this. A marriage is like a roller coaster. Sometimes you want to scream and other times you want to laugh. It’s an emotional upheaval. It would be best for you to learn your place.” The words were barely out of her mouth when she was accosted by an expression stopping her cold in her tracks.
If looks could kill, Helena would’ve been on the floor writhing in agony with her last breath coming out of her mouth.
“I’ve listened to all of you and it’s time for you to finally listen to me. I have no intention of going back to Tony, and nothing on this green earth would ever make me want to go back to that living hell.” She went over to the door and opened it, fuming mad and looking for someone to make it necessary for her to act with a physical display of emotion.
“Lupe and I are going to go to your room and pack your things. There’s a taxi waiting for all of us outside at the curb. It will take us to the airport where there is a ticket in your name. Don’t make this any harder than it has to be.” Helena and Lupe made a few steps in tandem.
“You’re my daughter and I know what’s best for you. Stay here with Tony until we get back.” They had barely made it halfway down the hallway when there was the crash of glass shattering into a million pieces.
“I’ve tried to do this the nice way, but the only thing you understand is violence. Get out of my home and never darken my doorway again.” She saw the knife block and grabbed the biggest cleaver she could find, wielding it like a crazed lunatic.
“Put that down and stop acting like a crazy person.” Tony took a step toward her, feeling there was no way she would actually use the cleaver. He was wrong.
The blade swung in the air and the cold menacing steel sliced through his jacket and shirt to his sensitive skin underneath. One step closer and he would have been in desperate need of medical aid.
“Stop talking to me like I’m a child. I’m through playing by the rules. For the first time in my life, I’m living for nobody’s approval. I’m going to say this one more time with feeling so there is no miscommunication. If you know what’s good for you, you will leave before things escalate.” There was a droplet of his blood staining the steel of the blade.
“I don’t need this hassle. You have become unraveled. I’m leaving, but you should know this is not the end of it. The penthouse is my possession and I want it back. I have this document for you to sign back the ownership.” He had it in his hand and suddenly, it was being shredded by the very cleaver that had destroyed his jacket and custom-made shirt from overseas.
“I have no intention of giving you anything back. Let me make things a little clearer. Leave now or there will be a need for the police to come haul me away. I have this cleaver in my hand and my mother can attest to my knowledge of using it.” Yvette had never brandished anything in anger, but there was always a first time for everything.
The document was sliced in half with one part on the floor and the other one still clutched in Tony’s hand. He dropped the other piece and casually walked backward towards the door with his mouth wide open in shock. He swallowed hard thinking about how she might possibly use that cleaver on another part of his anatomy.
“I can’t talk to you when you are like this. To be perfectly honest, I don’t want you back and I’m having fun playing the field.” It was a hurtful thing for Tony to say, but he felt like he was backed into a corner like a wounded animal.
“Tony, when are you ever going to listen to your mother? It’s always the quiet ones you have to worry about. I have a few friends with single daughters you should seriously consider pursuing. I want you to wash your hands of this; it’s not worth the headaches. I was wrong to let Lupe convince me to come here.” The two of them stormed down the hall going to the elevator.
Lupe held back, still stunned by what had transpired.
“You’re not going to use that on your mother. Look at the mess you’ve made of your life. You had everything, and you ruined it by walking away when things got tough. I’m ashamed to call you my daughter. I need to let you hit rock bottom before you realize the mistake you’ve made.” Her daughter was holding onto the cleaver with her fingers turning white from the effort.
“Tony was an unfortunate chapter in my life and I finally closed it by signing on the dotted line. It’s time for a new chapter dedicated to me and nobody else. The freedom to think for myself is not something I will easily give up. I still love you, but I don’t have to take your verbal abuse.” She fought the urge to scream and kept her voice steady with her breathing, making it feel like she was going to hyperventilate.
“I hope for your sake you finally come to your senses. I’ve said what I needed to say. I will pray for divine intervention to step in to save your soul. I will talk to Father Michaels and get him to perform a sermon in your honor.” Lupe didn’t feel there was anything left to say, but her daughter had something else in mind.
“I’m going to reiterate what I said to you on the phone the other day. This is my life and I found my voice. It was a good thing he cheated on me. I probably would’ve remained in a mundane existence and you would’ve been happy. I don’t think that I would’ve been able to say the same.” Lupe looked at her daughter and found what she saw was a stranger.
“You have fallen from grace, but there is still hope. Never forget your mother loves you. I just can’t stand to see you like this.” She had the final say and walked out the door with her head held high.
Yvette was running on pure adrenaline and slammed the door with a definitive motion of her hand. She fell back and dropped the cleaver which landed and stuck into the wood floor at an angle.
She had her hands over her eyes and slumped to a sitting position with her arms wrapped around her knees. The moment was over and the breakdown was inevitable. She wept openly with rocking sobs that she wasn’t able to hold back any longer.
Outside the door, Blake had listened to the whole thing from beginning to end. He was proud of her for taking a stand and not backing down. He was tempted to back her up, but to do so would’ve only made her look weak and frail. Those two words couldn’t possibly describe the woman he had been dating.
He had hidden down the hall around the corner in time for her ex-husband and his mother to emerge.
He could hear her letting her emotions come to the forefront. He put his hand on the door as a sign of respect and solidarity. He could only hope she could feel his strength through the door.