Chapter 24: Jo Beth

She was on the couch again. Jo Beth was always on the couch, always looking around Magda’s apartment, always trying not to hate her surroundings. At one point the scarves draped over lamps, the travel posters decorating the walls, and the satin pillows that dominated the room hadn’t annoyed Jo Beth so much, yet now she wanted to throw them all out the window. But the window was small and the screen was nearly impossible to remove, so for now, Magda’s possessions were safe. Jo Beth sighed. The couch wilted underneath her pregnancy weight as she tapped her fingers, wishing she could just vault away from herself, but vaulting with a pregnant belly was obviously out of the question.

Finally, from out in the hallway, she heard the voice she’d been waiting for, so she struggled up.

The front door opened and Mitch entered first, smiling and carrying Elizabeth’s bags. Elizabeth came in behind him. Immediately Jo Beth extended her arms for a hug and walked towards her mother, forcing Mitch to step out of the way.

“Mom!”

“Sweetheart!”

Elizabeth caught Jo Beth in a tight embrace, squeezing her hard, as if to erase the time and distance that had come between them. When she pulled away she placed both hands on Jo Beth’s protruding belly.

“You look so beautiful!” Elizabeth said as she sniffled. “Of course, I knew you were having a baby. But this is the first time it feels real. My baby is having a baby.”

“Thanks for coming, Mom.” Jo Beth led her to the droopy couch. “How was your flight?”

“Fine,” she answered, “but I’ve never been able to sleep on planes.”

“You must be exhausted.”

Jo Beth glanced away from her mother’s lovely face, which she had to admit, looked as worn out as the couch they sat upon. Mitch still stood by the door, absently gazing at them. It took him a second before he thought to put down Elizabeth’s suitcase. Then he pasted on a smile before he spoke. “I offered to take her straight to the hotel, but she couldn’t wait to see you.” He walked toward the couch and sat on an adjacent armchair, first removing a Spanish novel and Magda’s sweater, both of which had been resting there.

“He’s right.” Elizabeth patted Jo Beth’s knee and then pivoted towards Mitch. “And I also couldn’t wait to start getting to know you. We’re family now, so we have a lot of catching up to do.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” he answered. “Although, Jo Beth talks about you so much that I feel like I know you already.”

Jo Beth shot him a look which he didn’t receive. “I wouldn’t say that I talk about her all the time,” she said.

“Of course, you do.” He spoke to Elizabeth. “I’ve heard so many stories: all the afternoons your family went skiing together and how you’d end the day at your bakery, where you’d make Jo Beth and Skylar hot chocolate and scones. And how you put a little bit of chili powder in the cocoa and toffee chips in the scones…” He grinned at the thought. “Sounds perfect.”

Elizabeth beamed. “I like to think that Jo Beth and Skylar had good childhoods.”

Jo Beth had to chime in. “Yeah, but the way Mitch tells it I was Anne of Green Gables on skis. It wasn’t like that.”

He shook his head at her. “Compared to my childhood, yours was the friggin’ Waltons.” Mitch turned toward Elizabeth and recited his sad story. “My mom took off when I was twelve and my dad moved us from Minnesota to Florida, where we lived in a dingy apartment. He worked so much that I barely ever saw him.”

“Oh, what a shame,” she answered. “Growing up like that must have been hard.”

“Mitch did okay,” Jo Beth said.

Then the door opened and Magda entered. “Oh, hello,” she said, in her affected, vaguely Spanish accent. “You must be Elizabeth.”

Elizabeth practically gushed out her response. “And you must be Magda. It’s so nice to finally meet you.”

Jo Beth could see that her mother was drawn to Magda like a fly toward rotting syrup. But why should Elizabeth be different than anyone else?

Magda stepped over Mitch’s feet and into the room, where she embraced Elizabeth and did the friendly peck on both cheeks thing. Elizabeth clearly wasn’t expecting that, so it was awkward when she rose from the couch and Magda’s kisses landed first on her forehead and then on her nose. After the moment passed, Magda seemed to realize that there was nowhere left to sit in the small living room, so she leant against the armrest of Mitch’s chair. Both Mitch and Magda appeared totally comfortable with this intimacy. In fact, Jo Beth was sure that had a stranger walked in, he’d assume that Magda and Mitch were the couple.

“How was your flight?” Magda asked. “You must be exhausted.”

Jo Beth rolled her eyes. “That’s what I said.”

She watched as her mother surrendered to a seesawing smile. “Yes, well, the jetlag is starting to get to me. The room is swaying just a little.”

“Oh, it always does that,” said Mitch. “But we should get you to your hotel.” He stood, and as he did, his hand grazed Magda’s thigh. “I can take you now, and pick you up after you’ve had a chance to nap. Magda and I have dinner planned. We’re going to make you feijoada—

“—this stew with beans and pork. Brazil’s most popular dish,” Magda finished.

“Oh, that sounds wonderful,” Elizabeth said. “You don’t have to go to so much trouble for me though.”

“It’s no trouble,” said Mitch. “We want to celebrate your arrival.”

Magda batted her eyes in agreement. “I just wish the apartment was big enough that you could stay.”

Elizabeth laughed and looked around at the tiny space that Jo Beth had been confined to for the last several months. “There’s obviously no room for that.” Then she rose from the couch slowly, as if her joints needed a good oiling.

“You’re going already, Mom? You just got here.”

“Don’t worry, Jo. Your mom will be back.”

Magda’s voice sounded counterfeit and it matched the false look of sympathy she gave Jo Beth. Too bad she couldn’t hit Magda, but Jo Beth knew her mother would be horrified by the violence. “Really?” Jo Beth said, packing her words with venom. “You’ve known her for thirty seconds and you’re reassuring me on her whereabouts? Please. Just because I’m carrying a baby doesn’t mean that I am one.”

“Sorry,” Magda said.

Sorry-not-sorry is more like it, Jo Beth thought.

Elizabeth swallowed hard, obviously sensing the tension. Jo Beth knew that the two things her mom avoided at all costs were burning caramel and conflict. To Elizabeth, both resulted in a sticky, smelly mess. Elizabeth seemed to hem and haw, but ultimately she decided to stay silent as she looked to Mitch, who was so used to Magda’s and Jo Beth’s bickering that it barely even registered.

“You ready to go?” he asked Elizabeth.

“I’m coming too!” Jo Beth nearly shouted.

Jo Beth surprised herself at how swiftly she rose from the couch, but that’s the power of determination. Mitch, Magda, and Elizabeth all just stared at her, noiseless as she moved into the hallway and scrounged through the tiny, bursting closet for a pair of shoes that she hadn’t had cause to wear for months. Mitch was the first to finally say something. “Babe, you know you can’t leave the apartment. The doctor wants you on bed-rest. You’re already moving around more than you ought to.”

Where were those damn shoes? “I don’t care. I want to be alone with my mom.”

Elizabeth spoke next. “Sweetheart, why don’t I stay a little longer? I’m not really that tired. I’ll just hang out here for a while and Mitch can take me back after dinner.”

Jo Beth wanted to scream her frustration; every single shoe in that closet belonged to Magda, whether they were the pair of size six waterproof Teevas or some delicate, strappy heels. She pushed all of them deeper into the closet. “I need to talk to you, Mom. Now.” Jo Beth took her mother by the hand, and led her into the bedroom, which was taken up almost entirely by a “full” bed. It was even smaller than a queen, and lately it had been unmanageable for hugely pregnant Jo Beth to share it with Mitch, who was six foot one when slouching. They’d started using the bed after Magda had volunteered to sleep on the cot in the living room. Otherwise, Mitch would have had no place to sleep, unless he shared the bed with Magda, and even Magda wasn’t bold enough to suggest that. The bed was unmade with rumpled sheets and the room’s curtains were drawn. But Jo Beth didn’t care how unwelcoming or unkempt the room may have seemed; she shut the door and spoke in a fierce whisper. “You have to take me with you, Mom. It’s not safe for me here. They’re trying to hurt me.”

Elizabeth sat on the edge of the bed, her attempt to control her response obvious. “Trying to hurt you, how?”

Jo Beth launched in, the accusations that she’d obsessed over for weeks just rolling from her tongue. “The accident wasn’t an accident, Mom. Magda didn’t secure my zip line on purpose. She wanted me to fall, and she wants to keep me here, bedridden, where I can be controlled. Mitch is in on it too. I just don’t know why. Not yet. But I have to get out of here and you have to help me.”

“Darling,” her mom said evenly, “I know it’s been difficult, stuck here all these months, especially when you’re used to being so active. But I really don’t think Mitch means you any harm. He loves you and he loves the baby.”

“What are you basing that off, Mom? One conversation that you had with him during the ride from the airport?” Jo Beth took her by the shoulders. “This is not just pregnancy hormones or my chemically imbalanced brain. This is real. Leaving is the only safe option for me.”

Elizabeth ran her fingers through her messy hair and pushed up her glasses to the top of her nose. “If you leave and start walking around, you’ll most likely go into labor.”

“So?” Jo Beth replied. “I’m almost full term.”

Elizabeth’s look was so rueful that she may as well have been wagging her finger at her daughter. “Not for another three weeks. Don’t you want your baby to be as healthy as possible?”

“Yes, of course, Mom.”

Elizabeth sighed. “So, I’ll be here and I’ll take care of you during the day, and if Mitch and Magda are truly trying to hurt you, then I’ll know and we’ll do something about it.”

Jo Beth began to scratch the back of her neck but, actually, her whole body itched. “During the day doesn’t count. They can hide it during the day. What really matters is at night.” Jo Beth paused and peered into her mother’s eyes. “Are you just humoring me, Mom?”

“No, of course not.”

She’d lost her ability to read her mother, so Jo Beth decided to just play along. “Good, because I’m not making this up. They’re always whispering and speaking Spanish, like they’re pretending they’re not American anymore. And yesterday Magda served me this pudding made with coconut milk.”

Instead of a strong response, Elizabeth just gave Jo Beth a blank stare, and that made Jo Beth yell. “You know I’m allergic to coconuts!”

“Is it possible you’re over-reacting?”

“Mom! Coconut milk makes me break out in hives! If I have enough of it, I get SERIOUSLY ILL!”

“Well, perhaps Magda didn’t know that and she was just trying to be nice by making you pudding.”

Of course, she would say that, Jo Beth thought. To her mother, food equaled love. “Magda was trying to poison me, Mom.”

Elizabeth stood and led Jo Beth to the bed so she’d be the one sitting. “Darling, I think you’re exhausted and overwhelmed, and with the hormones running through your system, well it’s enough to drive anyone crazy.”

“I’m the opposite of exhausted. All I ever do is rest. I’ve gone all Yellow Wallpaper.”

“Huh?”

How could she not get the reference? After all, Skylar had gotten her love of reading from Elizabeth. “The Yellow Wallpaper? Skylar’s favorite short story, about the woman who goes crazy because her husband forces her to rest? Skylar put it on my Kindle and I could totally relate. I’m ready to rip everything apart with my bare hands.”

Elizabeth’s mouth hung open but the corners of her lips seemed to tighten, as if they were trying to push words out. Then there was a knock.

“Jo Beth?” The bedroom door opened and Mitch peaked his head in. “Hey, sorry to interrupt.”

Jo Beth stood from the bed and crossed her arms over her chest. “Don’t pretend that you weren’t eavesdropping.”

Mitch entered the room and did a sideways shuffle to stand next to Jo Beth in the crowded space. He placed his large hands on her shoulders and she stiffened.

“You’re going to give your mom the wrong impression.” He turned toward Elizabeth without waiting for a response. “The bed-rest has been hard on her. Someone as active as Jo Beth, well, it’s only natural that she goes a little crazy.”

“I’m not crazy!”

“Then you know we’re only keeping you here for the baby’s well-being,” he replied. “Come on, can’t we have a nice evening and celebrate your mom’s arrival?”

“How about I take a little nap here?” Elizabeth suggested. She gestured to the bed, in all its unmade, rumpled glory. “You can keep me company while Mitch and Magda cook dinner.”

There was a long, uncomfortable pause. Jo Beth swallowed down her courage and anger. “Fine, if that’s what you want, Mom. I certainly don’t want to ruin the evening.”

Obviously relieved, Elizabeth hugged her daughter. “We’re the same, you know. I missed being on my meds during pregnancy. But I got through it and you will too. Pretty soon your baby will be here and you’ll be so busy taking care of her, you’ll forget the insanity that led up to her birth. I promise.”

“Thanks, Mom.”

Jo Beth met Mitch’s eyes over her mother’s shoulder as she hugged her. I hate you, she mouthed silently to him. But Mitch’s face was unreadable and Jo Beth couldn’t tell if he understood.

“Great,” he said. “I’ll go help Magda start dinner. Hope you’re both hungry.”