Jasmine didn’t have to sneak back into the house that night, her mother was sleeping – or passed out – on the same couch that Jasmine had left her on, the crystal decanter at her feet.
Jasmine sat at the large dining table by herself the next morning as dusty sunlight streamed in through the windows she had thrown open. She was grateful for the bananas her mother had packed for the trip, and Jasmine sat peeling her fourth one.
“Oh good you’re up, too,” her mother said when she finally walked into the dining room. She was in the same clothes as the previous night, minus the jacket. Her makeup streaked her face, while her eyes were puffy and her short hair was in disarray.
“Morning,” Jasmine said, trying to be cheery. She knew better than to point out the fact that her mother had drunk herself to sleep the previous night.
“Is there any coffee around here or will we have to go back to the diner?” Jasmine asked as her mother slipped into the chair at the head of the table.
“You know, it wasn’t just our family he screwed over,” her mother replied instead. Clearly she hadn’t heard Jasmine’s question, and moreover, she had never her mother use profanity.
“Who?”
“Who else? My father, that’s who,” Camilla said and reached over for one of the two remaining bananas.
“What are you talking about, Mom?”
“Marvin Byrne’s family. He screwed up Marvin Byrne’s family as well,” her mother was peeling the banana now.
“I still don’t know what you’re saying, Mom. Grandfather knew the Byrne family?” Jasmine had stopped chewing on her banana.
“Well, he knew Marvin Byrne’s mother. The rest of the family, not so much,” she said and sat back in her chair.
“What are you trying to say, Mom?”
“That the woman my father was shacking up with in this house, was Marvin Byrne’s mother.” Jasmine was quiet, studying her mother’s face in silence as the news sank in.
“Is Marvin, Grandfather’s…?” Jasmine asked, her voice shaking uncontrollably.
“No, he’s not my half-brother if that’s what you’re asking,” her mother laughed dryly. “Marvin’s mother left his father and moved in with your grandfather. I’m not sure of the details, but Marvin must have only been about fifteen then.”
Jasmine felt a wave of relief, but that was short-lived. The implications of what her mother was saying were slowly seeping in, and they were jumbling up her thoughts.
“So Marvin’s mother and my grandfather…” Jasmine began.
“Yes. He broke up her marriage, forced her away from her own son.”
“How long were they together?” Jasmine could feel a dull headache coming on.
“Well, all of Marvin’s life, at least. Until she died.” Her mother was staring out of the window and Jasmine had no response. She didn’t want to think about the anger Marvin must feel towards her grandfather, towards her family.
“My brother and I were older, in our early twenties when he left my mother, so it obviously didn’t affect us the way it would have impacted a young teenager, a boy whose mother didn’t want anything to do with,” she continued. Her voice was sad, hollow, and almost unearthly. “Which is why I was so surprised and apprehensive when I got the letter from him and to read about his interest in buying the house.”
Jasmine could see the tears welling up in her mother’s eyes. She knew the right thing to do would be to get up and hug her, but she wasn’t sure how her mother would react to that.
“I knew it was too good to be true. Why would he, in his right mind, want to buy the house where his mother and her lover lived for so many years? Only a few minutes away from his own family home.”
Her mother’s voice was shaky now, but in rising anger more than sadness.
“They didn’t even have the decency to run away together to a different town, away from her ex-husband and son.” She finally wiped the angry tears that streaked her cheeks. Jasmine didn’t know what to think. Marvin’s behavior the previous night made sense now, but she didn’t want to wonder about the possibility that he seduced her as revenge. To avenge the harm her grandfather had done to his own family.
“Mom, can we leave?” Jasmine asked, and her mother turned to look at her, surprised, as if suddenly jerked out of a dream.
“Now?”
“Yes. Do we have any more reason to stay? He’s not buying the house. Nobody is buying the house,” Jasmine said and she got up hurriedly, scraping the chair noisily against the hardwood floor of the dining room.
“You’re right, I suppose. I’ve been a fool,” Camilla said, and hung her head down in shame.
“No, Mom. You’ve only tried to do what you thought needed to be done. But it’s over now. Although I wish you’d told me all this sooner,” Jasmine said and walked towards the door.
“What purpose would that have served?” It was hard for Jasmine to believe that her mother had no recollection of her proclamation the previous night that she was headed to Marvin’s home to talk to him. She didn’t want to remind her.
“I’m going to go take a shower and pack my bag. I suggest you do the same mom. Let’s just get out of here.”
***
Jasmine changed into a pair of comfortable linen pants and a thin t-shirt after her shower. She tied her damp, quickly drying hair, into a messy bun on top of her head as she packed. She was wearing bright, beach rubber slippers, and they squeaked against the floor every time she took a step. All she wanted to do was be back in her own tiny apartment in the city. She yearned to hear the squeals and laughter of a kindergarten classroom surrounding her. No matter what her mother thought of her career, she didn’t feel judged or the keeper of secrets, and most importantly, ashamed, in the midst of kids.
Jasmine didn’t think she would feel this way, and so soon, but she wanted to get away from the beautiful beach. The sound of seagulls haunted her, and the scent of the fresh air suffocated her. In twenty-four hours, this place, her grandfather’s getaway, made her feel as though she were trapped, that she was being taken advantage of, and she finally sympathized with her mother for the first time.
What she wanted to do most was get away from Marvin Byrne. Unwittingly, she had become a victim of a vicious vengeful act and her cheeks blushed in anger and embarrassment every time the memory of their having sex clouded her mind.
She couldn’t forgive herself for being so foolish, for thinking that the attraction was real, that he really wanted her. That she had met a man, and it was love at first sight; no questions asked, no strings attached, just a pure physical and inexplicable emotional bond. She had kissed him before she left, the kind of kiss you exchange with a familiar loved one. Jasmine didn’t want to think of the possibility that she was falling in love with Marvin. That she could be falling in love with a man who despised her family and probably despised her.
Jasmine felt sick with the thought that every time he touched her, he probably saw her grandfather’s face and the fact that he had ruined his family, that he had grown up without a mother. A mother who lived a few minutes away, but with another man, and who didn’t think of her son. Was he happy when she died? Was he happy when her grandfather died? A chill ran down her spine when she realized that the answer to both those questions is perhaps yes.
Jasmine sighed loudly as she zipped up her bag and flung it on the bed. She walked over to the window in silence to try and get a glimpse of the sea. What she saw instead was Marvin standing under her window. His hands in his pocket, a frown on his face, and his eyes studying the house.