Yuletide Proposal. Lois Richer
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employee’s. He punished her to the end.”
“So to get back at him, Mom created her own business to pass on to me,” Brianna guessed, glimpsing the past with wiser eyes. “That explains so much. But why didn’t she ever tell me?”
“Would it have made a difference?” her father asked, his face grave.
“You mean would I have given up my goal of psychology?” she asked. “No. But at least I’d understand why she was so determined that I stay. She was ashamed and embarrassed and determined to prove her father wrong by building her own business. Except I couldn’t be part of it.” Hindsight explained a lot.
“So now you know.” Hugh Benson’s pencil flew across the page, his caricature of Cory coming to life. “You said you came back to Hope to help kids. So that’s why you’re helping Zac present this Your World plan tonight?”
“Yes.” Brianna sighed. “I’m not sure about working with him, though.”
“Because?”
But Brianna could not, dare not answer that. Not until she’d sorted out the miasma of conflicting feelings that took over whenever Zac was around.
Outside, a short beep of a car horn sounded.
“That’s Jaclyn. We’re going out for a quick supper before I go to the board meeting. I know you’re going back to see Mom. Cory’s eating at his new friend’s house but he’s supposed to be back in a couple of hours.” Brianna grabbed her bag and her jacket. As she slipped her feet out of slippers and into her sandals she felt her dad’s stare. “What?”
“I thought—hoped you might stop by the nursing home later tonight. You know the truth now. Maybe you two could make up.” There was no condemnation in his quiet voice but that didn’t stop Brianna feeling a ripple of guilt.
“It’s too soon for that, Dad.” She grabbed the doorknob. “Mom was pretty upset today.” She winced, remembering her mother’s angry diatribe.
“Brianna.” Her dad’s firm tone insisted she hear him out.
She inhaled and waited.
“Your mother had a stroke.” He sounded angry. “She can’t do the things she wants to do and her temper flares. She gets uncertain mood swings and frequently can’t express herself the way she wants. Cut her some slack, will you?”
All the past hurt, all the angry words and bitter remarks she’d endured came flooding back. Brianna couldn’t stop the rush of anger.
“I’ve been cutting Mom slack my whole life, Dad. I figured that maybe, after all these years, she might have learned to do the same for her one and only daughter. But I guess I still embarrass her.” Stung by the chastisement in his eyes, she left, quietly but firmly shutting the door behind her before she walked to her friend’s car.
“Hey, Brianna. I’m starv—” Jaclyn took one look at her face and turned off the car. “What’s wrong? Cory again?” She frowned, shook her head. “No, wait. I know that look. It’s your mom, isn’t it, Brianna?”
“I’m a fully accredited psychologist, Jaclyn. I’ve dealt with all kinds of people. Yet, I can’t seem to deal with my feelings toward my own mother.” Slowly she unclenched her fingers as she relayed what she’d learned. “It explains why, all these years, she’s been so driven. But why couldn’t she have just told me?”
“Old grudges die hard.” Jaclyn frowned. “Now, what are you going to do about it?”
“Keep trying to rebuild our relationship.” Brianna couldn’t keep the bitterness of the past inside any longer; she had to let it out. “My mother is the reason I left Hope. Well, her and Zac.”
“I’m your best friend, Brianna.” Jaclyn frowned. “Isn’t it about time you finally explained why I never got to wear your mother’s choice of that delightful flounced fuchsia bridesmaid dress down the aisle for your wedding?” She giggled at Brianna’s gagging sound but quickly sobered. “You’re only about ten years late explaining.”
“It was always too hard to talk about. I wanted to forget it.” She gulped, forced herself to continue the sad story. “Remember the rehearsal dinner?”
“Like I could forget that—all eleven courses.” Jaclyn grimaced.
“There weren’t eleven!” Brianna argued. “But my mother did have to make her only daughter’s wedding an extravaganza.”
“Go on.”
“After the rehearsal dinner I hadn’t seen Zac for a while so I went looking for him. He and my mother were by the hotel pool.” Brianna bit her lip. “I overheard them talking. He accepted her offer of a teaching job in Hope for two years. Without even talking to me, he accepted.”
“But how could—?” Jaclyn’s furrowed brow smoothed. “Oh, I remember now. Your mom was elected chairman of the school board that year, wasn’t she?”
“Yes. And she had the store, of course.” Brianna swallowed hard. “I heard Zac tell her he was worried about supporting me. Remember I couldn’t find a job that summer. As my mother said many times, I returned to Hope with a useless undergrad degree.” Bitterness ate another hole inside.
“She never understood how much psychology meant to you, did she?”
“She always said I should get over Jessica’s death, like it was a skinned knee or something.” Brianna bit her lip. “It hurt so badly to lose her. I couldn’t just forget her or that her death might have been prevented if better medical care had been available in Hope.”
“Nor could I,” Jaclyn murmured.
“Anyway that night Mom preyed on Zac’s fears.” Brianna needed to get this out and let go of it. “She convinced Zac we should stay in Hope by guaranteeing him a job and telling him that I’d have work in her store while he taught. She said we’d be able to save faster for our PhDs.”
“Baloney.” Jaclyn snorted. “She was always after you to take over her store. She couldn’t accept your refusal so she decided to bribe your fiancé to get her way.”
“Exactly. I couldn’t believe Zac agreed with her that I should work in the store. He knew as well as you did how useless I felt in that place. I was never into home decor. I had no knack for furniture styles or placement. Still don’t,” Brianna admitted. “The only thing I enjoyed about that store was the fabrics, hence my love of quilts.”
“Did you talk to Zac about it?”
“I tried on the way home after the party. I asked why he’d accepted the job without talking to me. He was surprised that I was angry about it. He thought I’d be glad that we wouldn’t have to go into a lot of debt for our degrees.” She squeezed her eyes tightly shut and inhaled to ease the stress of those horrible moments. “He said I’d probably end up reconsidering my decision to do a doctorate anyway once we had a family.”
“Shades of male machismo.” Jaclyn’s face tightened.
“No. He wasn’t being macho. I don’t think he honestly believed I was as committed as he was.” Brianna sighed. “I was stunned by what he said. Weeks of him falling in with my mother’s suggestions and not standing up for me—I’d been having doubts about getting married and I told him so. But he apologized, convinced me that he loved me, that he only wanted what was best for us.”
“So you decided to go through with the wedding.”
“Yes. But I was furious. When I got home, I told my mother I knew she’d gone behind my back to coerce Zac into accepting that job.” Brianna tried to make her friend understand. “She knew we’d planned to get jobs in the city where we could still take night classes because I’d gone to great lengths to explain our plans to my parents. Zac and I had put months of thought into it because I’d insisted we have our game plan in place before we ever came to Hope for the wedding.