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answered
harshly.
    “Because you are not sleeping with her? Or, are
you? There is more than one way to cheat, Mother.”
    Pearl put her face in her hands and braced herself
for the response she anticipated. Michelle and Jonah looked at the older woman
and then to their mother. “My life is just that, Marianne; my life. I certainly
do not need your guidance on dishonesty.”
    “Quick to defend this woman; aren’t you?”
    “Jameson does not need me to defend her, ” Candace said. She watched the screen in
front of her and recognized her daughter’s mounting protest. She effectively
ended it before it could begin. “She doesn’t need me to, but she certainly
deserves at least that much from me.” Candace saw Marianne bristle and heard
her begin to speak. She held up a finger in warning. “You are entitled to
whatever opinions you wish about my life, my home, and my career. It’s a free
country. I should know. I will thank you to keep your uninformed and rude judgments about
the people in my life to yourself. I raised you better than that.”
    “I am simply…”
    “I am simply telling you that this conversation is
over,” Candace said sternly.
    “Mother … ”
    “I’ll give you to your sister,” Candace said.
“Kiss Spencer for me.”
    “Mother, this woman could be…”
    “Marianne!” Candace finally yelled. “I have had
enough. Jameson has done nothing to warrant your scrutiny and skepticism. Now,
enjoy the rest of your weekend. I will talk you to you next week.” Candace got
up from her seat. “Michelle,” she called over to her younger daughter. Michelle
looked like a deer caught in the headlights. “You and Jonah come and visit with
your sister.” She forced a small smile and headed toward the kitchen.
    Pearl followed a few moments later and found
Candace holding onto the sink to steady
the shaking in her body. “Candy,” she said gently.
    “She has no right to attack Jameson,” Candace said
angrily.
    “No, she doesn’t.”
    Michelle had noted the uncharacteristic trembling
in her mother’s hands as she left the room. She left Jonah to chat with
Marianne, making the excuse that she needed to use
the bathroom quickly so that she could check on her mother. The sound of
voices stopped her just shy of her destination. She lingered outside the
kitchen, listening to the two women who had instructed her the most in life.
    “Candy?” Pearl called again. “You know; you are
right, Jameson is not Jessica.”
    “I know.”
    “I hope you do know.”
    Candace turned to Pearl. Pearl wiped a tear from
the corner of Candace’s eye. “Give it time, my love. Give it some time.”
    “She could be my daughter.”
      “And, you
could be mine,” Pearl said with a wink.
    “You know what I mean.”
    “I do know what you mean. She’ll keep you on your
toes,” Pearl chuckled.
    Candace smiled. “I don’t think she sees me…”
    “Oh, love; she sees you.”
    “You know what I mean,” Candace said.
    “Yes, I do. Maybe it’s you who is afraid to see
her,” Pearl suggested. Candace sighed. “Give it time, Candy,” she said. She
kissed the senator’s forehead as Candy began to cry and wrapped the woman in
her motherly embrace. “Life is strange sometimes. It tends to take us where we
need to go, if we let it, that is,” she comforted the woman in her arms. “I
love you, Candy.”
    “I love you too Mama Pearl.”
    “I know you do, so trust me.”
    Michelle stood completely still as the
conversation beyond the wall turned silent. She’d only heard her mother cry a
few times in her life, and she’d never heard her mother refer to Pearl as Mama
before. She wondered who this Jameson person was that she could have affected
her mother so deeply. “Oh, Marianne; I think you are in for a surprise.”
    Michelle
looked back at her mother and took a deep breath for courage. She didn’t want
her mother to think that she had been deliberately eavesdropping on a private
conversation. She had