Wild Rendezvous by Victoria Blisse Read Free Book Online Page A

laughs and accepts my hug. ‘Now, let me take our Luce and you can sort out the sobbing woman. I’m not good with tears.’
    â€˜Joe threw her out,’ I explain as I pack Lucy’s baby bag with the many essentials a toddler needs. ‘I don’t think she has anywhere to go. I think that might be why she’s hysterical right now.’
    â€˜She can stay with me,’ Mum says, ‘if you get her to stop blubbing. I can’t do with grown women crying. I have the spare room.’
    â€˜Are you sure, Mum?’
    â€˜Positive, you sort things out with her now, all right. Ring me when you’ve worked out what’s happening.’
    â€˜Thanks, Mum.’ I manage to smile. ‘Thanks so much.’
    I kiss Lucy and Mum at the door then reluctantly move back to the wreck of a woman in my kitchen. She’s not touched her drink and her head is in her hands. I walk over to the table and sit down. I sip my hot brew and take a deep breath.
    â€˜Beverly, my mum has offered you a room at her house for tonight, so you’ll have somewhere to stay.’
    â€˜I don‘t care about that,’ she snaps and the sympathy I’d been building up dissipated.
    â€˜Oh, right. Well then, you can go pack your bags and just go.’
    She sobs again.
    â€˜Look, Beverly, you’ve got to live with the consequences of your actions. You can’t expect your son to put up with you being such a bitch to him and us, his family.’
    â€˜I’ve always tried to do my best.’ She looks up at me, her eyes rimmed red and watery with tears. ‘But it’s never been good enough for him.’
    â€˜Look, please don’t try and turn this around and blame Joe. Please, you’ve got to be above that. Joe’s a good man, a really good man. It’s just a pity you’ve never been able to see that.’
    â€˜But Leanna, I know that. He’s the best. I’ve always been proud of him.’
    â€˜Pardon?’ I can’t believe what I’m hearing. The poor woman’s delusional. ‘You’ve done nothing but put him down since you arrived and I hear that’s nothing new. Joe doesn’t think you’ve ever been proud of him.’
    â€˜I always have been, always.’ She sobs again and I pass her a tissue from the box on the sideboard.
    â€˜I’m sorry, Beverly, but you have a funny way of showing it.’
    â€˜I know, I screwed up. I am screwed up. I don’t know how to look after kids. Look at the mess I made of bringing up my own. I’m useless, I really am. I’m a waste of space. That’s why I always pushed him. I pushed him away to protect him.’
    â€˜Beverly, he’s your son.’
    â€˜And I’m a screw-up. I can’t do anything right. I don’t know how to love. I pushed him away for his own good.’
    â€˜Now that’s screwed up.’ I sigh.
    â€˜Tell me about it.’ She laughs, bitterly. ‘But it’s worked. I know he’s between jobs right now but he’s a successful businessman and he’s marrying a lovely young lady and starting a family. He’s got it all. So it’s worked. I should have stayed away, I should have, but I just wanted to see him on the happiest day of his life. I wanted to be part of it even if   even though I’m incapable of making him happy myself.’
    â€˜Oh, Beverly.’ I could feel tears in my own eyes, so touched was I by her sadness. ‘It’s no good cutting off your nose to spite your face.’
    â€˜Pardon?’ She looks confused.
    â€˜It’s a British saying. It means that it’s no point doing something stupid just to prove your point. By pushing Joe away you’ve proved you’re a bad mum, but if you’d tried to nurture him, to pull him close you would have proved to him that you’re a good mum.
    â€˜No, I’d have screwed him up if I’d have done that. I don’t