Edited by: Pat & Arthur
A long and bumpy road to love.
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CHAPTER 1
It was a day I'll never forget. I had gone into my parents' bedroom to look for something. I don't remember what I was looking for, but I remember what I found.
There was a wooden box in the bottom drawer of my mother's vanity, hidden under some of her things. Inside there was a packet of letters tied with a pink ribbon.
Curiosity got the better of me and I pulled the letters out of the hiding spot and examined them. There were thirteen letters, most of them just one page. Some of them were just short notes.
As soon as I began to read, I couldn't believe my eyes. They were love letters. They were full of passion, and sentiment. And they had been written to my mother!
The letters were signed by some guy called Andy. I didn't know anyone with that name.
My mother had a lover!
I put the first letter back in the envelope and opened another.
The first lines I read shocked me: "My beloved Ginger, I wish I could have you here with me in my bed and hold you tight in my arms like I did yesterday..." and so it continued, full of romantic and passionate words, nothing too graphic, thank God. Most of the lines were bad attempts at poetry and lyrics stolen from country love songs.
I had never imagined my mother could do something like this. I began skimming through the rest of the letters, nervously opening them all.
I stood there taking in what I had just discovered; it certainly wasn't easy to learn about the existence of a lover in my mother's life.
I decided to show the letters to my dad, so I ran to the barn.
"Dad! Dad! Dad! Look! Look!"
I stopped to catch my breath and handed him the packet of letters.
"What is it, Red?"
I was named Marion Robert after Dad's favorite actor, but since I was a redhead like my mom everybody called me 'Red'. In a weird way, I ended being a combination of Dad's favorite Hollywood couple.
"Look Dad, I found these letters in Mom's drawer. They are love letters, Dad! This guy, Andy says naughty things about him and mom! Read them!"
He frowned and looked at the letters as if they were a rattlesnake. He reached for one, and read it for himself in silence. The expression in his face changed as he went on. His big hands curled into white-knuckled fists by his side, yet he spoke calmly.
"You are no longer a boy that needs to be shielded from certain facts in life. You know what these letters mean?
I gulped and moved my head up and down. "Mom is cheating on you."
My father was my best friend, my hero. He was doing his best to hide his anger and his pain behind a mask of seriousness.
Though he desired to contradict me, he truthfully could not.
"It seems so. This is my problem not yours, Red," he said. He placed the letters aside and wearily sat down on a bale of hay. "Pack some things. Make it quick. I want you out of here before your mother comes back. I'll take you to Gramps. You're going to stay there for some time till I come to fetch you."
"What about school?"
"I'll talk with your teachers after I talk with my lawyer."
"Are you going to divorce Mom?" I swallowed hard, dreading his answer.
"Yes, son, I am, and I don't want you in the middle of this mess."
I could see he was suffering but there was also pride. A couple of tears fell down his cheeks.
I have never seen my dad cry until that day.
CHAPTER 2
My grandparents definitely helped to shape me into the person I would become. They taught me many things, especially how to be a good worker, connect with the land through working it in the spring and summer, hunting in the Fall, tapping trees in the Spring, and picking strawberries in the Summer again. But most importantly, they taught me to never give up. No matter how bad things got, I had to keep pushing through and complete the task at hand.
When Dad and I reached my grandparents' place, Dad took Grandpa aside and talked with him for a long time while Grandma took me inside for a glass of milk and a piece of apple pie.
Some minutes later, Grandpa entered the house and told Grandma, "Red is staying with us for some time. John has things to sort out at home."
Grandma nodded, interrogating Gramps with her eyes.
"Later," was all he said.
During the next days, Grandma pampered me with special foods, cuddles and kisses. I had a great time with my grandparents. Somehow I managed to put the situation at home in the back of my mind. Every day when I woke up, my breakfast was already prepared; then I worked with Grandpa on the farm, and lunch was ready made when we returned. After doing some homework (Grandma made me call a classmate on the phone to know what they were doing) I was free to do whatever I wanted.
There were a lot of hushed conversations between my grandparents and over the phone. After a couple of days, there were some 'wrong calls' too.
One day we heard the distant roar of a car approaching from the main road.
"Take Red to the shed, Agatha," said Grandpa. He took his Remington Lever Action .223 and went out.
Running, Grandma and I made it to the shed, just in time, before hearing the car pull to a stop in front of the house. I peeped out the slightly ajar door.
It was my mom with some guy I'd never seen before.
"What are you doing here, Ginger?" Grandpa roared. His rifle was pointing to the ground.
"I came to see my son, Ed, please. I know he is here," pleaded my mom.
"He doesn't want to see you."
"I don't believe you." She said, anguish in her voice.
"I'm not a liar like you. Red was the one who found your love letters, you cheating slut. He doesn't want anything to do with you."
Mom gasped and took a step toward the house. "I want to see my son."
Grandpa's rifle was up in a second. "That's close enough, Ginger."
Mom stopped.
"Please, I need to explain it to him!" Mom pleaded.
"Explain what? That you spread your legs for this asshole and you threw away a good man and a good marriage?"
"He's her son! You can't keep him away from her." The man said moving towards Grandpa.
"If you take one more step I'll shoot you for trespassing, asshole. Neither of you are welcome on my land. Go away!"
Mom was crying now.
"When the divorce goes through, I'll get custody of him. You can't take my son away from me. I'll have half of the farm and the money too."
"You're dumb as a rock, Ginger. The farm and the herd are mine. John has been paying me rent all these years. He has also been paying me back some money I lent him. I never trusted you. While John was breaking his back to provide for you and Red, you were reading those stupid romantic novels or watching soap operas on the TV. You were a lousy housewife who always neglected your domestic duties. The house was always a mess and even the pigs refused to eat your cooking. All you have is your looks. When the divorce is over, you'll discover you threw away a good marriage just for a few bucks. If you want to see your son you better sign the papers you were served. Then you'll have visitation rights. John is not trying to keep you away from your son, but he'll get full custody of the boy."
"I'll take Red away from John and you! You'll never see him again." Mom yelled.
I shivered. I didn't want to be away from my dad or my grandparents.
Grandpa was right about Mom. She was always wasting her time watching those stupid soap operas on the TV. She was a terrible cook. She burned things you would not imagine it possible to burn and served others half-raw. Her only seasonings were salt and pepper. Till I was grown, I had assumed that roast beef had to be stringy, not something you sliced, but a leathery dry object which you separated with a fork, one strand from another, and dropped with a clunk upon your plate.
Grandpa laughed.
"Bring it on, Ginger. You have no job, no skills and no home. Everyone in Middletown knows what you and this asshole did to John. The only thing you'll get is some alimony till you marry this home-wrecker. Judge Anderson's father went to school with me, and his son hates cheaters more than I do."
"Look, mister. The lady just wants..." the man began to say, taking one step closer. Gramps shot at his feet making him jump.
"Last warning. One more step and you'll lose your balls. I'm not interested in anything scum like you has to say. Go back from where you came from."
The man took mom's arm and dragged her back into the car. She was crying her heart out.
Then they turned the car around and drove back to the main road.
CHAPTER 3
A couple of weeks later Dad came to fetch me and took me back home.
He looked at me and said, "Your mother signed the divorce papers, Red. It took some persuasion but she finally did it."
I had heard about divorce before, but I never thought it would happen in my family. I felt very sad. It was happening, and it was happening to me.
"Your mother moved out of the house and she's going to live in a small apartment in Middletown for a while."
I looked up at my father not knowing what to say.
"You'll have to help me around the house. I've already talked with your teachers and you'll have to stay after class to catch up with the rest of your classmates." Dad said.
I nodded again. That wasn't a problem. I was very smart. My lowest grade was a B+.
"Now, as part of the agreement, you'll have to see your mother every weekend."
I finally found my voice.
"I don't want to see her, Dad. I hate her! She hurt you! She broke our family!" My voice cracked and broke.
Dad looked at me with a very serious expression and said, "When you're older you can refuse, but till then, I'm afraid you'll have to visit her."
I was angry with my mother. Every day I yelled at a framed picture of her I had in my room. Why wasn't Dad good enough for her? Why did she choose some loser over us?
One day, I was so angry with her that I threw a pillow at her picture. It fell down to the floor and the glass shattered into pieces. It was broken like my family. I started crying.
I didn't know what to do. I wanted to change things back to the way they used to be. I didn't want my parents to get divorced and I was afraid of all the feelings that were happening inside me.
As the first weekend came close, I had an idea to force my mother's hand, I'd deny her what she craved: my love, my attention. I might be forced to see her, but I wouldn't talk to her. I wouldn't even acknowledge her presence. I was going to give her the silent treatment till she caved, left that Andy guy and came back home with us.
The next weekend, Dad took me to my grandparent's house. Mom was going to fetch me there.
While I waited there, I talked with grandma about my parents' divorce. She let me say whatever I wanted, and cry, too. She was a good listener and never told me that my feelings were silly.
My mother arrived in a cab. I barely acknowledge her presence.
