The Man Who Has No Sight - Victoria Quinn Page 0,13
“Derek is still here.”
Derek shrugged. “She is a bitch—”
“Don’t talk about your mother like that. Go to your room.” I pointed down the hallway. “Now.”
Derek didn’t provoke my anger and did what I said.
Tucker looked at me quizzically. “We should be celebrating right now. She can never pick up her shit and move away from you. She can never take Derek away from you again. This is awesome. Do you understand how free you are right now?”
Yes, it was a blessing. “It is a relief. But I do want Valerie and me to get along—for Derek’s sake. I don’t want him to have two parents who can’t be in the same room together. And I don’t want Derek to think it’s acceptable to call a woman, especially his mother, a bitch.”
“Even if she is a bit—”
“Yes, Tucker,” I interrupted. “That’s not the kind of man I want my boy to grow up to be.” I moved my hands to my hips and sighed, unable to believe all of that just happened.
“But you should also show him to stand up for himself,” Mom said. “Not to accept less than what you deserve, to call people out on their flaws instead of tolerating it. Don’t be so hard on yourself, Deacon. Life isn’t some controlled experiment in the lab. You’ve done everything you possibly can for that kid, but you can’t hide the fact that his mother is a terrible person. That’s not your fault.”
“Yeah,” Tucker said in agreement.
“And he should see what happens when someone crosses his grandmother,” Mom retorted. “Talking to my son that way, calling me a bitch… I’m an advocate for civility, but there’s no tolerating that horrendous woman. Maybe you need to give up on this dream of having the three of you be in the same room together. Maybe it’s best for Derek to have two separate parents and separate lives, because she’s a toxic person. Sometimes, it’s appropriate to cut out that toxic person in your life.”
“You deserve more,” Tucker said. “You stayed in a marriage you didn’t want to be in. You put up with her even when she’s a nightmare. You’ve tried everything, man. Now that you’ve gotten what you need, maybe it’s time to give up.”
I crossed my arms over my chest and stared at my family, the people who just wanted me to be happy. Then I turned to Cleo, the person who had taken that video and finally given me my freedom. “What do you think?”
She seemed caught off guard by the question. “I…I don’t think what I think matters.”
“It matters to me.”
She brought her hands together in front of her stomach, adopting her professional posture. “I’m not going to tell you what to do. But you’ve bent over backward for this woman, made every sacrifice you could to do the right thing—and the result is always the same. Maybe it is time to move on.”
I turned back to my family. “I’m sorry about everything that happened today. I just wanted us to have a nice holiday.”
Mom smiled and patted my cheek. “It was nice, honey.”
“Yeah,” Tucker said. “You just got your life back. It’s the best holiday we’ve ever had.”
We finished all the dishes, packed all the leftovers, and cleaned up the kitchen.
Cleo took another slice of pie and leaned against the counter as she ate it, like she was exhausted from the long day and had worked up another appetite.
I glanced to the living room where Derek was sitting on the floor watching TV. He had his toys around him.
She kept eating. “I think this is the best pie I’ve ever had…” She didn’t talk about the incident with Valerie even after my family left, like she didn’t want the conversation to happen in front of Derek.
“I’m gonna put him to bed…have a little talk with him.”
Her eyes shifted to me, like she knew what the subject of that discussion would be. “I’m pretty tired, so I’m probably going to go to bed too.” She finished the last bite and left the dirty dish in the sink, like she was so tired she couldn’t even wash one more dish.
“I want you to sleep with me tonight.”
She stilled beside me, as if she expected to sleep alone like usual. “Even with Derek here?”
“We’ve done it before. I’m sure Valerie does it with Jake.”
“Alright…” She moved into me and hugged me before she walked away and headed down the hallway to my bedroom.