could fit into this colorful mosaic.
Truths Unveiled
Truths Unveiled
Chapter Twenty-Nine
“I hope I’m not scaring you away,” Rebecca said to Pam.
Pam shook her head. “No.” Providing Tom kept his head together about all this. How embarrassing it must have been for him. Just down right humiliating. She mentioned his willingness to relocate to Boston or Chicago.
“Maybe you two should really consider it,” Rebecca suggested, sounding truly sincere. “A change of scenery might do Tom some good. We’d miss you terribly, but at least it would keep both of you out of the line of fire.”
Again, Pam shook her head. “No. His family and career is here. All that’s he’s worked for. And his kids are here. By the way, what’s up with them?”
Rebecca’s expression turned perplexed. “Depends on who you ask. According to Susan, Tom abandoned them. Everyone who knows the whole story disagrees.”
“So what happened?”
“I’m no shrink, but from what I’ve been reading in one of my advanced psychology courses, it sounds like a classic case of alienation on Susan’s part. Though she seems tough on the outside, inside she’s desperately insecure and paranoid that everyone is out to get her.”
“So she gets them first?” Pam asked, familiar with a personality type she’d met occasionally through her medical practice.
“That seems to be the bottom line,” Rebecca nodded. “If she can’t pin you down under her thumb and make you do everything she says, she panics and does really bizzare things. Which she did...at least where Tom and the boys are concerned. He tried to work with her, and spent thousands of dollars going to court, but eventually he just gave up.”
“Can you give me details? I mean, I don’t want you to betray any confidences, but…”
Rebecca sighed. “There are no secrets. Susan made certain of that. It’s just sad. The boys are really good kids. And with Susan, I’m sure they’re perfect.”
“To avoid any repercussions?”
“Most likely. She sees everything as a reflection on her. So when they stayed with Tom, they’d sort of go wild to counter that military-type behavior she expected of them. But Tom handled it pretty well. He knew how Susan was. Eddie and I hung around a lot of the time helping him out. So did his parents. Tom thought it was very important for the boys to know their family. Susan doesn’t have much, and what’s left she doesn’t bother with. To this day, Jennifer swears Susan swindled her when buying her out of her portion of their father’s estate.”
Rebecca paused to take a last bite of her tuna melt sandwich. “It’s funny. That’s one of the things Susan both liked and resented about Tom. That he came from a close-knit family and she didn’t. She liked the closeness. The ability to have someone to rely upon. To share everyday experiences, along with the big holiday celebrations. But at the same time, she resented that she didn’t have that herself. Like it made her look bad. So she rebelled against it. I’ve actually heard her taunt Tom. Calling him a mama’s boy, that kind of thing. Then she’d have no qualms about asking his mom to watch the boys so she could go out with her lovers.”
“While they were still married?”
“Yes. But that would never have occurred to Katie. She’s just a really nice woman who enjoys helping other people out. So nice that if Satan knocked on the door, I bet she’d invite him in for tea and ask about his day.”
Pam rolled her eyes. “Wonderful.”
“Getting back to the boys, we know Susan drilled them after every visitation with Tom. I’m sure it slipped out how much they liked being with him and the family. I suspect they were getting old enough to express their feelings. They could also question their mother’s opinions and versions of the stories they’d heard. It probably scared the daylights out of her. She was petrified the boys would somehow favor Tom over her. To prevent that, she started playing mind games.”
“By doing what?” Pam asked.
“Everyone around started noticing the kids having a real hard time adjusting each time they visited Tom. I’d see how hostile they’d act for the first few hours. Bad-mouthing him and his parents. That sort of thing. The younger one would start to cry, saying that Mommy was really mad at Daddy. He was going to jail and Grandma was going to hell for some reason. It really got awful. But Tom would talk to the boys and let them get it out of their