Knight In Black Leather by Gail Dayton (people reading books .txt) 📗

lasted pretty much till Kate brought out dessert. Cheesecake, with birthday candles and cherry topping on the side.

"Where did you go to college, Eli?" Mom asked, malice in her eyes even after the singing and candle-blowing-out.

"Mom--" Marilyn began.

"I didn't." Eli overrode her. "I didn't finish high school, as a matter of fact. I do have my equivalency."

Mom nodded and sat back, a smug look on her face saying "I knew he was an ignorant slob."

"I didn't go to college either, if you'll recall," Marilyn said.

"You did, too," Mom said.

"One year at Pittsburgh City College doesn't count." Marilyn took a plate of cheesecake and passed it to Eli who passed it on to Joey who passed it back because he'd been handed a plate from the other side of the table.

"It's a year more than I have," Eli said. "I thought about going a couple of times, but I never stayed any place long enough to do it."

"You ought to think about going back, Marilyn. Get your degree," Sue's husband said, heaping cherries on his cheesecake. The way Trey was going at it, Eli figured he'd be lucky to scrape the bowl for cherry-less sauce.

"A degree in what? Doing nothing?" Marilyn took the bowl of topping and passed it to Eli who decided to help himself before passing it on. There was a hungry light in Joey's eye.

"In whatever you want. You're interested in those kids at the youth center. Study education. Or sociology. Or just take classes until you figure out what you do want to study."

"What do you think I'm doing now?" Marilyn took the cherries back from Eli, leaving Joey reaching in vain.

"Flower arranging is not a real class," Sue said. "You need to study something substantial."

"What's wrong with flower arranging?" Kate sounded hurt. Eli figured her for the flowers on the table.

"Nothing." Sue patted Kate's hand. "Nothing at all, if you don't have to earn a living. You need to study something that will get you a good job."

"What if I want to be a florist? Then I'd need flower arranging, wouldn't I?" Marilyn said. "What difference does it make anyway? Julie's scholarship pays for books, tuition and fees, and Bill had insurance up to his eyebrows. That pays for everything else. Why do I need a job?"

"Don't you want something to do? What do you do with yourself all day?" Sue asked.

"I have plenty to do."

Mom made a rude noise and Eli almost choked on his cheesecake trying not to laugh. He knew what Mom thought Marilyn was doing. He wished. Desperately. Marilyn stepped on his foot under the table.

"Are you thinking about taking in invalids, doing home care as a career move?" Norman--Kate's husband, Eli reminded himself--said. "That requires some kind of certification doesn't it?"

Marilyn stepped harder on Eli's foot, daring him to say a word. He wanted to take her up on her dare, say something smart-assed about being an invalid and wanting some of her home care, but decided against it. He didn't want casts on both legs.

"Maybe," she said. "But only if they're young, good-looking, and male."

Eli snorted cheesecake, trying to keep from laughing it all over the table. Mom looked like she was about to explode. Joey didn't try to hide his laugh, but he didn't have cheesecake in his mouth. He pounded Eli's back until he stopped coughing and Mom stopped looking like a lit firecracker.

"That isn't funny, Marilyn," Mom said.

"I thought it was pretty funny." Joey sank back in his chair under his mom's glare.

Eli leaned toward Marilyn. "I'm the only male invalid you get to keep," he murmured, hoping no one else could hear.

She raised an eyebrow. "You think?"

"You're all ridiculous," Mom pronounced. "Marilyn's not going back to college and she's not selling her house and she's not taking in invalids."

"I'm not?" Marilyn's eyebrows lowered and she narrowed her eyes. Eli had already learned that look meant trouble and he hadn't known her nearly as long as these people had. "Seems to me," she said, "that I've already taken one in, though he's not exactly an invalid. Just a trifle immobile."

"You're not," Mom said. "He's moving out and you're moving back home where you belong and you're going to stop all this craziness."

"All what craziness? If I was ever crazy, it was these past four years. My God, Mom, I could barely drag myself through most days. I don't think I was clinically depressed. Or who knows, maybe I was. I don't know. But I wasn't right. Life isn't supposed to be like that, just going through the motions." Marilyn didn't seem to be getting through to her mom who sat there without changing the scowl on her face.

She turned to her sisters. "You understand, don't you, Kate?" She reached a hand across the table. "You see that I had to make a change."

"But why such drastic changes?" Kate bit her lip, ignoring Marilyn's outstretched hand. "I mean, redecorating is one thing, but moving completely out of your house into a tiny apartment... That's not exactly--"

"Not exactly what? Sane?" Marilyn pulled her hand back. "Is that what you really think? That I've gone nuts? Crazy? Wacko?"

Eli pressed his leg tight against hers. He wanted to take her hand, but on the side nearest her he only had fingers encased in plaster and they were pointed the other way.

"You have to admit, Mare," Sue was saying. "Your behavior over the last several months hasn't been the most rational. We're worried about you."

"Now? You're worried about me now, when I finally see a little light in my day? And rational according to who? Who gets to decide what's rational or not? Where was all your worry when I was drowning? When I would sit down at my kitchen table after I sent Julie off to school and not move, not be aware time was passing until she got home again--where was your worry then? Was that rational behavior?"

"My God, Marilyn," Joey whispered. "I knew it was bad, but..."

Marilyn stretched her