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

Then the answer became moot as the door opened fully and Marilyn's mother stepped into the house.

Seventeen

***

It was like something out of a horror movie, Marilyn thought later, all of them standing there motionless. Her mother looked up from wiping her feet on the mat, bundled in her coat and scarf. Her jaw dropped to the floor like she'd just seen a mummy dripping with rot, plus a vampire, plus Freddy Kruger all lined up in front of her.

Then there was Eli, next thing to naked in his washed-thin gym shorts, looking like he didn't know whether to fight or flee, frozen motionless while he made up his mind. Last of all, Marilyn stood on the stairs caught between one step and the next, wearing only her ancient robe and nightgown, thinking she should have been much more careful about what she wished for because this was not going to be any fun at all.

Icy air wafted through the almost-shut front door and shivered Marilyn into action. "If you're going to barge into my house without calling or waiting for someone to open the door, Mother, you could at least shut the door after you come in," she said, as she came down the rest of the way and pushed the door closed.

"What's he doing here?" Mom demanded.

"What are you doing here?" Marilyn demanded back. "I thought you disowned me."

"I thought you'd come to your senses." Mom glared at Eli, probably hoping her glare would vaporize him. "When Joey said you were moving home, I just knew my prayers were answered. But I guess I was wrong."

"Just because God didn't answer the way you wanted doesn't mean they weren't answered."

"Hey, Eli--I mean, Dad--" Pete came skittering into the foyer, sliding in his socks on the hardwood floor before grabbing Eli's broken arm as a brake. "I can't find a toaster. How can we cook waffles without a toaster?"

"Easy, squirt." Eli disconnected Pete's hands from the cast. "Let it finish healing before you try breaking it again."

Marilyn glanced from Pete to her mother and stayed for a longer look. Mom had gone pale, shaky fingers hiding her mouth.

Eli turned Pete toward the stairs by his shoulders and sent him up with a swat on the rump. "Go get dressed. We'll work it out. Have I ever let you go hungry?"

Pete grinned, sneaking curious glances at Marilyn's mother now that he had noticed someone else was there. "Okay. Dad." And he thundered up the stairs making as much noise as he possibly could, stomping twice on the stairs that creaked.

"Where--?" Mom stammered. "What--? Who--?"

"That's Pete," Eli said. "My son. Marilyn offered to--" He stopped, his gaze fixed on her. Was he afraid she'd start crying again?

She probed tender wounds. A little misty-eyed, she decided but not in danger of outright tears. "I opened the house so we'd have room for Pete to stay with us."

"Marilyn--" Mom advanced.

Marilyn held her ground. She wasn't about to retreat. Not anymore.

"Marilyn?" Eli called her attention. "Want me to stay?"

She shook her head. "Go get Pete fed. Take the car. There's a bagel shop on Morrison at the bottom of the hill."

His eyes asked if she was sure about the car, but he only nodded as he headed upstairs to get dressed.

"Now I know you're crazy," Mom hissed. "Bringing that boy in this house. Haven't you had enough grief?"

"Yes, Mom, I have. Enough that I think I deserve a little happiness."

"You're not going to get it from them. They're not our kind of people. You can tell it just by looking."

Marilyn opened her mouth to defend Eli and his son, then sighed. She was tired of defending herself. It never did any good anyway. Nobody ever listened to anything she had to say.

"Think whatever you want, Mom," she said. "Eli and Pete are staying. I want them to stay.  So, if you can't deal with that, if you can't be happy that I'm doing my best to find my way back to living, then maybe you ought to go."

She turned and walked away, back to the stairs. She needed a shower.

"I don't understand what happened to you, Marilyn." The tears in her mother's voice set little barbed fish hooks in her heart.

"Did you even try?" Marilyn paused but didn't look back. "Did you ever once listen, truly listen to what I've said? Regardless of what you may think, Mom, your opinion doesn't come straight from God's lips."

Pete came pounding down the stairs, a shoe in each hand, his hair sticking straight up in front, combed the way Eli combed his. "Hey, Marilyn, Eli says we're going for bagels. Want to come?"

She smiled, tears of memory, of other mornings and other bagels, rising at his enthusiasm. "No, thanks. You two bring something back for me, okay?"

"Sure." He plunked down on the step to yank his shoes on, then grabbed his coat and ran out the door without bothering to tie the laces.

"He's going to break your heart," Mom warned.

"It's my heart. I thought you were leaving."

"You're throwing me out of your house?"

Marilyn sighed. She did not want to get into yet another fight. "Stay and have bagels with us, if that's what you want. I don't care. But if you stay, I don't want to hear another nasty word about Eli. Or Pete."

Finally she turned around to face her mother. "I'm not throwing you out, Mom. But I am making clear the conditions you and everybody else will follow if you want to be welcome here. I don't want hateful people full of nasty comments in my house."

"You're my daughter, Marilyn. I love you. I'm only trying to keep you from making a horrible mistake."

"I appreciate the fact that you think you're doing what's best. Obviously we don't agree on what that is, and since it's my life, I'm the one who gets to choose. You're not going to change my mind. I'm not going to change yours, so there it