My heart pounded in anticipation as I smoothed the crisp linen tablecloth beneath my fingertips and gazed out of the sparkling clean front window at the foot traffic outside. The lunchtime crowd was busy chattering away, the clink of silverware a pleasant counterpoint to the conversations. How I wished that I was here for just a pleasant meal.
My sleepless night, filled with worry and indecision, did nothing to improve my mood or my nerves for this upcoming tryst. Tomorrow was supposed to be my son’s wedding day and I had wanted this to be the happiest time in his life. Full of new beginnings and promises, hopes and dreams. After his disastrous first marriage when he was deployed to Iraq at the tender age of 18, he deserved a second chance. With the PTSD and the broken heart and my efforts to help him, I had doubted at the time that either of us would ever be sane and whole again.
Memories of yesterday afternoon chased themselves around my mind like a dog worrying a bone. There was no blocking it out. The mall had been crowded and it was the last place I wanted to be on my lunch break but there were some last-minute things I needed for the rehearsal dinner we were hosting for the wedding party. I had dashed into the food court intending to pick up a quick bite when I saw them.
Huddled together in a corner booth holding hands across the table as they stared intently into each other eyes, I was stopped in my tracks by the sight. Chelsea and some strange man, certainly not her husband-to-be, my baby boy, enjoying her loving attention. This couldn’t be happening, not again. Not after his first wife had cheated on him and spent all his money while he was fighting for our country. Josh would never recover from a second betrayal.
I had stood frozen in horror for several seconds then turned on my heel and fled the shocking sight. A litany of “that traitorous bitch!” ran through my mind and a cold fury was all that sustained me in a functioning state. The drive home was just a fog in my mind. The fact that my mall purchases were left abandoned on the food court floor was of no consequence. After all, there could be no rehearsal dinner now.
Gardening and my collection of flowering plants are one of my ways to calm myself. I had retreated to my patio and sat amidst my beauties while my mind had pondered what to do with this devastating information. Should I tell Josh, and break his heart again? But if I said nothing, let the marriage take place, wouldn’t she just have a longer time to do damage? I didn’t think that either of us could survive another trip into that dark void. My eyes were drawn to the lovely delicate lavender blooms of my foxglove plants. They reminded me of Chelsea, both beautiful and poisonous.
Chelsea slid breathlessly into the empty chair across from me. “I was surprised you wanted to have lunch since we’ll be together at rehearsal tonight, but you didn’t really give me a choice. So what’s up? I’m dying of curiosity!”
I looked at her warmly, a slight smile curled at the corner of my lips. “I ordered our drinks since you were running late, I got you that raspberry tea that you like. Is that ok?”
“Sure, that’s just what I would have ordered,” and she took a long pull from the straw. “You said you had a surprise for me, but I’m dying to tell mine first!” She clasped her hands on the table in front of her and leaned forward.
Without waiting for me to respond, she jumped into her tale excitedly.
“You know Josh wanted Kelvin, his old National Guard buddy, to be his best man, but Kelvin couldn’t afford to fly here from Canada. Josh was so disappointed. But Kelvin and I worked out a plan, I helped him buy the plane ticket and we are going to surprise Josh tonight at the dinner. He just got in yesterday and I’ve got him stashed at a motel by the airport. We’ve been talking on the phone for days, planning this but yesterday at lunch when I took him to pick up his tux at the mall was the first time we’ve met in person. I can see why Josh wanted him to be his best man. He’s a real sweetheart.”
My mind froze in panic as her “surprise” unfolded. She was with this “Kelvin” and not a secret lover? She was doing his for Josh, and not betraying him? Oh Lord, what have I done?
At that instant, Chelsea lurched forward in her chair and made a choking sound. She clutched at her throat and tried to rise but collapsed forward instead.
“HELP! SOMEBODY HELP!” I screamed as I jumped up to go to her. In the process of rounding the table, I made sure to knock the glass of raspberry tea to the floor. After all, it wouldn’t do for someone to find out the tea contained my special ingredient of foxglove. I see that I jumped to the wrong conclusion, but Josh would need me now, I couldn’t be sent to prison just for trying to protect him.
A son needs his mother in a time like this.
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