“Don’t be curt with me.” Victoria had gone from cold to demanding. “I took him out of the gutter and gave him a good life, but I’m glad he’s filed. I would have done it right after my mother died, but well”—she paused—“I wanted you to have a father.”
“I’m calling bullshit on that, Mother. I lived in that house. You didn’t give a good hot damn about Daddy—or me, for that matter,” Emma said.
“Don’t you use that kind of language with me,” Victoria growled.
Usually, when her mother lowered her voice, it meant that she was really angry, and Emma went into a panic mode. That was when she tried to fix whatever she’d done wrong, and as usual, she felt her chest begin to tighten. She made herself breathe and remember that she was strong, and she had a good future ahead of her like Filly said.
“It’s the truth, Mother. I’ve been a bother to you from the day I was born, maybe even before, so why would you want me to come back to Dallas now?” Emma asked.
“It’s where you belong,” Victoria said. “My daughter doesn’t live in a hovel like this. What would I ever tell my friends? And you can tell Sophie to call off that damned lawyer. My name was on those accounts, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
“You can tell your friends that I’m alive and happy and starting to make a name for myself in the art world. I sold two paintings last week, and that should pay the rent on this trailer after July and buy whatever food I need. And, Mother, I’ll face you in court if I have to over the money that is mine. I don’t give a damn about the company, but the money that my grandmother left me is mine. I’m just not afraid of you anymore.” She was stretching the truth. Those two paintings might not sell for months, but Victoria didn’t need to know that. “I really don’t care what people think of me anymore, Mother. Not even you. Sophie has shown me that I can make my own decisions and my own way now. And I got far enough away from your control to remember those repressed memories. I’m dealing with them without institutions or therapists, and I’m getting stronger every day.”
“You should have been smarter than to go with that kid to the apartment of someone I didn’t know. You’ve always been gullible, just like Wyatt. Sophie has bewitched you, just like Rebel did Wyatt all those years ago.”
“Why are you like this?” Emma asked. She could hear her mother tapping her foot on the hardwood floor of her office.
“Like what?” Victoria tapped her foot.
The tapping of the foot was one of her last resorts to bend Emma to her will. It meant time was running out, and Emma had better agree to do whatever Victoria wanted her to do.
“Like controlling. Like so cold. Like you hate me.” Emma asked, “What happened to you that you didn’t want kids and made you give me to the nanny to raise? You must have a demon in your past, too.”
“I raised you like my mother raised me,” she said. “I grew up to be the businesswoman that Mother was, and she was proud of me. I might have had some pride in you if you hadn’t turned out to be so much like your father.”
“Daddy has worked for you all these years and has done a good job. He’s stood beside you at whatever you wanted—dinners, trips, all of it,” Emma reminded her.
“But he wasn’t the one I loved,” Victoria said. “The man who should have been your father was strong, and I loved him. Your father was just a means to an end.”
Emma was the speechless one now. Her mother had been in love? Was that why she was so bitter?
“Why didn’t you marry that man?” Emma whispered.
There was a long silence.
“You didn’t mean to say that, did you, Mother?” Emma said. “You’ve always been so closemouthed about everything that I don’t even know you. What happened that the love of your life didn’t marry you?”
“My mother happened,” Victoria answered. “She said he wasn’t good enough for me, but she said I had to have a child to leave the family business to, so I married the worst guy I could find. Every time I looked at you, I thought of what I should have had, and I hated you. At least you were too backward to ever run the business, so I can sell it instead of passing it down to you.”
“I’m sorry you’ve had such a miserable life,” Emma said, “but you are not controlling mine anymore. Why don’t you just do what’s right and unfreeze my bank accounts? For once have a heart.”
“I’m not having this conversation with you. My company will never be in your hands, or any of the money from it. I have a buyer for it, and since you aren’t mentally stable, you don’t get a dime of that money, and I’m not giving you a dime of that money that my mother left you. Time’s up. If you come home, I might let you live in a decent permanent-care facility.”
“Mother, I wish you all the best in your retirement, but I don’t give a damn about the company, and there’s no way you can put me in an institution. I’m an adult, remember? That’s why you always made me sign myself into those places. If I’ve got enough to make rent and put food on the table for myself, that’s all I need,” Emma said. “And maybe a fancy new flowery skirt every so often. I do like the way I dress these days.”
“Why couldn’t you have had a backbone when you were a little girl?” Victoria sighed.
“I was afraid of you back then, but I’m not anymore. I’ve come to realize what is important,” Emma said.
“And what’s that?” Victoria’s tone went icy cold.
“I woke up after a horrible nightmare about that rape, Mother, and Sophie was here for me. She has helped me get past the guilt and the pain. After that night, something just clicked, and I realized that I care less about what other folks think of me and more about what I think of myself. I have come a long way in these past few weeks. I thought my life was such a mess that I would never recover, but this little family I have here supports me with love and kindness. I can smile again and put all those horrible memories behind me, and I’m proud of my strength and the person I’m becoming,” Emma said.
“That sounds like a bunch of psychobabble,” Victoria said.
“You should know the sound—it’s from all those institutions you sent me to. I’m sorry you feel the way you do. I’m sorry you couldn’t hang on to the love of your life. I’m sorry I couldn’t be the person you wanted me to be, but I’m not sorry that I am the person I am right now. If you ever change your mind, you know where I am,” Emma said.
“Goodbye,” Victoria said, and hung up.
Emma’s head pounded so hard that it would take more than two aspirin to make it better. She just wanted to be alone—no, she needed to be by herself for a little while so she could cry or throw things or just scream to get out the rage that she felt. Her time was her own.
She pointed at the door. “You can leave now, Jeffrey. I’m not going with you.”
“Please come home with me.” He’d resorted to begging. “I simply can’t go back there without you.”
“Like I said, I liked you, but I’m not leaving this place,” Emma told him.