Now and Forever 5, Love's Journey (27 page)

* * * *

At the front door, Jack, Merry, and Bobby
were standing in the freezing cold, pushing the doorbell but
getting no answer. Jack found the spare key and opened the
door.

“Mom’s car is here, I don’t know why she
didn’t answer the door,” Jack said over his shoulder as he entered
the house.

“Maybe she’s in the bathroom,” Merry
suggested.

While Jack lugged their suitcase into the
spare room, Merry went around to the bedroom and heard the sound of
the shower running.

“Jack, she’s in the shower,” Merry
called.

“Why don’t you go in and tell her we’re
here.”

Merry opened the door a little bit and
called out Pat’s name. No answer. Then she opened the door a little
more and gave it a good rap, rap, rap. In the shower, Pat screamed
when she heard the knocking. Sam turned off the shower and Merry
opened the door.

“Pat, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare…”
Merry stood in the doorway, looking at Sam and Pat. A loud gasp
escaped her throat as she quickly turned away, covering her eyes
with one hand.

“Sam, throw me a towel,” Pat said.

Jack called out from the living room.

“Everything okay, Merry?”

Color flooded Merry’s face and her vocal
cords seemed paralyzed.

“Merry?” Jack called as he got closer to the
bedroom.

Pat jumped out of the shower, wrapping the
towel around her. Sam followed.

“Merry, what are you doing here?” Pat asked
her, fastening the towel securely.

“We decided last minute to come for that
country winter experience you keep talking about…and thought we’d
surprise you.” Merry slowly moved her hand down from her eyes.

“Well, you certainly did surprise me. This
is Sam Caldwell, Sam this is Merry, my daughter-in-law.”

Sam took a big breath and tried to smile at
Merry whose cheeks kept getting redder.
Oh, God, Jack is heading
this way.
This is not going to be pretty.
Suddenly Pat
realized Sam’s situation was worse than hers.
Almost as bad as
getting caught sleeping with a husband’s wife was getting caught
having sex with a son’s mother.

Sure enough, before they could get out of
the bathroom and get to their clothes, Jack came around the
corner.

“Hi, Mom…” Jack stopped dead when he saw
Sam. “Who’s this?”

“This is Sam Caldwell. Sam, my son, Jack
Weiss.” Pat tried to stay cool as she made the introductions.

“Mom, please tell me this guy is here to fix
the shower,” Jack pleaded.

“He’s my boyfriend, if you can still use
that word…”

“Oh my God! You have a boyfriend?” Jack
backed out of the bathroom.

At least now Sam and Pat could get to their
clothes. Jack retreated to the living room with Merry close behind.
Neither Pat nor Sam spoke while they dressed. When they were almost
finished, Sam broke the silence.

“Why didn’t you tell Jack we are seeing each
other?” He was buttoning up his plaid shirt.

“I don’t know. I guess I was worried he
wouldn’t like it.” Pat pulled the zipper up on her jeans.

“Maybe not, but our kids have to get used to
us being together, don’t you think?”

“I suppose so.” She smoothed down her
sweater.

“You suppose so? Don’t you want to be with
me, Patsy?” Sam’s brows creased, she could see he was hurt.

“Of course I do.” She pulled him close for a
kiss. “You make me happy.”

“That’s all I wanted to know, sweetheart.”
Sam hugged her close. “So, what should we do?”

“I don’t know, Sam. It depends on how
reasonable or unreasonable Jack is.”

“Doesn’t it depend upon you? Aren’t you
going to call the shots for your life?”

“It isn’t that easy.” Pat patted her face
one more time with the damp towel.

“I know. It’s different with mothers and
sons, I suppose. Still, I think you have a right to your own life.”
Sam threaded a leather belt through the loops on his pants.

“I do, but I’d like to live it in peace with
my son.” Pat applied her lipstick.

“What do you want me to do?”

“Maybe you should slip away quietly, and
I’ll call you as soon as I can.”

Sam’s frown indicated he didn’t favor the
idea. When they came out of the bedroom, Jack, Merry, and Bobby
were waiting in the living room. Bobby ran over to Pat.

“Grandma, Grandma!”

She took the boy in her arms and hugged
him.

“Pat, please excuse me for barging into the
bathroom, interrupting your privacy. I’m so sorry. If I had known
you weren’t alone, I’d never have come in. Please forgive me,”
Merry stammered, heading for the spare room with Bobby following
close behind.

“Don’t worry about it, Merry. You had no way
of knowing.” Pat turned to Jack. “When you plan to surprise people,
sometimes you end up getting the biggest surprise of all. If you
had told me about your plans, we could have avoided this.”

“Does it mean you wouldn’t be sleeping with
him, if you knew we were coming?”

“It means I would’ve been able to introduce
you properly, kept my private life, private…and still made a nice
two weeks for you and your family.”

Sam went over to the closet and took out his
coat.

“This looks like a family discussion, so I
think I’ll go.”

Jack glared at him.

“Okay, Sam,” Pat said, moving forward to
give him a substantial goodbye kiss.

“Mother! What are you doing? Are you
a…a…”

“Watch it, sonny!” Sam warned. “She’s your
mother. Treat her with respect!”

“Do you respect her? You’re sleeping with
her. Does that show you respect her?”

“You’re damn right I do. I love her too.”
Sam’s cheeks colored a bit at his own admission.

Pat looked up at him quizzically. He had
never said it to her before.

“Now? You tell me that now?” Her eyes grew
wide.

“Oh, I see. You love her so much you’ve
never told her before now? Great. Very impressive,” Jack put
in.

“Oh, Sam, I…”

“I’m sorry, Patsy. This isn’t the best time
to tell you how I feel.” He buttoned his coat and headed toward the
door.

“Patsy! Where do you get off calling her
‘Patsy’?”

“It’s his nickname for me. It’s all right
with me. Leave it alone, Jack,” Pat said, then turned back to Sam.
“So you love me, huh?”

“I do. We should continue this when we’re
alone.” Sam kissed her.

Before he opened the front door, she was in
his arms for a goodbye hug.

“It was very nice to meet you, Merry,
Bobby…Jack. Call me. I’m here if you need me.” Sam went out the
front door.

* * * *

Two days later, Pat had not called Sam. So
he called her. Jack picked up the phone first and wouldn’t let Sam
talk to her. So he called back in an hour, Jack again. Sam wondered
what was going on. He was grouchy and grumpy, snapping at everyone.
Both Peter and Mac asked him what happened, but Sam refused to talk
to anyone.

He consented to have dinner at Callie and
Mac’s house. Callie was the one who convinced him to talk after the
children were in bed.

“Things don’t look too good for Pat and me,
right now,” Sam admitted to Callie.

“What happened?” Callie placed her hand on
his arm.

“Jack, Pat’s son, and his family arrived for
a surprise visit and caught Patsy and me in…a compromising
position, shall we say. Don’t ask for details…”

“Her son? Oh boy.” Mac shook his head.

“Thanks a lot! Like I don’t feel bad enough
already!” Sam shouted.

“Sorry, Dad.” Mac put his hand on Sam’s
shoulder.

“It’s okay, Dad. It’s not your fault.”
Callie took his hand.

“I know, but it feels like my fault. Pat was
supposed to call me…she hasn’t. So I called her…twice and her son
wouldn’t let me speak to her. I don’t know what to do.”

“I think you should drive over there, Dad.”
Callie squeezed his hand.

“You do?” Sam raised his eyebrows.

“You don’t even know if Jack told Pat you
called. She might not even know. If it were me, I’d want to know
you called…you cared. If you drive over there, they can’t ignore
you. Sit in the driveway and blow your horn, if you have to. Let
Pat know you’re there for her. That’s what Mac would do, wouldn’t
you?” Callie raised her big blue eyes to Mac’s.

“Well…”

“You wouldn’t let anyone come between us,
would you?”

“Callie’s right. I wouldn’t let anyone come
between us. Do you want me to drive you over there tonight,
Dad?”

“No. I don’t know. Maybe.” Sam shifted in
his seat.

“Come on, Dad. Let Mac take you. He’ll be
there for moral support.”

“Okay. Can you go now, Mac?”

“Sure.” Mac pushed to his feet and fished
the car keys out of the bowl on the front hall table.

* * * *

At 32 Linden Lake Drive, the tension was
high. Merry was sitting on the sofa, pretending to be looking at a
magazine and Bobby was asleep.

“Jack, we need to talk,” Pat said, sitting
at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee.

Jack poured a cup for himself and joined his
mother.

“Okay. What do you have to say for
yourself?” Accusation was evident in his eyes.

“I’m not going to justify my private life to
you.” Pat poured milk in her cup.

“You mean you don’t want to discuss the fact
you’re sleeping with a man?” Jack leaned back in his chair.

“Right.”

“Look, Mom. I realize it must be lonely
without Dad, but can’t you date?”

“I am dating. I’m dating Sam.” She stirred
her coffee, her gaze meeting Jack’s.

“But do you have to…to…sleep with him?”

“That’s part of dating. Didn’t you sleep
with Merry when you were dating?”

“Mom! That’s private.”

“Private for you but not for me?” Pat cocked
an eyebrow.

“You’re my mom. It’s different.”

“Is it? You know, I was a person, just like
you, before I became your mother.”

“So?” Jack tipped the kitchen chair
back.

“The rules of life are not any different for
me than they are for you. By the way, I was sleeping with your
father, you know. That’s how you got here.”

“That’s different. Besides, kids don’t think
about their parents doing stuff like…like…”

“Like having sex?” Pat asked, lifting both
eyebrows.

Jack’s face turned red. “Yeah.”

“Just because you don’t want to think about
it doesn’t mean it isn’t happening.”

“But do you have to rub my face in it? Naked
in the shower with a man?”

“You rubbed your own face in it by not
telling me you were coming…by not giving me the same courtesy you’d
show a friend and ask…at least tell me you’re coming to visit. I
thought I brought you up to know better than to drop in on people.”
She shot him a stern look.

“You’re not ‘people’, you’re my mom.” Jack
took a sip from his cup.

“I think you’re old enough to start thinking
of me as ‘people’ and call first.”

“After this? You bet I will…if I come back
at all.” He rose from the table.

Pat took his arm and pulled him back down
into the chair.

“Please, Jack. Wait. Let’s not end this this
way.”

Jack sat down again and looked at his
mother, his face still red with anger.

“Jack, I’m sorry. I’m sorry you had to see
this…find out, especially this way. Sam is special to me. We’ve
been seeing each other for almost six months now. I’m not in the
shower with every Tom, Dick and Harry.”

“Thank God!” A small smile crept over Jack’s
face. “So why didn’t you tell me you were going out with some old
guy?”

“He’s not some old guy. He’s a respected
university professor and world renowned ornithologist. I didn’t
want to tell you because I thought you’d give me a hard time about
it, like you’re doing right now. I had no idea you’d surprise
us.”

“Maybe if I knew, I wouldn’t have walked in
on you.”

“You’re right, I should’ve told you. Try to
understand. I have a life now. Daddy is gone, but I’m still here.
Don’t bury me with him.” She placed her hand on his arm.

Jack’s anger dissipated slowly as the logic
of her argument seemed to sink in.

“I don’t want to fight with you, Mom.” Jack
squeezed her hand.

“Good. Me either. We didn’t fight much when
you were growing up and I’d hate to start now.” Pat let out a
breath.

“I was too busy fighting with Dad.” He
cracked a smile.

“I love you, Jack.” Pat touched his
face.

“Me too, Mom.” He gave her a quick hug.

“Did you bring any problems for me to
solve?” Pat sat back and crossed her legs.

“Later. By the way, Sam called you…twice.”
He got up and retrieved the coffee pot from the counter.

“Twice? You didn’t let me speak to him? You
didn’t tell me? Why?”

“I guess I was pretty mad at him.” Jack
refilled his cup.

“How could you be mad at him?” Pat put her
hand over her cup.

“He seduced my mother.” Jack returned the
pot to the counter.

“He did not! He’s—it’s not like that. You’re
interfering with my relationship with him,” Pat said, reaching for
the phone.

But it was too late, Sam was coming up the
walk. The doorbell rang.

“Sam!” Pat exclaimed when she opened the
door.

“Hi. Is there some reason why you are not
taking my calls?”

“That’s my fault,” Jack said. “I decided not
to put you through to Mom or tell her you called. I’m sorry.”

Pat took Sam’s arm and brought him into the
house.

“Come in, Sam. Let’s have a cup of coffee
and talk,” Pat said.

“Mac is in the car. I have to go, but I
wanted to make sure that we are still okay.”

“We are. Give me two weeks. I need to spend
time with Jack and his family.”

“Can I see you at all during that time?”

“It’s only two weeks. Can’t we go on hold
for two weeks?”