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On Saturday morning, Alexis woke up feeling like she’d been hit by a truck. The same way she’d woken up every day of her life since she’d had Floyd.
She closed her eyes and sighed loudly when she heard her eldest son complaining that the twins wouldn’t let him sleep. Then, Alexis dared to correct her thoughts because the truth was Floyd had been a quiet boy since he was born, the twins on the other hand...
Floyd complained again and then asked his mother for help.
Yes, every day since the twins had been born, Alexis got up with the feeling of having been run over by a tractor a thousand times.
How could a child have so much energy inside?
She dragged her feet to the boys’ room, which all three shared, and stopped in the doorway to watch what was happening.
Floyd looked tired and the twins were fighting, yet again, about who had the right to wake Floyd up.
Alexis rubbed her face with both hands, internally pleading for the strength to somehow reach her. From somewhere.
It was exhausting being a mother.
Then the children ran to her and hugged her affectionately, smiling at her with those tiny half-toothless mouths that took her breath away day after day.
Like in that moment, when her thought about how exhausting it was to be a mother was forgotten on seeing the smiling faces of her little imps.
Her heart overflowed with joy at their childlike gestures.
Even if her body didn’t respond with the energy she would have liked.
Yes, motherhood was exhausting and frustrating, but also a unique experience full of learning and moments of love. Like then, when she kissed the two little ones and dragged them to her bed to play with them a while and let Floyd sleep another half an hour; he deserved some privacy.
The house they lived in only allowed them privacy in the bathroom, and it was only for a limited time because one bathroom for four people... When two of them were still very small... Yes, it was for a very limited time. And Floyd was starting to be a teenager who demanded a little respect and privacy.
She’d really like to give it to him but how would she manage to when the house didn’t allow it?
Someday, she thought. Just as she had thought a thousand times before. Someday she would be able to give them what she dreamed of giving them, or they would simply fly the nest and she was sure they would achieve great things that she couldn’t have achieved because of the life that she’d had.
The twins rested for five minutes, a rest that she knew was just to recharge the internal batteries a little before resuming their usual activities: fighting, battling, playing that one was good and the other was bad. Where do they see so much violence? Wondered Alexis frequently and suspected that it all came from some cartoon the kids watched on TV.
She’d like to have time to work out which one and ban them from watching it if that meant the boys’ behavior would improve.
However, there was her problem with time again, and lack thereof.
If she didn’t even have enough time to pick them up from school at the right time, how did she think she would find the time to watch all the cartoons that her kids watched on TV?
And she couldn’t ban TV completely because it was what stopped her from going crazy on days like that when, for example, she needed to take a shower, have a little privacy in the bathroom and didn’t want to disturb Floyd again.
Although she had barely closed the door when she heard her eldest son dragging his feet to the living room and sitting with his brothers.
Her eldest son was a wonderful boy. Sweet and kind to everyone, especially to her and his little brothers, who he was committed to looking out for, without her even having to ask for his help.
Many times, she was sorry that Floyd had to help her so much with them because she felt like she’d placed a burden on his shoulders that wasn’t his responsibility.
A boy Floyd’s age shouldn’t be worrying about taking care of his younger brothers. He had neither the maturity nor the obligation to do so. They weren’t his kids.
However, the boy did it with love because he knew that it eased her burden of housework, which he also helped with, and the jobs she contended with to keep the family going.
She turned on the shower, which made a strange noise before the water came out and reminded her that the pipes were beginning to protest.
Since she had bought the house, even knowing the conditions in which she had acquired it, she had spoken to it, letting it know it wasn’t allowed to demand repairs because she didn’t have the money to make them.
The house had complied with the conditions in the beginning; although, for a while now, or years, she wasn’t really sure because she avoided the issue as much as possible, the pipes had been making strange noises, the wiring was not in good condition, and she noticed a musty smell coming from one of the walls.
Nothing good, but she couldn’t think about that because if she did, her mood would take a nosedive since a repair of that magnitude would cost her a fortune, one she didn’t have.
She was already worried about the kitchen faucet that had started dripping a few months ago. She knew it would need to be repaired at any moment but Alexis always talked to the faucet and asked it to hold on, told it that all the family had to make sacrifices and that the house was also part of the family.
She took a quick shower and said thank you for all she had. Even if she spoke harshly to the house, she also knew to thank it for everything it did for them.
She came out with the towel wrapped around her chest and her hair pulled into a high bun. It wasn’t the time to wash it.
She huffed amusedly. When was it? She never had enough time or energy to properly groom herself.
Her hair was so good and understanding that it had learned to adapt to lack of time, children’s needs, and eternal tiredness.
Little that did for her, or her skin, anyway...
She’d be happy to have one restorative night and she couldn’t even do that.
She huffed again while she listened to the little ones brushing their teeth in the bathroom and Floyd trying to get them not to swallow the toothpaste or not to start jumping with a toothbrush in their mouths.
She dressed quickly in light, comfortable clothes because her Saturday work would be mainly outside, and she didn’t want to die in the heat when the sun was at its peak.
Afterwards, she went to the boys’ room, took out some light clothes for them too and when she went to do the same for Floyd, the boy grumbled under his breath making her step back and leave him to choose his own clothes. He wasn’t a little boy anymore; she shouldn’t forget it.
“Get dressed quickly, breakfast will be ready in a few,” she announced, and the little boys ran to get dressed leaving the bathroom free for Floyd to enjoy in peace.
He smiled at his mother and closed the door.
The twins were ready as she was beating the eggs for breakfast and she decided to give them tasks to keep them occupied, if only for five minutes.
They enjoyed the meal unhurriedly and then they all got in the car to go to their respective destinations.
They would leave Floyd at Bonnie’s and then she would go to the López house with the twins, like every weekend, to do her caretaking duties.
Alexis admired the sky through the windshield.
It was blue, radiant. It would be a good day.
Maybe, when she finished her work, she’d take the kids to the beach for a while. It still wasn’t swimming weather but a walk on the shore was always nice and, with any luck, the little ones would arrive home exhausted and ready to take a bath, eat dinner, and go to bed.
“Don’t be silly at Bonnie’s house, Floyd, alright? And listen to her father.”
“Don’t worry Mom, I’ll behave.”
She looked at her boy out of the corner of her eye.
He was carrying his backpack, he was ready to study with Bonnie, everything would be OK.
She didn’t usually leave her children at other people’s homes.
Partly, because no one asked and because both she and Floyd had few friends.
People from work were not usually friends outside of work, also Alexis didn’t have time for a social life outside of her work schedule.
Occasionally, Floyd studied at a classmate’s house.
She was sure she could count on one hand how many times. And still have fingers left over.
When she turned the corner following the GPS woman’s directions, she was heading along Junco Way, a street that immediately abstracted her from her financial problems and chaotic life. It transported her to a perfect moment in which she had a house there and lived with a beautiful family, with a husband who loved her intensely and deeply adored these three children she had.
Possibly he’d be a father, biological and adoptive, one for all three of them.
Her old partners would have nothing to do with that life, Floyd’s father or the twins’ father.
The house would be beautiful. One of those that is the right size for a big family, with a good family room where they’d spend a lot of time talking, playing board games, and planning the lives of the youngest ones.
They’d have a big garden like the one she could see now, where the twins could run free and she could devote herself to cooking delicacies in the kitchen because...
No.
She stopped her daydreaming.
She wouldn’t stick herself in the kitchen because she hated cooking and because she wouldn’t stop working even if she had the perfect life she dreamed of.
On the contrary, she’d look for a way to grow professionally.
She blinked a couple of times realizing that the front door was opening and Henry was coming out, smiling with two coffee cups in hand.
It was his house.
She sighed.
The twins wanted to get out and run around in the garden, but she ignored them.
She waved at the man and he finished his approach, holding out one of the steaming cups of coffee which she couldn’t resist.
“Thank you, good morning,” she took a sip, which went down wonderfully. Floyd gave her a fleeting kiss and got out of the car. “I’ll drop by next Saturday, so you give me another cup like this. I’d have come earlier if I had known,” she joked with Henry and he gave her a sincere, happy smile.
“Good morning, Mr. Price,” Floyd stopped to greet him.
“Hello! Hello!” The twins didn’t stop attracting attention from the back seat of the car.
Henry wrinkled his face still smiling and opened the back door letting the twins escape from their seats.
“What are you doing? It’ll be impossible to get them back in again.”
“According to what Bonnie tells me, the boys make your work impossible on Saturdays.”
Alexis wondered how much Bonnie knew about her and her family.
How close of a friend was she to her son to know these things?
It wasn’t that she was ashamed, but she had a hard time talking to others about her reality. She felt that it was her life...
“I didn’t mean to be nosy; I apologize for that.”
Henry looked at her in confusion.
“No, I’m sorry, Henry. I wasn’t expecting that comment,” she smiled genuinely now. “It’s just I didn’t know our kids were so close,” she sighed and took another sip of coffee. “The truth is cleaning a house with these two,” she pointed to the twins, “is a challenge and sometimes I don’t achieve my goals.”
“The house you have to go to, where is it?”
“Close to this neighborhood.”
Henry nodded.
“I have a proposal for you.”
She let out a laugh.
“The last time someone proposed to me, I ended up pregnant with those two.”
Henry couldn’t help but laugh.
“Not that type of proposal. It’s one I think you’re going to like more.”
She narrowed her eyes.
“I’ll keep them for today,” she frowned and felt like he was playing a joke on her. “For real.”
Alexis snorted and looked into his eyes.
“I don’t want to sound like I don’t trust you, Henry, but they’re not easy boys and...”
“You don’t think I’m capable of looking after them?”
“Yes, of course I do,” she thought about the days when they’d seen each other and he’d played with the boys, he’d even managed to keep them occupied and behaving well.
Then she felt the panic that every mother feels when she leaves her children with strangers.
He smiled calmly and she noticed how that smile suited his rough, masculine face.
Unkempt beard, messy hair, a relaxed look in general which, to tell the truth, transmitted confidence.
And if she left them? If she allowed herself one day of freedom?
She felt butterflies in her stomach, the nerves of a mother who didn’t want to leave her little ones in another’s care and at the same time, those butterflies were the product of the excitement of knowing that she could be alone all day.
A-lone. Many. Hours. A-lone.
She almost couldn’t believe it.
She sighed.
“Bonnie and Floyd won’t be able to study properly with them around. Floyd’s used to it, but your daughter isn’t and...”
“Are you going to say no or are you just going to keep giving me excuses?”
She looked at him, offended.
They weren’t excuses... Or were they?
“And if there’s an emergency?”
“You don’t have to explain to me what to do in an emergency, believe me, I’ve had serious ones and not because of my daughter. Work colleagues and employees have given me quite a few scares. Calling 911 is top priority and then, I’ll call you. Just tell me if they’re allergic to anything.”
“In order: to cleaning and to paying attention when you ask them to do something,” she replied, cheerfully sarcastic. He smiled, amused.
“Very good. Come back when you want then,” he opened the car door. “Take the cup and bring it back later.”
She looked at the boys and felt the emotion build in the pit of her stomach. Would she do it?
Her inner self was jumping for joy.
“Boys, come and say goodbye to Mom,” Henry called to them and they took notice straight away. They also looked at him in confusion. “Out back,” he pointed towards the backyard of the property, “I have a treehouse and we can play at soldiers. That can be our fort.”
The boys jumped with such excitement that she felt left out then from such fun.
They hugged her and carried on running around the garden.
“Are you sure about this, Henry?”
“I have it all under control from here, you go to work or... To sleep,” he winked and closed her door, allowing her to observe him fulfil his role as Alpha male with the little imps, who were waving with their little hands as they all entered the property and closed the gate behind them.
Alexis sighed deeply.
Where had all the silence come from?
She smiled like a naughty little girl.
She was alone!
Alone!
She couldn’t believe it. She took another sip of coffee and sighed again.
She started the car and set off. She’d have time to do a deep clean and she’d be able to enjoy the garden, maybe she’d make herself a mojito or have a beer...
Go to work or... To sleep, she remembered Henry’s words from before she’d left.
And if she went completely crazy and did just as he said?
It would be completely irresponsible of her but nothing that she couldn’t fix on Sunday or next weekend.
The López house could stand another week without cleaning and she’d be able to sleep deeply for as long as she needed.
After all those years...
It would be a dream come true.
She turned the corner and set off for home.
She would make the most of this great opportunity that life was giving her, as if she had won the jackpot on the lottery.
***
Henry was having a delightful morning in the twins’ company.
He liked kids in general, but Toby and Dylan, apart from being great twins and very intelligent, were turning out to be a pleasant challenge, keeping him active and busy.
Something that didn’t happen with Bonnie. His daughter represented a passive challenge, one of those you have to rack your brains and turn around to, with some luck, achieve anything.
Exactly, with some luck.
Which never seemed to be on his side when it came to Bonnie.
Lately, his daughter was like a timebomb. One of those complex ones that you don’t know how to handle or deal with, or which cable to cut because the result will always be the same: explosion. It doesn’t matter how much care you take.
The twins on the other hand, represented the timebomb that you manage to get under control in the last ten seconds. It was more of a physical activity than a mental one, and Henry liked that.
It kept him distracted.
Therefore, while the pre-teens studied in the kitchen and he watched them from the backyard, the twins took charge of sending him running from one side to the other, fighting a battle that left them all exhausted and defeated in the living room close to midday.
Henry rested a bit while the twins got hooked on an appropriate cartoon series and then he went to the kitchen with the older ones to prepare something for lunch.
“The twins are bad at eating vegetables, sir,” said Floyd seeing that Henry was making a salad of fresh cabbage and carrot.
“So was I and when I went to other people’s houses, I ate everything to make a fool of my mother,” Henry replied, and Bonnie smiled.
“I can imagine everything Grandma said later,” she said, imagining the woman with the analytical and disapproving glare she almost always wore.
“Do you like this?” Henry asked Floyd, who nodded. “Good, we’ll try giving it to the twins too. We’ll see how it goes so we can tell your mother something impressive when she gets back.”
“It’s great, she’s going to be happy if we manage it,” Floyd looked towards the living room to check that his little brothers were still there, quiet. “It’s been a different day for them and for Mom too. She never gets away from all of us at the same time,” he looked at Henry. “Someday I’ll pay for her to go on vacation to some relaxing place for everything she does for us.”
Henry turned to look at Floyd and thought how proud Alexis must feel of her son.
“Very good thinking, young man. But for now, I think what she cares more about is that you study, become a successful man, and are able to look after yourself without problems. I’m sure that that will make your mother much happier than a trip.”
“You can still also send her on vacation,” added Bonnie looking at Floyd confidently.
Henry smiled and shook his head.
Women, he thought.
A few seconds later, they were interrupted by the doorbell.
“Bonnie...” Henry asked his daughter with a look to answer the door, but the twins beat them to it.
“I’ve got them, sir. I’m sorry,” Floyd jumped from his chair to tell the little boys off for opening the front door without asking, like they did at home. Alexis didn’t know how to explain anymore that they shouldn’t do it.
Henry left the kitchen and went to the living room only to realize that his day had changed drastically and had gone from being a perfect day, to a less than perfect one, made clear by the sight of his mother’s face.
He hated that his mother showed up without first asking if he wanted company or not.
“Mother, I wasn’t expecting you.”
“Don’t start with your nonsense, Junior. You know very well that won’t wash with me.”
Henry took a deep breath.
Bonnie greeted her grandmother with a hug and then did the same with her grandfather, Henry’s father.
“We were in the neighborhood and...” Henry Sr. tried to make an excuse for the surprise visit they were springing on their son when his wife glared at him and he shut his mouth.
“I don’t have to make any excuses,” Debra Price looked the men in the eyes. “I come to my son’s house as many times as necessary and when I so choose. Especially when I have important things to discuss with him.”
Henry sighed and looked the twins in the eyes, who in that moment of eye contact went from running around the room to standing still.
Debra looked at them and smirked sarcastically.
“And these children?”
“Bonnie’s friend’s brothers,” replied Henry weakly, battling with his mother was exhausting. He would prefer to be with a thousand kids like the twins.
“And they don’t have a mother to look after them?” asked Debra watching the twins with disgust when she realized that their clothes were dirty with soil.
Floyd watched Debra Price with distrust and restrained himself from responding to her with something that wouldn’t be polite and would only make his mother look very bad.
Henry saw Floyd’s face and felt sorry for him.
“I’m sorry, Floyd,” he said in front of everyone. “My mother doesn’t usually consider her words,” then he turned back to face her. “The children are with me because that’s what I wanted.”
“They’re yours?”
“Oh, Mother, for God’s sake. What the hell do you want? Let’s talk so you can go home and eat, it’s almost time for you to sit down to lunch.”
“We’ll stay and eat as a family. I suppose they have a house where...”
“They’re eating here,” was the last thing Henry said, his face furious.
Bonnie took Floyd’s hand and led him to the garden together with the twins, to leave the adults alone. She knew how intense things could get between her grandmother and her father.
The older Henry came outside with the kids. He didn’t agree with his wife’s obsessive control, but he had no option but to accept it if he wanted to live in peace with her.
Henry Jr. left his mother in the living room and went to the kitchen, took out a beer, and drank down half in one go.
His mother brought out the worst in him.
More so when she came looking for a fight and to talk about the thorniest issue there was in the family.
Finn.
His good-for-nothing little brother.
Henry finished preparing lunch while Debra inspected the state of the inside of the house.
“You have to apply yourself a little more with the cleaning in this place.”
“Whatever you say, Mother.”
“I’m telling you for your own good.”
“Uh-huh.”
Debra looked out of the window and saw the children again.
“Why do you have those children here?”
“Because it’s my house and I do as I please in it.”
She gave a sarcastic half smile.
“Everything you have your father and I have given to you.”
The classic story.
He was sick of it.
“No, Mother. Everything I have is mine, I earned it. You gave me what all parents have a responsibility to give their children: a home, food, and a good education. The rest I did by myself.”
“And love.”
“Uh-huh,” Henry replied drily again. His mother believed she gave love. However, everyone except Finn knew that what his mother did was control and overwhelm the people around her. Finn didn’t see her in the same way because, at a very young age, he had realized that if he indulged Debra in everything, she would protect him and his lack of commitment to life.
What she seemed to understand as ‘give love.’
The doorbell rang again.
Henry left his mother in the kitchen without a word and went to the door.
Alexis smiled at him but on seeing the bitterness in Henry’s face, her smile changed to seriousness.
“I told you it wouldn’t be a good idea to keep them.”
Henry took a deep breath and looked her in the eyes.
“It’s not about the twins. They’ve been great kids.”
Then he sensed his mother standing behind him and noticed Alexis’s curiosity.
He moved aside.
“Mother, this is Alexis, mother of Floyd and the twins.”
Alexis reached out a hand to shake but Debra refused to respond to her gesture, analyzing her appearance.
“By your appearance I deduce that you were sleeping while my son was looking after yours,” she raised an eyebrow and looked at her son to ask him: “Are you doing it for sex?”
“Mother!”
Alexis widened her eyes in surprise but couldn’t help smiling. The amusement in her face, almost mocking, surprised Henry, relaxing him.
Helping to make the process less embarrassing.
“I wouldn’t leave my children with the man I was having sex with if I wanted to keep having sex with him, ma’am,” Alexis emphasized the ‘s’ of sex and looked at Debra indignantly.
Henry let out a hearty laugh and his mother immediately frowned.
“I’m sorry to talk to your mother like that, she asked for it. Where are my kids?”
“In the backyard, go on through.”
“Oh, don’t worry. Here’s your coffee mug from this morning,” she looked at Debra with irony and Henry watched the funny scene because he knew the insinuation was intentional, for his mother to spin false stories. He would have so much to apologize to Alexis for later. “I’ll go round the outside,” she looked at him. “We’ll catch up another time, and thanks for everything.”
Henry nodded, still smiling at her. He didn’t want to add anything else that his mother could use to make rash judgements and insult Alexis with.
As for Alexis, she saw the shame on Henry’s face and knew the man was looking for the right way to apologize to her later. Apologize for something that wasn’t his fault. It wasn’t his fault he had a mother who would certainly get along wonderfully with Bethany Malone.
They would be the best friends in the world.
Henry watched Alexis walk away and closed the front door.
“All that was completely unnecessary and incredibly humiliating of you, Mother.”
“It’s not my fault idle women exist.”
Henry shook his head and carried on busying himself with the food, his mother hot on his heels, plunging into a whirlwind of stories about her friends’ sons, who were much better sons than him, obviously.
It was all preamble that Henry knew by heart.
It was all leading to a conversation about the bad situation that Finn was going through, which, if he knew him well, meant he was unemployed again for some ‘unfairness’ in how he had been treated; which if you asked Henry was certainly ironic, since the idiot believed himself to be royalty.
And later, the part would come where his mother explained that he, as the older brother, should give him a job in his company and help him.
He didn’t know how the time had passed because he had been lost in his thoughts, completely avoiding the issue his mother was talking about.
In the middle of an uncomfortable silence he realized that they were sitting at the table, their plates were empty and dirty, which meant that they’d already eaten, and Bonnie was taking a tub of ice cream out of the freezer.
Debra looked at him critically, as usual.
“I asked you a question, Junior, and I demand that you answer me.”
What was the question? He wondered, seeing his father smile discreetly knowing that avoiding conversations with Debra was a common tactic between them. He saw Bonnie playing dumb, and his mother with her eyebrow raised to the sky and the challenging look of a cobra about to strike.
Finn.
He didn’t have to be a genius to know what she was asking for Finn.
“I don’t have work for him right now.”
“There’s always something you can do for him. He can’t support himself, and that worthless, sloppy girlfriend left him.”
Henry widened his eyes and cocked his head, his expression making it clear that he was not surprised by Finn’s situation.
“You could make him a supervisor.”
Henry let out a real laugh.
“And be without a business then, because Finn knows personnel management like I know nail polish.”
“Your brother hasn’t had an easy life.”
“It’s not my fault, Mother, nor is it my responsibility.”
Debra breathed deeply, showing herself to be on the verge of losing her patience.
“Henry Junior, you cannot abandon your brother.”
Henry rubbed his eyes and wished he could disappear from there right then.
“Maybe he could paint the house when your tenants move out next week,” finally his father said something, and it wasn’t completely ridiculous.
Henry Price Sr. took care of the legal side of his eldest son’s business. That’s why he knew when the leases were up on the other property Henry owned.
“Alright, you’re in charge of drawing up a contract for the job.”
“You’re giving him a contract?” his mother protested at once.
“Yes, Mother, I am. Because the last time I helped him, as a favor to you, and as a ‘brother’, some liberties were taken that should not have been taken. And this time, it won’t happen,” he let his mother see the conviction in his gaze. “Within my company he’ll be just another employee with his rights and responsibilities, like everyone else. Is that clear?”
“Your behavior is unacceptable.”
“Then he can goof around somewhere else or call one of your fantastic friends to help him. I’m going to make coffee.”
He got up from the table making it clear he had the final word and that there would be no more to discuss. They had already ruined his day enough to keep making it worse.