The Sauna Part 194

It was only eleven when we drove the short distance to the house that Jon’s parents owned in New Jersey. His mom had invited us over for brunch and we would head to the city to shop afterwards. It gave us a reason to leave early, but I could still feel my stomach tightening at the thought of a “visit”. We pulled in the driveway at eleven-thirty and Jon parked the car.

“Okay, we’re here” he announced.

“Okay, I’m ready” I lied, stealing myself to be on my best behavior as I grabbed the bag with our gifts.

Jon opened the door to the house and I followed him inside. It was a large home, but not quite as grand as the one he had shared with Dot, but it was definitely bigger than the place we had now in Asbury Park. I was a bit stunned when I saw that the wall alongside the staircase that led up to the bedrooms was covered with photos of Jon. There were pictures of his brothers too, but not nearly as many and there were pictures of Carol and John, but again, the photos of Carol outnumbered those of his dad.

“Hey, we’re here!” Jon called as he proceeded to head towards the kitchen.

Carol was checking on something in the oven and John stood up to greet us. His smile appeared genuine and he hugged each of us in turn and motioned for us to join him at the kitchen table. Jon grabbed a couple mugs and poured coffee for both of us before sitting down.

“Can I give you a hand with anything, Carol?” I offered, trying to be polite.

“No, I can manage myself” she replied. “The quiche should be done in about fifteen minutes.”

“So, did you two bring pictures of the new house in Colorado?” his dad asked.

“Yes, actually. I have them right here” I said as I dug in my purse.

“Whoohoo! That’s quite a place!” he hooted as he leafed through the pictures.

“Let me see too” Carol asked as she joined us.

“How did you find this place?” John inquired.

“Richie found it on the internet when we were looking for a place for vacation. Trish had been to Colorado before and just loved it there, so I wanted to surprise her” Jon explained.

“Oh, so that’s why” Carol said sourly. “Now tell us what really happened between Richie and Elaine. Is it true what I’ve heard?” she rasped in a conspiratorial tone.

“It’s a long story, mom, but suffice it to say that Elaine wasn’t quite what she appeared to be and Richie realizes he made a mistake” Jon summarized.

“What do you mean? She was such a lovely young woman. What could have possibly torn them apart?” she persisted.

“Carol, leave it be. Maybe Jon doesn’t want to discuss it” his dad interjected.

He was a perceptive man I thought to myself as I noticed the look that passed between Jon and his father. But Carol wasn’t satisfied without hearing all the juicy details and I wondered if she just wanted to impress her friends with the inside scoop. I felt sorry for Jon as he began to look uncomfortable and he clearly didn’t want to divulge the seamier details, but his mom was persuasive and knew how to provoke him into sharing more than he wanted.

“I was thinking of calling Richie myself as I’m sure it must be a misunderstanding. Can’t you convince him to try and work it out?” she needled.

“No mom and don’t you dare call him and suggest that! He’s been through enough and so have we all!” Jon retorted.

“What do you mean? What does this have to do with you?” Carol pressed him.

“If you must know, Elaine made a pass at me and I told Richie about it. Okay, are you satisfied now?” Jon revealed, sounding exasperated.

“Well, dear, who can blame her for that? After all, you aren’t even married and I’m sure she settled for Richie after you turned her down” she said with such relish I wanted to slap her.

“Actually, we were married Carol, and this happened just last week on the eve of the civil ceremony we’d planned just to make it legal. And Elaine was already married to Richie when she tried to seduce my husband” I corrected her. “And Richie doesn’t deserve to be anyone’s consolation prize” I added, unable to refrain any longer.

“What? Jesus, she did this just recently?” John asked in outrage. “That’s horrible! Poor Richie, he must be broken up over this. And you too, Trish, she was your friend” his dad commented as he began to realize the repercussions.

“What civil ceremony? What are you talking about? Are you trying to say that you and my son are married legally now?” Carol demanded, looking from me to Jon and back to me.

“Yes mom. We had wanted to tell you about that too, but you didn’t give us a chance. Trish and I had the mayor perform a brief ceremony to make our marriage legal on Saturday. It was just a formality, really, but I wanted to make sure that Trish would be taken care of if anything ever happened to me” Jon explained with annoyance.

This wasn’t going well at all, Jon thought to himself. Dammit! Why does she always have to be like that? I wanted her to know we were married, but this isn’t how I planned to share the news. She really knows how to push every button. Fuck! At least it’s out in the open now.

I looked at Jon apologetically and I was sorry I’d said as much as I did. We had agreed that we would tell his parents about the marriage as the kids were bound to bring it up and we weren’t expecting them to keep it a secret from the family. But this certainly wasn’t how we had planned to share the news and I could see that it only made Carol angrier now that we were legally married.

“Well, good for you, Jonny. And Trish, I know that you and my son were already married in your eyes, and while I can respect that, I’m still glad that you made it legal. It was the right thing to do, Jonny” his father nodded approvingly.

At least one of Jon’s parents was happy about the news. Carol certainly wasn’t and she looked at me so angrily that I felt a chill run up my spine. I didn’t want to make an enemy of her, but it seemed beyond my control. She didn’t like me and she wasn’t going to either and that was that. I braced myself for the next attack as I watched her silently seething.

“Are you telling me that you got married here in New Jersey this past weekend and you didn’t even invite us?” Carol asked incredulously.

“Yeah, mom. It was just a small ceremony and it was very private. Only a few people knew and even Trish’s folks weren’t invited. We didn’t want the press to show up, so we kept it a secret and we’re not sharing any dates or details with the media other than acknowledging that we are married which we’d been saying all along. It’s none of their business when or where” he said firmly.

“I’m sure your parents were thrilled, weren’t they?” Carol spat at me.

“Carol, stop it. That’s enough. The kids did this the way they felt was best and it was their decision to make, now drop it” his father intervened.

Carol sniffled and pouted, but she didn’t say any more. She got up and poured a shot of whisky into her coffee and took the quiche out of the oven, slamming the door as she did so. She slapped it down on the table along with the plates and silverware and sat down.

“Well, go ahead and eat. I’ve lost my appetite” she declared petulantly.

I saw Jon’s father roll his eyes, but he passed out the plates and cut into the quiche and began serving it up. He must have grown accustomed to eating despite the tension and I wondered how many dinners Jon had endured like this as a child. I managed to get down a piece of the quiche as we all proceeded to eat in silence.

After we’d finished, Jon explained that we needed to run errands in the city and he handed his mom the bag of gifts as he kissed her on the cheek. She stood still as a stone and he set the bag on the floor beside her and his dad hugged us both as he thanked us. There were no gifts from his parents and I thought that was odd, but I bit my lip as we drove toward the city.