Life Changes - 5. Chapter 5

“Just how many more times can you do that?” I asked Neil as I watched him slam his fist into oak tree again.

“It is easier to take my anger out on the tree, than to go across the street and strangle Lisa for what she is doing to me.”

Neil’s voice sounded so raw I wanted to run over and hold him.

Maryann and Frank had named Neil as the legal guardian of the baby in their wills. Their lawyer had managed to get all the parents to sign off on paper work agreeing to abide by the will including the appointment of Neil and represented Neil before the court. Everything had been finalized within days of the accident, although it would take a year to settle their estates and put everything into escrow for baby Maryann. Now Lisa was trying to contest the will and take the baby to raise herself.

“What did the lawyer say?”

“That she had already signed away her rights. He is already gathering everything together to show the judge how I have been handling the estate for Maryann. Frank always said his mother could be a bitch, but she can’t even hold the baby without Maryann screaming her lungs out. How on earth does she think she can do it full time? Hell, I’m just doing it with help from Mom and Dad. If I take the job in Indiana, well, nevermind.”

I walked over and gently pulled Neil’s hand away from the tree. Bits of bark clung to his hand and his knuckles were red and raw. He had cracked the skin in a few places.

“If you break your hand how are you going to be able to change or hold the munchkin?” I tried to ignore the comment about the job. I knew he had just gotten another offer from a company here, but he would have to give an answer to both within the next two weeks.

Neil looked at me. His eyes were red when he finally focused on me and then down at his hand.

“I didn’t break it.”

“No, not yet you didn’t. Are you trying to punish yourself?”

It had been a rough few days. Neil had taken a few days after telling Harry and me what was going on before he broke it to our parents. Mom nearly went ballistic, but Dad was the real surprise. I’ve never seen him get so mad.

“Do you mean to tell me after everything else we have done for her, she has the balls to try and take the baby away now?” Dad stormed across the room and stared across the road. “She isn’t to come in the house again. Is that clear, Mona? That bitch isn’t to enter our house again!”

Mom stood there with her mouth open. It took a moment till she got her wits back together, but it wasn’t something I enjoyed seeing. She rocked the baby and stared at Dad angrily. Her face was red and I could see the vein in her forehead pulse.

“Ted, language! Neil, there is no way your father and I are going to let you and Maryann be chased away because Lisa can’t figure out what she wants. In the three months you’ve been here, we have bonded with the baby as much as you have. She might not be our grand-daughter by birth, but you would have a hard time proving it by how much we love her.” Mom cradled Maryann, seeming to shelter her from the anger in the room. Even so, Maryann began to fuss a bit.

Neil stood up and Mom passed the baby into his arms. Maryann immediately cooed and calmed down.

Dad stared stonily out the window. I’d never seen him act like that. Usually he was the voice of reason, but his anger was like a live wire, snapping and swinging in every direction, always looking for place or person to let out all that power on.

Neil had taken Maryann to the nursery. Once he was out of earshot, Dad turned and faced us.

“I am not going to lose my child because of Lisa and her instabilities. She has had more problems over the years. I know I said I would let Lisa check on Ralph if we needed to go out, or away for the weekend, but she is losing it again.”

I looked between my parents and realized I was hearing something I wasn’t supposed to.

“Ted,” Mom began before looking at me.

Dad grew silent.

“What is going on?” I felt like I deserved some answers. I sure as hell didn’t want to lose my brother or the munchkin over whatever Mrs. Weaton’s problem was. It took the death of his friend to get him back here and I didn’t want to see him walk out of my life again.

“There are a lot of things you don’t need to know.” Mom stood with her arms crossed over her chest. It made me feel bad to see her so protective.

“Mona, stop. Our son deserves to know the truth.”

“He doesn’t …”

“She is trying to rip this family apart.” Dad had me sit down and then took a deep breath. “You know Frank was over here all the time. Hell we nearly raised him. He would only go home when he knew that his father was home between flights.”

“Yeah, I know Dad. What has this got to do with anything?”

“Lisa,” Dad paused and looked over at mom before continuing, “I mean Mrs. Weaton, well she had a problem.”

“Ted.” Mom’s voice was full of worry.

“It was complicated. You know she has nothing over in the house but soft drinks now.”

“You mean she is an alcoholic?” I knew more about alcohol than most. Since it had played such an important part of Neil and Dad’s lives, I knew what the effects could be on people, even those who never drank at all. Even in school they had tried to warn us about alcoholism. We had a health class that covered that, sex, and a bunch of other things. My lessons had been learned at home, watching the pain my father and brother carried from the drunk driver who had killed Neil’s mom.

“No, but alcohol played a part in her issues.” Dad looked like he wasn’t ready to go on, but then he seemed to get mad again. “There were some mental issues she was dealing with and alcohol complicated it. There are some things in life that only get worse if you add booze to the picture.” Dad’s hands were trembling and he eventually hid them under the table as he continued speaking. “She eventually got the help she needed, but it wasn’t always a healthy situation for Frank. It was why he was so adamant that his parents never would watch over any children from his marriage. He didn’t want them to have to deal with the problems he had growing up. Ash might have gotten Lisa help finally, but his son carried the scars of her problems.”

I remembered how often Frank had been over our house. He was like a second brother, and Neil’s best friend. I’d always been ‘Squirt’ to Frank, but I’d never minded. Now, I finally understand why they rarely had gone over to Frank’s house, always staying over here with sleep overs and such. It had only been the last couple of years that Mom and Dad would let Lisa watch me alone. I guess I had never put it together.

I was about to ask a question when there was a knock on the front door.

“If that is her,” Dad began as he marched across to the door.

“Um, Hi. Ralph home?”

I stood up and rushed to the door only to find Harry standing there. He blushed as he spotted me behind Dad.

“Yeah, Harry. Come on in.” Dad stepped aside and Harry walked in.

“Hi Harry.”

Harry smiled and followed me into the family room. I was about to start telling him what was going on when the phone rang.

“Hello.”

I paused for a moment listening as Mom lost the worried look she had been wearing for days and smiled widely.

“Sure Chris. I’m glad Neil called you. I’m so happy to hear you will both be down.”

I smiled as I followed Harry toward the couch.

“Hey! You’re smiling. I thought everything was going wrong?” Harry sat down on the couch and looked at me.

“It might be, but my Uncles Chris and Stevie are coming down. Uncle Chris is a lawyer and he wants to help Neil out.”

“Uncles?”

“Yup. They are getting married in New York next year.”

“Wicked cool. Can’t wait to meet them,” Harry said as he leaned over and gave me a kiss. This was going to be an interesting visit.