We took the Grand Am when we went to meet with Jesse’s mother. Steve rode in front passenger’s seat and the boys sat in the back. I had discussed this with Jake and we felt it would be best if he not join us. We felt that if Jesse’s mother discovered he lived with us and we shared a bedroom, she might try to use that to get her son back. Therefore, he agreed to sit this one out and stay home with the other boys.
I kept glancing at Jesse in the rearview mirror as I drove along and it appeared Jesse was very nervous about seeing his mother again. Don’t get me wrong, I knew he loved her and wanted to see her, but he was worried she was going to try to take him back with her. He had continued his protestations about not wanting to live with her again, because he still felt see must have known what John was doing. Even if she hadn’t been aware of what was going on, he still felt she should have left John, instead of abandoning him.
We pulled into the airport about a half hour before her scheduled arrival time, but her plane was also running a little late. We sat down near the exit for the gate she was to arrive at and waited. She appeared about fifty minutes later and Jesse spotted her as she approached. I think she had actually noticed him first, because she was walking in our direction when Jesse nudged me and pointed at her.
I stood up to greet her as she approached and watched to see what Jesse was going to do next. I wasn’t sure how either of them was going to react, so I stayed where I was and merely observed the scene, as it played out before me. Jesse’s mother was a rather plain woman, although not unattractive, but it was noticeable that she wasn’t wearing any makeup, at least none that I could see. Her hair was pulled back and tied off in a ponytail and she was wearing a rather nondescript print dress. She was also carrying a small duffle, but I didn’t see any other luggage. After a slight hesitation, Jesse began to move forward to greet her, but he seemed reluctant to leave my side. I made sure I wasn’t touching him, so she didn’t think I was holding him back, but he did have an uncertain expression on his face, when I glanced down at him.
“Jesse, aren’t you going to come see me,” she said, once she got closer. Jesse hesitated again, briefly and then tentatively started walking toward her.
“What’s the matter?” she asked. “Did they tell you not to come see me or anything?”
“No!” Jesse replied, strongly. “Daddy wouldn’t do that. It’s just that the last time I saw you, you were leaving me at his house.” His mother’s expression changed from menacing to confused and hurt.
“Jesse, when did you start speaking again?” she gasped. “And so well too.”
“I dunno,” he answered, so she looked at me.
“If I remember correctly, it was back in May. Andrew and Jesse,” I stated, while motioning toward the two boys, “were out riding their bikes and Andrew fell and got hurt. Jesse rushed home to tell me, so I could help, and that was the first time he spoke. Since that time, he has worked hard and his speech has improve greatly.”
“I can see that,” she said, still somewhat flabbergasted, “but now I’ll answer Jesse’s question. Son, I left you with them because I was afraid John was going to hurt you.”
“He did hurt me,” Jesse began, but I cut him off.
“Jesse, I don’t think we should discuss that here, where anyone can hear what you’re saying,” I told him, and he quickly glanced around. “Why don’t you wait until we go somewhere more private and you can talk about it then.” Jesse nodded, so I turned to his mother.
“Have you eaten?” I asked.
“Not since breakfast,” she replied, and it was now past lunchtime.
“Okay, let’s go get a bite to eat first,” I suggested, “and we can chat a little more there. Do you need to grab your luggage?”
“No, this is all I brought,” she replied, while holding up the small bag.
“Okay, then why don’t you follow us out to the car,” I told her, “and Jesse you can help make sure your mother doesn’t get lost.”
Reluctantly, Jesse walked toward her and we started out. I had put my comment to Jesse that way because I wanted her to see that I wasn’t trying to keep him from her. I wanted her to realize that any hostility she sensed from him was because of how he felt and not due to anything I was doing. Since Jesse first learned she wanted to see him again, he had grown more and more hurt over the way he had been dumped off and this, in turn, led to his reluctance to warm up to her right away. He was convinced she had let him down and failed to protect him, but he did walk over and take her hand, after I’d made my comment to him. In fact, he held on to it all the way, until we reached the car.
I had held back introducing Steve and Andrew, although I had indicated whom Andrew was, when I explained about Jesse speaking again. I wanted her to get comfortable being around us first, since the situation was already a little tense. I thought it would be best to put it off until she cooled off a bit, and then introduce them to her. I also figured she might get upset again, if she discovered Steve was my lawyer and the one she had spoken to on the phone. Given a little more time, I was sure she’d be fine with it, but I didn’t want to push things.
When we reached the car, Steve offered to sit in back, with the boys, but Jesse’s mother said she’d do it, so she could be near Jesse again. Neither of us argued the point, so Andrew and Jesse got in first, with Jesse in the middle, and his mother on his other side. Once everyone was settled, we left the airport and I drove to a restaurant we had stopped at before, when flying in and out of Pittsburgh. It was a nice place, served descent food and wasn’t too expensive. It didn’t take long for us to be seated and we made ourselves comfortable, as we looked over the menu. After we’d ordered, I turned and spoke to Jesse’s mother.
“Look, I think we got off on the wrong foot at the airport, so let’s start over,” I said. “My name is Josh, this is my friend Steve and this is one of my sons, Andrew.”
“Nice to meet all of you and I think you’re the one I spoke to on the phone, right?” she stated, while staring at Steve.
“Yes, that is correct,” he agreed.
“And you’re a lawyer, right?” she added.
“Yes, I’m Josh’s lawyer, but I’m also a close friend and godfather to some of his boys,” he answered.
“My best friend,” I quickly added.
“So why did you bring a lawyer along?” she wondered.
“I brought my friend along for the company,” I explained. “It’s a long drive from our place to here, and since I knew the boys would be keeping each other company, I wanted someone I could speak with as well.” She merely grunted in response and didn’t appear to believe my explanation.
“Uncle Steve and Aunt Mary come to our house a lot,” Jesse offered. “He’s really nice and I like him a lot.” Suddenly, Jesse’s mother began to soften her stance a bit, since she noticed her attitude was bothering her son.
“Okay, let’s not discuss business here,” I suggested, “and let’s just enjoy the meal. We can discuss those types of things later, somewhere more private.” No one said anything more for a few minutes, until she looked over and spoke to Jesse.
“So how have you been doing, besides starting to talk again?” she asked. Jesse paused briefly and then spoke.
“I’m doing good,” he began. “I like where I’m living and Andrew is my best friend. I want him to be my brother too.” Although a pained expression flashed across her face, she merely brushed off his comment.
“Are you doing well in school?” she followed.
“I’m doing really good this year,” he told her. “I like my teacher and I have made some friends too. They kind of stayed away from me last year, when I wasn’t talking. I guess they thought I had something and didn’t want to catch it.” She merely nodded her understanding.
“And what did you do over the summer?” she continued. “Did you have fun?”
“Oh, yeah,” he sighed. “Daddy took us on two different boats and we went to see a lot of fun things. Mostly on islands.” She glanced over at me for classifications.
“I took the whole family on two Caribbean cruises,” I explained. “We were gone a little over two weeks.”
“Sounds expensive,’ she replied, sarcastically.
“It wasn’t too bad, but I think the boys all had a good time,” I answered.
“I’m sure they did,” she mumbled. “No wonder he doesn’t want to come back with me, because I can’t do things like that for him.”
“That’s not why I don’t want to go with you,” Jesse stated, forcibly. “Why did you let John do those things to me?” I jumped in again, when Alice’s mouth dropped open, just before her head drooped downward, toward the table.
“Jesse, not here,” I told him. “Let’s eat first and then we can talk about those things afterward.” Grudgingly, Jesse nodded and a few minutes later our food arrived.
Even though we all ate our meals, I’m not sure if any of us really enjoyed it. I know I was focusing on what was going to happen next and not really thinking about the food, and I’m fairly certain the others were too. When we finished our meal, I paid the bill and we all went back to the car. I then drove to a small park I had found when researching for this trip online, because I suspected there wouldn’t be many people around. It was a cool day, but the wind wasn’t blowing very hard, so it wasn’t too bad. Once I parked, we got out and began walking. We soon find a picnic table to sit at, so we all crowded around it and started over.
“Look, I understand why you dropped Jesse off at my place,” I began, “but Jesse has been very upset about what your husband did to him. Once he told me what happened, I contacted the authorities and you know what transpired from there. I’m sorry John killed himself, but he did far worse than that. He inflicted a lot of emotional damage to your son too.”
“I’m sorry that happened,” she started, while looking at Jesse, “but I didn’t know he did those things to you.”
“Didn’t you see all his stuff in my underwear, after I spit it out?” he asked.
“I did and confronted John about it,” she answered. “He told me he was just relieving some pressure and used your underwear to wipe it up. I didn’t know he made you do those things to him. I’m so sorry.”
“What about the blood, when he put his thing up my butt?” Jesse pressed. This comment stunned me too, because Jesse had never told me John did that to him too.
“Sometimes I saw blood,” his mother confessed, “but John would tell me you cut yourself while playing and things like that. I never had any reason to suspect it was anything else.”
“But sometimes he did that stuff to me when you were home,” Jesse followed. “How come you never saw that?”
“I just thought he was finally being nice to you. I didn’t know he was doing those other things to you dear,” she replied. “I was hoping you were just learning to get along with each other and he would stop being mean to you, but I never thought he was doing anything so disgusting.” She hung her head and started to weep. Even though I thought seeing this would start to get to Jesse, he remained resolute and didn’t crumble, even after she began to cry.
“Jesse, I’m sorry and I really want you to come back home and live with me again,” she told him. “Please, you’re my son and I want you with me now.”
“Then why did you leave me, instead of John?” he shot back. “We would have been all right, once he was gone.”
“But I couldn’t afford to do it then?” she answered.
“But you can now?” he wanted to know. It was also a question that had cross my mind, so I waited to see how she was going to respond. She swallowed hard this time, before she answered.
“Look, son. It won’t be easy and money will be very tight, but we can do it?” she replied.
“Then why couldn’t you do that before?” Jesse pressed.
“I guess I was just scared,” she confessed. “I was scared about being on my own and I was scared because your stepfather was a cop, well sort of. Things have changed now, because he killed himself, and I’m no longer worried about how he’ll react or what he’ll do. Now that he’s no longer here though, I’m all alone and I want you back.”
“So you just want me back because you don’t want to be alone?” Jesse asked.
“That may be part of it,” she admitted, “but I want you back because I love and miss you.” Jesse didn’t seem overly moved by her answer. “Don’t you want to come back and live with me?”
Jesse hung his head momentarily, as if he thought over about it. When he lifted his face up again, he gave her his reply.
“Mommy, I love you too, but I like living where I am,” he began. “I have lots of brothers and they’re all lots of fun, but Andrew is also my best friend. I don’t want to leave him. Please, mommy, don’t make me.” She looked crushed after hearing Jesse’s reply. After a minute or so of sitting through a suffocating silence, I finally spoke up.
“Look, maybe I can offer a suggestion that would do both things,” I began. “First, however, I need to ask you a few questions.” I looked directly at Alice, to see how she was responding to my comment. When I noticed she didn’t appear to react negatively or look hostile about my making this suggestion, I continued.
“Do you have other family or any other ties where you’re living now?” I asked.
“No family, but I do have a couple of friends,” she replied.
“And what type of work do you do?” I continued.
“Right now I’m a waitress, but I’ve done other things too,” she told me. She didn’t elaborate on what the other things were, so I didn’t ask.
“What would you think about moving to the same community where we live?” I propositioned. “I’ll help you find a job and a place to live, so you’ll be close to Jesse and able to spend time with him again. I’m only suggesting this because Jesse has told me several times he doesn’t want to leave and wants to continue living with us, but he still loves you too. This way he could continue to stay with us, but you would also be close enough to spend time with him too and attend his school functions.” She looked up and I could see the wheels slowly grinding.
“I’ll have to think about it some, but I might be willing to do that,” she agreed. “Would that be okay for you, dear?” she asked Jesse.
“You mean I’d live with Daddy, but I’d come to see you or you’d come to see me once in a while?” he asked, to make certain he knew what he was agreeing to.
“That’s pretty much what we’re saying,” I confirmed.
“Yes, that would be okay then,” Jesse agreed.
“All right, let me have a week or so to think about this and then you may have your lawyer friend call me again. I’ll give him my answer then,” she stated, and I immediately agreed
Since we’d reached a tentative compromise, I suggest to Steve and Andrew that we should move to another area, so Jesse and his mother could have some time alone. We’d still maintain eye contact with them, so she couldn’t just run off with him, but we’d move out of earshot, so they could speak privately.
Once we moved away, they spent over an hour by themselves and things seemed to go fairly well, overall. At times, I saw Jesse get animated and make some very dramatic gestures, as he tried to emphasize a point to his mother. I imagine he probably raised his voice at that time too, but for the most part their conversation seemed very calm and agreeable. When they finished saying what they wanted to each other, they walked over to join us.
“I think we both understand each other a little better now,” she stated, while smiling down at Jesse. “He seems convinced that he wants to live with you and wants you to be his new dad, and after what happened with John, I think it might be good for him too. I’m not saying I’m agreeing to your suggestion or anything, but I think Jesse has convinced me this is important to him.” She then turned and faced Steve.
“If you will call me next Friday or Saturday, I’ll give you my answer,” she informed him, and Steve quickly agreed to do as she requested. Alice then glanced down at her watch.
“I’d like to spend more time with Jesse, but I scheduled my return flight for this evening, instead of tomorrow,” she explained. “I didn’t think I could afford a hotel room for the night, so I changed my return flight to an earlier time than you had set up.”
“I was going to pay for your room,” I replied, but she shook her head.
“No, you’ve already spent enough bringing me here and taking care of Jesse,” she answered. “I didn’t want to be too big of a burden for you.”
“It wouldn’t have been a burden at all,” I assured her, “but do you have time for dinner before you leave?”
“My flight doesn’t leave until 10:00 this evening, so I’m sure I do,” she told me, “but you don’t have to feel you need to do that too.”
“I don’t, but I want to,” I replied. “What would you and Jesse like to do in the meantime?”
“Well, since I won’t be taking him back with me and I missed his birthday in August,” she began, “maybe we could go somewhere so I could buy him something.”
“Certainly,” I agreed. “There’s a mall not too far away. Would that be all right?”
“Well, it’s probably a little higher priced than the places I normally shop,” she confessed, “but seeing it’s for my son, that will do just fine.”
After driving to the mall, we walked around and she asked Jesse to show her what he might like. Jesse kept looking at everything, but nothing seemed to be catching his eye. I think we had already walked through nearly half of the stores in the mall, before he saw something that intrigued him. Slowly, he lifted his arm and pointed at it. His mother looked where he was indicating and then turned to him.
“You want THAT?” she asked, while looking at the army-like canteen he was indicating.
“Yes,” he replied, simply.
“But why?” she followed.
“To take with me when I go with Andrew on our bike rides,” he stated. “Sometimes we get thirsty and this way we could always have water with us.”
I guess she figured his explanation made sense, so she picked it up and then turned to go to checkout. When she did, I picked up a few more canteens and started to follow. Alice must have noticed what I was doing, so she turned to look at me, with a questioning expression on her face.
“Hey, it made sense, so I figured I’d get one for Andrew too,” I told them, but she was still looking at me strangely. “I’m getting one for Sammy and Little Ricky too, since they’ve been going on the bike rides as well.”
Now, Jesse was looking at what I had in my arms and then pointed at them. “Okay, I got one for Jake and me too, since you drag us out with you from time to time. I just figured they’d come in handy.”
Jesse’s mother laughed when she heard me say that and then we made our way to the checkout. “Sure you don’t want to get Uncle Steve one too?” Andrew chirped, as we walked toward the counter.
“Well, I will, if he wants to go bike riding with us sometime,” and then I glanced over at Steve.
“I just use an exercise bike at home,” he quipped. “I stay close enough to the frig that I don’t need one of those.” Andrew and Jesse giggled at his response and then we paid for our purchases.
Alice wanted to stop at another store, where she picked out an outfit for Jesse to wear, before we finished our shopping. Once that was over, we went to a different restaurant to have dinner. As we sat down and looked over the menus, Alice also watched Jesse interact with the rest of us. I think she began to soften a bit, once she noticed how happy he seemed to be and how comfortable he felt being around us. I concluded that she finally realized her son was actually enjoying himself and it didn’t seem he had been coerced to say the things he’d told her earlier. By the time we reached the airport, so she could catch her return flight, she seemed to be a totally different person.
“Josh, before I leave, I just want to thank you for everything you’ve done for Jesse,” she began. “I can see he really enjoys being with all of you and you’ve done a marvelous job with him. I will consider your suggestion and then give your friend my answer when he calls. Thank you for letting me see him again and I shall be in touch soon.”
With that said, she hugged Jesse and said good-bye, before reaching over and tousling Andrew’s hair. Then she took off to catch her plane and we all watched her disappear through the security area and move off toward the gate. Once she was on the other side, she stopped, turned around and waved to us, before moving off and boarding her plane.
Although it was late, I decided to drive home tonight, instead of getting a room. After guiding the boys back to the car, we hopped in and it wasn’t long before we hit the highway. When I glanced in the rearview mirror a little while later, I noticed the boys had fallen asleep in the back. I was smiling about how cute they looked, when Steve looked over at me. When he noticed the reason why I was grinning, he spoke.
“Completely out of it,” he joked, and then after a brief delay, he spoke again. “Do you think she’ll do it?”
“In the beginning, I would have bet against it,” I replied, “but now I’m not so sure. It would make things a lot easier and avoid a legal battle, but that will have to be her decision. We should know by next weekend, so let’s just enjoy ourselves until then. Don’t forget, we’re expecting Mary and you over for Thanksgiving.”
“Oh, we wouldn’t miss it for the world,” he replied, and then we merely listened to some music until we arrived home.