Page 41 of Forever King

“Mom, I wanted to go back to work. Now that I know why, I might decide to change my mind, but that’s not what I want to talk to you about.”

Again, she cuts me off before I can actually tell her why I’m there. “What do you mean you know why? I thought you wanted to go back to work because you love your job.”

“I do, but I found out I’ve been suffering from postpartum depression, which made me feel like I wasn’t very good at being a mother to Lily. So I thought she’d be better with Marius, andI went back to work. Now I’m rethinking that, among other things.”

She stands up from the table and returns to watering her plants. “Good. A mother shouldn’t be at work when her husband is at home, not working.”

How she could have entirely missed the point I was making impresses me, but I need to get this conversation refocused to why I came here in the first place. “Mom, please sit down with me. I have something I really need to talk to you about, and it’s harder with you flitting around the room watering your plants.”

Frustration begins to fill my voice, so I quickly but more calmly add, “I just want to talk to you. It’s important, Mom.”

That stops her dead, and worry fills her expression. “What’s wrong, Eden?”

I pat the table in front of her chair. “Sit, Mom.”

She does as I say, which is probably the first time ever. “Are you okay, honey?”

My hands begin to tremble, so I place them in my lap and take a deep breath to calm myself so I can say what I have on my mind. “I’m fine, Mom. I want to talk about the wedding. Now before you say anything, please hear me out. It’s important to me.”

My mother nods, but I get the sense she’s chomping at the bit to ask more questions. As much as I wish I could let her do just that, I need to tell her what I came here to say.

“Marius and I want to keep our wedding small. We understand that you and Dad are very proud that I’m getting married, and we love you for that, but we don’t want hundreds of people we don’t know well or at all with us that day. Yes, we can afford it, but that doesn’t matter. We want our wedding the way we want it. I hope you understand.”

“But these are people who we’ve known for years. How can we not invite them?” she asks, clearly not hearing me.

“Mom, they’re your friends, not mine. I’m happy you have so many good friends, but this is my wedding. I deserve to have the final say.”

Out comes the pout, just as I suspected it would. “Oh. I didn’t realize it would be such a problem to share your big day with people.”

There’s the martyr act, right on schedule. At least it’s nice to know certain things never disappoint.

“Mom, it’s not a problem, per se. It’s fine that you want to share our big day. We just don’t want to have such a big guest list. Marius and I live very low-key. We like it that way. So it’s only normal we’d like to keep our wedding low-key. We don’t want to upset you or Dad. We love you. We just want to do things the way we want.”

She’s silent for a long time and then shrugs. “Fine. Whatever. I’m sure people won’t think badly of us.”

I reach across the table and touch her hand. “Mom, please take this in the way I mean it, which is in the kindest way possible, but this isn’t about you and Dad. This is my wedding to Marius.”

She opens her mouth to say something, but I quickly say, “Mom, do you remember how you were when you were getting married to Dad? Did you want your mother and future mother-in-law dictating your choices for your own wedding?”

My mother’s eyes grow big, and she stares at me like I’ve stunned her. “I didn’t think they were dictating. They just had suggestions.”

“Which you didn’t take, did you? Because it was your wedding, not theirs.”

Furrowing her brows, she doesn’t say anything for a long moment. When she finally talks again, she seems far less combative.

“You’re right. I guess I forgot. I wasn’t trying to dictate things, honey. I’m just so thrilled that you’re getting married.”

“I know, and I love that you’re so enthusiastic, even though it doesn’t seem that you like the man I’m marrying.”

The look on her face is instantly that she has no idea what I’m talking about. Surprise fills her eyes, and she asks, “How can you say that? I’ve never been anything but lovely with Marius. He’s not exactly the man I would have chosen for you, but I don’t dislike him.”

Now it’s my turn to look shocked. “Mom, you give him a hard time about being with Lily every time he’s around you. I don’t understand why you don’t approve of that because it’s a good thing. And why wouldn’t you want me to marry Marius? He’s crazy about me, he’s got enough money to take care of me and Lily, and I’m madly in love with him.”

She seems to be unsure what to say and mumbles, “I just always thought of a different man for you.”

Then it dawns on me. I know what she means, and it’s actually so silly to me.

“This is because he’s not Sicilian, isn’t it?”