Cathy Hobbs looked up the road for the four hundred and seventy-second time in as many seconds.
She longed to see her favourite son again. They had three boys and two girls. Ryan was the eldest, and she was so proud of him. Next came Suzanne, who was twenty-four, and was married to a dentist. Sue had one baby boy, Errol.
Then came the twins at twenty-one, Mark, who was at college, and Gina in nurses’ school. The baby was Bobby Jr, at seventeen and was still in High School. Bobby was the only one left at home, but Suzanne lived only twenty minutes away.
She had invited most of the neighbours round for a celebratory barbeque. She felt it was a welcome home celebration, which could double as an engagement party.
She checked the cookies in the oven, but heard the Blazer pull up on the driveway, as she opened the oven door.
Cathy was at the front door like a rocket to see the most glamorous girl she had ever seen get out of the car. The girl was dressed in a dress that Cathy knew came out of one of the top-named fashion houses, with large diamond earrings flashing in the sun. She looked as glamorous as a model, but too curvaceous. In fact, she was much more like a movie star, so she suddenly felt very dowdy indeed. Robert was laughing at something she said to him, appearing to have taken a real shine to the girl. That was a good sign, as he had not got on with Ryan’s last girlfriend, Jennifer.
Then Ryan got out of the car, coming right over and giving his mother a huge hug, lifting her feet off the ground.
When he finally put her down, she found herself looking up into the strikingly blue eyes of the tall blonde girl.
“Mom, this is Michelle, soon to be the next Mrs Hobbs. Michelle, this is my Mom.”
Michelle smiled, and Cathy felt genuine warmth from her, then the younger woman gently embraced Cathy, kissing her on both cheeks.
Robert guffawed with laughter.
“Now we got a real European in the family. We gotta learn to kiss on both cheeks, Honey,” he said, as the men struggled with the cases.
“I put you both in your old room, is that okay Ryan?”
“Yeah, Mom. That’s fine, but as I was telling Dad, Michelle was shot a few weeks ago, so we ain’t up to any hanky panky, even if we wanted to.”
This led to a repeat of the exploits that led to her hospitalisation. Once again, it was a wonderful excuse to explain why she was now unable to have children.
Cathy took this personally. Despite her initial disappointment at there being no likelihood of grandchildren, she felt immediately sorry for Michelle, so all barriers came down. They became friends from that moment. Ryan smiled, as once Mom liked someone, they were in!
As the evening progressed, all Ryan’s concerns proved unfounded. In the end, nearly fifty people turned up, some to see Ryan again, but most were curious to see Ryan’s new girlfriend. Even younger brother Mark arrived, with some college friends.
Michelle was relaxed, on the outside at any rate, just smiling and chatting to anyone and everyone. Most of the men nudged Ryan in the ribs and felt envious of him attracting such an amazing girl. He smiled quietly and winked at Michelle.
One, a girl called Lillian Bembridge, was more than slightly pissed, as she had admired Ryan from a distance for many years. She was a near neighbour, but was five years younger than Ryan. They had dated once many years ago, or rather he had taken her out to a movie when she had been sixteen, but she had never forgotten it.
She had always cherished a dream that one day he would come back and carry her off to be his bride. She had gone through a rough time when he had been shot, and then again when he had disappeared off to Florida. Then her mother had said that Ryan was coming on a visit and he was engaged, so she felt as if her heart was broken, but she wanted to see what her competition was like.
She was a pretty girl, but as soon as she saw Michelle in her designer dress and wonderful figure, she realised that at five foot three she was in a different league compared to the very glamorous and tall Michelle. She disliked the tall woman immediately, promptly going into a sulk.
Michelle, with years of having a heightened sensitivity to people and their reactions to her, was aware that something was amiss with the young woman in the corner. What one didn’t realise was that with the hormone treatments, and accompanying mood swings, fears and insecurities, Michelle had suffered awfully for some time at the hands of her ‘condition’. She had been so self-conscious at one point that she had been positively agoraphobic, so feared any form of interaction with others.
It had taken her a long time to mask her fears and nerves, so even in this situation, she was suffering. Ever the consummate actress, she was just very good at hiding it.
So much so, that only a blind fool would miss the pure animosity that emanated from Lillian. All of it directed her way. She was also aware that Mark, who was a younger version of Ryan, was looking at Lillian with undisguised interest, of which the other girl was completely oblivious.
She went over to Lillian, sitting down beside her.
“Hello, tell me, why do you hate me so much? Is it because of Ryan?”
Lillian was torn, as the woman’s voice was calm and friendly, so although she realised that she was behaving like an idiot, her jealousy was tearing her apart.
“Maybe,” she muttered.
“I can understand, but look at it from my place. For starters, he wasn’t actually yours to start with and, secondly, there are some guys here who would go for you big time if only you’d let Ryan go,” Michelle said.
Lillian stared at Michelle with tears starting to well up in her eyes. The tall Dutch girl continued.
“I don’t know what made you think that Ryan was available, but believe me, he isn’t. But if you look to the left, there you will see Mark, a young man who is as good looking as his brother, and he is looking at you in a very obvious and rather flattering manner. Take my advice, drop this and go with someone who cares for you. Ryan and I happen to love each other, so I’d hate to see you ruin your life over something like this.”
Michelle was careful to keep her voice low and friendly.
At first Lillian felt anger towards this foreigner who had the gall to tell her that Ryan was never hers. Then reality crept in, as she saw the truth for what it was, and she started to cry.
One minute, Michelle was preparing for a cat fight, and the next, she was holding a sobbing young woman.
Ryan looked over and frowned, so Michelle simply shook her head. She took Lillian to the bathroom and sat with her for a while.
It took Lillian a few minutes to recover.
“I’m sorry, I’ve been such a fool,” the girl said, sniffing.
“Probably, but then that’s what men do to us,” Michelle said, and the other girl laughed.
They sat and talked for a while. Michelle shared about how scared she was about coming to stay with Ryan’s parents.
Lillian gasped.
“You, scared? No way.”
Michelle smiled and nodded.
“I am not the sophisticated lady I may appear. I come from a small village in the Netherlands, so am just a country girl in way over her head,” she admitted.
“You just look so amazing,” Lillian said.
Michelle smiled.
“So do you.”
“Not like you. I mean, you are so tall.”
“It isn’t easy getting nice clothes when you are tall,” Michelle said.
“You’d look good in anything,” Lillian said, slightly envious.
“And you don’t?”
The other girl smiled a little.
She waited for Lillian to repair her makeup, and then accompanied her back to the party.
She then propelled her in the general direction of young Mark, and last saw them talking together.
Ryan sought her out. “Okay, what the hell happened?”