Finding Love Along the Tracks Chapter 11 – Brenda’s mom

“What the hell are you doing here, Mom!?” Brenda yelled. “After all these fucking years, abandoning me with dad!”

Kelsy and John looked at Brenda, they had both known that her mom had abandoned both her and Tim when she was 11, stating that she hated them both, and just got up and left. When they looked over at the woman standing in front of them, they could tell that she looked depressed, and surprised.

“Well!?”

The woman looked back at Brenda and she could tell that she was really pissed off.

“Brenda, I never abandoned you, your father….” she started

“BULLSHIT!” She screamed. “I saw the fucking note that you left us! You said that you hated us! MY OWN MOTHER HATED ME!”

Brenda started to choke back tears, a flood of emotions and bad memories came rushing back to her. Jack had heard her scream and came running out to investigate, as well as April and Gary. They had never seen her act like this before.

“What the hell is going on?” Jack asked. He was worried about his fiancee.

Brenda turned around and hugged him and started to cry hear eyes out. He put her arms around her and he looked over to John and Kelsy, then over to the woman.

“Jack, take her inside, we will figure out everything here.” Gary told him. He then gave the woman a dirty look because she had pissed off his newly adopted daughter.

Jack led her inside and closed the door behind them. The four of the then turned their attention to the stranger who just appeared out of no where, and upset Brenda really bad.

“Okay, lady, I don’t know who you are, but we do not appreciate it that you show up here unannounced and upset our adopted daughter.” Gary told her

“Listen, before you continue, I should tell you that I am her mom, I am Mary.” She said.

“Oh, so you are the bitch who abandoned her and left her with that monster!” April nearly yelled.

“Listen, I did not abandon her, I was pushed out of her life by Tim.” She tried to explain

“What do you mean by ‘pushed out of her life!'” Kelsy replied, she was also getting angry.

“Please, listen, I can tell you everything.” Mary continued

“Then start, don’t keep us from our family on Christmas.” John told her. The four of them were really angry about what she had just done to Brenda, and the quicker she told her story, the sooner they could force her to leave

“It started 9 or 10 years ago. Tim and I were happily married, living nearby and he was a great father. My parents loved him and I loved him so much, that I thought we would grow old together.” She started. “It was about February of 1996 when things started to get bad. He met some new friends at his old job, and he started to become abusive towards me. They were telling him that Women are objects and needed to be put in their place and submit to their man. I do not know what came over him, but the more he hung out with them, the more he became abusive, that’s when he started his drinking.”

“Ok, so, what made you abandon her? Why did you not take her and leave him!?” April asked. As a mother, she felt that this woman was unfit to be a parent, even to a goldfish.

“That’s just the thing, I DIDN’T abandon her!” She cried. “In 1997, it became so bad that I did try to leave him. When I told him that the marriage was over, he threw me on the ground and held me there by my throat and told me that I was not going anywhere, and if I tried to leave and take Brenda, he would find us and slit our throats.”

“That does sound like the person he was.” John said. He was starting to believe her, because what she was explaining, sounded like the exact same man that Brenda had been forced to call her dad.

“He forced me to stay, and he started to bring his friends over. They would pay him either $20 or $40 and he would let them fuck me on the floor as he watched. One night, I was forced to have sex with 8 men during the course of the evening. I finally had enough. I Knew that I would have to get us both out of there, because I was afraid of what he would do to Brenda. I told him that I was going to visit my mom in Alton to visit her new home, even though she had not moved from Belleville. I figured that it would throw him and take him a long time to figure out that we were not there. I wanted to take Brenda with me, but he wouldn’t allow it. He was paranoid that we were going to leave him and was using her as leverage.”

“I think she is telling the truth, Honey.” Gary said. “So tell us, what happened that you could escape, but not take her with you?”

“I told him that I would be back by 9 that evening, and when I did not return, that’s when it got very ugly. I went back to the house the next morning to try and get her out of there before her dad woke up. When I opened the front door, I was greeted by him, with that damn rifle pointed between my eyes. He told me that I was no longer his wife, but a street level whore, that I had no right to ever see my daughter, and that is when he told me that if I ever came around or try to take her away from him, he would kill both of us on the spot and dump our bodies.”

“What about the note? Brenda told us there was a note that said you had abandoned the two of them.” Kelsy commented, She was having a hard time believing her because of this one little piece of evidence.

“I did not write any note, if anyone did, it was Tim. I tried everything in my power to rescue her from him, I even went to the school to try and get her, but everyday for the rest of that school year, he dropped her off and picked her up. He even told told the school that I was a crack addict mother so they would not release her to me early from school if I tried. I went to the Police, and they interviewed him, they told them the same thing, that I was an unfit mother who did crack, AND that I had planned to pimp her out. They almost charged me with those crimes, but they found no evidence of crack or the prostitution attempts. Before they could go back, he filed a law suite and a restraining order. I thought the judge would side by me, but his statements were so full of lies, and he consistently told them the same thing over and over again, that he sided with him and ruled that I could never see her ever again. I was heartbroken” she continued.

When she finished her story, they could see she was now distraught, had tears in her eyes and looked like she wanted to crawl under a rock.

“It seems like that you did try, but he blocked you. You did know what he did to her after he forced you out, right?” John asked her

“No, I do not. I had lost all contact with her.” She replied

John and Kelsy explained to her what had happened during the time she was gone, and when they were finished, she had rage in her eyes. That monster had done everything to her that he claimed that she was going to do. She knew that he was now dead, but when she found out that the police gunned him down, she was pleased, because to her, that is what the bastard deserved.

“Listen, Mary, let us talk to Brenda. She was not here to listen, and she may not have believed it. If you really want her back in your life, give us some time. She may want to see you, and she may not. Promise us though, that if she does not, that you will not come back here again, we do not need her in any more mental anguish after what happened to her.” Gary told her

“I really hope she does want to see me again, I have been wanting her back in my life for so long. I have never recovered from loosing her.” She sadly stated

“Give her some time, I am sure she will warm up to it.” Kelsy told her

“Right, I think you should go ahead and leave, come over to where I work at Wells Fargo in about a week and we can tell you her answer. Okay?” Gary commented

“I will, and thank you.” She replied as she turned around to walk away.

The four of them watched her leave then walked back into the house and into the living room where everyone was. They were all crowded around Brenda, who was sobbing. Of all the days that her mom decided to try to walk back into her life, it just had to be Christmas Day. Jack had his arms around her, doing his best to comfort his fiancee. It was not going so well, this event brought all the bad memories of her dad back to the forefront, and she was not coping well.

“Jack, I think it would be best if you took her to the bedroom, no matter what, she will not calm down it seems.” William said.

“Brenda, do you want me to take you to the bedroom?” He asked

She looked at him at nodded. She figured that being alone with him might cheer her up, all the company that was in the house right now was just making things worse since they were crowding her..

Jack took her upstairs to their bedroom while John and Gary started to tell everyone what had happened along with the story that Mary told them. Everyone was shocked to hear that her father was the one who drilled the abandonment story into hear and corrupted her thoughts about her own mother. They started to hate him even more. William even commented that he hoped he had become the Devils bitch.

That evening, after everyone but the house resident’s had left, Brenda and Jack finally came out of their room for dinner.

As they sat down to the dinner table, Brenda spoke first. “What the hell did she tell you guys?” she inquired

Gary and April looked at each other. Then back at her. Now was when they would tell her the story that Mary had told them earlier in the day.

“It is not what it seems, Brenda, your fathe….” John started before his dad interrupted.

“John, let your mom and I tell her, she is our daughter now, after all.” He told him

“Yes, sir.” John replied. Kelsy looked at him and saw that he had wanted to tell the story, so she just took his hand in his as his parents started to tell Brenda what was told.

Brenda listened without saying a word while they spoke.