WIDOWED MOTHER FINDS LOVE CH. 4 pt. 4

WIDOWED MOTHER FINDS LOVE CH. 4 pt. 4

"Are you hurt? Where are you?" Linda was instantly worried.

"I'm at the hospital they couldn't save anything." She moaned.
"Which hospital we're on the way to" Linda yelled over her mother's distress.

Michelle drove. She knew Kim and her mother were in no condition to drive. She watched as the two held onto each other until they could find out what happened. Linda, in all her years, not even when her father died, had ever heard her mother so broken.

They ran into the hospital and asked. "Which room is Maud Stevenson in?" Following the directions, they were met by a Fireman/EMT who informed them.

"Your mother will be fine She had some smoke inhalation, but she's okay."

"What happened?" Kim asked out of reflex.

"There was a fire at her Condo. It started in the adjoining wall of the unit next to hers. By the time we got it under control. Well, it's a mess between the smoke and water damage." He handed Linda a card.

"Here is the number to call so they can tell you when it is safe to get out what's left. It is not going to be I am afraid. Sorry."

They took Linda's mom home and she stayed with them for a week before they would let anyone into the unit. Ms. Stevenson was recuperating but saddened that everything that mattered to her was gone.

Oh, she was not upset about the furniture or even her jewelry, other than her and her husband's wedding rings. She said that was what insurance was for. She was devastated that all their love letters were destroyed. She cried over what was left of the frame of her sheepskin from Vassar. Even most, of her pictures were damaged.

Michelle called one of her friends, who did photo work. She paid for the pictures that could be restored, to be restored. She moved her stuff so they could set up the extra room for Linda's mother, even though it meant having to stay at work longer. It was Roger who produced a better solution.

"Why doesn't she stay with me? I have the room and you can resume your lives. You sure you don't want to become my office manager?" He asked Linda again.

Linda put him off again. "Maybe later... they're doing better at work... We can see if mom wants to do that though. She's been through a lot."

"Sounds like a fine idea to me," Maud said as she walked in. "Gets me out of your hair and Roger and I have many friends in common. It might be the perfect solution for both of us. I'm in the way here, and don't think I've missed Kim's little tricks either." She stated as she took a seat.

"Good, good. The house has been a bit empty since Michelle moved in here. We can keep each other company without getting underfoot.

We've sure lived a lot of life haven't we Maud?" Roger laughed.

"We sure have. Like that time, we all went skinny dipping in Harold's father's pond. That was when you were conceived, Linda." Maud went on to tell her story as Linda blushed.

"Now you know how I feel mom," Tony said from the door. "I'll help move her stuff. Hi Michelle, or should I start calling you mom number two?" He smiled at Michelle's startled look.

"Yes, why don't you all go do what you need to do? I think I need to have a little private chat with Kimmy before she heads off to college."

Maud said, regretting what had to be done. When Kim came home, she was met by her grandmother.

"Where is everyone?" She asked irritated. "Why did they leave you alone Grammy?" It was the opening Maud waited for.

"I thought it would be a good time for you and me to have some tea and a little chat. I've got the service set up in the sitting room... this way young lady." She led Kim to the wingback chair and waited until Kim sat down before she got down to business.

"Okay little lady, what do you have to say for yourself? Your behavior has been atrocious." Maud opened and then let the startled girl have it.

"What do you mean?" Kim asked shocked.

"I mean, how you've treated Michelle. Do you have any idea how hard it was for your mother to find someone to love again? Then she brings her home to have you trying to break them up. How dare you!" Maud blasted her granddaughter.

"But Mom wasn't supposed to get involved with a woman. All my friends have" Kim tried to defend her actions.

"Kim, I think it's past time you grow up and stop being such a selfish little bitch! Who is more important? Your stupid friends, or your mother? My Godchild, you are going to represent me and my family in less than a month at one of the most exclusive schools in the nation. Don't you dare insult me with your close-mindedness! You are getting to go to Vassar only on my say-so don't make me regret it."

Kim had never been spoken to like that before by her beloved grandmother.

"But Grammy. How can you?" It would have hurt less if Maud had slapped her.

"Are you so blinded that you can't see how much they love each other? You are the one who brought them together. You should be proud of that, not ashamed! You helped your mom find the one person who could heal her shattered heart. I always knew she never finds another man. There are none who could have compared with your father. Like I said little girl it is past time you grew up and started looking at just how big the world really is!" Maud put down her teacup and kissed Kim's head.

"I love you, but don't fool yourself for a second I have the power to yank you out of that college if you don't change your, ways." Having finished her say, she left Kim to ponder life.

Michelle held Linda as she cried when they put Kim on the plane for New York. Linda did not know if her daughter would ever speak to her again. "It will be okay mom," Tony said as he rubbed her back and looked into Michelle's worried eyes.

"You sit with her in the back I'll drive us home." The growing young man said to the second most important woman in his life.

"If you think she's going to budge before that plane is out of her sight, you're fooling yourself buster," Michelle said as she led Linda over to the windows. They stood together, the three of them until the big aircraft was lost in the clouds.

When they got home, Michelle told Tony. "Go get us some pizzas I'm going to give her a glass of wine and see if I can get her to lay down and rest."

"Okay, if I haven't told you I love you, mom two." He said and kissed her cheek.

"Oh get, buster" Michelle instantly went as teary as her distraught lover. She joined Linda in bed and tried to soothe, the hurt away.

"Love me," Linda said softly.

"I do sweetheart, trust me, I do," Michelle replied into Linda's hair as they hugged. "You'll never guess what the big lug told me before he went to go get dinner."

"What's that Babe?" Linda snuggled into Michelle's arms.

"Damn it, that boy is going to make me cry... He said he loved me and called me mom two." She sniffed, trying to hold back the tears.

"Make love to me sweetheart" Linda leaned up and kissed the woman who she could not help but love. "Make me remember the cruise, our first time I love you my precious darling" Linda muttered between kisses, as Michelle started undressing her.

Tony was going to knock on their door but heard the soft moans and sounds of his mothers' making love. He smiled and put their girly pizza in the oven to keep warm and made himself scarce.

Linda ended up quitting her job, taking half the staff with her. She took over the Office Manager's position at Roger's head office. She buried herself into the new job so she could not think of the time since she last heard her daughter's voice.

September flew into October and after November; Linda despaired of hearing her oldest child's voice for Christmas. What she did not know, Tony had talked to Kim and set up a video link so they could all open gifts together on Christmas morning.

All morning Christmas Eve, Linda would ask anyone available if they heard from Kim. She got her daughter's message a week earlier and was, on pins and needles. By midnight she was crying in Michelle's arms.

To be continued