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Adelia’s brow furrowed. Her mother wasn’t wrong. “You broke up our family for this man. You broke your husband’s heart and my heart, and you ruined marriage for me. So, no, I’m not sorry that it didn’t work out with him, but I am sorry that he hurt you.”
“What do you mean I ruined marriage for you?”
“You and Dad have been together for over thirty years. How can I trust happily ever after when yours fell apart in a matter of months?”
“It didn’t fall apart in months. It took years of struggles and fights to get to this point. Throw careers and raising a child in the mix and working on a marriage sometimes gets pushed aside, until you’ve lived side by side for years, just surviving while the marriage crumbles around you.”
“So if you didn’t have me then maybe things wouldn’t have been so stressful, right?”
“Don’t put words in my mouth.”
“You regret having me, don’t you?”
“What?”
“I heard you tell Dad once that you were tired of giving up projects to have to stay home with me.”
“That was not because I didn’t want you, it was because sometimes a great script came along, and I had to pass on it because it was your dad’s turn to work. It was our agreement before we had you, and I went along with it. Sometimes it was frustrating.” She turned and took Adelia’s face in her hands. “But I was never … never … sorry we had you. You are our greatest accomplishment.”
Adelia’s heart clenched. “Even greater than your Oscar?”
Mom smiled. “Far greater than that.”
Adelia and her mother hadn’t been close in years. Mom pushed for her to do her best—which usually came across as cold and bossy. She never showed a lot of emotion or was very affectionate, and she never told Adelia how much she meant to her. To hear her say those words touched someplace deep in Adelia’s heart. She hadn’t known she’d needed to hear them until now.
“Thank you for saying that, Mom.”
“It’s the truth.” She smiled, but then her eyebrows scrunched in concern. “But you not getting married, that’s ridiculous. Don’t think I didn’t notice you playing with my wedding dress when you were younger. I know you want that.”
“I wanted the wedding. But that’s just a ceremony. If you don’t get married, then if it doesn’t work out, you can go your separate ways. No messy divorce to worry about.”
“You make it sound like walking away from a relationship is easy? Even without marriage, it’s difficult, and it hurts. And it sounds like you’re giving yourself an escape route before the relationship even starts.”
“That’s not what I’m saying.”
“I know you, Adelia. You don’t just dip your toe in, you jump. You don’t do things halfway. You’re an all-in kind of woman. And maybe what I did has tarnished your view of marriage. We were your example of life-long commitment, and I screwed that up. But I still love your father. I always have. And I want to be with him.”
Adelia’s eyebrows lifted. “But you just served him divorce papers a month ago.”
“I know. That was a mistake.” She shook her head. “We were stuck in this cycle for so long. We couldn’t seem to break out of it. As messed up as this is, I think I was hoping it would get his attention and get us out of the rut.”
“That is messed up, Mom. You cheated on your husband to get his attention?”
“There were other reasons, but I think that was part of it. And now I’ve realized that I do want our marriage to work.” She looked at Adelia with all seriousness. “And that’s what a marriage takes. A lot of work. And you, my girl, have never been afraid of hard work.”