Chapter 8 My Mother Is Getting Married

I didn't want my mother to see me in such a sorry state because she would start worrying about me endlessly, and I couldn't bring myself to be a burden to her. I didn't want her to feel disappointed in me after all the trouble that she went through to raise me as a single mother. My mother was waiting for me in the living room. She smiled instantly when she spotted me before waving me over to sit next to her on the sofa. I tried my best to smile naturally so that she wouldn't be able to tell that something was wrong. The truth was that my mother really liked Sam, and she was a big supporter of our relationship. She was over the moon happy when we got engaged, and she was looking forward to our wedding. "You're finally back. Was work busy?" she asked with a slightly worried look on her face. "It's the same as usual," I replied while trying to sound natural. My mother suddenly pulled me into a tight hug, as if she could sense that I needed some comforting. I hugged her back tightly as I enjoyed the security that I felt in her embrace. When she finally loosened her arms from my body and I could see her face again, I could tell that she had a slightly hesitant and worried look on her face. "What is it?" I asked. My mother's eyes darted from side to side as if she was pondering whether or not to tell me something. I realized then that she must have been waiting for me to come home because she had something that she wanted to tell me. "Actually, I have something important to tell you," she said before trailing off, as if to gather her courage. Her words got me feeling very curious, and I couldn't stop staring at her face. "What is it? You can tell me anything. Do you need help with something?" I asked her as I took her hands into my own. "Well, you know... the man that I told you that I've been dating," she said, and I nodded my head in response. A little more than half a year ago, my mother began dating this guy whom she met while she was working as a florist in a flower shop close to a hospital. How they met felt like a scene straight out of a romantic movie. One day, one of the delivery girls working at the florist called in sick, and my mother had to take her place in delivering flowers for a regular customer who always ordered flowers to be delivered to one of the patients on a daily basis at the hospital close to the flower shop. My mother’s date turned out to be the patient waiting to receive flowers from my mother on that day. I didn't know the details, but apparently, they fell in love after my mother delivered flowers to him each day as part of her job and then started dating after he was discharged from the hospital. The unsettled look on her face made me wonder if something had gone wrong in their relationship. Don't tell me that he broke up with her too… It’s enough trouble that I had to deal with my own heartbreak without layering on my mother’s heartbreak on top of things. After a very rough life that my mother had gone through in order to raise me alone, I wanted nothing but the best for her because she deserved it. My father deserted her after he found out that she was pregnant with me. I have never met my father before and I didn't even know who he was. Despite the challenges, my mother had always cherished me and was thankful that I came into this world. She did her absolute best to raise me while working multiple jobs to make ends meet. Growing up, I remembered her taking up jobs wherever they were willing to employ her, and it took quite a few years before she got regular employment as a florist. I stared into the face of the woman who dedicated her life to making mine a better one, and I swore to myself that I would make sure to do everything within my power to make her happy. My love for her was just as endless as her love for me. "Bennett, right? Of course, I remember him," I said while trying to sound cheerful. My mother talked about him quite often, although I wondered if she realized that I had never gotten a chance to meet him in person. "Well, you see... he, um…he proposed to me. And... I accepted his proposal," she finally managed to disclose while stuttering quite a lot in the process. He proposed. He proposed to my mother… “Right," I mumbled as I tried to wrap my head around what my mother had just said. "We’re planning to get married in two weeks' time," my mother said before she smiled very happily. I didn't remember a time when she could smile so genuinely like that, as if she was void of any worries. And that told me that she truly believed that this was the best decision. She must have already thought this over before informing me about her decision. And that meant that I should wholeheartedly support her. "Congratulations, Mom! I'm so happy for you," I said as I wrapped my arms around her. I expected my mother to smile and laugh until she had tears of happiness in her eyes; however, that was not the case. Instead, my mother had a forlorn and troubled expression on her face. "What's the matter?" I asked. "I'm honestly a little scared about this. You know, getting married at my age is just..." my mother said before trailing off with a shrug of her shoulders. I could sense that she was also scared of the uncertainty that lay in the future. However, I felt like it didn't matter whether or not the marriage would work out. It felt more than enough that the union could make my mother so happy and give her something to look forward to. –To be continued…