receive a call from his son the following day. “I figured you’d call this morning,” he said. “Alessa seemed pretty tense when she left here last night. What happened? Did she tell you?”
Remo let out a heavy sigh. “Nothing significant, Dad. It’s a bunch of little things. Alessa and Lucy weren’t in the ‘family’ photo. Mom gave me all the credit for the Outside Inn. It wasn’t anything specific. It all boils down to how Mom treats her or, should I say, pretends she doesn’t exist. Alessa and Lucy have had enough bad stuff to last a lifetime. I don’t know what to do about it anymore and thought maybe you would have a solution.”
“I understand, Remo. I’ve noticed what your mom’s been up to. She isn’t consciously trying to be evil. She can’t come to terms with the fact that you belong to another woman now. You were always ‘her boy,’ and now it seems to her that you’ve found someone to replace her.”
“Okay, Dad,” Remo grunted. “But frankly, I find that a little creepy. I mean, Alessa is my wife and Lucy is my child. Neither of them is my mother. Yuck!”
Both men burst out laughing at the thought.
“Okay,” Remo finally said, “so what do I need to tell Mom to reassure her that she’s still important to me? Christ, women are a pain in the ass.”
Both men laughed again as if they had shared a great secret, but it was all in good fun.
“Let me talk to your mother, son,” Patrick suggested. “I’ll call you back and let you know how things turn out.”
Remo hung up the phone, still troubled by the thought that his mother stubbornly refused to admit how happy he was with Alessa and continued to make trouble for them. He couldn’t understand it. This was the same mother who had been loving and supportive throughout his life. She had been fond of his friends, even the female ones.
Alessa walked into the kitchen and broke into his thoughts. Remo noticed how beautiful she looked, with her hair tousled and her eyes still half-closed from sleep. He took her by the hand and silently led her back into their bedroom.
“Be quiet,” he whispered, “we don’t want to wake Lucy.”
“Well, good morning to you, too,” she whispered, allowing herself to be led.
Later that morning, Patrick called his son to tell him he had talked to Hannah. She had apparently gotten pissed off, demanding to know why both of the men in her life were turning against her for Alessa’s sake, and stormed out of the house.
“Sorry, son,” Patrick said apologetically. “I think I made it worse for Alessa. Now your mother thinks she’s stealing me from her, too.”
The two men laughed at the absurdity of it all, and Remo promised his father he would call his mother later that afternoon.
After their conversation was over, Remo wondered what it would take for his mother to lighten up and give Alessa a chance. He would have to wing it when he got her on the phone. Remo never called his mother that day. Instead, he got involved in the preparations for the post-Christmas party the residents of the Outside Inn had planned. Alessa helped to coordinate, and they had plenty of food to eat from all the donations they’d received from local businesses. All the residents were there, and by seven that evening, the party was in full swing. The residents of each apartment in the Outside Inn had kept their door open, and people milled about, moving from floor to floor, apartment to apartment, enjoying each other’s company. They got along well. Many knew each other from the streets, and the older residents always looked out for the younger ones.
Alessa thought it had been a great evening and a great idea. By the end of the night, Remo had forgotten about the problems between Alessa and his mother. Now, he climbed the stairs to the third floor with his wife by his side. Having tucked Lucy in bed, they went back out to the living room for a mug of hot chocolate before going to bed themselves. They chatted about the day and were content about all the things they had done that had brought them to this moment.
“This doesn’t seem real to me sometimes,” Alessa told him. “It’s hard to believe that we have done all that we have in the short time we’ve been together.”
Remo hugged her tight. “This is only the beginning,” he said. “There is a lot more that we can do together. Lucy is thriving, and we’ve gotten thirty-six people off the streets. We rock, don’t cha think?”
Alessa laughed. “Well, I was thinking more about how wonderful it is that we could help others. Like they rock. But of course, we rock, too. Lucy is so smart, Remo. She is going to do great things when she grows up.”
He leaned back into the sofa. “Agreed. We need to make sure that she keeps up the good work she’s doing in school. You know, at first, I was a little apprehensive about raising her around all these strangers, but I can see now that she learns from them, and they learn from her, too. I couldn’t ask for a better wife and daughter.”
It was late, and Alessa finished her hot chocolate when the phone rang. Remo went into the kitchen to answer it. Alessa could hear his voice rise and went to see who was on the phone.
“No, Mom, that’s not what’s going on,” Remo said, frustrated. “You’re being paranoid. Dad and I thought that you could be nicer. You could be more accepting of them. Alessa and Lucy are my family, and if you don’t accept them, then you don’t accept me either.”
Remo held out the phone and looked at Alessa. “She hung up on me.”
Infuriated, she asked, “What was that about? What did you two guys do?”
Remo explained how he had talked to his father and the two men had agreed that Patrick would confront Hannah about the events that had taken place on Christmas Day.
Alessa’s heart was thumping in her chest. She said through clenched teeth, “I don’t want your mom being nice to me because you and your dad tell her she has to be nice. If she hates me, then fine, she can hate me. Now she’s really going to hate me because she’s going to think I am pitting you against her. What the hell were you thinking? God, Remo, I don’t need this bullshit in my life!”
Remo was now irritated both with his mother and Alessa. He didn’t know what he was supposed to do to make things better between them. Finally, he picked up the phone and called his mother back. When she answered, he could tell she was crying.
“Mom?” he said, treading carefully. “All I’m saying is that it makes it hard for us to visit you and Dad, when you treat Alessa and Lucy like they don’t belong.”
“You know what, Remo?” Hannah screamed. “You were the one who tied yourself down with that lost cause, and now I’m suddenly supposed to like her. Well, I’ll tell you honestly that she certainly wasn’t what I had in mind for you. I always saw you with someone strong, someone with a career and a family, for God’s sake. Not some lost soul, whose family won’t even associate themselves with her.”
Remo’s face turned red. “Alessa’s family is a pack of morons. She struggled to get through her childhood with those lousy people. Why would you want to make it hard for her to be a part of our family? I thought we were better than that, Mom. You raised me not to judge others and to be open-minded. Why, all of a sudden, did that change?”
Hannah was openly crying now. “Because I thought that when you finally married, I would gain a daughter, too. Alessa isn’t like a daughter at all. She doesn’t know how to be a daughter. She sure knows how to be a stripper and a prostitute, though, doesn’t she? I know everything about her. And I had to find it out from our neighbors of all people. How do you think that makes me feel? My son married to a prostitute. What the hell were you thinking? Did you think I would never find out? Of course you didn’t because you knew I’d never agree to you marrying a whore.”
Remo willed himself to stay calm as she ranted on.
Hannah took in a long breath. “Did Alessa tell you all of this before you married her? Or are you beginning to find out about it now, like me?”
“I already knew,” he told her quietly. “She told me everything on our first date, long before I fell in love with her. She told me so that I could make an informed decision before we got serious about each other.”
“Well, then, how could you have stayed with her?” Hannah retorted sharply. “She had sex with men for money, Remo. She danced naked for them. God only knows what diseases she might have. And how exactly did she ‘find’ Lucy? None of this makes any sense to me. I don’t understand what you see in her.”
Remo said with authority, “Then, Mom, you’re blind. I have to go now. It’s late, and I need to get some sleep. We can talk again tomorrow, but I want to tell you now that nothing will change how I feel about Alessa and Lucy. Nothing you can say or do will stop me from loving them. Good night, Mom.”
He turned and looked at Alessa. He was exhausted. Alessa’s heart ached for him. She knew this was ripping him in half, and he was struggling with all the emotions.
“Your mom found out about my dark past, huh?” she asked.
Remo sneered, “Yeah. That stupid ass who used to get lap dances from you at the club must have said something to someone and it got back to my mom. Maybe I should tell her about her neighbor’s little fantasy, about how he likes to go to strip clubs and dress up in diapers when he’s getting a private lap dance.”
“No, you won’t,” Alessa snapped. “It’s nobody’s business. Just because we are going through a rough time doesn’t mean I want to destroy someone else’s marriage. Okay?”
Remo dropped his head. “Yeah, fine. I won’t tell her anything about the neighbor. Let’s go to bed. I’m thoroughly worn out and want to sleep.”
