The Tales of a Future Hockey Wife

Chapter 50: Telling Part 2

~Eleanor~

The first time I went to Ben's place was when I picked him up for our date only a few days after we first spoke at the bar. I had never been in that part of town before, everyone I knew lived in my neighborhood or in one nearby. I had to ask my father for directions, even if I ended up using Google Map. We did this multiple time until he got his own license and started picking me up. When I asked him why we never had dinner with his parents, he mumbled something about renovations and unfinished bathrooms. I went with it even if I found weird that the renovations had been going on for over six months. It was his mother who pushed him to invite me over for Sunday night dinner seven months after we started dating. I had met her several times at games, and we had started sitting together about three months prior. She wanted me to meet Ben's sister, Megan, and I was pretty curious to see where he lived when he wasn't with me.

When I first set foot into their house, I instantly felt at ease. There were pictures hanging on every wall and the fridge was covered with drawings and diplomas. From the front door, you could see the entire floor. The kitchen was on the right and the living room on the left. Ben's father was sitting on a couch that looked so comfortable I almost went to sit beside him. There was a wonderful smell of food that had been cooking for the entire day. Ben's mother had really gone all out for me and it warmed my heart. Everywhere you looked, there was something. Whether it was on the wall or on the floor, you had to watch where you were going, or you took the chance to trip over some hockey equipment or some music sheets. Ben always hated it while I found it refreshing. In my house, the second you left something where it didn't belong, it's as if an alarm went off in my mother's brain. She ran after you even if you had already left the house to drag you back in. She would hold your arm to drag you to the crime scene, and she wouldn't leave you alone until the said thing was back in its place. I went to Ben's house to be able to let go while he came to mine to get a structure. Things haven't changed that much. When my mother came home after my dad called her, she was already making all sorts of plans. She made this whole idea in her head that we would move back in with them after school was over to raise the baby with them. She promised to be the cool kind of grandma and she didn't understand why everyone started laughing when she said that. My father offered to move to Windsor, saying that getting a teaching job there wouldn't be so hard and that it would be a pleasure, really. We spent the entire evening in a frenzy of plans and questions to make the plan more concrete. I got a headache around eight-thirty and fell asleep on Ben's shoulder while he and my dad were googling the prices of houses near the university.

My goal for tonight is, after we explain everything, we will just be happy. No more stress, no more worrying about what we'll do or what we won't do, where we'll live or anything else. Since we found out about this baby, all we did was worry about this stuff. For one night, I just wish I could be happy about it. I just want someone to tell me all the wonderful things about being a mother without scaring me about every little detail I don't know about babies. As Ben knocks on his parents' front door, I look around the property and wonder what my life would have been like if I had grown up in this neighborhood. Would my mother have been more present if she didn't feel the need to work so much in order to pay for our big house and her brand-new car? Who would I have been? What kind of relationship would I have had with Will? Would we be closer if our parents hadn't thought us about the need to always appear perfect?

His mother opens the door merely seconds after his knuckles leave the door. She is wearing a pair of jeans I have seen on her countless times. There is a huge hole just below her right knee causing the denim around it to unravel. I remember telling her that jeans with holes in them were making a comeback and that people spent tons of money on those pants. After that day, she started wearing them outside of the house. Megan categorically refused to go out with her mom if she was wearing those jeans while I begged her to wear them when we went somewhere together. To Megan, it meant showing people that they didn't have a lot of money, but it gave me the right to go out even if I didn't look my best. Ben's mom is the one who showed me that there are more important things in life than the way you look when you go grocery shopping.

"My darlings! I thought you would come later in the day, but I am so glad you're here. Come in, come in." She wiggles her hands to pull us into the house. "Megan is at work she'll be here in a few hours and your dad is working on the car in the garage. The damn transmission broke down again, so he's trying to fix it without having to go see a mechanic and all that." She continues to ramble about their car and Megan as Ben takes off his coat. Trish Johnson loves to talk. I always thought it was because she stays home all the time and doesn't see many people. I always thought about how bored she must be at times when she spends all her days alone in their house. The fact that she doesn't have many friends probably doesn't help her either. He never said it out loud, but I knew that leaving her was one of Ben's biggest fear, and he was not scared for himself. He feared that taking away the thing that made his mother go out would isolate her even more. His mother never missed a game unless she already had something else planned, and let's say that it didn't happen often. She was her son's biggest fan from day one, and I know that it saddened her when she faced the fact that she wouldn't be able to follow him to Windsor.

"I'll go tell your father that you're here. Make yourselves at home, my darlings." We do as we are told. Ben walks to the kitchen to grab something to eat while I take off my coat and boots. I put away Ben's in the dresser since he left it on the handrail like he always used to do.

Trish's reaction is immediate when she walks back into her house, her husband on her tracks. She covers her mouth with her hands and her eyes go wide. She ends up clinging to her husband's arm in order to not fall on the ground.

"Ella, darling," she says with tears in her eyes. "Am I going to be a grandma?" She runs up to me the same way my father did yesterday. She envelops me in her arms as she asks the usual questions. This is exactly what I wanted. Happy. I am too busy answering her to notice Ben's father's reaction. I focus on Trish until I hear Ben's loud voice.

"You can't tell us what to do dad. We're having this baby. I don't care about your opinion." Ben's father's face is red and stoic, almost emotionless. His arms are crossed against his chest and his eyes look away from his son.

"I won't let you ruin your life, Benjamin. I won't watch you end every chance you have to have a future. No way."

"Rob. Please," Trish lets me go to get closer to her husband who walks back towards the back door. He ignores his wife's attempts to stop him and steps through the door. Seconds later, we hear the garage door slam. "I'm so sorry about him. He just needs to get used to the idea, that's all." She places a comforting hand on Ben's shoulder who shakes his head.

"No, he has no getting used to do. It has nothing to do with him," Ben answers, his voice filled with anger. Before I have the chance to stop him, Ben follows his father's footsteps and heads to the garage.

"C'mon, darling. I want you to tell me everything. From how you found out to everything you know at the moment." Trish grabs my hand to pull me into the living room. "Would you like some tea?" I nod with a small smile. She disappears into the kitchen once more, coming back a few minutes later with two cups of chamomile tea.

I begin to tell her the same embellished story we told my parents yesterday, but I stop when I hear the sound of something being shattered on the ground. Both our heads turn in the direction of the garage. I make a move to get up, but Trish's hand on my arm stops me.

"Let's put some music on, yeah?"