The night at Betty's parents went as well, if not even better, than I could have hoped. I was part of their family now and I liked it. Betty was happy, so I was happy. The problem I had in the near future was figuring out how to tell Ma the good news. She was not going to be happy finding out that she would be officially all alone. Tom's parents, on the other hand, were thrilled for me.

"You're the man, Adam." Mr. Davis said to me with pride. "You see Tom, that's how it's done."

Tom was definitely going to have a hard time living down his disastrous marriage proposal. Oh, I never told you; Tom told the whole thing to his parents, against my advice. For that reason alone, he deserved the comments he received from his parents. 

My father used to say that the man you are today is the result of everything you've ever been through, good and bad. It's strange, but I feel like Pa's had a greater effect on me since he died than when he was alive, not that he was a bad father because he wasn't. It's just that I think about him a lot more now and I always recall his words of wisdom. They're there to help me through tough times.

As I'm writing this story and recalling all of these events it's becoming more and more clear to me that I am the result of Adam's past actions.

Today I am very introverted. I would never dream of treating women the way Adam did and while now I indeed have a love of politics, I am not nearly the orator Adam was. I suppose some of these things issues are punishments for Adam's actions that prevents me from repeating his past indiscretions.

I decided to tell Ma about my marriage proposal the very next day for fear that she would find out from someone else first. That would have only made the anguish worse for her. It was bad enough that I was getting married to a woman she couldn't stand, even though they had never met. Imagine how much worse it would have been if it was someone else who told her?

I also figured that it was probably time to introduce Betty to Ma. I hadn't spoken much about Ma to Betty except that she was upset that I was seeing a Catholic girl. Betty understood, actually she expected her family to be a bit disappointed that I wasn't Catholic. Much to her surprise the subject of my religion never came up.

Ma was home alone as usual when I arrived there with Betty. It was a beautiful afternoon and Ma was tending to the flowers by the front porch. As she heard my car pull into the driveway she glanced up, saw me, then turned and buried her head in her gardening work. I hadn't seen Ma since I walked out of the house on Thanksgiving so I wasn't expecting any sort of grand reception but I figured that with Betty with me, being her future daughter-in-law, a least it would keep her wicked tongue in check. Miracles could happen.

"Hi, Ma" I said as I turned off the engine. She pretended she couldn't hear me. I walked around the car and opened Betty's door. We decided to leave Billy at home today. Imagine the scene we could have had. Ma, this is your future daughter- in-law Betty, and this is your new six year old grandson Billy. I would have loved to see the look on her face. That would have to wait.

Betty wore a long flowing dress that went down to her knees, very conservative. Her matching headband had a fifties appeal that I thought would make Ma happy. This was the first time I had ever helped Betty pick out an outfit. It was fun, like dressing a live Barbie doll.  I took her hand and walked up to Ma who still hadn't turned around.

"I'd like you to meet someone very important to me," I said while Betty squeezed my hand from nerves.
Ma flinched slightly but wouldn't turn around. She pulled out a few weeds from her flower bed and placed them next to her.

"This is a waste of time," I said to Betty as I tried to pull her back to the car. She wouldn't budge. Instead she yanked me back towards her nearly pulling my arm out of my shoulder. She squeezed my hand even tighter than before as if to say, I'm not letting you leave here until you patch things up with your mother. I know I always do this at the wrong time, but once again instead of focusing on the task at hand, I couldn't restrain myself from thinking about how sexy Betty was. It was times like these when I wondered what she saw in me.

"Mrs. Baker, I'm Betty," she said sweetly. "It's very nice finally to meet you."

I could tell that Ma was nervous about meeting Betty because she stopped working in the dirt, frozen. Ma always liked to be in control of a situation with her snide comments well rehearsed in advanced. Whenever something took her by surprise she would remain silent, unless of course she was drunk.

"Ma, please turn around and look at us. I'm sorry I haven't been by all this time, but I'm here now. I really want you to be part of our life."

Betty eyes sparkled as she heard me say the words our life. Her smile touched me like a soft kiss.

"Mrs. Baker," Betty said as she gently touched the back of Ma's shoulder. "Your son is the sweetest boy I've ever met. He has a heart of gold. You must be very proud."

Ma stood up slowly, turned around and looked straight at Betty. Ma's eyes went from soft to glossy to down right angry. She was thinking, trying to come up with an appropriate response to the woman who had caused her son to leave home. The silence was frightening.

"We're getting married," I said, "sometime next summer. That gives plenty of time for the two of you to get to know each other."

Ma looked away from Betty and stared viscously at me. "And after we get to know each other? So if I don't like her, then you will forget about all this foolishness?"

Why couldn't I simply have let Ma have the first word, I asked myself, as I was speaking? I was giving her ammunition.

"No Ma. Betty and I are forever. You're going to have to accept that."

"You don't know the first thing about forever," she replied. "Your father and I were supposed to be forever. A son's love for his mother was supposed to be forever."

"I didn't come over here to argue with you."

"Then you shouldn't have come here at all."

"Ma, this is the first time you're meeting Betty. Can you at least pretend to be civil?"

Ma took a deep breath as she stared at Betty. "My son tells me you a have a child of your own," she said to her.

"She does," I replied. "Billy is six. He's a fantastic little boy."

"He's going to break your heart," Ma said to Betty. "My Adam is still a child in his own right." Ma looked over Betty from head to toe. "You definitely are beautiful but that's only going to hold his interest for so long. To Adam. forever means as long as you're still attractive to him and as long as someone more attractive doesn't come along. You should leave him now while you're still young enough to find a proper husband."

"Let's go Betty," I said. "This is useless."

"No Adam. We have to stay and fix this. I don't care what she says to me about you. Your mother is too important."

"You see dear," Ma continued, "that's what you're getting yourself into. Adam will leave you at the first sign of trouble."

"That's not true Ma. I love Betty and I'm going to stand by her no matter what."

"Betty dear, did Adam ever tell you about Cindy, the girl he was supposed to take to the senior prom?" 

This was one of those circumstances that I knew was inevitable, when Betty would find out about some of the rotten things I'd done in my life. I just never expected it to come from my mother, no matter how angry she was at me.

"I suppose that look on your face means he hasn't," continued Ma. "He promised to take that sweet girl to the senior prom. She'd made herself up all prim and pretty and then he stood her up because he got a better offer at the last minute from Sandra-Lee Perkins."

Ma was right. That was exactly how it happened. There was nothing I could argue with. I had the hots for Sandra-Lee all year and when she dumped her boyfriend right before the prom, well what else could I do except take her to the prom. It was a gift from above. Besides, Tom took Cindy to the prom. Tom, as you may have already guessed, really wanted to take Julie to but she refused to go with him saying that the only prom she wanted to ever go to was her own. Tom didn't get to go with her to that one either.

"I can then assume that Adam, never told you about Kathy, either." Ma was now on to number two of what I could only imagine would be a million. She was probably going to mention about how I wouldn't stop crying as a two week old baby and kept her from watching Johnny Carson. "Well Kathy was another one that Adam sure took care of. Her parents were good friends of ours; well that it is until Adam met her. They went out a couple of times and then he dumped her like a cold turkey. Her parents never spoke to us again. Is that what you want dear? You see I'm telling it to you straight. Nobody will ever be good enough for Adam."

Betty looked at me through sad eyes, shell shocked. I don't think Betty took anything too seriously that Ma said even if she did believe it, but she was still sad, and I was angry.

"Ma, nobody can do anything good enough for you. This house wasn't good enough for you, Sue-Ellen wasn't good enough for you, I definitely wasn't good enough for you and neither was Pa."

"Get off my property," Ma screamed as she picked up her gardening tools and headed for the front door. "And if you know what's best for you little lady you'll run away from Adam as fast as you can and never look back!"

I turned away in a huff, grabbed Betty then looked back at Ma. "Did you ever wonder why Brad went to UCSF when there was plenty of good medical schools right here in L.A.? It's not because UCSF is any better. He could have gone to UCLA or Southern Cal. You know why it was? By the look on your face I don't think you do. It was to get away form you and your constant demands and incessant wining. Nobody gets to live around here you except you! You had your life. I'm sorry it didn't meet your expectations. Now I'm going to live mine, with or without you!"

Betty and I drove off in silence. She wasn't speaking to me. What did I do wrong? I thought as we headed back to take her home. We sat there listening to the radio until Hurdy Gurdy Man, a Donavan song came on. Betty quickly turned off the radio.

"You didn't have to me so rough with her," she said. "It's not easy for her. Her son is at war, her daughter is living Texas. You're all she has left. You should show some empathy."

"You haven't had to live with her your whole life. I have!"

"Don't you dare raise your voice at me Adam Baker. I did nothing wrong and don't you forget that. I put myself out on a limb today...for you. I'm on your side."

"I'm sorry," I said without any emotion as my eyes stayed firmly on the road.

"You should be sorry," replied Betty. "Adam, are you going to speak to me the way you spoke to your mother once we're married?"

My heart sank into my lap as I heard that question. "I could never speak to you that way. I love you."

"But you just yelled at me now, for no reason at all."

"Again, I'm sorry." This time I turned to Betty and took her hand. She held it tight.

"I forgive you," she replied. "But I should tell you that your mother did not give you a glowing recommendation back there. You should consider leaving her off your list of references when you start at the bank."

We both laughed uncontrollably all the way back to her parents' house.