Wheels of Steel, Book 2 (22 page)

Chapter 17

When the transfusion was over, Robin felt tons better. She hadn’t recognized that over the last few days her strength had slowly began to fail. She seriously had no idea that anemia could have such an effect on one’s body. But now she felt a lot better. As stupid as it might seem…this all seemed to have been a blessing in disguise.

Jason’s mother had apologized and Robin could see that she sincerely didn’t harbor anything against her. As a matter of fact, this event allowed her to see how she and Jason truly felt about each other. Things seemed to be looking up. Belinda had shown up and walked straight to the bed and gripped her hand. ‘I’m sorry. Don’t be mad at me.’ And they had hugged. Robin realized that Belinda was the first real girlfriend that she’d ever had. Other school friends were just people to talk to or eat lunch with, but it was different with Belinda. She really liked the girl. And as far as Amberly, she would reserve judgment, but was happy that she had shown up despite the fact that Jason was giving her the cold shoulder. She still had the courage—or nerves to come around. Whatever…it took guts.

She had even been happy to see Mama…at first. And then she could clearly see that she hadn’t accepted Jason. Robin hoped that Mama would come to accept her boyfriend. But she knew that it would be a fight; a fight that her mother had no hope of winning. Jason was one of the few things that Robin was willing to go up against her mother’s hard words and temper.

The door opened and she braced herself when Mama entered the room, if for no other reason than that she looked neutral. She had seen this look before. Mama would try to slip her anger in between caring words.

“How are you feeling, baby?” Mama asked while sitting on the bed.

“So much better, Mama.”

Mama took her hands. “Well I wish that you hadn’t let them give you that damned transfusion.” Here we go…

“I feel so much better though.” Robin smoothed the covers over her legs. “And Dr. Sarma said that I can go home in another hour.” He wanted to make sure that she wasn’t experiencing any dizziness.

“Well, it’s too late to worry about it now. I just wouldn’t want to take any chances that you could catch someone else’s blood disorder!”

“Mom, it will be okay. The nurse told me exactly what to expect. I feel comfortable with it.”

“Hmph. Well I wouldn’t have done it.”

“Yes, I understand.” She tried not to sigh in frustration.

“So, you’ll come back to the house and relax-”

“No. I’m going back to my apartment.”

Mama just frowned at her, her brow creased heavily. “Robin, don’t be ridiculous. I’ll take you back to the house and you can sleep in your old room-”

Robin did sigh. “Mama, I just want to relax in my own bed-”

“And what if you black out? What if you get sick again?! Robin, I swear sometimes you just don’t consider all of the consequences for your actions. Someone needs to be there to keep an eye on you.” The door opened and Jason and others came in.

Robin ignored them for a moment as she gave her mother a long look. “Then I’ll go home with Jason. He can watch me.”

Betty Mathena’s mouth opened and closed. “Well…what about you sleeping in your own bed?” She seemed to suddenly understand the implications of her sleeping at Jason’s house and her face burned red. She stood up. “Fine, Robin. Do as you want.”

Robin was just getting ready to relent and tell her mother that she’d stay wither her, when Jason gave her a stern look. “Robin, you’re more than welcome to stay with me.” He turned to the older woman. “I’ll take care of her.”

Betty Mathena stared at him. “Look…can I talk to my daughter alone? I’d appreciate if you all could leave for a moment.”

Jason’s lip twisted as he bit back the urge to tell her not to stress Robin. The last thing she needed was someone needling her to do shit that she clearly didn’t want to do. But in the end he silently did as he was asked. The others followed, knowing that Robin was about to get the full brunt of her mother’s wrath. Belinda looked back over her shoulder trying to send Robin rays of encouragement. She wanted to say something but didn’t want to add to the crapfest that Robin was sure to experience.

Robin turned to her mother once the room was once again empty. “Yes, Mom?”

“Honey…I wanted to wait until we got home before I had this discussion with you, but do you think it’s wise to have an…’intimate’ relationship with a boy like that?”

“A boy like ‘what?’”

“You know what I’m talking about.”

“You mean, a boy with Cerebral Palsy?”

Her mother grimaced. “Is that what he has? Is he mentally…you know?”

“Jason is actually top in all of his college classes. I would say that he is probably smarter than most. He just can’t control his muscles the way the rest of us can.”

Her mother was shaking her head. “Well…honestly Robin, I don’t understand it. I don’t understand why him when you can be with anyone-”

“Mama, I don’t want to talk about this right now-”

“I’m just telling you how I feel-”

“I really like Jason.” She gave her mother an earnest look. “I want you to get to know him and give him a chance.”

Mrs. Mathena could barely believe the stern way in which her daughter was speaking to her. “Robin, your Dad and I raised you to see all people as equal. We didn’t raise you to differentiate between color or to judge people based on a disabilities. But damn…life with him will be so much harder than it has to be. And what about babies?”

Robin sighed again. “We just got together! We’re still brand new. I’ mean…neither of are thinking about babies. God, I just started dating him two weeks ago.”

“And you’re already having sex?”

Robin blushed. “I’m twenty-one-”

“I didn’t have sex with your Dad for over a year.”

“Mama you hated Daddy when you first met him-”

“If you get pregnant by a boy like that-“

“Mama, stop referring to him as ‘a boy like that’!” She rubbed her forehead and calmed her voice. “Now you understand why I didn’t want to go back to your house? Do you Mom?”

Betty gave her a shocked look, almost sputtering her response. “Don’t you ever tell me how I should turn a phrase. As a matter of fact, don’t you ever raise your voice at me! The things I say to you, I say out of love. How dare you snap at me because I care about what happens to you! I am being a mother, and nobody will love you more than I do!”

Robin stared at the wall.

“Look at me Robin!” Robin’s eyes moved to her mother’s. “Do you understand me?”

Robin felt warm tears prickling behind her eyes. Her heart was beating very hard in her chest and she wanted to tell her mother to shut up; to shut her big fat fucking mouth. She wanted to tell her to get the hell out of her face, out of her room, the way Jason had told his mother to get out of his apartment—that he didn’t want to see her face-

“Robin?”

She blinked and focused on her mother again. She realized that she was breathing very hard. “Ma’ame?”

“Are you okay?” Mama’s face was filled with sudden concern. For a moment, Robin had looked like she had blacked out with her eyes opened.

I have a bleeding ulcer and I’m in the hospital…yeah Mom, I’m doing pretty freaking good…Robin felt suddenly tired. “Yes, Mom.”

Her mother gave her a guilty look. She hadn’t meant to jump down her throat. It’s just that sometimes she pushed all of her wrong buttons; especially now that this…Jason, was in the picture—another mistake that Robin was making with her life. But she sighed. She knew when her words were falling on deaf ears. When Robin felt better she’d try to talk sense into her again.

She stood and walked slowly to the door. “I’ll leave you to your friends. I don’t want to get on your nerves.” She waited for Robin to speak. Robin just sat there looking sad, not even looking at her.

“I love you Robin.”

“I love you too Mom.” Robin murmured.

“So…you’re going to…his house?”

“Yes.”

Mrs. Mathena’s hand rested on the doorknob. “Church tomorrow, then?”

Robin finally looked up and met her mother’s eyes. “Yes. Jason and I will be at your house, ready for church.”

Betty Mathena froze, a surprised look on her face. Robin knew by her expression exactly what she was thinking; everyone at church will know. She dared her mother and her sanctimonious attitude to deny church to anyone—even Jason. Robin smiled when her mother couldn’t find a word to say. “Bye Mama. See you tomorrow.”

Betty left the room. She walked past the four people that were standing on the other side of the door, very obviously listening. They all tried to hold innocent expressions; well except for the one that her daughter had chosen. He couldn’t control his muscles enough to look innocent. He just looked plain stupid staring at her with his flopping head.

She despised him already.

“Bye Mrs. Mathena.” Amberly said.

“Bye.” She said without turning to face her.

“I’ll get your daughter home safely.” Peter called. Mrs. Mathena was frowning even harder. The boy in the wheelchair? What did he mean he would get her home safely? The big girl is the only one of them that should be driving a car! Betty ignored them.

Jason finally got to be with Robin with no mother’s watching. He clutched her hand and kissed it.

“Are you okay?”

“No.” She said honestly. Her heart was still pounding; more from the adrenalin rush of facing off with her mother—and this was only round one. She gave Jason a shaky smile. “But I will be as soon as we get to your place.”

Peter dropped Jason and Robin back at his apartment. He was back to sulking because he’d tried to give Belinda the eyes and she had ignored him and gotten into Amberly’s car to be driven home. Jason was a bit annoyed with him for even thinking about opening up that can of worms again. No sooner had he managed to salvage his friendship with her, than he was trying to creep back into her pants! He was an asshole sometimes.

“Thanks Man.” He said as they left the car.

“Yeah.” Peter said shortly.

When they were in the apartment, Robin just shook her head. “I feel so bad for Peter. You can tell that he loves her. Why is he being such an ass? He should just admit how he feels.” Jason shut and locked the door.

“I don’t know, babe. I think he is being honest about his feelings. They were good friends. That other stuff should have never happened.”

Robin checked the floor for any evidence of her getting sick. She did honestly feel better. Whether it was the blood transfusion or the pain killers she was again pain free. Other then feeling a bit tired and a slightly sore throat, she felt as good as new. But she knew that she would have to take it easy. The pain earlier was about the worse that she’d ever experienced. She gave Jason an embarrassed look. “Who cleaned?”

“I did.”

She grimaced. “Oh. I’m so sorry, Jason. You shouldn’t have had to clean my mess.”

He shrugged. “It’s not biggie. You do more for me on a daily basis than that.”

He gestured for her to come give him a kiss and she backed away quickly, covering her mouth. “I need to brush my teeth!” She hurried to the bathroom and slammed the door thinking about all of the barfing she had done. Ugh! And the bathroom was a mess! She found the cleaning supplies under the sink and began scrubbing away.

Jason chuckled to himself, finding her shyness very endearing. He wheeled to the computer and put on some music. “Hey Sweetheart?! Are you going to be hungry? I can make you some soup.” He wheeled into the kitchen and located a can of Progresso Chicken Noodle soup. “Robin?” Distantly he heard her respond that she was a little hungry. He opened the soup with the electric opener and then poured the contents carefully into a bowl and placed it in the microwave. He grabbed two bottled waters, placed one on the table and carried the other back to the computer where he pulled up his homework.

“Baby?” He bellowed a few minutes later. “What are you doing?” He wheeled to the bathroom door and heard the shower running. “Robin?”

“What?” She called.

“What are you doing?”

He could hear her laughing. “What do you think?”