A Hope and a Chance(90)
Author: Jennifer Foor

After she just sat there staring back at him, I couldn’t take it anymore. “Mom, Chance is my boyfriend,” I blurted out.

She smiled briefly then got her motherly look going. “It’s not surprising. Living under the same roof had to help that along.”

From her sarcasm I could tell she wasn’t thrilled. “Chance lives out back in the pool house. We aren’t under the same roof.” I gave him a smile before continuing. “I’m practically eighteen already, but if it makes you feel better, I can break up with him for the next seven days, and then get back together.” My flip comment caused her to calm down.

“That’s not necessary. I want you to be happy.”

“Speaking of that…Chance talked me into attending Virginia Tech. We’re both starting there next semester. He’s playing baseball for them,” I explained.

“Where did you attend school before?” She asked.

Chance cleared his throat. “Penn State. I had a full ride there, but after my mother died, I took some time off.”

He didn’t have to tell her about what else happened. The past was in the past, and I wanted him to not have to think about that part of his life anymore.

“Wow, Penn State. That’s amazing. You must be extremely smart,” my mother noted.

I looked over to Chance and noticed he was blushing. “I think school is important. That’s why I kept pushing for Hope to go. I think she needs to get a degree in something that she loves.”

He reached over and grabbed my hand. My first reaction was to pull away, and my mother caught on immediately. “Exactly how long have the two of you been hiding this relationship, because I know your father and he would never allow this to go on in his house?”

I squeezed Chance’s hand. “Since June. We met before we knew about Buffy and Dad. When I moved there we’d already…ugh-gone out. We tried to stay away from each other, but it became difficult. You’re right, Mom, he doesn’t know. We’ve only told you.”

Chance squeezed my hand tight. “I love your daughter, Miss Ryan. I’d never hurt her. I realize you might think I am too old for her, or that us living so close is a bad idea, but I can assure you that Hope is in good hands.”

“I appreciate your honesty, Chance. Actually, I think you’re wrong – at least about my approving. Honestly, I couldn’t have picked a better person myself. I didn’t care for her last boyfriend very much. Excuse my French, but he was a bit of an ass. She needs someone that appreciates her. You seem like you have that taken care of, so you have my blessing. With my recent health problems, it makes me happy knowing she’s not alone.”

“Mom? Really?” I couldn’t hold my excitement in. I ran over and hugged her. “Thank you so much. This is the best present ever.”

“What are the living arrangements going to be?” She asked. “When you do tell your father, granted he doesn’t want to cut off this guy’s genitals, what are you going to do?”

There were some things that my mother did not need to know. “Chance and I will be living in separate buildings at school.”

“I would be a bad mother if I didn’t ask,” she admitted. “Though, it doesn’t really matter. Once she turns eighteen, I have no say.”

“Are you going to tell Dad?” I asked.

“As much as I would like to hurt your father, I think I’ll keep my mouth shut about this.” She ran her hands across her legs. “How about we open some presents?”

I liked that my mother changed the subject. All in all, she seemed to genuinely like Chance. I wasn’t sorry for waiting to tell her. Who knows how she would have reacted before, but today was Christmas and I was almost legally an adult.

“Chance helped me pick out your gift, Mom. I hope you like it,” I said as I handed her the box.

My mother opened the neatly wrapped package and her eyes lit up. While she took her time looking at all of the separate charms, I started explaining what each one represented.

“The baby boot is to remind you of me. The house is to remind you that you always gave me a wonderful home. The heart signifies how much I love you. The book is to show that you have a daughter who is attending a university.”

She had tears in her eyes. “Oh, honey, I love it so much. Thank you.”

Once my mother calmed down she handed me a small package. “I wanted you to have this. Your grandmother gave it to me before she lost all of her memories. Since I didn’t have a lot of spending money, I decided it would be something perfect that you could always keep.”

I opened the box to find a diamond tennis bracelet. “Holy Crap, mom. I can’t take this.”

“Yes you can. I never get dressed up anymore anyway. Here, let me put it on you.” She reached over and wrapped it around my wrist. As she was doing so, she noticed my ring that I had turned backwards. “Oh my goodness what a beautiful band. It’s so small and dainty.”

She looked at the ring, but never noticed that the other side had a rock on it. “Chance gave it to me for Christmas.”

She looked up to Chance. “You did great picking it out.”

We spent the afternoon with my mother. She made us lunch and we talked about how her boyfriend was taking her to see his whole family. When I asked where he was, she stated he had to work at the nursing home until four.

The weather was getting worse and we knew we couldn’t afford to stay much longer. My mother seemed to be getting concerned about it herself. I was surprised when we went to leave. She reached up, hugged Chance, and said something in his ear. He smiled and nodded his head before following me to the truck.

The day was going great. I had my girl around my arm, and we’d just told her mother about us. She took the news better than I could have imagined and Hope seemed thrilled about it.

The roads were really getting slick and I had to drive slowly in order to keep us from sliding off into a ditch. The entire ride home we’d been the only vehicle on the road. It made me nervous when we reached the country roads that a snowplow hadn’t even visited yet. I wasn’t used to driving such a big vehicle, and I worried if I took a turn too fast we would be in big trouble.

“I’m just going to take my time, Hope. I want us to get home in one piece,” I announced.

“That’s a good idea,” she said as she scooted in the seat right next to me and buckled back up. “I hope you don’t mind me changing seats. I felt so far away from you.”