Why was she telling me this? Since she didn't want Mara dating me, she had no reason to explain herself to me.
But she kept looking at me when she spoke again. "I refused to stop seeing Peter. My mother put her foot down and threatened to disinherit me. I told her to go ahead and do it, because I would not break off the relationship."
Mara's mouth fell open. "Mom, you never told me any of this."
"I know. I'm sorry, Mara, I should have told you everything a long time ago." Sheryl bowed her head for a couple seconds, then met her daughter's gaze. "I stood up to my family, but it nearly cost us everything. Your father and I moved in together and got jobs. I worked as a cleaning woman, and he found work as a carpenter."
"What?" Mara said, gaping at her mother. "I thought---You always talk about the big check Grandma and Grandpa gave you as a wedding gift. Half a million dollars, that's what you said."
"And they did give us that gift." Sheryl glanced at her husband and smiled with genuine, deep affection. "Six months after we struck out on our own, my mother gave up. She agreed to accept Peter as long as we got married and both worked for the family business. The Kanda family business. You know your Severins grandparents aren't wealthy. My parents welcomed Peter and his parents into the family. It took a long time for the 'right' people to accept my new family, but eventually they did."
I still couldn't figure out what Sheryl was getting at with her story. Sure, I got that she was admitting she and Mara had more in common than Mara had thought. They both decided to be with men their mothers disapproved of, but I sensed Sheryl was trying to make some other point too. Damned if I knew what.
Mara's mom fixed her attention on me again. "I apologize, Ollie, for the way I've treated you. Peter has been telling me for days that I should look to my past for answers about the present. My husband likes to say cryptic things and then wait for me to figure it out. It's how he shows me what I've been doing wrong."
Peter patted his wife's hand. "You need a nudge in the right direction sometimes, that's all."
She nodded. "That's why I adore you, Peter. You're more than the love of my life. You're my conscience too."
"No, you don't need me for that. You always do the right thing, eventually."
"Because you show me the way." Sheryl turned back to her daughter, and her eyes glistened with what seemed like tears gathering in her eyes. "I'm so sorry, Mara. I love you, and I'm more proud of you than you could ever imagine. Despite everything I've done, you have grown into a strong and capable woman. You run that apartment complex without any help from me or your father, and you stood up to me when I went too far."
Mara opened her mouth, closed it, opened it. She did that several times before she managed to speak. "Thank you, Mom. But I'm far from perfect. I've screwed up so many times---"
"No, don't do that. Do not dismiss your accomplishments." Sheryl leaned forward, and the tears pooling in her eyes shimmered even more. "You are a better, stronger woman than I could ever hope to be. Don't let anyone, not even me, tell you otherwise."
"You've never told me I'm not worthy," Mara said in a hushed voice. "I decided that's what you meant every time you told me how to behave like a proper lady. I was so afraid of screwing up and embarrassing you and Dad that I never did anything I really wanted to do. That's my fault, not yours."
"I made you feel that way. It wasn't my intention, but that doesn't change the fact I made you feel unworthy." The tears rolled down Sheryl's cheeks. "If I ever say anything about being proper again, don't listen to me. Listen to your heart, Mara, always. I let my mother convince me that being proper was the only way to survive in this world, but she was wrong. Find your own way."
Mara started crying too, wiping the tears away with her fingers.
Peter draped an arm around Sheryl's shoulders and gave her a squeeze. "It's okay, Sher. Everything's okay. Now that Mara understands why you are the way you are, she won't be afraid anymore."
"That's right," Mara said, sniffling. "I might have accidentally wound up staying at a nudist resort, but being there has made me realize I need more out of life than being accepted by the upper-crust elite. I don't care about any of that. Not sure what I do want, but I know I need to change my life."
Peter handed his wife a napkin.
She blew her nose delicately. "I want you to do whatever makes you happy. Promise me you'll do that."
"I will, Mom."
The ladies excused themselves to go powder their noses, which I figured meant they needed a few minutes to stop crying and splash some water on their faces or whatever women did to freshen up after a round of tearful confessions. Guys didn't do tearful confessions, so I had no idea what happened after something like that.
Peter and I talked about sports while we waited for our girls to come back. We were in the middle of a debate about which baseball team would win the World Series this year when
