My older brother was widowed a little over six years ago. He was in no hurry to start a new relationship, and he was deeply involved in raising his daughter and work. My niece recently turned seventeen. And not long ago my brother started having an affair. So far they have not decided to live together, but their relationship is developing rapidly.
– Rebecca is divorced, she just turned thirty-six,” my mother told me, “she lives with her mother. Her son is ten years old. She has her own car, she dropped me off at the store the other day. I had seen them together once before. She seemed cheerful and sociable to me.
I got to know Rebecca after a while and she seemed like a nice woman. She told me that she worked in the tax office. Rebecca told me that she had been divorced for three years, and that her husband did not want to communicate with her child, although he was paying alimony on time. She is glad that her brother was able to get along with her child.
We exchanged phone numbers, and then I found out from my son that they even go to the same sports section as Rebecca’s son and they know each other well. And a couple of weeks ago my husband suggested we all go on a vacation together:
– Maybe we can all go together on the weekend to the river. We’ll take your brother, your niece.
I called my brother:
– Let’s go to the river this weekend, if you want, you can take Rebecca and her son with you.
He answered that Rebecca was invited to visit, he was busy at work, and her daughter was going to her grandmother for a couple of weeks. Within an hour Rebecca called and said:
– If you do not mind, you can take Mark with you, he will still be home alone all day?
Yes, my husband and I agreed, because the guys know each other, and together they would have more fun. We bought sausages to roast over the fire, got some juice and ice cream, as kids eat well after swimming. Mark was delighted with the holiday, he kept saying that he liked it so much, he then buzzed his mother’s ears about how much fun he had, and then told his mother:
– Mommy, when we go to the river to rest, why don’t we take Alex with us?
– Sure we will,” Rebecca answered her son, and then said to me, “I am very sorry that I did not get to go on vacation with you, but that’s okay, next time we will all relax together.
The “next time” came the next weekend. Rebecca called us on Saturday morning:
– We decided to go to the river today, are you with us?
– I can’t, I’m on shift today.
– Well, if you don’t mind, we’ll take Alex with us.
Neither my husband nor I minded. My husband was very happy about the suggestion, he had dreamed of cleaning the garage for a long time. I prepared clothes, water, and a towel for my son. When I came home from the shift, my frowning men were waiting for me at home. My son told me then:
– I will never go anywhere with them again!
And here’s what happened. When Alex got in the car, Rebecca immediately asked if his parents had given him money. We didn’t even think about it, so our son had no money. We fed Rebecca’s kid for our own money, didn’t we?
– Why should I spend my own money on you? – my brother’s fiancée asked my son.
Then she did go to the store and bought the boys a packet of ice cream and croutons. They had only been at the river for two hours, and all that time my brother’s friend was lamenting the fact that she had spent so much money on someone else’s child.
I didn’t keep quiet, but called my brother right away and told him that I was going to wire him the money so he could give it to his girlfriend. My brother was very surprised and asked why, and I briefly told him about the situation and then added that I didn’t want to see Rebecca or her son in my house anymore.
After talking to my brother, I immediately called my mother and also told her how Rebecca had taken my son to the river to rest. I don’t know if my brother will get back together with Rebecca, but let his mother know what kind of miracle her son got mixed up with!
