Don't Need A Man

in which the family makes her angry

"My grandbabies!" Basil and Prim unenthusiasticly accept the sloppy kisses from my Mother. "Look how grown they are, I haven't seen them in months." Good, I kept it that way for a reason.

"Is anyone here yet?" When I accepted my mother's invitation to a family breakfast I didn't think I'd be the first to arrive, especially since I'm late.

"Everyone is here," she snarls at me. I collect Prim into my arms and have her rest on my hip while my now free hand takes Basil's.

Clover, Paris, the twins, Father, and Ginger sit at the table, waiting and sipping their drinks. Ginger is my younger sister, only by a year, and is never home. She usually only comes home between boyfriends. For some reason Mother adores Ginger. Maybe because they look identical.

"Uncle Clover!" Basil exclaims. I watch with a small smile my son hug his uncle. It's a sight for sore eyes, a child's smile. Prim sits on my lap and Basil takes the seat beside me. A buffet of eggs, bacon, pancakes, sausage-- anything and everything breakfast-- rests in the center of the massive table.

I serve Basil, and Prim and I share a plate. Mother sparks conversation with my sister, asking what she has been doing lately. "Oh, the usual Momma, eating healthy, exercising, getting engaged, yoga--."

"What did you say?" Mother and I say at the same time, both with very different tones of voice. My face twists with disgust. Who would want to marry my bitchy sister?

"Yup!" My sister pops the 'p' and raises her left hand in the air. "I'm getting hitched! His name is Juan Sanjana and I love him."

"W-Wow!" I chuckle darkly. Ginger looks at me with a frown. "You're really getting married. How far along are you?"

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me, how far along are you? Three, four months?"

She scoffs. "Two, actually."

I can't help the laugh that follows. "And to think, my family thinks I'm the disgrace. At least I never got married to the man who knocked me up."

Ginger bursts into tears. Basil looks at me, wondering what is going on. Prim eats her hashbrowns with a content smile.

"He will learn to love me, Rosemary," Ginger snaps at me. "We will be a family." Her voice cracks at the last word. I almost feel bad for her. Being pregnant is hard, but not planning it must be even harder. But she's an adult and knew what could happen by having sex.

Mother grips my sister's hand in a loving way.  "You're doing the right thing, sweety. A child deserves two parents."

"Don't you think that's a little overrated?" I question with an eye roll. "Since when do children need two parents? As long as they have a loving environment they will be successful."

Preach. Go me.

Ginger looks between my mother and I. Her blonde hair is in a neat bun but her dress is certainly a little too tight, and she isn't even showing yet. The conflict is shown through her brown eyes: does she marry the man or not?

"Stop trying to turn your little sister into you!" Mother stands from her seat and tosses her napkin down. "Just because you think women are able to do absolutely everything alone without a man doesn't mean Ginge does."

My vision turns red. Before I blow a fuse on her I tell Basil to take his sister to the living room, and their food. James and Frederick follow.

"Excuse me?" I snarl. "I don't think a woman can do anything, I know a woman can do anything. Your old school, 'a man runs the house', damsel in destress bullshit is getting old, Honeysuckle. Deal with the facts: it's the twenty first century and if I want to have ten kids and never marry a man nobody, nobody has the right to speak of me in an ill way."

My chest pumps hard as I watch all the blood drain from her face. Ginger still looks lost in her thoughts. Mother corners the table and stares me down. "I go by what I was taught, Rosemary Beckett. I was taught that a man runs the household and a woman stays home to care for the children. Men like a submissive wife."

"For what? To beat on? God forbid the day a man lays a finger on me, he'd be so fucked up he'd forget his name."

"Do not curse in my house!"

"Do not blindly judge my life choices."

Mother stutters, her face once again a bright red from the yelling. Her eyes are wild and full of hate. "Get out."

"Gladly. C'mon kids."