#oydk

Phillip was in a somber mood, and he didn’t know how to get himself out of his mood. Earlier that day he’d seen Mercedes, and she was showing. His grand baby was inside her, but he couldn’t be anywhere around her, all because what he and Libby did…well tried to do. Libby was acting as if this was not bothering her at all, but it was bothering him, and he had no idea how to fix it. Looking across the table at Libby as they dined at Marco’s he let out a sigh, “Dear, I saw Mercedes earlier today, and she is really starting to show. Do you ever kinda….miss our kids?” He asked with hesitation in his voice.

Taking a sip of her wine, Libby went over the list of things she needed to do the next day. Get her nails done, she had spotted a gray hair so she needed to take care of that problem. She looked up at Phillip in surprise, why was he talking about Mercedes? “I bet she was waddling like a duck carrying that spawn from hell.” Libby chuckled at the thought of how her daughter had screwed up her life by becoming pregnant by a male whore. Her eyes widened in shock, “Why would I miss those ungrateful creatures?” Frowning she pointed her fork at Phillip, “Please don’t tell me you miss them.” 

Just as Phillip thought, Libby had no shred of remorse about what they did, nor did she miss the kids at all. He sighed and took a sip of wine, “Honestly, I do miss them, and I am starting to feel bad about what we did to both of them. We were very hard on them growing up and now they want nothing to do with us.” He shook his head, “Doesn’t it bother you at all that Mercedes is having your grandchild, and you won’t ever get to see him or her, because that bothers me. And by the way, she looked beautiful, just like you did when you were pregnant.” He hoped she would crack a little, but he doubted that she would. Once Libby made up her mind about something, she stuck

“We didn’t do anything to them, especially Mercedes. She brought this on herself by choosing that whore over us.” Libby snorted and continued to eat, Phillip had always been too soft when it came to their children. “Please, Mercedes should not be having a child, she is irresponsible, selfish and immature. I won’t miss seeing any spawn she brings into the world. And I sincerely hope Zane doesn’t have any by that trollop he’s married to.” Shuddering at the thought she continued to eat. “I was beautiful when I was pregnant wasn’t I?” Libby smiled at the memory.

Catherine was walking to her table when she spotted Libby and Phillip Jones. God, she detested the two of them. Thinking about Mercedes’ wedding she had attended a couple of weeks past she smiled, neither had been in attendance. “Hello Libby, Phillip how are you both?” She glanced from one to the other. “I wanted to stop and offer you my congratulations on Mercedes’ marriage to Sam.” Smiling sweetly she patted Libby’s shoulder, “Mercedes looked so lovely and her husband Sam is so handsome. I didn’t see either of you there…were you ill and couldn’t attend?” A fake look of concern was plastered on Catherine’s face.

Hearing Libby’s response didn’t surprise Phillip at all. She was a tough cookie, and when she was upset with you, she held on to that anger forever. He knew arguing with her was pointless, so he just nodded and agreed with her “You’re right dear, she did this all on her own.” He didn’t believe a word that was coming out his mouth, but in order to keep the peace in his home, he went with what she said. He looked up hearing someone speaking to them, and realized that it was Catherine Blanks, “Well Catherine, how are you doing? You’re looking lovely as ever.” He didn’t really care for the woman, but he had to be polite, her husband is a friend of his, and very powerful in this town. He scrunched his brow when she said something about Mercedes wedding, “You must be mistaken, Mercedes is not married to Sam, they are just dating.” He needed to at least sound as if he knew what he was talking about. 

“Catherine, what brings you by?” Libby ran her eyes over the other woman, noting her dress. Catherine was a pompous ass and she hated her. Mercedes married? She glanced quickly at Phillip, “I’m sure you must be mistaken Catherine, our daughter is not married to anyone. Much less Sam Evans.” Sniffing delicately, she poured herself another glass of wine.

“Thank you I think I will sit a moment.” Pulling out a chair Catherine took a seat. “You really have no idea do you?” Glancing between the two, a laugh escaped. “Oh my, well let me tell you about your daughter’s wedding. Two weekends ago, my husband, officiated at their nuptials. It was a lovely outdoors ceremony at your son’s home. Mercedes was a lovely bride and Sam was so handsome.” Catherine smiled brightly at Phillip and Libby.

This could not be happening, Mercedes didn’t get married, without telling them….would she? Of course it could, why would she tell us that she and Sam were getting married. As much as we did to try to break them up, why would she tell us. Not wanting Catherine think she had something up on them, Phillip straightened his tie, “So, Mercedes and Sam got married? Well good for them, we were out of town for a while, so therefore we couldn’t make it to their little wedding.” he was even more furious knowing that they got married at Zane’s place and he didn’t even call to let them know. “Is that all you wanted to tell us Catherine? I mean we are trying to have dinner.

Libby struggled to keep her feeling under control. Mercedes had gone out of her way once again to embarrass them. She had actually married that whore and had a family friend to perform the ceremony. “As Phillip said, we were out of town so we had to send our regrets.” Sipping her wine Libby smiled at Catherine. The woman was a thorn in her side and now she had something to gloat about. No doubt before the day was over everyone would know that neither she nor Phillip had been invited to their daughter’s wedding that was held at their son’s house. The nerve of those ungrateful brats.

Standing Catherine brushed an imaginary wrinkle from her dress. “Well I don’t know if this means anything but the day of the wedding…” She locked eyes with Libby, “…I saw you coming out of LaSalle’s. I believe you were there getting a touch up…mustn’t let the gray come out, right Libby?” Plastering another smile on her face she eyed the couple before her, “I’m sure it was a simple mistake of miscommunication. Ta-Ta, my dears, we must do lunch soon.” Smirking Catherine took her leave, knowing she had scored a major hit on Libby and Phillip

Inside Phillip was fuming, but there was no way he was going to give Catherine the satisfaction of knowing that he was upset. Libby followed right behind his lie, and he was grateful for that. They always backed each other up, wrong or right. He was just about to put that smug smile on his face, when he heard Catherine say that on the day of the wedding, she saw Libby coming out of the beauty shop. He was frozen, and didn’t know what to say. Catherine walked off with a huge smile on her face, and all he wanted to do was scream and shake  her till she passed out. He looked over at Libby “What the hell? Mercedes is married? I can’t believe that she would do that. Now what are we going to do? She was serious about cutting completely out of her life.“ 

Grabbing the carafe of wine Libby poured herself another drink. She didn’t answer Catherine as she walked away, their lie had been exposed. Shooting Phillip a glare Libby sipped from her glass, “I don’t know why you’re surprised by anything that little brat would do. She’s made it her life’s work to embarrass us. We were too lenient on her and Zane when they were young. This…” She waved her hand around. “…this is the thanks we get for giving them everything they’ve ever wanted. I should have aborted both of them.”

Libby was going on a rant, and Phillip was just going to let her. He knew better than to say anything to her when she got like this. He was too deep in thought anyway, we really messed up this time. I honestly thought Mercedes would drop this act and come back to us. We were just looking out for her best interest…right? Libby’s last comment snapped him back into the present, "What did you just say? I know you did not just say what I thought you said! How can you even fix your mouth to say something like that?” He could not believe that he would say something that cruel. “How dare you say something like that about our children!” He was fuming at this point, “Don’t you ever fix your mouth to say something like that again!” His voice was getting louder by the second, and he didn’t care, what she said was unacceptable. “As much as they did that we didn’t care for, I would never think that about our kids!" 

“You heard what I said and I don’t take it back.” Libby poured more wine in her glass. “Oh please like you never thought it.” Rolling her eyes, she continued to eat as Phillip went on and on. “Give it a break Phillip I will say anything I want, when I want. You give the brats too much credit, they have always been selfish and annoying. The one thing they’ve done consistently is embarrass us.” Glancing at Phillip’s plate she motioned for him to continue to eat. “You’re making a spectacle of yourself.”

That was the final straw for Phillip, he was not going to let Libby get away with saying things like that about Zane and Mercedes. Sure he may not have agreed with every decision they made, but they turned out to be good people, despite what they did to them. "LIBBY JONES, YOU HAVE GONE TOO FAR!” He slammed his hand down on the table, “I don’t care if I’m making a spectacle, I will not sit here and allow you to say those horrible things about our children. Despite how awful we were to them growing up, they made great lives for themselves, and deep down I think you might be a little jealous of them. Now I know you would never admit that, but I know you are.” He sat back and folded his arms, “Now I know that I am far from innocent in all of this, I said and did some pretty nasty things to the both of them, but it’s time to end this, and let them live their own lives. As we see we have stopped nothing! Zane still married Shelley, and they don’t seem to be breaking up anytime soon. And Mercedes married Sam, and they’re having a baby together….our grandchild! I always wanted to be a grandpa, and now when I get the chance, I throw it away because of the father? That’s stupid! And I’m not going to be stupid anymore. I am going to do whatever I can to get back into our children’s lives, and make sure I can be around for all the important moments in our grandchild’s life. I hope one day you will see the light, but if not, that’s on you.” He pulled out his wallet and threw some cash on the table, “I lost my appetite, I’ll leave the car, and find another way home.” With that he got up and walked out the restaurant, without giving Libby a second glance. He had a lot to think about,but getting his children back was his number one priority.