Chapter 60: Truth or not
Jason asked his mother but suddenly her face lighted up with a smile and she was looking behind Jason. Jason turned around and found his wife and sister behind him.
"Aunt Elixir!" Queenie's voice was loud like she was a six year old instead of a seventeen year old premed student of Columbia University.
Jason felt a certain kind of joy seeing his mother interact with his little sister notwithstanding that she was her ex-husband mistress love child just like him.
"Sweetheart, you came back" Elixir hugged her stepdaughter.
Jason watched as everyone said hi to each other but he couldn't help but let his mind wander to what Luca wanted his mother to tell him.
"Mom, what was Luca talking about?"
Elixir exhaled. Should she tell her son about the possible kidnapping that almost occurred earlier in the evening? Or maybe she should not since there was a possibility she imagined it and keep her fear to herself.
"Well, everyone...I am thinking of running for governor" Elixir said with a smile.
"Wow! Really?" Jason sounded surprised "You want to go into...into politics?"
"Mom, it is so cool...congratulations!" McKenna hugged her mother in law.
"It's high time a female politician became a governor. When it comes to politics, women are behind. Do you know how awesome it would be that my brother's mother is the first female governor in Nigeria?" Queen was over the moon. She was a self proclaimed feminist and she just found her role model.
"Thank you, Queenie"
Elixir watched her son's face. He wasn't ecstatic about the news.
"You don't look happy, Child. I just found what I want to do with my life" Elixir's eyes dimmed considerably as she spoke.
"I am...I am...mom, its politics and it dangerous. I don't want you to do it" Jason answered.
McKenna turned and faced her husband "Jason!"
McKenna couldn't believe what she was hearing.
"I am sorry, McKenna but she is my only living parent and the idea of her exposed to things like assassinations and retaliation makes me want to throw up"
"Jason that is ridiculous, you have a father" Elixir reminded him.
"Well, papa dearest is dead...to me. Mom please!" Jason placed both his hands on her shoulder "I can't lose you"
Elixir knew what she had to do. She was an adult and she can decide what to do with her life.
"Jason..."
"No, Mom...I have never asked you for anything but I am asking now. No politics"
Elixir exhaled and was quiet for a few seconds. "Alright...no politics. I will be in my room"
McKenna stared at her husband in horror. Queenie made an excuse about drinking water and left.
"Don't look at me like that" Jason told McKenna.
"When did you become a bully? Jason Ekoh-Yagazie! When did it become okay to guilt trip your mother into giving up her dreams?" McKenna was beyond reason. She had never seen this side of Jason before. They had a daughter and they will have more in the future, will he limit them just as he did his mother?
"I am trying to save her life!" Jason yelled.
"No. You are being selfish! You are no better than the stuck up men that said she couldn't run a million dollar company because she is a fragile little girl! But guess what, she did it and she built her empire while raising you too"
Jason turned to McKenna "You didn't just compare me to those dirty misogynists, did you?"
"Well, that wouldn't be fair...will it? Because you might be worst than those pigs" McKenna spoke very softly with conviction.
"Really?" Jason was barely containing his anger.
"Yes. You might be worst because unlike those men your mother didn't believe them and she went ahead to make a name for herself. Guess what Jason, she believed you. You won" McKenna turned and walked back inside leaving Jason alone outside to deal with everything she just told him.
Jason went to his old playground; he was slightly surprised that everything was brand new. Of course, it was so like his mother to fix something that nobody thought to fix. Jason knew she had the playground fix for his daughter.
He sat on the swing set. He was there a while, just lost in his head. For a moment, he thought about when he was eight years old and visited his mother at work.
Jason remembered watching her fire someone and soon after she had taken him to lunch as if nothing had happened. But he couldn't shake the feeling that something did happen and she was trying to be okay for him.
"Mama, are you alright?" His eight year old voice was slightly high-pitched.
"I am fine baby. Just remember, to those more is given....more is expected from them"
Elixir's answer confused him even more but growing up that particular sentence was like a mantra. It was something he had to repeat whenever he was faced with a tough decision.
When he was fifteen years old, he finally asked his mother the question he should have ask at eight years old.
"Aren't you pissed off that you have to give more than the average person, Mama?"
Jason remembered his mother clearing her throat like a fog was there and he remembered the answer she gave him.
"Of course, I should be but I don't have time to be angry. I was raised to be extraordinary.
Only ordinary people get to do ordinary things like learn from a bad decision or even make mistakes. Making mistake might mean twenty people losing their jobs. And baby, it isn't fair for everyone to expect perfection from you and me but to those more is given, even more is expected. But that is okay, because extraordinary people change the world... always remember that my perfect boy"
And Jason remembered it well. He never forgot for a second about being extraordinary. But his behavior towards his mother tonight was nothing but ordinary.
She was reaching for the stars and he capped her knee.
Jason heard footsteps and he turned to see his sister.
"Hey, Jason. Do you mind if I join you?"
Jason nodded and pointed to the empty swing like he was offering her a seat.
"I am sorry you had to see that, Queenie" Jason felt the urge to apologize and he did.
Queen nodded. It took a while before she spoke again.
"Something you said tonight stayed with me. You said Aunt Elixir was your only living parent and I think you meant that. Is that why you are making no effort to get to know our mother?"
Jason knew that sooner or later, he would be forced to have this conversation with Queen. It was not an easy conversation to have.
Jason had found out recently that Queenie's mother Miranda, his father's mistress was also his birth mother.
Jason always knew he was adopted but Elixir hid that particular information from him till he turned thirty years old and his father came after his mother's empire using that secret as leverage. Knowing the truth broken him but he was Jason and so he gathered that feeling and shoved it into a box. He locked the box and walked away.
"She is Kara's real grandmother and yet they have never met"
Jason turned abruptly to his sister "Don't you ever disrespect my mother, Queen. Elixir is Kara's real grandmother too"
"I am sorry. That was a stupid thing to say. But the woman who gave birth you..."
"Abandoned me and gave me away like I was a piece of property" without letting her finish her sentence, Jason quickly added.
"That is so unfair, Jason. Our mother was just a child herself... barely a year older than me"
Jason was quiet for a while. "Queen, I think I am just wired wrong. I don't have the urge to get to know Miranda like most adopted kids who want to get to know their birth mother. I hate our father and according to my wife, I am worst than a misogynist because I just ruined my mother's dream"
Queen scratched the corner of her mouth gently as she thought of a way to convince Jason to form a relationship with her mother.
"Well, I got to know your mother and now, it's time to know mine. I set a lunch date for both of you tomorrow by 4p.m and before you say no, remember you are a parent too. Imagine how difficult it would be if Kara doesn't want anything to do with you. And for Christ sake, apologize to your mother!"
Jason and his sister sat there for sometime without saying a word to each other.
Mckenna got to their bedroom in the mansion. It was weird that Jason's old room in his mother's house was thrice bigger than her sitting room in their duplex. Mckenna changed into a more comfortable outfit since she knew they weren't going back home.
And she settled on the bed with a glass of wine as she flipped through a magazine. She heard a knock and the door opened.. For a second she wondered why Jason would be knocking since it was their bedroom.