In-Laws

Part 3

Reid caught Luke’s arm, bringing them to a halt on the sidewalk a few doors away from the entrance to the restaurant where they were due to meet Miriam Oliver. Luke could feel the tension in the air escalate far beyond anything he had expected. Reid was clearly more nervous about how the evening might progress than Luke had thought.

“Luke, before we do this, I need to tell you a few things about my mother and how I was raised.”

“Whatever your mother is like, I’m sure I’ll like her, even if she doesn’t like me.”

“That’s not what concerns me.  You don’t know her like I do.”

“Reid.”  Luke cupped Reid’s cheek.  “You haven’t seen her in ten years.  Maybe whatever caused you to remain apart has changed.  People mellow with time.”  Luke gently pressed their lips together.  “Look at you.”  Grinning, Luke offered one more quick peck.

Shaking his head, Reid held Luke’s hand as they entered the upscale bistro.  It was small with only about a dozen tables. They were greeted by one of the staff and were escorted to, and seated at, a table in the rear, a table already occupied by Miriam Oliver.

“Mother.”

“Reid.  I’ve never known you to be late.  It’s disrespectful.”

Miriam Oliver exuded the warmth of an iceberg -- the one that sunk the Titanic. 

Luke quickly offered his hand.  “I’m so sorry, Mrs. Oliver.  It’s my fault we’re late.  I practically begged Reid to show me the entire Harvard Medical School campus this afternoon and by the time we went to the T Station we must have just missed a train and had to wait forever for another to arrive.”  He knew he was babbling, but Luke wanted to diffuse the already volatile environment before it got any worse.  They’d just arrived and he already understood Reid’s attempts to warn him.

Although it was hard to tell how tall she was, since Mrs. Oliver hadn’t stood up when they’d arrived at the table, she clearly kept herself in good shape, looking closer to fifty-five than her actual age of sixty-five.  It was no wonder Reid looked so amazing. 

“You must be Lucas Snyder.”  She offered her hand and Luke shook it.  The firm handshake was Reid’s but the tiny, well-manicured hand gripping his wasn’t the hand of a surgeon. 

“Actually, it’s Luke.”

“Well, Mr. Snyder.  Luke is generally a nickname.  Most children insist on shortening their given names much to their parents chagrin.  That’s one reason Reid’s father and I gave him a one-syllable name.”

“Mother, can we sit down before this conversation goes any further.  I could use a drink.”

“Of course you may sit down.  Isn’t that why you’re here -- to join me for dinner?”  It was clear there was a wall between Reid and his mother that rivaled the Great Wall of China.  Luke was beginning to regret ever encouraging Reid to respond to Mrs. Oliver’s invitation to visit.

Taking their seats, Luke and Reid both placed the cloth napkins adorning the place settings on their laps, each taking sips from the glasses of water in front of them.

“To answer your question, Luke’s given name is Luciano.  His parents wisely called him Luke from the start to avoid having their little boy get ripped apart by every bully at school.”

Mrs. Oliver ignored Reid’s comment, staring directly at Luke.  “Well, Mr. Snyder, it seems you have quite a lovely name your family has passed down to you.”

Hearing Reid’s mother call him Mr. Snyder wasn’t nearly as much fun as when Reid resorted to still calling him that on occasion.  Whenever they were in hospital board meetings the two would refer to each other by their surnames.  Rather than sounding cheesy or overly formal, it actually appeared to amuse the rest of those at the meetings.  It was certainly no secret the two were one of the new up-and-coming golden couples in Oakdale. 

Bob had said as much after the formal installation of Reid as Chief of Staff.  “Well, Reid,” the senior Dr. Hughes raised a glass of champagne, “I guess this makes you and Luke the new Bob and Kim.”

Reid had huffed.  “I think there’s a lot more mileage in the old Bob and Kim.  Luke and I will work on making our own impact on the community.”

“I have no doubt you will, Dr. Oliver, no doubt whatsoever.”

“Mr. Snyder, Reid has been rather sporadic in sharing information about you.  It’s obvious how young you are, yet I remember something about running a charitable foundation.  How did you manage that?”

Luke’s eyes widened.  He wasn’t sure how much to divulge about anything in his past, or the past he shared with Reid.  One thing was for sure, Luke had no intention of sticking his foot in his mouth.  Reid was going to steer this conversation, not Miriam Oliver.

Sensing Luke’s hesitation, Reid pressed a hand to Luke’s knee under the table.  “Luke received the proceeds from a trust fund when he was younger.  Rather than squandering it away as most twenty year olds would do, he chose to use the money to make the world a better place.  It sounds like the impossible fantasy of the idealistic young, but he made it work, and many people, including a number of my patients, wouldn’t be alive today without his foundation.”

“I see.”

Luke was having more trouble reading Mrs. Oliver with every minute that ticked by and he was getting frustrated.  “Mrs. Oliver, if you’d like to know about my foundation, or anything else I’ve done since I met Reid, I’d be happy to share it with you.  In fact, I’m currently co-authoring a book about it to encourage other twenty-somethings who have the ability to focus their funds in a useful direction.”

“Co-authoring?  Why don’t you write it yourself?  In one of his emails Reid mentioned you’d dabbled in prose.”

“I don’t want to sound preachy, self-serving, or come off as a know-it-all, so I’m working with two friends with some experience in the communication field.  Both are quite good at editing.”

“Did you know Reid was almost the most successful neurosurgeon in the country -- and the youngest to achieve that title?”

Reid’s brow furrowed.  “Mother, where is this going?  I’m a very successful neurosurgeon.  Just ask all the people walking around with my stamp of approval on their brains.”

“Very successful is not the most successful and you know it -- or at least you used to know it when you made me drain our bank accounts to send you to Harvard.”

“Mother, I received a very lucrative scholarship to medical school.  You paid practically nothing.”

“But since I work for Boston University, you could have attended there at no cost.  You wouldn’t hear of that -- you wanted to be the best.  Remember?”

Lowering his head, Reid bit his lip.  Luke’s hand found Reid’s still resting on his knee and pressed his own over it, squeezing, lending whatever silent support he could.

“Mrs. Oliver, Reid is world renowned and extremely well-respected.  He’s one of the youngest Chiefs of Staff of any large hospital in the entire country.”

“My dear young man, my son was a big fish in a big ocean when he left for Dallas, with the intention of eventually coming back east to hold his rightful place at the top of the pyramid.  Now he’s a big fish in a tiny pond... not even a pond, a puddle.”

“I’m not sure if you meant to be offensive, but that puddle is my home, our home, and Reid has brought it attention and acclaim by his mere presence in the community.  He’s brilliant and everyone knows it.”

“Luke, stop.  You don’t have to defend me.  My choices are my own and I made them for reasons that are not my mother’s business.”

“Why shouldn’t I defend you?  I’m proud of all your achievements, both before, and since, we met.”

“Oh my word.”  Miriam Oliver sat back in her chair, gripping the arms as if they were the only thing keeping her from falling over.

“Mrs. Oliver, are you okay?”  Luke saw the color drain from the woman’s face.

“Reid, how could you?”

“Mother, this isn’t necessary.  Let’s just have a pleasant dinner and then we don’t have to see each other again.”

Luke watched the strange interaction between the two, clearly missing the meaning of the unspoken words between mother and son.

“How could you ignore the career path your father and I set in motion for you to pursue a romance?  What a waste of your life and your talents!  Everything we worked for down the drain for an artificial emotion used by lesser people to gain some excitement in their otherwise worthless existence.”

Biting his tongue, Luke kept from responding to Miriam Oliver’s soft-spoken tirade, clearly marking her volume so as not to draw inappropriate attention in the restaurant.

Before either Reid or Luke could say another word, the waiter arrived to take their orders.  “May I get you a bottle of wine or would you prefer something else to drink?”

Reid looked directly at Luke who nodded in silent response.  “I’d like a double Glenlivet on the rocks.”

Mrs. Oliver held up the wine glass she had been sipping from, having ordered before the pair arrived.  “Another.”  She glared at Luke.  “I assume you’re of drinking age, young man.  Order something.”

“Sparkling water, please.”

The waiter made a hasty retreat as soon as Luke had ordered.

Miriam Oliver’s eyes narrowed.  “Such a good boy.”  The sarcasm dripped like syrup.  “You don’t even drink.  Now I have to wonder why that is.”  Mrs. Oliver shook her head.  “Reid, how could you get so involved?  And now you’re tied to his brother as well.  You may have told me some things, but not nearly enough.  I would have made sure I extricated you from this mess sooner.  This is not the life we planned for you, we planned together with your father.  He’d be so disappointed.”

“Mother, you’re wrong!”

“Keep your voice down, Reid.  You were raised properly.” 

“You have no idea how wrong you are about Luke, Ethan, and me.”

Looking from Luke to Reid and back again, she rested her glare on Luke.  He felt the hairs stand up on the back of his neck.

“You’ve ruined Reid’s life and career.  If his father wasn’t already dead and buried, he would be now, as it is I’m sure he’s turning over in his grave.  I hope you’re happy, young man.  Now you get to play house in your provincial little village while pure genius is wasted.” 

Turning her focus onto Reid, she continued, “Didn’t you object to staying in that ridiculous town?  I would have thought you’d be gnawing at the bit to get back to a hospital of quality and reputation.  That’s why you went to Dallas, to gain the reputation needed to return to Mass General and the top of the heap.”

Wanting to cover his ears and hum, Luke took the high road instead.  “He did want to leave Oakdale.  He made that crystal clear from the first moment he arrived.”

“So!”

Moving his chair closer to Luke’s, Reid put his arm around his shoulders.  “I discovered something as good, if not better, than the thrill of a successful surgery.”  He then leaned in and kissed Luke on the lips.  It was tender and brief, but Luke could feel every I love you Reid had ever dared to utter channeled through their connection.

“Reid, you don’t have to prove anything.”

“I know.”  Turning to his mother, Reid sighed.  “I need to make sure you hear everything I have to say tonight.  This is long overdue, but I think I finally am prepared to share a few things about myself that you need to know.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Reid.  I know everything about you that’s important.”

“No, mother, you don’t; not nearly enough.  You certainly have no idea what motivates me to rise every morning and go to sleep at peace every night.  It’s time I grew up and told you.  It took me thirty-five years to figure it out myself.”

Luke fought back the desire to embrace Reid.  This was Reid’s show now, and Luke would let him run it however he saw fit.  He just hoped Miriam Oliver would truly listen and hear.

The waiter returned with the drinks, but left before offering to take their order, obviously sensing his unwelcome intrusion.

Reid downed half his drink in one gulp, took a deep breath and kissed Luke one more time.

“Steady, Reid.  I’m here for you.”

“Good.”

[TBC]

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