Bob Lee sighed a relief from frustration when Ishtar changed her mind. She wasn't happy, although she agreed to take action on the worrying matter. The sadness on her face forced Bob Lee to take a few seconds going through his head, thinking of the burden Ishtar had to carry on her shoulders to make sure the family is safe from the expected to come danger. Remorsefully, he raised his eyes and stared in her eyes.
"Look honey. I can't forget how you've always stood ten toes down, putting yourself last for the ones you love to smile. You're my hero and you'll always be."
On a downcast face, he added:
"Am the man. I should be the one protecting us... I feel so ashamed."
Holding a fixed distress gaze at him, Ishtar listened. She sighed and sat back down on the coach. The thought of her son being harmed proved to a major frustration. On the other hand, she also understood that Bob Lee, as a father to her child, had no needful skills to protect the family from the expected danger coming their way if she does do it. To calm her mind down from hundred hurts and anxiety, she exhaled heavily as she tucked a stray hair behind her ear.
Clearing his throat, Bob Lee humbly sat shoulder to shoulder with her.
"I'm so sorry!"
Ishtar shrugged:
"It's alright."
All of a Sudden, Bob Lee's mom, together with her grandson showed up from touring around Ishtar's stunning contemporary mansion. Looking at her daughter in law and her son, the grown-up woman's face turned curious.
"Is everything alright? Both of you look pale!"
As Ishtar's face dropped down, Bob Lee nodded, quirking corners of his mouth with a slight smile.
"We're good mom!"
But it didn't seem like so to the grown-up woman. Frowning inquisitively, she became concerned.
"What an elder person sees while sitting down, a child cannot see even if they climb the tallest tree. I can tell that something is wrong with the both of you!"
***
Five years ago, when her son Bob Lee started to jump up and down with Nadia Browne and yet he was already married to Ishtar, the grown-up woman raised her voice against the irresponsible behavior but it was not enough to be respected. On a regular, Ishtar shaded tears under her watch. As the mother-in-law, she hated the fact that her daughter-in-law was living on wet eyes on a regular basis. She never stopped talking to her son about how Ishtar's tears may end up a curse that may ruin his life. But Bob Lee's wings were huge enough to fly over his mom's _ he heard but never listened.
And one morning, the grown-up woman woke up to a shocking suprise of her life. Ishtar was no where to be seen at the house. Later on, she came to find out from the home CCTV that her daughter in law, who had just given bath three days ago, couldn't contain the torments anymore and decided to leave. On the balcony she cried, blaming herself for not raising her son well.
Ishtar was a gift from the heavens to their family, a river rich with fortune. Bob Lee's mother knew it to the bone. And since then, once a well flowing river dried _ from riches to rugs, life had never been the same again.
And now that Ishtar had resurfaced, it was a chance the grown-up woman couldn't allow to slip away for the second time.
"Am worried... worried that a beautiful butterfly can fortunately fly back in your life the second time, but not the third time if you happen to hold it recklessly again."
Shooting words direct to her son Bob Lee, she added:
"You need Ishtar in your life you know that right?"
Bob Lee, watching his mother becoming tough on him, he shrugged:
"I know but it's not what you think mom!"
But then, Ishtar's eyes were already bloodspot red, all filled with tension and frustration when Bob Lee's mother observed keenly. Obviously, this convinced her that her son had nothing to excuse himself with. Bob Lee, knowing so well that his words alone could not convince his mother, tentatively he stood up and faced Ishtar.
"Please say something."
He then turned to his mother and added:
"Mom, I promised you to never do anything foolish to make Ishtar cry again. You have to believe me this once!"
According to the fixed judgemental look on her mother's face at him, he ended up cursing:
"Dammit!"
Giving an unsteady facial expressions, he rolled his eyes all around the living room fancy glass walls and the house furnishings. Bob Lee's boldness was now out of the window. In the midst of his confusion, Ishtar lifted her eyes up at him. She then looked at their her son Bimbo, who was also standing next to his grandmother, watching both of his parents with a perturbed gaze.
With an indifferent smile, Ishtar composed herself to save the moment.
"Ma'am, there's nothing for you to worry about."
Immediately, but gently, she got up on her feet. With eyes widely open, defensively Bob Lee panicked:
"Of course mom! She said it herself. Me and Ishtar are so good. Infact, I was planning on cooking her a decent meal."
Looking at how fixedly her mother-in-law was staring so suspicious in Bob Lee's eyes, Ishtar supplemented:
"Yes ma'am. We're only trying to talk our differences away."
Shining a slight smile on her cheeks, Ishtar added:
"I think I trust him to treat us well now than before."
Slightly convinced, the grown-up woman, still holding side judgemental eye on her son, she hummed:
"Hmm...!"
And then walked closer to Ishtar.
"My wary is, my son divorced you and wedded that irresponsible hell of a woman Nadia Browne. How are you going to handle this grave matter?"
Confidently, Ishtar replied:
"That's nothing to worry about ma'am. I married your son first before Nadia Browne did."
Bob Lee's mother didn't wait to respond:
"But she's now the righteous woman since you are my son divorced!"
"I did not sign the divorce papers when your son brought them to me."
The grown-up woman's eyes grew wider:
"Really?"
So surprised, she turned her face to her son Bob Lee and added:
"You told me Ishtar accepted the divorce and signed the papers!"
Guiltily, Bob Lee scratched the back of his head and answered:
"I knew you were not going to attend my wedding with Nadia Browne so, I had to lie to you. I am sorry mom!"
Unbelievably, the grown-up woman stuttered with a low spirit.
"W What haven't you done to yourself you.....!"
Ishtar carressed her to stop hurting:
"Calm down ma'am. It's alright."
Knowing what she had gone through for the past five years under Nadia Browne as her daughter-in-law, with bitterness, the grown-up woman stood her ground with rage.
"I won't calm down! If you didn't sign those divorce papers, then the marriage between Nadia and my son was invalid. That bitch stands no chance _ she must get the taste of her own medicine."
High in spirit, she added:
"I must invite her here and shock her with the heartbreaking surprise of her life."
Ishtar and Bob Lee did not see this coming. They confoundedly turned eyes and looked at eachother.
This was yet another difficult equation for them to solve. Seeing how mother was determined, Ishtar became uncomfortable and anxious.
After all, this too was going to expose her secret of having been an assassin to her mother-in-law.
Anxiously, at the back of her mind, Ishtar spoke:
"If my mother-in-law happens to call Nadia Browne to come to my house, everyone's life is in danger. I need to handle this urgently."
With a dedicated but humble frown right in Ishtar's face, out of regret, Bob Lee's mother, emphasized:
"As your mother-in-law, I don't want to disappoint you again. Am going to spearhead this!"
At this point, Bob Lee's mother could stand ten toes down with unwavering confidence in the middle of her son's relationship to make sure the mistakes are not repeated. Swearing to her daughter-in-law in the eyes, the grown-up woman sighed with a strong emotion.
"For give us my daughter. If my son ever make you shade a tear again, I will disown him!"
Ishtar nodded with a slight smile at her mother-in-law. Bob Lee, standing a few steps aside with a guilt gesture, he gave a humble vulnerable stare and a simple handsome smile at his mother too. Even though Ishtar could not just show it openly to them that she still held strong love feelings for Bob Lee nomatter the pain he took her through, she couldn't hide the romantic stare at him. Now that Bob Lee was now fond of her than before, remorsefully apologizing, needing her back in his life, Ishtar was excitedly happy. He is the man she has ever loved with all her mind, body and soul. And Bob Lee being the father of her cute son Bimbo, it was her prayer answered in full.
Bob Lee stepped foward. The thought of his mother summoning Nadia Browne for a meeting was terribly hitting him hard. How Nadia torments him, mere flashs of her in his head could give him a panic attack.