When You Know Ch. 02

"Well I'm gonna go find out more about this guy," Joe said with a frown. "He better be good enough for her. Excuse me." With that, he went to Annie to do some interrogation of his own. Vicky laughed at this new side to Joe. In fact, the more she saw of Joe, the more she liked.

But since he wasn't thinking he left her alone with his father, who clearly still had questions about her relationship with his son. Frankly, she didn't know if she could answer them, since she wasn't sure herself. But she wanted to make a good impression on this man, clearly Joe loved him and valued his opinion.

"You'll have to excuse Joe," Ken began. "He's very protective of Annie, too protective no doubt, but it comes from a place of love."

"I can see they're really close," Vicky said.

"She reminds me of my wife every day," Ken said with sadness. "When I look at her I see Olivia every time. Same with Joe; they both took after her, thank god. She was the real looker between us."

Vicky just looked at Ken as he spoke. Clearly he wanted to say something important, so she let him at his pace.

"Has Joe talked much about his mother?" Ken asked after a few moments of silence.

"Not yet," Vicky replied. "We're still getting to know each other," she answered honestly.

"I'm not surprised, it's tough to talk about," Ken started. "She passed away about 7 years ago, ovarian cancer."

"I'm so sorry," Vicky said, reaching out her hand to Ken. "That must have been incredibly difficult for all of you."

"Yeah it was," Ken continued. "By the time they found it, the tumors had spread throughout her body. There was nothing they could really do, though she tried everything. She did it mostly for us, because we couldn't bear the thought of her not being there. I think she made her peace with the fact it wasn't going to have a happy ending long before we did. I don't think any of us ever really accepted it, until she was gone."

"Joe was what, a senior in high school, when it happened?" Vicky asked.

"Yeah, it was tough because he was looking at schools at the time," Ken said. "He got into Georgetown, his mother was so proud of him."

"Wow, that's a great school," Vicky said.

"The problem was he only got partial financial aid," Ken said sadly. "We thought we had good insurance, we're both teachers, but it didn't cover everything. Especially the third and fourth opinions and treatments we insisted she try. By the end, I just didn't have the money to cover the difference for him."

"I'm sure he didn't care about that," Vicky said consolingly.

"No, he didn't, and by the time everything happened he didn't want to go away anyway," Ken said. "I would've figured out a way for him, put a second mortgage on the house if need be; but he wanted to stay and help with Annie, she was only 11 and lost without her mother. Truthfully I was lost too, and so depressed."

"So he stayed home and went to Seton Hall," Ken continued. "The in-state tuition was much more reasonable and we saved on room and board. He was around to help us through everything; honestly I don't know how we would have survived without him."

"Sounds like you all helped each other through it," Vicky observed. "You seem like the most loving family I've ever met."

"Well, thanks," Ken said. "That's Liv's influence, she came from a big loving Italian family. She always taught the kids, even me, to be open with our feelings, good or bad. I never really got comfortable totally with that, when I grew up we were told men didn't hug their children or tell them they loved them."

"Yeah, sounds familiar," Vicky replied knowingly, thinking of her own parents. "But it doesn't seem like you have a problem with that now."

"No, not anymore," Ken said, eyes watering. "When you lose someone, when you lose your great love, you learn to appreciate everything else you have, especially your kids. They're all I have left of her that's real; everything else is memories that fade a little bit more each day, no matter how you try to stop it. That clarity is the only true gift her death gave me. Now, I never miss an opportunity to hug them and tell them I love them, even if they roll their eyes at me. You never know when you won't get the chance."

With that, Annie ambled back to the table, Joe behind her.

"I'm tired of the third degree from him, Dad," Annie complained to Ken. "Tell him, Josh is a nice boy."

"Already did, sweetheart," Ken said with a laugh. "Let your brother be worried about you. One day you'll miss it."

"I am just worried about you, Annie," Joe said with a comforting smile. "And I'll always worry about you. But I trust your judgement, and Dad's. Though I promise if this guy breaks your heart, I'll kill him."

Vicky laughed to herself as she watched the 3 Chambers banter back and forth comfortably. They were so unlike her family and she was a little jealous of their closeness compared to her relationship with her parents. Then she felt bad, as she thought of what these people had to go through. They were dealt about the worst possible hand any family could, but had survived and only grown closer as a result of it.

Conversely, her family had never been dealt any bad hands; everything had seemingly gone their way. Yet they couldn't come close to the level of love and support the Chambers family so clearly had. Vicky began to wonder who truly had the rich family, at the moment it certainly didn't feel like it was hers.

"So what did you two talk about while we were gone?" Joe asked, suddenly realizing he left his father and his girlfriend (already he'd convinced himself of that in his mind) alone for several minutes.

He saw the look in his father's eyes and quickly deduced what the topic probably was. He hadn't meant to keep any of that from Vicky, honestly he wanted to tell her everything about his life, but they never had a chance to. Now he was worried if his father had shared too much with this woman, if he had scared her away.

"Just getting to know your wonderful family," she responded with a sad, but understanding smile.

"Hey, Annie, why don't we give these two a little while to talk," Ken quickly said. "Let's look at the desserts in the front." Ken still had his doubts about what Joe was doing with this older woman, and he knew Olivia would have as well. But clearly Joe liked her, and having met her and seen her look at his son, he was now certain she did as well. Who was he to stand in the way of the potential happiness of his eldest child? He felt his wife would have told him much the same thing if she were here right now.

"So, I guess he told you, about Mom," Joe started. "I never meant to keep that from you. I should have been the one to tell you, I just never had the chance."

"No its fine, you didn't owe me anything," Vicky said.

"But that's just it, I feel like I do," Joe explained. "I know we got off to a...different start, well that's an understatement. Different, but wonderful, amazing...oh god I'm rambling," Joe said in a panic.

"Don't worry about it," Vicky laughed, charmed at his nervousness. It was a different side to the confident guy from the bar or the conference room last week. "Just calm down and say what you want to say."

"OK," he said, taking a deep breath, as if he was remembering a practiced speech. "It's just from the moment I saw you walk in the bar that night you took my breath away. I knew I had to meet you; spend time with you, I just knew. Then we started dancing in the bar and I lost control."

"I think we both lost control," Vicky said softly.

"Yeah, but after I was afraid I blew my chance because of that," Joe replied. "Especially the next morning, when I saw you. To be honest, I would give up that night in a heartbeat if it meant you would think of giving me a chance, of really giving me a chance, to be in your life."

"It's not that night I'm worried about," Vicky said. "That night was wonderful, special, I never want to forget it. It's everything else that worries me." Joe smiled at her though and her heart began to melt. In that moment, she made her decision.

"Why don't you come over, to my place, after your family leaves," Vicky said with a laugh. "Just to talk, I think we need to do that before we do...other things again."

"Talking is good, I like talking too," Joe laughed. He reached out and grabbed her hand. "You won't regret it, I promise."

"Well, Annie and I should hit the road before it gets too late," Ken said upon returning. "It looks like you two want to spend some time alone. We'll see you in a few weeks for Annie's graduation Joe."

"Yeah Dad, we'll walk you out to your car," Joe replied.

"Vicky, I need your number," Annie said as her dad fetched the car outside. "You know, like in case I need a woman's perspective on things."

"Don't bother her, Annie," Joe admonished.

"It's no bother," Vicky said with a smile, typing her number into Annie's phone. "It would be my pleasure to provide a female opinion when you need it."

"Thanks Vicky," Annie said giving her a hug.

"This Josh boy better realize what a special girl he has," Vicky said hugging her back.

Annie hopped in the car when her Dad pulled up, fiddling with her phone the whole way. Ken got out and hugged his son.

"Joe, you mind if I talk to Vicky in private, for a minute," Ken asked.

"Um, sure Dad, I'll stay with Annie," Joe said, a little puzzled (and nervous).

"Thanks, come take a walk with me down the block, Vicky," Ken said to her.

"Look, you've probably picked up on the fact that I wasn't exactly thrilled when Joe told me of his interest in you," Ken started. "The age difference is quite significant. As a parent, I can't lie and say it doesn't concern me."

"How much did he tell you about how we met?" Vicky asked nervously.

"Just that you met at his bar and had a wonderful time," Ken said. "That's all he said, and all I wanted to know. When my wife died, Joe was always there for me, for Annie. I can never repay him for that. So all I want is for him to be happy."

"And when I see him, looking at you," Ken continued. "Well, he looks at you the way my wife told me I looked at her when we first dated; like you're the only person in the room, in the world. And you look at him the way she looked at me. That's all I needed to see. Wherever you two go with this, you'll have my support."

"Thanks, that means a lot," Vicky smiled. "I know Joe will be happy, but I want you to know I understand your concerns. In many ways, I share them, I understand we are at different points in our lives and that things may be difficult."

"None of that matters if you love the person," Ken said. "I'm not saying you guys are there yet, but if you do get there, all that stuff will go away. When you know, you know."

Vicky laughed at the familiar turn of phrase; it didn't feel like a line to her anymore.

"Did I say something funny?" Ken asked, confused.

"Oh, no," Vicky explained. "It's just Joe uses that same phrase quite a bit. Hearing it from you it kind of feels like the Chambers family motto now."

"Never thought of it that way," Ken replied with a chuckle. "But it was true when I first laid eyes on my Olivia. I really hope it'll be true for you two now."

"Thanks Mr. Chambers, despite it all I want to see whether that's the case; I want to see where it leads now."

"Call me Ken," he replied, as they turned around and walked back to an anxious Joe. "I think he's worried about what we talked about," Ken laughed.

"I'll put him at ease, don't worry," Vicky replied.

"Take care, son," Ken said as he hugged him goodbye. "You got a nice girl, here. Treat her right," he said with a wink to Vicky.

"I will Dad," Joe replied, totally confused.

"Vicky, you should come up with Joe in a few weeks to see Annie's graduation," Ken said as he started the car.

"Yeah, Vicky, you have to come!" Annie yelled out from the passenger side. "I want to introduce you to all my friends and Josh of course"

"I would love to," Vicky said, as Joe smiled next to her. "I wouldn't miss it for the world."

"Have a good night," Ken said as he pulled away. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do." With that, they were gone, leaving Joe and Vicky alone again.

"So what did my Dad talk about?" Joe asked with a raised eyebrow.

"He's just looking out for you, like any good father would," Vicky said with a laugh. "Good news is I've appeared to have won him over."

"Oh, you did huh," Joe teased. "I didn't know you were trying to win him over."

"Not sure I was either, at the start," Vicky laughed. "But I definitely was by the end. Your family is wonderful."

"Thanks, now what?" Joe asked with a smile.

"Let me show you my place," Vicky replied. "Where we can talk, just talk remember."

"Like I said, I love talking," Joe said.

"It's the least I can do," Vicky replied. "After all, you did think I was just 30 when we met."

"Well..." Joe trailed off.

"What?" Vicky pressed him.

"Well, when you brought up your age right away, I figured you were probably closer to 35, but I said 30 because I hoped you would keep talking to me if I thought that."

"You liar!" she shouted, punching him in the arm. But she was smiling at him; he played it right she thought. She probably would have stopped talking to him if he guessed her age right then. But now, she was interested, and more importantly, she was finally willing to admit that to herself.

"Tell me about your Mom," Vicky asked as they sat on her couch later. "I want to know everything." She needed to know everything about Joe. All his good moments, and all the bad ones too. She understood his mother was intimately wrapped up in both of them.

"She was wonderful, the rock of our family," Joe started. "Not just the three of us, but everyone. She came from a big Italian family, 7 children including her. Everyone looked to Mom to help them in bad times, to keep the peace, and also to share in whatever joyful moments they were experiencing. And she always made time for everyone, no matter who they were. Somehow she was able to do all this, have a successful career and still be completely devoted to me, Annie and Dad."

"She sounds like a force of nature," marveled Vicky.

"She was, but when she got sick, it was really rough," Joe continued. "Everyone in the family took it hard; they all wanted to do their part to help her. But honestly, they ended up getting in the way. Everyone brings their own experience with something like cancer and expects it to be applicable to what you're going through, when it usually isn't. They end up questioning you and your judgements if it doesn't fit what they think you should do."

"That must have been really hard," Vicky said.

"Yeah, on Mom especially," Joe said. "She was always the one who knew how to deal with all that crap, but she was too sick and it fell on me and my Dad to try and shield her from it. We finally had to just push people away, they were becoming too involved and as my Mom got sicker she really didn't want to be bothered by anyone but the three of us. But a lot of relatives lashed out at us, saying we were trying to keep her away from them, to prevent them from spending time with her. It got really heated at times; I'm not sure we ever fully reconciled with some people."

"People can be so selfish at times," she said consolingly.

"I understand to an extent, they loved her too; but not like we loved her. They didn't live everyday with her like we did. And when she died, they were sad for a few days or weeks then were able to move on with their lives. But we were broken, and we realized we could only rely on each other to put our lives back together."

"It seems like you really relied on each other," Vicky said.

"Yeah, it wasn't easy. My Dad took it really hard and started to withdraw into himself, drinking too much...it really worried me," Joe replied. "And Annie was just 11, a time when she really needed a mother. I knew I needed to stay with them."

"So that's why you turned down Georgetown?" Vicky asked.

"He told you that too?" Joe asked. "Yeah, to be honest I never really cared about missing out on Georgetown. Seton Hall is really just as good a school, and we've been kicking their butt in basketball recently anyway," he said with a laugh.

"Dad has guilt over that," he continued. "He still thinks he took away a dream from me. But I could have never lived with myself if I left them like that. They needed me, and honestly I needed them. After I graduated, and saw they were doing OK again, it made it easier to move down here for law school and begin living my life."

"I think what you did was wonderful," Vicky said, as she reached out to hold his hand. "Everyone should have a son like you, that cares about people like you do."

"Thanks," Joe said, squeezing her hand tightly as he held back tears. "But, here we are talking so much about me and my drama, I still don't know much about Vicky Mullen, other than she's smart, and brilliant, and beautiful, and..."

"Enough compliments, mister," Vicky replied. "You're already in the door, that's half the battle."

"But seriously, tell me about you," Joe said earnestly. "I want to know everything there is to know about you too."

"Not much to tell," Vicky started. "My family is not like yours, it's just me and my parents. They were never around much when I was a kid. They were too busy with business and charity functions to pay any attention to me."

"That can't be true," Joe asked. "I'm sure they love you, who wouldn't?"

"That's sweet of you," Vicky replied. "I'm sure they do too, they just don't know how to show it, maybe like your father told me he was like when you were young. But I just don't know if they really want to anyway. They're more concerned with my life as a reflection on their own. If I'm successful, in business and in my personal life, it's a positive reflection on them, and in the end that's what matters. Currently, I'm failing them on the personal life front."

"The suit from the bar," Joe replied knowingly.

"Richard, yes but just partly," Vicky said. "We dated for several years. To be honest there was never any chemistry but we were a good match, both from prominent families. I just assumed he would propose and we could build all the other stuff."

"So what happened?" Joe asked.

"He dumped me," Vicky said. "He met a nurse at the hospital he worked at and fell in love. For the longest time I've hated him for it, but honestly now I kind of understand what he did. Who wants to be in a marriage that's a business transaction, it would be a horrible way to live."

"Are you worried that's what your parents have, a business transaction?" Joe replied.

"I don't know...maybe. I don't think it was always like that," Vicky answered honestly. "They seemed so in love when I was young. My father didn't exactly come from a lot of money, but Mom was insistent and convinced her parents to let them marry. Grandpa took Dad under his wing, and they built the business up to great heights."

"But now, I look at them and I don't see that love as much," Vicky continued. "They never talk about each other like your Dad talked about your Mom today; they barely spend time together. Sometimes it just seems like they're together because it's easier than getting a divorce."

"No one really knows what's going on in a marriage except the two people in it, I guess," Joe offered. "I'm sure they love each other, it's just easy to get wrapped up in your own life."

"What would they think if they knew you were spending time with me instead of some rich guy from a snooty family?" Joe asked her.

"Honestly, Mother would be horrified," Vicky said with a laugh. "Even today, she was trying to set me up with another in a long list of empty suits. I'm supposed to meet someone tomorrow." Vicky didn't know why she told Joe this; she just had the overwhelming urge to tell him everything.