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19. Elmyra: Momma Bear

Elmyra knew Aerith was seeing someone long before her daughter actually admitted it. Though she hadn't actually given birth, long years of playing the role meant Elmyra had developed the intuition of a mother. You couldn't fool your mom about stuff like that. Every teenager in the history of the universe thinks they can put one over on their parents, but they're always wrong, and Aerith was no exception. Yet rather than confront her and possible start an argument that didn't need to be started, Elmyra decided to wait. Aerith would tell her in time, she was sure.

Her protective instincts sharpened, however, when Aerith continued to hide his existence. Any boy she didn't feel able to admit to could not be one who was good for her. Aerith had never been into the whole 'bad boy' thing, like some girls her age. Girls like that just wanted the thrill of being wild for a while, before retreating back into their boring lives. Those who didn't retreat didn't tend to last long. In the slums 'bad boys' ranged from petty thieves to full-out drug dealers and gangbangers. Though she couldn't imagine her daughter with anyone like that, Aerith's caginess was new and Elmyra didn't like it.

There was nothing else for it. She poked and prodded, until 'Yes, Mom, I have a boyfriend!' rang through their little house.

"Invite him to dinner sometimes, sweetheart." So I can vet him and see if he's worth even half of you.

"He's not really the come-to-dinner type, Mom."

"And just what is that supposed to mean?" Please not some tattooed gang member. PLEASE not some tattooed gang member.

"He's … nice," Aerith said evasively. "But his job doesn't give him much free time."

"So he's too good to eat dinner with us during that precious free time?"

"It's complicated."

"Simplify it for me."

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"You'll get mad."

"Have I ever gotten mad over who you date?"

"Mom, you can count the boys I've dated on one hand – and you don't even need to use all the fingers."

Elmyra couldn't deny she was a little pleased Aerith's dating record was so sparse. With Turks periodically knocking on their door, trying to coerce her to accompany them back to Shinra, Aerith's single status was partly because few young men wanted to risk the company's wrath by giving her a reason to stay if they wanted her to go. Jiro and Shotaro, the two boys who had asked her out anyway, hadn't understood Aerith's quirky ways and dropped her like a hot coal when she wouldn't sleep with them. Elmyra had been so proud, but then divided over Aerith's reason why.

"I'm saving myself for the one I love," she said blithely, with the aplomb of someone who has heard and read hundreds of romantic stories and fairytales, but had no experience of a real relationship and how difficult it could be.

"Not marriage?" Elmyra said hopefully.

Aerith considered this, head tilted to one side like a puppy contemplating a particular high step between it and its food bowl. "I supposed I'll end up marrying the one I love, so sure, marriage too."

"And you didn't love either of those boys?"

"Ick, Mom! Jiro's hands were like waterfalls with all that sweat, and Shotaro kept telling me how great he is because his dad works for the company trash collectors and you just have a market stall."

Elmyra kept up her requests for Aerith's boyfriend to join them for dinner, or just visit, or stop by sometime – anything to get him into her line of sight so she could assess him. She saw Aerith going about dreamy-eyed and daydreaming more and more – not her usual daydreams, which could turn into waking nightmares, but the kind of doe-eyed teenage fantasising Elmyra used to do when she first met her husband. Things were getting desperate: she needed to meet this boy, and soon!

Once his identity came out, however, part of her wished she was still in the dark.

"Mom?" Aerith said to her one day, standing in the doorway and scuffing her feet like she expected to be told off. "Can I ask you something?"

"Of course, sweetheart." Elmyra set aside her mending and gave her daughter her full attention.

"Can … my boyfriend … can he, um …" Aerith took a breath as if for strength. Elmyra realised with alarm that she had been crying. "Someone really close to him just died and he's not coping very well. Can he, um, come over and stay for the weekend? I don't want him to be on his own right now. I'm … I'm a bit scared he might … do something. Something stupid."

Elmyra heart swelled with pride. "Certainly, he can stay. Poor thing. When would he arrive?"

Aerith dipped her head. "He's waiting outside."

Not letting her smile slip, Elmyra nodded. She got to her feet, brushed off her skirts and wished they didn't have to boil water on the stove to pour into a tin tub when they wanted a bath. It was so much effort she usually opted for a standing-up scrub with a sponge and some carbolic soap, which did the trick when you were working, but not when you were meeting your daughter's beau for the first time. Her hair felt stringy, her skin sallow and slick with grease. She fixed the wisps of hair that had worked loose from her bun and went into the kitchen while Aerith fetched him inside.

Elmyra's eyes nearly fell out of her head. He was tall, with a shock of black hair and shoulders like a bodybuilder. Scabs from a pair of cuts crisscrossed his cheek, but didn't dent his good looks in the slightest. His features were even, his eyes electric blue, and he had a soft mouth that was pressed into a sad downturn. What caught her attention most, however, was his SOLDIER uniform.

"Mom." Aerith appeared from behind him, her eyes pleading. "This is Zack. Zack, this is my mom."

"Pleased to meet you, Mrs. Gainsborough." He offered one gloved hand. His tone was polite but exhausted.

Elmyra stared at the proffered hand. She couldn't take it. What was Aerith thinking, bringing someone like this into their home? No wonder she had been cagey. This was worse than if she was dating a Turk. It was worse than if she had accepted that Tseng man's advances. This was a SOLDIER – one of Shinra's fearsome guard dogs. These men hunted monsters for a living! No wonder he was freakishly muscular. The rumours of SOLDIERs that circulated the sectors usually included magic and stories of drugs than made them stronger than an entire tug-o-war team and twice as aggressive.

Except that Zack wasn't aggressive at all. His eyes were rimmed red, the skin below them puffy. He had been crying too, and a lot more than Aerith. His massive shoulders were slumped. Everything about him yelled 'I am hurting' but also 'I don't want to harm anyone'. Despite his build, he couldn't be much older than Aerith. For some reason, Elmyra had always thought of SOLDIERs as ageless creatures dedicated to wholesale slaughter. Replace that uniform with civvies and this Zack boy was just that: a boy. And a grieving boy, at that.

"Mom?" Aerith said in a tiny voice. Aerith wasn't an idiot. She could be too incisive for her own good, sometimes. She hadn't gone with the Turks any time they'd tried to force her. She wouldn't date someone truly dangerous or evil.

Swallowing hard and suppressing her own fear, Elmyra took Zack's hand and shook it. "It's good to finally meet you, Zack. Aerith says you need a place to stay for a few days?"

"I told her I'd be fine," he protested awkwardly. "I can just –"

"Zack, no," Aerith said firmly. "Please, you need to be with people right now." She shot her mother a look. "People who care about you and how you're feeling, not how soon you'll be over Angeal and back on the job."

Pain flashed behind Zack's eyes. Whoever this person was whom he had lost, there was a bond there that had shattered him when it broke. Elmyra remembered pain like that. She had gained Aerith and had her new daughter to concentrate on in the aftermath. Now it seemed Aerith was trying to help Zack the same way.

"You must stay with us," Elmyra said decisively. "We'd be happy to have you. Just so long as you don't mind helping me prepare dinner."

He blinked at her. "Uh …"

"Have you ever cooked before?"

"Not … successfully."

"Well then, now is an excellent time to learn."

Aerith pressed close to her when Zack went to wash his hands. His huge body in their small kitchen looked so out of place, it was almost comical. "Thanks, Mom."

Elmyra hugged her tight. "You're welcome, sweetheart."

To Be Continued in 'A Triangle of Many Sides: Book Two'

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