Rachel hadn’t spoken with her mother for two months. It hadn’t been easy; she bought caller ID for her house, and told her father to call from his cell phone. If anything needed to reach her mother, she went through George or Mike. Rachel had never been one to frequent Temple, doing most of her work from home, and now she was there even less. She resigned her volunteer job planning community service events so she wouldn’t give her mother the opportunity to see her.
Two months later, and Rachel still couldn’t figure out how someone could say that to her daughter. How could you threaten to disown your own daughter? And for doing nothing wrong! Rachel didn’t tell JC about what her mother had said; it wasn’t his battle to fight. JC just assumed that Rachel was fed up with her mother, which was only partially true.
The two fell into a comfortable routine once JC got home from the promotion tour. Rachel began leaving things at JC’s house, including things to make the house more like a home. JC was pleasantly surprised one day after rehearsal to come home and find Rachel cooking dinner, a ritual they tried to keep everyday. They would eat, watch a movie or spend time together, go to sleep, wake up, and start the day with making breakfast and going to work. They had the weekends to themselves, but still enjoyed spending time with friends. More than likely, they’d end up at someone’s house for a barbeque or a club.
This routine and the joy of simple things made JC surer that Rachel was the one. He and Rachel never talked about the barriers their different faiths would create for their potential marriage and life together anymore, though. Every time it came up, Rachel would change the subject. JC was beginning to think that she was falling out of love with him. But then she would do the sweetest thing, or whisper “I love you” into his ear, or make love with him, and his doubts would fly out of the window, until next time she changed the subject.
“How come you won’t talk about this?” JC asked when she once again, avoided the subject. They had been talking about Mike’s latest girlfriend, the cantor’s daughter.
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means we’ve been dating for what? 7 months? It’s a little early to talk about marriage.”
“No it’s not!” JC stood up and approached Rachel. “We talked about it at 5 months. And we’ve been dating for 7 ½ months, thank you very much.”
Rachel smiled. JC was so sweet. “You’re right, 7 ½ months. But Jayce, we’re young. I don’t want you to think that I’m not committed to you, or that I don’t love you, but marriage?”
JC ran a hand through his hair and sighed. How did he make Rachel understand that he wanted to marry her, but not right away? She was the reason he even considered settling down. “Rach, come here.” He held out his hand to her and when she took it, pulled her up against him. Kissing her softly, he said, “Rach, you’re the reason I’ve even started thinking about long-term. Before you, I was going out every night and the only thing in the future I gave a thought to was music. I want to marry you, but I know I’m not ready yet. Ok?”
Rachel nodded. “Ok” She let herself get caught up in the romance while pushing thoughts of her heart-broken mother to the back of her mind. What her mother did was wrong, but Evelyn was still her mother. The woman who had raised her, the woman who had made her who she is. Rachel’s breath caught in her throat; no, she wasn’t going to do it, she wasn’t going to end this. But that was the only way to reconcile things with her mother. And it wasn’t just affecting her relationship with her mother; her father and brother were also affected. Mike was no longer able to drop over his parents house because he had taken Rachel’s side of things. And George…poor George…he had to live with Evelyn after clearly stating he thought she was wrong. Would this break apart their marriage? Oh God, Rachel couldn’t stand the guilt or watching her parents hurt if the split up. What was she going to do?
“Hey mom!” JC greeted as he slipped into his car seat. Ever since Rachel and her mom had stopped talking, JC had taken to calling her when he wasn’t with Rachel, so he wouldn’t rub it in.
“Josh! Honey, how are you?”
“I’m good, just on my way home from rehearsal.” He started his car and checked the rearview mirror to make sure no one was coming.
“How’s the tour coming?”
“Really good. It’s gonna be huge! We have tons of pyro and we’re flying again.”
“Oh.” Karen hated the section of the show where the boys flew over the audience in harnesses. It nearly gave her a heart attack.
“Don’t worry mom, we’ll be fine.”
“Good. When are you going to be in Maryland?”
JC frowned. “I don’t know off the top of my head, but I’ll e-mail you the tour itinerary.”
“Why can’t you call?” Karen asked.
JC sighed. “Rachel and her mom are still in a fight, and I don’t want to rub it in that we have a perfectly good relationship.”
“That’s too bad. What’s the fight about dear?”
JC paused. He didn’t want to make it look like he was the reason mother and daughter were fighting, but it kind of was… “Rachel’s mother hates the fact that I’m not Jewish.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. And the only reason it bothers Rachel is because it bothers her mom. And I know something happened between the two of them while I was gone, but she won’t talk about it. I’m hoping she finally just got fed up with her mom, but I dunno. And we used to talk about the future all the time now, but she keeps changing the subject.” JC sighed. “I don’t know what to do.”
“Well, honey, I don’t think there’s much you can do. Unless…”
“Unless what?”
“You could always convert.”
“You and Dad wouldn’t be upset?”
“Not in this instance, no. Her religion obviously means a lot to her, whereas yours isn’t as important to you.”
“And she feels so unsure about our future…that’d help!”
Karen smiled. “You’re in love, huh?”
JC smiled too. “It’s not just love; I want to marry her.”
Karen’s smile fell. It didn’t sound like Rachel’s mother would approve of that. But there was nothing they could do about it now. “When do I get to meet this wonderful girl?”
JC grinned. “Soon, I hope.”
Rachel turned the TV off. There was nothing on worth watching. She checked the clock; JC should be home soon. Dinner was all ready. She began searching for one of her books, but realized they were all still at her own house. “This isn’t your house Rachel.” She mumbled to herself as she flipped through a magazine. “This shouldn’t be your house.” The phone rang, and Rachel casually checked the Caller ID to see if it was one of the guys”they would entertain her! She was shocked to see her home number flash across the screen. Debating whether to pick it up or not, Rachel could only think of one reason why someone would be trying to reach her here: an emergency.
“Hello?” She answered.
“Rachel? It’s your mother.”
“Hello mother. What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong dear. Why would you think anything is wrong?”
“Because you’re calling me at my boyfriend’s house when I made it very clear I didn’t want to talk to you.”
“I was wondering if actually, if we could talk.”
“No. We’re done talking.”
“Please Rachel…”
“Fine. You have 5 minutes.”
“Thank you.” What was the world coming to? She was begging to talk to her daughter, and then given a time limit. Evelyn took a deep breath. “You’re a disgrace to our people.”
Rachel inhaled sharply. What? Had she heard incorrectly? “What?”
“You heard me.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means your breaking the long line of Jewish families. Even if you raise the kids Jewish, they won’t be 100%. There are so many nice Jewish boys looking for a nice girl like you. And you’re off running around with a gentile. Your behavior is an embarrassment.”
Rachel fought back tears. “You’re embarrassed by me?”
“I would almost go as far as to say ashamed. I’m not yet. Don’t make me be ashamed of you Rachel. You’re better than that”than this.”
“What about Daddy and Mike? Are the embarrassed by me too?”
“No. Daddy’s a bit clueless when it comes to social things like that. Besides, if you marry a celebrity, it can’t hurt his law firm. And Mike, he’s just glad someone else can take some crap with him. If you marry a non-Jew, he won’t be the only odd-ball out at family functions.”
Rachel was silent. Did everything really think that? Her father and brother have always been supportive, but was it for ulterior motives? “Oh God…”
“I’m sorry for you to have to hear this.”
“What am I going to do?”
Evelyn smiled and proceeded to tell her daughter an idea.
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