Mason Jars and Abandonment

Installment number seven (to read the rest, please see the sidebar.) Oh - and - when you read this, please, feel free to comment. Here. On the blog. In case you didn't know this, bloggers like comments. I like feedback... Humor me, Please. Just don't point out my typos. I know they are there - but you can't proofread your own work. Everyone knows that.

The shower did little for Rebecca's aching heart. So much loss in such a short time; her daughter, her marriage and now Garrett. Someone once told her that the more painful a situation was, the more there was to be learned. She wondered what the great lesson was. Her hair was still wrapped in a towel when she heard the front door tentatively creak open.

"Hello?" It was Vince, she had left a note on the door for him to just come in and help himself to a beer in the fridge.
"Almost finished, Vince - make yourself at home."

Rebecca dried her hair and threw on a sundress - complete with wrinkles. Apparently wrinkles don't actually fall off the fabric just because one hangs a garment in the bathroom when one showers. Rebecca made a mental note to find her iron and did her best to smooth the material.

Downstairs Vince had uncorked a bottle of Pinot Grigio and was waiting for Rebecca to tell him where he would find the glasses.

"Sorry, Vince. All I have is mason jars right now." She left all the stemware and glasses with Rick along with the flatware and the Pfaltzgraff. All she had now was some mismatched plates from the Goodwill and some Mason Jars. Hadn't seemed sensible to buy anything new until the renovations where complete.
"Better than swigging it out of the bottle, right?" Vince answered.

Vince made a salad and paired it with some kind of broccoli shrimp fettucini dish. It was light and refreshing but also very satisfying. After cleaning up, they sat on the back stoop with their mason jars. They talked about the town and how it had changed since she had left. She explained about the accident that had killed her daughter and how she and her husband just couldn't get their heads around the idea of living together without her. But she finally had enough wine in her to get the nerve to bring it up. What she had been wondering all day...

"What brings you here, Vince? To Garrett Glass?" She asked
"My niece. You met Becky this afternoon in the shop. She needed me to stick around after she lost her father. "

Rebecca realized that the gum cracking girl was Garrett's daughter and that it would seem that she was the girl's namesake. The lump in her throat was too big to talk through and the tears just welled up in her eyes. Vince continued;

"My sister, Caterina, is Becky's mother. She couldn't be there for her after the accident and I didn't want them to take Becky to foster care. I applied for guardianship so I keep an eye on her now. She's a good kid. Helps out a lot."

Rebecca could feel her blood boil. What did he mean her mother "couldn't be there for her" after the accident?? What kind of mother abandons her child when she looses her father? When she is needed the most?