"This is about Ruth," the person on the line said, and Ray looked at his mother. After more than a week of hospitalization, she was finally allowed to go home, and they did not expect for her recovery to be so quick.
"Yes, I'm with her right now," he replied, and Ruth mouthed something he could not understand.
"She did not have to come back for the check-up next week," the woman said, and he recognized her voice as one of the nurses' in the hospital they stayed in. "Her results are all well. Her body seems to be recovering fast."
Ruth has been pressing her ear on the phone to hear what the nurse was saying, and a smile etched on her face after Ray had hung up. "I know why that is." she said.
She touched the side of Ray's face, and endearingly pinched it. "You healed me," she muttered.
Ray smiled and put the phone back in his pocket. "I can't believe you really baked it, you did not like to bake."
Earlier today, they talked about Ruth's former attempts for a reconciliation, and they laughed at how Ray would consistently dismissed all of them. "That cake that you received on your birthday years ago? I baked that on my own," she had told him earlier.
"You never baked a cake for Ryan," Ray remembered, and thought that it would make Ruth feel guilty, but her reaction was the opposite.
"I never had to," she said. "I worked hard for his forgiveness, and I got it. Almost immediately, even."
He was always bewildered by how Ryan instantly forgave their mother. He had always associated this with his innocence.
"I liked that cake, actually," Ray told her, to make her feel even more better, even though he could not remember eating it. But the memory of him receiving it in his office is vivid.
Ruth took a picture from the table and lovingly touched it. It is a picture of the two brothers playing in the backyard. They were covered in sand, and they were chasing each other. "I thought you would not even take a look at it," she admitted.
The sound of the front door opening made them look at each other, and they rushed downstairs to see who it is. Ryan's delighted face greeted them, and Ray's eyes widened in disbelief. Ruth seemed unmoved, but joy is still plastered on her face.
"I'm out, brother," Ryan told him. The tension from their last interaction is still there, but it's not unbridled anymore. They hug each other.
"You never told me," he said. Ryan softly laughed, and because of Ruth's expression, he realized that she knew that he would be released.
"Of course, we weren't in good terms," Ryan said lightheartedly. "Stop fighting, you too," Ruth interrupted, to which Ray replied with, "It's over. All is well, right?" he asked his brother, and Ryan nodded.
====================
"I have not visited him for a long time," Ray told them.
The cemetery where their father's remains were buried in is not far from the town. They had just remembered that it's his birthday today, and decided to pay him a visit.
"I never got his forgiveness," Ruth said. She removed the dirt from his tombstone. "I wanted a closure, but I guess, who am I to demand for one?"
"I am sure he has forgiven you, wherever he is now," Ryan said. Ray had a different answer in mind. He saw how her mother's departure wrecked their father, physically and emotionally. His alcoholism eventually led to his demise, and he died a long and painful death. He's unsure whether he'd forgive her, and he'll never know.
"I never saw him in his last days," Ruth said, and suddenly, memories of seeing their father in his worst state came flashing back to Ray. "You wouldn't want to see him," he said.
A woman they had not seen walked up to them, and she looked at Ray. "It's been a while since I've seen you here," she said, and removed her cap. "And you look a lot better now."
His mouth slightly opened, and he tried to verbalize the thoughts in his head, but he could not. He could not remember seeing this woman, but he knows that he had not been to the cemetery for a long time.
"I don't really come here. Like at all," he said. "You're probably mistaking me for another person. I don't frequently visit my father's grave."
The woman did not believe him, and firmly said, "How could I have mistaken you for another person? It was you, but I haven't seen you in quite a while. Four months? Yeah, I think so."
Ryan and Ruth were taken aback. "You didn't tell me you visited your father," said Ruth.
"No, I didn't really," he turned to the woman. "Lady, I don't know who you saw, but it wasn't me. I can't remember you, I think I haven't seen you, even," he honestly said.
The woman still would not change what she said. "We talked. You talked to me. You even know my name, it's Anna. Or if it wasn't you, maybe you have a twin," and then she faced Ruth and asked her, "Do you have another son? Maybe it was him I was seeing."
"No, no. Let's stop this. We're going home," said Ray, ushering them to start walking away. The woman seemed unmoved, and she just started walking away, too.
He tried and tried to remember whether he had went and just forgot about it, but he could not. Suddenly, he remembered the memory problems he was experiencing. Maybe I would go and forget about it, he thought. It's not so bad.
He has researched a couple of times to have some form of assurance that what he is experiencing isn't that detrimental to this health. He has not had any other physical symptoms of anything, and he feels relatively healthy. He discovered that stress could be a factor, and figured that maybe that was it.
