Here And Now

29. End Of Everything

"Here." I feel like a child in a kindergarten class. Marking my attendance upto the headmistress.

"Your child's session with Dr. Perez has ended. You may go and fetch her." The lady outside the family therapist's cabin smiles a robotic smile.

So formal and inhumane.

I suppress a shiver as I enter Dr. Karev Perez's office.

After the disaster that happened two days ago, I did not know how to talk to Kayla, and it looked like she didn't want to speak with me at all.

It hurt, it hurt so damn much that she didn't want me to be her mother in this situation and help her adjust to this new way of life. But I also had to think of Dexter.

My sweet boy has also started to catch on that Daddy's never around and the smile on his sister's face is gone.

The most unexpected form of miracle was Elizabeth. She had stayed in touch with Mattie and Oliver after the club and gave him the contact number of Dr. Perez when she got to know what was going on.

She had herself gone through a divorce and Dr. Perez was the one who counseled her and her ex husband through it.

"Ah, April." He nods at me when he spots me awkwardly lingering around the doorway.

"Dr. Perez."

"Please call me Karev." He flashes me a kind smile.

"Come, have a seat." I look towards where Kayla is sitting off to the other side of the room playing with some Lego pieces.

"I have talked to Kayla. Most of her anger and confusion stems from the fact that everything was seemingly very well and one day it's all the opposite."

I nod and swallow.

"I left home as soon as I found out my husband had been cheating, I never suspected him prior to that so there were never any fights."

He nods thoughtfully and presses his lips to his joint hands.

"Although she knew that something was off because as she said, "Daddy was never never home." And..." He looks up at me cautiously, "she had witnessed something quite traumatic."

Rage starts to simmer in my veins when I start to recall what my baby has been through. I grit my teeth.

"Yeah, seeing your father make out with someone else than your mother can definitely be called traumatic."

"Did you know she feels guilty?"

My head snaps up. 

"What?" I croak out.

"It took me quite some coaxing to get to this part. She feels guilty and part of the reason for the divorce, thinking it's because she didn't tell you right away."

"But that's ridiculous!" I say furiously.

"Yes, we as adults can say that, but a child's mind is trying to grasp at every possible reason of why their parents aren't together. And it's more common than people think. The child always somehow finds a way to blame themselves and feel guilty."

I am dumbfounded. No words escape me.

"But, I have done my best to clear out her mind of all of this and make her see differently. She now understands that it's not her fault and that it's better for everyone if Mommy and Daddy stay on different paths. I have made her understand that you both love them the same and nothing has changed for the worse."

"Thank you, Karev, thank you so much."

"Please don't thank me April, now it's your responsibility to instill this belief in her mind everyday. Because I am nothing but a stranger. When she hears it from you and her father, it will make the transition for her a lot easier."