The Wrong Brother

Chapter 22

IRIS

Shortly after Monty left to go see his parents, my mom called to see if we were up for visitors. It was a no-brainer to say yes. Nia loved spending time with her grandparents and I knew my mom wanted the dish on Monty. They had a slight introduction while Nia was in the hospital, but there were more pressing matters at the moment.

When they showed up, my dad immediately got comfortable with Nia as she taught him how to play the video game she was obsessed with since Monty introduced it. My mom and I took residence at the kitchen table with my second cup of coffee of the day.

“I can’t believe that is the same girl who was just in that hospital bed,” my mom sighed as she took a sip of the drink.

“You’re telling me. I’ve just been thankful every minute, you know?”

“Yeah, sweet girl,” she reaches her hand across the table to hold mine, “she’s a strong little girl, just like her mother.”

I shake my head, “I’m not strong, Mom. I’m barely holding on at most times. This week almost took me out.”

“That’s not true, sweet girl. Being strong doesn’t mean you don’t feel stressed or cry. It means you handle it and you come out even stronger on the other end. You can see the light at the end of the tunnel now and I know you have come out on top.”

“At least somebody sees it that way,” I sigh. I didn’t want to be a downer and if I wasn’t running on fumes from this stressful week I may have a better outlook. Yeah, Nia was sick and we got her through it and her prognosis was excellent, but there were lasting impacts I was already stressing about. I’ve been off work for a week and it has all been unpaid. My boss is a fabulous person, but I had already used all my PTO and sick leave. Then there were the impending hospital bills.

We were lucky to have insurance, but our deductible was high which meant I would be receiving a hefty hospital bill. In fact, I would be getting two since we went to the local hospital before being transferred to the children’s hospital. This wouldn’t be my first time doing this song and dance, but I’m pretty sure I was going to be paying off these hospital bills even as Nia headed off to college.

“You’ve always been my strong girl, Iris. Maybe I don’t tell you enough, but dang you are filled with more strength than you even know. You’ve been through so much in your adult life, but I want you to know that your father and I see you. We see how you’ve matured beyond your years and we are so damn proud of the woman and mother you’ve become.”

“Geez, Mom,” I wipe the tear attempting to escape my eyes. “You’re making me cry here. Please don’t keep going the dam is going to break and I probably won’t be able to stop.”

“I guess we’ll have to change topics. So, if you say so, we will postpone, but we were thinking about hitting the road in a few days. One of the travel groups we’re part of on Facebook is having a meet-up near Tahoe.”

“Why would you postpone?”

“All things considered, maybe you would want us around. Or is this way of telling me that you don’t need us much anymore?”

I chuckle and shake my head, “You know that I will always need the two of you. Like you said, things were scary for a bit, but we’re on the other end now. There is no way I could ask you to postpone a trip. Plus, that meet-up sounds like a lot of fun!”

“Oh, I think it will be. But if anything happens, we will be on our way back.”

“I know you would, Mom. We will be good here though. I wouldn’t be surprised if Nia is begging to go back to school by next week and even if she isn’t, Jade already said her boss gave her permission to work from home for a few days.”