A mother's love

Chapter 46

Brenda never took Brian to the hospital with her to introduce him to her mother. She went to see her mother twice a day in the morning and in the evening for the two remaining days that she had to spend in San Diego and after receiving assurances from Janice that Meredith would be properly looked after she and Brian left for Seattle.

They were returning home in a very different place than they'd been in when they'd left for San Diego. Brian's hope that they would reconnect with each other had been fulfilled; during the time that they were together in their motel room or out and about in the city they were closer to each other than they had been in months. For the entire week that they were in San Diego Michaela was nothing more than a distant presence that when they got back to Seattle was going to be an inconvenience for Brian to deal with as he sought to ensure that he and Brenda lost none of the closeness that they had rediscovered.

After unpacking all of the clothes that he had taken with him to San Diego, Brian walked to Michaela's house to pay her a visit and start laying the groundwork for a winding down of their relationship. Michaela didn't kiss him when she opened the door for him; she pulled him into the house hurriedly without even saying hello, alarming Brian.

"There was a cop at your house while you were away."

"What?"

"I saw him there twice; he may have been there more than that. What does a cop want with you guys?"

"I have to go," Brian said, turning to leave.

"What's going on?" Michaela asked, grabbing hold of his hand.

"I'll tell you later, right now I have to go."

Brian extricated himself from her grip and ran home to warn Brenda, who was still unpacking when he burst in, too out of breath to speak.

"What's the matter?" She asked him.

"Cop," Brian answered, gasping for air, "There was a cop here...Michaela saw him...he came at least twice."

"Close the windows and curtains, and lock the doors," Brenda said, pushing past him to get started.

All Brenda thought as she hurried through the house with Brian working to make it look like nobody was home was that this was happening too soon. She had known that this day would come but not this soon, not before she had had the chance to be a part of any milestone events in Brian's life, things like driving him and his date to prom, seeing him throw his mortar board into the air on graduation, driving him to college. Whoever it was that had alerted the police to them had robbed them of experiences the memories of which they would have cherished forever.

Until Brenda had come up with a plan for what they were going to do they couldn't leave the house and they couldn't do anything inside the house that alerted anyone to the fact that they were at home. They had few options available to them, all of which involved them saying goodbye to the house that over the months they'd been living in it had become their home, the happiest home both of them had ever known. The only thing that Brenda was certain of was that Brian was not going back to his mother; she had promised him that when they'd been in San Diego and she was not going to break that promise no matter what she had to do to keep it. Day turned to night, and Brenda was no closer to a decision as to what she and Brian were going to do to escape from the danger they were in. As hard as she tried she couldn't envision a scenario in which they were able to make another life for themselves that was as wonderful as their life in Seattle had been, not when they were on the police's radar. The only way for them to stay together would be for them to go on the lam. Doing so would hardly be responsible; Brian would have to leave school and he could never go back, and he would have no future. She couldn't do that to him, if she did she'd be no better than his mother. This was the end for them. Brenda didn't say as much to Brian; she held him in her arms all night in bed without saying to him that this was going to be one of their last nights together.