A Starling's Awakening

Emotional Fireworks

Mark, Bret, and a gaggle of boys, including Josh and Reuben, walked into the backyard. Their trouser legs were wet, and muddy in spots. Bret was carrying a five gallon bucket. He grinned as he walked up.

"We caught a whole mess of crawdads!" I walked over and kissed him. I looked in the bucket. There was a writhing mass of what looked like little lobsters. I glanced at Mark. He was frozen, staring at his parents. I felt the muscles in Bret's arm tense up.

Bret said, "No! You can't be here. Not after all this time." I had never heard anger like that in Bret's voice before. It scared me. I looked at his face. His eyes were locked on Veronica and Stephen.

Veronica answered, "Bret, we came looking for our son. It's been a long time."

"It's been entirely too long, and you have no right."

"What do you mean, I have no right? He's my son!"

"You abandoned him when you learned he had a problem. You turned tail and ran when he needed you most! THIS family stayed alongside him! THIS family loved him enough to get him the help he needed, and to stand with him. YOU LEFT!"

If Bret was like this with his own flesh and blood, my parents wouldn't stand a chance if they were to suddenly show up. I looked around. Everyone had gathered to see what the commotion was all about. I had a gentle grip on Bret's arm. I gave a light tug, and he pulled loose.

He asked quietly, "Where's our son? We're going home." Ruby still had him. I collected him from her while Bret grabbed the diaper bag.

As Bret was buckling Paul into his car seat, Mark climbed in the back seat on the other side of our SUV. He didn't say a word. None of us said anything on the drive home.

After changing Paul, I sat next to Bret on the couch. Paul was beginning to nurse when Mark broke the silence.

"Thank you, Bret. I'm not ready to face them."

"You shouldn't have to."

"I just ask that you not hold anything against Mandy. She's innocent in all of this."

"Was she the reason your parents knew where to find you?"

"Yes, and she's the reason they were there. She's been trying to get us to reconcile for at least the last year."

"I remember she was writing you letters while you were at Hilltop."

"We never stopped writing. I have every letter she's ever written to me, and I suspect she has quite a stack of mine."

Robert and Helen brought Barney and Ruby home. Mark spent the night. Barney drove him to pick up his car the next morning.

Dear Diary, I guess every family has its black sheep, as well as its lost sheep. It seems I married the sheep dog. I pity the wolf that stumbles into this fold.