Love

Happy Ending

~ Five Years Later ~

"I don't know if I can do it..."

"It's your mother. She has to at least be invited. It's not your fault if she doesn't turn up."

"I know that but... I haven't spoken to her in years..."

"It's not like you haven't tried."

"..."

"It's going to be okay. I can give it to her if you want me to."

"... No... I should be the one to do it... Thanks anyway."

"Do you want me to come with you? Just in case you back out last minute."

"That might be for the best."

~ At Lena's Mother's House ~

Walking up to the all too familiar door, I raise my hand to knock but I freeze up. Worry coursing through me, making my movements almost robotic.

What if she doesn't want to see me? What if she's disowned me because I left her? What if she tries to hurt me again? I don't want Tobey to hurt her...

"Do you want me to knock?"

Unable to say any words, I shake my head.

"Okay."

Taking a few deep breathes to try and slow down my rapidly beating heart, I attempt to move my arm and knock on the door. The sound is louder and more determined than the creator of the noise.

After a few moments have passed, I turn to look at Tobey.

"Maybe she's not in?" He suggests.

Immediately after he said that, the door slowly opened, revealing a slightly greying woman, ruining her once vibrant blonde hair, who doesn't look any different from the day I left her, aside from a few more wrinkles.

"Lena?" The woman asks.

"Hello, mother." I almost whisper.

"It really is you! Why did you leave?! I've been so alone!"

"I'm really sorry, mother..."

"With all due respect, ma'am, she has tried to call you but you never answered." Tobey steps in.

"Tobey, you don't nee-"

"Tobey? Isn't that the name of that boy you left me to go live with?"

"Yes, it is." Tobey answers for me. "We've come to tell yo-"

"Tobey, let me. Please."

He stops to let me continue.

Taking a deep breath in, I say, "Mother, Tobey and I are getting married. We've brought you an invitation. We may not have left things on good terms but... I hope you turn up. Even if it's just for the ceremony."

She's silent for a while until she says, "You're going to leave me. Again?!"

Oh no...

I thought I'd gotten away from thi-

"I'm happy for you."

"What?" Tobey and I say simultaneously.

"I'm so proud of you. I know I never said it enough when you were younger. I know it's my fault you had to leave. I never should have inflicted any harm upon you. I'm sorry..."

She looks like she's about to cry. She really means it.

"When you left, I couldn't help but blame myself, so I ignored your calls, it hurt me to do so, and took up counseling to help me change to be a better person. A better mother."

I never thought that that was why she was ignoring me.

"When you talked to me about Tobey, you kept saying that you were just friends, you always looked so happy. I realised that I had never made you as happy as you were with him... That was the main thing that made me change my ways. I made your father unhappy, that's why he left, I didn't want to lose you the same way as him, I don't know if I could have coped... I would have lost everything..."

Without even thinking, I bring her into a bone crushing hug.

"I never would have left you like he did. Every minute that I was away, I worried about you and how you were coping without me. Dad's death broke you, shattered your soul into tiny, unfixable pieces. I couldn't do anything but stay with you. I hated leaving you, I really did, but it was the best thing for me at the time, the best thing for both of us."

By now, we're both in tears, I think I can even see a small tear in Tobey's eye.

We stand there crying for a while, letting out all of our emotions in one big cry.

Once we'd calmed down and our tears had washed away, mum said, "I'll gladly come to your wedding. I would never miss it for the world."

The End