Corporate Bride

16.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Waiting was not something he loved doing. However today, there was no escape. Sydney's mother was in the emergency room and she could not stop crying. He had to stay, as he could not leave her in that condition.

"What happened?" He still had not gotten an answer to that question.

"I don't know." Sydney snuffled while raising her head off his shoulder to gaze into his eyes. "We were outside when your mother came. She started acting weird and then..."

That was the moment Sydney recalled that Mary was with them. She had been around when Adeline fell to the ground. She forgot of her, as she had been worried about her mother.

"My mother was with you?" Anderson gasped.

"Yes. She might have walked away after my mother collapsed." Sydney replied, while getting up from the chair. "What is taking them so long?"

Pacing around, she tried not to think that her mother might have passed on. No, she did not even want to think of the possibility. Although her mother had not been good to her, she still loved her. She was her mother after all. That woman gave birth to and raised her.

It was true that she has suffered in her hands, but she was never like that during her childhood. Her mother used to be very caring and loving. Sydney believes that the death of their father shattered and made her mother the wasted woman she was today.

A nurse suddenly called Sydney's name and she run out of the waiting area. Anderson caught the smile on her face right before she left. She looked very happy and could not wait to see her mother. Her reaction made him wish he cared that much for his mother. He doubted Mary would care for him. Did she even love him? Maybe not, because her heart was too stone cold for such an emotion to develop from it.

Getting up from the chair, he moved through the corridor and went downstairs to handle the paper work.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Sydney was very happy to see her mother awake. It had been a long time since she saw her sober. Adeline's eyes were not red, but showed their real natural woodsy brown colour.

"Mother." She sat at the edge of the bed and took her mother's hand. "Don't scare me like that again." She said.

Adeline looked at her daughter. "Don't be such a baby. As you can see, I am fine."

"You collapsed! Does that not bother you? Mother you have to stop drinking."

Adeline quickly removed her hand from under Sydney's and snapped. "I will never stop drinking." Her eyes drifted to the window and stared at the waving curtains. "I can never stop drinking." She added, sadly.

Sighing, Sydney got off the bed and moved to the other side, so she was staring at her mother's face. "Why, mother? Why can't you stop drinking?" Adeline rolled over and turned her face away from her.

"I did something really horrible." Her reply was so low that Sydney barely heard it.

"Something horrible?" She could not believe that her mother was capable of doing something horrible. The woman was troubled, yes, but not mentally unstable. What "horrible thing" had she done that made her into a drunk? Had she not started drinking because she lost her husband?

"What horrible thing did you do?"

Adeline heaved a sigh. Sydney stepped around the bed and her mother turned the other way, growling. "Let it be."