Always & Forever (A 'The Last Of Us' Fanfic)

Chapter 38

3 years later...

Beth had given New York three years. After she graduated from high school, her mother showed up just as her father had hoped. A heated argument had ensued which caused Beth to leave home furious. She was appalled that after 8 years without a word that her mother decided to show up.

April Logan did not want to miss her daughter graduating. She had been all over the world trying to find herself and once she did, she had regretted ever leaving. She had admitted to feeling trapped in the same routine and she was growing anxious. She and Don had had Beth at a young age and was okay with it at first. She loved Don deeply and felt she was the luckiest woman in the world to have found a man that would be willing to stick by her through thick and thin. The two married not long after Beth was born and had a good life until she had reached an epiphany of some sort. She closed herself off from everyone she knew and just travelled. Don had urged Beth to give her a chance. And she had agreed for his sake. He was the happiest she'd seen him the first few days after April had resurfaced. She decided to head over to New York early. She didn't want to risk doing something rash that would cause her father a deeper pain than when April had left him.

***

"Fine. You can stay here with him, April. But if you cause him any sort of pain whatsoever, you'll regret it," she said as she packed her bags.

"Beth. She's your mother. You will treat her with respect," Don said.

"The day she deserves it. And the day she earns that title back will be the day when I'll call her that. But right now, she's just April Logan, a woman who abandoned her family. Nothing more," she shot back.

"I understand, honey. You have every right to feel the way you do. I promise I will do my best to make it up to you," April said.

"Don't make promises you can't keep, April. You ought to have learned that by now," Beth retorted.

"Bethany," Don warned.

"Dad. I get that you feel the way you do but respect that I feel the way I do for a good reason. She abandoned us. You may be able to forget that easily but I'm not. Not when I saw what it did to you. I hope you know that you crumbled him, April. There were days where I thought I'd never see him smile again. And there were days where I cried myself to sleep. How do you explain to a ten year-old that their mother left? And how was I supposed to take that? I thought maybe it was something I did. For the longest time, I felt responsible for you leaving. How dare you put that on me, I was a child," Beth said angrily.

Tears burned at the back of her eyes.

"Honey...I...I don't even know what to say," April said.

"Yeah. You wouldn't cause you weren't here," Beth said sarcastically.

"Beth," Don began.

"No, dad. And how dare you expect me to forgive her. I've never told you any of this because I didn't want to hurt you like she did. I felt I needed to be strong for the both of us. I don't forgive her and to be honest, I don't think I ever will. So don't stand there and tell me to forgive her just because she gave birth to me. That doesn't mean shit. It's a good thing I'm leaving otherwise I would have driven myself mad living under the same roof with her. I love you, dad but I can't even look at her right now. What I said earlier, still goes. You cause him any more pain than he's already been in, I'll make you regret it," she said.

She grabbed her bag kissed her dad on the cheek and stormed out, and headed straight to the airport.

***

Although they hadn't gotten back together after prom night, Joel and Beth remained in touch. He was there for her when he heard her mother was back in the picture. He knew how much her heart broke when she had left all those years ago. He could only imagine how much more pain she was in now that she was back in her and Mr. Logan's life. Joel had promised to be there for her whenever she needed and she greatly appreciated it because she knew that he meant it. He spent time with her as much as he could before she decided to head to New York early. He couldn't blame her but he was bummed because the two of them wouldn't have the summer together like he'd hoped. Another summer without her and that made his heart heavy. Would the two ever have a summer together? He'd often wondered when and if that would ever come.