The Art of Letting Go

Epilogue

The Art of Letting Go  

Epilogue

Ring, Ring! Ring, Ring!

I was writing down some observations when the telephone distracted me. I heard Marie, the girl that was working for me, answering. About twenty seconds later she appeared at my door.

"Doctor, it's Newton's Elementary Private Institution of Science. The call's for you." She added with a forced smile. She had answered a few of those calls and knew that they never ended with me in a happy mode.

"Good afternoon, it's Emma Hale."

"Mrs. Hale, we are sorry to bother you but Gael has gotten involved in a food explosion and we need you to pick him up." What is it with this boy and explosions?

"I'll be there in twenty minutes, goodbye." I added and sighed. "Marie, I need to pick him up again. I'll be back later." She nodded and I went away.

I got to the office and saw him sitting outside. His uniform was covered in a red sauce with yellow and green spots everywhere. His usually messy brown hair was even more messed up and he was looking at the floor, shifting his hands nervously. With only eight years of age, Gael was a veteran in the art of making trouble. He was born for that apparently. I sat beside him and his gray eyes looked at my brown ones.

"What do you have to say to defend yourself?" I asked him slowly.

"Mom! I had the idea, I looked for the things. Andrew had nothing to do with this, please tell that to the headmaster. And his dad! I don't want him to get in trouble because of me." Said my son. Althought a troublemaker, Gael was excesively smart. Andrew was his partner in crime but I hadn't met his family properly. The teachers constantly complained about them yet they were both so smart. The school couldn't lose neither of these students.

"We'll speak later, young man." I want to know how you managed to do it this time. Of course, it wasn't his best action but I always managed to feel proud about his explanations. He was in third grade but sometimes he spoke as an older person.

"Mrs. Hale, the headmaster's waiting for you. Andrew's father is at the office." Said the school's secretary. "Would you like to take Sahara with you?"

"Yes, thank you." I told her while walking to the office. Gael gave me a small smile that I had returned and got into the office. Lucky for me, and for Gael, the headmaster was a close friend of mine. As close as my best friend from high school and college. As I got in, I saw her and stuck my tounge out. There was another person in there. And something in her face was unusual. There was an unspoken message in the way she was looking at me.

"Hello, Emma." The way she said my name had some underlying message. What's going on? The man that was sitting turned to look at me with the mention of my name and I stopped walking.

It may had been fourteen years since the last time I saw him but those brown eyes hadn't left my heart. Never. He recognized me too, his face told me so. I was suddenly overwhelmed by all the thoughts that ran through my brain. How is he? Is he Andrew's father? Who did he marry? Has he forgotten about me? Did he look for me after I basically ran away from him that day at the bay?

"Gale?" I had to ask. He suddenly smiled and his face brightened up. He hadn't change much. Of course, he looked older! But he wasn't bald nor fat. He had the same eyes, the same smile. His face was unshaved and his hands looked older but he was still there: the young man I had fallen in love with. He hugged me briefly before sitting down again.

"How are you?" He asked. I looked at my friend and saw her staring intensly at me. Another hidden message.

"I'm fine. Sorry, Lucy. What did you call us here for?" I asked her. She shook her head and raised an eyebrow. She knew who he was.

"I assume you both saw your sons. They actually managed to sneak in the school's kitchen and blow up the spaghettie's sauce. In the process they ignited some jello-s too." Oh my! "Fortunately, there were no students so nobody saw this. I hope you can both control your sons and tell them to keep shut about this whole incident."

"So Andrew's not getting expelled?" Asked Gale in an amused tone. Apparently he wasn't the one to come and respond for his son's actions.

"Mr. Leigh, Newton's School can't lose it's best pair of students." She told him with a small smile. "Let's just keep quiet about this. The boys already cleaned up their mess."

"Wow." He muttered. I smiled softly and thanked Lucy.

Gale followed me outside where I saw another boy sitting beside Gael. His hair was a dirty blonde and I assumed he inherited it from his mother. He was whispering something to my son who smirked lightly.

"Is that your son?" Gale asked me. "The blonde one is mine: Andrew."

"Yes, that's my son." I paused. "His name is Gael." My heart pounded heavily in my chest when I saw Gale's eyes widen. He then grineed brightly at me and pointed at a girl walking in the hallway. She had brown hair and a pair of brown eyes that I recognized. She was his daughter.

"That's my princess. Hello, Emma!" My head snapped at his direction when I saw him hug the girl. He named her Emma? "Emma, meet Emma. She's an old friend of mine." The girl smiled shyly at me and I returned the smile. She was beautiful. The girl walked toward her younger brother and sat down. "I never forgot about you, Emma. You dissapeared."

"I'm sorry, Gale. I couldn't... I couldn't live with all that was happening." There were no more words needed. He understood what I meant because I saw it on his face.

"Mommy?" A child's voice interrupted us. I turned to see my six year old daughter running to my arms. I catched her and twirled around a bit. She was giggling softly and placed a kiss on my cheek. "Can we go see Daddy today? I made him a card."

I felt a pain at my heart when I heard her say that to me. "Of course, Sweetheart. Go sit with your brother, we'll go soon." I turned to look at Gale.

"Are you divorced?" He asked me bluntly.

"No, actually." I responded in a soft voice. "Christian, my husband, died two years ago." My heart sank in my chest. I had loved that man with an incredible force and he too had been taken away from me. "He had leuchemia."

"I'm so sorry, Emma." Said Gale and hugged me. His eyes were shinning in a way that made me go back. I went back to the beginning, back to the everything... "Do you want to get lunch someday?"

"What will your wife say?" I asked him.

"She can't say a thing. We're divorcing. I caught her with someone else." He said while his jaw hardened. What kind of woman could do such a thing to him?

"Oh, Gale! I'm really sorry too!" I told him quickly. His eyes softened and he spoke again.

"It's my fault. It's my fault because I didn't keep my promise once fourteen years ago. I should have listened to my heart. I should have given my first love another chance. I was blind." He said with a smile. There were no words needed at that moment.

I just smiled and gave him my card. He would know what to do. I walked to where my kids were and gave them my hands. I was feeling more complete now. The two persons I would give my life for were walking by my sides. One was covered in food and the other had a card for her daddy. And as I turned around I saw the man my soul belonged to. He smiled at me and waved.

Sometimes, you have the right person at the wrong time. Sometimes, you have the right time and maybe the right person will come along too. Sometimes you just need to let go in order to recieve back something greater. And sometimes, just sometimes, you'll recieve much more than what you asked. You'll recieve everything.

-The End.