THE ROAD TO YOUR HEART (Completed) ✔

15 : Remembering Why

"I grew up in very simple times. My parents owned a small home with 2 bedrooms. They had one of the rooms to themselves while I shared the other with my little brother.

We came from a working class family for the most part and my brother and I attended a pretty decent school back in the day. It was a stable and happy life regardless of the fact that we weren't wealthy.

As a child, I already knew what we could afford and what we couldn't and even though I didn't get to celebrate my birthday annually like the other kids or even receive presents on the holidays, I was still very happy knowing that I had my parents and my brother with me. That was all I truly cared about and it made my childhood very exciting. "

"Wow, I must say that I admire your love towards your family. You are truly an amazing woman. Your parents must be so proud of you." Chris smiled.

"My mom is." She smiled as the memories of the good and bad times they've shared together started to flood through her mind. "I'm even more proud of her because despite all of the challenges and obstacles she's had to face in life, she somehow managed to defeat and overcome every single one of them on her own. She's truly no ordinary woman."

"I can definitely see where you get your undeniable strength and remarkable courage from. They say the apple doesn't fall far from the tree." He said.

"You're absolutely right." Jacqueline smiled.

"You didn't really mention much of your dad. I guess you're closer to your mom than you are to him."

"My father..." Jacqueline's features hardened as she thought about the man she once called Dad. "He walked out on us during my first year of college. My mom was very ill at the time and couldn't work anymore so it was up to me and him to take care of the family. I went to school during the day and worked throughout the night at a supermarket. One day, I got back from work in the early hours of the morning and saw my mom sitting on the porch crying.

When I asked her what was wrong, she told me to go inside and take a look.
I went in and to my surprise, I saw that we didn't have any furniture or electronics left. My dad took everything including our clothes, shoes, jewelries and my mom's credit card during the late hours of the night because he knew my mom wouldn't wake up easily due to the medications she took. There was a note on the ground. I checked to see what it was and found out it was a letter from him.

In it, he explained that he had found love again with another woman that was willing to take care of him. He apologized for taking everything but said he needed to use the money to build their lives together. He concluded by wishing me good luck since it was now up to me now to take care of the family."

"That's terrible! How could he abandon you and your family and do away with everything you guys owned when you needed him the most?! My God!" Chris shook his head.

"He's human!"

"A sorry excuse for one. Tell me, how did you manage to take care of the family after your father left?" He asked.

"The week after he left, I applied for a another job. So now I was barely getting any sleep. From going to school in the morning to working job number 1 during the day and then job number 2 throughout the night, I became a walking zombie. I finally broke down a couple of months later when my mom told me her insurance could no longer cover the costs of her medication.

I had to drop out of school and got a third job to support my mom but unfortunately, it wasn't enough because I still couldn't afford all the meds she needed. Her health started to deteriorate so I had to take her to the hospital again. The doctors were able to get her in a stable condition once more but they told me they wouldn't be able to keep her there more than a couple of days without any insurance.