Ties (Book 1)

25. Leave

My father's newspaper was scattered on the floor. He was on his knees with his arms wrapped around my mother's thin waist. And I sat on a chair with my face hidden in my arms on the breakfast table. It was nine in the morning on a Saturday, and we had already had a hell of a day.

It had been a week since my mother's hospital release, and the first time she left her bedroom. We all sat quietly around the mahogany, round table having breakfast, like what would seem like a normal family. We were on the verge of finishing our breakfast, when my mother spoke up. Informing my father and I of her plans, which left us gaping at her.

"You can't leave me! I... I'm so sorry. You know I am. Please! Please don't leave!" My father had stood up abruptly, causing the chair to tip over, and the newspaper fly around before landing on the floor.

"I'm not leaving indefinitely. I just need some space, respite. I'll only be gone for a few weeks." My mother tried to reassure us.

"You're going to leave me alone... With him?" I accused.

"You two managed a month without me here."

"That's because we were hardly home! He worked all day, and I stayed with you or went to school."

"You can't leave us Elisabeth. We... We need you." My eyes shot up to him. He had said we not I that time. I wondered if that meant anything.

"Please, Nicholas, I need a break." Tears dripped from her eyes.

That was when he got on his knees and begged her more. He cried in to her stomach with his arms holding her tightly. At first she looked up at the ceiling, as she cried, but after a while, she grabbed his hair and caressed it. I had to divert my eyes away, so I placed my head on the table. I didn't want to stay with my father for who knew how long, while she spent time in France. Maybe I was selfish for wanting to keep her here. You are selfish.

But it had not mattered how much we had begged, she left the following week. Bruce, Nicholas, and I watched her plane lift off the runway.

She called everyday. I missed her, but I was okay. My father and I managed not to kill each other. I never asked for permission to go out; I informed him when I was going and where, but never asked.

After three weeks... She came back. She looked more at peace with herself. The bags under her eyes were almost gone, and the blush to her cheeks returned.

"I want us to start over as a family. I wish Johnny could have been here to see this and experience it, but he's not. I'm still not ready to share a room, Nick. I want us to be what we were before we became husband and wife, to rekindle what we had at first."

And like that, we slowly started behaving like a family. At first I only tolerated my father, but at one point I started enjoying his presence. Not in a million years would I have thought that I would be sitting around a screen watching a movie with my parents, or playing a board game, or going kayaking, or hiking. Both of my parents went to my cheer competition and rooted for me; it was weird to see them dressed so casually, fashionably, but casual nonetheless and yelling my name at the top of their lungs. In conclusion, February went by in a flash.

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Well the change that was so desired happened. Enjoy!