Isabella (The Mitchell/Healy Family #2)(51)
Author: Jennifer Foor

I took a deep breath and responded. “Hi, Mom.”

In all of my thirty three years I’d never been so nervous to hear my mother’s reply. This wasn’t like getting into trouble as a kid. I’d made an adult decision, and I was responsible for the consequences. If my parents wanted nothing to do with me it was my own fault.

“Russell? Is that you?”

“Yeah, it’s me.” I think she just needed to hear me confirm it.

“Oh my heavens, son. We’ve been so worried about you. Please tell me you’re okay? Every time the phone rings I pray that it’s you. We didn’t know what to think. You just left without a single word. You didn’t even leave a note, or tell the clinic. For a while we thought the worst. Then your dad hired an investigator, who confirmed that you were alive and all right.”

“I am. I wasn’t for a long time, though. I couldn’t take it. I couldn’t wake up every day in that house and see all of those reminders. I couldn’t even drive to the store and not think of things they liked to buy. Everywhere I turned was a memory. I was miserable. I hope you know that’s why I had to leave. Mom, I was so messed up over the girls. I couldn’t be around anyone. It hurt way too much.” The burning was lingering in my throat from explaining something so horrifying for me.

I could hear that she’d already started sobbing. “I know. It hurt us too. You weren’t the only one to lose them. You leaving destroyed your father.”

“I know. I’m so sorry. Is Dad there? I’d like to talk to him. I want to explain it myself. He needs to hear my apology.”

“Rusty, your father’s not doing well. He’s been in and out of the hospital. He had a stroke a couple of months ago and it paralyzed his left side. He’s doing better, but I can tell a big difference.”

Guilty couldn’t even begin to explain how I felt hearing the news of my father’s health. I sat there silently trying to come to grips with the fact that I could have missed the opportunity to say goodbye to someone else in my life. It grabbed at my heart, and tore me up. “How bad is it?”

“He spends most of his time in a recliner. The nurse comes once a week to get him up moving around. I try to do it myself, but he’s so stubborn. He complains all the time, but that lets me know he’s still with us. That man will complain up until the Lord takes him.” She was quiet for a moment. “Where are you, Russell? Are you calling because you want to come home? After all this time, I think it would do us all some good to see each other.”

I watched Isabella come into the room and sit down across from me. She must have sensed the pain in my eyes, because she reached across the table and grabbed my hand. It wasn’t much, but it gave me strength. “I’m in Kentucky. I’ve been here for two years, working on a ranch.”

“And you’re okay?”

“Actually, I’m better than okay. Mom, I met somebody. She’s helped me through a lot. We’ve been together for a little while now, and we’re expecting a baby.”

The line seemed like it had disconnected. I sat there, staring across the table, praying that my mother hadn’t keeled over and passed out.

“Mom, are you still there?”

“Ye..yes. I’m still here. Give me a second to sit down, son.” I could hear her scuffling around before she got back on the line. “Please tell me you’re going to come home and let us meet this person that’s helped you. It would mean everything to me. I’ve worried about you so much. For the longest time I wondered if something terrible had happened to you. I can’t tell you how good it is to hear the voice of my son again.”

I didn’t even hesitate. “We can come this weekend.”

“We’re not living in the same place, Russell.”

“Oh. Well, if you don’t have room we can get a room nearby,”

“I think before you make that decision you need to know something. When you left we understood your reasoning, but you have to keep in mind that it was hard for us too. Your father worked so hard to be able to leave you with a good life. The practice was supposed to be your future. He went back to work, up until his stroke. He hired another vet to rent the space and manage the clientele, but we get a percentage of the profits. The business is still in our name.”

“Dad came out of retirement for me? He didn’t have to do that. I knew what leaving meant for my occupation.”

“He did it because he knew you were broken. We hoped that one day you’d come home and want to live again.”

It was hard to imagine that my dad worked until his body started to give out on him. I’d put that added stress on him. I’d been the reason that he was so bad off. “Jesus, I’m so sorry. You must think I’m a coward. He probably can’t stand me.”

“I think that we all have our own ways of dealing with pain. You did what you needed to do, and so did your father. He was holding onto hope.”

“I still feel terrible.”

“Rusty, he didn’t just come out of retirement for you. We sold the old house and purchased yours when it went up for auction last year. We couldn’t lose the one thing in this town that reminded us of you and the girls. Plus, you’d done so much work to the place. We didn’t want you to not have a home to come back to.”

It was too much to bear. I sat the phone down on the table and turned it on speaker as I wept, right in front of my girlfriend. She got out of the chair and rushed to my side, holding me, and offering me comfort.

“Russell, are you there, son?”

“Yeah,” I sniffled. “I’m still here.”

“It’s up to you if you want to stay in the house. We didn’t change much. The pictures are still out and everything. I know it’s a lot to take in.”

I didn’t know how I was going to walk into that house and see the walls filled with memories of them. “We’ll be there Friday around dinner time. Don’t do anything special for us.”

“We love you, son. I just want you to know that. Your dad and I aren’t going to live forever. You’re our only child, so we wanted to leave you with something you’d treasure, instead of our old place. I hope you understand.”

I nodded, even though she couldn’t see me. “I love you too. We’ll see you in a few days.”

“I’ll prepare us a nice dinner. I can’t wait to tell your father. See you then.”