Where Life Takes Us

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Chapter Twenty-Eight

W A D E

"We're never this early, though. When was the last time we came half an hour early before Charlie's appointments?" Audrey pointed out, as my sisters and I got out of the car.

Letting out a quick sigh, I tried to smile as we headed to the building's front entrance. "Things are gonna look a little different today."

We didn't show up too early that day for no reason. The reason why was because our mom was waiting inside to meet up with us for Charlie's therapy session.

My talk with Mom stuck with me, replaying over and over in my head. After a while, I knew I had to have a proper talk with Charlie and Audrey about letting Mom back into our lives. I couldn't put it off any longer because it was just that simple: they needed their mom back with them.

It took us a while to talk things over together. I made sure to tell them that none of this was their fault, that I was sorry I hadn't been opening up about it to them, and that I'd be trying to make it up to them by letting them see Mom more.

Charlie and Audrey took it pretty well, but they had tons of questions about the whole situation. I tried to answer most of them, but it was hard. I knew most of their answers would come from Mom, not me.

At the end of our talk, I hugged them with that same protective instinct that came with being their big brother. Right after, I called Mom to ask if she wanted to come with us to Charlie's appointment a week from then. She stayed silent for at least thirty seconds like she couldn't believe what I said, before saying yes.

"Mom? What are you doing here?" Audrey asked, as she and Charlie ran looking as excited as they always were to see her.

Standing up to give them tight hugs, Mom smiled at them before looking at me. "Your brother thought it would be nice to have all of us here today."

My sisters looked at me in surprise with wide eyes, as Audrey softly said. "Thanks, Wade."

"Anything for you guys," I replied, ruffling their heads as Audrey jokingly swatted my hand away and Charlie giggled with a squeal.

Part of me felt like it was still wrong to be so quick to start forgiving her. There were still tons of unanswered things that I didn't wanna learn because I was scared. I couldn't forgive her overnight for all the years she was gone and the things she did to our family.

But the other part, the one that started taking over me more than ever knew this was for my family. Even though Dad wasn't here anymore, my sisters and I still had Mom with us. That was something I couldn't take for granted, no matter how mad I felt thinking about our situation.

It was gonna be hard and it would take some time but seeing Mom, Audrey, and Charlie together with matching wide smiles only told me this would all be worth it.

__________

For the most part, the session was pretty much the same as it always went. Charlie and her doctor would spend forty-five minutes together for her therapy, while we hung back in the waiting room. Then, Charlie would stay in a separate room with Audrey to distract her with toys, books, or colouring books while Grandpa and I got called in to discuss her progress.

The only difference was, Mom was here. Every time I looked over at her, my shoulders tensed up less and my heart didn't race knowing that we didn't have to go through this without her for the first time.

I knew how much this meant to Mom to be at one of Charlie's appointments for the first time. She jotted down tons of points to remember for Charlie in a notebook she brought and hung onto every word that the doctor said.