Page 24 of Out Of A Fix

It was hard to read their faces but they were all staring at me.

“There’s actually one coming up,” Tatum revealed. “A neighborhood one.”

“That’s great,” I told her. “But you all need to listen to me when I say you can all still love your mom. I know your father wants that, and it’s not being disloyal to him to love her. And you can put up pictures of her in your rooms, though I didn’t see any in Tatum’s room when I was in there earlier.”

“None of us have any pictures of her up,” Griff said.

“But your father said you could.”

“I didn’t want to upset him.”

“But not having them up made you sad,” I countered.

“Yeah, but if you were here when he was taking them down… He was so mad.”

“He was,” Darwin whispered.

“At the time,” I stressed to them. “But that was right after she left, wasn’t it?”

They all nodded.

“Okay,” I said, and took a breath. “It’s different now. You should put pictures of her up in your rooms if you want.”

“They’re all in the attic,” Griff apprised me, his voice barely there.

“Well, we’re gonna get them outta there, because in the common areas, the places you all share, everybody’s feelings have to be taken into consideration, and that includes your father’s,” I explained, noting I had their rapt attention. “But in your own space, your own rooms, if you want pictures of your mother in there, then that’s your choice and nobody else’s.”

“Yeah, but—” Griff began.

“Plus, your father already gave you permission,” I reminded them.

“But if Dad comes in, he’ll be upset,” Tatum said sadly.

“First time, maybe. Second time, probably. But by the tenth time, eleventh time, he’s gonna get used to seeing her face again, and it will become normal.”

I knew it was different for Luke. The kids missed their mother—and there were feelings of abandonment wrapped up in there as well, so there was pain and hurt—but it was a whole other deal for their father. He had his own feelings of anger, betrayal, and loss. When his wife left him for another man, she’d turned her back not only on him, but on the children they raised together. He was shouldering that burden all alone and, I was certain, cracking under the pressure.

“I promise you, your father will understand.”

“She didn’t take us with her,” Griff rasped.

“I know,” I whispered.

He quickly wiped away new tears. “I miss her, and I know Dad doesn’t wanna hear it, but I do. She was gentle.”

“Like you,” Tatum told me.

Darwin nodded.

I scoffed. “Oh, you all, you don’t know. I can be loud and rough, so you gotta be ready when that happens, all right?”

“I think if you’re loud for us, then that’s okay,” Darwin insisted.

“Yeah,” Griff agreed. “I think it’s good.”

“Well, I’ll tell you what—I’m about to get really loud very quickly,” I stated, getting up and heading toward the door of the room we were in. Fortunately, the nurse came in at the same time with Griff’s discharge paperwork.

“Oooooh, you’re so lucky,” Tatum informed her.