A Guardian Angel for Harvey - Volume 3

Chapter 3 - Between the chairs

While Marcus drove his mother home, Harvey walked thoughtfully through the starry night on his crutches. He didn't have a real goal in his mind. He had never really walked here with Elizabeth, so she had no destination here either, no favorite place for him to look for. Back then, Marcus and Katie were looking for a house in their old homeland. He and Marcus had grown up around here as children. Even if a lot had changed here in the neighborhood in the last 20 years, some things still seemed very familiar to him. His elementary school looked so modern and had a new playground. It all reminded him of his childhood with all its ups and downs and how everything fell apart when he was 16. How he could forgive his mother for a mistake and then realize that it wasn't just a one-off and that she wouldn't stop cheating on his father. Why did she still have to blame others 15 years later for the fact that her marriage and with it her family broke up. Why did she have to blame Elizabeth?

Harvey had arrived at the baseball field. He stood at the edge, looking through the chain link fence at the moonlit field of bases. His eyes wandered to the grandstand, where his mother used to sit at the bench at every game and cheered him on. Today, however, someone else was there. There was someone lying at the top center on the bench. He slowly walked to the stands with his crutches and recognized who was lying there with a big baby bump. It was Elizabeth staring at the sky. Slowly, Harvey climbed row after row to get to the top.

Good evening, my angel, Harvey said, smiling, sitting down next to her head. Elizabeth didn't look at him as he gently stroked her head with his fingers. She sensed it was him and wasn't afraid.

How did you find me?

If I'd know that. What are you doing here? Here in a baseball stadium.

If I'd know that. The grandstand was the highest accessible place. Here you feel a little freer than down there. You feel closer to heaven. She was still looking at the sky and not at Harvey. He took off his jacket and put it over Elizabeth's belly. Then he looked dreamily at the baseball field.

When I was little, my mom used to sit here in the stands and I played baseball down there. My father and she were so proud of me. Every time one of them wasn't there, I was disappointed that they didn't take me seriously. That I couldn't show them how good I was.

You just wanted to be loved. said Elizabeth thoughtfully.

Yes, and at the time I hadn't understood that they would love me like that. It was important for a 13-year-old that his parents were at the games and not just saying they loved you.

Elizabeth snuggled her head in Harvey's lap and reached out for his hand.

Harvey, she loves you. She just wants to protect you and I can understand her. I don't want to come between you guys, but I also don't want our little one to only see his mom in those stands when he wins his first school championship. What should I do?

I love you Elizabeth and there is nothing my mother can do about that. I'll always love my mother too, but it's my life. I'm grown up and she can't kick you out of my life. She has to accept that you are a part of my life.

Harvey, she blames me for the broken family and you both got sick. She is absolutely convinced of that. Elizabeth sat down next to Harvey.

It's not your fault. My parents' marriage was broken even before Marcus fell ill, and the hard time of therapy didn't make it any better. Marcus suffered the most because, as you remember, I had moved out of the house. I wasn't there enough for him. He went quiet. Did you leave then because my mother wanted it that way? he asked thoughtfully.

No, you already know why. The time with you was beautiful then, but we couldn't be together. That would have jeopardized Marcus' therapy. We also each had our own problems to solve. I wasn't good enough and ready for you. And you were still too busy thinking about Scottie and yourself. Your mother just wanted to protect you, as she is doing now. She's scared of losing you and I can't blame her. She had lost you before. All these years you've lived your own life and kept her out of everything. And now? Even now you want to stay in NY and not go back to her.