The Space Between Us

Chapter Fourteen

It was a cliche, Rose thought, but it was right- she looked so pale, lying there on the hospital bed. Mr. Egbert was holding her hand tightly as he looked at her and Dave. Her mom's odd-colored pale pink eyes were closed tightly, but her chest rose and fell.

"She's sleeping right now." whispered Mr. Egbert. "I can wake her up if you kids want to talk to her, though. I know you were worried."

"Mr. Egbert..." Dave said softly. "How do you feel about all this?"

He raised his eyebrows underneath his jaunty fedora. Truly, that was a hat for a man of class- but we're getting off topic. "You mean, do I still intend to marry your mother?" For a moment, the normally stoic man smiled. "I'm sure you and my son were hoping this might make me change my mind. I know this is hard on all of you."

Mr. Egbert, letting go of his fiance's hand, took off his hat and held it tightly. "I've always know Roxy had a drinking problem. Now, she's a wonderful women when she's sober, so I hoped I could simply ignore the issue. Unfortunately it seems this isn't something to be ignored. Hopefully this experience will convince her to make a change."

"And if it doesn't?" asked Dave coldly.

John's father paused. "Then I suppose we'll have to rethink things, won't be? But don't worry about that. I'm sure your mother will make a change for the better. For me and for you kids."

"I hope so..." Dave mumbled quietly, staring down at his mom's skinny body. Her blonde hair spread across the pillow like a- hey! "She's waking up!" He said, excitedly. "Mom! It's me, Dave!"

"Calm down, Dave..." Rose whispered to him. "She's going to be out of it."

Mrs. Lalonde- Roxy, oddly enough, to her fiance (Rose never really thought about her mom's first name, but it was a silly coincidence that the lady at the LGBT meeting had the same name)- blinked slowly, taking in the three people looking down anxiously at her. "Dave? Rose?" 

"Hi, Mom." Rose said softly. "Mr. Egbert is here too."

She looked up at him, smiling weakly. "James. I'm glad you came- sorry I did such a silly thing and ended up here."

He bent down and kissed her on the forehead. "Don't worry about it, Roxy. We're going to work things out." Mr. Egbert- James- paused for a second, looking at the worried faces of Dave and Rose. "I'm going to go talk to John and Jade- why don't you talk to your kids? They're been worrying themselves crazy about you."

Mrs. Lalonde nodded, and he walked out the door to leave the three of them alone together.

"Dave... Rose... I want you to know I'm sorry about this. I really am."

"Mom- listen." Dave said quietly, looking down at her with pain in his eyes. "I want you to know I love you. Sometimes I do a really s****y job of showing and I'm angry a lot and I do stupid things. But I don't want you to drink because of me."

"What?" His mom said. "Dave, honey. I don't drink because of you- and I know you love me. Did you think this was your fault?"

Dave didn't answer- he only looked down at the floor in shame.

"None of this is your fault, Davie. It's all my own dumb decisions- but I'm going to change now, I promise. I'm going to change for you kids. I love you both."

"This is getting a little too sappy for my blackened heart, Mom- but I love you too. I love both of you idiots." Rose said warmly.

"Dave?" She said, turning to her brother. "Do you want to hug it out?"

Rose narrowed her eyes- something about him looked different behind those black shades. "Oh my god, Dave, are you crying?"

He shook his head, sniffling, but tears had started to spill down his cheeks. "It's okay to cry." Rose said. She reached forward and hugged him tightly, taking comfort in his sturdy warmth.

"You want a hug too, Mom?"

Mrs. Lalonde shook her head and smiled slightly. "I don't think I'm in the best position for one right now."

"God, it's like a cheesy sitcom here." Dave muttered, grinning through his tears. "We're such a big happy family- and wholesome, too, if you ignore the fact that Rose is a huge lesbian."

Rose smiled at her brother and her mom. "I say we all go punch something to regain our manliness."

Her mother shook her head, a bit of color returning to her pale cheeks. "I'm not feeling up to punching anything. Personally, I think you all are manly enough anyways- and my only goal from now on is to a better mom."

"That's a good one to have."