Where do Broken Hearts go? (A Haylor Fan Fiction)

Chapter 50: This Love

This love is good
This love is bad
This love is a life back from the dead
These hands had to let it go free
And this love came back to me

Today is exactly one week since mom left, two days since the memorial and the void in my heart remained the same.

Tom and I has been giving each other time alone since the day of the funeral, I know he is hurting just as much as I am and there is really nothing I can say or do to ease the pain except for sharing it with him.

The day Harry drove me to the convenience store and offered me a huge cup of yogurt, we haven't seen each other since. After crying on his shoulders he drove me home but we kept on texting each other. He also offered to come by but I have told him that I want sometime alone. And I am glad he respected it.

Honestly, I have no constant plan at the moment, I am not sure if I am coming back to Manhattan or not. All I want is to keep my mom's presence with me as much as I can. And this house is the only place that holds those memories. Tom and I haven't talked about the living situation yet, in reality, we are not related but I know that he also wants to be in my mom's presence, so I will never take that away from him. I will forever be thankful for him for loving mom the way that he did.

Spending time with Harry and seeing how good he is to me — and I meant genuinely seeing how caring he is — beyond the anger and bitterness I have towards him. It made me question all my decisions in the past, and I do not want those thoughts take away my time for my mom. So I don't want to meet him until I could figure things out.

Walking towards the kitchen, I saw Tom sitting on the bar stool with a cup of coffee in front him. The pain of mom's death is too obvious on his face. My heart breaks for him, he just looks defeated.

Today, the lawyer is coming by to discuss my mom's will.

"Hi," I smiled at him weakly.

He gave me a slight nod as he sips on his coffee. I walked towards the cupboard to get a cup, then poured myself some coffee from the machine and sat on the bar stool opposite him.

"Taylor, I wanna talk to you before our meeting with the lawyer." He tells me as soon as I settled in.

Nodding at him, "Okay,"

He took a deep breath, "This might not be the right time to discuss this, but I think there can never be a right time for it," he says.

"I understand, it's okay, you can tell me." I said.

"After our meeting with the lawyer, I am leaving," he says.

That totally caught me off guard, "leaving where?"

"I got an inheritance from my folks, a ranch in Texas," he answered.

What? He is moving to another state? I didn't even know Tom is from Texas, all along I thought he was born and raised in Wake Forest.

"If this about the house, you don't even have to worry about it," I told him.

Its true. I don't have any interest on anything my mom left, not because I don't care but because I trust Tom that he will take good care of it.

"Everything your mom had belongs to you Taylor," he tells me. "You know, after our wedding, I asked Andrea to move with me in Texas, you know take care of the ranch and just live in the countryside, but she didn't want to leave because she was waiting for you to go home,"

My tears started forming on my eyes. Mom waited for me for so long and all I ever did was avoid her and my past.

"I can still remember when she told me that 'Taylor belongs to this place, and I won't leave until she figures it out," he says and I found myself sobbing. "This place is yours Taylor, you belong to this town, your mom saw it, she felt it so you gotta stop running and just come home."

I cried and with every tear I felt like I am releasing all those anger, bitterness, guilt, pain and hurt I have inside of me. Mom knew that I was running even before I did. She never condemned me for it instead she patiently waited for me to come home. Tom stood up and pulled me into an embrace. In his arms I cried my eyes out.

After the meeting with the lawyer, Tom decided to hit the road going to Texas, he wanted to think while he drives home. He actually did not take many things, mostly just memories of her and mom together. Mom left the house in my name since it was an alimony from her divorce with dad and Tom and I had equal share on her multiple insurance policies.

"I can never put into words how thankful I am to you for the everything you did for mom," I told Tom as I was walking him to his truck.

"We may have been married for a short period of time but no one can replace her in my heart. The love I have for her overflows from the love she showed me. " He tells me in teary eyes. "You know, we may not be related by blood and we may not spent a lot of time together, but I want you to know that we will always be family, call me, visit me, anytime."

Nodding, I walked to him for a tight embrace. I bet mom is smiling at us from heaven.

The house became even more quiet when I was finally alone. I walked to every part of the house like it was my first time and the memories of my mom came crashing back on me. All of it. from the very beginning until the last days. Of course I cried but it was all worth it. I felt like mom's was hugging me and giving me the best comfort just like she did when I was little.

After a while I decided to go to her bedroom. It was empty, no trace of Tom, like he was never there. All was left where mom's things, some that I can remember from seven years ago. Sitting on her bed covered with plane white sheets I remembered what she told me about a gray shoebox in her closet. I walked towards the cabinet and opened it, her clothes are hanging neatly and on the floor beside her shoes was the gray shoebox she was referring to.

Taking the box with me towards the bed I opened it and there I saw hundreds of envelopes, actually unopened letters. All are addressed to me. My heart started beating too fast. All came from Harry.
——