Page 48 of One Moment in Time
Eileen shrugged. ‘Not really. Embarrassed. Sad. Regretful. It was the biggest mistake of my life…’
‘Shanks vethy muth,’ his dad murmured from under the ice pack. Aiden pressed down very slightly harder and got a howl of complaint which he ignored.
His mom went on, ‘And I could make a dozen excuses for it, but the truth is, it was a moment of madness…’
They both ignored his dad’s, ‘Ppfffft,’ of objection.
‘…and my greatest shame. I’ve never stopped thinking about it, regretting it, wishing it were different. My only consolation, and I’ve reminded myself of it every single day since then, is that if all that stuff hadn’t happened, then I wouldn’t have you. If I could go back, I’d change it all, but not if it meant I didn’t end up with you.’
Aiden exhaled, not really sure where to go with this, but knowing that no matter what had happened back then, he was responsible for bringing it all into their lives now. ‘I can’t believe that I opened you up to all this. I’m so sorry. I honestly thought I was doing something great for you, something that you’d love.’
‘I know that, son, and you don’t need to apologise to me. If anything, it should be the other way round. It must be pretty shocking to have found all this out about us. Especially on top of what you were already dealing with. Your opinion of us must have crashed and burned today.’
Aiden saw her eyes fill up and tried not to show his surprise. His mom wasn’t a crier. She was the one who just took the hit, then got right back up again. In fact, before the conversation in the restaurant earlier, he couldn’t remember ever seeing her cry, and that was unleashing a bit of a panic in his gut. He let go of the ice pack. ‘Here, Dad, you do this yourself.’
The other wound in the room was far more important right now. He went to his mom and hugged her, letting her hang on until she was ready to release him.
‘Thank you, son,’ she said, brushing away more tears.
‘Mom, I know this is crap, and I wish I could say the right thing to make you feel better, so here’s how I see it… You were young. It was one mistake, and it was thirty years ago. Unless you’ve got some other dark secrets that I don’t know about…’
That made the corners of her mouth turn up. ‘None that I’m prepared to admit.’
Her sense of humour was still there. Hopefully that was a good sign.
‘Okay, then you need to let this go and forgive yourself. And anyway, as you rightly pointed out, if that hadn’t happened and you hadn’t married Dad, then you wouldn’t have a son who tries to do good shit and ends up breaking your heart and decimating your life. So, you know, there’s always that bonus.’
Sniffing, trying to smile, she leaned over and hugged him again. ‘So true.’
Weary, he got up and flicked on the coffee maker at the drinks bar. While he was there, he checked his phone. Two texts. The first from Zara.
OMFG. That’s all. OH. MY. FUCKING. GOD. And I’m sorry. Again. Hope you haven’t been disowned. Zx
He had a flashback to Zara’s face when everything was revealed downstairs and the devastation was clear to see. All those months in the planning, all the thought she’d put into it, the anticipation of the big surprise, only to be crapped upon from a great height by his mum and dad. He felt an overwhelming urge to apologise, to make amends, to do something, anything to repair the damage. He texted back…
Not disowned yet. Apologies for our team wrecking your surprise. Hope you’re all okay. Can I do anything to make this better? Ax
No immediate response. Okay. Understandable.
He opened the second text, this one from Trevon.
Hey, parents killed each other yet? Mom okay?
This text was a lot easier to write.
Shitshow. Dad got his lights punched out. Mom is struggling. Loads going on. Long story. Can’t talk now, will call you later.
His dad was still licking his wounds on the bed, so he pulled a beer out of the minibar and took it over to him. ‘Here you go, Pop,’ he said, lifting the ice from his dad’s face and trying not to wince. It didn’t look great. As far as he could see, the nose wasn’t broken, but it was definitely swollen and the bruising was already coming up and spreading under his eyes. The good-looking face would probably need dark glasses to cover two black eyes by the end of the day. It was always the little guys you had to watch. How many times had his dad told him that on the basketball court and the soccer pitch?
Gary took the beer, but instead of opening it, he ditched the ice and held the can against his face instead.
Aiden went back over to sit with his mom, when a thought occurred to him.
‘Can I ask a question?’
‘Sure,’ his mom replied, at the same time as his dad said, ‘Nope.’
Aiden went with the positive response. ‘What happened next? I mean, how come you guys stayed here and didn’t go home?’
