***
My gut was churning as I made my way up my parents’ front walk six hours later.
I looked longingly over my shoulder at Silas’ place, then waved at the man on the motorcycle that was parked under the tree across the yard.
He waved back, and I walked into my parent’s house without knocking.
I found my mother at the kitchen sink, and my father sitting at the kitchen table reading the paper.
They both turned in surprise when they saw me.
“Hey baby,” my mother said. “Are you hungry?”
“No.” I shook my head. “I’m not.”
I hadn’t meant for my voice to sound so forlorn, but I couldn’t help it.
I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about the fact that my parents had divorced.
“What’s wrong, baby?” My dad asked as he stood up.
I looked at my dad as he walked across the room towards me.
He was a big, burly man with a pot-belly that confirmed his love his of beer and cake.
But he was still so handsome with his brown hair and his honey brown eyes.
He had a killer smile that was still the same as the day he married my mom.
“I…I overheard you today at Target,” I said, eyes on him and his reaction.
He froze and looked over his shoulder at my mother.
Had he told her what he’d done?
That question was answered moments later when my mother said, “You saw him with Judy.”
I nodded. “Yeah.”
She sighed and turned the water off, grabbing the towel beside the sink and drying her hands as she went to the table.
“Come sit,” she said, patting the seat. “Seems we have quite a bit to talk about.”
I could tell she wanted to talk about the whole Silas situation, too.
She’d been calling me since the night I’d found out about my prison sentence being for naught.
My brother had a big mouth and had probably told my mom the instant we’d left.
“How about we just get it all out on the table,” my father said without preamble. “Your mother and I divorced because we couldn’t get over the fact of how much we’d failed you. She wanted to keep fighting, but I forced her to stop the only way I knew how. By divorcing her.”
I blinked. “What?”
He nodded. “Without both of our incomes, she couldn’t keep it up, and she was forced to stop beating the dead horse.”
My mother’s eyes filled with tears.
My father’s head dropped. “We couldn’t afford anything else.”
I blinked. “I don’t understand.”
“Your mother and I always believed that you were innocent of the crime they’d accused you of, but we had no way to stop what was happening. We’d used our entire life savings, and all of the money in our 401Ks. Every penny we had, we used, and we just couldn’t do it anymore. It was already a struggle before, but after that, with the lawyer’s fees, we couldn’t do it and stay afloat.” My father’s voice cracked, “You’ll never know how truly horrible it was to do that to you…to your mother. But we just couldn’t do it anymore.”
I closed my eyes.
“I’m so sorry,” I whispered with devastation evident in my voice. “I’m so, so sorry.”
My father’s arms wrapped around me, as he said “It wasn’t your fault, and from what your brother’s told us, we really were right about it not being your fault. We love you, baby girl. And every cent and heartache was worth it. I only wish I would’ve let your mother try harder so you wouldn’t have had to spend eight years of your life in there.”
All this time I’d been avoiding them, and they’d sacrificed so much!
“I’m such a bad person,” I whispered brokenly as I clutched my father’s chest.
I felt my mother’s warm body at my back as she pressed her lips against my forehead. “It’s not your fault, honey bun. We both know you had no control over what happened.”
“I’ve been horrible to you since I’ve gotten back. I’ve been so ensconced in my mind that I haven’t been thinking about how it felt for you,” I whispered, wiping my tears on my father’s shirt.
My mother sifted her hand through my hair like she used to do when I was upset as a child.
“We understand, baby girl. We understand everything. Everything. We promise,” she explained.
I had a feeling we were no longer talking about just the way I’d treated them anymore.
I pulled away from my dad and turned to my mom, taking a deep breath.
“I love him,” I told her.
She smiled. “He’s easy to love. I’m just glad he loves you back.”
I blinked.
“How do you know that?” I asked.
“Because he’s come over and spoken with us about his intentions,” my father said at my back.
I gasped. “He what?”
My father nodded. “The day that your brother told us about you and him, he came over here and let us know personally. Then he let us know where everything stood with the charges, and how he was trying to convince you to get a lawyer to seek more restitution.”
I blinked.
Which was all I seemed capable of doing.
“Which we wholeheartedly agree with. We believe that you should be compensated for all the money you spent in legal fees, as well as your school loans,” my mother added.
I grimaced.
I’d forgotten about those.
But it didn’t surprise me that I would have to pay those back still.
Wonderful, yet another thing I had to worry about paying.
Shit.
“Okay,” I said finally. “I’ll think about it.”
My mother smiled.
“Good. Now, are you ready to have some pie, or should I wait a couple minutes before slicing it? It just got out of the oven,” she smiled, clearly hoping to entice me.
Really, there was no other option, so I had some pie.
And thought about ways that I could get my parents married again, since it was apparent they were living in sin.