Chapter 26

“I’m not sure how much Mia has told you about her mother and my relationship. I fell in love with Norma when I was about thirteen. I was seventeen before I worked up the nerve to talk to her.” He laughed and said, “She was every bit as beautiful as Mia is and you can probably see how that might be intimidating for a guy like me.”

Asher grinned. “If you’re fishing for a compliment Frank, I’m not telling you you’re pretty.”

Frank laughed. “Fine, I’ll have to get my ego boost someplace else.” Turning serious again he said, “I just want to try and describe to you how I felt about her. When she agreed to go out with me I thought I was the luckiest guy ever, but when she kept going out with me and agreed to marry me, I thought I was lost in a dream. I loved that woman with every fiber of my being. But, my Norma was not perfect. She was raised with a great deal of money and privilege and her upbringing gave her the idea that your status was a huge part of who you were and whether or not people liked you. She felt like we were head and shoulders above most of the people in this county and if she felt she was ‘above’ someone, she could actually be really nice to them and really generous if they needed anything. The people she had trouble relating to believe it or not, were the ones that she felt threatened by. The only people who had more money than her parents when she was growing up were Lily’s parents. Norma and Lily grew up together; they were only a few years apart. I saw your mother go out of her way to speak to Norma and be kind and I saw Norma go out of her way to twist everything Lily said into some kind of an insult. At first I was still too much in awe of my young wife to correct her on it and as time went on I guess I just accepted that was how things were supposed to be between our families. Did your parents ever talk to you about this ridiculous ‘feud?’”

“All they ever told me was that they didn’t really know what started it but that you four had grown to dislike each other.”

“I’m sure they grew to dislike us because of our rude behaviour. When Norma found out that you and Travis were so close, she sat him down and told him that he couldn’t be friends with you. Travis was a smart kid though. He told her that she was the one who taught him to seek out people in his life who were kind and fun and had a capacity to love other people without judging, yet; she was judging you based solely on the merits of your last name. He told her if she could give him a legitimate reason not to be friends with you that he would consider it. Of course, she wasn’t able to do that and you and Travis remained friends. When your mother got sick, Travis told us. But for a long time we continued to see her in town and she just didn’t seem ‘that’ sick to us. I felt horrible for every time I thought about not going over to see if there was anything we could do to help. We were terrible neighbours by that point.”

“I’m sorry about Travis,” Asher said, quietly.

Frank smiled sadly at him and said, “So am I, son. There are no words to describe the horrors of being a parent who has to bury their son. But I want to tell you today and I should have told you then, what happened to Travis wasn’t your fault. He was a kid and sadly, kids sometimes take chances they shouldn’t take. Travis paid for his mistake with his life and that’s the most awful thing that has ever happened to our family, but it wasn’t your fault Asher. I never blamed you. I’m sorry that Norma did. She was losing her mind trying to deal with it and she needed a scapegoat. She was already angry with you for two stupid reasons. You were a Fury and her daughter, her only child left, was in love with you. I’m sorry she vented her anger onto you and I’m sorry that I wasn’t a big enough man to stand up and tell her to stop. None of that was your fault and I couldn’t be any prouder of Mia and her choices.”

“Thank you.”

“So ten years ago Norma has this aneurysm and she ends up in a coma. The doctors told me she was brain dead and I should take her off life support. I didn’t know how I was going to do that. I loved her too much to be the one to pull the plug. Mia told me she was suffering and we needed to let her go. Even then, it took me a lot longer to make the decision than it should have. I ran into your father and he told me how hard it had been to accept that your mother was dying and let her go. He told me she had begged him to end her life. I thought about Norma being comatose and unable to express to me how badly she was hurting. I couldn’t let her suffer any longer and I let her go. After she died I felt like I’d killed her and I was sick in my heart and in my head. Mia told me I should talk to Greg. I did give him credit for getting me through making that horrible decision, but I never thought we could actually be friends. Mia told me she thought we were a lot alike and would make great friends. I thought she was kidding. But, she wasn’t. She was persistent and she also kept throwing in the point that we had a grandson in common. That was something I should have been smart enough to think of on my own. The last thing Axel needed was to see his grandfather’s feuding like kids. So when I ran into Greg after Norma’s death, he offered his condolences to me. Norma had been nothing but terrible to him and his family for as long as I could remember, so I thought that was really big of him. We started talking a lot after that. He told me about turning to alcohol because he couldn’t live with the idea of losing Lily. He also told me about you, Asher. He talked about how much he missed you and how much he loved you. I grew close to your father and I knew he was sincere when he spoke of all the regrets he had where you were concerned. If he could have gone back and repeated that last year with you and your mother, he would have done it. He became my best friend and I loved him. He always told me the truth, son, and that was it.”

It was nice to hear about his dad telling other people he loved him. Missing him was hard in this town where everyone knew him sometimes because he wanted to be left alone with his grief. Other times, the people in the small town who missed Greg too, told him stories about his dad that made him smile. “Thank you, Frank.”

Asher put out his hand to the older man as he stood up. Frank stood up too and suddenly Asher was wrapped in a tight bear hug. Frank was at least six inches shorter than Asher so the top of his head only came to the bottom of Asher’s neck. The door opened behind them and Axel and Mia were framed in the doorway. They were both smiling as he stood there with Frank’s arms around him.