Tiny Tim

“Huh.” I deadpanned. Not because I somehow disapproved of their statement. Quite the opposite, actually. I could see their point. I just never saw it their way, as the last few years had been so prevalent in my memory that I couldn’t see the thirteen years that came before Logan’s initiation into the family fun. Sure, those weren’t great either, with Logan being the apple of their eye since birth, but they were a lot better than the years after I became his target.

Also, as Mom made her short statement, I could clearly see that she wanted to say more, but held back for some reason. As if to confirm my impression, Danny stepped next to Mom and placed a hand on her back while giving her a small nod, like she wanted to encourage her to speak up.

“I’m ... I’m a little scared, now that the house is gone.” Mom said in a small voice.

“What about?” I asked. “You know you don’t have to pay me any rent, so you can use the alimony and child support for a new health and car insurance.”

Somehow, that seemed to have been the wrong thing to say, as she wrapped both arms around me now.

“That’s kind of the problem.” she said. “I love you, Tim. And I never want to lose you again. But I’m afraid that ... when I have to rely on you so much ... you might doubt my intentions.”

At that moment, I realized that I wasn’t the only one affected by Grandpa’s words. His tirade about me being selfish had shown both, Mom and me, how difficult it was to prove sincerity once the trust was gone, and she knew that she had lost my trust.

“I think we’ve made enough progress to be past that. But, even if we weren’t...” I tried to emphasize my following words by tightening my hug. “ ... I know you’re not staying with me because you have to. Even if the condo didn’t have a readily waiting third bedroom, as Grandpa pointed out, you could also go back to living with John if you just needed someone to support you. So, I know you’re staying with me because you want to ... well, stay with me.”

“Oh, Darling!” Mom sighed as her arms squeezed me back. “Thank you! I love you so, so much! I promise you, I will never again forget that!”

“I love you too, Mom.” I chuckled and kissed the top of her head.

I said it without even thinking about it. It just came out. It took us a long time and a lot of work, but saying it felt not only like the right thing to say at that moment, but also like the truth. I only realized what I had done when all the heads of the women surrounding me whipped up and around to stare at me.

“You ... You said ... You love me?” Mom stuttered, wide eyed and her voice full of disbelief, but refusing to move her body even an inch away from me.

“I did.”

Mom took my face in both of her hands, while her gaze stayed focused on my eyes. I could see her own eyes glazing over before thick tears started rolling down her cheeks.

“You love me?” she asked me to confirm again, which I did with a nod. “My Baby loves me again! I’m getting my Baby back! I love you more than you can imagine! I love y...”

She couldn’t continue. Her voice was wrecked with violent sobs while she clung to me like her life depended on it. I chose to let one of my hands move up her back until it reached her head, and gently held it against my chest while she cried herself out. I could also see that this emotional display affected Ava and Danny in a similar manner as it had Mom. Ava couldn’t hold back too long before she had to join in on the hug, while Danny left the room to let us have that moment.

Chapter 25

When we finally came out of the kitchen and Grandpa noticed Mom’s reddened eyes, he looked like he was about to explode again. Luckily, Granny grabbed and pulled him out of the room before he could. I don’t know what she told or did to him, but I suspected that Danny had filled her in, because when they returned, Grandpa seemed rather subdued and made no more attempts to separate Mom from me.

At least once per hour, Mom would lean closer to whisper into my ear how much she loved me, just to hear me say it as well. This was always followed by her showing me a bright smile and giving me another kiss on the cheek. It was pretty obvious for everyone in the family that we had made some kind of breakthrough as soon as they saw her, but everyone picked up on the details just as fast.

I had to admit that, while I still had a pretty big workload, especially with my newest side project of turning John’s fictional online warehouse management software into a real one, my life had turned out to be pretty good again. That is, until I hit the usual and mostly expected bumps in the road.