A New Home (part 8) by Cyndi Woods

Felicity stood stunned unable to speak. With her hand still on the door handle, she stared at the woman sitting beside her father. “Mother?” Felicity asked in a whisper. “Hello, Felicity,” The absentee woman replied. Standing and moving towards her, Felicity’s father put his hand on his daughter’s shoulder. “Your mom has come home, Felicity,” Her father said as if this was the most wonderful news in the world. “Home?” Felicity blurted, “what in the world would you know about home?” she said flatly, as she addressed her mother. She was so confused and taken-a-back by this unexpected and quite frankly unwelcome surprise. As years of missed birthdays, Christmases, school events, and just… life, ran across Felicity’s memory like a movie in fast forward, she gathered all her courage and simply said “I have to go.” And with that she retreated back out the door and closed it behind her. Pausing only for a moment, she walked down the porch steps and broke into a run.  

She found herself panting and walking up Rogers driveway. She hoped that he would have seen her coming and come outside without her having to knock on the door. She breathed a sigh of relief when he came out the back door. It didn’t appear that he had seen her coming but just happened to come out the door at the right time. He was headed into the garage when she called out his name. Turning his attention to her, he looked completely taken off guard to see her there. “Felicity, what are you doing here? What’s wrong?” he asked, alarmed. She reached him as he took a few steps towards her and she fell against him and wept. “Felicity what is it?” Roger asked again with more urgency. “Has your dad done something?” “No,” she said in a muffled voice. “It’s… it’s my mother… she’s back!” she explained through heavy tears. “What?!” Roger questioned as he pulled her back to look at her. “My mom is back,” she said again knowing full well he had heard her the first time. “I don’t understand, I thought your mom was gone. Why would she come back now?” he asked, shaking his head as if to clear it. “I don’t know. I didn’t hang around and ask questions. I couldn’t deal with it so I just left,” she confessed. “My dream night was coming true and now it’s ruined, it’s just… ruined,” she cried. Roger took in the gravity of what was happening and knew that no matter how hard he tried to give Felicity the perfect prom night, this would be looming in her mind.   

“I’m not going to let this night be ruined for you, Felicity,” he said with promise in his tone. She looked up at him with defeat in her eyes. “I’m not,” he said again. “Why now, why did she have to come back now?” Felicity asked, not really wanting to hear an answer. Roger didn’t know how to answer that even if she really did want to know. Taking her hands in his, he said “I think we should go back to your house together and face this.” Dropping his hands out of hers, Felicity took one step backwards. “I don’t want to see her,” she said, shaking her head. ”I know, Felicity. I know. But if you don’t face her now it will get easier and easier to not face her,” he explained. She knew he was right. But how could she just walk back in and talk to her mother as if nothing was wrong? “I know it won’t be easy,” Roger began. “But it can’t stay like this either.”  “I know,” she said. After giving her another hug, Roger turned Felicity toward the road and walked her home.  

Dusk was just settling when Roger and Felicity reached her house. Her fathers truck was still in the same place so she assumed her mother was still inside. “I don’t know if I can go in there,” Felicity said coming to a stop. “It’s ok, I’m not going anywhere. I’ll be with you the whole time.” They climbed the steps of the porch hand in hand. Roger paused and gave Felicity a moment to collect her emotions and go in when she was ready. Giving Roger one last look, she slowly opened the front door. She didn’t see her parents on the couch anymore. She heard voices and noise coming from the kitchen and saw that the light was on.   

Taking a few cautious steps towards the kitchen, Felicity heard more clearly their conversation. She paused to listen. “I’ve missed doing this, just the simple act of preparing dinner at home,” Felicity’s mother had said with a wistful tone in her voice. “I’ve missed coming home to the dinner you prepared,” her dad responded. How could her father be so accepting of the woman who ditched them years ago? She just didn’t understand any of this.  She thought about the past weeks and how her father had been acting so different. Had he been seeing her mom and resolving things with her long before today? Somehow, they both felt it would be a good idea to spring all this on her the night before prom. She looked back at Roger who was only a step behind her. He had no real expression on his face. She turned her attention to her parents’ conversation again. “Oh Brad, I don’t know why I thought I would be happier having my own space and my own life,” her mother sighed. It had been so many years since Felicity heard her mother call her father by his name. “I can’t believe you are willing to rebuild our relationship after I left you and Felicity.”    

Felicity’s hands covered her mouth as she sucked in a sharp breath. “I knew when you left that if you ever came back I wanted to try and put things back together,” her father confessed. “Admittedly, I thought it would be long before now but I still want to work on our relationship.” “How do you think Felicity will feel about that?” her mom asked. Felicity took one more step forward to hear what her father would say. “I’m sure it won’t be easy for her,” he told her. “I figured you would be gone six months to a year is all. When that time came and went, I began to get… well… anxious. I realize now that I’ve spent the last several years dumping my feelings about that onto our daughter.” Felicity could not believe what she was hearing. Was her father recognizing how he had been mistreating her? “I have some rebuilding to do with Felicity myself,” he admitted. “Anna do you think you can be happy being back home? I mean how can I be sure you won’t get restless again and leave?” He asked his wife. It dawned on Felicity then that she really was still his wife. They had never divorced; her mom just walked out and didn’t look back. Now Felicity was peering around the corner of the kitchen but still out of their sight. She watched her mother lay down the spoon she had been stirring the pot with and turn to her father. “I can promise you here and now, I could never be happier than I can be right here with you and Felicity,” she said encircling his neck and giving him a kiss. Brad returned her affection and they stood in the kitchen like that for several moments. 

Felicity watched the exchange and her eyes filled with tears. Looking at Roger she whispered, “my parents are back together. I’m so angry and so happy at the same time. How do I sort this out?” “I think you need to let them know that we are here for starters,” Roger suggested. Nodding her head slowly, Felicity stepped fully into the kitchen doorway. Her parents were still hugging when her dad saw her over her mother’s shoulder. “Felicity?” he asked.

     Stay tuned for the conclusion of “A New Home” next week