37. The Villain Saving The Day
37
THE VILLAIN SAVING THE DAY
MALLORY
“I’m sorry, you what?”
Oliver let me sleep a little when everyone left the room. I think he wanted to ask more questions about my mom, but my head was killing me. I don’t know if it was because of the shouting, or just the fact I hadn't completely recovered from the concussion, but my head was spinning. I was grateful for Mr Ashby stepping in. If he hadn’t, they would’ve continued screaming at eachother till the end of time.
I woke up a few hours later, Oliver’s parents had to get back to their house and he went with them. Dad, Hen and I are staying at their house overnight. I think the promise of us coming back to the house was the only reason he left. I was a big groggy when I woke up, but I remember Oliver saying goodbye.
“Dolcezza mia,” he says, leaning in to place a soft kiss on my lips. Then another. Then another. “Ti amo.”
My sweetness, I love you.
I smile. “Hey, I know that one. Ti amo you too,”
“Anch’io ti amo,” he corrects, a small smile pulling at the corner of his lips .
I love you, too.
“Anch i–what?”
His smile widens as he looks down, beaming at me. He looks at me like I'm his entire world; like I hung the moon and the stars.
But that’s okay because he hung mine too. He designed my entire fucking world. Everything I see, hear, and touch is him. Heck, everything I smell is him too thanks to his stupid cologne.
“I love you, too.” He says.
I blinked and he was gone. Replaced by a less–than–ideal sight. My parents. In the same room.
Which brings us back to my stunned state.
Mom stands at the foot of my bed, shifting from foot to foot, visibly tensing. I think this is the most emotion I've seen her display since… well, my birth. “Covington Memorial Hospital needs a new Head of Pediatrics for the next year while their current one goes on maternity leave. I’ve been trying to get a hold of you for weeks to see what you wanted me to do. If you do in fact want me to say yes so you can stay with your boyfriend, then I have conditions.”
Of course she does.
“He’s not just a boy .” I bit out. Ollie can be described in a lot of ways, but a random boy isn’t one of them. She gives me the typical parent look when their teenage child declares her undying love for some random guy who offers her even a smidge of attention. The look catches me off–guard. Mostly because I didn't think she possessed a single maternal bone in her body. I glance at my dad and he’s giving me a look that’s saying hear her out , even though I know being in her presence is killing him. “What are the conditions?”
She looks at me for a long time. She just stares at me, unmoving, unblinking, like a statue frozen in time. At first, I didn't think she’s going to respond, but then she did. “I want to see you.”
“... You want… to see me?”
She nods. “I recognise we will both have busy schedules, with your senior year and all. But once every two weeks, at least. More often, if possible.”
I just blink at her. She has barely seen me since she left when I was five. I could count the number of times on one hand. And now she wants to see me twice a month?
“I–”
“I’m not sure if the position has been filled,” she continues on. “So you should hold off on telling him until I get proper confirmation. But if I do get accepted, I will transfer.”
“I–”
“For you.” She hesitates. “Let me, at least, attempt to be a parent to you. When we found out you were allergic to kiwi, I wasn't there. I almost didn’t listen to your father’s message when it happened. If I hadn't. And you had died, I – I know I've barely seen you, but I want that to change. I – I want to try. Please.”
I look to my dad, for him to tell me he doesn’t want me to stay with her, which I know he doesn’t.
“Can I have a moment alone with Dad?” I ask, my voice small.
“Of course. I’ll get your discharge papers ready to sign.”
She leaves the room not a moment longer. The door softly closes, the noise echoing in the otherwise quiet room. This is why I hate hospitals. They’re just too quiet.
“Can I go first?” I ask, looking at him. “Then you can go, and we can… go on from there, I guess.” He offers me a small smile as he slowly makes his way to the bed, perching on the edge, taking his hand into mine. “I want to live with you, Dad. There’s no other way of saying it. The thought of not being near you every day kills me. But–”
“But you can’t be away from him.”
“I don’t know if I want to stay with Mom – no that’s a lie. I’d rather eat fire than stay with her. She’s wrong, what she said. About him. I love him, Dad. and it's not –”
“I know,” he says. It's two words that ease everything in me. It’s not him arguing with me about being too young to feel like this. It's him knowing that it’s so much more. “If I didn’t approve of him the way I do, then I wouldn’t even think twice about taking you with me.”
“But?”
“But,” he sighs. “Your mother wants to try. And she's a complicated woman, Mallory, but she’s not a bad person. If she’s willing to up and move just to get some time with you, and you want that too, I'm not going to stand in the way.”
“But she hasn’t been here, Dad! She can’t just waltz out of my life for almost fifteen years and just decide to have a relationship with me, it doesn’t work like that.”
“I know,” he sits on the edge of my bed, “but she’s showing you that she’s willing to make the effort now, doesn’t that count for something? If a small part of you wants to have that relationship with her, then you need to put the effort in as well and stay here with her. I have no problem with her looking out for you, but if the only reason you want to stay is because of the boy, that’s when I have to object. ”
“It’s senior year, Dad. It’s finals and my job. It’s Juliana's senior production and volleyball meetings. Coffee dates with the girls. It’s Tommy doing some stupid trick on his skateboard. Marcus trying and failing to talk to the girl he likes. Finding Abi a cute guy to date. It’s hockey matches and away games. It’s everything, Dad.” I take his hand into mine. “I love you. So much. But I need to stay. Please let me stay.”
Mom walks back into the room, placing her hands in her coat pocket. “The um, papers are outside, by the nurses station.”
“I’ll be right back.” Dad kisses me on the forehead before he leaves the room. Leaves me alone with her. The door softly clicks shut.
And then there were two.
I’m the first to break the silence.
“I just don’t understand.” Mom takes a step closer, leaning against the wall closest to me. “You left when I was six. Sure, I don’t remember a whole lot before that, but you spent six years with me, then you just left?”
“I wasn’t around the first six years either.”
“Telling me this doesn’t work in your favor.”
She looks down at her feet, then moves closer to me, sitting on the edge of my bed. “Your father and I met when I was a resident at a hospital in New York. He had just been signed when he got injured during a game. Some guy on another team slammed him so hard into the boards his helmet came off. He passed out. I was cleaning his wounds when he woke up. He opened his eyes, and – god, he had the most amazing eyes I'd ever seen. Then he looked up at me and smiled. I knew right then he was it for me. Hockey player or not. It didn’t matter that we had two different, very demanding careers. We got married and made it work .
“Then we had Henry and things were going okay. I took a year off for maternity leave. He still had his busy schedule and games, but we had help. We were okay. We were in love. Everything was perfect. Then I got offered a new position at the hospital. It was higher up, more pay, more hours. I wanted it so badly. When I got the job offer, I found out I was pregnant with you. I was happy, and your dad was thrilled, but I didn’t think they would give me the job if I had you.”
I swallow, blinking back the tears threatening to fall down.
“I wanted you, Mallory. But I wanted my career too. Your dad went ballistic when he found out I was having doubts about keeping you. He said he wanted you, and he’d leave and take Henry with him if I did. So I spoke to the hospital board and made them promise they wouldn’t revoke the offer. So, we kept you.
“When you were born, I went back to work. Longer hours, nights away. I barely spent any time with you. But your father –” Mom swallows, looking up at me. “He knew from the first moment he saw you that he loved you. You became his entire life. So much so that he even took early retirement so he could raise you. When you turned six, I got a job offer to be head of paediatrics at a hospital in Vermont. I wanted to take it. So I did. I still saw Henry every now and again, but your father refused to let me see you. He said that I missed my chance at raising you, and he was right.”
She moves closer to me, daring to take my hand. “I am so sorry for putting my career before you, Mallory. But I care about you, of course I do. I always asked about you. Your father sent me pictures from all your volleyball matches. I even went to some of your hockey games when you were at Winchester Prep. ”
That got my attention. “You did?”
She nods. “I made a mistake. I’m not perfect, I know this. But I love you, Mallory. I do. And I want to be a parent to you. I want to try. So what do you say? Will you let me? If I take the job at Covington Memorial so you can stay, will you agree to see me?”