The Radiant Reira

11. Strength Skips a Generation

"What about Dad?" He asked, afraid of what was about to come out of his mother's mouth.

"Your father and I are getting a divorce." She said

Orion was relieved that the news wasn't as bad as he thought it would be, by the looks of his mother, he assumed his father died or something. Nevertheless, he was still upset about the news, except he didn't feel damaged or heartbroken, at least not yet.

"Oh.." He looked down, "What happened?"

His mother tried her very best to keep the tears in but they fell out anyways. "Orion... I love you and I have loved your father at one point.."

He wasn't surprised to hear this, whenever his father visited, his mother was still at work and he barely saw them together. He continued to look into her eyes and listen.

She took a deep breath, "After getting his job opportunity to work in a different state, our relationship just wasn't working anymore. He left me to take care of you since you were four, and-" She looked down.

"Was I just a burden?" He thought to himself. He didn't have the guts to ask her, he didn't feel it was appropriate.

She cleared her throat, "I found out that your father was having an affair. I never said anything for the past 5 years."

"Why not?" He asked with a facial expression of disbelief and disgust. "I don't know." She said

"What do you mean you don't know?" His tone sounded a lot more aggressive than he intended.

The truth is, she was fearful of the unknown. Although her husband was never there to begin with, to keep the label of "married" made her feel like the situation with her husband wasn't real. She managed to repress those feelings of doubt, repress the thought of knowing the truth. Mrs. Michaels, Orion's mother, was a complicated woman. Ambitious from the beginning and hopeless today, she allowed the difficulties in her life to change her and it made her lose sight of her true values. As a young college student, she believed her marriage was a commitment she made to her true love and she also believed that with love by her side, she'd be able to accomplish anything she wanted. After a while of being married, money became an issue, school became an issue, having Orion in the midst of that was a big inconvenience to both her and her husband. Reality punched her in the face, fairy tales, perfect marriages, and life following her timeline, were all a lie. She did see Orion as a burden, rather than focusing on the child, she grew bitter everyday about life and her husband. So what changed? It's hard to really pinpoint what made her take action and put in the effort to come clean to her son, but like many say, it's better late than never.

There was a long pause after Orion asked the question.

"Your father has another child..." She whispered, "He doesn't have real business trips anymore, he is with his 3 year old son and a new woman... he still doesn't think I know."

His eyes widened, not knowing what to think. "What?" He asked. He shook his head in disbelief, angry and confused about what he was hearing.

"Mom, why would you condone this? Why didn't you just leave him?" He asked, beginning to tear up.

She began to really cry, "I didn't wanna hurt you." She sniffled.

The irony. She hurt him time and time again. This only made him more confused but he clearly saw his mother was in pain and the last thing he wanted to do was make that pain even worse. He hugged his mother for the first time in what felt like forever, both shed their tears and shared the pain of having an inconsiderate, hurtful husband/father.

"Son.." She said, "I didn't have the strength to call him out, I didn't have the strength to hold myself accountable for that mistake of mine."

"Mistake? Mom I-" Orion let out a big exhale, "W-Why are you doing this now?" He really wanted to know.

She stayed silent, continuing to hug her son.

"Mom..." He said

"What you said last week, about disrespect and how you felt, well it made me reflect." She looked at him right in the eyes, "I'm sorry I've been selfish. I know that as a parent, you're supposed to be strong for your kids, but I don't have the strength like you do." His mother felt extremely guilty, her emotions were contained in her for the longest time. She worked a job she didn't like, she was caught in a marriage filled with lies, and it was true, she wasn't like Orion. Despite his obstacles, he found things to enjoy, he found something to look forward to and he never allowed heartbreak to change how he treated people. Even in this situation, after learning that his own father truly never cared for him and that his mother has been withholding the truth from him for years, he couldn't yell at her or even show his anger.

"What strength?" He asked with tears flooding his eyes.

"You do have it." She sniffled, "Right now, you're showing me the strength that I can only dream of having."

He was lost. He didn't understand this "strength" she was speaking of, he didn't understand why his parents did this to him, and he felt like he was nothing special once again. His mother told him that she loved him and that he needed some rest.

It broke her heart to break her son again, especially after seeing how happy he's been when coming home from spending time with the new girl. She saw that him being with Reira caused him to stand up tall, and actually smile at home. She felt that she put him back to square one and felt awful about it. But to her, there was no more time to waste and no more pain to inflict on her son.

On the other hand, Orion didn't know what to feel anymore.