Our Time Will Come - An After Story

134

Hardin

These two seem in good spirits, given the  circumstances. When i enter the room, Charlie is making some goofy joke and Emery is laughing so hard that she might piss herself. "Is something funny?" I make my presence known. Charlie's cheeks flush, bringing some colour back to his pale complexion. "Dad?" Emery gasps, her jaw collapsing to the floor. I get a kick out of the concern on their faces. "That's my name, don't ware it out" I cornily chime, before walking over to Charlie's bed.

"W- what are you doing here?!" my girl stutters, her eyes flickering between Charlie and I. "You called our house phone, you mustn't have realised that your mother and I had picked up, but we heard everything" I tell her whilst unintentionally glaring at her boyfriend. I breathe a sigh of relief, that he's alert and looks to be fine.

"Addy told me there was a chance that you'd heard what was happening, but what do you mean by .. everything" her voice is unsteady as her eyes dart to the ground. I don't want to have to repeat the exact words that came from her mouth. I have to admit, it's hard hearing such foul language coming from my little girls mouth. I know it's a part of life and that she's growing up, but that doesn't make it any easier.

"Everything from you entering the pool house and Charlie having some girl wrapped around him .. to Addy dragging you off of that girl when you went for her" I admit, without going into the nitty gritty of it. "It was enough to make me want to come out here, and beat Charlie's ass" I scoff, and he shifts uncomfortably on the bed.

"After hearing what had happened, we got so worried that we had to do something. Your mom called Landon and Nora to come and stay with the little ones, and we hopped on the next flight out here. When we arrived at your grandfathers, I was ready to knock some heads off.. but Karen and Abby explained what had happened.. and it all made sense. Charlie wouldn't do something like that.. it would be completely out of character for him" I admit. It's true and I feel kind of guilty for assuming shit, again. It appears that Emery has lost her voice, as she remains silent.

"How are you feeling?" I eyeball Charlie and he instantly loses eye contact with me. "I've been better" he shrugs. "I got sick on my clothes, so it sucks that I have to wear this dress with the ass hanging out" he blurts out. I don't know what I was expecting him to say.. but it definitely wasn't that. That's one way to describe a hospital gown. I try to stifle the smirk that is desperate to escape, knowing that I need to stay serious in order for them to take me seriously. "That's... good to know" I mumble.

Feeling the urge to apologise to Charlie, I do just that. "I'm sorry for not trusting you when I should have" I tell him. His smile grows and the expression on his face tells me that I'm forgiven. "Don't worry about it, Mr Scott" he reassures me and I force the most sarcastic smile. "Wow, Mr Scott" Charlie chimes and I just know he's about to say something stupid. "I thought you were going to be so mad at me, I had a sweat on for a minute there" he releases a pathetic giggle. I keep my face straight, and he soon quietens down. "Oh I'm mad at you, alright" I frown. Concern flashes in his eyes, as he glares at my daughter.

"I'm mad at you for surrounding yourself with a bunch of people you can't even trust, just to spite Emery. You guys had had a fight, she was upset about you moving ..so instead of being there for her, you thought you'd drown your sorrows in the pool house. That's a dick move, Charles" I scold him and he buries his head in sorrow, as he should.

"Not to mention that I warned you multiple times to not drink with Abby. You guys are sixteen, there's a reason there's an age restriction" I huff, and Emery raises her eyebrows at me. "Don't look at me like that!" I scold her. "I'm mad at you, too" I frown. "Fighting, really? Is that how we raised you!" My voice cracks in the midst of my rant. Anger seeps upon my daughters face, and I prepare myself for her outburst.

"You don't get to be mad at us!" She folds her arms. I don't get to be mad at them? Is she seriously telling me what I can and can't get mad at?!

"You're giving Charlie shit for drinking to 'drown his sorrows', yet you were the king of that when you were his age and for many years after that. You're such a hypocrite!" She screeches, swallowing the frog in her throat as she's desperate to cry. Fuck, when is she going to realise that I want them to learn from my mistakes rather than repeat them. "Yes, and you know where that got me!" I wave a hand in the air.

"Not only are you a hypocrite, but you're a liar too!" My eldest child continues her slander. I understand why I might be a bit of a hypocrite.. but I'm no liar. I give the deepest glare to both her and Charlie. "You and mom knew about the scholarship for all this time and you didn't even have the decency to tell me!" Her bottom lip wobbles. Oh shit. Shit, shit, shit. "Charlie Didn't even mean to tell me, he let it slip accidentally. How long were you going to keep this a secret?!" Emery looks me in the eye like I've betrayed her in the worst way, and it stings like a bitch.

"Emery, please. It wasn't your dad's fault, or your moms. They wanted you to hear it from me. I was going to tell you ..but I knew how much it would hurt you and I wasn't prepared to do that" Charlie defends my honour, grabbing her hand in the process. "Our senior year of school together was going to be special. I know you had our graduation envisioned in your head, and you were so excited. I just didn't know how to break it to you. But please, don't blame your parents. They're the ones who persuaded me to take the opportunity. If it wasn't for him.. I would have turned it away" Charlie drones on,  digging the both of us into a bigger hole with every word. "What?!" Just when I thought Emery couldn't get any madder, her expression proves me wrong. Why is he telling her this, for fucks sake!

"You know what? Seeing as you two are this 'United front' now, I'll give you some space!" my blonde little whirlwind of a daughter announces, before heading to exit the room, only, she bumps into a nurse on the way out. "Ah, I was just coming to tell you guys that it's probably best that Mr Travers gets some rest now, but I can see you're already leaving" the young brunette smiles. "Yes. I am" Emery bluntly mutters, before continuing to flea the room. I make awkward eye contact with the nurse, who's name tag reads 'Jess' and she gives a reassuring smile.

"Tell her that he's going to be okay and she has nothing to worry about" she pats me on the shoulder. I wish my baby had nothing to worry about, but at the moment, she has a heck of a lot to worry about.. and there's nothing I can do about it.

"Keep in touch. I'll be round to pick you up in the morning" I tell Charlie and he smiles uneasily. I leave the room shortly after and go after Emery. When I reach the waiting room, there she is, scouring it for signs of my father. "Your gramps went home" I tell her and she folds her arms in a huff. "Great!" She scoffs. I roll my eyes at her attitude, wishing that she'd lose it. "Let's go" I wave the keys to my sister's mini in front of her eyes and she soon follows me. "Can I drive home, so I can crash that stupid cows car?!" She surprises me with such a wicked thought, but I can't help but laugh. "Nice try, love" I remark.