Emerson
Oh no. I had offended him. It was more than clear as I watched him stalk out of the kitchen, so obviously upset. I knew I should have stopped my line of questioning when I had seen his discomfort, but I couldn’t. This was the one who hadn’t been told anything about Annie yet. The one who had known all along that he was adopted. The one who could answer my questions still without the bias of knowing I was his biological grandfather.
I hadn’t been able to stop myself and he hadn’t held back any. He had given me his answers and they were ones I had feared. He had given up on his biological family except for Taylor. I had so hoped that that wouldn’t be the case.
Just as he was walking out, a new problem walked in. Walker had been pacing off and on since Andrea and Taylor left for their walk, undoubtedly to talk about the serious matter which had brought about my being here. His frown was deep and his arms were crossed over his chest tightly. He was the poster boy for frustration and unhappiness. And parental fear.
I had known all along that Andrea had been giving Taylor up to the right people when the Hansons had agreed to adopt him. They were the best kids I knew I at the time, they had kids of their own, they were stable. I trusted them with my own life and I was willing to trust them with Taylor’s. The biggest problem was that I knew Andrea would change her mind someday and when she did, it would mean hell for the Hansons. I knew how much they were going to grow to love the boy because I knew how much I had grown to love him in the short time I had spent with him. It was not a pleasant thing to have him taken away like that.
Walker exhibited my fears perfectly as he paced.
“You really don’t trust her, do you?” I said as I watched him.
He looked at me then, as if just realizing I was there.
“No,” he said. “Not really.”
I nodded.
“What are they talking about?” he asked next, looking at me like a man that was on a quest for answers and had gotten very lost somewhere along the way.
“I don’t think I should be the one to tell you,” I said.
His eyes became even more frightened and angry than before.
“This doesn’t have anything to do with...legal matters, does it?” he asked immediately, his voice teetering on the edge of red hot anger and deep sorrow.
“No,” I replied. “Look, Walker, I know you probably hate my daughter right about now, but she’s not about to do anything like that.”
“Why wouldn’t she?” he said. “He’s already living with her for God’s sake. Why not make it legal?”
“No one’s made it illegal yet,” I said. “That is to say, you let him do it.”
“I didn’t let him do anything,” he said back. “He made the choice and I couldn’t stop him.”
“Why, though?” I asked, genuinely puzzled. If the biological parent of one of my children had marched up to my kid and the kid announced that they wanted to go live with that person, I sure as hell wouldn’t have allowed it.
“I thought he’d be back within three days,” he said honestly. “I thought he’d hate it there and come back to us. I didn’t think he’d...”
“Turn his back on you?” I suggested.
“Right,” he said. “God, why is he still on her side?”
“Walker, I don’t know enough about the situation to make a valid judgement, but I do think that if there’s one thing Taylor’s probably trying to avoid at this point, it’s taking sides,” I said.
“Mr. Whitney...”
“Emerson,” I corrected him, not feeling right being called Mr. Whitney by a forty-something year old man.
“Emerson,” he said, “Taylor and I have barely spoken since he’s gotten here. Every time we try to talk to each other, we get into fights that always end up being about Annie. The fact that I don’t approve of him being with her. The fact that he doesn’t approve of my attitude toward her. Somehow I think he’s chosen his side of things.”
“Maybe he’s just defending his choice, Walker. Maybe he just wants you to respect it,” I suggested.
“Still...,” he said. “I hate her, Emerson. I really do. I’m sorry to say it, but she took...she took Taylor away from us. I can’t pretend like that’s a good thing.”
“I know you hate her, Walker. I hated her for a long time, too. She gave both my grandsons away before I could even get the chance to teach them how to fish or drive a car or anything like that. I hated her for that,” I said.
“Did you get over it?” he asked. “Because right now I don’t think I’ll ever be able to get over this.”
“No, I never got over it,” I said. “But it eased my mind to know that both the boys were in good hands. Gina was a good girl and you and Diana were already responsible parents.”
“You’re lucky to have that to fall back on,” he said.
“You do, too,” I said. “Don’t underestimate Annie. She screwed up a lot when she was young, but I’m starting to see that she’s beginning to fix that, even though she has to make a few things worse before she can
do that. Anyway, Taylor is in responsible, if unsure, hands right now.”
“I want him to be in my hands now,” Walker said.
“I know,” I said. “He’ll come back, Walker. He probably doesn’t mean to be turning his back on you, he’s just in a hard spot right now, trying to figure out where he belongs, I suppose. Give him time. He’ll eventually figure it out.”
“Figure what out?”
“That he belongs here.”
I can be pathetic if I have to be. If I'm not already being pathethic.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Six
I can be pathetic if I have to be. If I'm not already being pathethic.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Six