I step into the doorway with a huge smile, and the shocked delight on Mom’s face makes all our planning worthwhile. Thankfully, my dad gets it all on video with his phone.
Graham runs right into my mom's arms, and she hugs him and starts crying. "Don’t cry, Grandma. This was supposed to be a happy surprise. I had to keep it a secret for weeks.”
Mom hugs him harder. "These are happy tears, baby, I promise. I'm so happy you're here."
Mom looks up at me, opens her arms, and I walk into them, giving her a huge hug. "I only talked to you this morning," she says with a chuckle.
"I called you earlier, so you didn't call when we were on the plane. Dad and I had it all worked out down to the smallest detail."
Mom gives a small laugh, and the next hug is for my dad. When they start kissing, Graham lets out a loud "yuck," grabs his bag, and runs to the guest room where he knows he’ll be sleeping.
With Graham out of the room for a few moments, it’s as good a time as any to let Mom and Dad know I want to talk to them. "Listen, I have some things going on I need to talk to you guys about, but not until after Graham goes to bed tonight. It's all good stuff. And I have that interview tomorrow, so you guys will have him for a few hours," I remind my dad.
They don't get a chance to respond because Graham comes running back out. Mom and Dad give me a small nod to indicate they heard me before Graham steals the show.
"It took six books, but he is finally out," I say to my parents as I collapse on the living room couch later that night.
"How’s everything with work?" Dad asks.
"Good. I have a new patient, and you won't believe who it is."
"Someone you went to school with?" Mom asks.
I take a deep breath and spill the beans."Gavin."
My mother's face goes ghost white. "What do you mean, your patient is Gavin?"
"Exactly what I said. I had no idea until I walked into his room that first day. But it's been weeks now, and it's been great to reconnect."
Dad frowns. "Does he know about Graham?"
"No. I wanted to wait and not pile that on him on top of his treatment. It would’ve been too much."
"Do you plan on telling him?" Dad asks gruffly.
I thought they’d be happy and encourage me to reach out and tell Gavin so he can have a relationship with Graham. "Of course. At some point."
"Absolutely not!" my mother shrieks.
"Mom, hush! You’ll wake Graham."
"He’ll take that boy away from you, and all we did will be for nothing," Mom huffs.
"He would not, and you know it!" I defend him.
No matter how hard things got with us, he wasn’t that kind of man. Besides, he's in no position to take on a kid. He's still learning to take care of himself. My parents didn't even ask if he was okay.
"It’s my decision, and I'll tell him at some point. It's the right thing to do, and you know it."
Without another word, Mom stands and leaves the room.
I sigh and head to my room, checking to make sure Graham is still sleeping on the way.
How dare they talk about Gavin like that? So many people judged him when we were together. I never allowed it then, and I'm sure as hell not going to start now. We’re not going down that road.
I pull out my phone and call Gavin, needing to hear his voice.
"Hey, how was your day?" he answers quickly.