Jane finds out the reason his mother left him with his father when he was very young. With Lisbon's help he will read the letters addressed "To My Son….Love Your Mom.
/
Jane walks over and sits down on the couch next to Lisbon, he takes a deep breath. Is this what he really wants to know, sometimes the truth can hurt, and that has often been the case he has found out in the past? Lisbon opens the box, and takes out envelopes from the box; she looks at them checking the dates on the letters and puts them into order. She takes the first one and notices that they have all been opened. She takes the letter out and opens it.
My Dear PJ,
I know that your father is reading this to you so please my darling do as he tells you, and I hope to be back with you very soon. I am sorry that I wasn't there when you woke up, but I needed to go away for a while, the bus came late while you were asleep. I am not very well and I need to go to the hospital for very special treatment. I will send you letters as often as I can. Believe me when I say I will be back and I love you very much.
Love Your Mom.
Lisbon folds the letter and puts it back into the envelope; she looks over at Jane who is looking straight ahead. She takes out the second letter and opens it.
My Dear PJ,
I hope that you are keeping up with your reading class with Pete so that someday you will be able to read these letters to yourself. The doctor is very good and he believes that I will be well with the treatments he is doing. This means that I will home very soon. I know that your father at times can be very hard on you, so please do as he says and try not to upset him. I miss you so much, and I love you.
Love Your Mom.
Lisbon folds the letter up. "Do you want me to go on, or would you rather read them to yourself."
Jane shakes his head no "After she left my father was impossible to be around. I would try and stay as much time as I could at Pete trailer. If he was drunk he wouldn't miss me, but it was most of the time that he would find me. Read the next one please.
Lisbon opens the next letter and starts to read it, but read a little to herself and closes her eyes. Jane notices that she isn't reading. He takes a deep breath and touches her on the arm. Lisbon opens her eyes and looks at the letter again.
PJ,
I know that it has been three months since I had to leave you. Every day I pray that you and your father are okay. I miss you so very much my son. The doctor has been giving me different treatments to help me, but he hasn't found the right one. He is a good man and I have faith in him. I hope that your father has let you go to school now that you are at the winter quarters. Learn as much as you can, so that when you grow up you can have a different life than we did. I am tired now, and will close this letter. I will write soon.
Love Your Mom
Lisbon puts the letter away and opens another letter.
PJ,
I want you to know that I am so very proud of you. I know your father hasn't given you my letters, since you or him have not sent me any letters back. If you ever read them, I wanted you to know that from the day you were born I knew that you would be a wonderful man. The doctor has told me that I don't have much time. A nurse here at the hospital is writing this letter for me. I would love to be able to give you a kiss goodbye my son, to see those beautiful blue eyes of yours, and your golden curls. Please forgive me for it looks like that I ran away from you. I prayed so hard to get well and come back to you.
I will be always watching over you.
Love Your Mom.
Lisbon closes the letter. "There is another letter, but it's not in your mother's handwriting. Should I continue?" Jane nods yes; his eyes are full of tears. She opens the last letter.
Dear Patrick,
I was your Mothers nurse, and was with her the day she died. Every day she talked about you, I almost felt like I knew you. She always said that you had this laugh that would make others laugh with you. The last thing she said was if I ever met you to give you a hug for her. She gave me all the addresses for each stop your group stopped in hopes that someday you would be near me so I could give you that hug. Patrick if you ever read this letter, no matter what age you are this is the address where your mother was laid to rest. I hope that you always remember how much she loved you.
Shelly Anderson.
Lisbon and Jane are very quiet, suddenly he gets up and goes out the door of the Airstream, she can hear him sobbing. She waits for a few minutes and goes outside, and goes over to him. She stands in front of him, and then takes him into a hug, he tries to stop crying, but he can't stop it.
"I always thought she didn't like me, that I had done something bad." He pulls away from her and wipes the tears from his face.
"Jane we have some time we can take off work….would you like to go to where she is buried?"
He looks at her, not sure what to say.
A few days later a taxi pulls up to a nicely cared for cemetery in a small town. Jane and Lisbon get out of the taxi and go to the main office, a short time later they walk towards a group of trees and pass several graves, and stop at the one marked on the map. Jane looks down at the tombstone. The name on the tombstone is Maddie Jane, the date and year of her birth and below that, it says Mother of PJ, her son.
FIVE YEARS LATER
Lisbon is in a hospital room, she is tired but in a good way. The labor seems to go on for hours, but when she saw their baby girl it was worth every pain and every minute. She and Patrick has both counted her little fingers and toes, and remarked about her nose. Patrick said he was glad that she had her mother's nose. Patrick had gone home for a short time to change clothes, the nurse had put little Maddie in the crib by the bed, so she could see her. She woke up, with Jane giving her a kiss on the forehead. He smiled at her.
"How are you feeling?" She laughs at him "Not bad, we can go home tomorrow."
"Great, good thing we got the nursery done in time." He goes over to the crib and looks at their baby.
"Jane I need my overnight bag, could you get it for me?" She points to where it is. He goes over and picks it up and puts it beside her. She unzips the bag and motions for him to come closer.
"I have something for you to give to Maddie." She takes out a stuffed rabbit, Jane looks at her surprised at what he sees. "How did you find one like that?"
"I didn't, I found it when you moved in with me, in one of the boxes. When I found out that we were going to have a baby I took him to a doll hospital and they made him as good as new. I thought you would like her to have it."
Jane nods in agreement; he bends down to her and kisses her. He walks over to the crib and lays Rupert down by his daughter. "Maddie…Love you Grandmother."
The End
/
Sorry, I know it was a bit long and perhaps a bit corny….DRL
