News and Regrets
"By the way, Dr. Appleton, did you read today's newspaper?" Kevin Marks asked as he and Emily Appleton left the staff meeting together.
She shook her head. "No, I haven't had time yet to read it." She gave him a curious look. "Why do you ask?"
"I think there's a particular story you may want to read." Kevin nodded to her and opened his office door.
Frowning in puzzlement, Emily continued on to her office, smiling when she saw a familiar figure waiting by the door. "Hello, Ben! I'm so glad to see you. I was worried when I didn't hear from you."
"I'm sorry, Mom." Ben leaned down so Emily could kiss his cheek in greeting. "Life has been a little crazy lately."
Emily unlocked her office door and gestured for Ben to precede her inside. "You can tell me all about it over dinner." She glanced up at him hopefully, "Unless you have plans for this evening?"
"Just to treat you to dinner." Ben smiled, closing the door behind him and sitting down in one of the chairs facing her desk as Emily gathered up her books and papers. "Out of curiosity, you haven't read the paper yet, have you?"
She paused and raised an eyebrow at him. "You're the second person to ask me that today. What is in the paper that would be of interest to me?"
"We found the treasure, Mom." Ben met her gray eyes with his blue-gray ones, calmly and steadily. "It isn't just a conspiracy theory."
She stared at her son, a tangle of emotions running through her as she slowly sank into her desk chair. "The Templar Treasure?"
"Yes, the Templar Treasure." He nodded, smiling faintly. If it had been Patrick telling her this, he'd have probably been smirking. Emily quickly banished all thoughts of her ex-husband as her son continued talking, "I'll tell you all about it over dinner, if you're free, of course."
Emily smiled, ignoring the confusing tangle of emotions for the time being, "Of course I'm free to have dinner with my favorite son."
"I'm your only son." The statement was matter-of-fact, without any hint of hurt or sadness as there had been in the past.
"And all the more precious to me because of it." She finished packing her things together and Ben helped her into her coat.
Together, they left the office and headed to a nice restaurant nearby.
***
Emily listened keenly as Ben told her all about finding the treasure as they ate. She gasped more than once as he glossed over the times his life had been in danger, well aware that he was trying to spare her pain at the thought. Also, being a mother, she couldn't help noticing the way he talked about Dr. Abigail Chase. She well remembered how the thrill of the treasure hunt could get to a person and affect how they related to their fellow seekers. She caught herself playing with the ring she wore on left forefinger and quickly stopped, clasping her hands in her lap instead. "Mom, are you okay?"
"Yes, I'm fine, honey," she assured her son. "Though I can't help worrying a little."
Ben stared at her as if she'd grown a second head. "Worry? What is there for you to worry about? The treasures are being returned to their rightful countries and I only accepted one percent of the value on behalf of Riley and myself."
"I'm proud of you for resisting the temptation of too much money, but that's not what worries me." She reached across the table and squeezed his hand. "This Dr. Chase you met; you're attracted to her, aren't you?"
Slowly, her son nodded. "Yes, I suppose I am."
"That's what worries me." She sighed softly, shaking her head. "You didn't learn from your father and I, did you?"
Ben covered her hand with his. "I did learn, Mom. She doesn't have to worry about the Gates family name ruining her career because we're not getting married and, besides, the Gates family is no longer a bunch of kooks with a conspiracy theory."
Emily flinched and looked away for a moment, hiding how much her son's words affected her. That was one of the reasons she'd left his father when he was about ten. "I'm glad you've thought of it, at least. Keep in mind that the person you meet on a treasure hunt may be different from who they are in day-to-day life."
"Dad said almost the same thing after it was all over." Ben kept his voice quiet, squeezing her hand gently. "Trust me: it's not going to happen."
She raised an eyebrow, glancing at her son. "Are you clairvoyant now?"
"No, I just refuse to let the past spoil my future."
She laughed softly, amused. "All right, Ben. I'll keep my worries to myself for now."
"Thanks, Mom."
"You're welcome, Ben."
***
Emily maintained a pleasant, happy façade for her son until she was left alone. She was happy, amazed, and pleased for both Ben and Patrick, but that wasn't all. She sighed and looked at the ring on her left forefinger. After the divorce, she'd simply started wearing her wedding ring on a different finger, unwilling to abandon it completely. No matter how much Patrick and his treasure hunt had driven her crazy; she still loved him, deep down. And that's why she was also full of sadness, disappointment, and regret. If she'd ignored the way people began to give her funny looks when they heard that she was a Gates by marriage, she could have been part of Ben's story, not simply listening to it unfold. If she'd contented herself with staying home and raising Ben and any other children they might have had, she wouldn't be alone now and regretting it.
Shaking her head as to physically push those thoughts away, Emily went into her study and unlocked the bottom left drawer of her desk. Lifting out the files and loose papers inside, she pried up the false bottom and withdrew a scrapbook. It was half-filled with all the articles she'd ever found that mentioned the Gates family, particularly her son. Though, the particular page she turned to had nothing to do with Ben. The man standing with the president of the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia in the picture was her ex-husband, Patrick Henry Gates. The attached article explained that he'd just donated the Silence Dogood letters, found by his father, John Adams Gates, to the Institute. "I decided to donate them because everyone should be able to look at these letters. Not just me and my family."
"Oh, Patrick." She sighed softly, noticing the tired lines around his eyes and mouth and the gray in his hair, despite the poor quality of the picture. "I'm sorry I didn't believe you enough about the treasure."
Closing the scrapbook, she put it away and left to prepare for bed. There was no use in regrets; she couldn't go back and change the past, no matter how much she wished she could.
End