A/N: Hey guys, this is just me reminding you guys for the reviews and suggestions for any improvements I could make to keep coming and to read all the chapters leading up to this one and the other books. Thank you so much for your continued support, and I hope you have a good day whenever and wherever you're reading this!
Chapter 10 – Ross
I sat opposite Rachel, as we drank coffee together at the table. She was scrolling through her phone and I was reading the latest issue of my favourite Palaeontology magazine. Emma and Lara had already left the table after breakfast, hopefully to go study as it was the weekend and I knew that finals were coming up soon so I wanted them to do well as a professor myself and as a loving, supportive father.
"Are you looking forward to Thanksgiving?" I asked Rachel.
She nodded. "It's always a nice time to be together with family," she said. "Especially since we have Ben this year," she added, with a smile. She was as excited to have him as I was, as she knew how much seeing him meant to me, to Emma and especially to Mom and Dad. I was really hoping that we would be able to make a whole family visit to see Mom whilst he was here, as it felt long overdue since she had been admitted.
I smiled. "Thank you so much for agreeing to have him on such short notice," I said, really hoping that how sincerely grateful I was would be conveyed through my tone. "It means a lot to the both of us."
"I know," she said, returning my smile. "I would do anything to make any member of my family happy, because you know it makes my day when it's successful."
I nod. It was moments like this that reminded me why I finally chose to marry Rachel for good, because she was a genuinely sweet, supportive and kind-hearted wife and mother. Even if we had almost complete opposite parenting techniques, we always found a way to make things work, and I couldn't have asked for anything better. We really could be a dream team when we wanted to be.
"Do you want me to help clear away the plates for dinner?" I asked Rachel, just as my phone started to ring. "I'm so sorry babe, but I better go get that," I said, feeling flustered but also curious about who would be calling me at such a random time in the morning and on a weekend.
The caller ID on my phone screen told me that it was Monica, and I started speed walking out of the kitchen and through to the living room. Closing the living room door behind me and getting comfortable on the couch, I started talking.
"What's up, Mon?" I asked, a sinking feeling in my stomach as I was now convinced that it had to be something bad. "Is everything okay over there?"
"Yeah," she replied, as if she was completely calm. I had a suspicion that this was part of an act, and was determined to get to the bottom of it. "I just went to visit Mom yesterday, and was desperate to talk to you about it."
"Okay then," I said, still feeling uneasy as she still hadn't convinced me that there wasn't something to be worried about.
"She hasn't started to go drastically downhill already?" I asked after a long pause. As much as I didn't want to ask because it was like allowing the reality of the situation to continue to hold me to ransom, I would regret not asking because it meant that the days were limited and I would have to rethink what we did before it was too late to act.
"No, no, she's still very much stable," Mon replied, and I heaved a massive sigh of relief. That lightened the load a little, albeit not by much, but enough to make me feel a little less smothered. "It's just more to do with her attitude."
I rolled my eyes, even though I knew Mon couldn't see me. Even though Mon hadn't even told me the whole story yet, it still annoyed me that Mom couldn't be the least bit respectful towards her, especially given the emotional baggage that we were all weighed down by as a result of the situation. "That's bullshit," I said, not even considering how using strong language might sound.
"I know," Mon said, her tone quieter and more subdued than it had been, but also sounding as if someone finally understood where she was coming from. "If she doesn't want me to visit her, then quite frankly both Chandler and I have much better and more important things to do with our lives than try and please someone as ungrateful as she is."
I could tell from her bitter tone that she was trying to sound as if she didn't care about the situation or Mom, but I know that she did. And also that she didn't just care, but actually cared very much more than she was allowing people to let on. "I can see why you would feel like that," I said, hoping that she would feel supported, or at least listened to by me saying this.
"She asked after you," Mon said, catching me completely off guard. "Like, where you were," she added, explaining herself, even though I had known what she had meant the first time.
"I was at work," I said, my hackles starting to rise because I had a feeling I knew exactly where this conversation was going. "Did you tell her that?"
I was absolutely livid that Mom had the nerve to be that ungrateful towards Mon, when she was only trying to be of help and comfort towards her, and quite rightly so had better things that she could've been spending her time on.
"I did," Mon said, the subdued tone returning to her voice. "Her response was asking me why I wasn't at work."
I could feel my face getting hot as I processed what I just heard. How the hell did Mom think it was okay to as her something like that? Not only was it rude when someone to have gone out of their way to pay you a visit, she should also know that Mon had been upgraded to the manager at Javu's and it was clear that she hadn't wanted to pay attention to memorising that. Whilst the argument that her memory was getting worse as she could got older could be validly justified in this situation, I knew that she had taken the time to memorise my job and other information about me that she should know without hesitation and was simply purposely being an ass to Mon.
"I'm sorry," I said, not feeling at all sorry for what I was about to say in the slightest, "but what a fucking bitch."
"Thanks," I heard Mon say.
"You don't need to thank me," I said, still reeling from what Mom had done to her. "She had no right to treat you like that!" I took a deep breath in, as an attempt to compose myself enough to be able to hear the rest of what Mon had to say. "What happened after that?" I prompted, hoping that she was still okay with talking about it.
"One of Mom's nurses offered to go get us coffee, and came back with Dad," Mon said, still sounding no happier, which made me wish more than anything that I could hug her in that moment, and reassure her that I was going to be with her every step through this terrible journey as her adoring brother.
"How was that?" I asked, hoping for Monica's sake that the story would pick up and end up being a little happier.
"Dad was an angel as he always is," Mon said, and I couldn't help but grin at the fact that Dad had basically come to her rescue. "But I couldn't help but feel like I wanted to completely break down and run and hide when he and Mom started catching up with each other."
I was about to reply when Mon continued. "Even though they may not always be the nicest people ever, they are still a completely perfect match for each other and I can't comprehend how Dad is going to cope with her not being around," she said, voicing what I had already suspected was the case in this situation.
"I know, Mon," I said, my heart-breaking now not only just for Mon, but for Mom and Dad again as well. I wondered for the millionth time how the hell families in situations like this end up being able to carry on with their lives and be truly happy again after such a tragic event. "I know."
"Ross," Mon asked, in a tone sounded scarily like a small child desperate to be reassured by their parents. "Will Mom and Dad be okay? Will you be okay? Will all the kids be okay?"
At this tirade of questions, I knew that she was panicking and it would take much more than I was probably going to be able to do for her to reassure her. Rather than wallowing in my own helplessness, I decided that attempting to help her would be better than not doing anything at all. "I'm sure we will find a way," I said, praying for my tone to reassure her.
"Okay," she said, so quiet I almost couldn't hear her, with the same childish tone that she had used before.
I was desperate to stay on the call with her, but I couldn't think of anything else that I could do to try and comfort her. "Mon, I think I'm going to have to go," I said, immediately regretting it. "I'll talk to you again soon."
"Okay," she said, still sounding subdued. "Talk soon, then."
I hung off, as the feeling of regret rose higher in my stomach. Trying my best to ignore it, I walked back through to the kitchen, hoping that Rachel would still be there. She was just putting down the towel that she had been using as I walked in.
"Hey," I said, creeping up from behind and hugging her.
"Hey," she said, as she turned to look at me with a smile. "How was the call? Who was it?"
She must have noticed my expression change when she mentioned the call because she started to look concerned. "Is everything okay?" Rachel asked, eyes wide with concern and fear.
When I didn't immediately nod or shake my head in answer, she seemed to realise that the situation was much more complex than first thought. I started thinking through what would be the best way to word my answer, and eventually decided to just be completely frank and honest with her.
"Mon went to visit Mom yesterday," I started to say as Rachel's expression turned to one of confusion, which I assumed was because she thought that visiting Mom would be in some way even the slightest bit comforting and not as completely negative as I was making out to be, "but unfortunately Mom had to turn round and be a complete arsehole to her."
Rachel's expression turned to one of anger, which was oddly comforting because she clearly still cared deeply for her best friend. "I know," I said, in answer to the silence that preceded.
"What the hell does that woman think she's doing?" Rachel said loudly, gesturing passionately to emphasise how appalled she looked. "Monica fucking went to see her, and this is the kind of bullshit response she gets!" she said after I explained exactly what had been said.
"I can't believe it either," I said, shaking my head in disbelief as I spoke. I couldn't believe it myself that Mom would have the nerve to treat Mon this way because, even though they hadn't always had the best relationship with each other, being in this kind of situation called for some kind of attempt to change on both of their parts, not just Mon's.
"You should say something," Rachel said, clearly without thinking about what she was saying at all. "Confront that woman and tell her what a dick she's being to her own goddamn daughter and how this has got to change right now because she doesn't have that much longer to change her ways before it's too late."
A lump formed in my throat as Rachel spoke. Even though she was speaking the blatant truth that really needed to be acknowledged, there was no sign of any damage control being enforced any time soon. I didn't want to think about the situation, but there was no way that we couldn't.
"You're right," I said, realising that that was probably one of the only times that I would ever admit when I was wrong in my life, but feeling no urge to make a comment on it as I might've done under different circumstances.
"Well, that's the first time I've heard that in god knows how long!" Rachel said, laughing in surprise. She looked back at me and saw that I wasn't feeling her humoured mood, and her eyebrows furrowed. "Back to serious talk now," she said, her expression changing back to stern and thoughtful. "Are you going to speak to your Dad?" she asked after a couple of moments of silence.
I hesitated, and Rachel gave me an expectant look. I could tell that she wasn't going to stop until I agreed to do something, and so I nodded. "Sure," I said, trying to persuade Rachel satisfactorily that I would get in touch with Dad to let him know the full extent of his wife's inexplicable and completely unfair behaviour towards her daughter.
"Good," Rachel said, grinning widely. She looked so pleased with herself, and I wanted nothing more than to wipe it off her face until I remembered that there was more important things to deal with right now than salvage what was left of my pride.
A/N: And here we are at the end of yet another chapter! This is just me reminding you guys for the reviews and suggestions for any improvements I could make to keep coming and to read all the chapters leading up to this one and the other books. Thank you so much for your continued support, and I hope you have a good day whenever and wherever you're reading this!