Disclaimers: Not mine
Spoilers: Inside The Box
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THE PERFECT FAMILY
(Chapter 11)
"Mom, what are you doing? You shouldn't be walking on your own." Katie quickly rushed to her mother's side, taking hold of her arm.
"So, you know." The old lady walked into the living room with Katie's help.
"No thanks to you." Catherine didn't care how disrespectful she sounded. All the anger she thought had disappeared upon seeing how sick her mother was, had just returned with avengance.
"Why are you here if you hate me so much?"
Catherine wasn't sure how to answer so she didn't.
"Catherine, I'm...I'm sorry."
Of all the things she had imagined her mother saying to her, she had never once expected an apology. The existence of one surprised Catherine. She shook her head, looking away. "It's ok."
"No, it's not. You're still angry and you have every right to be, but I hope that you'll listen to what I have to say before you leave."
She was afraid to look at her mother, afraid that her anger would disappear again, this time for good. But Catherine took a deep breath and looked up at her mother, "I don't want your excuses..."
"I didn't want you to know your father as a man who was never there for you. I never wanted you to know your father as a man who would rather work than be with his family. I never told you because I knew that Sam Braun would've never been the father you deserved." Her mother had tears in her eyes as she explained herself. "Now, call that an excuse, call it whatever you'd like but it is the honest truth. I thought I was doing what was best for you. I guess I was a wrong."
"Sam Braun might've not been the ideal father but the man you got to replace him in my life wasn't any better."
"Don't say that, Cat. Dad was a great man." Katie said defensively.
"Maybe to you. Maybe to you, he was the perfect father. But to me?" Catherine shook her head. "He never treated me like I was his."
"Of course he did, Catherine. He tried his damndest to be your father, and you know it!"
"How can you say that, Mom? He kicked me out of my own home!"
"So did I but that doesn't mean we loved you any less. It broke his heart, just as much as it did mine, to see you leave."
"So why didn't you let me come home?"
"Because we knew that if you came home, it would only be a matter of time before you left us again. And it hurt us too much to let you go. We didn't want to have to do it again."
"That's so selfish."
"I know and I admit that it wasn't our best decision but I can assure you, it wasn't our easiest either."
"I was all alone, Mom. I had no one, nothing, in Vegas."
"But you did alright."
"Yeah, I did." Catherine replied bitterly.
"I'm sorry, Catherine. I know nothing I say can make up for what you went through but I just hope that you can find a way to forgive me. If not me, then at least your father."
"Which one?"
"Cat! Stop being so stubborn!" Katie said scoldingly.
"When he left us, he wanted nothing more than to see you one last time cuz he wanted desperately for you to know how sorry he was that one decision he made cost him his daughter. And biologically or not, he loved you like his own."
Catherine wanted to believe the words her mother was saying but she was finding it difficult to let go of all her anger. "What do you want me to say? Do you want me to tell you that I forgive you and Dad for everything? Cuz I can't." She looked at her sister than at her mother again before shrugging and whispering, "Not right away, anyway."
"That's a start." Her mother nodded with a genuine smile. "Well that and I want you to say you'll stay. If not for me, than for that darling angel of yours. I know how much she enjoys spending time with her cousin."
"And I'm sure she'd like to get to know her grandmother more." Katie quickly added.
Catherine knew this was true. Before she had tucked Lindsey into bed, the little girl had confessed her desire to spend more time here because she wanted to know her grandmother more. With slight hesitation, she nodded, "Ok. I'll stay a little longer."
*To be continued*