A/N – Wow, I'm sorry this took such a long time to get out! I can't promise that it won't take this long to get the next one out, since we're going back to school in a day, but I will promise to try my hardest to get it out as soon as I possibly can! Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed, I love getting your reviews. Please keep reading and reviewing, and I hope you enjoy this chapter!
As everyone headed up to bed, Ephram pinpointed where the telephone was. After it seemed that everyone was asleep, he was planning to come back downstairs and phone his father. Though he wasn't on the greatest terms with his dad, he needed to talk to him, to figure out what they were going to do about getting back home as soon as possible. Everwood was nice, no question, but all Ephram wanted was to go home.
"Night, honey!" Ephram's mother called to him from across the hallway, "Have a good sleep, tomorrow's a big day."
Ephram smiled at his mother, despite the mention of the beginning of their new life. "Thanks, Mom, you too."
He opened the door to the spare room and quickly closed it behind him. Then he sat on the bed. And waited. Delia was sleeping in Sam's room, and his mother was sleeping in Nina's room. Her husband was away on a business trip, she had said.
After fifteen minutes of waiting in the dark, Ephram quietly got up and slowly opened the door. He paused to listen for any sounds of anyone still awake, but found none. He could hear Delia's soft and relaxed breathing and his mother's snoring. It was funny, she always denied doing it, but the whole family had each caught her on many occasions. They even taped her doing it once, just to prove that she did, in fact, snore. But his mother just laughed and said that the tape proved nothing, they could have taped someone else snoring. Ephram smiled as he remembered the funny memory, and wished that things were more like that right now.
He crept down the hallway and down the stairs, stopping on each one to listen for anyone getting up. At the bottom of the stairs, Ephram tiptoed into the kitchen and quietly picked up the phone. He dialled the familiar number and waited. Since Colorado was two hours behind New York City, it was just after eleven thirty. His father should be just home from the hospital.
Surprisingly, he picked up after one ring.
"Hello?"
Ephram paused. His father's voice sounded so worn down and weary, that for once he actually felt sorry for him. It was an understatement to say that he hardly felt sorry for his father, but if Ephram was very glad that he wasn't in his father's shoes. He took a deep breath, but before he could, his father spoke again.
"Hello?? Is anyone there?" his father's tired voice asked.
"Dad, it's me." Ephram whispered, looking around the house to make sure that he hadn't spoken too loudly. Nothing stirred, so he supposed that he hadn't.
He heard his father intake a breath.
"Ephram? Oh my God…are you alright?" his father asked, sounding anxious.
Ephram nodded despite the fact that it was dark, and that his father was in another state.
"Yeah, we're fine. We're in Everwood, Colorado." Ephram explained, "It's this little town in the mountains – "
"I know it well," Dr. Brown interrupted sadly.
Ephram sighed, confused. Both his parents knew the town, which probably meant that they spent time here before him and Delia were born. The fact that his mother had chosen a town that had good memories with his father was a good sign, he guessed. He decided to try to convince his father to come.
"Dad, Mom's buying a house here. We're moving into it tomorrow! I know that you're mad, and she's mad, but you can work it out, can't you? All you have to do is cut down your hours at the hospital a little…please, why don't you come here and try to talk to Mom?" Ephram tried to keep his voice steady, but near the end of his speech it wavered, and he took a deep breath to stabilize himself.
There was a silence on the other end of the phone and he heard his father sigh.
"Ephram, there's nothing more that I would like to do than to come to Everwood and see you kids, and your mother. And to talk to her…I shouldn't be telling you this, I don't want you to worry, but it's bad, son. Both your mom and I have done things that we shouldn't have, and it's no one's fault. Well, it's probably mine." his father stopped there and paused in regret, "But I think if I went to Everwood right now, and your mother saw me, it might make her angrier than she already is. I really don't want to screw up my second chance, if I have one."
"Are you going to cut down your hours?" Ephram questioned.
"Yes." Dr. Brown replied, without skipping a beat.
Ephram smiled a little; there was a small hope.
"Good. Then you do have a chance." Ephram answered, "But what are you going to do if you're not going to come here?"
"I'm not sure, Ephram. Never thought I'd ask you this, but since you're already involved, do you have any suggestions?" Dr. Brown asked with a tiny chuckle.
He thought for a moment, and then replied, "Now that you mention it, I wouldn't come here yet, either. Why don't you write Mom a letter? Don't talk, Dad…that could just end up in more fighting."
"That's true. Maybe I will do that…but now you have to go to bed. Even though it may not seem that late there, you're still on New York time. Get some sleep, Ephram." Dr. Brown said sternly, then softened, "Thanks for calling me."
"Don't worry about it," Ephram replied quickly, "Hopefully talk to you soon, Dad."
"Night, Ephram." his father answered, hanging up the phone.
As he hung up the phone, Ephram sighed. Though he hadn't wanted to do it, it had been the right thing to do. He knew that his mother hadn't called him, and he desperately wanted things to go back to the way they were. That was impossible; he understood that. But he had to try his hardest to get it back to as close as possible.
He made his way to the staircase, and was at the bottom of it when a voice stopped him.
"Just where do you think you're going? Back up to bed, I don't think so." Nina's voice said as a light turned on, and Ephram guiltily turned around to face her.
He had forgotten that Nina was sleeping downstairs on the couch for the night, and he guessed that he must have woken her up during the phone call.
"I'm sorry for using your phone, I know that I shouldn't have – " Ephram admitted.
Nina waved her hand in the air, "Don't worry, you're not in trouble."
Ephram relaxed and smiled, "Thanks."
Nina took his arm and lead him to the sofa where she had been sleeping.
"You can repay me by answering a few questions, if you don't mind telling me them." Nina replied, sitting down and motioning for him to sit beside her.
Ephram shrugged, "Sure, what do you want to know?"
"You have a dad??" Nina started, intrigued.
As Ephram explained the situation, he realized that it felt really good to tell someone all about it. It sounded like some soap opera, and he would have laughed about it, if he could have. Maybe some day…
Right now though, this might be a grand adventure for little Delia, but for the rest of his family, it was a huge mess.
