It was another one of those days where it was unbearable to Kirsten. It was a dull Sunday, and Sandy had to finish up a case. She took out her old photo album of Seth when he was younger. Pictures from his Bar Mitzvah, pictures of him and Sandy in Disney World, pictures of him at fifth grade graduation. She couldn't help but let a few of the pages get wet, after all, she couldn't wipe away every single tear.
But the fact that both of her sons were gone was slowly hurting more and more every day that passed. She knew she couldn't get Ryan to come back home. He was trying to be that knight in shining armor. But she could get Seth back. And sooner then in a month or two. She tried to think of how. How could she find him on the water? Some state official could be on the lookout for him, maybe. She closed the photo album and picked up the phone to call her husband.
"Partridge, Savage and Kahn offices, how may I help you?" a perky woman's voice answered.
"Marie, it's Kirsten. Is Sandy there?"
"Oh, yeah, I just have to put you on hold,"
Kirsten tried to be patient but she wasn't suceeding. God, how hard is it to touch a few buttons and intercom somone?
"Hello,"
"Sandy, you need to come home, we need to do something about Seth," Kirsten stated.
"Is he okay?" Sandy asked, getting a chill just at the thought.
"I don't know, that's the thing. Can you be here soon?" she replied.
"Yeah, just let me settle this case, I'll be there around lunch," he answered.
"Sure. I'll see you then, love you," she said.
"Love you,"
Kirsten hung up the phone.
Summer hung up the phone again. The small piece of paper was crumpled and sitting next to Summer's glass of water. She had gotten through the first six digits when she got scared again. She tried to tell herself that it was wasting her time to just sit there, dialing and dialing a number but never calling it. Never speaking to the person on the other end. It didn't make sense.
She constantly asked herself what she was so afraid of, and she knew the answer. She was scared that her mother wouldn't want her, that her mother might even be the same hurtful person that left her in California. Summer then felt a feeling slight anger. She wanted to show her mother she was alright. To make her see how far she had come without her. That's what motivated her to finally dial the number and not hang up.
Sandy arrived home a little after noon. Kirsten had been waiting on the couch. "We can't just let him float on the ocean, Sandy," Kirsten said as he walked through the door.
"I missed you too, honey. My day was fine, a little hard, aw, I love you!" Sandy replied sarcastically.
"This isn't funny, this is our son. We need to get him back before he gets hurt," Kirsten stated firmly with a hit to Sandy's arm. He wrapped his arms around her and Kirsten slowly began to cry.
"What if there's a storm? What if he runs out of water?" she whispered, finally confronting herself with all of her fears that had been in the corner of her mind all summer.
"It'll be okay," Sandy comforted, and paused to see if he really believed what he was saying, "I'll contact the Coast Guard. I'll give them a description of Seth and the boat," he finished.
"The Summer Breeze," Kirsten said quietly.
Sandy shook out of his thoughts. "What?" he asked as he sat down to his wife on the couch cradling her in his arms.
"It's the name of his boat, The Summer Breeze, after Summer," she said, almost inaudibly. She felt weak. She couldn't hold up her tough exterior anymore. She felt like she didn't even have the power to speak at a loud volume.
"I know. He loves that girl, you know," Sandy commented softly while he twirled a strand of Kirsten's hair in his fingers.
"They really do care about each other," she thought out loud.
"We'll get him back, you know that," Sandy assured.
"I don't know, Sandy. We already lost one of them..." Kirsten began, erupting into more tears.
Sandy held her close and kissed the top of her head, not saying a thing. There was no way he could assure her because he was thinking the same thing.
"Hello, Harrison residence," Summer took a sharp breath in. A woman had answered the phone. Harrison was her mother's maiden name. Was the voice on the other end her mother?
"Hello, I'm calling for Christine, it's a personal business matter," Summer greeted, not wanting to reveal her identity yet.
"No, I'm sorry, this is her parents' house. Do you want me to give you her home number?" the woman answered warmly.
"Yes, please," Summer answered politely. That was her grandmother. Summer never met her grandmother. She recieved the number and hung up, just to pick up the phone and dial the number quickly, just wanting to get it all over with.
"Hello?" a woman's voice answered.
Summer could barely breath. It was too much. The moment she had thought about ever since her mother closed the door to her room that one night. She managed to get out a "Mom?" Uttering the mere word sent a quick shiver through Summer's body. It was unfriendly.
"Who is this?" Christine asked curiously with shock.
"It's Summer," she replied, just wanting to cry.
"Oh my God..." was whispred through the line.
"I got your number from Kirsten Cohen," Summer stated.
"You know Kirsten Cohen? How is she? Is she still married to that lawyer? How's her little boy, Sam?" Christine inquired, all of her Newport memories suddenly rushing back to her.
"She and Sandy are fine, and their son is Seth. I'm, uh, dating him," Summer replied.
Christine gasped, realizing how much she had missed of her daughter's life. "You're dating now. You're about sixteen, right?"
"Yeah. God, I can't believe you even have to ask! You should know. You should know who my first boyfriend was, you should know that Dad's married to some drugged-up bitch, and that I cried so many nights over you. Do you know how jealous I got? All my friends' moms came and said good night at sleepovers, and it just..." Summer stopped her talking. She couldn't help it. It was true, and it was so hard. She wished she had never called, she just wanted to hang up right then, but she wouldn't let herself.
"I thought about calling you so many times, I, I wanted to know how my little girl was doing. My little Summer. I wish I hadn't done what I did," Christine said sadly.
"You thought about calling. Did you ever call?" Summer asked coldly.
There was a pause. She already knew the answer. She could hear quiet crying. A little sympathy stung Summer. She knew her mother wasn't a cold, evil, abandoning bitch.
"No," Christine answered finally.
"Are you sorry?" Summer whispered, scared that if she was too loud she might break the thin ice.
"Of course. Look...Summer, you don't have to forgive me. I wouldn't forgive me. I'm a horrible mother. No little girl should ever have to see what you saw, I was sick. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I just really really want to know my only daughter. Please?" Christine apoligized.
Summer thought about her answer. She blurted out the question, "Do you have children?"
"Yes, I have a son. He's eight, I just got married to the father in spring," Christine answered, "You're half-brother's name is Jacob, and my husband is Dan,"
Summer was going to answer Christine's plea for forgiveness right then, but she wanted to know more. She didn't bother to care about manners, she didn't feel like she owed it to her mother. "Why didn't you get married when you got pregnant?" she asked.
"I couldn't. It was too soon," Christine said simply, "Do you have an answer to my question yet?"
Summer took a deep breath.
"Yes,"
"Dark curly hair, white male," Sandy told the coast guard official who was asking for Seth's description, "Yes. Thank you, we'll be wating,"
"How long will it be?" Kirsten asked hopefully, looking up from her nails.
"They said at the least a few days," Sandy answered, "They don't really know,"
Kirsten shifted her wait uncomfortably. "They're supposed to be the coast guard, guard the coast, coasting guarding, how is 'not really knowing' guarding the damn coast?" She asked, slightly shouting, but mostly irritated.
"Kirsten," Sandy said gently.
"How are you so fucking calm, Sandy? Don't you worry?" Kirsten asked, raising her voice a bit.
Sandy sighed and looked down at the floor, as if it would provide him with the answer to her question. "I do worry. I worry a lot. I just don't show it. Because if I do, it'll worry you more. And I don't think they could take more protection from you," he answered with a with a little, slightly wry smile.
Kirsten couldn't help but smile a little. After everything, after all the years, Sandy could still make her smile when her mascara was falling down her cheeks and her eyes were red from all the tears. She got up to throw her arms around his neck.
Maybe he would protect her like she tried to protect her sons and the child she never knew. She was young. It was a drunken mistake. She didn't even know the father. She had to protect that baby from how he would grow up. She didn't know what else to do.
Now Sandy's warm arms held her, she felt like nothing in the world could touch her.
"I've tried to understand, but I don't know if I can. And I doubt you could understand what I've gone through. But..." Summer hesitated. She needed to make sure she was sure about what she was going to say next. "Maybe, if I talk to you and we take the time to get to know each other we can finally know each other. And...that's what I want. I've wanted to talk to you for years and years. And I want to learn to see you as a mother. I'll send you pictures, and you can send me pictures of Jacob and Dan, but, I don't want to meet you. Not now, at least. So, now, I just want to talk to you, and learn to trust you a little. Okay?" she finished.
"Yes. Thank you so much, Summer," Christine replied, happiness was evident in her voice.
Summer couldn't help but smile. Finally. Finally she was going to find her mother again. The woman who had pushed her on the swings, shared ice cream with her, and put her to bed. "So...Tell me about Seth,"
"It's a long story..." Summer began.
"Then tell me all of it. I want to hear how you became you," Christine stated.
"Okay," Summer said, "Okay,"
Kirsten frantically picked up the phone around seven that night. She hoped it was Ryan, or Seth, or the Coast Guard. Anyone. Just a reassurance.
"It's Summer, is this Kirsten?" Kirsten was a little disapointed, but was always happy to talk to Summer.
"Hi, Summer. We contacted the Coast Guard. They're going to try to find Seth," she informed.
"Oh my God, that's great. How long?" Summer asked, excitedly.
"They're not sure," Kirsten answered.
"What? They're the Coast Guard, they should be coasting guarding!" Summer yelped.
Kirsten chuckled a little. "Exactly what I said," she commented. Talking to Summer seemed to relax her a little.
"Um, I called my mom today," Summer blurted.
"Oh...How, um, is she?" Kirsten asked, completely surprised.
"She has a husband. And a son. I have an-eight-year-old brother named Jacob. And she's fine now. I'm going to get to know her, but I don't want to visit her, or even see her in person," Summer explained.
"Are you alright with it?" Kirsten asked, clearly concerned, with a feeling of wanting to protect Summer.
"Yeah. I'm fine," Summer stated. She really was. She was fine with everything now. For once, she was totally fine with everything. It was new.
Disclaimer: I have no affliations with The O.C., or Fox. So just leave me alone, okay?! Waaaaaah!
A/N: Oy. This took me so long to write. So much going on here, one of the longest chapters of a story I've ever written! Like with a lot of my other chapters, I'm not totally happy with it, but I'm learning. I loved to write the drama though, I (oddly) find it a little easier then writing fluff. Weird. Thank you to everyone still reviewing! I'm going to be busier now because I'm starting school again and I won't be able to update as frequently, but I'm going to try very, very hard to finish this and have at least the first chapter of the sequel up before the season two begins. Only two more chapters left of Motherly Comfort...