Margaret was sitting in the dining room, looking radiant and healthy. Charlie went to join her.
"Why didn't you tell me?" he demanded. "Wouldn't you have wanted to know?"
"You ask that because you've never been a parent" she said simply. "I didn't see the good in brining him into your life. You had dad and Don."
"You just wanted to forget about your mistake!" Charlie shook his head.
"My mistakes will never be forgotten, but remember this, never for one second thought of you as one of them" she put a hand on his shoulder.
"I know that now, but I'm still feeling betrayed, Mom"
"I realize that" she said somberly.
Before he could say more, Charlie found himself in a hospital bed, not knowing why he was there.
"Charlie?" Don gently asked. The professor still felt disoriented as he gingerly tried to get up.
"What happened?"
"You don't remember?" Don sounded calm,but this worried him.
"Not really. The last thing I remember, I was biking" Charlie shook his head. Just then, Alan woke up.
"You got run over by some students then one of them called nine one one." Don explained.
"Charlie? You're awake?" Alan smiled with hope.
"Yeah..I guess" Charlie tried to sit up again. "How long was I out?"
"Two days." Alan answered, as Charlie felt the bandages on his head and other parts of his body.
"Doc says that your injuries weren't that bad." Don said.
"Okay" Charlie nodded.
After spending a few days in the hospital, Charlie was released. Alan wanted him to stay home a few days, but Charlie insisted that he was fine.
Months and many therapy sessions later, he had another dream about his mother.
"I forgive you mom" he told her on a sunny day,near the Koi pond." It had taken him a while to get to this point. It didn't mean that he did not object to withwhat Margaret had done, but his love for her hadn't abated.
"Thank you" she said simply.
"I love you, mom" he said suddenly, though the man wasn't the kind to say such things aloud.
"I love you, too"
With that, the two silently watched the koi.
The End.