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"I have to go and see her."
I nodded. "I know."
Chapter 10
DRAKE
I went to the hospital to see my mother for the first time in twenty-eight years.
Before I went, I sat in my office and called Kent, figuring I should let him know I was on my way to the hospital so the family could be prepared. Kate stood beside me, her hand on my shoulder, and listened when I put the call on speakerphone. Kent answered and we spoke briefly, introducing ourselves and then he talked about finding out they had a half-brother.
"Craig and Andrew aren't able to get here right now and will wait and see whether they need to come if she gets worse. Craig's in the Navy and is currently deployed. Andrew's in Texas and is working a big project. Amanda and I live in San Francisco so we're the two who have been watching over mom. We never knew anything about you until she started to lose her memory. Then, it was like she wanted to tell everyone about you before she forgot entirely," Kent said, his voice soft. "She finally told us that we had a half-brother from her first marriage and that she lost a son to leukemia. She said her marriage broke down and she went through a serious depression and left Manhattan, determined to kill herself by jumping off the Golden Gate bridge. But instead, she met my father, Herb, at the local Mission where he was the manager and that saved her life."
"I knew she was depressed. She felt she couldn’t care for me and that's why she left."
"It must have been hard on you," Kent said and that brought out a wave of emotion in me. "I couldn't imagine my mother leaving me or my wife leaving our son."
"I survived," I said. "No doubt it affected me for a long time. My own first marriage failed."
"I'm sorry to hear that, but it's understandable. We all wanted to meet you, once we learned about you. I did some sleuthing, hired a private detective in Manhattan to find out what he could about you and he gave us your contact information. He compiled a dossier on you and that's when we learned about the troubles you had with the attack on your wife."
"Yeah, sadly, it's become national news and fodder for the gossip magazines."
Kate squeezed my shoulder and I took her hand in mine.
"We didn't want to bother you in the middle of the trial. But then I spoke with someone at NYP and learned that you came out to San Francisco. When Mom got sick, and when she started to fail, we thought we should contact you right away."
"I'm so glad you did," I said, a lump in my throat. "I would have been really sad to find out about you only after she died."
"She probably won't recognize you or anything," Kent said. "But I thought you should see her at least once in case she dies."
We
spoke about her failing health and I indicated that I wanted to go to the hospital as soon as possible.
"I won't be there until later due to work," Kent said, "but my dad Herb will be there with my sister Amanda. I'll call them and let them know you're on your way."
"Thanks," I said and rubbed my forehead. "I really appreciate this, Kent."
"Hey, I'm happy you'll get a chance to see her and look forward to meeting you."
"Me as well."
We ended the call and I turned to look at Kate, my eyes filled with tears.
"I guess I'll go," I said and pulled her onto my lap, our arms around each other. She pressed her forehead to mine and rubbed my back.
"I'm so sorry, Drake. Like you need this on top of everything else."
"No," I said and shook my head. "This is good. You know I've always wondered about her and what she did with her life after she left. I had no idea that she was planning to kill herself. I'm glad she met her husband and had a happy life."
"Still, it's upsetting."
I nodded but in truth, I was happy to see her despite everything. Kate and I kissed and I stood up, letting her out of my arms with reluctance.
"I'll go and stay for a while," I said. "I'll text you when I can but I'll probably just go right to work afterwards."
Kate kissed me and then I left, hopping into my car after collecting up my things. I drove off, on my way to the hospital.
