Chapter 5 - THE SON MY FATHER KEPT ASKING ABOUT
The insurance review triggered a home-care assessment.
A nurse visited Dad without giving Mom the exact time in advance.
I was not present.
Neither was Chelsea.
The nurse later contacted me because Dad requested that I be added back as an authorized person.
I met him at a rehabilitation clinic two days later.
He looked smaller than he had at the barbecue.
“Dany okay?” he asked.
The question surprised me.
“He’s fine.”
Dad looked down.
“Your mother shouldn’t say that stuff.”
“You were sitting right there.”
His jaw tightened.
“I know.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
He rubbed his thumb against his shaking fingers.
“Every time I fight with her, she makes it about my illness. Says I’m confused.”
I sat beside him.
“Are you?”
“Sometimes.”
The answer was honest.
“But not about Dany.”
He asked me to open his notebook.
Inside, I found pages about my son.
Dany likes pancakes, not eggs.
Dany wants red bicycle.
Margaret said no Christmas savings because “not blood.” Disagree.
Then another entry:
Tried to open account for Dany. Margaret says unfair to Mason.
Dad had been trying to put aside small amounts for both grandchildren.
Mom opposed anything for Dany.
“She told me you agreed with her,” I said.
Dad shook his head immediately.
“No.”
I felt something in me loosen and hurt at the same time.
I had spent two years believing Dad’s silence meant agreement.
He had been weak.
Passive.
Afraid of conflict.
But not indifferent.
“Why the storage box?”
His eyes moved toward the clinic window.
“Because I knew if she found the notebooks, they’d disappear.”
“What else is in there?”
Dad took a long time answering.
“Statements.”
“I saw them.”
“No. Older ones.”
I had not reached the bottom of the box.
Dad looked at me.
“Your mother didn’t start using my care money with Chelsea.”
“Then when?”
May you like
His next sentence changed the timeline completely.
“She started before I was sick enough to need care.”
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