It's All Relative(153)

She hadn’t been paying close enough attention to what she’d been doing, and that had cost her a great deal of pain. Oddly enough, she’d been thinking about Kai at the time. She hadn’t realized he’d made it up here already. She’d known he’d be up soon, but hadn’t heard the official date yet. Coming up to start his new job…

Frowning, Millie opened her eyes and cast a quick glance at the door. She wasn’t sure if Kai and Jessica were right outside, or if they had gone for a walk through the hospital. Maybe they’d decided to head down for some coffee, to catch up on what their families had been up to. Millie’s eyes shifted to the clock on the wall as she thought about her son in Hawaii. It was late in the afternoon here, so he should be up and around back there.

Grabbing the phone on the nightstand, Millie dialed her son’s number. After a few rings, a confused voice answered her. “Hello?”

“Hello, son. How are you this morning?” Millie brightly said.

She smiled into the receiver as she heard her son immediately respond with, “Oh, hey, Mom. I didn’t recognize the number. I’m fine, how are you?”

Millie laughed, her joints reminding her of her ache as she did so. They’d dosed her up pretty well, and her hip felt a little numb. The rest of her was sharp enough though. “A little stumble this morning, but I’m fine. My granddaughter is taking good care of me.”

There was a pause on his end, then, “You okay? Really?”

Millie scoffed into the phone. “Honey, I’ve had nine kids. A little tumble is nothing.” Her son laughed into the phone, and she took that moment of levity to make her reason for calling known. “Kai came to see me today.”

Her son immediately stopped laughing. “Yeah, I figured he would soon. He left Wednesday.”

Millie sighed as she stared at the ceiling. “What are the two of you thinking, sending him here?”

With a forced cheerfulness to his voice, her son responded, “Well, it’s a great job, Mom, and he can be close to you—”

She cut him off. She knew bull when she heard it. “That is not why he’s really here, and you know it. Don’t play me for a fool, Nate.”

She’d had suspicions for a while over her son’s true motives, and Nate had picked up on her doubt in previous conversations. He seemed a little frustrated being called out on it now. “Mom…he needs to know.”

Millie closed her eyes and shook her head. Damn…he was right. “Why, Nate? What difference does it make at this point?”

He sighed, louder this time. When his voice came out, it was laced with anger. “He deserves to know the truth. Truth matters.”

Millie opened her eyes. Her face softened as she listened to her son’s pain. “Does it? Did the truth do you any good? Did it do anything but ruin your marriage?”

He sighed again, wistfully. “Mom…the truth is important. He should know. Leilani and I both feel he should finally know. He’s an adult now.”

Millie bristled and raised her head off the pillows. “Yes, he’s an adult. Couldn’t you just sit down and talk with him like one? Did you need to send him out here…to see him?”

There was a long pause from her son, then in a near whisper he said, “I couldn’t do it, Mom. I couldn’t look at him and tell him… It’s better this way.”

Millie sighed. “Better for whom?”

Her son grunted in frustration. “You wouldn’t understand.”

Millie knew she was starting to strain their relationship. She dropped her head back to the pillows and changed what she’d been going to say. Instead, she softened her voice and responded with, “You’re right. I’ve never been in the position you’re in, and I don’t know what I’d do. But, son, I know you think this will help him, but I’m telling you, you’re wrong. You will only hurt and confuse the boy by forcing this upon him…and I won’t be a part of it. I won’t help you hurt him.”

Quietly, he responded with, “We’re not asking you to, Mom. We didn’t send him to you, for you to tell him. But it’s already been started. The ball is in his court now, and we’ll just see what he does with it.”

Millie grunted. “So that’s your plan? You’re hoping that he will break the news for you, for the both of you. Nate…you’re making a huge mistake, and I won’t help it along. Kai will never learn anything from me, and frankly, I hope he never finds out the truth from him either.”

Her son sighed, like he was exhausted. “He’s going to, Mom. One way or another, he’s going to find out.” Millie sighed; her exhale sounded just as tired. In a soft voice, her son continued, “I will tell him. If he doesn’t tell Kai the truth, then I will.”

Millie tried again to object, knowing it was useless; her son was set on this course. “Nate…please reconsider? Kai doesn’t have to—”

His voice harder, her son cut off her feeble attempt. “No, Mom. This has to happen. Kai has to be told that I’m not…that I’m not his father.”

Millie’s eyes watered as she pictured her son’s pain, as she pictured Kai’s future pain. None of this seemed like a good idea to her. With a stuttered exhale, she told him, “But that’s just it, Nate. You are his father. Even if there isn’t a speck of our blood inside him, he’s still family, and he’s still your son.”