Reunion
1
Sarah Albertson answered her phone despite it being her step mother calling her; she regretted doing so before Mary Ellen even finished her initial greeting, her tone judgmental and filled with guilt for Sarah.
“The Reunion is this coming weekend, Sarah; you haven’t been home in years and your father would really like to see you, as sick as he’s been it may be the last time you have the opportunity to see him outside of a hospital.” Mary Ellen prefaced her guilt trip. “Your step brothers have been asking after you, as well. Can I tell them that you’ll be here?”
“Yes, I have no other plans, but I don’t know how long I will be there. I have plans on Monday and its a nine-hour drive home.” She heard herself promise and then try to back out of her commitment almost immediately.
“That’s great, I’ll let your father and step brothers know to expect you, when? Friday night?” Mary Ellen pushed, celebration in her voice.
“Yes, I will leave here near noon and be there by ten o’clock Friday night, Mom,” she added, calling her Mom for the first time in eight years, the last time the day she left home after the huge fight between her younger step brother Wilhelm and herself because of the amount of time she and Johnathan her older step brother had spent together that summer. She hadn’t talked to either brother since leaving home although Jonathan had for months after left her dozens of voicemails and even more emails updating her on his life and asking her about her own. Wilhelm had never bothered, and her step mom and father had left her even a larger amount of voicemails. She listened to all of them, and summarily deleted and ignored them.
“What in the Goddess’ name am I doing going to the Reunion? I will have to face Mary Ellen, Jonathan, Wilhelm and of course, her sick and dying father. And she didn’t have a good reason for not keeping in touch except that she didn’t trust herself around Jonathan whom she had formed a very close, personal bond to. Truth was, she knew he could talk her into coming back home because he had a way of persuading her to do just about anything and thank him for doing so.
That was Tuesday morning that she had agreed to come home for the Reunion and the rest of the week seemed to vanish before her until she woke up and it was Friday morning. “Well, I guess I’m actually going home after 9 years, but what excuse will I use to explain all those messages i ignored until they stopped calling and emailing?” she asked her therapist Kimmie, whom she had told she had an emergency and needed to talk.
“How about the truth, Sarah? Why did you ignore them?” Kimmie asked.
“I was in love with my step brother and my other step brother became jealous and took the news to his Mom, her step mom Mary Ellen who proceeded to cry and scold she and Jonathan about being family, even though they met as teenagers and weren’t blood relatives.” she paused. “And if I had talked to Jonathan he could’ve talked me into coming home and being with him like we had planned throughout that whole summer.”
“Oh, Sarah, you’re going to have to confront them about this, and I suggest the truth being as how so long has passed since you left. Why did you agree to go home if you are so worried about what you will tell your family?”
“My father is dying; pancreatic cancer. It’s probably my last chance to see him outside of a hospital setting. I have to see him, and I suppose I wanted to. I just don’t want to think about confronting my step brothers, because I don’t want to dig up that whole episode. It’s Jonathan that I really don’t want to confront--i ignored his calls and emails for a year and a half before he stopped trying to reach me.”
“That’s going to happen, Sarah. He’s going to be there and your younger step brother Wilhelm will also. You may not be able to resist hurting your brothers’ feelings, as I’m sure you’ve realized by now.” Kimmie concluded the phone meeting.
Sarah called her step mother, Mary Ellen at 1130am when she finished loading up her car and was ready to get on the road into rural Pennsylvania. “I’m leaving now, Mom. Did you tell Jonathan and Wilhelm I’ll be there tonight?”
“Yes, they and your father are very excited to finally see you after all these years. They are staying in the family home as well and are already here. They’re spending time with your father right now. Do you want to say--” Mary Ellen began, but Sarah interrupted.
“No, I’ve got to get on the road. I’ll talk to everyone tonight when I get there around ten o’clock tonight, Mom. I’ve been away nine years, another nine hours is not going to kill anyone who is expecting to catch up with me.”
“Sarah, I appreciate your decision to come to the Reunion, we’ve missed you so much and if anyone knew you would’ve taken off and stayed gone so long, I never would’ve had that conversation with you and Jonathan--” Mary Ellen was apologizing, but Sarah again interrupted her.
“It’s all in the past, Mom, and I don’t need to discuss what might’ve been with you or anyone else. Please, don’t make this more difficult than it has to be, Mom.” she hung up the phone and put it in the console to her car and pulled out of her driveway.
2
Jonathan began to pace at nine o’clock that night, unable to stop his mind from racing in circles about Sarah coming home finally and although he had tried to convince himself to give her space, he began watching the driveway in anticipation of his stepsister returning home at last. The guilt he felt was like a nightmare that had taken over his life because of Sarah staying away. It had to be his fault, didn’t it? Hadn’t he been the one who had approached her about his feelings for her?
“What’s up your ass, bro?” Wilhelm asked, a smirk on his face making his question moot. Jonathan knew it was obvious he was eager to see Sarah again and Wilhelm was always jealous of the bond he and Sarah had formed in the summer before she fled when Wilhelm had told Mary Ellen about he and Sarah’s romance. And his dark eyes foretold that he couldn’t wait to see the train-wreck coming when Sarah finally got there.
“Wilhelm, don’t be a dick, you know why I’m pacing. You know Sarah is coming back home and even after nine years, I’m eager to see her again. So are you, or rather you want to see whatever argument you think is going to erupt when she gets here.” Jonathan got right up into Wilhelm’s face. “There won’t be any argument, I just want to see her, if she doesn’t want to talk, I certainly won’t make her.”
“She never returned any of your calls or messages, Jonathan, get the hint: she was using you and has thrown you away like so much garbage,” Wilhelm was saying when Mary Ellen from behind called to him angrily.
“Wilhelm, you will not make this harder than it needs to be. Sarah is coming home and if she doesn’t want to bring up the past, you will not provoke her with your cruelty. I will not allow you to keep Sarah from being here for the Reunion. I simply will not!” she spun Wilhelm around to see her angry glare. “Go to your room, before Sarah gets here. Let her have a chance to get comfortable and see her father.”
“I don’t see why--,” Wilhelm argued, and was slapped across his face by Mary Ellen as recompense for his refusal to go to his room. “Fine!” he stormed off to his room and slammed the door.
“Jonathan, I think you have every right to talk to Sarah when she gets here, but don’t pressure her into discussing the past, I sense that she’s put the past behind her and I know you have tried, but haven’t been able to completely do so. I want to apologize for interfering between you and her, and if I could take back that whole intervention, I certainly would--i never expected Sarah to run away and ignore her family for the last nine years.” Mary Ellen hugged him briefly and then went to check on her husband who was resting in the bed they shared.
Jonathan saw her car pull into the driveway and unload her two bags from the trunk and make her way up the outside stairs to the ground floor of the house. He held the door open for her, and smiled at her with a nod. “Sarah, so good to see you after all this while,” he wrapped her in a brief, brotherly hug that lingered only the tiniest bit.
“I want to talk to you, Jonathan. Alone, without Mom or Wilhelm to interrupt us, if you don’t mind,” Sarah said to him after depositing her bags in her room. “Go for a walk?”
