Return to Sender

by Fern Michaels

  “I never read your letters, Lin, because I never received any letters.”

  “Look at them now! Go on. I need to see you do this. Please,” she added as an afterthought.

  “All right. Sure.” Nick took several of the letters and scanned the envelopes, then placed them on the sheet next to him. “Who told you my address? I don’t remember giving it to you.”

  Will was spellbound watching the interchange between his mother and the man she said was his father. He felt like he was at a tennis match.

  “Nancy Johnson. You introduced me to her at the party,” said Lin.

  “I don’t recognize her name, but regardless, this isn’t my address. That’s why I never got them, Lin. Because they’re marked ‘return to sender.’ Look.” Nick motioned for her to look closely at the fading print on the yellowed envelope. “Address unknown.”

  Speechless. Now she truly understood the meaning of the word.

  Lin felt so light-headed, she had to reach for the bar on the side of the bed to remain upright. “I can’t believe after carrying these around for more than half my life, that I missed those two little words. ‘Address unknown.’”

  Images swirled through Lin’s head. She could not identify any of them. Her only thought was that Jason had been right, after all, except it hadn’t been Nick’s father who had kept the letters from him. It had been the United States Postal Service. And herself. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. And one more STUPID with capital letters.

  “You really called?” That was probably the stupidest question she could ask, but it was the only one she could think of.

  “I have no reason to lie to you. I think I called seven or eight times. Different times of the day, in the hopes of catching you in.”

  To think she’d carried around this hate for Nick all these years. He really hadn’t had a clue that he’d had a son! He hadn’t tossed her and Will aside like dirty water. He had tried to call.

  “So where do we go from here? It’s going to take some time for this to sink in. Sally is going to shit when I tell her,” said Lin.

  “Mom, stop talking like that! Mothers shouldn’t…curse.”

  Suddenly Lin felt like an ornery schoolgirl. “Shit, shit, shit, and piles of shit. Loads of shit, dump trucks full of shit. There! How’d that sound, Will? Don’t you ever tell me what to do and what not to do. I am your mother, and if I want to say ‘Shit,’ I will say ‘Shit.’”

  Nick laughed so hard, he became short of breath. “Shit,” he gasped. “The most famous and used word in the English language.

  A word that at times seems to sum up just about everything and anything,” he continued to gasp.

  Lin began to laugh like she’d never laughed before. Will watched them as though they were two escapees from the loony bin. And then he joined in, because it seemed like the thing to do.

  “Hey, what’s going on in here? Are you trying to upset my patient?” Evan came strolling into the room like a bright wave of sun shine.

  “Evan, you’ll never believe this. Not in a million, hell, a zillion years. I think I just might have to pinch myself to make sure I’m not dreaming,” said Lin.

  Evan reached around her and pinched her on the butt.

  “Ouch!” Lin cried.

  “Okay, Evan, I think you’ve got some explaining to do. I just discovered this beautiful woman is the very foul-mouthed mother of my handsome son here.” Nick placed a thin hand on Will’s knee.

  “And now I see my doctor pinching her ass. What gives?”

  Evan and Lin told Nick how they met, their words tumbling over one another.

  “Hmm, so now I’ve got something of an inside source, I’d say.

  Seriously, I am happy for you two,” said Nick.

  All traces of humor gone, Lin, Evan, and Will told Lin’s story one more time. Lin didn’t leave out the ugly details. She felt as though in doing so, she’d purge her soul of her horrid childhood and the hate she’d carried around for so long. Again, she was reminded of that day so many years ago when she’d taken Will to McDonald’s.

  The fear had left her then, but something had remained behind, leaving her full of unhealthy feelings and thoughts for most of her adult life. Now the fear had left her completely, as though some magical fairy had carried it away on a light summer breeze, leaving her whole and intact.

  “So, I guess it’s time I get to know my son. What about it, Will? Think you can hang around this…shitty hospital for a while? Keep the old man company in his hour of need?” said Nick.

  “Mom?”

  Lin appreciated Will’s consideration. “You’re an adult now. Whatever you want to do, you can. Just don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” Lin added as an afterthought, “Forget I said that. I think I’ll leave you two alone so you can get to know one another better. And no cussing, Will. Today was just for fun.”

  “Listen to your mother, son. Only God knows how I’ve always wanted to say that!” Giant tears streamed down Nick’s pale face, landing on the pile of letters and smearing the old red ink into nothingness.

  Lin smiled. It was all turning out wonderfully for all of them, and the best part was they were all getting a clean start for Christmas this year. Lin knew of only one thing that could top this.

  They were all teary-eyed and smiling, like they’d been together many times. In some ways they were actually acting like a family. A true family.

  Well, sort of, Lin thought as she nudged Evan, a sign it was time to go.

  “Hey, what’s the rush? I like watching this man cry. I have poked and prodded him with needles as big as my arm and haven’t seen him cry. And all you do is walk into the room. Women,” Evan teased. “Can’t live with them, can’t live without them.”

  “The man who said that never spent a day with Chelsea,” Nick said.

  They all laughed.

  “I’ll be fine, Mom. Trust me,” Will assured Lin, encouraging her to leave him alone so he could get to know his father.

  “I know. Take care, Will. Call me.” Lin turned to Nick and said, “Good luck. I mean that, Nick. You know what they say, the past is prologue. I’ll keep you in my prayers.”

  Nick nodded, his eyes welling up again. “I’m sorry, Lin. I wish I had known. I might be many things, but I never would have forsaken you. I want you to believe that.”

  Lin nodded, because in her heart and in her soul she did believe it.

  Out in the hallway, Lin asked, “Is there somewhere we can go to be alone? I need to talk to you. It’s personal.”

  “I only discuss personal issues in my office. Follow me,” said Evan.

  Once the elevator doors were closed, Evan wrapped his arms around Lin. “I think that just went extraordinarily well. What about you?”

  “It’s almost too good to be true. I can’t believe…Forget it. I’m moving forward, not backward. I’m hoping Nick has a little time left with Will. It’s too sad to think about after all this.”

  “Hey, the man’s not dead yet! I’m his doctor, remember? And I don’t take no for an answer.” He kissed her hard on the lips and continued when the elevator opened on his floor.

  “Way to go, Dr. Reeves,” someone shouted from the waiting room. “Now we know what you do between patients!”

  “Hey, watch what you say, or I’ll have to order an extra set of blood work,” Evan called.

  Evan joked with his staff for a few minutes before leading Lin down the hall to his office. He closed the door and took her in his arms again. “I can’t seem to get enough of you, Lin Townsend. I’m going to have to do something about it, too.”

  “Really? And what would that be?”

  “This,” he said as he kissed her neck. “And this”—he kissed her ear—“and this.” He kissed her on the mouth, then deepened the kiss. He loosened his arms around her, dropping them to her waist. “You said there was something personal you wanted to tell me. I’m all ears for the next”—he glanced at his watch—“three minutes. Then duty calls.”

  Sudd
enly shy and unsure, Lin didn’t know if it was the right time or not. She hadn’t told anyone. Not even Will. He’d find out soon enough.

  “Two minutes and counting. I don’t want my patients to think I’m in here fooling around, so you’d better tell me now, or I’ll tickle you.”

  “You wouldn’t dare! I hate being tickled, anyway. Listen, stop! What I have to say isn’t something silly. It’s life changing, and I want your undivided attention when I tell you. If you have a problem with it, I want you to tell me up front. I can take it. I’m a survivor.”

  “Now you’re scaring me,” Evan said.

  “No, no, I don’t want to do that! I just want you to be honest with me. Truly honest.”

  “Is there any other way?”

  “Actually, from this second on, there isn’t.” Her hands trembled, and she stuffed them in the pockets of her jeans. She looked Evan squarely in the face. “Do you have any plans this summer? August, to be specific.”

  Evan squinted. “Not that I know of. But you know how my life is, being a doctor. It belongs to my patients first. Scratch what I just said. It didn’t come out right. My time is yours first and foremost, above and beyond anything. If you need me, I promise to jump through hoops or whatever it takes to get to you. I mean that, Lin. I mean it more than anything I’ve ever said. I’ll never mistreat you or Will. Never,” he said vehemently.

  “I can live with that. Now, about August. Why don’t you check your calendar just to make sure? I’ll wait right here.”

  “Really, I don’t think I have anything going on other than work, and I can rearrange a few things if it’s that important to you.”

  “Just check your calendar. Pretty please,” Lin coaxed.

  “You’re persistent, I’ll give you that. And way over your three-minute time limit.”

  Evan went to his desk, where he opened his day planner to the month of August. Looked at the empty pages and saw that they were blank. Wedged in between the pages was a small white disk about the size of a large pack of Wrigley’s chewing gum.

  Lin watched Evan as he removed it from the day planner. He looked up at her after he examined the object a few times. “Is this what I think it is, Ms. Lin Townsend? Because if it is, you’re about to become Mrs. Evan Reeves. Am I reading this right?”

  Lin nodded, smiling at the man she loved more than life. “Doesn’t matter if you’re reading it right or not, because in about seven months and two weeks you’ll have it figured out.”

  Evan practically jumped across his desk to get to her. He wrapped his arms around her, then gently pulled her away from him so he could look at her. “This is what you want?”

  “I’ve never wanted anything more in my entire life. This time I’m going to do it right.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Wait. Girls first. Was that a marriage proposal I heard a minute ago?”

  “It was. I can get down on my knee if it’ll make it more official.”

  “That won’t be necessary, Dr. Reeves. I accept your proposal.”

  “Then let’s go shout it to the world! Lin, this is the happiest day of my life.”

  “Mine, too, Evan. Mine, too.”

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  Copyright © 2010 MRK Productions

  Fern Michaels is a Registered Trademark of First Draft, Inc.

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  ISBN: 978-0-7582-6068-0