Chapter 17: Take A Turn
\[Rue’s POV\]
Mr. Owens’ loud exclamation from within the house reaches me, and I feel my heart drop as I start running inside and up the stairs, where I find Mr. Owens cradling my mother in his arms.
“What happened?” I hiss as he moves past me and downstairs. “What is happening?”
“Hospital.”
It is all he says before he moves outside while I rush behind him.
“I need you to drive.” He tells me, and I take in my mother.
As I do, I find that her pajamas are covered in blood, as is her mouth.
“Fuck,” I gasp. “What the hell happened?”
“There isn’t time for questions,” Mr. Owens snaps, pulling his keys from his pocket. “We need to get to the hospital, so I need you to…”
“I’ve been drinking.” I respond, moving forward. “You drive, and I will take care of her.”
I don’t give Mr. Owens the chance to argue before I’m climbing into the backseat of the car and waiting for him to pass me my mother.
Once he does, I cradle her against me and find that she is burning up.
“Just hang on,” I whisper as fear starts to squeeze at my heart. “Just hold on a bit longer and we will get you help.”
I repeat these words again and again all the way to the hospital and even while she is being rushed in.
It is only when she is moved into an operation room that I finally feel myself starting to collapse. However, before I can hit the cold linoleum floor, a strong arm is wrapping around me and steadying me.
“How much did you have to drink?” He asks, taking my actions as that of someone who had one too many. “I know that you don’t want to hear this, but you should really…”
“Not much,” I assure him. “I just…”
The moment I no longer needed to be strong for my mother, I felt all my strength disappear.
“She’s going to be okay.” Mr. Owens tells me as if reading my mind. “She’s strong.”
“Yeah,” I whisper, but honestly I’m not so sure.
Even now whatever was wrong with her was being kept from me, and that alone made me uneasy.
“What does she have?” I ask, turning my gaze to Mr. Owens. “And don’t you dare try to lie to me.”
We were already at this point. There was no point in trying to hide the severity of my mother's illness from me.
“She has cancer.” Mr. Owens sighs, and I feel like the floor is crumbling beneath me. “Stage four stomach cancer.”
Eyes widening, I look in the direction of the operating room, where I’m certain surgeons are working to stop the bleeding in my mother’s body.
“Cancer,” I repeat, unable to believe what I was hearing. “And neither of you intended to tell me?”
What the hell was happening? Was I that unreliable that they didn’t think I was worth telling something so serious?
“You’re so close to graduating.” Mr. Owens tells me as he starts to lead me toward a waiting room. “Your mother didn’t want to burden you.”
“She would never be a burden,” I growl. “How could she think such a thing?”
Fuck.
Why was it that things kept going from bad to worse?
Was this my divine punishment for falling for and craving a man that I could never have?
Of course, I would have loved if Mr. Owens and my mother didn’t work out, but for them to not work out because my mother had such a serious illness wasn’t what I would ever wish for.
I’m a horrible daughter. I find myself thinking as I collapse into a chair. I’m such a piece of shit.
“Dammit,” I growl, burying my face in my hands as tears start to prick at my eyes. “Dammit, dammit, dammit.”
“It’s going to be okay.”
Mr. Owens’ voice is accompanied by a large, warm hand pressing against my back, and even though I want to shove it away, I can’t find it in me to do it as it starts to rub comforting circles.
“She’s going to be okay.” He murmurs as I lean into him. “She’s going to be okay.”
“Yeah,” I murmur in response. “She’s going to be okay.”
Even if it felt like that was impossible right now, I knew that my mother was a fighter, and she wouldn’t allow herself to be taken out so easily, but when I saw her being so weak and frail, I couldn’t help but think the worst.
“You know,” Mr. Owens says now, snapping me out of my dangerous thoughts. “I guess it is a good thing that fate brought us together like this.”
“Why’s that?” I ask miserably.
How could he say such a thing when I already confessed all my feelings to him? Was he wanting to hurt me?
“At least this way you aren’t alone.”
Ah. So, that was what he meant, but if you really thought about it, I was alone. Even if he was already considering us family, I could never see him like that, and there would always be a large divide between us because of my wicked emotions.
“If I didn’t meet and marry your mom, you would be going through this without anybody to depend on.”
“I’m sure I would have been able to find somebody.”
Maybe even him if this happened a bit later and my plans to seduce him had worked out in the end, but I couldn’t tell him such a thing.
“I don’t know,” Mr. Owens continues, offending me. “With as standoffish and reserved as you are, I don’t think just anyone would do.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” I demand, sitting up and pulling away. “Are you trying to pick a fight with me?”
“No,” he chuckles, his eyes locking on mine and pulling me in. “I’m just saying that the man to finally sweep you off your feet will be a lucky man indeed.”
At his words, I feel my heart squeeze, and I can’t help but wonder why he would say such a thing given the timing. Or was this his way of doing damage control after what happened earlier between us? I wasn’t sure, but even as I hear him speak such things, I can’t ignore the pain that it leaves me feeling.
“I don’t want to hear something like that from you.” I say quietly. “Anybody but you.”
“Why’s that?” He asks, but before I can answer, the door to the waiting room opens and a doctor appears.
“Are you the family of Darlene Owens?” He asks, eyeing us.
“We are,” I respond, jumping up. “How is she?”
“I’m sorry.” He says softly. “We did everything we could, but she didn’t make it.”