Love’s Journey Home by Kelly Irvin Read Free Book Online Page B

on the floor. “Mudder, what are you doing up?”
     She knelt to pick up the bag and bumped her head on the shelf. “Ouch.”
    “I was about to ask you the same question.”
    Rubbing her forehead, Helen swiveled. Her mudder wandered into the kitchen. She didn’t
     have her cane, but she did well, all things considered. As long as Helen didn’t move
     the furniture around or leave a chair pulled out.
    “Where’s your cane?” Helen took another cup from the shelf. If her mother were up
     now, she’d probably be up the rest of the night. She hadn’t slept much since Daed’s
     passing. “You can’t be wandering around in the middle of the night like this.”
    “What difference does it make if it’s night, silly girl?” Mudder reached until her
     outstretched hand landed on a chair at the prep table, then moved forward until she
     could slide into the seat. “It’s mostly dark all day long for me.”
    No self-pity lingered in those words. She sounded what qualified as cheerful for her.
     With her hair still neatly hidden behind her kapp, and a shawl over her robe, she
     looked as proper as she did in broad daylight.
    Even the day Helen had taken her to the doctor and he’d explained the strange tricks
     her eyes had been playing on her, her mother had simply nodded and said, “Well, then,
     take me home.”
    Loss of sight in the middle, while the edges remained. Helen had the doctor write
     the name of the disease on a piece of paper, sure she wouldn’t remember it long enough
     to share it with her brothers and write about it in letters to her sisters.
    Macular degeneration. Words from some foreign language that translated to mean her
     mother could no longer sew or cook or even take herself into town in the buggy. Her
     vision hadn’t completely disappeared yet, but so little remained that she’d taken
     to using a cane to tap her way about the house and the yard.
    “Will you have a cup of tea with me? The water’s hot.” Pleased she’d managed to sound
     equally cheerful, Helen picked up a hot pad and poured the water into the two mugs.
     “Chamomile for you. Black tea for me.”
    “Black tea will only keep you awake.”
    “I’ll add lots of milk and a dollop of honey.” She knew she wouldn’t be sleeping anyway,
     tea or not. “Honey for you?”
    “Naomi told me about Edmond.”
    The muscles in her arm seemed too weary to hold up the teakettle. Helen set it on
     the stove.
    “I know it must grieve you so.” The gentleness of her mother’s tone caused tears to
     well in Helen’s eyes. For one split second, she welcomed the fact that Mudder couldn’t
     see her weakness. “You’ve done everything you can to raise the children right. Your
     daed helped as best he could. The boys and your sisters, they helped. Whatever Edmond
     does now, he has to own. He chooses his path. You can’t do it for him.”
    “I feel I failed.” Helen wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand. No tears. She’d
     come this far on her own. “I think if George had been here…”
    “You feel? You think? Edmond will not be able to use his fatherlessness as an excuse
     for wrong behavior. He is approaching manhood. It is time he act like it. He has to
     step into the shoes left empty by his father and his grandfather. That’s his job now.”
    “He’s so young.” Helen set the tea on the table a bit to the left of where her mother
     sat, hoping she’d be able to see it. “I’ve added the honey already. It’s there to
     your right.”
    “He’s your son, but you do him no favors by babying him. You only allow him to become
     weaker.” Without hesitation, Mudder wrapped her fingers around the mug as if to warm
     them. “Your actions will show him what he can get away with in the future. Can you
     see that?”
    Helen dropped into the chair across from her mother and sipped her tea. Scalding hot
     but still a little weak. She hadn’t given it time to properly steep before adding
     the milk and honey.