Rebecca Crane was truly the girl next door. She was pretty, very friendly, and active in the community. In high school she had been a cheerleader, popular and a fairly good student. Her college years were much the same except that as a freshman she met the man who would be her husband. She had been so head over heels about him that she agreed to get married at the beginning of their sophomore year. Her unfortunate naiveté about sex led her to becoming pregnant not long after their marriage. Her husband, Barry Ingalls, swore that he'd always take care of her, which he did, until he was midway through an MBA program a number of years later. Unbeknownst to Becky, he'd started an affair with a classmate who he also got pregnant. Barry attempted to lead the double life but failed miserably. His girlfriend, Audrey, was a jealous woman and in a fit of anger called Becky and informed her what was going on. Worse, he had gotten Audrey pregnant around the same time she had gotten pregnant. Becky had wondered why they were also so short of money and now she knew.
Becky was crushed. She had wanted to go to law school but had given that up to support the family when Barry got into his MBA program. When Barry came home that evening Becky had found the courage to confront him. His promises to change and his claim that he loved her still were not enough. Becky had become so enraged at Barry that he fled the house out of fear before she could throw him out.
A month later Becky moved home with her parents so that she would have a support system to help her raise her son Henry who was then 4 years old. She had put her whole being into her marriage so Barry's infidelity had crushed her and after a lot of tears and questioning herself over what she'd done wrong she came to the decision that Barry had been little more than a manipulative and selfish jerk. But it also made her mistrustful of all men and although she was asked out on dates over the next few years she always turned down the offers. She told them all, truthfully, that she needed to focus her attentions on her son to see that he was brought up properly. And that is exactly what she did, and extremely well too.
Fortunately for Becky she had majored in economics in college and maintained a very good GPA. Barry had tried to talk her out of working but she had persisted and was grateful she had after her divorce. She had slowly risen through the ranks of a Fortune 500 company and 12 years after her divorce had become a vice-president. Henry had applied to, and gotten into, Yale. He had also applied and gotten into Harvard which Becky preferred as it would have kept him close to home so she was disappointed by his decision but proud of her son's accomplishments.
Now only 37-years-old, Becky was finding out what the phrase "empty nest" meant. She had so devoted herself to her son that his departure left a huge void in her life. Having no social life, and now no son to attend to, she simply put all her energies into her work. Henry had come home for Thanksgiving but quickly returned to Yale on Saturday claiming he feared getting behind in his studies. Again she was torn between disappointment and pride as he left early.
Henry next returned home about a week before Christmas. This time he'd be at home until mid-January and Becky was thrilled. She'd missed Henry greatly. He had always been such good company in the evenings when she got home from work. They always talked about their days and Becky discovered with his absence that Henry had always provided a good sounding board when she was troubled which, even though that happened infrequently, she had discovered with his being gone, had been something she'd come to rely upon.
His first night home Becky had wanted to catch up but Henry claimed he was especially tired and had gone to bed early. Because of that Becky had called into work and said she would not be in the next day, a Thursday. She wanted to give all her attentions to her son.
Thursday morning Henry had awakened to the smell of bacon cooking. He couldn't help but smile at this surprise as he had not known his mother would be home. He showered quickly and hurried down to the kitchen.
"Surprise!" Becky greeted him.
"Thank you mom!" Henry said and hugged his mother. "You are the best mom ever!" This phrase had been something Henry had repeated over and over since he was a small boy. It was also a phrase Becky never got tired of hearing.
They ate their breakfast and caught up while sitting at the kitchen's island. A 15-minute breakfast quickly turned into a 2 hour discussion of everything that had gone on while he was away. Finally Becky said, "Sweetheart, I think I'll take tomorrow off and make it a really long weekend. I've missed you so much."
"That'd be great mom! What do you have in mind?"
"I don't know but I have really missed spending time with you."
They went to lunch then went to Barnes & Noble where they puttered around for a couple of hours. They talked about Christmas presents and Christmas parties and everywhere they'd have to go and everyone they'd have to see. While sitting at the Starbucks café in the Barnes & Noble, Becky felt truly happy just listening to her son talk about his classes and various professors.
"So have you met anybody special?"
"No mom, I really don't have time. I mean, it's Yale. It's not like high school."
"I know. I know. I was just hoping. There must be some pretty girls in your classes."
"There are."
"Anyone you might like?"
"Yeah but like I said, who has the time?"
"Henry, make time! You have to have a social life." Then she said something she immediately regretted. "God knows I don't."
Henry look quizzically at his mother, not knowing how to respond.
"Oh Henry I'm sorry. I shouldn't be whining to you about my life. After all, I do have it pretty good, great job, fabulous son."
"Mom, don't you think it's time you got out too? I mean, you are still a beautiful woman. There must be tons of men who want to go out with you."
"I suppose but no one has asked recently." Becky felt extremely uncomfortable with the direction the conversation had gone and quickly changed it. She thought she had put that behind her when Henry asked her a question which shocked her.
"Mom, do you know where dad is?" After the divorce Barry had refused to do anything more for his first family than to keep up with child support payments. He had never attended any of Henry's birthday parties, graduations, or anything else. He had for all intents abandoned his family save for the monthly check. Becky had been so angry with Barry that she never told Henry that his father had remarried and that Henry had a sister somewhere. She did not know the girl's name nor did she want to. As far as she was concerned that part of her life no longer existed.
"I do. Why do you ask?"
"I just thought maybe it was time I met him."
"Why?" Becky found herself becoming annoyed with Henry's questions. She quickly chastised herself and reminded herself that her resentments should not be visited upon her son.
"I don't know. Don't you think I should know who my father is?"
"I guess but can't we talk about this another time. It's too much of a downer right now and we've been having such a good time."
"Okay mom." And that was the end of it. Becky prayed Henry would forget about it all as it was not something she cared to confront just then.
--
When Friday morning rolled around Becky repeated Thursday morning by cooking breakfast. But as happens in New England the forecast of a couple of inches of snow had turned into six early Friday morning with reports of an additional foot coming.
"Doesn't look like we're going anywhere today, "Becky announced as Henry entered the Kitchen. "Forecast is for another foot of snow today."
"That's okay. I didn't have anything planned anyway."
