After breakfast, Leah napped while Grant helped Melissa clean up the kitchen.
“Grant,” Melissa said as she looked up from the dishes. “I want to talk to you.”
“I’m listening,” Grant said hesitantly.
“I just worry,” Melissa admitted. “About you and about Leah.” She paused as she stared at Leah’s photograph on the refrigerator. Leah wasn’t looking at the camera, but her profile was beautiful. When Melissa saw Grant looking at Leah’s photo, she smiled at him. “Most moms worry that their little girls will have their hearts crushed if they don’t make the cheerleading squad or the homecoming court. They worry that they won’t approve of the boy their daughter brings home to meet Mom and Dad. I want that! I want to sense the normal fears…scrapped knees, first crushes, but I’m scared I’ll never have that. I’m scared that Leah will never speak, never go to a regular school; I wonder all the time if she’ll ever even have a friend. Will she ever call me Mama? Will David ever get to walk her down the aisle on her wedding day?”
Grant swallowed. He found the subject of Leah particularly difficult. He had always been the boy with all the answers, but, for Leah, he had none. Since her diagnosis, he had read every book, ever article he could find on Autism Spectrum Disorder, but he found more questions than answers.
“But she’s not the only one I worry about,” Melissa shook her head.
“You shouldn’t waste your time worrying about me,” Grant sighed.
“Grant, I am so scared for you,” Melissa began. “Last night turned out alright, but that might not be the case next time, and, at the rate you’re going, there will be a next time. Do you know that it would break my heart if something happened to you? Your brother would never forgive himself for not being able to help you. Your mother would be inconsolable. Baby, we love you. We all adore you. And what about Leah? What would I tell Leah if Uncle Grant stopped coming around? Could I explain it to her? Would she understand?”
Grant shook his head, dismissively. “I’m not going anywhere, Mel. Nothing is going to happened to me. I am going to be here until Leah gets so tired of me, she tells me to get lost.”
“Sweetheart, it’s just that lately trouble seems to follow you around,” Melissa frowned.
“No, it doesn’t follow him anywhere,” David said as he walked back into the kitchen, interrupting what was meant to be a private conversation. “He hauls it around like a lucky charm.”
Melissa ignored her husband and focused only on Grant. “When Leah was in your arms, she giggled,” Melissa said, fighting back her tears. “My little girl laughed, and it was positively the most beautiful sound I have ever heard in my life. You bring out a side of her that no one else seems to be able to. So, Grant, please, I am begging you from the bottom of my heart…next time when you are getting ready to do something that could hurt you or land you in serious trouble…think about that little angel and how much she needs you.”
Grant slowly shifted his gaze to his brother. “Tell that to your husband who made me ride in the back of his squad car last night,” he gulped.
Melissa looked stunned. “David, you did what?”
“I just figured you should get used to the view,” David replied curtly. He walked down the hall toward the bedroom, and Melissa stormed after him, closing the door behind them.
“Why have you written him off?” she practically cried. “Is that the kind of attitude you’re going to have with our daughter because, if so, I need to know right now? I have made a vow to be Leah’s greatest advocate. I’ll do whatever it takes, and if you are going to be around with all your negative energy…”
David’s expression turned hard. “It’s exactly because of Leah that I’m so hard on Grant. Imagine all the people in the world who wish they had what he has. There is nothing stopping that kid. He can do anything he wants to do, be anything he wants to be…”
“Then you and your dad need to back off and let him decide!” Melissa yelled. “My goodness! He wrecked your dad’s car; he didn’t rob a bank; he didn’t kill anyone for crying out loud!”
“What about the fire?” David gulped. “An old man almost died because of hooligans like my brother.”
Melissa threw her hand into the air in disgust. “Grant might have been at the wrong place at the wrong time that night, but he says that he didn’t have anything to do with the fire at that gas station, and, unless someone wants to show me some evidence that proves otherwise, I am going to choose to believe him.”
“I hate this,” David sighed. “I hate that we fight over Leah and what’s best for her, but we’re not going to fight over my delinquent, kid brother.”
“Don’t call him that,” Melissa said coldly. “I mean it.”
“I’m sorry,” David nodded after a long moment.
“I’ve seen him with our daughter,” Melissa cried. “She challenges him in a way that no one else can, and, in return, he drops his guard and turns into the most doting, loving, proud uncle that you have ever seen in your life. I’ve watched Grant with our baby girl, and I’ve seen him break down walls that no one else has been able to break down. My beautiful, little angel’s mind is locked up behind big, ugly bars, and I feel so guilty that I don’t have the key to unlock her thoughts, her personality. But, somehow, Grant entered into Leah’s silent world, and he related to her on some level. She expected nothing out of him, and she got everything in return. She doesn’t see his faults; she just trusts him and loves him…unconditionally. Why can’t you and your dad try the same approach? Maybe there is a thing or two both of you could learn from Leah.”
David stood for a moment, moved by his wife’s words. “Melissa, you and I never see each other anymore. You live at therapists’ offices with Leah. Your mom and your sister have practically taken over your café. That café was your dream once upon a time. You’re running yourself ragged hauling Leah from specialist to specialist, searching for answers, for hope…maybe even false hope. It is taking a toll on our marriage, not to mention the financial burden it’s putting on us. We have to focus on that…our life, our marriage, our daughter. You’re not a miracle worker; you can’t save everyone, and Grant is not our responsibility.”
“You adore that kid,” Melissa shook her head. “You’re the one that has always told me that when you’re nineteen years older than your baby brother…it’s more like he’s your kid than your kid brother.”
“I do love him,” David nodded. “I’m just not as patient as you, Mel. I’m at the end of my rope, and I can’t worry about him anymore.”
“You give up too easily,” Melissa gulped. “I won’t ever give up on Leah, and I can’t give up on Grant either. We might not be the ones to help him, but I have to believe that there is someone out there who can.”
Joanna knocked on the door at her parent’s house, and she was visibly surprised when Grant answered at noon on a school day. “Shouldn’t you be at school?” she asked.
“Shouldn’t you be at work?” Grant replied.
“What are you up to?” Joanna asked insistently as she barged inside.
“Why are you interrogating me?” Grant shrugged.
“Where’s Mom?” Joanna looked around.
“Why do you need her?” Grant grumbled.
“Okay,” Joanna grimaced. “While I appreciate the Socratic method myself, this conversation is getting us nowhere.” She looked Grant over. “You look awful,” she added. “You would probably feel better if you got a shower and went to school.”
“Isn’t it pretty to think so?” Grant mused.
“How very Jake Barnes of you,” Joanna smiled as she pushed past her brother. “I’m glad you’re here actually.”
“Wish I could say the same,” Grant replied, then he grinned as he walked into the kitchen. “I’m about to have lunch. Join me?”
“Two questions,” Joanna shook her head. “Does Mom know that you’re home in the middle of the day? And why in the world are you having your mail sent to my P.O. Box?”
