In My Desperate Time

The morning of the next day, I present Frances with my requests, and to my surprise, he actually agrees.
I get into the car to go home and once I arrive home, I see my mother sitting at the entrance sorting out the vegetables.
“Mom”. I call out to her from a distance.
My mother raises her head to look at me with surprise and love which I have not seen for a long time. She has aged
considerably over this period of my absence and her face has more wrinkles and her hair has become greyer.
I walk over and look at her with pain in my heart and say, “Mom, why do you have so many white hairs?”
My mother sighs and says softly, “What else other than thinking of you and your father? Each day that he isn’t around is
torturous.” My mood begins to dive as I walk into the house with my mother.
My mother cooks a lot of dishes. Even Frank is surprised when he comes back at midday for lunch.
“Why are you back?”
I roll my eyes at him and say impatiently, “Why can’t I come back? This is also my home.”
“That’s not what I meant, sister. The last time Steven came to look for us, he said that you were overseas. He told us that you
were doing well and for us not to worry about you. I didn’t expect you to come back suddenly.”
Doing well? I force a smile but my heart begins to ache. What Steven referred to was perhaps my situation before the incident
happened. Before that incident happened, I was doing rather well but everything changed after Hamlin’s emergence. I don’t want
to mention to my family what I experienced. I also don’t want to mention my marriage to Frances.
We sit as a family and eat a very normal home cook meal and chat a lot on topics that we never mentioned before. I can feel that
my mother’s attitude towards me has changed significantly after Frank’s release from prison.
After Frank goes to work in the afternoon, I chat with my mother for another two hours and it is about time for me to go home.
Although Frances agrees for me to go out, he insists that I must be home before he goes back. My mother doesn’t keep me back
and sends me off reluctantly.
I heave a sigh of relief when Frances is not at home when I arrive. Frances comes back just as I finish preparing dinner. But now,
he looks worse than this morning.

“What happened?” I can’t help but ask when I think about the issue of Earl’s custody.
What he says sends my heart into the abyss. I expect such possibilities but I can’t help but be disappointed when I hear it from
Frances. I always think that with Frances being so influential, there is nothing that is beyond him. But the facts prove that my
expectations are unreasonable. Not everything can be according to one’s wishes in this world. But I really don’t wish that the
kid’s issue will end up this way.
“Can I go with you tomorrow?” I ask him.
“Yes.” He replies after pondering for a moment and nods to me.
The next day, I go with him to the court and wait for the judgment. I continue to hold onto hope but in the end, I am utterly
disappointed.
The custody of Earl is given to Whitney.
Earl is Whitney and Lawrence’s child and has no blood relations with Frances. That’s why it is impossible for him to have custody
of the child.