When the past catches up

 Oh, there had been laughter. It felt as if had been a long time coming. Jay wasn't used to it. Of course, there were tears too, but he knew his mother was happy to see her grand-daughter. Even if it was only on his mobile phone in her hospital room.

"I think she looks a lot like me," she told him as if that was news to him. She went on about their people for a good long while. Although, a lot were gone by now. Even buried in a historical place or so she said.

He didn't know how she had the energy to talk. Sometimes, she'd lose breath. He'd never seen her this way. Oh, she'd been vibrant for so long. She worked in the factory making baby clothes when he was little, later at the Levi place. Of course, she'd been a greeter at Wal-Mart and as of late taken to the casinos.

Yes, she always liked to bet her life away. 

She did not speak of his father. She never did. She spoke of someone she fell in love with back in high school. "Oh, he's starting to look old, you know." She laughed about it now.

Jay only smiled. He didn't talk about being in jail nor how hard it was being a single dad. 

"I just didn't think I'd be so old before you had a kid," She was missing a tooth but she still looked beautiful.

"Sorry about that," Jay nodded sitting near her hospital bed. She'd asked about his first wife (Brian's sister). Did he see her anymore?

"Um, I think she's doing fine," He guessed so. He knew she was with that guy she went to high school with. Of course, they weren't high schoolers anymore. There was a time, he'd planned to be the father of her baby until the very end, but somehow Ivy changed that. 

It was quiet then a knock came to the hospital room. Jay looked up. To his surprise, Lenny was in the doorway.

She was excited. Daniel/Lenny couldn't help but smile, but he knew she was too old now. Too old to be angry with. He cleared his throat.

"Daniel?" His mother's eyes looked him over and she did her best to sit up. "What are  you doing here?"

"Just back for a visit," Lenny nodded with a smile.

"Daniel?" Lenny could see Jay's puzzled look. After all, Daniel always thought his mother had given more thought to his birth name while his little brother was just Jay. Naturally, his brother rose up as if he needed to protect his mother.

"Relax," Lenny went to his mother and she reached to put her arms around him as it was he was tangled in the breathing apparatus she was wearing. 

Jay stood back as if he didn't know what to think. He hugged himself hard. 

Naturally, Lenny came with gifts, a charm necklace with MOM on it, and a couple of rhinestones.

"Oh, you shouldn't have," his mother said. She looked at Jay then as if she really needed to talk to her oldest son in private.

Jay excused himself and said he might need some coffee. He closed the door behind him.

"Son, where have you been," she gasped with troubled eyes. She knew exactly who he was now, but she held on to his hands as if he was always the lost boy she yearned for.

Lenny didn't want to cry. He shook his head no. "It really doesn't matter, does it?"

"I knew you were never that truckdriver's kid," she said as if it was the very last thing she'd say. "How..how did you pull that off?"

Lenny just smiled. "And you never said a damn thing." Warm tears dripped down his face. It was as if Daniel died when the truck driver buried his son along a dirt road. "We all looked alike back then."