Sins of the Father by Angela Benson

brother.”
    Leah knew that the evening had taken its toll on Isaac. He was mentally drained. He
     had that hollow look in his eyes that Michael got when his emotions were on overload.
     The mother in her wanted to comfort him. She fought down the urge.
    Isaac turned back to Deborah. “Is Michael here?”
    She shook her head.
    “Does he know?”
    Deborah nodded. “He chose not to come.”
    Saralyn snorted. “At least one of you has good sense.”
    “You should go on back,” Isaac told Deborah again.
    “How is he?” she asked, biting her lower lip. She, too, was reaching her emotional
     limits.
    “He’s in some pain. They’re still running tests. They say he had a heart attack and
     that led to the accident.”
    Deborah nodded. Then she looked at her mother. “Come with me.”
    Leah shook her head. She wanted to support her daughter, but some boundaries had to
     be set. “It’s not my place. You can handle it.”
    Deborah glared at Saralyn as if to say, Leave my mama alone, and then she turned and headed to Abraham’s room.

Chapter Ten
    S aralyn picked up her coffee cup and glared at her son. “If she stays,” she said, inclining
     her head in Leah’s direction, “I’m leaving.”
    “Mom—” Isaac began. He was too tired and too scared to deal with his mother’s antics.
     Not when his father could be dying.
    Leah stood. “I’m going to get some coffee from the cafeteria,” she said to Isaac.
     “If Deborah returns before I get back, will you tell her where I’ve gone?”
    Isaac nodded. “Thank you,” he said. He would have said more but he knew additional
     words would only raise his mother’s ire.
    “No need to thank me,” Leah said. “This is a difficult situation for all of us.”
    “So the whore is having a difficult time!” Saralyn said. “Please.”
    “Mom!” Isaac said, turning to her as Leah left the room. “What is wrong with you?”
    Saralyn crossed her legs and folded her arms. Isaac recognized the position. His mother
     had staked out her point of view and wasn’t going to budge. “What’s wrong with me?”
     she asked. “What’s wrong with me? What’s wrong with you? Why are you being so nice
     to those people? They’re like vultures, coming here to clean your father’s bones.”
    Isaac sat down next to her. “You’ve got to get a handle on yourself, Mom. Dad wants
     them here. He said you were going to call them. Why did you call them and then treat
     them this way?”
    “I didn’t call them,” she said.
    “But Dad said—”
    “Your father expects too much from me. I didn’t call them. I was going to do it tomorrow.”
    “Then who?”
    She shrugged. “Probably Alan. I’ll have a word with him tomorrow. Sometimes he oversteps
     his role as the MEEG attorney. He had no right to invite those people to come down
     here.”
    Isaac took a deep breath and tried to understand his mother’s position. “Alan did
     the right thing. Dad thinks he may die, Mom. He wants to see them in case he does.
     Can you give him that?”
    His mother laughed an empty, cynical laugh. “So the tide has turned. Now you’re taking
     your father’s side?”
    Isaac shook his head. His frustration with his mother was quickly turning into disappointment
     and disillusion. Where was her compassion? “It’s not about sides. It’s about my father
     lying back there in that bed, unsure if he’s going to live to see tomorrow. I had
     to put my anger and disappointment on hold. I don’t want to lose him, Mom. He could
     die.”
    His mother reached for him, pulled him into her arms. “I’m so sorry, darling. I know
     you love your father. You have every right to be concerned about him.”
    “He’s afraid, Mom,” he said. “He’s afraid he’s going to die before he makes things
     right with all of us.”
    “Your father’s not going to die,” she said, as if saying it made it so.
    Isaac wasn’t so sure. “He wants to see Michael. Do you think I should contact