Chapter 9: The Garden Beneath the Weeds
By late afternoon, Helena walked out onto the rear patio.
The garden that Charles had tended with meticulous care was overgrown with waist-high thistles and crabgrass. The wooden trellis he had built for her climbing roses had collapsed under the weight of wild ivy.
David walked out carrying a pair of heavy gardening shears and a wheelbarrow.
""I can hire a landscaping crew tomorrow,"" David offered.
""No,"" Helena replied, taking the shears from his hands. ""Some things must be weeded by hand. If you hire someone else to clear the mess, you never learn what caused the rot in the first place.""
David knelt beside her in the damp soil. Together, they began hacking away at the invasive vines, exposing the original stone border Charles had laid thirty years ago.
""Where were you, Mom?"" David asked quietly, his hands covered in dark dirt. ""During those five years in Trenton?""
""I lived in a small boarding house near the train tracks,"" Helena said, her eyes fixed on the rose roots. ""I had no memories of you, but every night I had the same dream: two small children laughing by a stone wall covered in red roses. I thought it was just a fantasy my damaged brain made up to keep me from feeling alone.""
She paused, cutting through a thick root with a clean snap.
""When my memory finally began returning two years ago, I didn't come back right away because I was terrified that if I found you, you wouldn't want the broken version of the woman who left.""
May you like
David looked at his mother, tears cutting clean lines through the dirt on his cheeks. ""We were the broken ones, Mom. You were just lost.""
---
