Page 127 of The Prodigal Son

I rise from the chair and slowly approach them. There are a lot of things I’d like to say to these people. How could you put your kid in conversiontraumafor ten years? How could you do that to your own child? That is why he is here. That is why he isin so much pain. What monsters would do that to their own flesh and blood?

But I see the fear on their faces. So, I don’t attack them—yet.

“Hi,” I say from behind them. The mother turns with a yelp. I can tell by the red lines around her eyes that she’s been crying. Then I watch as her gaze focuses on my face and she recognizes me.

“I’m…Isaac. I’m…”

“I know who you are,” the mother snaps while staring at me. She looks like she wants to say more, but her lip quivers and she turns away instead.

I look up at the man, but he doesn’t turn away from me. Instead, he gives me an expression of remorse.

“They won’t give me an update or let me back there with him.”

The man nods his head before resting a comforting hand on my shoulder. “We’ll get some answers.”

Jensen’s mother won’t turn back toward me. When the nurse comes out, we all look at her with eager hope.

“He’s stable, but he’s not in a room yet. You two can come back to see him briefly.”

My mouth opens to ask, but his dad beats me to it. “What about him?” he asks, pointing at me.

“Who are you?” she asks like I haven’t been sitting here in this waiting room for hours. If I wasn’t so exhausted and desperate, I’d be furious.

“I’m his boyfriend,” I say with my shoulders back.

She gives me an expression of pity. “I’m sorry. Family only.”

Every bone in my body freezes. Jensen’s mother scurries off with the nurse while his dad hangs back with me.

Suddenly, I feel my brother at my side. “This is bullshit,” Adam argues. “He was the one who found him. He’s the reasonhe’s still alive and you won’t let him back there because he’s not family?”

“Richard, come on,” the woman says to her husband, who is still looking at me with pity in his eyes.

“I’m sorry,” he says. “I’ll see if I can pull some strings. You deserve to come back there, too.”

“Thank you,” I whisper, appreciating the compassion. “Just tell him…I’m here.”

“I will.”

Meanwhile, Adam slams a fist on the counter in outrage to get someone’s attention.

“This isn’t right. Family, my ass. That’s just a cover for their small-minded bigotry. I’ll have that nurse reported.”

I glance sideways at him and feel a smirk growing on my face. “Sit down, Karen. We can wait. They have to let us back there, eventually.”

“How can you just sit there while they discriminate against you?” he argues.

“Because getting kicked out of here isn’t going to get me back to see Jensen any sooner.”

He looks unsatisfied as he drops into a chair across from me. As the four of us carry on a casual conversation, I can’t get the look on Jensen’s mother’s face out of my head. I know that look very well. And I know the damage it can do.

Part Four

The Redeemer

Thirty-Eight

Jensen

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