She held her breath while it rang once, twice, three times.
Telling herself she'd let it ring one more time before she hung up, and rapidly losing her nerve, she almost dropped her phone when she heard her mom's voice say, "Hello?"
Did they even recognize her number?
"Mom, it's Olivia." There was silence on the line. It felt like forever.
"Harold! It's Olivia!" Her mom said, excitement making her voice tremble. "Harold! Harold! Pick up the other phone!"
"Olivia! Oh, my baby, how are you?"
"I'm just fine. I'm sorry. I was unkind and my meanness was uncalled for, and I'm sorry." There. She got it out. If they were gonna be mad at her, at least she'd apologized.
"You don't have anything to be sorry for. You're our daughter. We love you." It was her dad. Good—he heard it so she didn't have to do it twice.
Wait. Just like that?
"You guys aren't going to be mad at me?" she asked, unbelieving. She hadn't talked to them for five years. Surely they were going to make her pay something, and it wasn't just as easy as saying "we forgive you, come back into our lives."
"He's right. You're our daughter. We're just thrilled that you're actually talking to us. Although I'm a little scared. I don't want to do anything that's going to make you mad again." Her mom sounded worried.
"No, Mom. I'm over that. I was immature and stupid. And nothing you do is going to make me mad. I promise." She hoped she could keep that promise. But really, her parents obviously loved her. They wanted a relationship with her, and it had been her all along, keeping them away.
"I need to know everything. Where have you been? What have you been doing? We haven't heard a thing."
"Why don't you come visit me for Christmas, and we can talk about it all then."
"Where are you? We'll be there." That was her dad.
"We settled down in Mistletoe Meadows, Virginia."
"You've been so close all this time!" her mom said.
"Give us the address. When would you like us to show up?"
She didn't want to get into the situation with her furnace, but she couldn't have her parents coming when it didn't work.
"How about Monday? You can stay as long as you want to, even if it's over Christmas."
"Yes. Thank you. What can we bring?"
"Just bring yourselves. My boys would like to see you." They would be thrilled to find out they had grandparents.
"You have boys?"
"Twin boys. They're four. Cam died before they were born. He didn't even know I was pregnant."
"Oh, Olivia. Why didn't you tell us?" her mom said.
"I have a lot of things to tell you guys. But I do think it'll go better if you just show up. We can talk as much as you want."
"We'll be there. Monday. Do the boys like anything in particular?"
"No. They're just boys. You don't have to bring them anything. They're just gonna be thrilled to know that they have grandparents."
"Who love them. I can't wait to meet them! What are their names?"
She should've known that her mom would want all the details.
