Happy Father's Day, Darling

• Genre: Contemporary Fiction

• Published in Marbles: An Anthology of Flash and Micro Fiction

Lena snuck out of bed early before her kids livened the house with chaotic bantering and begging for pancakes—Saturday morning pancakes were a Foster family tradition. She had approximately one hour to do several hours’ worth of chores before the kids got up—an impossible task.

“Good morning, honey,” Lena’s mother greeted as she poured a steaming, hot cup of hazelnut coffee, Lena’s favorite. She slogged to the kitchen, wiping the sleep and exhaustion from her eyes, offering one last yawn before the day started. Being a devoted mother of four was all-consuming, so her mother’s visits were much-needed reprieves. But she wasn’t just a mother of four, she was a tutor, taxi-driver, maid, cook, and everything in-between.

Having her favorite coffee ready was just the morale-boost Lena needed. She forced a smile as she walked through the hazelnut aroma hovering in the kitchen. Sometimes the best morning greeting is Colombian coffee beans, not words, Lena thought.

“Good morning, Mom,” she answered, planting a kiss on her cheek.

Lena cherished her mother’s visits while Steve was away fighting his wars. Her mom provided her with rare “me” time, as she explained to the kids. She would visit the local Barnes & Noble, sip her caramel macchiato, meditate, and read. Of course, she also ran errands, but she didn’t mind—it allowed her to accomplish tasks she otherwise wouldn’t have had time for.

This would be the fourth consecutive Father’s Day Steve had been gone.

“Is Steve going to call today?” asked Lena’s mother.

“He usually does.” Her non-committal answer was truer than a yes or no because he usually did call. But there was no way of knowing if he was safe enough to call, near a phone, or even alive.

That’s what made raising four kids alone worse—the gnawing uncertainty of her husband’s safety in faraway battlefields, in countries she couldn’t pronounce. She no longer knew what he was fighting for and didn’t care.

She dreaded incoming calls while he was away, especially when the caller ID failed. For her, a harmless call was extremely unsettling; the initial feeling of her heart dropping into her stomach, the nerve-racking initial conversation trying to decipher the context, and the fleeting relief that it was just a telemarketer. If she were to ever meet a telemarketer, it would take her great restraint to not give them a piece of her mind.

Her mother took one last sip of her coffee and stood up. “What do you need help with, honey?”

“If you could start the laundry, that would be fantastic,” Lena suggested as she started unloading the dishwasher.

Lena’s phone rang. Her heart stopped as she ran to answer it.

“Hello?”

“Hi, Lena. It’s Steve. I just wanted to call to wish you a Happy Father’s Day, darling.”

Lena smiled as her eyes turned glassy.

As tears began falling down her cheeks, she felt relieved to hear her husband’s voice. Her relief also included tears of deep gratitude for Steve, who appreciated her tireless commitment to their family, filling his role as a father while he was gone.