Total pages in book: 57
Estimated words: 54886 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 274(@200wpm)___ 220(@250wpm)___ 183(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 54886 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 274(@200wpm)___ 220(@250wpm)___ 183(@300wpm)
In the living room, Asher waited, a scotch in his hand. He had poured me a liqueur, and I sat beside him. For a moment, there was silence, then he spoke.
“I owe you an apology and an explanation.” He took another sip. “I had no intention of making you feel as if I questioned your ability to make sound decisions for yourself or your son. I think you’re an amazing mother, and I’m sorry if I made you doubt my feelings on that subject.”
“Why did you call the doctor, Asher? Why did you race here? And hire a helicopter, of all things?” I questioned.
He turned and met my eyes. “I was frantic.”
“Explain why to me. Please.”
He hesitated, then reached for my hand. I let him clasp our fingers together, and he stared down at them, lifting our joined hands and kissing my knuckles.
“I was seven, Suzy was five and a half. My father was away on one of his constant business trips. It was Suzy, Mom, and me as usual. She hadn’t been feeling well all day—Mom, that is. Tired. Out of sorts, she would call it. I had heard her ask my father not to go away that morning—to stay home and help look after us because she wasn’t feeling herself. He told her that was what nannies were for and to hire one, and he left. Mom was quiet all day, and she didn’t eat much supper. She kept rubbing her temples, but she would smile and say she was fine when I asked. After dinner, she said she was tired and going to have a nap and asked me to watch over Suzy. We played for a while, but Mom was still asleep.” He paused, his voice getting thicker. I could hear his barely contained emotions, and I braced myself for what he was going to say. I already knew how this ended, and I was horrified.
“I helped Suzy get ready for bed, and I brushed my teeth and got in my pajamas. I thought Mom would be so proud of me. I went to tell her and let her know I was going to bed, but—” he swallowed convulsively then took a sip of his scotch “—I couldn’t wake her.”
“Asher,” I breathed.
“She had an aneurysm. She’d fallen a couple of days before and knocked her head on the edge of the counter. She’d gotten up and laughed, saying how clumsy she was, and did nothing about it. It caused a blood clot. If my father hadn’t been so wrapped up in business, he could have stayed home. Made the connection between her fall and how she was acting. Taken her to the hospital and maybe saved her life.”
I moved closer, and he tightened his grip on my hand. He hadn’t looked at me once as he spoke, as if too wary to make eye contact. “I was seven. Alone with my baby sister and my dead mother. We lived in a large house, and the staff wasn’t there. We had a housekeeper, but she only came three times a week. Mom refused to have anyone help her ‘raise her babies,’ as she used to say, so no one was around. Not even a close neighbor, as we lived on a large estate.”
“What did you do?” I whispered.
“I was panicked. Scared. Emotional. But I remembered what Mom taught me. Called 9-1-1. The police and ambulance came. They took her away. Put Suzy and me in a foster home for the night. Tracked down my father.” He wiped a hand over his face. “My entire life changed that night, Rosie.”
“I’m sorry.”
He nodded and turned his head, finally looking at me. “When you said you had a headache, it all came rushing back. Finding my mom. Being alone with her. Scared and not knowing what to do. When you didn’t answer your phone, I became irrational. All I could think about was getting to you. To little Asher. Suzy told me I was overreacting. She warned me. But I had to come. I had to call Sherman and get him to come see you. I prayed so hard that I would find you okay. That there was a simple explanation for your not returning my calls.” He swallowed before speaking.
“That you weren’t lying dead on the sofa and AJ finding you. That through some sick twist of fate, I’d lost another woman the same way I’d lost my mom.”
His voice cracked, and I couldn’t stop myself. I climbed into his lap, wrapping my arms around him and holding him tight.
“I’m here, Asher. Right here.”
He gripped me tightly. “Thank God.”
ASHER
I had taken a chance, coming back to Rosie’s place. One I knew could blow up in my face. I had crossed a line that morning. Suzy had tried to warn me, begged me to be patient, but I hadn’t listened. I couldn’t listen. The images from my childhood hit me hard, wrapping around my brain until that was all I could see. Feel. Think about. I had to make sure Rosie was okay. And on the off chance she wasn’t—I wanted AJ to have someone there to care for him. I never wanted a child to feel the swamping panic and grief I’d felt at a situation they couldn’t control.