Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 61767 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 309(@200wpm)___ 247(@250wpm)___ 206(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 61767 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 309(@200wpm)___ 247(@250wpm)___ 206(@300wpm)
She doesn’t see me right away as she mutters a curse, the wheel of the suitcase she’s bringing down having lodged itself between two of the rungs.
“Allow me,” I say, and she jumps. I give her a smile, reaching over her to take hold of the suitcase as my mother puts a little space between us. I dislodge the suitcase and set it on the floor beside the other smaller one and turn to her.
My mother clears her throat, and I realize how much older she is. Still slender and petite. Still attractive. But older.
“Were you going to slip out in the night?”
She has the grace to lower her lashes, a flush creeping up her neck to her cheeks as she glances at the window. “Not in the night, no,” she says, straightening to her full height of about five feet five inches and readying to face me.
I don’t know what she’s expecting. I’m not sure what I’m expecting. But I start. And I get right to it.
“What did you think to achieve sending that sheet to Santiago?” I hadn’t even known it was gone. Mercedes told me later Miriam had changed the sheets, but I hadn’t given it another thought.
She raises her chin. Aloof is always a defense she relies on. But her eyes give away the truth.
“I was just angry, Judge. So angry. I didn’t know she was pregnant.” Her shoulders slump, and she sets her hand on the back of one of the kitchen chairs.
I pull it out for her and then sit on one of the others, trying to set her at ease. I’m twice her size, and given my resemblance to my grandfather and our past, I’m sure she’s intimidated. This is the most honest my mother has ever been with me. The most real. And I want to keep her talking.
She sits. “I knew her brother would take her away, and then maybe you and Theron could…” She trails off.
“Theron and I are going to be okay,” I tell her.
Her eyes are wet when she looks at me. “When I heard what happened to him, and I was so far away, I almost died myself.” I try not to let that sting. Theron did get the worst end of it. But she continues. “You and Mercedes too, you didn’t deserve that. And I’m glad she and you and the babies are safe.”
“Thank you. It is because of Theron.”
She smiles a little proudly at that. “That’s the Theron I know, Judge. It’s the one you never knew.” This gives me pause. All this time, all these years, has she had a piece of my brother that I refused to believe existed? How much time we’ve wasted. How much I’ve missed out on. We all have missed out on.
“I am sorry, if it makes any difference.” She points at the envelope propped against the box on the table. “It’s all in there. Along with some things for the baby I thought you might want. The christening gown both you and Theron wore, some keepsakes for the nursery, and just some other little things. You can throw it away. I’ll understand.”
“You kept all that?”
“Of course, I did. What mother wouldn’t?”
I study her for a moment and absorb her words. We’ve been unfair to each other, but the past is past. It’s time to let it go like I told Theron to do. “Where were you?”
She shrugs a shoulder. “I have a friend in Brazil.”
My eyebrows shoot up. “Brazil?”
She smiles. “He’s an old man. We’ve known each other for years, and well, it was past time I visited him, so I thought why not.”
“Society?”
“No. The opposite. Just a simple, kind man whom I met when I was on a study trip a lifetime ago. We always returned to each other even after years without contact. A letter or a postcard, a photo maybe. His wife passed away a few years back, and honestly, I had no idea where else to go, but I knew I couldn’t stay here.”
“Because you were afraid of me. Of what you thought I’d do to you.” The darkness that’s always lurked beneath the surface swells a little as if her fear has given it breath. I tamp it down.
She just watches me but doesn’t answer.
“I’m sorry I allowed him to do what he did to you. I’m sorry I stood by and watched. I’m sorry I didn’t help you. And I’m sorry I didn’t tell you this sooner.”
Fat tears drop from her eyes. I reach for the box of tissues on the counter and hand her two. She takes them, thanks me, and blots at her eyes, careful of her makeup.
“You can stay,” I tell her. “I’d like it if you did. I think Mercedes would like it, too.”
“I’m not sure about that.” She pushes to her feet. I do too.