* * *
A gentle breeze caressed my cheeks.
I looked ahead, through the doors to the sunroom, and saw her.
Mom.
My heart danced with the elation of seeing her. She walked around the garden in that beautiful red dress that made her look like a beautiful blast from the forties.
The suave curl of her hair and her cherry red lips carried off the look.
“Mom,” I called out to her, but she didn’t hear me.
I called out again, getting closer, and she stopped smelling the long-stemmed English roses and turned to face me.
She really did look just like me. Or rather, I looked like her, except I had Dad’s brown eyes.
She had bright blue eyes, almost like Luc, but his were almost turquoise.
She hugged me hard and stepped back to look me over.
“My dear girl, where have you been? Dinner’s going to be cold, and you know how Millicent gets when anyone’s late to dinner.” She chuckled.
Dinner…
Millicent…
Mom…
Where was I?Whenwas I?
This was a dream. Had to be.
The realization of that tugged on my emotions.
“I know.” I didn’t care. Dream or not, she was here. She was here, and she looked real to me. She felt real to me. So, it was her. For me, it was her.
“I feel like I haven’t seen you in years.” She cupped my face and smiled.
“You haven’t. But it’s okay.”
“Come sit.” She put her arm around me and ushered me to the little bench beside the gazebo. “Tell me how your day was. And about the guy.”
“My day just got better for seeing you. And… the guy is nice. Really nice. I love him. He’s good to me.”
“Good, that’s all I want. Your father was good to me. But…” Sadness washed over her face. “I hurt him, Amelia. Don’t make the same foolish mistakes I made and hurt the people who care about you. There is no excuse for that. It’s all my fault. Everything that happened is all my fault.”
“No, it’s—” She didn’t let me finish.
She shook her head at me and planted a kiss on my forehead. “It’s my fault, sweet girl. Let’s face it. It is, and you know that I know that. That’s why we’re here.”
I opened my mouth to respond but stopped. I heard my name being called from far away. Far, far away.
Someone was calling me. My heart responded first, warming as it recognized the voice before my brain did.
Luc…
I looked around but couldn’t see him.
