“Go sit in the sun. I’ll bring you a cup.”
Her mother shuffled quietly outside, which only made her more worried.
Where was the woman who would cook three meals from scratch for a dozen people every day, all with a baby on her hip? The indomitable protector who stood strong against the dangerous men who sometimes came in search of the families that had fled from them? Where was the mother who had raised six strong women and cared for hundreds of foster children?
Buried along with her husband, it seemed.
Anne was determined to dig her out.
She found her mother sitting on the lanai, obediently soaking up a patch of sunshine. Dawn accepted the coffee with a quiet word of thanks but didn’t drink it; she just sat with both hands wrapped around the warm mug.
“There’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you,” Anne said.
“You can stay here as long as you’d like,” Dawn told her, sounding a bit more like herself. “You know that.”
“Thank you, but no. It’s something else.”
She turned to look at her, and Anne was shocked to realize that this was the first time since she’d been home that her mother had actually met her eyes.
Dawn’s eyes were a vibrant azure, just like Pete’s.
There was a frightening amount of pain in those blue eyes, but at least they were open. At least she was there. They just had to keep pulling her back into the light.
“I want to rent out the empty bedrooms,” Anne said.
“Rent them out,” Dawn repeated, looking confused.
“Like you’ve done before. But consistently this summer, with nightly rates. I’ll fix the rooms up, take pictures, and post them online.”
“For tourists?” She looked vaguely appalled.
“For visitors, Mom. Yes. Just for this summer. I could earn enough to get back on my feet, and the house would be lively again.”
Dawn was quiet, thinking.
“This is something we could do together,” Anne pressed. “You and me and the kids. A family project.”
“You’re unbelievable,” Zoe said bitterly.
Anne started and turned to see her eldest child. Zoe stepped out onto the lanai, and the screen door slammed shut behind her.
“You just got here and you’re already trying to make a buck off of us?”
Dawn put a hand up, and Zoe quieted immediately.
“I don’t have anywhere else to go,” Anne said vulnerably.
“Obviously,” Zoe said with quiet venom. “Why else would you be here? You got out as soon as you could, and you didn’t come back until you had to. Now you want to pimp out ourhometo make a quick buck? And for what, so you can leave again?”
“That’s enough,” Dawn said quietly.
Zoe stomped down the wooden steps and disappeared around the side of the house.
“You’re always welcome here,” Dawn said to Anne, “but I don’t know if I can deal with strangers coming through all the time. It’s a lot to ask of us.”
Anne gritted her teeth against a sudden rush of frustration.
Her entire childhood had been nothingbutstrangers coming through. Foster kids, mostly, but sometimes entire families who needed help getting back on their feet.
