David walked away, and she continued to read the paper.He hated that she loved to read, and when she started a book, Rachel would read the last chapter before starting on the book so that she’d know the ending first.So she was reading the paper the same way.Starting at the back and making her way to the front.It was the best way to work up to the news on the front page if you asked her.Not that it was ever all that much to deal with.
As she skimmed through the paper, she thought of her daughter.It was the first time she’d thought of Sharon since she’d moved here all those years ago.She’d be in her mid-twenties about now, she thought.Just old enough to be getting married on her own.As she got to the middle two pages, she skimmed lightly over the meals that would be going out on the senior meals this week, and then something caught her eye.
It wasn’t as if she actually knew the Valley people.She knew who they were but didn’t know which was which.She’d always thought that it would be wonderful to be married to one of them; the money alone would have allowed her to put up with a lot of things.But they’d been handsome and witty.Something her ex-husband, Richard, had never been.He didn’t have two pennies to rub together most of the time.She hated being broke almost as much as she hated him.One of the Valley men had gotten married.
Having to go to the first page to read the beginning of the article, she was pissed that they’d not put it all on one page.So that she could read it all at once.But the front page had a blurred picture of the man and one of the woman with her name underneath of it.Picking up her glasses to make sure she was reading it right, she couldn’t believe she saw her daughter’s name as the bride.Calling for David, she had him read the name to her three times until she was satisfied that it really was her daughter.
“It says right there that her name is Sharon Grace Taylor.I didn’t know you had a daughter old enough to be getting married.You said you were a single mom, and I just figured it was a kid out there someplace.”She thanked him.“I don’t know why you’re thanking me.I always thought you were older than you said.”
“Prick.I do have a daughter, and she’s getting married to money.”Not that she’d be able to get any of it.She lived clear out here in California, and her daughter lived in Ohio.It was a shame, really, that that much space separated them.She would really have liked to have seen her.“I have to call Richard and let him know.He’ll be so pissed off.I don’t know why, but I have a feeling that he’ll be there with his hand out.”
“Won’t you?”She thought about it and then shook her head.“I don’t believe you.I’ve even heard of the Valley men.They’re shifters and are as old as dirt.I’d have my hand out wanting a piece of whatever she’s getting.”
“I don’t want any of it.Let her have a good life.”And she knew she believed that too.She had a good life out here and wasn’t going to go to Sharon after all this time, thinking or saying that she owed her something.She more than likely thought that she owed her the way that she’d left her with her mother.Rachel then wondered about her mother and wondered if, by chance, she was still around too.Picking up the phone after reading the entire article, she called Richard.Of course, his latest woman thing answered the phone.
“Why do you not carry it around like you’re supposed to do?It’s a mobile phone for Christ’s sake.You’re supposed to have it on you all the time.”He said that all those who called him were bill collectors anyway.“I just wanted you to know that Sharon is getting married.”
“Who?I don’t know anyone by that name, and if they say differently, I’ll have them sued.Why would I care if she’s getting married in the first place?”She explained that it was their daughter.“I thought her name was Rachel or something.”
“No, that’s my name, you moron.I’m Rachel, and her name is Sharon Grace Taylor.Have you been drinking again?That’s the only way that I’ll believe that you’ve forgotten our daughter’s nameafter all this time.”He told her that it had been too long.“I would say that’s what she’d say too if we were to show up and tell her we’re still around.I just wanted you to know.She’s marrying into the Val—” She stopped, and he asked her what she was going to say.“The Valeria family.Do you remember them?”
“No.Might if I was to see their face, I might be able to place them, but I’m terrible with names.”She had a feeling that if he knew that their daughter was marrying into the Valley family, he’d be on the next plane to her.And she didn’t want that from him for her.“Is that all you wanted?To tell me some brat we had long ago is getting married?If she thinks I’m paying for a wedding for her, she’s going to be shit out of luck.I can’t afford my rent, much less whatever is going on with her.”
“That’s all I called for.”She shouldn’t have called.Shouldn’t have wasted her breath on telling him anything.She knew that now.Embarrassed a little that she might have steered him toward her daughter’s happiness, she decided to call the one number that she had for her.And it was so old that she wondered if it would even work after all these years.Realizing that she’d missed something that he said, she put the phone back to her ear.“I’m sorry.What did you say?”
“I said you remember those Valley men?All them shifters that never aged a minute?They still hanging around down there?”She told him that she had no way of knowing.“I don’t even know how you got the information on Rachel, much less anything that goes on down around there.If she were to be marrying one of them, I’d be there in a heartbeat.Now there is a reason to crash a wedding.Don’t you think?”
“I don’t know.I have to go.I just wanted to tell you about Sharon, not Rachel.How can you not remember that?Anyway, I have to get off here.I have things that I have to do.”He said she was being strange.“Strange or not, I have things to do today, and only thought of you when I saw that Sharon was getting married.Or she is married.I don’t remember now.”She needed to get off the phone, and now he wanted to be talkative.She’d mess up somehow, and that would be the end of it for her daughter.
“What’s going on?You never could lie.It’s why I hated to be around you so much.You couldn’t lie your way out of a wet paper bag.”She huffed rather than say anything.Biting her lower lip, she decided that she should have her head examined for what she was doing.“Sharon, what the hell is going on?”
“Nothing, you moron.I’ve told you already that her name is Sharon, not Rachel.I’m Rachel.I wish I’d never called you.”He said that he wished that as well and hung up on her.She was so relieved that she had to sit with her head between her knees and breathe before she could get up and have another cup of coffee.Things were going all right now, if he didn’t get a burr up his ass and try to find out what she’d been lying about.Richard was right, she couldn’t lie.When they would get caught without rent, she couldn’t tell the landlord that it was coming in the next couple of days, when she had no idea if they were going to have it at all.She hated that about herself.Picking up her phone after getting a cup of coffee to fortify her, she called the only number that she had for Sharon and her mother.The phone was answered on the first ring, and she wasn’t sure what to say.
“Hello, Mother.It’s been a long time.”Rachel burst into tears then.To hear her not cursing at her after all this time was a miracle.Not that she ever did, but it was something about her tone that had her babbling about her father.“I don’t understand what you mean.Why, after all this time, would he want to have anything to do with me?”
“You’re marrying the Valley family.Do they still have lots of money?That will bring your father to you faster than anything.The thought of getting free money from you would have him there soon.”She asked if she was coming.“I can’t.I don’t have the funds either, but I don’t know that I would.It’s been too long for us to be mommy and daughter, don’t you think?I was wondering about my mom.Did she pass away?”
“No, she’s in Cedar Hill Nursing Home.She’s not all there when I go to see her, but she’s still alive.She’ll be eighty-five in a couple of weeks.I was going to have cake with her.Not that she’d remember me, but she loves the fuss that I put up for her.”She could hear the love for her mother in her voice, and it made her feel good.“Now, tell me why you think that Father would come to see meafter all this time.It can’t be because I’ve gotten married.I’ve been living without the two of you longer than you were around me when I was a child.”
“He’ll be there for the money that he thinks he can get from you.And even if you don’t have any plans of giving it to him, he’s going to think that he deserves it simply because he’s your sire.”She told her everything, even about how she read a book’s last chapter before reading the first page.“I only meant to tell him and see if he’d be proud of you like I was.Then I remembered who I was talking to and wished I hadn’t.I’m so sorry for that.I should have remembered what a gutless bastard he is.”
“I don’t understand why he’d care if I have money or not.It’s not even mine but Kendricks.”She told her that sounded like a good name.“Oh, he’s wonderful.And a doctor.He works really hard all day and comes home to pamper me.We’re looking for a new house to be our home to start our own memories.”
As Sharon gushed on about her new husband, Rachel let the tears fall.She was happy and could feel it all the way across the states.When she began to wind down in telling her how happy she was, she asked her how long they’d been married.
“Only a few days.We just filled out the paperwork and had it filed.There was no point in having a wedding.I don’t have any family around here, but Grannie, and she’s not able to come.I should have invited you.”She told her that it was all right, it would have brought her father to her sooner.“You think that he’s coming?I don’t have time for his bullshit.I’m not the kid I used to be.”
“No, I’m sure that he’s going to come to see you.Especially if he figures out that you’re married to Kendrick.He sounds like such a lovely man.I hope you have plenty of years together.”She knew that he was older than her daughter.By a great deal if the rumors about his family were true.She could see her daughter having lots of children by the man, too, and her heart did a little twist.“I’m sorry I left you the way that I did.I should never have married your father.He was a bastard and a thief, and I shouldn’t have been anywhere near him when he got caught.”
“Is that why you left me?That you were in jail?”Rachel told her how she’d spent the better part of ten years in prison for grand theft and other charges that had gotten them in trouble.Richard had spent fifteen years without any time off, like she’d done.“I didn’t know that.I thought you just divorced and left me with Grannie because you couldn’t decide on who was going to take me.”
“No, we couldn’t.And Grannie said she’d take good care of you.She did, didn’t she?”She told her that she had a good life with her.“I’m sorry about that.I didn’t know she hadn’t told you where we were.It must have been for the best, however.You seemed to have grown up just fine.”
“I had a job up until a few days ago, but since I live with Kendrick now, it’s a long trip to work.So I’ve been doing things with his mom and family.”She was jealous of his family getting to spend time with her daughter, but it was entirely her fault, and she wasn’t going to be crying over spilled milk after all this time.“I don’t know anything about you.I mean, are you well?Have you remarried?Is there anything that I can do for you?”
“No, nothing.It does my heart good that you are so happy.I’ve not been married again, but I do live with a man by the name of David Ross.He’s a good man.Has a good job.We don’t have a lot, but we’re happy.”She looked up at David when he came into the room with her, and he winked at her.“He wonders why I read the newspaper from where I grew up.I’ll have to tell him with good reason now.I got to know you a little bit.”
They talked a bit more, and Sharon said she was going to start calling her once a week until they were all caught up.Rachel said she’d like that, and when she hung up the phone, she sat on the chair and cried for a while.She really did sound happy, and she was glad that she’d called to warn her about her father.Now all she had to do was to make sure that she didn’t let it slip to Richard that she was working on a relationship with their daughter.He’d want to be a part of it.She only wished that she hadn’t called him at all, but then she wouldn’t have gotten to talk to her daughter, and that was the highlight of her life.Her little girl had grown up without her around, and it was all her fault.
