ansley
When the girls finally went to sleep that night, I knew Mom had to have been beyond exhausted. I tried to take her to bed, but she refused.
“Darling,” she asked, instead. “Could I trouble you for a cup of tea?”
“It’s no trouble at all, Mom,” I said, walking back into the house.
A few minutes later, I was about to open the door when I heard Jack’s voice on the porch. I stopped, my back pressed against the wall inside. I could just make out Jack saying, “I honestly don’t even know when I would ask her, if we will get to that place. But I can’t bear the thought of marrying Ansley without your blessing.”
Mom laughed. “Oh, darling, I can’t think of anything much finer than that.” I couldn’t see her, but I could imagine the way her eyebrow rose as she said, “It would be lovely to have your family back together again.”
I heard Jack choke. My heart was racing. Oh my Lord. She knew. My mother knew. “I’m not sure what you mean,” Jack recovered.
“Oh, Jack,” Mom said. “Anyone who has ever seen you and Caroline side by side would know you possess a shocking likeness.”
There was silence, and then I barely heard Jack say, “I thought that was only in my mind.”
I held Mom’s hot cup to my chest and gasped quietly. She knew, and he had corroborated. I was about to burst out the door to confront Jack.
But then he said, “You have to understand. Ansley needed something, and I gave it to her.” He paused. “I would do anything for that woman, then, now, and forever. I would move heaven and earth for her—”
Mom cut him off. “You would keep a secret that would eat away at your soul for nearly thirty-five years.”
It took my breath away to hear her say that, and I felt the tears gathering in my eyes. After everything we had been through, everything we had lost, everything we had shared, Jack had still been there for me. And I couldn’t help but think that maybe it was high time I shared some of myself with him.
“To be honest,” Jack said, “I wish I could let her go.”
“But true love lasts a lifetime,” Mom said.
“Exactly.”
She said quietly, “And now I’m ready to be reunited with mine,” as I opened the door.
I smiled brightly at Jack. “Oh, hi,” I said casually, not wanting them to know I had overheard. “What are you doing here?”
“Just saying good night to your mom,” he said. He stood, leaned over, and kissed Mom on the cheek. She patted his arm. “You’re a darling boy,” she said. “You’ve always been my favorite.”
“Mom!” I scolded. She was nonplussed. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I love Jack. So what?”
I shook my head, and Jack laughed as he wrapped one arm around my shoulder and kissed my head. “I’m here if you need me,” he whispered, before walking off the porch.
Of course I need you!I wanted to yell after him. But I didn’t. Not for the first time and not for the last, I watched Jack walk away, his silhouette disappearing down the street. I handed Mom her tea and sat down beside her.
“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: you really should marry him.”
“For heaven’s sake, Mother. We aren’t even dating.”
Her eyelids grew heavy, and for a moment, I thought she was about to fall asleep. But then I realized she was glaring at me. “I know true love when I see it, Ansley, and it doesn’t take too much to make a man forget you are his. Men who will love you like that, sacrifice for you, do anything to make you happy don’t come along all that often. I suggest you beg for his forgiveness before he runs off with a forty-year-old who isn’t moody and menopausal.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “Moody and menopausal. Thanks, Mom. Glad to know what you think of me.”
“I think you will both feel much better once you tell the girls he’s Caroline and Sloane’s father.”
I nearly spit out the water in my mouth.
“Jack tried to deny it,” Mom continued, “but the man is a terrible liar. That is a wonderful quality in a husband.”
“If that day ever comes, I will say yes, Mom.”
