“Jennifer?”
Her mother pulled a face. She’d never approved of her niece’s life choices.
“Oh, don’t get me going about what she’s up to now. She and her boyfriend are building one of those tiny houses on wheels. They’re going to travel around the country, if you can believe it. They have a YouTube channel showing how the construction is going. So many people watch their videos that YouTube is paying them money for it. Jennifer says it’ll be enough to pay for their travels.” Her mother shook her head.
Sandra followed her cousin’s exploits online. It looked fun, and she appreciated how they showed the good and the bad of living in such a tight space. Not that she’d ever convince Mom. Or Dad. They’d spent their lives accumulating the big house which they’d since sold to live in a retirement community.
“You aren’t interested at all in who got in touch with me?”
“Mom, I have no idea.”
“Dom Merlo.” Her shrewd eyes carried hurt, and her voice took on a tight sound like she was fighting a powerful emotion. “He said you have a husband and a child. How could you do this to us? You know how much we’ve wanted a grandchild.”
Sandra stopped, frozen in place for a second, until someone bumped into her and made a rude comment. She hurried after her mother and stepped ahead of the chair, forcing it to stop. “I’m not married, and I don’t have a child. You would seriously listen to anythinghesaid? After what he did to me?”
A myriad of emotions spread across the wrinkled face, from disappointment to relief.
“Then you haven’t gotten married in secret and had a baby?”
The terrible sense of loss which had been her constant companion for ten years hit Sandra. Bile burning in the back of her throat, she could only stare at her mother incredulously. Finally, in Huckleberry Falls, Sandra had gone nearly a year without nightmares—and she hadn’t given the man a thought.
Until she’d seen him at the airport—with a sweet little family Dom had made sure she could never have. How dare he contact her mother and stir everything up again? The gall of the man!
Closing her eyes, Sandra covered her mouth to keep from lashing out with all the anger threatening to consume her. Ten years! For ten years, she’d worked to put those nightmarish days behind her. Dom was in the past. It infuriated her that he still had the power to hurt her. Hadn’t he taken enough from her? She had to keep him from stealing her peace of mind anymore.
“Oh, baby, I’m so sorry.” Her large mother hauled herself out of the chair and pulled Sandra into a fierce hug as the crush of people flowed around them. “I’m stupid. I should never have listened to a word that man said, but you know how much I would love for it to be true.”
“Mom, you of all people know it can never be.” Sandra buried her face in her mother’s neck and sobbed.
She did not know how long they stood there before a deep voice coughed nearby.
“Excuse me,” a man said, sounding impatient. “Can we help you with something? You’re blocking traffic.”
Sandra wiped her eyes and turned to find a mall security guard watching them with concern.
“Mom and I haven’t seen each other in a while,” she said. “Being here brings back childhood memories. I’m okay now.”
“Are you sure?” he asked, thumbing his ear.
“Of course she is,” Mom declared. “Now, if you want to be useful, young man, help me back into my chair.”
The guard did, and Sandra’s mother didn’t speak of it until they were back in the car a couple of hours later.
“I’m just trying to understand why he would call me to say he’d seen you in Wyoming and met your husband and daughter.” Mom shook her head. “I know Dom Merlo is selfish and thoughtless, but I never thought he would lie to me.”
Sandra tried to remember what she had said to him when they’d crossed paths at the airport. Even now, the memories were fuzzy. Had she told him Eb was her husband? Or had Dom asked? Mostly, it had shocked her to see him there.
“I was pretty sick with strep when we saw each other in passing, and I can’t really remember what I said. But he came away with the wrong impression.” Sandra really didn’t want to talk about it anymore. It made her think of Eb and Rue and how much Sandra wished things could be different.
“Well.” Mom let out a long sigh. “He sounded thrilled for you. His wife called over him that your husband is a hottie. Dom didn’t like it.” Her mother turned a little too casually for it to really be casual. “So, whowasthe hottie?”
Sandra turned away from her mom and started to cry again.
* * *
Eb finished approvingthe promotional spread for Presidents’ Day and then checked his personal email again. He’d ended up having to go in for another paternity test. Somehow, the first one hadn’t made it to the lab. He shouldn’t have assumed it was because of the holidays. If he didn’t hear soon, he’d develop an ulcer.
The lab had said nothing yet, but there was something from an attorney’s office he didn’t recognize.
