Maddy prayed she was wrong. “I updated her on our progress with the house. I think she’s going to put it on the market as soon as she gets back.”
Emma sighed. “That’s kind of sad. There are so many memories here.”
“Not all of them good, though,” Maddy reminded her.
Her eyes drifted past the chair and toward the dunes where she’d spied Nora and Jonathan making out on the beach so many years ago. Maddy and Emma were currently sitting on the very deck where their family had splintered apart.
“Believe me, I know,” Emma said.
“But you’re right. Once upon a time we were happy here, and the three of us were close. I miss that, Emma.”
“Were we close?” Emma asked. “Sometimes I think things weren’t as wonderful as we imagined. They certainly weren’t between Mama and Daddy. I mean, we knew they argued sometimes, but I didn’t think much of it. Maybe there was always stuff going on down deep, and that last summer just exposed it all.”
The thought bothered Maddy, made her skin feel too tight. “What do you mean?”
“Well, Nora for instance. You know she was always Daddy’s girl.”
They rarely talked about their dad. There was still so much hurt there.
“Gram favored her too,” Emma continued. “That became very obvious that last summer.”
“She was the first grandchild—that’s not uncommon. But you were always Mama’s favorite.”
Emma dipped her brush in the paint. “I don’t know about that.”
“Oh, come on,” Maddy said, not unkindly. “You favor her the most. She always took your side and went easiest on you.”
Emma seemed to consider that. “Maybe back then it was true. She was definitely there for me after Nora betrayed me. It seemed like she really understood what I was going through. Like she was on my side. That’s why it hurt so much when she went to Nora and Jonathan’s wedding. It felt like a stab in the back.Threestabs in the back—one from each of them.”
“I know it was a terrible time, Emma. But Mama was in a difficult spot. She was going to hurt one of you no matter what she did.”
Emma was silent for a long moment. “I guess every family has its complications.”
“Do you hear from her much... Mama?” Maddy asked.
“Every month or so, I guess.”
Maddy huffed a laugh. “More often than I do.”
“Yeah, but every time she reaches out she begs me to reconcile with Nora. I think that’s the main reason she calls. It feels like it’s all about Nora and what she needs. Well, what about what I need? What about Nora apologizing to me?”
Nora had begged for Emma’s forgiveness back in the day. But after a while she’d grown weary of being rebuffed. Had put her back up and gotten riled up herself.
“I know what you’re thinking,” Emma said. “But should her apology really count when she went ahead and married my fiancé anyway? Actions speak louder than words, Maddy—and both of their actions said plenty.”
Maddy was sorry she’d brought it up. They’d been over this ground so many times already.
“How is everything between you and Ethan, if you don’t mind my asking? Have things gotten any better? I’ve been praying for you.”
“Thanks.” Emma seemed as relieved as Maddy for the change of topic. “I actually think the distance has been good for us. I’m starting to realize I gave up on us too easily. Before he left he tried to tell me he was unhappy, and I didn’t want to hear it. Then he left, and I just— It hurt so much. It took me right back to Jonathan’s rejection, and I felt so unwanted, by my own husband. It reawakened all those feelings.”
“Oh, Emmie. I’m sorry.”
“So I just closed down. I shut him out, refused to listen to what he was trying to tell me. I was afraid. But I’m starting to think his leaving was his way of trying to wake me up. Make me listen. Little did he know it would have the opposite effect.
“Yesterday on the phone... he told me he still loves me. I really needed to hear that. He’s said it before, during our separation, but I wasn’t listening—again thinking that actions spoke louder than words. All I saw was that he’d left me, and it tore me up inside.”
“It sounds as though being away has given you some perspective.”
