Suddenly the food wasn’t appealing any longer, and Maxey pushed the plate away. “Yes, my mother told me he was ashamed of her career choice, and rightly so. What decent man would want a harlot for a wife?”
Pink covered the faces of the women across the table. The cook huffed and shook her head.
“But she wasn’t a harlot then, Miss Maxey. She had changed herself and wanted a new life. She married a caring man and had two wonderful children. Changing our life is one thing all of usharlotswant.”
Pain gripped Maxey’s chest and made her head throb. She scooted her chair out and stood. “I appreciate your words, but I have had many years of hatred built up in me. I cannot change how I feel.” She straightened. “If you’ll excuse me, I must leave. I have a terrible headache.”
Thankfully, the women didn’t try to stop her. She marched out of the kitchen, hurried through the parlor, and darted up the stairs before anyone could see the tears building in her eyes. She refused to cry, although confusion swam in her head, making her want to believe that her mother had cared for her all of these years.
She walked into the room and closed the door behind her. Emotion clogged her throat. She sat at the vanity and looked at herself in the mirror. For so many years, she’d carried the guilt that her mother left because of something she may have done as a child. When Maxey met Nash and realized she also had the passion that her father hated her mother for, it left a sour taste in her mouth. She didn’t want to become like her mother.
Of course, back then she hadn’t fully understood the type of woman her mother had become. Could her father have been wrong all this time? Nora had loved her children enough to have a detective follow them throughout their years of growing up. Apparently, Nora had wanted her family after all.
Maxey groaned and pressed her palms against her forehead, praying the pain in her skull would leave. She hated feeling this way.
The squeak from the door opening pulled her attention to her visitor. Nora walked in.
“I need to get something.” She pointed to her armoire.
“Of course. After all, this is your room.”
Her mother smiled, even with pain still in her eyes. Maxey’s heart was tugged by confusion again, squeezing her chest tighter.
“I declare if Polly’s head wasn’t attached, the poor girl would lose that, too.” Nora shuffled through her shoes. “I don’t understand how that girl can misplace so many things in one day.” She pulled out a red pair of satin button-up booted heels. “It’s a good thing we have the same size feet.”
She gave Maxey a smile, and then turned to leave, but Maxey reached out and grabbed her arm. “Can I ask you a question?”
“Certainly, my dearest.”
“Do you know what Thomas did when he was sixteen that put him out of commission for a few months?”
Nora stared at Maxey for the longest time in silence and nodded.
“He broke his arm when he fell out of the tree. Apparently, he was watching a girl in her bedroom window and was discovered when he accidentally fell out, breaking his arm in the process.”
Maxey’s heart sped up. Nora was correct.
“Do you know what happened when I turned eighteen?”
Nora stepped closer. She shifted the shoes under one arm as she stroked Maxey’s cheek with her fingers. “You were offered a teaching position at the school once you graduated, but you turned it down to take care of your sickly father.”
A dam of tears leaked through Maxey’s eyes. Her lips trembled when she nodded. “You…you really kept track of us?”
The shoes dropped from her mother’s arms when she gathered Maxey against her bosom. “Indeed I did. Every day of your lives. Since your father wouldn’t let me near, I needed to know how you fared. I missed you so much.”
Years of anguish and sadness poured from Maxey as she clung to her mother and cried. How she wanted to change the past and have her mother in her life every day, but it was impossible. For now, she must savor the moment and cherish it.
“Please forgive me, my darling daughter.” Nora kissed Maxey’s forehead. “I wanted to be with my children, but couldn’t. Your father knew how to punish me for lying to him, but I knew my children suffered along with me.”
“We did.” Maxey raised her head and looked at her mother through teary eyes. “Every day you were gone.”
“But I’m here now.” Nora smiled with trembling lips and dried the wetness from Maxey’s face. “I want to be here from this day forward. I want to be your mother if you’ll allow me.”
“Oh, Mother.” Maxey cried harder and buried her face in her mother’s bosom.
Maxey didn’t even realize her mother had moved them to the bed until she lay on soft pillows and a blanket was thrown over her. Her mother gathered her in her embrace again and held her until Maxey fell asleep.
Chapter Nineteen
