“I don’t hate you, Mother,” said Ellie, feeling a tinge of remorse for the things she said. “It’s just… You don’t know where to draw the line. Ever since I was a child, you’ve watched over me like a hawk, making sure I didn’t step out of line. ‘Chin up. Back straight. Read this. Don’t say that.’ It was exhausting. And the worst part was you only did that to me. Amelia got to do whatever she wanted.”
Marie was quiet for a moment, then said, “Did you ever stop and think there was a reason I treated you different from your sister?”
Ellie shook her head.
“When you were little, maybe four or five, I knew there was something different about you.” She gave a little whisk of a smile and continued. “On warm summer nights you used to lie in the backyard and stare into the sky, connecting the stars like dots with the end of your finger. Sometimes you’d lie there for hours, not uttering a single word. And I remember this one time you said, ‘someday, when I’m older and smarter, I’m going to learn the names of all the stars.’ It was as if you could see your entire life up there in those stars. That’s when I knew you had something special inside you.”
“If that’s how you felt, why were you always against me?”
“I wasn’t, but I knew from experience that if you were going to be great, you’d need someone to push you. God knows your father couldn’t do it. You had him wrapped around your little finger. Still do. So I took it upon myself.”
Ellie thought about that for a minute, remembering all the times she and her mother had butted heads when she was growing up. “Father may not have been much of a disciplinarian, but it was he who got me interested in astronomy. That book he bought me,Seeing Stars, lit that fire inside me.”
Marie smiled. “I hate to break it to you, sweetheart, but that also was me.”
“You? But I thought… Why didn’t you say anything?”
“Because in your eyes your father could do no wrong. When you thought it was he who bought it for you, your face lit up like a Christmas tree. After that, I didn’t have the heart to tell you otherwise, so I let you think it was him.”
Ellie was silent for a long time, processing her words. “Thank you,” she finally said, “for telling me the truth.”
“You’re welcome. And just so you know, if I could take back what I did that summer, I’d do it in a heartbeat. On the bright side, at least things worked out with you and Jack in the end.”
Ellie turned and stared into the kitchen.
“You are still together, aren’t you?”
Summoning the courage, Ellie turned to face her. “I don’t exactly know how to answer that,” she said dismally. “I don’t know if Amelia told you, but Jack isn’t coming with me to Houston.”
“No, she didn’t.” A deep furrow ran across her forehead. “Are you okay with that?”
Ellie gave a half shrug. “I don’t have a choice. Apparently, there’s nothing I can say or do to change his mind.”
“I see.” Marie sighed. “Well, for what it’s worth, I’m sorry. I know how much you love him.”
A painful silence descended.
“I am doing the right thing, aren’t I?”
“Only you can answer that,” said Marie, dodging the question.
“Figures.”
“What?”
“I thought if anyone would understand, it would be you.”
“I do understand. And under normal circumstance, I’d tell you to take the job and never look back. But things have changed, haven’t they? I don’t know if it’s because of Clara’s death or the fact that you and Jack reconnected after all this time, but I’ve realized life is too short to throw away love, because once it’s gone, we can never get it back. If I were you, not that I’m trying to tell you what to do, but I’d give him time,” said Marie. “If memory serves, it took you a little while to get used to the idea of moving away from home too.”
Ellie snapped her head around. “Did not!”
Marie raised an eyebrow.
“Okay, so it may have taken me a few months to get used to this place, but at least I tried. Jack won’t even give Houston a chance.”
“Does that surprise you? He’s a man. If you haven’t noticed, they’re notoriously hardheaded.”
They laughed.
