Mason took her arm again. “No offense, but this might not have been exactly the right approach if you just wanted to see her.” Cheryl hung her head, but then she looked at me again.
“Fine,” she said. “I got really worked up in the car… I might have overreacted.” She looked straight at me and said, “But I want to be very clear that this is my granddaughter, and I plan to raise her. I have an attorney, and he assures me this will be a no-brainer for the judge.”
Tears sprang to my eyes. I knew she was right. Judges wanted babies with their families, and I didn’t blame them. Only, where did that leave me?
I nodded and, my throat thick with tears, said, “I understand. I’m just fostering her. I’m just trying to keep her safe.”
I noticed that Cheryl had tears of her own as she stormed back to her car and squealed out of the driveway. My heart was beating out of my chest, but Maisy was still enthralled with her little toys as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Thank goodness. I didn’t want her to have baby trauma.
I leaned back against the seat and unlocked the car. Mason opened the door and helped me out. I was shaking. Without a word, he unclipped Maisy’s car seat from its base and followed me up the stairs. There was so much to say, but I didn’t have any words. Only fear.
“Do I get a lawyer?” I managed to eke out as I opened the door.
Mason put a firm hand on my shoulder as he placed Maisy’s carrier on the floor inside. “Daisy, you could. But I think we both know…”
He trailed off, and I nodded, trying to steady myself. I reached down to unbuckle Maisy and held her close to me. I was overwhelmed with love for her, swamped with the grief of being separated.
Mason rubbed Maisy’s back. “That might not have been Cheryl’s finest moment, but she and Andy are perfect parents. I know this isn’t what you want, but Maisy will be in good hands.”
I nodded bravely, ignoring the tears running down my cheeks. There was so much to say, but I couldn’t care about anything happening between Mason and me right now. I could only think about Maisy. Through my tears, another figure appeared at the still-open door. I heard her sobs before I recognized her. “Cheryl told my parents!” Sarah wailed. “And they kicked me out.” She took a ragged breath. “They said I’m not their daughter anymore.”
Mason gave me a look that said this was above his pay grade. “It’s fine,” I said to him. “I’ve got this.”
But I didn’t. I had nothing. Last week, the world had been mine for the taking. And now, what seemed like only a heartbeat later, I had lost it all.
TILLEYSecond Act
Tilley felt a little guilty about what she had done to Robbie, but, well, sometimes these things couldn’t be helped. She knew that Elizabeth would never, ever agree to tell Robbie the truth, and she didn’t blame her. Elizabeth had stood tirelessly by Tilley’s side for decades, taking care of her, her son, then their ailing parents. She had been the rock of their family, Tilley’s caregiver, her savior. She would never betray her now.
One of the things that had been most difficult over the years for Tilley is that her late boyfriend Robert’s parents had insisted on taking him back to Wilson, where they had a family mausoleum, to be buried. It was only right. He and Tilley hadn’t even been married. But she hated the idea of never being able to go see him, talk to him, leave flowers at his grave—or, at least, not often. So, in lieu of a grave, Tilley had found her own special spot with Robert.
One of the most unique and magnificent parts of the Dogwood property was the live oak trees with massive branches that, instead of straight, grew sideways toward the sea, toward the light, as if ever reaching to be a part of a world that wasn’t meant for them, that could never sustain them. Tilley understood those trees in a lot of ways.They never felt like they belonged here. And, without Robert, she never felt she did either. Only now, maybe she could.
Sitting on the low, thick, gnarled branch of the tree closest to the sound, the smell of salt and brine so present, was where Robert had first kissed Tilley, where she had known that she would love him all her days. And so, for years, every time she wanted to feel him, every time she wanted to tell him something, Tilley had come to this spot where the trees grew thick and the marsh grass began and the birds swooped and the frogs and cicadas and grasshoppers sang. Where fish jumped and crabs scurried and, in this place of so very much life, Tilley could imagine that Robert’s spirit, too, was alive, even if she had lost him in body.
Today would not be the most difficult conversation she would ever have with her Robert. But it would be one she had never imagined. And so she began, whispering into the wind, “Robert, I told him. I told our Robbie that he was our son. And, well, I told him under a bit of a guise of madness, but all the same, the truth exists in the world for him to pick up or cast aside. It exists so that if there ever comes a day he discovers what is real, he will know I at least tried to be honest with him in the only way I could face.”
Tilley took a deep breath. The breeze was soft but steady, and she paused to watch a heron swoop down into the water and grab its dinner. As a girl, she’d hated the sight of it, the fish dying. But that was the circle of life. We live, we die; some days we live for ourselves and some days for others.
And now it was time for Tilley to take a new place in that never-ending, infinite circle. “Robert, my darling, I hope this doesn’t hurt you.” Tilley knew that, in truth, she was simply exhaling into the glorious fresh sea air of Dogwood, of Cape Carolina, of this place that had held her hopes and dreams, secrets and lies, since the day of her birth.But, even still, she could swear that, if she closed her eyes, she could feel Robert right beside her, his arm touching hers, his thigh against her thigh. The breeze blew, and it was his breath in her ear.Tell me, darling. Tell me.
Her eyes filled as she said, “I have kept your memory alive for all these years, held your name on the tip of my tongue as if you were only in the next room, but now, I have to tell the truth: I have met someone. A man who is very unlike you but who understands me, I believe, who can help me move forward while also accepting that you hold such a big piece of my heart. And, if it’s all right with you, my darling Robert, I’d like to try to move forward, to see if I could have a second act.”
With that, the breeze that had been so constant stopped dead. Still. It was so abrupt that Tilley’s eyes popped open. Her Robert had been the breeze that had cooled and calmed her all these years. And, in one moment, he had left. But then, the most curious thing happened. The wind picked up again and, as if it was coming from all sides, enveloped Tilley, as if in a hug, cocooned in the safety of the natural world. Could Tilley prove that this was Robert giving her his approval? Of course not. But that wasn’t what was important. Robert was gone. And so, what mattered now was what Tilley believed. And she believed, as she always had, that her Robert was the breath in her ear, the breeze in her face, as she sat on their special tree. And now he had given her the one thing she needed most: permission to let him go.
DAISYDreams and Plans
I needed to call Allison, our social worker. Because grandmother or not, someone needed to document what had just gone down in my driveway. But I had a contented baby in one arm, an inconsolable teenager in the other, and so much adrenaline coursing through my body that I wasn’t sure what to do about any of it.
“Sarah,” I said, calmly but firmly. “Look at me.”
Her head remained on my shoulder.
“Look at me,” I repeated.
This time she did. Her eyes were swollen and puffy, and her face was wet with tears and snot. But I was a nurse. Bodily fluids didn’t bother me.
Maisy was still just as calm and happy as could be. She really was a perfect baby. My heart wrenched at the thought of never seeing her again. Because, if Cheryl’s outburst in my driveway was to be believed, it wasn’t only that I wouldn’t be adopting her; I would be prevented from ever seeing her again.
