Doris flashed a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “Oh. Okay. Do whatever you would like.”
Aidan’s heart twisted. Good grief, they were little girls. How many universally inspirational sayings did a six-year-old know? He wanted to kick himself from one side of the park to the other for allowing Kate to hurt his little girl. Chloe had been through enough already. Now he had allowed her to form an attachment to Kate and Kate was going to leave, too. What the hell was wrong with him?
Chloe tugged at his sleeve. “What is it, sweetheart?”
She got up on her knees on the bench of the picnic table, cupped her hand and whispered, “What is a stepmother? Why did Miss Doris call Mommy that?”
Aidan drew in a deep breath, buying time to sort out his thoughts. “It is just another name for a mommy.”
He braced himself for her to push for a better explanation. Instead, Chloe cupped her hand again and whispered into Aidan’s ear again. “How do you spell ‘Come home soon, Mommy. I miss you’? Will you help me write it?”
Aidan debated whether he should try to talk her out of painting that on the rock, but he decided against it. Chloe seemed pretty set on writing a message to Kate. If he tried to steer her in another direction, she might get upset and he didn’t want to push her into a meltdown.
Choose your battles.
Doris walked up and stood next to Chloe. “Sweetheart, I have an idea. What if you paint ‘Throw kindness like glitter’? You could use the silver paint for the lettering, and I brought some glitter glue that you could use to decorate it. It would look so cute if you decorated your pink rock that way.”
Chloe frowned. “But my mommy is already kind. She already does that. I don’t have to tell her to be that way.”
Aidan’s heart twisted. Leave it to a kid to see the best in people. Of course, since day one, Kate had been nothing but kind to Chloe. If Kate couldn’t bring herself to stay in this marriage, he hoped that somehow, Chloe would not take Kate’s leaving personally. Couldn’t Kate see that, in a sense, she was doing to Chloe exactly what her father had done to her, even though she said she didn’t want to be like him.
“What if this rock wasn’t for your...um...mommy.” Doris glanced at Aidan. He gave his head a subtle shake, asking her to let it go. Either she didn’t understand or she was ignoring him because she continued. “The purpose of this group is to paint rocks so that strangers can find them and the positive messages we write can bring happiness into their lives. Don’t you want pictures of your rocks on the Instagram page? We can’t post pictures of ones we don’t leave for people to find.”
“My mommy needs some happiness,” Chloe insisted, her voice suddenly defiant.
Doris flinched.
“How about if I paint the rock with the glitter message and Chloe can paint her rock the way she wants to?”
Doris’s eyes flashed as she looked at Aidan. Obviously, she didn’t agree, and for a moment, Aidan thought she might challenge him. She didn’t, and it was a good thing. He didn’t think that this little rock group of happiness should be quite so stringent and inflexible. Good grief, the girls were barely six years old. Doris took a deep breath and blinked several times in rapid succession.
“I’m sure that’s fine.” Her voice was cool. She placed a package of multicolored glitter glue on the table. “I’ll just leave this here in case one of you wants to use it.” She made quick work of moving around the table and helping the other girls.
“Is everything okay?” asked the mom who was sitting next to him. Her eyes looked hungry for gossip.
“Sure,” Aidan said. “Why would it not be?”
The mom shrugged. “I’ve never seen....” she nodded sharply in Chloe’s direction “...quite so...” She made a face that Aidan guessed meant difficult, or maybe she was trying to show her concern? Chloe was busy smearing gold glitter glue on her pink rock and seemed oblivious. Still, Aidan didn’t want to talk about his daughter as if she wasn’t there.
“You know how six-year-olds can be. Could you pass the pink paint please?”
“Daddy, can you help me with my message to Mommy?”
Again, questioning whether he was doing the right thing by not steering her away from making that rock for Kate, he spelled out each word slowly. In the middle of the process, he caught Doris and the mom to his right exchanging a look. He didn’t react. Instead, he kept spelling for Chloe and lettering glitter and kindness over his own pink painted rock.
Finally, after all the rocks had been photographed and dispersed around the park, he and Chloe were on their way to the car. “Daddy, I need to go over there.” Chloe was pointing to the Forsyth Galloway Inn, which was standing there like a specter he had been trying to ignore all day. From this vantage point, the yellow Victorian was clearly visible through the oak trees laden with Spanish moss.
“No, honey, we need to go home.”
“Noo, Daddy, I have to give this rock to Gigi to give to Mommy.”
Since Kate hadn’t been in touch in the almost twenty-four hours since she had taken leave and he had no idea what the family knew about the latest bump in their relationship, he didn’t want her family—or his brother, for that matter—to discover him skulking around the grounds of the inn.
It was on the tip of his tongue to tell Chloe to hang on to the rock and give it to Kate in person. But what if Kate decided not to come back and Chloe didn’t get the chance to give it to her? The last thing his little girl needed was a souvenir from the heartbreak.
Why not leave it there? If he ran into the family, he would let Chloe give it to them to pass it on to Kate. Let Kate explain why Chloe was missing her. He took his little girl by the hand and let her lead the way.
Chloe left the rock by the kitchen steps, half-hidden by one of the flowering potted plants lining the brick steps.
“Don’t be disappointed if someone else picks it up, Chloe,” he said on the way back to the car.
“No one else will. It is for Mommy. She’ll be the one who finds it.”
At least the damn rock was out of his little girl’s hands. Aidan hoped that out of sight would mean out of Chloe’s thoughts.
* * *
After work, Kate went to the inn.
“I have news,” Kate said after she and her sisters were settled at their table tucked away in a corner of the tearoom.
As luck would have it, Liam was working at Wila, while Jane was still here at the tearoom. Elle had just finished a late afternoon art walk with a group of guests and was in the lobby answering follow-up questions when Kate had walked in.
After her last appointment of the day, Kate had stopped by the inn, hoping to catch her sisters there. She had been booked solid with appointments after Kerrigan had dropped the retirement bombshell earlier in the day, which meant she hadn’t had much time to think about the implications or her next move. Her first thought after her last client was that she wanted to talk to Aidan about what had transpired. She had swallowed her pride and called him, but her call had gone to voice mail. She knew Chloe had her rock-painting session that afternoon. Knowing Aidan, he had probably silenced his phone to give his daughter his undivided attention. He was good about things like that. She hadn’t left a message because after the way they had left things—the way she had run out last night—she felt as if she had no right.
Her heart ached at the thought of another night away from Aidan and Chloe. For someone who’d felt as if she needed her space, she was feeling awfully shaky without them.
The only other people she could turn to at a crazy, mixed-up time like this were her sisters. Though she wasn’t sure how much she wanted to tell them about what was happening with Aidan.
What could she say when she didn’t even know what she wanted?
Still, Kate needed their steadfastness, their understanding, and maybe even a dose of their tough love, because they would not s
imply tell her what she wanted to hear.
As Elle poured tea from a porcelain teapot into delicate matching cups, Jane grilled Kate.
“News, huh?” Jane counted off on her fingers. “You’re already married and there’s a baby on the way. What other news—Wait, the baby’s okay, right? You’re okay?”
“The baby’s fine. I’m fine.”
Of course, that was only partially true. The baby was fine, thank God for that. Kate put a protective hand on her stomach. Like a beacon of light in the storm, this little person growing inside her was a bright spot in an otherwise murky future.
“How are you feeling?” Elle asked.
“A lot better. I’m right at thirteen weeks. The morning sickness has stopped. Actually, I feel great. But what I wanted to tell y’all is that Kerrigan announced today that he is closing the salon.”
Her sisters gasped, as surprised by the news as Kate had been.
Kate explained that it was the landlord’s decision to raise the rent and... Kerrigan’s falling in love that had led to his decision to retire.
“Good for him,” Elle said. “I’m happy for him, and the timing couldn’t be better. Now you’re free to bring your clients to the spa at the inn. I know your loyalty to Kerrigan was holding you back, but now you can do it guilt free. Maybe some of your coworkers want to relocate here, too. It seems like it was meant to be.”
“Does it?” Kate asked. “I don’t know if it is the right decision for me.”
Jane and Elle exchanged a glance.
“What are you afraid of?” Elle asked.
“She’s afraid of Mom and Gigi.” Jane turned to Kate. “Am I right?”
“Maybe,” Kate said. “They do have a history of getting into our business.”
“Is that what you’re worried about?” Elle asked. “You know they only mean well.”
“I know they do.” Kate glanced around the tearoom. Its black-and-white marble floors and formal dark, polished wood contrasted with the light airiness of the glass from the windows and mirrors, which reflected the crystal chandeliers and the pops of color from the red banquettes lining the back wall. They had consciously decided to have the decor echo the look of the restaurant Wila, to tie the places together.
“I don’t mean any disrespect to them. You know I love them. But I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that I like my independence. I’ve worked hard to build my business without anyone’s help. It is mine. No one can take it away from me.”
Like Dad tried to take the inn away from Mom and us.
“Yet, isn’t it crazy how Kerrigan’s decision to close his shop at the end of the month has left you scrambling to find a new home?” Jane arched a brow at Kate. “Do you have any other salons in mind? If you get too far away, your clients might not follow you.”
It was true. She had been so comfortable renting a chair at Kerrigan’s salon for so long that the possibility of having to relocate had never entered her personal equation. For nearly a decade, she had booked her own appointments and come and gone as she pleased. If she wanted a day off, she scheduled herself off. There was no asking for time off, no coordinating days or coverage. No standing in for other stylists if they didn’t show. That was the beauty of being an independent contractor. She rented a chair, minded her own business and life was grand.
“I don’t know if I want to give away my independence by running the spa,” she admitted. “That’s more like punching a time clock. Will you level with me? How much do Gigi and Mom get in your business?”
“I can honestly say it hasn’t been a problem,” Elle said of the art classes and tours that she ran out of the inn.
Jane shrugged. “Same here. I had the same worries when they started talking to me about opening the tearoom. I made it clear that I needed my independence if the arrangement was going to work. If you think about it, the three of us have defined ourselves in niches that Mom and Gigi know very little about. They respect that. I’ve found that they leave the pastry decisions to me because I know what I’m doing. Sure, they might ask for a batch of blueberry scone or a specific cookie, but they let me look at what’s selling and what’s not and they trust me to make the decisions that make the business work.”
They all sipped their tea for a moment. Jane was the most no-nonsense of the Clark sisters. Like Kate, she had put herself through school and had been making her own way before their mother and grandmother had come up with the grand plan to involve the three more closely at the inn. Elle had been an elementary school teacher. She could easily get a teaching job at one of the local schools if she found the arrangement too constricting.
“Kate, why don’t you talk to them?” Elle said. “Be up-front with them. Let them know your feelings and your trepidation. Honestly, since Gigi got married and turned over management of the inn to Mom, she’s not really into micromanaging. Mom is happy that Jane and I are back at the inn, and she’s a little distracted with Stephen, so she hasn’t been a problem, either.”
“Yes. Talk to them,” Jane urged. “Now that the three of us are happily married, and they have men in their lives to distract them, too, I think you’re going to see a world of difference. Their buttinsky quotient is a lot lower than it used to be.”
Happily married. Kate’s heart twisted.
And what if things didn’t work out with Aidan? Would they think that gave them a license to remind her daily of what an idiot she had been to let such a great guy get away? Because Aidan was a great guy.
What was wrong with her?
Was she trying to push him away to prove her point that all men were like her dad or was she so self-destructive that she was hell-bent on carrying on her father’s legacy of heartbreak and dysfunction? It would serve her right if she ended up being the spinster sister who lived with her mother in the old Victorian house on the park.
Then again, at the rate her mother’s and grandmother’s love lives were going, Zelda and Gigi would probably be too busy to worry much about Kate’s sorry state of affairs. It seemed that she was the only one who was still obsessing over what Fred Clark had done to their family.
“Have you ever thought about contacting our father?” The question slipped out of Kate’s mouth before she could think better of it. When Jane and Elle shot each other alarmed glances and then looked at Kate as if she had invited them to go dumpster diving for their dinner, she wished she could have reeled the question back in.
They didn’t know about her trial separation from Aidan. Was that what it was? A trial separation? Kate didn’t even know. The only thing she was sure of right now was that both of her sisters were blissfully married, happily working at fulfilling careers and starting families of their own. Of course, they didn’t give their father a second thought.
“Are you talking about the father who left Mom and us high and dry and then tried to sue for half the Forsyth Galloway Inn?” Jane asked.
That was why. He was why.
“There’s no other father that I’m aware of,” Kate said. “So, unless you know something I don’t know, yes. He’s the one.”
Since Kate seemed to be the only one haunted by the past, logic told her she needed to face the ghost head-on, look him in the eyes, tell him what a rotten excuse for a father he had been and then move on. The problem was, every time she went through the mental exercise of doing that—where the meeting would happen, what she had to say and how she had to say it—she wanted to put a pillow over her head and forget about it.
Now she had more to think of than herself. Kate put a hand on her stomach. Her mind skittered to Aidan and Chloe and her heart ached. One night away from them and she missed them like she missed a limb or a vital organ. But the odd push-me-pull-you force that seemed to control her like a puppet master manipulating a marionette reminded her that it was easy to miss them from this vantage point. Every time she thought about settling in—be it moving her busine
ss to the inn or fully committing to be part of the Quindlin family—she felt the walls closing in, and utter terror warned her to get out before the claustrophobia could suffocate her.
But was this what she wanted for the rest of her life? To keep running when life got to structured and real?
It shouldn’t be this difficult. She loved Aidan and Chloe. She was carrying Aidan’s child. Her place was with them. Why was she making life so hard on everyone?
If she could answer that question, she would not be nearly sick with dread right now.
Elle was frowning into her glass of water. “Why would you ask that?”
Kate shrugged. “Because I can’t stop wondering how a man could just walk away from his family.”
She heard herself saying the words and it didn’t escape her that it might have been not so dissimilar from the way that she had walked away from Aidan and Chloe. But it wasn’t the same. Was it?
“You know what?” Jane asked. “I don’t care why he did what he did. I don’t want to know. So I guess the answer is no. Not only have I never wanted to contact him, I don’t care if I ever see him again. I truly don’t care.”
Elle shot Jane a look seemed to say she was being too harsh.
“Are you thinking about getting in touch with him?” Elle asked. “Is it because of the baby?”
“No...yes.” Kate scrunched up her face in frustration. “I don’t know. Maybe I do need to work through some things before the baby arrives.”
“And you think seeing him will help?” Jane looked like she smelled something foul. It dawned on Kate that maybe her sisters weren’t as unaffected by the trauma of their childhood as they seemed. Obviously, they were better at compartmentalizing their feelings. Lucky them. If only Kate could do that—box up the memories of their mother trying her best to explain that their father had left but it wasn’t because he didn’t love them. Trying to justify his actions and make excuses for a man who had been such a coward that he couldn’t even say goodbye to his own children.
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