Sisters Like Us

by Susan Mallery

  Part of her wondered how it was possible to always be so prepared for company. The rest of her calculated the production hours lost to such a ridiculous pursuit. But then Bunny would tell her she was missing the point, and maybe she was.

  Bunny poured her a glass of lemonade, then smiled. “This is lovely. You don’t stop by very often, do you? I rarely see you without Kit along. Not that he isn’t a very nice man, but I do enjoy spending time with my little girl.”

  Stacey didn’t bother pointing out she was forty and hadn’t been little for decades.

  “I should do this more often,” she admitted, sliding a few slices of cheese onto her plate. “I did want to talk to you about something, Mom.”

  Bunny’s gaze locked on her. “What is it? Are you changing jobs? Don’t tell me you’re moving away. You only came home a few years ago. Kit has a good teaching position and I thought you were happy with your work.”

  “We’re not moving. We’re staying right there, in Mischief Bay.”

  “Oh, then what?”

  Her mother looked expectant. Stacey swallowed against her suddenly dry throat, then told herself she hadn’t done anything wrong. Or at least not very wrong. Besides, it was her body and if she didn’t want to—

  “Stacey Wray Bloom, tell me what you came to say.”

  “I’m pregnant.”

  Her mother stared at her for several seconds, then her face crumbled as tears filled her eyes. “Oh, Stacey, that’s wonderful.”

  Stacey found herself being hugged fiercely as Bunny sniffed and tried to speak.

  “I’m so happy for you. Another grandchild.” She returned to her seat and pulled an embroidered hankie out of some hidden pocket before lightly dabbing her eyes. “I’d hoped of course, but I never thought it would happen. You’re forty. Have you talked to your doctor? You know you have to take care of yourself. There are concerns when you’re over thirty-five. I don’t know exactly what they are, but still.” She smiled. “A baby.”

  So far, so good, Stacey thought with cautious optimism. “I’ve talked to my doctor. She specializes in high-risk pregnancies and I’m doing very well. I’ve been taking care of myself and I have excellent genetics.”

  “You get those from me.” Her mother laughed. “All right, and maybe from your father. What are you going to do about work? Are you going to resign or just take a long maternity leave? Not that I can see you quitting that job you love so much. So what will you do for day care?”

  “I’m taking off three weeks after the birth and Kit will stay home with the baby.”

  Bunny’s mouth dropped open. “What? Three weeks? That’s absurd. You can’t take off three weeks. You have to breast-feed. You have to take care of your child. That’s what a mother does, Stacey. This isn’t some project you can assign to someone else. You are responsible for your own children.”

  Something Stacey was very clear on. It was being responsible that made her so uneasy.

  “I won’t be breast-feeding, Mom,” she said as gently as she could. “It’s not practical. I love my work and I want to get back to it as quickly as possible.”

  “That’s totally ridiculous. There is no way Kit can be a stay-at-home father.”

  “Why not? He’s far more nurturing than me. Mom, we’ve talked about this and it’s what we want to do. I make way more money than Kit. I have excellent benefits. Why shouldn’t I be the one to support the family?”

  “But he’s a man!” Her mother looked appalled and uncomfortable. “Everything about it is wrong.”

  “The world is changing. Kit’s in a support group for men just like him. There are more out there than you would think.” She tried not to get defensive. After consciously lowering her voice, she smiled and touched her mother’s arm.

  “It’s a brave, new world, as they say. Men are doing all kinds of things we never thought they could do.”

  “Don’t try to be funny,” her mother snapped. “I can’t believe it. This is a nightmare. It was bad enough when you wouldn’t take his last name, but now this? What am I supposed to tell my friends? That my son-in-law is staying home with the baby?”

  “It’s the truth.” Stacey held in a sigh. “Kit and I decided on this before we even got married. We wanted to try to have a baby and we knew that it made more sense for him to stay home. He’ll work through the end of the semester, then resign. His principal already knows. It’s going to be great.”

  Bunny frowned. “Why would he stop working so soon? When are you due? Around Christmas?” Her expression softened. “A Christmas baby would be so nice.”

  Uh-oh. Crap and double crap. There was no easy way around her due date. Kit had warned her waiting would be bad. She’d known in her head, but the thought of telling her mother had been impossible to imagine, let alone get done.

  “I’m due at the end of June.”

  Her mother’s mouth dropped open as her eyes widened. “What?” she asked, her voice a shriek. “In June?”

  “I’m sorry. I wanted to tell you sooner, but time got away from me. Kit and I agreed to wait until I was past the three-month mark. Given my age and possibility of miscarriage, that seemed the best thing. Then that came and went and we got busy and I didn’t mean to keep it from you, Mom. It just sort of happened.”

  Her mother stared at Stacey’s midsection, then threw up her hands and sprang to her feet.

  “How could you?” she demanded. “You kept this from me, which is just like you. You’re due in less than two months and I’m just now finding out?” Tears filled her eyes. “What kind of daughter does that make you? Or are you going to make this all about me? Once again, I’ve failed you. Well, not this time, missy. You should have told me!”

  Bunny grabbed the back of the chair on the opposite side of the table and glared. “You are a constant disappointment, Stacey. I’m your mother. Why are you punishing me?”

  For the first time since getting pregnant, Stacey felt as if she were going to throw up. She was cold, nauseous and light-headed. Her mother’s anger and hurt assaulted her, making her feel small and unsure, just like when she was a kid.

  Somewhere in the distance, she thought she heard a door open and close, but she wasn’t sure. Maybe she was simply imagining there was an escape.

  “Don’t you have anything to say for yourself?” Bunny asked. “This is so like you, punishing me for something I never did.”

  “Stop it.”

  The firm, male voice had them both turning. Stacey raced over to Kit, who put his arm around her. Bunny glared at them both.

  “You’re in this together,” she announced. “I don’t know why you take such pleasure in deceiving me, but be assured, I’m never going to forgive this.”

  “Stacey wasn’t ready to share the news,” Kit told her. “That’s all it is, Bunny. You can try to make it more, but that’s on you, not her. She’s told you now and I hope you can be happy for us, but if you can’t, then the loss is totally yours. As for how we’re going to raise our daughter, again, it was our decision to make and we’ve made it.”

  He smiled at Stacey, then turned back to Bunny. “You’ve raised an amazing daughter and she’s going to have a baby. I wish you could be happy for us. I thought you would be. I guess I overestimated you.”

  With that, he led Stacey away. She made it to the bottom of the stairs before bursting into tears. Kit hugged her tight and promised everything would be fine, but she knew he couldn’t be more wrong.

  Chapter Eighteen

  “MOM, I NEED to tell you something,” Becca said on Monday morning.

  Harper sat at the breakfast table, her tablet in front of her, her third cup of coffee in her hand. She was trying a new organization program with a phone and tablet app that allowed her to sync her devices, but she was having trouble getting the hang of it. She had the feeling it was going to be worth the effort, but until then,
she wasn’t sure what she was supposed to be doing when.

  She was about to tell Becca this wasn’t a good time when she remembered about Ashton, her daughter’s first boyfriend. Thank God, Becca was finally going to reveal all.

  “Sure,” she said brightly, closing her tablet and smiling at her daughter. “What’s up, honey?”

  Becca shuffled from foot to foot before sitting down and looking at Harper.

  “It’s about Dad.”

  “Dad? I thought...” She cleared her throat. “Okay, tell me about Dad.”

  Becca looked down, back at her, then squeezed her eyes tightly shut before blurting, “He’s getting married at the end of the month.” She opened her eyes. “I wanted to tell you before but I thought you’d be mad or upset or something and I’m really sorry but I have to go. I’m in the wedding. Alicia doesn’t want me to be but Dad made her and I have to wear a stupid dress and it’s gross and I’m scared and I really want you to come with me. Please?”

  Harper hadn’t seen her mother since Stacey had dropped the baby bomb on her yesterday. After getting the recap from her sister, she’d gone to check on Bunny, but her mother had gone out and hadn’t returned until late in the evening. Harper had tried to imagine how shocked and upset she might be, but she knew she hadn’t come close. Until now.

  Terence was getting married? Married! Not that she wanted him back, but WTF? The bastard couldn’t be bothered to tell her himself? And to make Becca be in the wedding? And he was getting married again?

  She wanted to throw something. Or scream. Or both. Instead she had to suck it up because that was what she always did—suck it up for the greater good—and talk like a normal person so as not to terrify her daughter.

  “Your dad hasn’t said anything to me,” she said, doing her best not to sound shrill. “If you don’t want to be in the wedding, tell him. Or I’ll tell him.”

  “I know, but it’s just easier to do it and then it’s over. I know he doesn’t really care if I’m there or not. He just wants to say I was there.”

  “Becca, your dad loves you.”

  “I hear that a lot, but he sure doesn’t act like it. He never listens. No one listens.”

  All Harper’s mother-senses went on alert. She recognized that quiet, resigned, unhappy tone. It was way worse than talking back or sarcasm or anything annoying. It was filled with sadness and resignation. As if the worst had occurred and couldn’t be mended or undone.

  “What do you mean?” she asked. “I listen.”

  Becca rolled her eyes. “Oh, please. Mom, you never listen. Not anymore. You’re busy with work all the time. Everything is more important than me. If a client calls, the entire world has to come to a halt. I could be lying on the kitchen floor, shot, and you would still take a client call.”

  Harper felt the words as if they were physical blows. She wanted to duck and weave, to protect herself from the assault, but she was too shocked to speak.

  Her daughter stood and glared at her. “You don’t know me anymore. You don’t know what happened with Kaylee or Jordan or Nathan. You don’t know anything!”

  Becca grabbed her backpack and stormed out of the kitchen. Harper rose and stared after her, not sure what to do. She glanced at the clock and realized school would be starting in half an hour. No doubt Becca had timed the conversation about her father so that she had an excuse to bolt, but Harper doubted she’d expected the conversation to go so badly.

  She tried to breathe and couldn’t, then collapsed back in her chair. Her daughter’s words continued to echo—that Harper didn’t know anything about her life. She tried to tell herself it wasn’t true, but look at how wrong she’d been about Ashton. And she had no idea what Becca meant about Jordan, Kaylee and some other kid.

  It wasn’t her fault, she told herself as she fought against tears. She was trying to keep them afloat financially. Things were difficult and she had to focus on keeping food on the table and—

  Had she really lost touch with Becca? Had she really screwed up that badly? Was this just teenage craziness or had her daughter been telling the truth? And if she was, didn’t that make Harper the worst mother alive?

  Bunny walked in the back door and slammed it behind her.

  “I assume you heard what happened with Stacey?”

  Harper wanted to cover her face with her hands and have it all go away. “Mom, I really can’t talk about this right now.”

  “You don’t have a choice. Can you believe it? Your sister is a piece of work. I’m so angry.” Bunny’s lower lip trembled. “She was awful to me and the things Kit said... I can’t ever forget them. But the worst part is the baby. She’s going to have a baby in a few weeks and I didn’t know.”

  Harper nodded, wishing there was a way to distract her mother so she could run and hide until she stopped hurting so much.

  “We need a plan,” her mother said firmly. “Some way to show them they were wrong.”

  Harper shook her head. “I’m not going to help you punish Stacey. She’s dealing with enough. Think about it, Mom. This can’t be easy for her. Stacey’s incredibly brilliant but she’s hardly maternal. She didn’t want to tell you. I know that makes you feel bad, but for once consider the fact she wasn’t trying to hurt you. She was trying to protect herself. There’s a difference.”

  Bunny stared at her. “You knew! You knew all this time and didn’t tell me. Why didn’t you tell me?”

  Harper thought longingly of the blissful relief of banging her head against a hard surface. Maybe she would give herself amnesia, and then she wouldn’t have to deal with her family at all.

  Bunny’s eyes filled with tears that slipped down her cheeks. “How could you do that to me? I’m your mother.”

  “And Stacey’s my sister. Mom, I’m really sorry. She asked me not to tell, so I didn’t. I kept her secret.”

  “I’m your mother. I thought you loved me. I thought my daughters loved me. It’s always been the two of you against me. This is just like when you were little. You always defended her. You always took her side. What about me? Why don’t I matter?”

  “Knock, knock!”

  Harper heard Dean’s voice as he let himself into the house and held in a groan. Timing was not on her side this morning.

  He walked into the kitchen. “Good morning. How are we do—”

  He looked from her to Bunny and immediately started backing out of the room.

  “I’ll be in the office,” he mouthed silently.

  Lucky him. He got to escape.

  Harper turned back to her mother, who was already halfway across the kitchen.

  “Mom, wait. Please. We have to talk.”

  “There’s nothing to say,” her mother told her. “You both betrayed me. I have to deal with that and what I thought was our relationship. Obviously you two are still much closer to each other than to me. I don’t matter at all. I’m just... Well, I don’t know what. Goodbye, Harper.”

  She slammed the door behind her.

  Harper honest to God didn’t know what to do. Go after her mother? Chase down Becca? Hire someone to beat the shit out of Terence?

  The front door opened again. Seconds later she heard the familiar scramble of dog nails on her tile floors. Jazz came flying down the stairs and went to greet her friend. Harper returned to the kitchen table and reached for her coffee just as Lucas walked in.

  “Morning,” he said, then frowned. “What?”

  “Oh, you really don’t want to know.”

  He sat across from her with an expectant look.

  “Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” she grumbled. “Fine, you want me to tell you? Fine! In no particular order, my daughter has a boyfriend. I knew she and Ashton were dating, but now it’s serious. And before you can ask, I don’t object. From all I’ve heard, he’s a really good kid. It’s not the boy I mind, it’s that once again,
she didn’t tell me.”

  She gripped her cup more tightly. “She said we never talk anymore because I don’t have time to listen. She said I don’t care about her.” She felt tears and just let them fall. “I do care. She’s my kid, my world. But I’ve totally screwed up and that sucks.”

  She cleared her throat. “Stacey finally told Bunny about the baby. That was a disaster, as you can imagine, but right after Becca dumped on me, Bunny figured out I’d known all along. Now I’m the other bad daughter. So I’m fighting with my daughter and my mother and I’m the common denominator, so what if it’s my fault? Also, Terence is marrying the bimbo at the end of the month. The bastard never told me and while I don’t care, he should have said something. Becca has to go to the wedding and she’s upset and wants me to go with her. Although if I’m such a shitty mother, I’m not sure why, but hey, I’ll go because even though she doesn’t believe me, I do love her and would walk through fire for her, so I have to go to the wedding and I suppose the only good thing is the bimbo will be upset. Although I’m not really the kind of person who wants to upset a bride on her wedding day, even her, so where does that leave me and aren’t you sorry you asked?”

  Lucas’s gaze was steady, his green eyes unreadable. “Do you need a hug?”

  The question was so unexpected, she started to laugh, which oddly made her cry harder. Then the most unexpected thing happened. Lucas walked around the table, pulled her to her feet and, well, hugged her.

  It wasn’t romantic or sexy. Instead it was solid and encompassing and even after a minute, he didn’t let go. He just hugged her, despite her crying into his crisp, white shirt.

  He held on until she could breathe again and the tears had subsided. Then, only then, did he release her.

  She wiped her face. “Thank you, Lucas. I guess I did need a hug.”

  One shoulder rose and fell. “Happy to help.” He pulled an index card from his shirt pocket and handed it to her. “A new client. He wants custom baskets delivered to the staff of a specialized nursing facility every week. His daughter is in a coma and he wants to thank the staff for taking such good care of her.”