by Kim Law
“Your mommy and daddy love you so much,” Arsula whispered to her niece. “But I promise, if there comes a day when they just don’t understand you . . . I always will. And I’ll always be there for you.”
She snuggled the baby close, then she leaned back in the chair and set it in motion. Her brother and sister-in-law granting her the honor of naming the baby after her had been the proudest moment of her life, and she’d make sure never to let her niece down.
She’d also appreciated them letting her stay the week with them. Which hadn’t been her original intent. She’d gone to her parents’ house after leaving the hospital and had settled into her old room as planned. However, over breakfast the following morning, her dad had started in on her. Before she’d been able to swing the conversation into one that two adults might have, her dad had put his foot down with an implied ultimatum—do as I say or lose my respect.
Her mom had been livid—as had she—so she’d repacked her bag and offered to help out the new mom and dad to allow them to get a little extra sleep.
That same bag was packed again and ready to be loaded in the car the following morning. It was time she returned to Birch Bay. The only problem was, she was both broken and renewed after this trip, and with her dad so upset with her, she didn’t quite know how she was going to walk away.
How did one just lose their father like that? And why was it okay for him to do this to her?
As she continued to rock, she noticed a framed photograph sitting on the dresser, and the darned thing brought her instantly to tears. The photo hadn’t been there earlier in the week. The picture was one taken when she was just a child, and there had been only three people included in it.
Her, her great-aunt Sul, and her great-great-grandmother Arsula.
She’d had the same photo in her bedroom as a child, and it now was tucked away in an album in her apartment.
She stared at it, her eyes going to the black opal ring that surrounded her much-smaller finger, and the sight made her miss her great-aunt more than ever. Aunt Sul had been married at one time, her husband having died not long into their marriage, and the unconventional ring he’d given her as an engagement ring had always enthralled Arsula. Aunt Sul had let her wear it for the photo that day, promising she’d leave it to her after she passed. But when Arsula and her mother had gone through Aunt Sul’s jewelry after the funeral, the ring couldn’t be found.
Arsula still kept an eye out for the ring, popping into pawn shops on a regular basis and even going to jewelry shows on occasion. As if expecting it would one day show up.
Looking at it now made her think about the ring she’d woken up wearing almost two months before. There was a world of difference between the two-carat diamond ring Jaden had had made for Megan and anything Arsula might ever want on her finger. She supposed that should have been warning enough about him.
“Isn’t she the most beautiful thing?” her mom whispered as she entered the room. She pulled a stool over and sat beside Arsula and the baby, then reached out to stroke her fingers over Baby A’s tiny arm. “I love my grandsons dearly, but there’s just something about a little girl.”
Arsula’s mouth curved up. “Especially a little girl who’s given the correct family name.”
“Very true. I’m proud of Boyd and Whitney for doing that.”
“Me too.” Arsula pressed a kiss to the baby’s head. “I figured you’d be at work today.”
“I was, but it’s my lunch hour, and I wanted to see you.”
“Me, huh?” She peered down into her niece’s sweet face. “Something tells me another Arsula was calling your name.”
“No, Lula-bell. I came for you.”
Arsula looked up in question, and her mother touched a finger to one corner of Arsula’s mouth.
“I’ve seen sadness in your smiles this week,” her mother said, “and I don’t think your broken heart is completely due to your father. What’s happened, baby? Is it about Jaden?”
Arsula gave her mother one of those sad smiles. Her mother had waited exactly one day after Arsula admitted to Boyd that she was seeing someone before she’d called and demanded details. And then she’d even talked Arsula into putting Jaden on the phone.
But Arsula had been back in Cheyenne for a week now, and this was the first time her mother had brought him up. As if she’d known it still hurt too much to talk about.
She nodded. “It is about Jaden. It’s over between us.”
“Oh.” Her mother shook her head. “No. I don’t think so.”
“Mom.” She laughed, her heart breaking even more as a tiny flare of hope tried to fire to life. “You can’t say that. You don’t even know what happened.”
“I don’t need to know what happened, Lula. Because I know he’s the one.”
The words hurt. Because he wasn’t the one. And her mother wanting love for her wouldn’t make it so. She shook her head instead of saying anything else, and she looked back down at Baby A. But as usual, being ignored didn’t dissuade Chloe Moretti.
“Let me tell you a story,” her mother began. “It’s about a girl who was once as beautiful as you, and one who is not named Arsula.”
Arsula stopped the rocker.
“But one with a special gift nonetheless,” her mother continued.
“Mom.” Arsula stared at her mother. “What are you talking about? What’s this girl’s name?”
Her mother caressed the backs of her fingers over Arsula’s cheek and nodded. “I do have a gift, sweet child of mine, and it’s time to tell you about it. I was born with it, same as you, and though it’s very restricted in its usefulness, it does have a great purpose.”
Arsula’s heart pounded behind her ribcage. “What’s its purpose?”
And why was her mother just now telling her about this?
The baby had begun to squirm the moment the rocker stopped, so Arsula pushed off the floor once again. But she didn’t take her eyes off her mother.
Her mom’s gaze burned steady. “He’s the one, honey. Jaden is the man you’re meant to be with.”
She stopped the rocker again. “What are you talking about?”
“My gift is the ability to watch over my family. To know if they’re with the person who’ll make them happy for life.” She nodded, and the gravity of her words didn’t miss Arsula. “He’s the one,” her mother repeated for the third time. “I knew it the moment he got on the phone.”
“He is not the one, Mother.” She ground out the words. “Your gift is flawed.”
“I haven’t been wrong yet.”
She restarted the rocker. “Well, there’s a first for everything.”
Kind of like the fact that Jaden was her first broken heart. And he’d broken it into tiny slivers that might never heal.
She rocked without talking for a few minutes, doing her best to ignore everything her mother had said. Jaden was not the man for her. He thought she was a joke. He demeaned her life’s mission every chance he got.
And the man had more problems than he wanted to admit!
No. Not the one. But that didn’t mean she didn’t question what her mother said.
Because how could she in good conscience ignore her mother’s gift when she wanted to demand respect for her own? She shook her head, unable to put the puzzle pieces together. “He’s a pain in the butt, Mom. You’re wrong. Jaden isn’t the one for me.”
“Ah, Lula-bell. What would life be without a daily challenge or two?”
“Or three,” Arsula added wryly, then silently adjusted it to one hundred.
Her mother patted her leg. “At least he won’t be boring.”
At least he wouldn’t be her problem.
She went back to ignoring her mother, snuggling her baby niece instead. But her mother—being her mother—wasn’t deterred.
“Did I ever tell you the story of your father’s and my path to the altar?”
Arsula smelled the top of Baby A’s head. “I know how you met. He tripped over you i
n the hall because he was reading a book instead of watching where he was going.”
“That’s only the beginning. And I knew he was the man for me the minute I looked up from the floor, by the way. Not that it made me any too happy. I had my eye on the captain of the football team at the time.”
Arsula grunted. “I’m glad you chose Dad instead of the jock. I prefer having a brain.”
Her mom patted her thigh again. “How can I say no when presented with my reality? So anyway, your dad asked me out after helping me up, and naturally, I said yes. And at the end of the date, he decided he didn’t want to see me anymore.”
Arsula stiffened. “You never told me that.”
“Of course not. Your dad hates it when I share stories of the times he was wrong. And baby girl, he was wrong three times with me. The silly man actually tried to break up with me three times that first year.” She shook her head. “I just told him no. That wasn’t an option.”
“You just told him no?”
“I did. Three times.”
That sounded exactly like her mother. “And you’ve lived happily ever after since?”
“Every day of my life”—her eyes turned hard—“except when he tries to do wrong by my daughter.”
They grew quiet as they sat there, neither wanting to talk about how unfair her dad was being or how things might truly end up, and baby Arsula started to mewl like a newborn kitten. Watching her, the tug of motherhood began to pull again. And the reminder that she wouldn’t be having kids with Jaden.
She dropped her head to the back of her chair. “Why did you never tell me about your gift, Mom? I’ve gone my whole life feeling bad that you don’t have one.”
“Because you have to live your life the way it was meant to be. If you knew I could look at a man and say yay or nay, would you have dated all the boys you’ve gone out with?”
“I’m sure I would . . .” She trailed off as she thought about a couple of the losers she’d spent more than a few dates with. “I don’t know,” she admitted.
“And would you have behaved differently toward Jaden, even the slightest amount, if you had known?”
She cut her eyes over at her mother. “You mean, as in not throwing things at him when he makes me mad?”
“Baby.” Her mother touched Arsula’s cheeks again. “Really? You still do that?”
“He called me the devil, Momma. And then on the morning I left to come here, he said I was a joke. And he wasn’t joking.” She shook her head, letting her mother see that he’d crossed the line, and her mother’s mama-bear side showed up.
“I assume you informed him that you certainly are not?”
“Of course I did. And I will to anyone else who pulls such crap.”
“My point exactly. If you’d known about my gift, you might have walked with kid gloves around Jaden. You wouldn’t have been you. And he wouldn’t have had the pleasure of falling in love with the true beauty that is you. My gift has to be protected, Lula-bell. So your dad can hold your hand and walk you down the aisle when the time is right.”
“Oh, Mom. Please stop. You know I value the gifts we’re born with, but you have it all wrong this time, trust me. Jaden isn’t the man for me, and at this point, I can’t even see Dad walking me down the aisle. Ever.”
She was too much of a disappointment.
“He doesn’t like having to admit he’s wrong, Arsula. That’s a fact. But that doesn’t mean the day won’t come when he does.”
When the baby squirmed again, her mother stole her from Arsula’s arms.
“My turn to hold my granddaughter,” she declared. Then she nodded toward the rocker, indicating that Arsula needed to get up.
As Arsula rose, her gaze fell upon the picture once again, and she picked it up before leaving the room. She carried it with her as she sought out Boyd, and when she found him in the living room, she held the picture in front of him.
He smiled at the sight of it. “I like that one.”
“Me too. But I’ll admit, I didn’t expect to find it in Baby A’s room.”
He looked at her then, and the love she saw from her brother soothed a little of the hurt from her dad. “I may not be one of you,” Boyd said, “but I do understand the importance of the women in our family. I want to make sure my daughter always knows that importance as well.”
She looked back at the photo. His words meant a lot.
“Thank you,” she said, and when he patted the cushion, she sat beside him.
“She’s going to need you to teach her the ways, you know?”
Like Aunt Sul had taught her.
She nodded. “You have my promise that I’ll do that for her.”
“I know you will. Just like you’ll also follow your heart.” He picked up the iPad he’d been looking at when she’d first come into the room, and she saw her temporary website on the screen.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“I’m checking to see if there have been any more updates lately.”
“You know that updates have been done?”
He nodded. “I pulled it up a couple of days after you first showed it to me, and I noticed that some of the changes you’d mentioned had been made. So I’ve been keeping an eye on it. It looks really good.”
“My web designer has built in everything we’ve talked about so far.”
“So it’s ready to launch?”
“I don’t know. I may not—”
“I’ve never seen you so unsure, Arsula. In fact, I can’t recall a time that I’ve seen you unsure at all. And I have to tell you, I don’t care for the look.”
She sighed. “I can’t say that I care for it, either, but you know what Dad wants of me. And you know how strongly he feels about it.” All three of her brothers and their mother had heard the argument between them over Christmas.
“And when I look at this website, I know how much you love what you do. I’m in awe of you, Arsula. Have I ever mentioned that? You could go to medical school, choose whatever specialty you wanted, and end up flat-out naming your price. You’d be wanted far and wide.”
“Kind of like Dad.”
“Better than Dad.”
She looked at him in a new way then. She’d not realized he saw her like that.
“I think that’s why it bothers him so much that you don’t care,” Boyd added, “because he knows you’d be better than him.”
Her brother’s praise meant a lot.
“But the thing is, Arsula, you choose to do something else. You choose to uphold a gift you’ve been bestowed, and you choose to forgo certain wealth to be a source of mental wealth for others.”
She’d never thought of it quite like that. “You don’t think the fact that I read dreams makes me a loon?” she asked. Her brothers had teased her over the years, but she’d never really thought they considered her ridiculous.
That didn’t mean she didn’t want Boyd to answer the question, though.
“If I began having recurring dreams,” he said, “or struggles that seemed to be playing out during my sleeping hours, you’re the first person I would call.” He squeezed her hand. “You’re the only person I would call.”
She heard nothing but honesty in his words. “I appreciate you saying those things.”
“And I’d appreciate it if I never have to see my baby sister looking like she’s walking around lost in the world anymore.” He angled his chin down and speared her with a look. “Three months now, Arsula. Don’t you think that’s long enough?”
Her cell dinged with a message before she could figure out how to answer her brother, and as soon as her pulse calmed from hoping the text might be from Jaden, she lifted her phone to check.
Max is going to be okay. He’s moving out of ICU and to a regular room today.
The message was from Erica. She’d been keeping Arsula updated on Max’s condition.
How is he?
He’s good. He’ll have to be in a rehab place for a while, and he already has
an appointment scheduled with a Parkinson’s specialist up in Kalispell. They’re hoping to get him on an experimental drug. Also, he’ll start physical therapy alongside Jaden as soon as he’s able.
Alongside Jaden?
It was Jaden’s idea.
Arsula started to ask how Jaden was, but erased the message before sending it. It didn’t matter how he was. She may not live her life the way Jaden would choose, but that didn’t take anything away from her. And though she did love him, she was also okay walking away from him. Because she loved herself more.
She realized the same could be true of her father. She had to take care of herself first. Love her more.
And if her father wanted to be a part of her life . . . then he was going to have to love her for who she was, too.
Both relief and pain filled her as her decision became clear. She’d known she would return home tomorrow, but until that moment, she’d still worried she’d someday crumble to her father’s wishes. But she wouldn’t, she now knew. She would be going home tomorrow, and she would be starting her new life without looking back.
And if her dad ever did change his mind and see her for what she was worth?
Then maybe she’d accept his forgiveness.
“You look like you had an epiphany,” Boyd observed.
Her heart raced. She had a lot to do with very little time. “I did have an epiphany.” And she suddenly didn’t have time to be sitting around not doing anything.
“Would you care to share it?”
She picked up the tablet and brought her website back up. Then she tapped to the Resources page and loaded her book cover. She turned the screen toward him. “I finished the book this week,” she said. “Did I tell you that?”
He began to smile. “You did not tell me.”
She nodded, and the feeling of the world righting itself settled inside her. “I also sent it off to a copy editor to get it proofread.”
“You’re going to publish it, then?”
She smiled, then she tapped her home page, and her name appeared on the screen. “I’m going to publish all of it,” she told him. “Wish me luck, brother, because I’m about to stretch my wings to span the world.”
