"What in the world are you doing here?" Amelia asked crossing her arms in front of her. Her first inclination was to reach out and touch the baby, but she knew that really wouldn't be appropriate given their history and the situation.
"Look, I know you weren't expecting to see me. But I need help. And you're the only one I felt like I could turn to."
"You felt like you could turn to me? Are you crazy?"
"Amelia, I know we have a checkered past, but I thought since we were sisters…"
"We ceased being sisters the moment I caught you with my fiancé," Amelia said as she started to shut the door.
"Come on, Amelia. Please." Looking at her sister, who she'd known all her life and practically raised, Amelia had a hard time being angry and shutting the door in her face. Especially since there was a little baby in her arms, and it was obvious she needed some kind of assistance.
Amelia stood back, opened the door and waved her hand. She didn't even want to look Christy in the eyes, so she walked behind her and sat down in the chair. Christy slowly sat down on the sofa and put the baby in a carrier on the floor.
"Why are you here, Christy?" Amelia asked sitting back in her chair and crossing her arms.
"Because we have nowhere else to go. Tate and I broke up, and I filed for divorce. I have nothing. No money, none of my baby's things and nowhere to stay. Tate turned out to be a horrible man," Christy said with a tear rolling down her cheek.
"A horrible man? I find that hard to believe. Even though I know what he did to me, we were together for years. I know Tate. So what did he do?"
"He cheated on me," Christie said turning into a full-blown, sobbing mess.
Amelia had to stifle a laugh.
“And you're surprised by that?"
"Actually, yes I am. I know that you think I deserve it, but I really thought he’d be faithful to me after all he told me when we were together. Plus, we now have our baby."
"What's the baby’s name?" Amelia asked.
"Olivia." Christy looked down at the baby and then back up at Amelia. "Can we stay here?"
"Christy, you know that's not a good idea. We aren’t really sisters anymore, and I don't want to get involved in this mess you’ve got going with Tate."
"You are all the family I have. Brian is busy with work and lives in a studio apartment out in Kentucky. Ian is off to college. We have no one else to stay with. I guess we could go to a homeless shelter, but I really don't want to take my baby to a place like that."
Amelia sat silently trying to figure out what to do. She could almost hear her own mother in her head saying that she had to let her sister move home. She knew it was the right thing to do if for no other reason than the baby, her niece, sitting in the carrier on the floor. At the same time, she wanted to punish her sister for what she’d done. She wanted to stand up and scream … “I told you so”. She wanted to stick out her tongue, put her fingers in her ears and act like a five year old. However, she knew she couldn't do that. It just wasn't Amelia's style.
***
Amelia decided to allow Christy to stay, if for no other reason than the fact that she knew her mother would want her to. She set her up in the spare bedroom upstairs and went back downstairs to wait for Sophia and Riley to come off the bus. Amelia explained to Christy she needed to stay upstairs as much as possible as to not interfere with the children. Christy agreed out of desperation because she had nowhere else to go.
The kids came off the bus and had their normal afternoon with Amelia. Christy came downstairs once or twice to get a drink or warm up the baby’s formula, but she was careful to go right back upstairs as instructed by Amelia.
A couple of hours later, Clay arrived to pick up the children and have a bite of dinner. Amelia had made meatloaf and mashed potatoes, and she went to the door to welcome Clay.
"Hi, Amelia. How did everything go today?" Clay asked as he came in and put his coat on the back of the sofa.
"Well…"
"Oh no. Don't tell me the kids misbehaved," Clay said looking at his children across the room.
"No, it wasn't the kids. It's just that I had a little bit of a surprise today…" Before Amelia could explain her sister was there, the baby started crying in the background. Clay furrowed his eyebrows and cocked his head to the side in confusion.
"Is that a baby I hear?" he asked.
"Actually, yes. That's what I was going to tell you. Earlier today, I opened my door thinking you might be dropping by for a visit, only to find my sister Christy standing there with her four month old baby daughter."
"The sister you told me about?"
"That very one. Apparently, Tate cheated on her too and she's filed for divorce. He left her with nothing. She says she has nowhere to go, none of her own belongings and none of the baby's belongings. I couldn’t very well tell her no, so she staying upstairs in my guest room."
"Wow. That's very nice of you to allow her to stay here."
"Trust me, it wasn't an easy decision. I really didn't want her here at all."
"I'm sure you didn't."
“I just didn't know what to do. Here she was on my doorstep holding a baby, and I couldn’t just turn her away. My mother would've killed me if she was alive," Amelia whispered.
"You did the right thing. You’d have felt horrible if you'd sent her away with her baby. You’re such a sweet and kind person, Amelia. I don’t think you could intentionally hurt anyone, and certainly not your sister. Is there anything I can do to help?"
"No. I'm not sure how this is going to play out, but I'm going to let her stay here for a little while until she gets back on her feet. Come on in, let's go ahead and get set up for dinner.”
“Is your sister going to be joining us for the meal?” Clay asked.
“Probably so. Let's get started without her so we can have a little bit of peace and quiet before she comes down here running her mouth.”
“Has she been running her mouth?” Clay asked as he helped her pull the meatloaf from the oven.
“Actually no. She's been rather quiet. She looks sad, like she's lost weight. I know I need to feel sorry for her, but I just want to rip her hair out by the roots,” Amelia said with a conniving smile. “I know you're not used to hearing me talk like this, but we never had a chance to resolve what happened between us, and I feel like she's not even sorry for it.”
“That's where you're wrong,” Christy said from behind her. She hadn't seen or heard her come downstairs.
“Christy,” Amelia said under her breath.
“Hi, I'm Clay. Amelia keeps my kids for me after school each day,” Clay said as he reached out his hand and shook hers.
“Hi, Clay. I'm Christy. The sister,” she said with a hint of an evil voice.
“Um. Nice to meet you?”
“Christy, we’re having dinner. It’d probably be best if you made your plate and took it upstairs.”
“Okay. If that's what you want.”
Christy made her plate and heated up some formula for the baby before going back upstairs. The kitchen was uncomfortably quiet during the whole exchange, and Amelia felt sorry for Clay being in the middle of it all.
After Christy went upstairs, Clay and Amelia made plates for themselves and the children and sat at the table.
“I'm sorry,” Amelia said softly to Clay.
“Sorry for what?”
“For making a very uncomfortable scene. This is hard enough, and it's none of your concern so I shouldn't have done that right in front of you. She just makes me so mad. I feel like she doesn't even care what she did to me, and now she's here with her baby almost flaunting it in my face. I spent the best years of my life raising those kids, and for her to come back and flaunt her new family in my face while I’m sitting here just getting my life started - is hard for me to deal with.”
"Is that what you think she's doing? It seems to me she had to come groveling back to you with further proof that Tate is a giant jerk. I don't think she's here trying to fl
aunt it in your face, Amelia. I think she's here because she had nowhere else to go and thought this might be her soft place to fall.”
“Are you defending her?”
“Of course not. What she and Tate did was extremely wrong. But she is still your sister, like you said. I just don't think she's here to flaunt anything in front of you unless it's her complete and utter failure in the relationship department.”
“Maybe you're right. I still don't have any hopes for re-creating our sisterly bond, though.”
“Maybe not. But you're doing the right thing by being kind to her during this time,” he said. “And one more thing. Those years that you raised your siblings don’t have to be the ‘best years of your life’.” Clay smiled at her, and Amelia nodded her head.
After dinner, the kids went into the family room to watch TV. Amelia and Clay went outside to sit on the front stoop since it was an unseasonably warm fall evening. As they were getting closer to Thanksgiving, Amelia was starting to wonder what she would do for the holiday. Should she cook a big dinner and hope her brothers came home? And where would Clay and his kids go? She wanted to ask them if they’d like to come for Thanksgiving, but she was unsure of the reaction she would get. She certainly didn't want to step on his toes and do anything to mar the memory of their mother on Thanksgiving.
“So, what are your plans for the holidays?” Clay asked her almost as if reading her mind.
“Funny you should ask. I was just sitting here thinking about that. With Thanksgiving coming up, I'm used to having my brothers here but I'm not sure if either of them can get away for the holidays. I know Ian's probably going to have all kinds of things going on with his friends, and Brian has always had a hard time getting away from his job. I hope they can come home though.”
“Well, if you wouldn't be too much trouble, I'd love for us to have Thanksgiving with you as well. Maybe we can cook a big meal together for once?”
“Really? I was going to ask, but I didn't want to step on your toes. I wasn't sure if maybe you had some traditions you wanted to do with the kids that had to do with their mother.”
“Of course, we always have traditions we like to uphold, but I'd like for my new tradition to be that we have Thanksgiving with you. You've become a huge part of my kids’ life. I'm so thankful for you, Amelia,” he said as he reached over and patted her hand. The touching gesture made her feel uncomfortable and comfortable at the same time.
“Clay…”
“It's okay. Don’t panic. I'm not asking for anything from you Amelia. I just want you to know how much I think of you and how much you mean to my family. Without you, I don't think my kids would be adjusting as well to their mother’s death as they are. We were kind of stagnant when we met you, and you’ve gotten us moving again. I just wanted you to know that I'm grateful.”
“Thank you. I've enjoyed getting to know the kids and you, to be honest. It's just hard for me. You know that.”
“Yeah, I know.”
Before they could take their conversation any further, Christy poked her head out the door and asked if she could talk to Amelia alone. That was Clay’s cue to get his kids together and head home for the evening. Amelia apologized for the interruption as she waved at them from the front stoop. Going back inside the house, she knew it was time to have the conversation with Christy that she should've had years ago. There was no getting away from it now.
Chapter 11
Amelia walked back into the house where Christy was sitting on the sofa, hands in her lap and fidgeting. She never realized how much fidgeting was a part of their family DNA. Anytime one of them got nervous, the first thing to start was the hand fidgeting.
“Okay, you wanted to talk to me? So talk.”
“I just got the baby down for a nap, so I thought now would be a good time. I'm sorry I interrupted your date.”
“That wasn't a date. I told you. I keep his kids, and he usually stops by for dinner.”
“Sounds like dating to me.”
“Christy, I don't think you have any rights to be speaking about my love life. What is it you want to talk about?”
“I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get you upset. He's a nice guy, and I like his kids from what I can see. I just thought maybe there was more going on than meets the eye.”
“Well, you should know better than anyone I don't date. I gave that up long ago. You can't trust people no matter how much you think you can.”
“And that's what I want to talk about. That - right there. Amelia, you're my sister. I love you. You have to know I never meant any harm. I made a mistake.”
“A mistake? How do you call sleeping with my fiancé a mistake? And, not only did you do it then but you went on to marry him and have a baby! That's not a mistake.”
“We were in love, Amelia.”
“In love? He was supposed to be in love with me. We had been together for years. He was the person who helped me up when our mother died. He was, for all intents and purposes, your future brother-in-law. How in the world could you sleep with him on a family vacation? What kind of person does that make you?”
“It makes me a bad person, I guess. We all make mistakes, and mine happened to be a very big one. It cost me my sister. It's something I'll regret for the rest of my life.”
“Well if you regret it, then why did you marry him and have a baby with him?”
“Because I loved him. I was so afraid I'd never find anyone else in my life I loved like I loved him.”
“You were willing to give up your sister for a man you thought you loved?”
“Amelia, I was young and stupid. And by the time I realized what a huge mistake I’d made, we had been together for so long. He asked me to marry him, I accepted - and then I found out I was pregnant. Olivia wasn't planned. And when he found out I were pregnant, he went completely off the rails. He started drinking and then I found out he was cheating on me. We lost everything. It's not that he didn't leave me with anything. It's that we had nothing. We were living in a single wide in a trailer park. Our car got repossessed. He lost his job. I couldn't even get a temporary job because I was so obviously pregnant. It's been a horrible couple of years.”
“Are you serious? I thought Tate was planning on becoming an accountant?”
Well, that was the plan. The longer we dated, the more I realized just how lazy he was. And he started drinking like his father, although he stopped for a couple of years before he started up again when I was pregnant. Tate isn’t the man you thought he was. And he certainly wasn't the man I thought he was. He didn't want his baby from what I could see. It's just been the most horrific time of my life. I guess it's sweet revenge for what I did to you.”
“Come on, Christy. You know I'd never wish anything harmful to you or anyone else. You're still my sister, but I'll never feel the same way about you again.”
“I know you won’t. And I'm sorry. I wish we could get that back because I know that's what our mother would want. But it is what it is. I was just hoping we could start from here. I have to rebuild my life over, and I'd like to include you in it. I can't change the past, Amelia, but I can do something about our future. And if you'll let me, I promise to be the sister I was supposed to be back then.”
Amelia was stunned at what Christy was saying. It wasn't so much what she was telling her about Tate, but about what she was saying about herself. She’d never heard Christy be so honest about anything. And this time, she actually felt like she might be telling her the truth.
The two women ended up talking for several hours until it was almost midnight. They laughed, cried and mended a lot of the rifts in their relationship. Amelia was glad she allowed herself to open up and really hear what Christy had to say. She would never forget what her sister had done, but she had to forgive her so they could both move on and find happiness.
***
With a week to go until Thanksgiving, Amelia continued trying to mend her relationship with Christy. She could tell her sister was really trying to
make things right, and she’d already grown attached to little Olivia. The baby was a sweet representation of how even wrong things can eventually lead to something beautiful.
“Morning, Amelia,” Christy said as she came downstairs.
“Good morning. I made some eggs if you want some,” Amelia said as she wiped down the counter.
“Oh, thanks. I’m starving.”
“Finally getting your appetite back?”
“Actually, yes. I’ve decided to look forward and not backward. Things would have never worked out with Tate, and I’m glad that it’s over. I know he’ll always be Olivia’s father, and I hope he will be a father to her, but that doesn’t mean I have to be with him.”
Finding Love (A Mill Creek Crossing Romance) Page 6
