by Emily Duvall
The room grew hot without air conditioning by the time Luke removed what he could of the rock. Some of the edges would need to be shaved down. He swung his leg over the crate he sat on and shifted over to the tubes providing the flames for heat. This garnet would need a small amount of heat treatment. He wouldn’t use the machine. Old-school fire would do the trick. He could control the outcome better using this method. There was such a thing as overheating gemstones, a mistake he’d made too many times in the past.
Luke got lost in his work. The slightest flame burned away the remains of the outer rock, leaving with him an uneven cube of the actual garnet. Satisfied with his work, he stepped over to the machine used to cut the stone. He shook out his hands, turned on the machine and let the roar fill up the room. A bead of sweat dripped off his forehead and he held his breath. One shot is all he had to get this cut the correct way. Luke leaned into the machine. He kept the stone at the end of his fingers, which brought them dangerously close to getting amputated with the slightest error.
Luke worked the stone up against the saw until the pointed edges rounded and the surface changed to flat. He breathed a long breath and switched off the machine. “Almost there,” he said, and moved onto the polishing machine.
When he finished, Luke held the stone up to the light. He took the loupe out of his pocket, turned the light up on the only lamp in the room, and inspected his work. A faint scratch-like mark appeared on the face of the gem. Luke put the gem on the small scale next to the polishing machine. Five-point-twenty-three carats, round cut transparent blue color. Next, he used the millimeter gauge to get the dimensions and copied down the width and length. The other details he recorded included the size, clarity, and the country of origin. The work was done. The stone sat in the palm of his hand and he admired the outcome.
Any of the mess he made, he cleaned up and returned to how Garrett had everything arranged. Luke put the stone in a velvet bag he’d brought with him, and returned to the front of the store, where Garrett talked with an elderly woman waffling over a multi-colored palm tree charm for her necklace.
“Is everything okay, Mr. Harrison?” Garrett said.
“I owe you one,” Luke responded. “Let me know if there’s anything I can do for you.”
Garrett smiled and returned his attention to the woman in front of him. “This would make an excellent gift for your sister…”
The afternoon sun beat down on Luke as the door closed behind him. Tempted as he was, he didn’t take the stone out and look at the finished product in the light. Throngs of sun-burnt and slow-walking tourists moved about him. A little girl took a lick of her ice cream cone and the entire scoop fell on the ground. The girl screamed. Her mother picked up the girl in a huff and walked away fast.
* * * *
Not until Luke sat with a glass of wine and watched the sun go down, did he take out the garnet. Luke admired his work and for some reason, fought the urge to keep this one. This was the gem he’d been after. The one intended for Melanie.
“You’re back already,” Stevie said, joining him out on the patio with Vivian a few steps behind.
Vivian walked over to Luke and climbed on his lap. The sight of the garnet beheld all of her toddler interest. Her little jaw parted and she reached out for the shiny object. “Da-da,” she said.
Luke grinned at the sight of Vivian’s fingers pulling on his in an attempt to get the garnet. “You can’t have this.”
“I’m sorry to see Melanie’s left us,” Stevie said after a long pause. “I know that absolutely this is none of my business. I know you’ll remind me of that. I know I’m not your mother and I’m not Vivian’s grandmother. But I know you, Luke. I know there’s nothing about you capable of bending from your decisions. You’re a powerful, focused man. It saddens me to think that you might be missing out on the biggest adventure of your life.” She paused and looked at Vivian. “Your own stubbornness keeps you from forming a family.”
“Don’t use your status in our family to cross the line. Yes, you raised my brothers and I,” Luke held his hand higher and kept Vivian’s digging fingers out of his reach. “This one has a mean grasp on her.”
“I will admit: I didn’t like the idea of you hiring Melanie at first. Call it job security, or whatever. I didn’t want Vivian to struggle. Melanie has shown me otherwise and I think it’s time you paid more attention to your daughter.”
“Suddenly you’re Melanie’s biggest fan?”
“I’m certainly on her side. I see what she sees. I see how Vivian acts compared to other kids her age. I’ve been to the park with her several times since coming to Maui and I understand now. She doesn’t interact with other kids. She’s afraid of everything: slides, swings, the fun little sea turtle kids fight over to climb on and ride. Other children tried to talk to her and she stared off to the sky. I’ve been struggling to interact with her. I didn’t want there to be a problem. I want her to be normal. I keep thinking if she has more time. If she starts to do and say what she’s supposed to then we won’t have to worry.”
“You don’t think I look at my daughter and don’t have the same concerns?” Luke dropped his fist with the garnet. He could see the remorse in Stevie’s eyes.
“I lied to Vivian’s doctor at her fifteen month check-up. I also wasn’t completely honest at her eighteen-month appointment either.”
Luke felt his hands sit up Vivian in slow motion. The beat of his heart shot up and his head spun. “You’ve been lying to me. I’ve put you in charge of my daughter.”
“I thought what I did was harmless. I filled out a questionnaire on behalf of you, like I always do. Some of the questions needed my input. The doctor wanted to know small, unimportant findings like if Vivian feeds herself with a spoon or if she engages in pretend play. I answered questions about her speech, about all aspects of her life. I thought she would grow into these abilities. I thought I could teach her. I lied to the pediatrician and I lied to you and I’m terribly sorry.”
“How can you tell me this?” Luke’s nostrils flared at Stevie. He put down Vivian. “You’re my family. I rely on you to help raise my daughter. I trusted you.”
“I thought I could help Vivian. I thought she would catch up in her own time and I resented Melanie from the moment you hired her. Melanie has shown me that I didn’t have a clue about what I was doing. I can’t help Vivian.”
Luke took a shaky breath; his arms and legs tightened. “How many other times did you lie to Vivian’s doctor?”
“You tell one lie and you have to keep up with all of them.” She cast her gaze away from Luke and gazed sorrowfully at Vivian. “I didn’t think you would take well to knowing your daughter isn’t like other children, that there’s something different about her interactions with other people.”
“She’s my daughter,” Luke blasted. “You’re my aunt. Do you not know I’d do anything for her? Do you not think I wouldn’t want to know and give her the best services?”
“You took Vivian out of her mother’s house and replaced her surroundings with nothing more than a big house with an absent parent. You’re no better than Vivian’s mother. You don’t know what your daughter can do. You’re partially invested in her upbringing and you see her for a half hour each day. Your first love is your job. It’s the biggest inclusion in your life.”
“Telling me the truth is what’s best for her. You had no right.”
Stevie’s hands trembled. “My intentions weren’t meant to hurt you or come between us. You deserve more than what I’ve been entrusted to do. I love Vivian like I love you and I made a big mistake.”
“I won’t forgive you for this.” Luke picked up Vivian and carried her close, as if he alone could protect her.
Chapter 26
The pile of clothes on the floor smelled like coconut lotion, like her sunblock. One whiff and Melanie’s mind saw Luke’s house, and she could feel the softness of her sheets, and she could see the magnificent view of the ocean from his patio. The image
beat out the pale walls and rickety ceiling fan from her room at her mother’s house. Four full days she’d been home and she unzipped her suitcase, ready to get on with her life.
She sat down on the floor and sorted out the clothes between colors and whites without much focus and when she finished unloading her clothes, she stared at the empty suitcase. She missed him. She ached for him from the bottom of her soul. She took in the smell of his scent on her clothes and it filled her up with a sadness she couldn’t pinpoint, a constant drum of loss, missed opportunities, and mistakes beat across her heart.
The second time around she completed the division of laundry with accuracy, put the first batch in the laundry basket, and went to the washing machine down the hallway. The laundry room in the house looked more like a dump for abandoned clothes and she walked around the leaning stacks of towels, t-shirts, pants, and shorts. Jugs of detergent sat on the dryer, their measuring caps long gone, lost to the jaws of the laundry room, a vicious beast that had claimed the lives of matching socks, shirts, even jeans. Melanie kicked a pile of shorts and tops belonging to Jessie, all bright colors and flowery feminine prints, and lifted up the lid on the washer.
The house felt quiet and strange. Jessie slept in and her mother ran errands and had promised to bring back donuts. Melanie put in her laundry, got the cycle going, and headed over to the kitchen. Coffee sat in the coffee pot and Melanie grabbed a cup. She took a seat at the table and contemplated what she would do today.
Yesterday, she’d called her boss at the Growing Tree and had been told to call back in a month, no guarantees. The person working in her place happened to be working out quite well and her boss couldn’t bring on anyone else at the moment. She thought about contacting Luke and pushed the thought aside. He wouldn’t talk to her ever again. The garage door cranked open with the sound of wood splitting and Melanie got up to open the door for her mother.
“You’re up early,” her mother said, getting out of the car. She passed Melanie a box with a clear lid showing off a dozen donuts creamed in chocolate icing. “Couldn’t sleep in?”
“I haven’t slept in since high school.” Melanie lifted the box out of her mother’s hands.
“What are your plans for today?” Leslie Cahill followed Melanie inside the house and pressed the garage door button. The garage clunked a slow march back down.
“I have none. Maybe I’ll lay out by the pool or see what Jessie’s doing.” She set the box on the counter with a subdued attitude. “The possibilities are endless.”
Leslie put her hands on her hips and looked like an older version of her daughters when she did this. “You’re becoming the poster child for moping. Are you ready to open up and talk to me?”
“I don’t know. Have you forgiven me for leaving?”
“I was never really upset with you.”
Jessie shuffled into the kitchen yawning. Her nose picked up the sweet, sticky donut scent from a hallway away. “Hey,” she said, eyeing up the white box on the counter.
Leslie passed out a napkin to each of her girls and moved the box of donuts from the counter to the center of the table. “We’re talking about what’s bothering Melanie.”
“He’s gone. Get over him.” Jessie grabbed a donut and dusted off a few loose sprinkles. “I want to set you up with one of Carl’s friends. He’s a doctor.”
Melanie feigned interest. “What kind of a doctor?”
“A podiatrist,” she responded enthusiastically and sat down.
“No thank you.”
“I don’t see why you’re hung up on Luke. You’re stuck in a rut and you think he’s the only one right for you. Well, you’re wrong. There are tons of better men out there.”
“How would you know?”
“Girls, girls,” Leslie broke through their arguing, “you do nothing but argue these days. Jessie, let your sister work through the breakup. She finally had gotten over Luke and what happened? He came right back into her life.” One quick gaze reprimanded Jessie and Leslie turned to face her other daughter.
“So you’re on my side.” Melanie straightened a little.
“I wouldn’t go that far. This family’s been shredded by Luke. You quit your job and ran off to Maui, even after everything we’ve gone through. I don’t think I’ll ever understand, but you’re back and that’s all I care about.”
Melanie got up, grabbed a donut, and sat back down. She hid behind taking a large bite of her donut and said with a full mouth, “For the record: I did not quit my job. I got offered a better deal.”
“I’m sure Luke got the better end of that deal,” Jessie retorted.
“Stop, Jess.”
“I told you Luke would never help Mark.” Jessie shrugged. “I wouldn’t have dropped everything.”
“I also can’t remember the last time you’ve been truly happy.” Melanie bit her lower lip and glowered.
Leslie took a seat in the middle of the table holding a mug full of coffee. “I do want you to know, Melanie, that I can’t have you fighting every one of Mark’s battles. Nor you, Jessie. Mark has survived this long and he’ll come home to us eventually. There’s nothing more we can say or do to change this fact.” A loaded glance passed from Leslie to Jessie.
Melanie caught the glance. The one her mother used when trying to keep a secret. She put down her donut. “What am I missing?”
“Nothing,” Leslie said fast. “Let me get you another donut.”
“Forget the donut. You’re keeping something from me.” She glanced at Jessie; Jessie avoided eye contact.
Leslie’s tone turned remorseful. “You’re right. I am keeping something from you.”
Jessie’s head flew up. “No, Mom.”
Leslie put up a hand to her daughter. “I’m tired of all the lies. This is probably how we got here in the first place. Sitting around the kitchen table, each one of us protecting our own interests. Melanie, you can’t begin to understand what defines a mother. Neither can you, Jessie. Not until you are one can you truly know what self-sacrifice means. I know you know how to be a sister and from the beginning, you and Mark palled around together. Melanie, you’ve always been close to your brother in a way Jessie has never been. You have the right to think you alone can help him, but that’s not the case. I can’t let you continue to protect him.”
Melanie’s eyebrows wrinkled. “Is there a point to this?”
Leslie set down her cup and sighed. “Mark did try to kill Luke. The jury got that right. There wasn’t ever a mistake in their judgment or their punishment.”
Immediately, Melanie turned to unhelpful Jessie. The confirmation painted a clear picture on her sister’s face and the air plunged out of Melanie’s chest. Somewhere not to deep inside Melanie she felt the release of a lost battle. She also felt sick to her stomach. “You already know?”
“Mark mentioned to me first the possibility of his leaving the business. The decision didn’t bother me so much as what he looked like when he told me. I can still see the red, alert gaze and his lips looked they’d been gnawed on by some animal. Stress eventually shows up in the face and I realized something else had been going wrong in his life.” She folded over her hands. “I feared for him. I knew something wasn’t right. I didn’t know what though and he wouldn’t say. To this day he hasn’t told me, but I think he managed to ring up a lot of debt. A friend of mine’s son worked in an underground gambling ring and she’d mentioned her son had spoken of seeing Mark.”
“You think he owed money? How? He didn’t have any. The gem company he worked for wasn’t making much. It’s a crap business to begin with unless you’re an appraiser or a dealer. All risk and little reward.”
“You don’t have to have money to get into debt. I think he met some shady characters and I think he got himself into trouble. Three days later I was at home grading papers and the detective showed up on our doorstep. I went down to the police station, as you know, and I saw your brother. There are scratches on his face and there was the bad cut under h
is right eye. When I asked him what had happened to Luke he said Luke had tried to kill him. I knew right away this was untrue. Luke never had any reason to want Mark to end up with a face like a bloody roast. I know my son and I knew when he was bullshitting me. I’m an expert on whenever the three of you try to hide something.”
Melanie leaned in the table with her fists curled at her sides. “You’re seriously choosing to tell me this now?”
“I told Mark to tell me the truth. I pledged my loyalty to him as a mother, as the woman who brought him in this world. I would be with him every step of the way from the trial to the jury’s decision. But I wouldn’t be made a fool. He either told me what really happened or he’d lose my support. Nobody else would stick up for him and I’d put on the best poker face you’ve ever seen. I’d go to the ends of the earth for any one of you. I refused to be one of those mothers or fathers out there speaking into the camera and putting on a poor act of convincing the media and the nation they know their child couldn’t have done something so terrible. I told him to tell me the truth. I told him I’d be with him every step of the way, but I wouldn’t be a fool. If he wanted my support, he had to confess to me and the matter would stay between us. I stood up for him and I’ve been standing by him.” She sat up self-righteously and added with finality, “That is what defines a mother, loving a child through their biggest mistakes.”
“He confessed to you?” Melanie’s voice sounded like the tail end of an echo. Her head swam. The whirr of the refrigerator sounded loud in a room muzzled with heavy thoughts. “What about you, Jessie, how long have you known?”
Jessie cleared her throat. “Halfway through the trial, I overheard Mom talking to one of his lawyers. The comments she had made didn’t sit well with me and I grew suspicious.”
