Come Rain or Shine (Shine On Series, Book Three)

by Allison J. Jewell

  “I actually called on Molly early this morning to work over a few last minute details regarding the wedding. She’s the one who said you were here. Gabe and I have offered to drive you home after our walk. She thought it was a wonderful idea.” Mrs. Del Grandé smiled.

  That was not a wonderful idea. As a matter of fact it was the worst idea she’d heard in a long time. She did not want to go on a walk with this woman and she certainly didn’t want to spend the half-hour drive to the suburbs with them. She turned to Silas. “I have a few things I need to discuss with Silas. There is some news of home that he wants to share with me.”

  When she looked at Silas he was grinning. He shook his head no and gave her a mock frown. “I can’t think of anything worth discussing.”

  “I’ll be happy to refresh your memory,” she said with a smile.

  Silas laughed then gave a more indifferent expression before he turned to look at Gabe and Mrs. Del Grandé again. “I had planned to drive Emmie home.” He rubbed his jaw and spread his arms wide. “Look, I’ll just say the truth of what she is too polite to say. This whole situation is awkward as hell. If she’s not ready to deal with it yet, we should all just lighten up and give her a little more time.”

  Emmie didn’t know whether to slug him or kiss him, so she squeezed his hand and looked down at the ground instead. Gabe closed the space between them with a couple of steps. She was surprised that he was looking at Silas. “You could encourage her to accept us, you know that?”

  Mrs. Del Grandé clicked her tongue in disapproval. “Easy with your words, Gabe. Silas is only trying to care for the one he loves. You have done no less with other matters recently.” Then she turned to face Emmie. “If you are not ready, you may have all the time you like. But I suspect after the wedding you will head home. I would like very much to show you a few things while you are here in Chicago.” She reached down into her purse and pulled out an old photograph. The older woman patted her silver hair back from her face and smiled sadly down at the picture as she looked at it.

  “Gabe mentioned that you two noticed your baby photographs were from the same photographer here in Chicago.”

  Emmie felt like the wind had been knocked out of her. With shaking hands she took the photograph. The faces of two innocent children stared back at her, a young boy dressed in a fancy black hat and jacket and a girl in a long white christening gown. She barely noticed the way Silas had looped his hand around her waist, now supporting a good deal of her weight. Slowly she looked back at the strange woman across from her whose life was so intertwined with her own. Then she turned to Gabe.

  He spoke, “I didn’t know this photo existed until last week. We were both so young, I have no memory of it.”

  Although she knew the answer, she felt she had to ask the question, “So, this is Gabe and me? We were raised together as children . . . as brother and sister?”

  “For a short time, yes,” the woman said without elaborating.

  Emmie’s voice cracked. “Why . . .?” She couldn’t finish the question.

  The woman took the photograph back from Emmie’s hands. “I would like to give you some of those answers today. You deserve to know the truth. All of these years Marco, your mother, and I kept the ugliness away from you. In a fool’s effort to protect you we lied and omitted the truth from your history. We were young and wrong. I know that sharing this with you will not mend your hearts today, but I hope it helps you find a path to becoming a family. You should not be punished for the sins of your mother. Gabe should not be punished for his father’s and my wrongdoings.”

  Emmie found it odd that she had included herself in that statement. In her mind the blame of the situation had always lain at her mother’s and Marco Del Grandé’s feet. Why would she have included herself in that sentence?

  Emmie swallowed hard and nodded. It was time to face her past so she could finally step forward. “I’ll go with you.”

  Gabe let out a breath of relief. She knew this was hard on him too.

  Silas squeezed her hand. “Let me call Pop to say I’ll be late. I’m going with you.”

  Emmie put her hand on his to stop him. A part of her wanted him to be there. Okay, a huge part of her wanted him to be there. She looked up and saw Gabe. As much as she wanted to depend on Silas, she realized she needed to do this alone. If she wanted this to end well, she and Gabe were going to need to work through this together.

  “You go on to work,” she said, squeezing his hand. “I need to do this alone.”

  Silas frowned in disapproval and pulled her away from them. “Emmie, you are going to be upset. Whatever she has to tell you isn’t going to have a happy ending. We already know that.”

  Emmie nodded. She heard the truth in his words. “I know, but I can do this.”

  “I know you can, but you don’t have to do it alone,” he said.

  “I won’t be alone. I’ve got to figure out how to be a family with them. I’m not alone in this. I’m sure I’ll need you later to wade through the pieces of what I’m getting ready to learn, and I’m counting on you for that,” she said, hoping he understood.

  Silas rubbed his chin and nodded in agreement. “If you decide you want me to take you home, have them bring you to my office.”

  Emmie made herself smile. “Thank you, Silas.”

  He didn’t say a word; he leaned down and kissed her forehead.

  It was stone silent as they walked out of the apartment building and parted ways.

  Chapter Twenty-six

  They walked several blocks in silence. The streets were crowded. She had no problem with the walking; it was the pace that bothered her. Walking this fast, made it difficult to keep up. Mrs. Del Grandé’s silver hair was deceiving. She was younger than she appeared and moved with ease through the overcrowded streets. Gabe grabbed Emmie’s elbow to be sure they weren’t separated. If she were left alone now she would have no idea where she was.

  After traveling down a few more streets, they moved into a less crowded area. Mrs. Del Grandé paused in front of an old apartment building. It wasn’t as fancy as Silas’s, but it wasn’t shabby either. The older woman put her finger up and counted to herself before turning to Emmie.

  “Do you see the first window on the far right corner of the building, counting up three floors?” she asked.

  Emmie nodded, following her gaze.

  “That’s where you lived with your mother after you were born. You lived there until you were just over a year old, and she took you back to Kentucky,” Mrs. Del Grandé said.

  Emmie felt her heart sink in her chest. She had lived here. She looked around the unfamiliar streets that had once been her home and felt her eyes prick with tears she refused to let fall down her cheeks. Glancing at Gabe she noticed he was no longer looking at the apartment. His eyes were focused on another building farther down the street.

  His mother walked over and wrapped her hands around his. “I’m sorry, Gabe.”

  “All this time our past has been two buildings away and you never told me? I must have passed by this building everyday and no one ever said a word,” Gabe said angrily. He turned to Emmie. “I grew up right there. I could throw a stone and hit your building.”

  Emmie knew there were things she should be saying. Questions she should be asking but she couldn’t find the words.

  “I know, son. You have a right to your anger. But you have to know, we were all just doing what we thought was best,” she said quietly.

  Gabe swallowed hard and nodded. Emmie could see there were more words on his tongue but he kept them inside just like she did. Mrs. Del Grandé looked at Emmie. “Marco tried to make it work. He thought you would need to be close to him and Gabe. Your mother did a lot for Gabe too, when she first moved here.”

  Emmie had to stop her mouth from dropping open. Emmie’s mother had helped care for Gabe? That didn’t make sense. She wasn’t their nanny. Marco and her mother had met in Kentucky, hadn’t they? Emmie didn’t know much about her m
other’s family, but she did know they were from Kentucky.

  There was something else about Mrs. Del Grandé’s words that were strange. She had said they had lived in this building to be closer to Marco and Gabe. She’d left herself completely out of the picture. Emmie frowned and turned to face the woman.

  “Did you not care that my mother was living so close and helping to care for your son?” She knew it wasn’t a kind question to ask the woman but she had to know.

  “Later, I would come to care,” she said, her face etched with pain. “We have another stop. I’ll be able to better explain when we get there.”

  They walked the rest of the distance to the building that Gabe had pointed out as his family’s apartment where a driver was waiting for them. Emmie looked at Mrs. Del Grandé curiously.

  The older woman answered her unspoken question. “For this one we need a car.”

  The drive probably wasn’t as long as it felt. Emmie could have sworn they should be halfway back to Kentucky before the driver turned off the road. He pulled down a long winding tree-lined path, through a gate, and up to the front doors of large white structure. The words Channing Hospital, established 1892, were etched into the side of the building. When they exited the car Emmie was surprised they did not enter the facility. Instead Mrs. Del Grandé led the way to an iron park bench that sat facing the main entrance. She patted for Gabe to sit next to her and Emmie followed suit. They sat there for a long time. Mrs. Del Grandé breathed in and out like she was working hard to find her next word but couldn’t form the sounds. Gabe fidgeted. Emmie stared blankly at the building, seeing everything that surrounded her and nothing at the same time.

  Mrs. Del Grandé’s eyes shined with unshed tears. She looked at Emmie for a long moment before she said, “This is where your story starts.”

  What on earth did that mean? Emmie opened her mouth to ask the question aloud but didn’t get the chance.

  Mrs. Del Grandé turned to Gabe again. “You know how I told you when you returned home from Kentucky that I was not angry with you about what has happened with you and Ava?”

  Gabe nodded. Emmie looked down at her hands unsure what to do. This conversation was personal and one she shouldn’t be hearing.

  “I told you it was because all babies are blessings from God. That is no exception for your child nestled in Ava’s womb,” she said, her voice cracking with emotion.

  Emmie stood to leave them alone. She should not be listening to this. They needed privacy.

  “You need to hear my words. It will help you understand where your story starts, child,” she said.

  Emmie sat back down and picked at a loose thread on her new coat.

  “I believe those things because I know what it’s like to lose a precious young life. When you were a toddler—” she started, but broke off as a tear ran down her cheek. She wiped it away and started again. “I had another child when you were a toddler. A sweet little girl. My angel baby that I was only ever allowed to carry in my heart. By the time I held her she had already gone to heaven.” The woman’s face was carved with signs of pain, her voice thick with emotion.

  “Ma,” Gabe said, grabbing his mother’s arm. “I didn’t . . .”

  The older woman sniffed and patted down her son’s hair. “I’m sorry I never told you. It’s just that a loss that great is such a burden for a young child to bear. I didn’t want you to feel it. I never want you to feel that kind of hurt. It turns you black inside and you can’t see outside of yourself. A fog of pain clouds your vision, distorting reality.”

  She pulled her son away and held him at arm’s length. “So you understand why I can’t see your child as anything but a blessing . . . despite what anyone says.”

  Emmie didn’t even know she was crying until she felt the tears running down her cheek. To lose a child, she couldn’t imagine. She’d lost a mother and that was the worst day of her life. Her mother. She looked back at the building and wondered what this hospital had to do with her. There was absolutely no way she could ask now. Not after what she learned. She would sit here and listen until the older woman was ready to talk again.

  After a few minutes Mrs. Del Grandé stood and paced in front of them.

  “You don’t have to explain anything else today. I can see you are tired,” Emmie said softly. She did not want to push this woman to tears again.

  “No, it’s time for both of you to know,” she said, rubbing her hands on her skirt. “I didn’t handle the loss well. I didn’t dress, or bathe, or eat.” She turned to Gabe. “I forgot how to do anything but feel pain. It was like a blackness took hold of my insides and spread. I barely even took care of you, leaving your grandmother, and occasionally Molly, to raise the one child I had left. It came to a point when I didn’t leave the bedroom. Marco called a doctor and they brought me here where I stayed for nearly two years. They gave me so much medicine I didn’t know a hand from a foot.”

  Emmie brought a shaking hand to her eye and wiped away a tear. When she looked over at Gabe, he was sitting as straight as an arrow, all signs of emotion wiped from his face.

  “Do you remember that . . . me avoiding you, me being afraid to care for you, me being gone?” she asked.

  He rubbed his brow. “I don’t know, Ma. I was little.”

  “Your Pop did the best he could. One day he accompanied Al and Molly on a trip to Kentucky. A little vacation to take his mind off things is what he told me years later. His mind apparently was so off things that he forgot he was married.” She sneered.

  “I’m not sure exactly how they met. It was somewhere outside of Louisville I think. Al’s family had business with yours, if I remember correctly. They apparently went to some party and met again . . . and again . . . and again . . . until you arrived,” she said sadly.

  “I’m sorry for the pain my mother caused you,” Emmie said.

  The woman sighed and shook her head. “Your mother’s doings were not your fault. Marco didn’t tell her he was married until after he’d moved her into that apartment I showed you earlier. I found out later he’d told her he was a widow.”

  Her poor mother. She’d traveled all this way to be with a man she didn’t know was married. With child, she was tied to an unavailable man. She couldn’t imagine what that must have felt like. What if Silas had told her he was married today? Emmie put her face in her hands, unable to take in the sight of Gabe’s mother or the hospital. She wanted to go home. Gabe rubbed Emmie’s shoulders and gave her a somber look.

  “By the time I left this place you were already born and living two buildings down from me.” She paced in the grass again and rubbed her hands together. “But when I found out, I wanted to ring your mother’s neck and take a knife to Marco Del Grandé. The medicine was still in my system and all lines of right and wrong were merely shades of gray.”

  Emmie looked up. “Did you hurt my mother?”

  Mrs. Del Grandé shook her head and looked down before she answered, “No. When I came home and learned the truth, I made Marco swear to never see her again or I would leave with Gabe. He agreed to stop seeing her but said you would be welcomed in our house. The first time she dropped you off I wanted to hate you. God knows how much I didn’t need the evidence of his little sin toddling around in my house.” She froze for a moment and then walked over to Emmie. The older woman rested her hand on her cheek, “But then I saw you and you had his hair, the shape of his eyes, his fingers, there was so much of you that was him. You looked like my sweet Gabe,” she put her other hand on Gabe’s knee, “and my sweet little angel baby that I’d lost. How could I hate you when you were so much like the ones I love most?”

  The woman rubbed a thumb down Emmie’s cheek and patted Gabe’s leg before she walked away.

  “As I said before, my brain was still fogged with pain and medicine. I had suffered so much loss and endured more heartache than most. I somehow convinced myself that the reason you looked like the ones I loved was because you were meant to be mine. You were t
he universe’s way of making up to me for my loss. I’d gone away to this hospital mourning a sweet little girl only to find one waiting for me when I returned. Or that’s the way I thought of it anyway. I tried to take you from her, Emmie. I asked her to bring you over to play with Gabe. She was uncomfortable in our house once I was home. She would leave you with me for an hour or two then return. One day I didn’t let her in. I told her that I could give you a better life. I imagine after only a few hours Marco returned home and took you from my arms. I really don’t remember much of that day or of the ones that followed. I came back here for a few months until they stopped my medicines all together. By the time I was out again, you were gone. I always knew she’d taken you back to Kentucky, but it was years before Marco trusted me enough to tell me you were in Bowling Green.”

  Emmie watched the woman in horror as she continued explaining. That’s why even though Mr. Del Grandé had built a house in her hometown Mrs. Del Grandé had never visited.

  “I felt like you both needed to understand why you were kept away from one another. About my foolish attempt to keep you Emmie, you must understand that I was unwell. I see now that I was wrong,” she said.

  Wrong. She was more than wrong. She had been crazy. It was no wonder her mother had kept her away from the Del Grandé family.

  Chapter Twenty-seven

  The drive home was a blur. Her mind clouded with the details of her past. While what she had learned may have given her some of the answers she had longed for, Emmie by no means felt anything was resolved. If one good thing had happened, it was she finally understood her mother’s actions. Her mother hadn’t hidden her away from her past as a punishment or as a way to keep Emmie in the dark from her scandals. She’d done it for protection. Mrs. Del Grandé had been a sick woman. Emmie couldn’t help but wonder if maybe a small part of her still was. Gabe had always seemed somewhat detached from his mother perhaps this was why.

  It was thoughts like these that consumed her mind for the next couple days. She had briefly explained the story to Silas when he phoned to check on her that evening. He was so quiet as she spoke she wasn’t sure he was actually on the other end of the line. When she finished he’d admitted that he’d always felt that Gabe’s mother was a little off. He had asked her if she thought talking to Marco was a good idea, suggesting that two versions of the same story often helped to find the truth that usually lay in the middle. Silas, always the interrogator, always the thinker. She smiled at his suggestion even though he couldn’t see her. She didn’t want to talk to Marco. He had trapped her mother in a web of lies. She didn’t want his side of the story. Silas let the suggestion die and asked to come pick her up. Emmie had turned him down. She was surrounded by layers of lace and winter white fabric and Ava’s wedding was in a few days. She had time to do nothing but sew.