Kaleidoscope Summer (Samantha's Story) (55 page)

Dr. Ellie opened her front door with a cheerful smile
. “Hi. Come
in.
”
She
knelt
to greet Goldie
.
Precious wiggled her way
between the tw
o. “Oh,
we
have
some
competition goi
ng on today.”
Dr. Ellie
laughed as she stood
,
reaching for the box of fresh baked goodness I offered her.

“
Ju
lia added some clott
ed cream to go with the
lemon
curd
.”

“If she keeps baking
,
Serenity
Cove will need to follow the example of
the Oklahoma City
Weight Loss Challenge
.
” Her observation
d
idn’t create a smidgen of
hesitation. In her kitchen
,
we
slathered
the
tangy
lemon and cream
on
the
scones
, light and fluffy with the perfect crispiness on the outside. We
took the tray outside
and indulged
.

“
With this weather
,
the
trees don’t know whether to shed their leaves or gr
ow buds.”
She licked lemon from her fingertip.

“The view
is lovely, more
like
summer than
the first hues of fall
.” I took a sip of tea
to wash down the scone.

“Ready to get started?”
She first led
us in prayer
, and then went right into the session
. “How are things
?” She relaxed on
the lounger
,
her pen hovering over the notebook opened on her lap
.

“T
h
e levee has collapsed.” I handed her
the letter
Daniel
wrote
. I waited until
she refolded it
. “Audra Wheeler is his daughter. She innocently brought him with her to the bookshop.
”

“
Ah
, a
sister ad
ded to the mix. How do you feel about having a sibling
?”

“H
onest
ly
, she took some getting used to.
” I softly laughed
,
remembering the first time she came to the bookshop
. Audra had been like
a whirlwind.
“
I’m thrilled
. And to your next question, she doesn
’t know.
”

“And
your birth father?
”

“His actions
hurt a lot of people.
Anne
the most, but
she forgave him.”

“Do you believe he’s
remorseful
?”

I ran my tongue over my lips to r
elieve the dryness. “H
is letter
tip
s
the sca
l
es of justice in his favor
—with me—not so much.
”

“
Let’s table that for a moment
.
I understand
your grandmother suffered another stroke?”

I nodded
.
“Thankfully, she
is doing great. God d
oes work in unusual ways. John
allowed me to see her.
I
t’s as though
God
created a
special place in my heart reserved especially
for her
.
”

“And your grandfather?
”
Dr.
Ellie
had an uncanny way of
hit
ting
the core of the problem.

“According to him, h
e believes he did what he tho
ught best for his family. But does it
condone
t
he harsh way he treated
Anne
?
”

“Have you considered
talking to him?”

“
I’m not
comfortable with the risk of upsetti
ng him with my grandmother
ill
.
I
s accepting someone with what we consider their faults and moving on from there—is
it ever the best course
?”

“
Age and heal
th issues can be a factor
. And t
hey a
re octogenarians.
C
an you move
forward in a relationship with your grandparents and leave the past behi
nd?”

“A
ccepting
them as
Anne
’s parents—my
grandparents—o
ut
weigh
s the risk of a confrontation. There’s not much to be gained by creating
stress for them
.”

“After you get to kno
w them, there may come a time
when
you can have a conversation about
Anne
. I have a feeling you’ll find a few lingering
questions, and
they may be willing to answer them if you
take it slow
.” Precious scampered
to her and Dr. Ellie bru
shed her hand through the
dog’s
buff-colored
curls.

“It’s my b
irt
h
fa
ther I’m having
diffic
ulty with.
I’d like him to make restitution for his actions. Of course
, time travel would be necessary
in order to change history
.
”
I couldn’t
manage a smile.

“You feel
he hasn’t paid
for the decisions he made
?” Dr. Ellie tilt
ed her head
to the side
.

“How
? He went on with his life. He h
ad a family—a daughter. He became a doctor.”

“
Jo
urnal you
r
feelings
about
Daniel
this week
. Ask
yourself what you
realistically
want from him.
” She reached into a case she kept by her side and th
umbed through the contents
.
“I have a packet from Pastor Jim
on forgiveness
. There’s an article and a worksheet along with a few scriptures for you to study. Are you willing to do the re
ading and complete the homework
this week?”

My
hesitation hinged on my unwillingness
to f
orgive
. I tapped
the arm of the chair. “I’ll do the work—it doesn’t mean I intend to forgive him.”

After
a closing prayer, she scooped
Precious
up into her arms and wa
lked us to the door
. “Y
ou can text me anytime
. We
can fit
another session
in this week.”

“Thanks, Dr. Ellie
.”
I reached over and gave her a hug, careful not to squish
Precious
in the process.

I drove to the apart
ment to take snapshots
of the furniture to show my
grandmother
. Getting out of the SUV
,
I
noticed Audra’s
car.
I gla
nced around and didn’t see her
.

Then
I spotted
her
coming out of Maggie’s
and envied the way she made
sweat
s topped with a matching zippered jacket
look classy
.
“Hi, there
.” I waved to her.

She quickened her st
ride. “You have a minute
?”

I shrugged
. “Sure.” Inside the bookshop, w
e took our familiar seats at one of the reading table
s
.
Where I had also sat with her father.

“Please forgive me for being blunt.
” She
grimaced
,
raking
her finge
rs through her hair
. “
I’ve heard so
me ugly gossip.
”

“Go ahead.”
I bit down on my bottom
lip.

“Part of what I heard
is simple to figure out. It’s easy to believe we could be s
isters.”
I didn’t fill the gap with words. “It seems we share a father.”

I nodde
d
. “Yes. We’re sisters
.”

She rushed on. “I don’t h
ave a problem with the fact we’
re sisters. To
say my father is without fau
lts wouldn’t be true
. But I’m having a difficult time believing
he
left
your mother to deal with the aftermath of pregn
ancy
. It’s—p
reposte
rous
.
”

I inhaled deeply and blew the air out of my lungs. “
Have you spoken with your dad
?”

“He left town.
Logan
dropped by, and after
th
ey talked
, my father left.”

I couldn’t believe that Logan had taken
it
upon himself to interfere—again.
“Come up to the apartment
.
I’ll share
what I know
and y
ou
draw your own conclusions.”

Upstairs
,
I handed
her the two letters—t
he one Anne
wro
te to me,
and
the one Daniel
sent
to
Anne
.
With an offer of tea, I went
into t
he kitchen to give
h
er privacy. I returned with
the
tea expecting to find her sobbing, but she
sat stoic
ally
, as if she’d read
about a man
she’d never met.

I offered
h
er a floral cup
. Her hands were trembling and it
immediately
crashed to th
e floor. “How could he
?
I blamed my mother because she divorced him. How will I ever make peace with this?”

I
grabbed a towel from the kitchen
,
throwing it over the moisture on the rug.
“W
hat he did is wrong, in every sense of the word.
” I sat next to her
,
putting my arm around her. “
I haven’t worked through forgi
ving him. But
he’s
not
a monster. He was an out-of-
co
ntrol teen who wasn’t capable of accepting responsibility
.”

“
Steve
and I rebuilt a house to
l
ive in a town where my
father is the subject of gossip. A
nd what’s sad is he deserves it
.
Each time I walk down the street I’ll feel the whispers floating behind me.” She paused as if giving thought to the impact of her words. “
I’m sorry,
Samantha
, I’m being selfish. How are you coping with all of this?”

I looked
int
o her eyes, which held the same
sapphires
as mine. “I always wanted a sister. Never thought of her being classier and wearing cloth
es better than me.” I chuckled
,
my arm
still across her shoulders
.