Fighting Fate (15 page)

Sarah scowled because the door didn’t fit in the frame quite right. If it wasn’t shut carefully while lifting up on the door handle just so, it would swing open an inch or two. She contemplated retrieving the kitten. She didn’t like the thought of her downstairs with that woman.

She decided against it. Penelope would be fine and she didn’t want to interrupt Melinda. The sooner she found what she was looking for, the sooner she would leave.

She shook her head as she began to put away the dishes in the strainer beside the sink. It was busy work but it didn’t keep her mind occupied.

Melinda Heath? Sentimental? Who knew?
Not me
, Sarah glumly thought.

The dishes were all put away, the floor swept and rugs shaken out before Sarah wondered what was taking so long. As far as she knew, all of the holiday decorations were in boxes that were clearly marked. She hesitated at the top of the stairs. She just couldn’t bring herself to go down there. The less she had to see of Melinda, the better. Instead, she moved on to cleaning the bathrooms.

No matter how hard she worked, she couldn’t stop thinking about the fact that Melinda was there. In her house. The woman who had left her so many years ago. The woman that she had spent so many nights crying over when she was a child. For years, she just wanted to ask her mom why she had left. She wanted to know what she’d done wrong. She had so many questions but no one to ask so the answers never came.

She was walking down the staircase, having finished cleaning the upstairs bathroom, when Melinda finally emerged from the cellar. She had a large box tucked under her arm.

“Did you find what you were looking for?” Sarah asked. She realized her voice was a little more heated than it had been earlier. That was because she’d had time to simmer over the events of the past.

Melinda eyed her warily as she stood awkwardly in the center of the kitchen. “I did,” she said.

“Good,” Sarah replied, her voice firm. “I gave you what you wanted, now I think it’s only fair you give me what I want in return.”

“And what, exactly, would that be?” Melinda suspiciously wondered.

“I want answers.”

For just a moment, Sarah thought Melinda was going to refuse. She wouldn’t have been surprised if she made a beeline for the door, never to be seen from again. Unless, of course, she decided she wanted something else.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” she finally said.

“I do,” Sarah countered. Her heart was still hammering and she had no doubt her palms were sweaty. Her knees felt wobbly but she wasn’t going to back down. Not now when this might be the only chance she had. “For the past twenty-three years, I’ve wondered
why
. More often when I was younger. Not so much now. But as long as you’re here, I’d like to know what you have to say for yourself.”

Melinda swiped a strand of hair behind her ear. It looked like she was contemplating Sarah’s request. Finally, she gave an unapologetic shrug. “Sometimes the truth hurts, Sarah. You shouldn’t ask questions when you really don’t want to hear the answer.”

The truth might hurt, but so did having your mother walk away from you.

Sarah stared at her for a moment. She had spent years trying to convince herself that Melinda didn’t deserve a single moment in her thoughts. Still, one question had always remained firmly lodged in her head and her heart. It was the only question that really mattered.

“I want to know why you left.”

“I didn’t like my life.” She took a step toward the door but Sarah stepped in front of her.

“I need a better explanation than that,” she said.

Melinda’s expression turned hard. “Fine. You were an accident. I never wanted you. When I met Frank, he was such a straight arrow. I thought it would be fun to corrupt him and I was right. Unfortunately, we had a little too much fun.” She scowled as she looked at Sarah. “If I’d had my way, I wouldn’t have kept you. You can thank your grandmother for that. You can thank her for forcing me to marry Frank. When I couldn’t stand it anymore, I left.” She made a face at Sarah as if to say,
Sorry, I warned you
. Only she didn’t look sorr Ktrah as ify at all.

Sarah slid out of Melinda’s way on legs that felt as though they were ready to collapse. What she had just said, it was what Sarah had assumed. Yet her wording, her tone, her demeanor, they had made it all sound a hundred times worse than it had ever sounded in her imagination.

Melinda scoffed. “Don’t look so pitiful. Look how well you came out of the deal.” She motioned to the farmhouse. “You got the house, the land, the money. You got my mother’s love. What did I get?” She lifted the box in her arms. “This. This is all I got. So thank you, Sarah. When I walked away, I gave you everything. And I got
nothing
.”

She didn’t say another word as she let herself out. She slammed the door so hard the glasses in the kitchen cabinet rattled. As soon as she heard the engine start up, she slumped to the floor. When the sound of gravel indicated that Melinda was leaving her, once again, she placed her hands over her face and let herself sob.

*
*
*
*
*

“Hey, Mom,” Sarah said as she pushed her way through the swinging doors that separated the kitchen from the rest of Suzie’s Sweetshop.

“What happened?” Suzanne asked, when she noted Sarah’s puffy eyes. She had been sifting powdered sugar over a pan of lemon bars. She placed the sifter on the counter and went to Sarah. “Sweetheart, what’s wrong?”

“You’re a really good mom,” Sarah said as she snaked her arms around Suzanne’s waist. “I don’t think I’ve ever told you that. But you should know. You are. I was so lucky to have you growing up.”

“I can’t deny that it’s nice to hear that. Do you care to tell me what brought on this little revelation?” she asked as she squeezed Sarah tightly.

After the confrontation with Melinda, Sarah had an overwhelming urge to see her mother. Her
real
mother. The one that had loved her, raised her and had always looked out for her. That woman meant so much more than the one who had simply been forced to carry her for nine months.

“Sarah?” Suzanne prodded.

Sarah slid from her arms but didn’t know where to start.

“The front of the shop is covered. I was just finishing up in here. Let’s go to my office,” Suzanne suggested.

Sarah nodded and moments later, they were sitting on the small sofa in the crammed office.

“Melinda showed up at the farmhouse today,” Sarah began.

“
Ahhh
,” her mother said with a little nod. A look of understanding had already spread across her face. “I can only imagine that didn’t go well.”

Sarah told Suzanne all about Melinda’s visit. Why she’d shown up and what she’d said.

“It’s my fault,” Sarah finally admitted in a trembling voice. “I literally asked for it. It’s not like I expected her to have anything kind to say.”

“I don’t think that woman knows the definition of kind,” her mother said. “Unlike you. You didn’t need to let her in. Did she find what she was looking for?”

Sarah nodded. “I think so. She came upstairs with a box. I assume it was the ornaments.” She tilted her head to the side. “There was another box in the cellar, one I ran across yesterday. It had her name on the side. If she was sorting through things down there, she had to have seen it. It was full of keepsakes that Grandma had packed away. It had her baptismal gown and a baby blanket in it. They were handmade, I’m sure Grandma knit them both herself. I’m surprised she didn’t want that.”

“Maybe it was because the items were packed away by Cora. You said the ornaments were made by your grandfather, right?” Sarah nodded. “From what you repeated to me, I would have to say I think she’s very bitter toward her mother right now. It’s possible she didn’t want to take anything that her mother had put together for her.”

“As if Grandma did anything wrong,” Sarah muttered with a scowl.

Suzanne gave her knee a pat. “Unfortunately, I don’t think Melinda sees it that way.” She was quiet for a moment, letting Sarah’s frustration dissipate. Then her sympathetic expression turned a little more mischievous. “It sounds like you’ve had an interesting first few weeks back.”

Sarah gave her a suspicious look. It had indeed been interesting.

“I heard from your sister that Cole is back in town,” she carefully said.

Sarah nodded and then rested her head on the back of the couch. “Yeah, he sure is.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

She shook her head. “Not really.” While her feelings and thoughts on Melinda were quite clear in her mind, her thoughts of Cole were as tangled as always. She was still too worked up about the earlier confrontation to delve into anything else.

“I won’t pester you about him. But I do want to say this. Some people do horrible things. They hurt people over and over again without giving them a thought. People like Melinda. Then there are other people who regret the mistakes they’ve made. They’d do anything for a second chance.” She arose from the couch but glanced over her shoulder at Sarah. “And those are the people that deserve your time.”

&n N>

Chapter Eleven

“What are you doing here?” Cole demanded, stealing the exact phrase she was going to use right out of her mouth. He grinned before she could answer. “Did you get hired? You’re the new English teacher, aren’t you? Sarah, that’s awesome.”

What was it about Cole that always left her speechless? Her eyes darted from Cole to the door directly behind him. ‘Personnel Office’ was denoted in simple black letters. It was one of many doors labeled in the district office. However, she was sure it was
th Sze=s oat
very door that he’d emerged from. Then she noticed the glossy folder he held in his hands. A picture of the new high school was plastered across the front of it.

“I know you said you might want to be a teacher. I just didn’t know that you actually decided on it. Not that I’m all that surprised. But I just didn’t know. I mean, these are the kinds of things I
would
know if you’d just let me take you out for coffee.” He grinned at her as though he’d just made an excellent point.

“I’m not the new English teacher,” she managed to say. “I’m the school’s media specialist.”

His grin held steady. “The librarian.
Nice
.”

“Nice? What does that mean?” she asked.

His eyes scoured over her and a look of pure appreciation crossed his face. Sarah frowned. “Stop looking at me like that.”

“Like what?” he asked.

Like you want to eat me up
, she thought. She couldn’t bring herself to say it. Instead she tried to shift the conversation away from herself. “Why are
you
here?”

“I’m a new hire as well.”

“Custodian?” she guessed. Her nerves were still frazzled from the run-in with Melinda. She had expected to see Cole later in the day when he showed up to work. But, once again, he had turned up where she’d least expected. Once again, his presence was making her feel completely off-balance. As usual, she went from one extreme to the next. Her silence broke and she quickly prattled on. “There’s absolutely nothing wrong with being a custodian,” she said feeling it might be the first sincere thing she’d said since he’d come back to town. In an odd way, she was simply pleased that he’d found gainful employment. “I’ve heard this school district is a wonderful place to work. Well, I mean, I heard that the teachers really like it. I would assume the other staff enjoys it as well. And of course, the district has pretty decent benefits.”

“Sarah?”

“Yes?”

“I’m not a custodian. I’m the new history teacher.”

She blinked at him, too stunned to do anything else. He hadn’t really said a teacher. Had he? That sounded as likely as him saying he was an astronaut. “You’re what?”

“I’m a teacher,” he said slowly. “You know. One who teaches? That would be me. Hopefully you have a dictionary or two in that library of yours. Might come in handy for definitions and such.

“I assume your appointment is next. I don’t want to keep you,” he said. Then walking backward, with a grin on his face, is="+0">he said, “See you later.”

*
*
*
*
*

Cole wasn’t an overly pessimistic person. Yet he felt that luck was rarely on his side. But maybe things were changing. The last few months, his life had really turned around. He had moved back to Laurel last fall, after the district had hired a handful of new teachers for the year. Construction on the new school had already been started and the district had made the announcement that they would be hiring multiple teachers for the following year due to the expansion.

There had been no guarantee that he would be hired. But when the positions had been posted last spring, he had interviewed and he’d been offered the job. It had been a huge relief. He didn’t just have himself to think of, but his mom as well. The stray paychecks from odd jobs and working for Alex were barely enough to cover his expenses.