Blue Ink

by Tess Thompson

  The question could be asked of me as well. Did I have mom potential at all?

  “You’ll be a great soccer mom,” I said.

  “We’re going to have our own house,” Christopher said. “Mom has the plans and everything.”

  “I had an architect friend of mine design our perfect house,” Teagan said. “Construction starts tomorrow.”

  “This is all so sudden,” Mrs. Lanigan said. “What’s really going on?”

  A flash of irritation crossed Teagan’s face. “I told you. I’ve got to get Chris in school. It’s time for us to be with our family,” she said. “Time to start making memories.”

  Christopher touched Mrs. Lanigan’s arm. “Grandmother, do you want to come swim with me?”

  “I won’t be able to swim, but I can come out with you. Charlotte can fix the umbrella so I’m in the shade.”

  “Cool. Mom said if I was good in the car I could swim when we got here. I love swimming.”

  “He’s a fish, like Ardan,” Teagan said. “Chris, go find your swim trunks in the suitcase. We’ll meet you down there.”

  “Will do,” he said and took off running.

  “Where will we put you?” I asked. “We’re a little full at the inn.”

  “No problem. Kevan said we could stay at his place. We know you’ve got your hands full here.”

  “Are you going to tell us the truth or not?” Mrs. Lanigan asked. “Why are you here?”

  “Mother, you’re always so suspicious.”

  “You love your career. Settling down here is not your style.”

  “I would’ve said the same about you,” Teagan said.

  “I was forced to come here because of my eyes. What force brought you here?” Mrs. Lanigan asked.

  Teagan flopped onto the bed. “Fine.”

  Fine? Wasn’t that Mrs. Lanigan’s “go to” word? Amused, I watched, almost wishing I had some popcorn.

  “Fine what?” Mrs. Lanigan asked.

  “I had a little fling with Wyatt Black and I had to get out of town before I made a complete fool out of myself by falling in love with him.”

  “Wyatt Black?” I asked. “The country singer?”

  “Yes. He’s starring in the movie I was supposed to work on and we met to talk about costumes and one thing led to another.”

  “By fling do you mean one night?” Mrs. Lanigan asked.

  “No. Like a month. And then he left for a few concert dates and I got the heck out of dodge,” Teagan said. “There was no way I was going to be there when he got back.”

  “You quit the movie because you were afraid to fall in love with him?” Mrs. Lanigan asked.

  “Don’t make it sound like I’m crazy,” Teagan said. “People have turned down movies for lesser reasons.”

  “Why is Wyatt Black acting in a movie?” I asked.

  “It’s a movie about a country singer down on his luck,” Teagan said. “He’ll mostly be singing.”

  “I love those kinds of movies,” I said.

  “You would. Charlotte’s a hopeless romantic,” Mrs. Lanigan said. “Basically, the complete opposite of you.”

  “I’m not unromantic,” Teagan said. “I just don’t believe in love.”

  “Why don’t you want to fall in love with Wyatt Black?” I asked.

  Teagan lifted her head and looked at me before flopping back into her prone position, hair splayed out about her like runaway flames. “Because he’s a bloody musician. Think about it, Charlotte. Always on the road. Booze and women everywhere. Recipes for bad choices and broken hearts. My broken heart to be exact.”

  “You actually like him? I can’t believe it,” Mrs. Lanigan said. “Charlotte, Teagan’s never liked anyone ever.”

  “That’s not true. There was Evan Sevens in third grade.”

  “He grew up to be gay,” Mrs. Lanigan said.

  “Well, that’s sad for all womenkind,” Teagan said. “He was such a nice dresser.”

  “Speaking of gay, have we got a story for you,” Mrs. Lanigan said.

  The next afternoon, I sat next to Felicity’s hospital bed. The nurse had asked for a break and I’d offered to sit with her. She was not in pain, the nurse assured me, but if she wakes, simply push the morphine pump button. “Our job is to keep her comfortable until the end comes.”

  The nurse had been gone a few minutes and I was at the window looking out at Blue Mountain when I heard a soft moan. I turned. Felicity’s eyes were open. “Charlotte, is that you?”

  I quickly returned and took her hand. “It’s me.”

  “How’s Isabel?”

  “She’s good. Effie’s with her right now. Do you want me to bring her?”

  “I want to kiss her.” Her voice was so faint I had to lean closer to hear her.

  “I’ll get her,” I said.

  She closed her eyes. I thought she’d drifted off again until shook her head. “Bliss. Not Bliss.”

  “Just rest. Don’t think about any of that.”

  She faded away again. The dark room seemed to close in on me. I stumbled over to the window and adjusted the blinds to let a little light into the room. Through the slats I watched Effie and Isabel playing in the swimming pool. Effie twirled Isabel in a circle. Their laughter penetrated through the closed window.

  Felicity stirred and called out for me. I immediately went to her. She stared up at me with glassy eyes. “Don’t let her have Isabel.”

  “Who?”

  “Bliss. I want Isabel close to her father.”

  “What father?” I asked.

  “Ciaran. Ciaran’s baby,” she whispered before falling back to sleep. My stomach dropped to the floor.

  Ciaran’s baby.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Ardan

  * * *

  While Effie and Isabel played in the pool, I took care of a few administrative tasks in my office. The doorbell rang just as I finished an email to my attorney about Isabel. I was surprised to see Moonstone at the door.

  “You’re here. Good,” she said. “I need to talk to you.”

  “Sure. Come on in.” I ushered her into the living room.

  “It’s about Isabel.”

  “Have a seat.”

  Her legs seemed to collapse as she sank into the couch, clutching her tie-dyed purse against her chest. “I had a vision this morning. It was a series of texts on a phone from Felicity to the father of her unborn child. Like reading a long script, the messages flashed before my eyes.” She took a piece of paper from her bag. “I wrote them down as best as I could.”

  I looked down Moonstone’s notes, scrawled in purple.

  * * *

  I need to see you.

  * * *

  I can’t. I’m at the Idaho house all winter.

  * * *

  I’ll come there. It’s urgent that I speak with you.

  * * *

  Is this about the photographs of Hope and me?

  * * *

  No. I know those are not real.

  * * *

  Listen, I’ve met someone I’m getting serious with. I’m sorry, but don’t contact me again.

  * * *

  There was a space on the page in between that group of correspondence and the next. “The next thing I got was the second chunk,” Moonstone said.

  * * *

  Why won’t you return my texts?

  * * *

  Are you there? Please call me back.

  * * *

  Felicity, this is the last time you’ll hear from me. I’m blocking you from my phone. Seriously, you’ve texted me a thousand times. You need to get some help. I told you I’m in love and I can’t have you blowing up my phone any more. Good luck.

  * * *

  Ciaran, please don’t do this. I’m pregnant. It’s yours.

  * * *

  This contact has blocked your number.

  * * *

  I looked up at Moonstone. “Oh, crap.”

  “I could be wrong, of course. It happens,” Moon
stone said. “But these were so clear.”

  “Ciaran’s Isabel’s father?” My insides lurched like I was on a fishing boat. “Why would she do this?”

  “I don’t know,” Moonstone said. “Did you have your heart set on the baby?”

  “No. If you want to know the truth, something’s felt off. My gut kept telling me I wasn’t the one who should take her. I had no idea why.”

  I put my hand to my mouth, remembering suddenly, the night she’d come to my house and tried to seduce me. “The night she came to me, she must have been pregnant already. She was trying to make me think the baby was mine.”

  “Dear me,” Moonstone said. “What a tangled web.”

  “Why me? Why not just ask Ciaran to take her?”

  “When I asked the same question, I got the color yellow,” Moonstone said.

  “Yellow for jealousy?”

  “I believe so. This was about Bliss. She doesn’t want her to have Isabel.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Charlotte

  * * *

  The nurse returned a few minutes later. “Are you all right, Charlotte? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

  “Yes, I’m fine.” I smiled to reassure her. “I might be a little hungry.”

  “Go on and have your lunch. I’ll let you know if anything changes.”

  I headed down the hallway in a daze. Ciaran’s baby repeated in my mind a thousand times.

  My feet took me to Mrs. Lanigan’s room. I tapped on the door.

  “It’s Charlotte.”

  “Yes, come in.”

  She sat in the chair near the window. Her headphones were on her lap.

  “Am I interrupting?” I asked.

  “Not at all. I was listening to a book.”

  “I need to talk to you.” I took my usual chair and tried to think of how to start.

  “Have you been running? You sound out of breath.”

  “I’ve had a shock.” I crossed my legs, then uncrossed them.

  “Is it one of your parents?” she asked.

  “No, they’re fine. It’s about Isabel. I think Ciaran might be her father.”

  She recoiled like I’d slapped her in the face. “No, it can’t be.”

  I told her about Felicity’s strange utterings. “She said she didn’t want Bliss to have her, which didn’t make sense until she told me Isabel was Ciaran’s baby.”

  “She must’ve gotten pregnant right before he met Bliss,” Mrs. Lanigan said.

  “Yes, and once she realized she was pregnant, she tried to get in touch with Ciaran, but he blocked her calls. Desperate, she went to Ardan and tried to seduce him, so he’d think the baby was his.”

  “To use him like she always did.” Mrs. Lanigan tightened her cardigan around her waist. “She didn’t want Bliss to raise her child, so she set up this lie to get Ardan to do it.”

  “This way Ciaran would be part of her life, but Bliss wouldn’t be her mother.” As I spoke out loud, the truth became all too clear. “Ardan was the only man who had ever been loyal to her without asking anything in return. He was also her child’s uncle.”

  “Making him the perfect choice.”

  “It’s so twisted.” I realized both my hands and voice were shaking. “All this time he’s said he didn’t think we were meant to have her. This must be why. What do we do now?”

  “We tell the boys. Ciaran can take a DNA test to be sure. I should tell them. I’m their mother. It should come from me.”

  “I already know.” I whipped around to see Ardan standing in the doorway. “Moonstone saw it in a vision last night. She just came by to tell me.”

  He was as white as the sheets on Mrs. Lanigan’s bed. I was afraid he might faint. I led him over to the chair and made him sit.

  “She’s Ciaran’s.” His eyes were dull and flat, like a worn doll’s. “I was ready to take her. You were ready to take her.” He bowed his head and closed his eyes. “I didn’t even think of this as a possibility, which now seems stupid.”

  “I wonder if she got pregnant on purpose?” I sank to the floor next to his chair.

  “All this time she knew, and she was going to have me raise Ciaran’s child. Mother, what if we’d repeated the same thing that happened with Finn and Kevan?”

  “But we didn’t,” Mrs. Lanigan said. “The truth’s out now.”

  “I didn’t think she was capable of such deception,” Ardan said. “I really didn’t.”

  “Unrequited love makes a person do things they wouldn’t normally do,” I said.

  “We have to tell Ciaran and Bliss,” Mrs. Lanigan said.

  For the first time, I thought about Bliss. “She just gave birth. And suddenly she has another?”

  “What a mess,” Ardan said.

  “Your brother will have to step up,” Mrs. Lanigan said.

  As would Bliss. I ached for my friend and the shock that was about to come her way.

  “They will,” Ardan said. “Once he knows the truth, he’ll want her. I know my brother. But Mother, I should tell him. It’s better coming from me.”

  Both Ardan and I jumped when his cell phone rang. “It’s the nurse.”

  I held my breath, knowing it was bad news.

  Ardan nodded. “Yes, thanks for telling me. We’ll be right there.”

  “Is she gone?” Mrs. Lanigan asked.

  “Yes. She took her last breath a minute ago.” He looked down at his hands, his words strangled in his throat. “I should’ve been there with her, so she didn’t have to go out alone.”

  “It’s all right,” Mrs. Lanigan said. “She’s in the right place now. No more pain.”

  I started to cry. Despite my complicated feelings for the woman who had caused such havoc in our lives, she was a friend. Her little daughter would never know her mother. Ardan pulled me against his legs and stroked my hair. “Mother’s right. Now we need to make sure Isabel has what she needs.”

  I wiped my eyes and rose to my feet. “She’s with Effie. I’ll go to them. Effie and I will look after her until we get everything sorted out.”

  Mrs. Lanigan held out her arms. “Come here and give me a hug before you go.”

  I knelt by her legs and let her arms encircle me.

  “You’re a good girl,” she whispered in my ear. “It’ll be all right.”

  Effie cried when I told her. We were in the breakfast booth. Isabel was on Effie’s lap, oblivious to the sadness of the adults around her.

  “The poor lady,” she said. “Leaving her baby.”

  “I just hope she’s at peace now. She had a troubled life.”

  “I always figured rich people had no problems until I came here,” Effie said. “Now I’m thinking I didn’t have it so bad, even though we were poor.”

  I nodded. She spoke the truth. “Love is what we need, not money.”

  “What about poor Isabel? Have you and Mr. Lanigan decided?”

  “I think I know what’s going to happen with Isabel.” I shared what we’d just learned.

  Her tears stopped as her eyes widened. “Ciaran is her father? What will happen now?”

  I played with one of Isabel’s curls. “Hopefully she’ll go where she belongs. With her dad.”

  “I’ll miss her.”

  I smiled. “Me too. But we’ll get to see her as much as we want.”

  “This means you and Mr. Lanigan can make all your dreams come true. You can travel and see the world. But you’ll come back to me, won’t you?”

  “Maybe you’ll come with us for some of it,” I said. “You know I can’t cook. You’d like to come to Italy, wouldn’t you? Think of all the vegetables.”

  “Yes, miss. I would like that very much.”

  “Now we have to plan a wedding.”

  “I’m glad for you, miss. What would’ve happened to us had you not come?”

  “You would have been fine without me, but I’m not sure I would have been. Everything’s changed for me because of all of you.”

  “Even m
e?”

  “Even you, Effie.”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Ardan

  * * *

  I didn’t call my brother before I went to his house, afraid my voice would betray me. This was not news to share over the phone. I couldn’t predict exactly how my brother would react, other than I knew only this: he would never turn away from his child. We are Lanigans. No matter how messy family gets, we’re still that: family.

  Bliss answered the door, wearing sweats and an old t-shirt. Her usual impeccable appearance made her nearly unrecognizable. Her hair was matted. Deep circles under her eyes were evidence of sleepless nights. From inside, the cries of a baby penetrated the quiet afternoon.

  “Is everything all right?” Bliss asked as she gestured for me to come inside.

  “Felicity passed.”

  She put a hand on my arm. “I’m sorry. Are you all right?”

  “Yes. I’m glad she’s out of pain and somewhere she can be free. I need to talk to my brother.”

  “He’s with the baby. We had a rough night. She has colic, which basically means she never stops crying. We’re both exhausted.”

  I followed her into the house. Ciaran was by the window with the baby in his arms. Since I’d first arrived, she’d stopped crying. “I finally got her to sleep.” He set her in the cradle by the couch. My brother looked worse than his wife—unshaven face, greasy hair, and spit up on the shoulder of his shirt. “What’s up?”

  Unsure of how to proceed, I stood with my hands in my pockets.

  “Felicity’s passed,” Bliss said.

  “I’m sorry to hear that.” He raked his hands through his hair. “I don’t know what to say.”