“Did you know she also owns a ranch not far from here? She has the best stock of quarter horses in the state. I know because I tried to buy some from her a while back, but she wouldn’t sell to me. She only sells to people she knows run a good ranch. She didn’t know my ranch, or me, so she wouldn’t sell and put her animals in possible jeopardy. She has integrity. She’s not out to make a quick buck. She’s mentioned that she has another business. I don’t know what it is, but if it’s as profitable as the other two she runs, I’d imagine she could quit it all tomorrow and never need money for the rest of her life, or those boys’ lives.”
Luke went on, “She’s brilliant, you know. She just finished a huge project for the company. The biggest one she’s ever accomplished. She did the majority of the work on her own. Her staff cheered her over the phone when they found out she’d accomplished something no one else has done. She thanked them for their hard work and told them it had been a team effort. They balked at the notion that they had done anything. They gave her full credit and still she made them feel as if she couldn’t have done it without them. In my book, that alone says a lot about her character. You’ve completely misjudged her, and I’ve been guilty of the same thing.”
Luke placed his hands on his hips. “She works harder than anyone I know and loves her kids bigger and better than a lot of parents I’ve seen. Sean didn’t appreciate her. He didn’t love her the way she deserves to be loved. I won’t make the same mistake. I’m always holding back and pushing women away. All I want to do now is hold on to her.”
Margaret had never heard Luke speak so passionately about anything or anyone. “She does all that and still agreed to take the time to come here. No wonder she collapsed the other day.” Margaret felt terrible for the way she’d treated Sarah. She never gave Sarah a chance. She’d added on to Sarah’s load by leaving it to her to clean her room upstairs, cook most nights, and make the yard safe for the boys to play.
“I’ve watched her working,” she continued. “She’s so intent and focused when she’s at the computer. She sometimes has two or three going at the same time. She moves back and forth between them. It’s funny, though. I always thought she didn’t pay enough attention to the boys, but whenever they interrupt her, she stops whatever she’s doing and gives them her full attention. She’ll stop everything to get them a glass of water or play a game. And then, when she can, she goes back to doing her work with the same focus and intensity she had before. I didn’t want to admit it to her, but I thought she was doing a good job with the boys. I don’t know what she does on those computers, but I guess she really is good at her job.”
She should have set aside her anger and talked to Sarah. At the very least, her grandsons deserved better than for her to just drop out of their lives. But she’d grieved deep and hard for Sean. Her only son. She’d had such high hopes for him, and it killed her to see his life cut short when he’d been on the precipice of achieving so much.
Or so she had thought.
She leaned on her elbows on the desk and held the sides of her face in her hands and stared at Luke. “I don’t know what to do about all this. I’ve been awful to her. Cruel, even, blaming her for everything when Sean treated her terribly.” She picked up several papers. “Did you see these letters and pictures? She wrote and told me about the boys every month. I didn’t cash the check and she took a little bit of money and turned it into a fortune. She didn’t have to do all of that. I certainly didn’t deserve it after the way I treated her.”
Luke gave Margaret’s hand a soft squeeze. “I can’t believe someone like her exists. I’m in love with her. I’m going to marry her.”
Margaret gasped. She had no idea they’d grown so close in such a short time.
“You can’t be serious?” Bridget’s whole body went rigid. “She gets the company, all the money, and marries a rich guy?”
“You’re looking a little green with envy, dear.” Margaret gave Bridget a look Bridget knew all too well. Margaret spent a lot of Bridget’s youth reminding her that life wasn’t a competition.
She focused on Luke. “I’m sorry I didn’t see her the way you do. I guess congratulations are in order. And I really do wish you both all the happiness in the world.”
Luke smiled. “She doesn’t know I want to marry her yet. I’ve asked her to stay here with me. We haven’t worked everything out, but I hope we will before it’s time for her to head home.”
“Nothing would make me happier than to have the boys nearby. I really want a chance to make things right. But how am I going to do that?”
“Tell her you’re sorry. Tell her your feelings have changed. She’ll appreciate your making the effort. Thank her for everything she’s done. I’ve discovered that she appreciates the simple, heartfelt things the most. I’m trying to do the same because of her.”
“I’ll talk to her. Maybe I can do something nice, like watch the boys so you two can go on a proper date.”
Luke’s eyes brightened with excitement. He really had it bad. “I’d appreciate it. I’m sure she will, too.”
“So she gets everything she wants,” Bridget said, still smarting from not receiving her own fat check.
“Maybe if you worked as hard as she does, you’d have everything you want,” Margaret suggested.
Bridget threw up her hands and let them fall. “Seriously, now you’re comparing me to her. I’m out of here.”
“Why did you stop by?” Margaret hadn’t been expecting her.
“To talk to my mom about my sucky life, but you’ve made it perfectly clear you have no sympathy for my situation and I’ll never live up to the amazing Sarah, who is so smart and kind and generous. Never mind what Sean thought about how she treated him.” Bridget stormed out.
Margaret took a second to absorb her comments. “She still misses Sean. And her divorce was just finalized. She’s in a bad place.”
“And looking for an easy way out. I get it, but none of that excuses her for thinking Sarah owes her something or that she can take what Sarah gave you as a gift. She can’t blame Sarah for everything and hold Sean harmless.”
“I think, like me, she needs time to process all this.” Margaret planted her hands on the desk and pushed herself up. “Let’s go find Sarah, so I can start making things right.” They headed to the door.
Luke let her walk out ahead of him.
They didn’t find Sarah or the boys in the main part of the house.
Luke glanced out the front door window. “Her car is gone.”
“She just left.” Margaret worried she wouldn’t come back.
“I’ll head back to the ranch. Maybe she needed a break and the boys needed to get some energy out so she took them for a ride.” Luke headed down the steps and pulled something off his truck window, held it up, then read it out loud.
“Luke,
Took the boys grocery shopping. Invite Margaret to join us for Sunday dinner at your place. See you soon.
Love, Sarah”
A half smile split Luke’s face. “I invited her to meet my family.”
“Don’t you think you’re moving a little fast?” Despite everything she’d just learned about Sarah and what happened with Sean and the company, she still wanted to look out for Luke.
“I know what I want, and it’s her. Come to dinner. Watch her with me and my family. You’ll see what I see.”
Margaret hesitated because she wasn’t sure Sarah really wanted her there or if she’d invited her just to be polite. “I don’t want to intrude.”
“You’re not. My parents would love to see you again.”
“You’re this sure about her?”
“Yes.” Luke sounded too sure for her to doubt him. “Please, Margaret. Join us. See what I see, so you and Sarah can truly move on and be there for the boys together.”
“I’d love to.”
“Great. I’m headed home to check on the horses.”
“Thank you, Luke. I feel like without you, I’d have never know
n the truth. Sarah and I would have gone on as we always have, enduring each other. I wouldn’t know about the money either. I was about to lose this house, and that would have just killed me. I love this place.”
And because of Sarah, someone she’d blamed for everything and treated terribly, she got to keep her home. She had financial security, the boys were back in her life, and given time, she had someone she could count on to be there for her if she needed them.
But there was a lot of healing left to do.
“It’ll be nice for all of us to be living close together someday soon.” Luke waved his goodbye, climbed into his truck, and drove off with a quick honk.
Margaret’s head spun with all the new information and the possibility that Luke and Sarah would live next door if everything worked out with them.
She needed time to come to terms with Sean’s other life. Because it wasn’t the one she thought he’d been living. She needed to reconcile what she’d believed of Sarah and the reality that all this time she’d been reaching out and helping.
Margaret wanted to believe it was to make up for the things Sarah had done to Sean, but if that were true, she’d have stopped long ago when her attempts were ignored and outright dismissed. Yet Sarah had persisted with her notes.
Sarah hadn’t turned her back on Margaret the way she’d done to Sarah. She’d stepped up to be the family Margaret didn’t deserve and Sean didn’t know how to be, because she hadn’t taught him well.
Maybe she hadn’t been the best mother. But she’d taught Sean better than stealing and using people to get what you want.
Sarah hadn’t told her everything. She’d talked about what happened with the business and how Sean’s accident—not so much an accident if he was driving drunk—affected the business.
She hadn’t spoken about how his drinking impacted their marriage, or how his traveling strained things. She hinted about Sean being absent a lot. But had Sarah pushed Sean away? Why didn’t he want to be home with his wife and children? What really went wrong in the marriage? Margaret knew all too well how easy it was for one to collapse.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Sarah walked into the kitchen loaded down with groceries. The boys headed upstairs, grumpy they didn’t get to go back to Luke’s this afternoon because she had to work.
Margaret walked into the kitchen, her face drawn in worry lines. “You’re back.”
Sarah tucked the vegetables and meat into the refrigerator. “I picked up some of that vanilla bean ice cream you like.” As peace offerings went, ice cream was a good one in her mind.
“Thank you.”
Sarah turned to face Margaret, surprised by the lack of hostility and taken aback by the gratitude. “You’re welcome. You should sit down. Rest.”
Margaret’s whole body slumped with fatigue. “I admit, my arthritis and our earlier . . . reckoning kind of took everything out of me.”
“I hoped to find an easier way for us to . . . leave the past behind.”
“I’m still trying to not feel the way I’ve felt about you and reconcile who I thought Sean was with the man you describe.”
“Take your time. I know it was a lot to take in. I’m sure you’ll have questions. In the meantime, know that I’m not here for any other reason than to build a relationship between you and the boys.”
“I appreciate that. And I should have told you how happy it made me that you brought them.”
“I’ve loved watching them with you, and you with them.”
“I spend a lot of time with Sophia. I feel like I really know her. Now, I feel as if I know the boys, too.”
“That’s all I want for them and you. And to show my goodwill, I took care of a couple of things for you. On the way to the store, I called the gardening service I used when I arrived. They’ll be by tomorrow to do the yard, then routine cleaning once a week. I also found a reputable housekeeping service. They’ll be here every other Wednesday.”
“Why? After the way I’ve treated you, why are you helping me?”
“Because you didn’t know. Because you loved Sean and grieved him the way I couldn’t but a mother should.”
Sarah sighed with that difficult admission, letting her battered heart settle after letting go of that hard truth. “Because now that you know, I hope we can be the family Jack and Nick deserve.” Holding on to the secrets had become a burden. Without them hanging over her head, she felt lighter. Her heart didn’t feel so heavy.
Except she hadn’t told Margaret everything. “There’s still more to tell about Sean.”
Margaret held Sarah’s forearm. “I think I’ve heard all I can take for one day.” Margaret squeezed her arm, released her, and took a seat at the breakfast table. “It’s hard to hear that my son turned into my ex-husband. And I became the dreadful mother-in-law, blaming you for all of Sean’s unhappiness. I know better than anyone it takes two people to hold a marriage together. One can’t do it alone. And only hearing one side of the story means you don’t know the whole truth.”
“He’s your son. You took his side. I don’t blame you for that.”
“You should. I deserve it.” Margaret held Sarah’s gaze. “I wish you’d said something sooner.”
In her grief, Margaret hadn’t been ready to hear it.
And Sarah had been so engrossed in the boys’ grief, the trouble with the company, and her own anger and resentment, she wouldn’t have been able to be kind in the way she told Margaret.
Not that today went great, but time and distance had at least allowed Margaret to hear what she had to say. “Sean made sure you didn’t know what was really going on. Away from here, and you, he didn’t care what anyone thought about his actions. He flaunted his bad behavior. Truthfully, I just wanted out before the boys really started to understand what was happening.”
“And you made sure they only saw the good in him.”
“I didn’t want to break their hearts, and then Sean died, and I just figured they didn’t need to know everything.”
“And that’s also why you didn’t say anything to me.”
Sarah appreciated that Margaret understood. “Why shatter your image of him? I really had no idea he’d been telling you and Bridget a completely different story than the one we lived until it was too late. I hoped, over time—”
“I’d come to my senses and move forward for the boys’ sake.”
“I understood your grief. I knew most of your anger came from the fact that Sean died so young and would miss so much of the boys’ lives and you wanted to blame someone for that.”
“I wanted there to be a good reason for what happened. But the truth is, his death was senseless and preventable. He shouldn’t have gotten behind the wheel in his condition.” Margaret’s eyes narrowed. “What really upset him that night? The divorce? Not being with his children all the time? Or you leaving the company?”
“I think you know the answer to that.” Sarah didn’t want to say it out loud.
“Did he ever love you and the boys?” A spark of hope lit Margaret’s eyes.
Sarah obliterated it with another jagged piece of the puzzle. “Sean found someone else to love.”
Margaret stared out the window for a long moment. A single tear rolled down her pale cheek. “I see.”
“Sean did some terrible things, but he wasn’t all bad.” While Sarah still had a lot of unresolved anger, even if she had done her best to move on, she defended Sean for his mother’s sake. As unfair as her mother-in-law had been, she knew it was a lot for the older woman to take in.
“Thank you for saying that, but I see now that I didn’t really know him. I guess that happens when your children grow up and have lives of their own. I wish we’d been closer.” Margaret’s head tilted. “Then again, if I’d known what he was doing, we’d have probably been at odds when he died because I wouldn’t have kept my opinion to myself about his behavior.”
“I know it’s difficult right now, but I hope you’ll find a way to hold on to the goo
d memories and not let what you know now overshadow them.”
“Have you been able to do that?”
“Depends on the day,” Sarah admitted.
“That’s about as much truth as I can take right now.” Margaret pushed up from her seat with a wince.
“Margaret, now that you know about the money, call your doctor. Get checked out and make your health a priority. If you’re going to have lots more visits with the boys, you’ll need your stamina.” Sarah smiled, hoping it eased Margaret’s heart and mind to know that she would make an effort to bring the boys more often.
“I’ll go call right now. Then I think I’ll take a little time to sort out my thoughts and feelings and . . .” Margaret stared out the window again. “I don’t know what to do with all this.”
“Try to work on letting it go,” Sarah suggested. “Don’t pour your energy into something that can’t be changed. Focus on your relationship with the boys. They’re the best part of Sean. They’re here. They need you.”
“I imagine they helped you get through everything after Sean passed.”
“They are the most important thing in my life.”
“And what about Luke? He said he asked you to move in with him.”
Lost and Found Family Page 21