The Complete Legacy Series: Books 1 - 6

by Paula Kay

  “Well, how ’bout asking yourself what the worst thing that could happen would be?”

  Blu didn’t have to think twice about that one, but it was something that oddly she knew that she trusted her mom about. Therefore, the worst thing she could imagine happening really wasn’t so bad, considering how happy it could make both Jemma and her mother to finally meet.

  “Okay. That helps, I guess.”

  “Maybe sleep on it? See how you feel in the morning?” Lia said.

  “Yeah, I think I’m gonna have to; but tomorrow is really my last chance before she leaves,” Blu said.

  “Don’t feel pressured. It might be the last time right now, but the important thing is that the two of you are in contact now.”

  Blu was nodding her head as Lia continued.

  “You can always decide one thing now and a different thing later, right? I mean you and Jemma can go there in the future—when you’re feeling more comfortable.”

  “That is a very good point, one worth making.”

  Blu felt a great sense of relief all of a sudden. Lia was right. She’d didn’t have to feel pressured. She could trust herself to make the right decision—for Jemma. She just needed to remain focused on what she felt was the best thing for her daughter, and she would be fine. They’d all be fine.

  “Thank you so much, Lia.”

  “Really? I hardly feel that I was very helpful, even though I desperately want to be.” Lia laughed, and Blu felt the pang of missing her friend even thought they’d just seen each other.

  “Yes, really. You always make me feel calm about things.” Blu smiled.

  “Good. I’m glad,” Lia said.

  “And on that note, I should go before I’m running late to pick up Jemma at school, which will leave me feeling anything but calm.” The two women laughed as they said goodbye and hung up, vowing to speak in the next few days about the outcome of Blu’s decision.

  Chapter 21

  Blu sat cuddled up with Chase in front of the fireplace. Jemma had gone to bed, and the evening temperature coming in through the windows was the perfect invitation for a nice fire and a bottle of wine. It was one of the things Blu most appreciated about her home, second only to the stunning views of the ocean from nearly every window of the house.

  Since she and Chase had grown closer, these romantic nights by the fire had become a welcome refuge after a day of working nonstop on her clothing, or lately, dealing with the thoughts that stressed her out about how she was handling things in regards to her mother.

  Tonight was one of those nights when she was looking forward to Chase helping her to sort out her feelings about her mother. He’d become her constant sounding board, her best friend. She looked at him now, a huge grin on her face.

  “What’s up with that grin?” Chase teased her, not giving her a chance to reply before he covered her mouth with an intense kiss. It left her pressing up against him as she tried to tell him with her body what was making her so blissfully happy.

  She pulled away a bit to look him in the eye. “You make me insane with happiness,” she said finally as he replied to her words with another kiss, more passionate than the last.

  “And you—you just make me crazy—for wanting you.” He laughed and handed her the glass of wine from the coffee table in front of them. “Tell me how the day was. You saw your mother again this morning, right?”

  Blu nodded, taking a sip of her wine. “Yes, we went for another long walk on the beach and then went for a great lunch at this cute little place near there.”

  “That’s good.” He kissed her on the top of her head as she nestled her cheek against his chest. “Do you feel like you’ve gotten a better sense of her? In terms of what she’s doing here, how you’re feeling in general about your relationship—all that stuff that you were concerned about.”

  Blu tilted her head back, trying to look stern, yet failing as she was smiling again a few seconds later.

  “—And rightly so, I mean.” Chase backtracked on his last statement, kissing her on the tip of her nose. “Seriously, you have all the reason in the world not to trust her. No one would blame you for that, least of all me. I know it was a huge step for you to take to even consider letting her in your life, so I’m incredibly proud of you for that.”

  Blu turned slightly as she lay next to him, putting her arms around his waist, hugging him close to her. “Thank you for that. It means a lot to me. And yes, I agree. I have come a very long ways—and not just in terms of my mother. I’ve not always been this much of a sucker for a good-looking chef, ya know.” It was her turn to tease him, and he laughed in response.

  “So, back to more serious topics—which I’ll not let you distract me from.”

  “Yes, I know. I do need to talk to you, actually.”

  “Okay,” Chase replied. “Go on. I’ll do my best.”

  “So, tomorrow is the last day that I’m seeing my mother before she leaves. We’ll be walking in the morning and—well, I’ve hardly made any decisions about this, but I’m toying with the idea of taking Jemma to see her after school.”

  “Oh yeah?” Chase said, and she thought he sounded surprised.

  Well, she had been adamantly opposed to it ever since the first meeting when her mother had asked. But since then—well, things had changed and she was trying to change—to be more open these days. It had been a huge step for her to even see her mother. Allowing her to see Jemma was a great big “heart on her sleeve” deal—it was the one thing that her mother could really hurt that heart with—if she wanted to. But even as the thought entered Blu’s mind, she knew that she didn’t have to worry about that.

  “Huh?” Blu said, realizing that Chase had been asking her a question.

  “I was just asking how that idea was making you feel.”

  “I’m kinda all over the place, if I’m being honest. One minute it absolutely feels like the right thing to do, the next minute the idea terrifies me and I think that I must be a little bit crazy to even consider it.” She laughed, trying to lighten her own mood—which was starting to feel a little stressed out.

  “Do you have to decide now?”

  “Well, tomorrow is her last day here before she leaves, so I do have to decide soon, don’t I?” She remembered how she felt after Lia’s suggestion, though, and filled Chase in on the conversation.

  “So, wait and see how you feel after the morning,” he said.

  “And should I mention anything to her?”

  “I wouldn’t. Unless you’re sure, I mean. It seems a bit cruel to get her hopes up unless you’re one hundred percent sure that its gonna happen.” He reached down for her hands, intertwining his fingers with her own. “You’ll know what the right thing to do is. And if it’s not tomorrow, it doesn’t mean that you are shutting the door on the idea forever. Try to take the pressure off of yourself.”

  Blu was quiet for a minute. “Wise words, my handsome lover.”

  They both laughed instantaneously. “Your lover, huh? Shall we sneak up to the bedroom so that I can practice up on that description of me?”

  Blu laughed and was on her feet pulling him up within seconds, all thoughts about her mother, and what she would do the next day, temporarily leaving her mind.

  Chapter 22

  Blu was early to pick up Jemma for once. She was happy for the quiet time to sit by herself and reflect on the time that she’d spent with her mother that morning. They’d gone for a walk at the beach, which had become a nice little routine for them over the past few days. She was sorry that it was ending, if she was being honest with herself. Saying goodbye had been bittersweet but in the end, she’d decided that she just didn’t feel comfortable with her earlier thoughts about taking Jemma to see Linda. She had to trust her instinct when it came to Jemma—she always had, and now was not the time to stop.

  So they’d enjoyed their morning walk and lunch after. And at the end of it there were hugs and promises to phone soon and keep in touch. She didn’t have any real
doubts that her mother wouldn’t keep in touch, and she was fully prepared to take it one step at a time, getting to know one another, and then eventually one day Jemma and Blu’s mother would meet. Blu tried to ignore the feeling in the pit of her stomach thinking about that as the kids started filing out of the school for pick-up.

  “Can we go for some ice cream?” Jemma said, tossing her backpack into the backseat of the car.

  “Excuse me, little Ms. Manners—how about ‘Hello, Mom. How was your day?’” Blu shook her head, smiling but thinking that Jemma’s attitude really had been suffering lately.

  “Sorry, Mom.” She leaned over to give her mom a quick kiss and flash her a big smile, and all was forgiven by Blu. “So, how was your day then?” Jemma grinned, teasing now.

  “My day was great, thanks for asking.” Blu hadn’t told Jemma anything about her grandma being in town and fully intended to keep that information to herself. “How was school?”

  “Oh you know. Good, TGIF, all that jazz.”

  Blu laughed at her silly tone. “Well, what do you think about seeing if Claire can spend the night tomorrow and I’ll take you two to a movie or something?” she said as she pulled out of the school parking lot.

  “She can’t,” Jemma replied. “Her grandma is coming to town for the weekend.” She looked at Blu before continuing on. “I’m sure that they’ll be baking delicious cookies or something all weekend.” She was fake pouting now, but the simple statement hit Blu hard.

  “Okay—well, I’m sure that I could bake some—”

  “—Mom!” Jemma interrupted. “When are you gonna tell me about my grandma? About my family. I’m not a child any more, you know. You haven’t told me one single thing about any of them—my grandma or even my dad.”

  Blu’s mind was racing. Was it a coincidence that Jemma was bringing this up now, or did she need to listen to her gut telling her that it was wrong for her to keep her mother and Jemma apart when the child so desperately wanted it—when she could give her some of those answers—at least the answers that she thought would satisfy many of the questions that Jemma had been having lately.

  She pulled the car off the busy side street she’d been driving on.

  “Mom, what you are doing?”

  “I—I need to talk to you—to tell you something,” she said, looking Jemma in the eyes.

  “Okay,” Jemma said in exasperation. “What is it? Why are you looking so serious all of the sudden?”

  Blu took a deep breath. “Your grandma is in town.”

  Jemma’s eyes grew wide. “She is? Where does she live?”

  “She lives in New York—where I grew up. You know, I’ve talked to you about living upstate before.”

  “Yeah, you mean, whenever you’re trying to remind me of how good I have it,” Jemma teased, then seemed to remember the bigger topic at hand. “But so what do you mean that she’s here? Where? Mom, can I see her?”

  She was obviously excited, and there was no turning back now. “Well, that’s what I was thinking about—but there are some things that I have to tell you. Things that you are just going to have to trust me about. Deal?”

  “Okay, deal,” Jemma said quickly, and it was the sort of spur-of-the-moment agreement that Blu could never count on with the child.

  “So, you’ve not really heard anything about your grandma—my mother—because she and I haven’t gotten along for a very long time. In fact, it was only this week that I’ve spoken with her since I was much younger.”

  Jemma was nodding her head, listening intently.

  “So, she has wanted to meet you but I wasn’t sure.” Blu met Jemma’s eyes carefully.

  “Why? Why wouldn’t you want her to see me?”

  Blu didn’t blame Jemma for the confusion. She was finding it very hard now to explain anything that would make sense, even to a child. “It’s not that I didn’t want her to meet you—to spend time with you—because I know that could be really good. I just didn’t—don’t want you to get your hopes up about having her in your life—” She met Jemma’s eyes again with her own. “—if I thought she was going to have any problems following through, I mean.”

  Jemma was quiet for a moment, and Blu wondered how confused she had just made the poor girl.

  “Well, I’m pretty sure if there are any problems, you’re gonna help me with them,” Jemma said so matter-of-factly that Blu laughed.

  “That is a very good point. And I think I could do that.” She smiled at her daughter. “What do you think then? Shall we go see her? Or try to, anyways, because I’m not even sure that she’ll be at the motel.”

  Jemma was nodding her head, grinning widely. “Yes, let’s surprise her. Do you think she will be surprised to see me?”

  “Oh, yes. I think she will be very surprised.”

  Blu felt a strange sense of calm as she headed towards the motel. She could try to call her first—it would be the polite thing to do—but she also could imagine the big smile on Linda’s face when Blu suddenly turned up with Jemma beside her. She wanted to give her mom that gift. It absolutely felt like the right thing to do, and now she was very excited at how the day was turning out—for both of them—Jemma and her mother.

  Jemma was all smiles as Blu made the drive, chatting away about the things she wanted to tell her grandmother about school, Claire, and any number of miscellaneous bits of information that she thought she should know about her. As they got very close, Jemma suddenly pointed by the side of the street.

  “Hey, Mom. We went by here on the bus the other day.”

  Blu glanced over at her, for a minute confused about what she was talking about. “What, honey? What bus?”

  “With Claire and her sister—the other day when we took the bus—remember, I told you about it?”

  Blu nodded her head. “The bus came all the way down here, honey? Are you sure?”

  “Yes, I’m sure. I remember that little shop on the corner there.”

  Blu was nodding but had become distracted, as they were pulling into the motel parking lot. What the hell? She couldn’t believe her eyes as she pulled discreetly into a parking space that allowed her to see the door of her mother’s room facing the parking lot.

  Jemma was chatting away, ready to pounce out of the car. “What number is it? Wait—is that her?” She was pointing at Blu’s mother, who was standing in the doorway, obviously livid with anger as she yelled at the man standing in front of her.

  “Shh. Jemma. Get down, please. We’re going to stay in the car right now.” Blu had to be sure as she watched the couple arguing. Unbelievably, she’d been right when she first pulled in, thinking that the man she saw with her mother was Harold. Her stomach lurched as she saw him now. Both he and her mother were too caught up in what looked like a very heated argument to pay any attention to Blu and Jemma in the parking lot.

  Had he been here all along? The thought occurred to her as she continued to watch them from inside the car. God, how could I really have been that stupid? Once she realized what and who she was looking at, she felt her blood boil. She was more angry than she’d been—maybe ever. If Jemma hadn’t been with her, she would have stormed towards them both right away, but she didn’t want to create a scene in front of Jemma. It was all she could do to keep from driving away, but she didn’t want to draw attention to them.

  “Mom, I’m getting out of the car.” Jemma was starting to open the door, and Blu put her arm quickly across her to pull the door shut quietly.

  “Jemma, no. We’re not going to get out now.” Her voice was louder than she’d meant it to be, and Jemma was in tears now.

  “You promised. I want to see her.” Jemma turned to her with a look of defiance, and Blu felt her head spinning as to how to handle the scene in front of her.

  Watching her mother and Harold arguing in front of the motel was like a flashback to more than several scenes that she’d witnessed in the trailer park where she’d grown up. She’d been surrounded by yelling and screaming by the pair o
f them since she was a little girl. It was exactly what she’d wanted to take Jemma away from. The fact that mother and daughter were here now, practically trapped in her car as witnesses with Jemma crying and shouting at her, was possibly one of the worst things Blu could have imagined happening as a result of her decision to bring Jemma here today.

  Jemma was crying, silently watching out the window, and there was nothing Blu could do to stop it. She was mesmerized too, watching her mom’s arms waving and Harold approaching closer to her in the doorway, looking big and intimidating. Just as she remembered him. She swallowed down the vomit that suddenly burned in her throat. Her hand was on her phone, very close to calling for help if she saw the scene getting any more violent.

  Just like that, Harold had turned around and stormed to his motorcycle; it was parked far enough away from where they sat in the parking lot that Blu didn’t worry about him spotting them before he sped away. Her mother watched him go, looking angry, wiping at tears with her hand before turning to go back inside the small room.

  Chapter 23

  Blu was trying to clear her head, comfort Jemma, and figure out what to say to her mother all at once. She wasn’t going to leave the motel without letting her mother know that she’d seen her—that she knew everything, that it was over.

  Jemma was still crying, looking like she was going to spring out of the car any second. She turned her tear-stained face towards Blu. “Who was that man? Can’t I go see my grandma now?”

  Blu shook her head. “He’s no one—just a very bad guy. And no, Jemma, you can’t go over there.”

  “But why?” She was sobbing. “We’re already here. Mom.”

  “Jemma, you’re going to have to just listen to me.” Blu’s voice was stern—maybe the sternest she’d ever been with her daughter. “I’m going to go talk to her for a few minutes, and I need you to promise me that you’re going to stay in the car.”

  Jemma was shaking her head. “No, I’m coming with you.”