Only Her

by Allie Everhart

  “Is Jade okay? Is Abigail okay?”

  “Yes, everyone’s fine. And if you come out here, you’ll get to see your granddaughter, so there’s another reason why you need to get out here. But that’s not the main reason.”

  He sighs. “Fine. I’ll call my pilot and have him get the plane ready. Am I staying for more than a day?”

  I look at my mom. “I hope so. Or maybe you’ll go somewhere else. I don’t know. Just get here and we’ll figure it out later. Call me when you land. Bye, Dad.” I end the call before he can change his mind.

  My mom’s biting her lip, which she always used to do when she was nervous.

  I put my hand on her shoulder. “Mom, calm down. There’s nothing to worry about. He’s going to be happy to see you.”

  She nods. “I hope you’re right.”

  “I’m always right,” I say jokingly.

  “You sound just like your father. You look like him too.” She hugs me. “Oh, honey. I’ve missed you so much.”

  “I missed you too.” When we break apart, I sit back and see tears on her face again. “Mom, what’s wrong?”

  “I’m just so happy to see you. I never thought this day would come. I can’t believe I finally made it back here and that I’m sitting here with you. I’ve spent the past fifteen years thinking about you, worrying about you, wondering if you’re okay, and praying that I would someday see you again. And now here you are, all grown up. I missed all those years with you. I missed watching you grow up.” Her voice is shaky. She’s trying not to cry but she can’t seem to stop.

  I hold her hand. “Mom, it’s okay. It’s the past. And you’re here now. That’s all that matters. Let’s go to my house. We can talk some more there. Have you eaten?”

  “Yes.” She takes a tissue from the table and dabs her eyes. “Grace made me a sandwich.”

  As she says it, the front door opens. My mom and I stand up as Grace comes in, carrying a shopping bag. She sets it down and her eyes bounce between my mom and me. “Seeing you two together again…it’s just…”

  “A miracle,” my mom says, hugging me into her side. She laughs. “He’s so tall. I always wondered if he’d be as tall as Pearce.”

  “Not quite,” I say. “Dad’s still taller than me.”

  “Have you called him?” Grace asks me.

  “Yes. He’s flying out here but I didn’t tell him why.”

  She smiles at my mom. “He’s going to be overjoyed when he sees you.”

  “Grace, we were just getting ready to head back,” I say. “Why don’t you follow us?”

  “I think I’ll stay for the weekend and work in the garden. Rachel could use the guest house if she’d like.”

  “No, she’s staying with us.” I smile as I motion her to the door. “Come on. Let’s go.”

  On her way out, my mom stops to hug Grace. “Thank you so much for all your help.”

  “You’re welcome.” She lowers her voice, but I hear her say, “Forgive him, Rachel. He’s a good man. And he loves you very much.”

  Grace is talking about my dad. My mom must’ve asked her about his involvement in the organization.

  When we’re outside, she says, “I forgot my suitcase. It’s in the guest bedroom.”

  “I’ll get it.” I go back inside and find it sitting on the floor. It’s not a very big suitcase. And yet this is all she has. All her possessions fit inside one small suitcase. Is this how she’s been living all this time? With nothing? Before she left, she was married to a billionaire and could have whatever she wanted. But the past fifteen years she’s had nothing. And my grandfather knew it and kept her away from us. I seethe with anger as I think about that. God, I hated that man. I still hate him, even though he’s dead.

  I zip up the suitcase and go back out to the driveway. My mom’s leaning down, sniffing the roses. The driveway is lined with flowers on both sides. My mom always loved flowers. She planted them all around our old house and in the window boxes and in pots on the porch.

  “It’s nice, isn’t it?” I put her suitcase in the trunk.

  “Yes.” She walks over to the car and I open her door for her. “I love all the flowers.”

  “Did she take you out back?” I ask as I get in the car.

  “No, but I could see it from the windows. Her flower gardens are beautiful.”

  “Yeah, she likes flowers as much as you do.” I back out of the driveway. “We’ll come here again and you can spend time in the back yard. She has all kinds of different flowers back there. She even has those same pink flowers we used to have in front of our house. I don’t remember the name of them but you always planted them every spring.”

  “You remember that?” she asks, her voice sad.

  “Of course I do.” I glance at her. “Why wouldn’t I?”

  “After what happened, I thought maybe you’d want to forget. It had to have been hard on you to hold onto those memories.”

  “That’s all I had left of you. There’s no way I’d forget.”

  She gazes out the front window, and I notice a tear sliding down her cheek. I reach over and hold her hand.

  “Mom, are you okay?”

  “I missed so much of your life. I wasn’t here for you. I feel sick about it.”

  “It wasn’t your fault. It was his. Grandfather did this. And the organization.”

  “I just wish I’d done things differently. Maybe if I’d—”

  “Mom, don’t.” I squeeze her hand. “You can’t change the past. You did what you felt was your only option. Don’t blame yourself for any of this. The past is over. Let’s just focus on the future.”

  “Can I ask you about the past? About what happened after I left?”

  “What do you want to know?” I let go of her, putting my hand back on the steering wheel.

  “How long did you and your father live at our house after I left?”

  “About a year.”

  “And then you moved when your dad got married?”

  I grip the steering wheel tighter. That was such a rough time in my life that I try to forget it. Just thinking about it makes me tense up.

  “Yeah. Dad married Katherine and she insisted we live in a mansion. Dad still lives there.”

  “Did you have to go to a different school?”

  “Yes.” I don’t want to talk about this because it’ll just make her angry. And if she knew Dad sent me to boarding school, she’d be furious. She may not want to get back together with him if she knew how he treated me after she left. “I don’t want to talk about this right now. Could we talk about something else?”

  “Of course. Why don’t you tell me about your wife.” She smiles. “And my granddaughter.”

  I smile back. “I can’t wait for you to meet them.”

  As I tell her about them, I feel like I’m in some kind of dream.

  I’m in the car with my mom. My mom! Holy shit! I still can’t believe it.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  16

  RACHEL

  I’m riding in a car with my son. Driving to his house. And soon I’ll meet his wife and daughter.

  My son has a wife and a daughter. He’s no longer my little boy. He’s a grown man. And a husband. A father.

  So much has changed. None of this seems real. I feel like I’m going to wake up any minute now and find out it’s all been a dream.

  When I first saw Garret, I was overwhelmed with so much emotion I almost couldn’t speak. He looks just like Pearce did at that age. Tall and muscular. Even his face looks just like his Pearce’s, except Garret has my eyes. The exact same bright blue color.

  He’s very handsome. Just like his father. Even looking at him now as he drives, he reminds me of Pearce. He has the same profile. He sits tall, with confidence. He even holds the steering wheel like Pearce does. Is that genetic, or did he just learn that from his dad? I wonder who taught him how to drive.

  I have so many questions, but I don’t want to ask them all at once. And it seems like Garret
doesn’t want to tell me much about what went on while I was gone. That concerns me. It makes me think there’s something he doesn’t want me to know. Is it about Katherine? Did she not treat him well when she was his stepmother? I cringe just thinking about that woman trying to act as his mother. I can’t imagine her as a mother. She always seemed so childish and self-centered.

  “We’re almost there,” Garret says. “I’m going to call Jade.” He presses something on the dashboard and the phone rings. I’m not used to all this new technology. I don’t even have a cell phone.

  “Hello?” a soft voice answers.

  “Hey, it’s me. Were you sleeping?”

  “Yeah. I was taking a quick nap.”

  “I just wanted to let you know I’ll be home in a few minutes.”

  “You’re already done at Grace’s house? How’d you get done so fast?”

  “It didn’t take long. She decided to stay there the rest of the weekend. Hang out with her flowers.”

  Jade laughs. “She has flowers here.”

  “Well, maybe she missed her house. I don’t know. I’ll see you soon.”

  “Okay. Bye.”

  He presses a button that ends the call.

  “She sounds nice,” I say.

  “Yeah, she’s great. She’s really tired right now because of the baby. It was like this with her last pregnancy too. The first trimester she was really tired, and then after that she was fine.”

  He’s so excited about this baby. His whole face is lit up. I’m so happy for him.

  “Do you two plan on having more children after this one?”

  “Probably not. I told Jade I’d like to have three, but she only wants two, which is fine. Back when I met her, she didn’t want any, so two kids is a lot for her.”

  “How does she like being a mom?”

  “She loves it. But she was worried about it before we had Abi. Jade had a really tough childhood and basically had to raise herself. Her mom was hooked on drugs and alcohol so Jade had no example of how to be a mom. She was scared she’d abuse our child like her mom abused her. That’s why Jade didn’t want kids. But she went to counseling and worked through all that stuff and now she’s a great mom.” He smiles at me. “Just like you. You were the greatest mom ever.”

  My eyes tear up. “Oh, honey.”

  “Remember when we used to go to the pool every week?”

  I smile, thinking back. “When you were a baby, we went every day.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes. I’d take you to the pool at that gym we used to go to. I used to give swimming lessons there.”

  “Yeah, I remember. I used to go with you. I’d pick up the towels after class.”

  In my mind, it seems like that happened just yesterday. Probably because that’s how I remember him. As a young boy. And now, he’s a grown man.

  “This is it.” He points to a large, single-level house. “We built it a few years ago. Grace gave us the land.”

  “It’s a gorgeous location. Right on the water?”

  “Yeah. We have a private beach but you have to go down some steps to get to it. The house sits higher up, which gives us a great view of the ocean.”

  He parks in the driveway. “I’ll get your suitcase later.”

  He shows me to the front door, which is a wide wooden door. He unlocks it and opens it halfway.

  “Jade?” he calls out.

  “I’m in the kitchen,” she says.

  He motions me inside. We walk into the living room. It’s a large open area with high ceilings and a big stone fireplace and wood floors. In the middle of the room there’s an oversized couch layered with throw pillows. A cable-knit red blanket is draped over the side. Two brown leather chairs are situated across from the couch, and between them is a square coffee table made of light wood with a distressed finish that’s similar to driftwood you see on the beach. Both the house and the furnishings have a comfortable, casual feel that reminds me of our house in Connecticut.

  “Wait here,” Garret says. “I’ll go get her.”

  He walks toward the back of the house. I hear him talking in the other room. “Hey. I need to tell you something.”

  “Is something wrong?”

  Their voices get quieter so I can’t hear what they’re saying.

  Then his wife’s voice rings out. “Are you serious? She’s really here? Where is she?” I can’t hear Garret’s response, but I hear his wife again. “I’m meeting your mom? Right now? This is crazy! And I’m a mess. Let me go clean up.”

  “Jade, you look great,” I hear Garret say. “And my mom really wants to meet you. Come on.”

  Garret appears first, then his wife. She looks like the type of girl I would pick for him. She has a natural, girl-next-door look, like someone you could instantly be friends with. She has dark brown hair that’s pulled up in a ponytail with some strands hanging loose around her face. I notice her green eyes. Garret loves green eyes, so I’m sure those green eyes caught his attention when they first met. She’s petite; maybe five-five with a small frame. She’s wearing red cotton shorts and a white sleeveless button-up shirt that shows off her tan and toned arms. She seems athletic. Maybe she swims, like me.

  We’re both staring at each other, the room silent. She’s about as shocked as Garret was when he saw me.

  “Mom, this is Jade.” Garret walks her toward me. “Jade, this is my mom.”

  “Hi,” Jade says, then breaks down crying.

  Garret smiles at me. “Happy tears.”

  I hug her. “Jade, it’s so nice to meet you.”

  I don’t think she was expecting the hug because at first she didn’t hug me back, but now she is.

  She lets me go and wipes her tears. “Sorry. I’m just so shocked.”

  “Don’t apologize. I’ve been crying since the moment I saw Garret. I’m trying not to, but I can’t seem to stop.” I smile as my own tears trickle down my cheeks.

  “I’ll be right back.” Garret leaves, then appears moments later with a box of tissues. “I think we’ll be needing a lot of these.” He holds the box up and Jade and I both take a tissue. “Let’s sit down.”

  Garret sits on the couch and puts his arm up and Jade snuggles up beside him. I can already see how much they love each other. I could feel it when they walked in the room together.

  I sit across from them on one of the chairs.

  “Garret’s told me so much about you,” Jade says, sniffling. “And now you’re here. Sitting in our house. This is so amazing. I don’t even know what to say.” She starts crying again.

  “Jade, honey.” I reach out for her hand. “It’s okay.” I already feel a motherly instinct toward her. Maybe because I know she never really had a mother. I’m not sure if that’s it, but I feel this need to comfort her.

  Garret kisses her head, then says to me, “She gets really emotional during pregnancy.”

  “Garret,” she whispers, her eyes darting over to him.

  “Oh. Yeah. I told her. Sorry.”

  “I won’t tell anyone.” I wink at Jade.

  Jade grabs another tissue, smiling at me. “It’s okay. It’s just that we haven’t told anyone yet so I was surprised you knew.”

  “I kind of told Dad as well,” Garret says to her.

  “Garret!” She laughs. “We were supposed to tell him together.”

  “I didn’t actually tell him. He guessed. When I told him he had to get out here, he asked if we were having another baby. I couldn’t lie to him.”

  “Okay, but I get to tell Frank and Ryan.”

  “Yes, I won’t say a word to them.” He kisses her again.

  They are so sweet together. And they both look so happy.

  “So Pearce doesn’t know you’re here?” Jade asks me.

  “Not yet. I think it’s best if he finds out in person.”

  She nods, sniffling. “So how did you find Garret?”

  “She ran into Grace at the grocery store,” Garret answers. “It’s a long story.
I’ll tell you later.”

  I notice some stuffed toys in a basket near the couch and realize I haven’t seen their daughter.

  “Is the baby sleeping?” I ask Jade.

  “Yeah, she’s taking a nap.”

  As if on cue, the baby cries out through the baby monitor sitting on the table.

  Garret jumps up. “I’ll get her.”

  While he’s gone, Jade says, “This is so incredible. I can’t even tell you how happy I am right now. This is like a dream come true for Garret. When I first met him, he had a hard time talking about you. He missed you so much that….well, anyway, he started to talk about you more as I got to know him. He told me how you taught him to swim and how you used to have movie nights.” She smiles. “Garret and I have movie nights too. He even makes a concession stand. He wanted to keep the tradition going.”

  Garret walks in with the baby. She’s in tiny pink shorts and a white t-shirt, her dark brown hair messed up a little from her nap. “Abigail, meet your grandmother.”

  “Hello, Abigail.” I take her from him and set her on my lap. Her bright blue eyes look back at me. I smile at her, tears falling again. “You are the most adorable little girl I’ve ever seen.” She smiles and holds her arms out to me and I hold her against my chest.

  “She likes to give hugs,” Jade says. “Garret taught her that.”

  Jade’s crying again and so am I. We’re a mess. A mess of happy tears.

  Garret hugs Jade into his side. “I think we might need more boxes of tissues.”

  Abigail tugs at my necklace, then pushes herself back to inspect it.

  “Do you want to see a picture?” I open the tiny heart locket, her eyes watching me the whole time. “That’s your daddy when he was a tiny infant.”

  “Really?” Jade jumps up and comes over to me. “Can I see it?”

  I hold it out for her to look at.

  “He’s so cute,” she says. “It’s hard to believe he was ever that small.”

  I laugh. “Yes. He’s grown a lot since then. He was such a cute baby. He made the cutest faces. Have you seen some of the photos?”

  Jade sits next to Garret again. “Um, no. I haven’t.”

  “Garret, you should show her the photos of you when you were little. Does your father have them?”