“Yeah.”
For the rest of the ride, Karen had this crazy grin plastered on her face.
***
Thanks to her ordeal, Kate had suffered a serious concussion and severe dehydration. She had also shattered her hip bone when she’d fallen to the floor and needed surgery to insert pins to hold her hip in place. Eve suspected that although her mother looked as though she was finally on the mend physically, the psychological scars would probably never heal.
They were closer than ever, if such a thing was possible. Her mother had finally opened up to her about the circumstances of her birth, the violent death of her own mother, her father and Irving’s rape, as well as the birth and death of Sonja.
“Did Dad know about Sonja?” Eve asked, gazing down at the new headstone marking the life and death of the sister she had never known. Kate had the old headstone replaced when Liz had suggested that her mother’s ashes be buried in Sonja’s burial plot.
Kate nodded. “Your father was one in a million, honey. He never judged me or thought any less of me.”
“And why should he?” cried Eve, giving her mother a quick hug. “Being raped by your own father was hardly your fault.”
“Maybe so,” Kate acquiesced, “but some men wouldn’t have looked at it that way.”
“Isn’t it about time you cut yourself some slack?”
“Maybe,” her mother conceded brusquely, “but when I think that after all this time, Sonja was still alive and probably reaching out to me—” Her voice broke. “And we’ll never know why she wanted the milk.” She looked at her daughter, horrified. “You don’t suppose she had another baby, do you?”
Eve was quick to reassure her. “Come on, Mom. It could’ve been for a stray kitten, for all we know.”
Kate nodded absentmindedly before slowly walking away from the gravesite.
Eve left her alone, choosing to sit on the small stone bench close by. Kate came back a few minutes later and began pulling the odd stray weed from around the headstone.
Eve finally voiced the question that had been bothering her for quite some time. “Mom, do you suppose Esther knew what Sigi had done?”
Kate slowly straightened up, careful not to put too much pressure on her damaged hip. “How could Esther have known? To my knowledge, Sigi certainly never talked about her former life and I never told anyone about Sonja except for your father and my old agent.”
Eve was saved from responding by the sound of her daughter’s voice.
“Grams!” cried Karen, rushing up with Liz to give her grandmother a hug. “What are you guys doing here?”
“What does it look like we’re doing?” asked her grandmother gruffly. “The weeds don’t pull themselves, you know.” She hugged both girls, happier now that they had come.
“We can do that,” Liz offered. “I like working in the garden.”
Karen became transfixed by the headstone. It had two pictures on it; one being a duplicate of the angelic cherub from Kate’s necklace and the other was a picture Liz had taken of her mother not long after Maria had been released into her care. In between the two pictures was the poem Liz had written:
Maria’s mind meandered freely
searching for that special place,
neither happy nor unhappy;
The awkward stares and merciless taunts
were deflected by a cocoon of oblivion.
There was sweet solace in oblivion
where her mind and spirit were free.
Therein lay the feeble pulse
that was the enigma of Maria’s existence
until her mind meandered freely
once again to that special place,
Neither happy nor unhappy...
In that split second, Karen became overwhelmed by a profound sense of remorse – and of loss. Tears trickled down her cheeks as she sank to her knees, her head bowed.
“I’m so sorry,” she whispered through her tears.
Liz knelt down beside her. “We all are.”
There was a bittersweet smile on Kate’s face as she watched her two grandchildren. “At least one very good thing has come out of all this.”
Eve followed her mother’s gaze. She couldn’t have agreed more.
***
It was an intimate gathering, just a hundred or so of their closest family and friends. Eve sat in the front pew, beaming proudly as Kate came down the aisle, glowing as a bride should on her wedding day. She was preceded by Karen, her maid of honor and her bridesmaid, Liz. Paul was beaming from ear to ear. Otis, serving as his best man, looked more nervous than he did.
When the minister asked if Kate took Paul to be her lawfully wedded husband, the hush was tangible until a baby let out a lusty wail, drowning out Kate’s response. The entire congregation chuckled indulgently. The ceremony was able to resume once Eric had retrieved a bottle of formula from the diaper bag so Brooke could feed their hungry son.
Kate spent their honeymoon moving into the Swanson Estate, Paul’s wedding gift to her. As Kate walked through her new home, she felt complete. With her new husband and the nightmare of the past months behind her, her life had almost come full circle. But as Paul was about to find out, she still had one more surprise up her sleeve. She just hoped her new husband was up for the challenge.
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