Trick of Light (The Sutton Book Club 2)

Chapter 23

Four days later, Bethany woke up early to prep for her job interview at the hospital in Nantucket. She stretched her legs down the beach in a five-mile run, performed some yoga in her bedroom, and meditated on her needs and hopes for the next five, ten, or fifteen years of her life. When she emerged for a cup of coffee downstairs in the kitchen, she was surprised to find Victor and Esme seated together quietly, both doing crosswords.

“Morning!” Victor said.

Bethany smiled. It was only six thirty. Had her father slept over? “Morning!” She poured herself a mug of coffee and sat at the table with them, rubbing her chest, hoping to relieve her nerves.

“Today’s the big day,” Victor said.

“It is.” Bethany couldn’t help but imagine herself to be ten or eleven, eating breakfast with her parents on the morning of a big spelling test or a field trip she was sure would change her future. It was funny how little anything changed.

Victor pressed his pencil onto the crossword and wrote out the word BILLOW. Bethany sipped her coffee.

“It’s funny talking to that Renee,” Victor said, speaking mostly to the crossword. Again, Renee, Rod, and Felix had come over last night for dinner—an event that would prove to be very consistent over the next few months. “She’s quite a wonderful young woman. It’s hard to believe her mother wanted to give her up.”

Esme gave Victor a harsh look like don’t do this.

But Bethany was fascinated with this, too.

“It’s hard to believe,” she said. “You couldn’t have taken my babies away without a fight.”

Victor cleared his throat. “I’ve met women like that in my years of therapy work, of course. Women without that maternal instinct. Women who want to run away from the little kids who need them most. But it seems to me that it fights against the natural order of things.”

“Renee has that instinct,” Esme said.

“She does,” Victor said. He set down his pencil and looked at Bethany square in the eye. “I think it’s wonderful that you and Rod are overcoming what happened in the past. That you’re facing it and moving forward. Together.”

“Victor…” Esme begged him to stop.

“Let me finish,” Victor said. “Rod made a life-altering mistake. But nobody could ever say Renee wasn’t a blessing. Nobody could say things didn’t happen the way they were meant to.”

“I feel the same way,” Bethany whispered, her eyes filling. “My children are blessings, too. And… I don’t regret marrying Nick. No matter what happened after. It’s made me who I am today.”

Victor eyed Esme across the table. And for the first time, Bethany wondered if he’d actually been talking about Bethany as a way to explain his feelings for Esme.

Her heart stirred with questions. But very soon, it was time to go.

Bethany drove to the Nantucket Hospital and parked in the lot near the front entrance. Although she was more or less sure she had the job in the bag, her stomach was filled with butterflies. She wanted to impress the hospital administration and make her mark.

Bethany breezed through the front doors and greeted the receptionist, who led her down another hallway and into a room with large windows that looked out over the sound. From here, you could just make out a lighthouse on the jagged coast.

When one of the hospital staff members entered the room to greet Bethany, he admitted he was jittery. “I was just rereading your file,” he said. “Your married name is Waterstone?”

Bethany knew it was one of the biggest names in the medical field.

“I’m getting divorced,” she explained. “I’m a Sutton, through and through.”

“Right. Your father,” the man said as he sat across from her. “Victor.”

Bethany remembered all that time ago, back in college, when she’d tried to seek help in therapy. When the therapist asked if she was related to Victor, Bethany had hated claiming Victor as her father.

Now, she welcomed it.

As she launched into her interview, it occurred to her that her capacity for forgiveness had only grown over the years. She’d become a better doctor, mother, and person as the years had gone by. Maybe she was always meant to be this version of herself when she truly committed to Rod.

“This was all a formality,” the hospital staff member admitted as he stretched his hand over the table. “I’d like to officially offer you the position of head of surgery here in Nantucket. We look forward to the tremendous changes you have planned for our little hospital.”

“I don’t think it will be little forever,” Bethany assured him. “I plan to do great things here.”

His eyes sparkled with excitement.

As soon as Bethany left the hospital, she called Rod.

“You’re done! That was fast.”

“Where are you?”

“I just finished a house call,” Rod said. “Meet at the diner?”

Bethany blinked through tears as she drove to the diner, one of their favorite places to hang out as teenagers. She parked beside Rod’s truck and scrambled out into the damp warmth of the August morning. It wasn’t as humid as Savannah, not by a long shot, but clouds billowed along the horizon, and the forecast spoke of rain.

Bethany entered the diner to find Rod at their favorite table. It had only been a few hours since she’d seen him last night at her family’s place, but she couldn’t wait to rush into his arms. Once there, she raised on her tiptoes and whispered, “Can we kiss now? I can’t wait anymore.”

She’d been starved of love for too long. He had, too.

He pressed his lips against hers as the world stilled and the radio crackled with a forgotten song. Bethany’s heart hammered in her chest. When their kiss broke, Bethany bit her lower lip and dropped back down on her heel, frightened she would lose her balance.

A strange voice in the back of her mind said, You aren’t too old to have a baby together. Not yet. Not if you hurry.

For now, she shook her head and quieted it.

Bethany and Rod chuckled and sat on the same side of the booth, unable to keep their hands off each other. They ordered almost everything on the menu—omelets and pancakes and bacon and biscuits and gravy. They ordered coffee and ice cream with extra cherries. They kissed more times than either of them could count.

They glowed with the promise of the future and relief that the past hadn’t destroyed them—not fully. They glowed, knowing that they’d escaped truly heinous realities. Felix was still alive; he would live for a very long time. Nick and the Waterstones were ancient memories, and they had nothing to do with Bethany at all.

They were free. They were in love.

Outside, a violent storm raged across the island, splattering rain across the diner”s windows and thrashing lightning through the dark sky. Bethany wrapped her arms around Rod and watched the beauty unfold before them. Rod pressed his lips to her forehead, reminding her she was safe.