Chapter Six
A s soon as Katherine got home from the hospital, she went upstairs to find the box her mother had told her about. Sure enough it was there. Then she’d marched downstairs and called Blake. She could only face so much alone.
When the doorbell rang twenty minutes later, she was waiting in the foyer. She opened the door and threw herself into his arms. “I’m so glad to see you.”
He kissed her on the cheek. “You sounded pretty upset on the phone. What gives?”
Blake followed her into the house, and she led him into the living room. At twenty-eight, he was eight years older than she was. They’d met last summer, right after she and her mother had returned from her post-graduation cruise. Katherine had gotten a job with a temp agency for the summer to make some extra money for college and had gotten placed at the accounting firm where Blake worked. First, there’d just been harmless flirting around the coffeepot, but once her assignment ran out, he’d asked her to a movie. They’d been dating ever since.
Her relationship with Blake was the one thing she and her mother didn’t see eye to eye on. Her mother was horrified that Katherine had gone into her freshman year of college dating an older man. According to Jane, she was missing out on the social aspect of college that was so important. Her mother had always wanted her to join a sorority and be actively involved on campus, things she herself had never gotten to do. But Katherine had chosen to work and spend time with Blake instead.
Now as they stood in the living room, she told him quickly now about her mother’s diagnosis and the doctor’s stoic demeanor. “It was like he’s already given up.”
Blake pulled her close. “I’m sure it isn’t like that, honey. He likely doesn’t want to give you false hope.” He leaned his head back and met her teary gaze. “It’s probably better that you go ahead and accept the truth.”
She pulled away from him. “So you’re on his side. You think I should just go ahead and start planning her funeral.”
He loosened his tie and shook his head. “That isn’t what I said.” He reached over and rubbed her shoulder. “But I do think you should prepare yourself.”
Katherine started pacing the length of the living room. “I’m not stupid. I know the odds aren’t in her favor.” She stopped in front of him. “But I need to be able to believe that she could get better. That’s the only way I can get through this for now.”
Blake sighed. “How is she taking it?”
Katherine shook her head. “We haven’t talked about it much. She primarily wanted to apologize to me instead of talk about her illness.”
“Apologize? For what?”
“I don’t know.”
He frowned. “I don’t understand.”
She suddenly felt foolish. “She told me there was a box in the top of the closet that I needed to look through with an open mind.”
“Is there?”
“Yes, there’s a box there.”
“So, what’s in it?”
She rubbed her forehead. “I know it’s crazy, but I wanted you here before I opened it.”
Five minutes later, with Blake settled on the sofa for the required moral support, Katherine walked in with the box. What would be in it? She couldn’t imagine.
She sank onto the floor in front of Blake, set the box down, and lifted the lid. Lots of cards and letters. She immediately saw her name on the front of many of them.
She picked the top one up and peered at the postmark. A year ago. Her hand trembled as she opened it. A greeting card. “To my dearest daughter, on her high school graduation,” she read aloud.
“From Mike?” Blake leaned forward to look at it closer.
Katherine sat very still, wishing she could believe that this card was from the only man she’d ever known as a father. Mike had adopted her when she was two, because her biological father had been—according to what her mom had told her when she was twelve and old enough to ask questions—unprepared for fatherhood and not interested in the responsibility. She opened the card slowly and a check fluttered to the ground. And it wasn’t signed by Mike.
“Whoa.” Blake whistled softly as he saw the hefty amount. “I take it that’s from your biological dad. That’s a lot of zeroes.”
Katherine felt like the air in the room had suddenly grown thinner. “Why would she not have told me?”
Blake didn’t answer.
She reached in again, digging to the bottom of the box. She came up with a small envelope addressed to her mom. She opened it and a photo fell out. She held it under the letter without looking at it while she read the scrawled words. “I spent time with him when I was younger,” she whispered, more to herself than to Blake.
“Really?”
She looked up at him. “Yeah, listen to this—‘She cries all the time, Jane. It tears my heart out. The only time she isn’t crying is when she’s playing with Easton. One thing I did right as a dad, I guess. Buying her that puppy to play with,” She pulled out the photo, stared at it, and handed it to Blake. “Look. On the back, it says it’s me, age two, and Easton, also age two.” In the photo, Katherine’s head was thrown back in laughter and a chocolate lab was licking her face with a pink tongue. “Don’t we look like buddies?”
Blake laughed. “You were a cute little thing.”
She took the photo back. “This is so weird.” She laid the photo and letter aside and dug in again. There were more letters to her mom telling about how much she cried while she was with him, all dated before her second birthday. Then there were a lot addressed to her. At first she read the cards and letters to Blake, but when she realized there was a card. . .and a check for every birthday, and letters several times a year just to say hello and he loved her, she felt too sick to keep reading them aloud. She’d read one, lay it down, and grab another one. Over and over again.
One time she was vaguely aware of Blake getting up and getting something to drink out of the fridge then coming back to sit on the floor beside her. Finally, she finished going through the whole box and looked up at him, her heart heavy. “I don’t understand why Mom kept this from me.”
“Are you angry?”
Katherine sighed. “How can I be angry with my mother, especially considering the news we just got?” She shook her head. “At this point, I’m just confused.” She leaned against him. “I’m not sure what I’ll even say. I’m going to the hospital first thing tomorrow and am hoping to have it figured out by then.”
Blake pushed to his feet and looked down at her. “I’m sure you’ll know what to say. You and Jane have always been able to talk about everything.” Katherine’s close relationship with her mother had always bothered Blake. He didn’t understand why she would share the details of her life, especially when they concerned her relationship with him. She’d told him a million times that her mom was both her mother and her friend, but he could never get past it.
“Yeah.”
“Hey. . .” He tugged on her hand and pulled her to her feet. “Let’s go out for dinner. I think it’ll do you good to get out of the house tonight.”
She looked down at the box. The last thing she felt like doing was eating, but she knew if she said that, he’d say that she had to eat to keep up her strength. She nodded. “Okay. I don’t like being here without Mom anyway. I hope the doctor lets her come home tomorrow.”
He nodded and grabbed her hand. “Let’s go.”
She let him lead her out the door and into his waiting convertible. He chattered all the way to the restaurant about an incident at work, but her mind was a million miles away. Part of her wanted to stop him and have him drop her off at the hospital. But her mom had clearly told her to go home, look through the box, and come back tomorrow. Maybe she was trying to figure out what to say, too. She leaned her head against the leather seat and let the warm July breeze wash over her. Tomorrow she would get some answers.