Gift of Friends

Chapter Thirty-Two

Lynette ran upstairs to change clothes after depositing her two new boxes of used books in her shed. She would shelve them later; right now she needed to change. Storm was swinging by to pick her up and take her out for ice cream. It was too late in the day for coffee, but neither of them thought a drink was a good idea, and Storm had to leave in the morning.

She smiled. Even though the man was leaving town the next day, this was feeling a little like a date.

“Lynette,” Donna yelled up the stairs, “can you come out to the porch when you’re finished up there? I have something I want to talk to you about.”

Her phone pinged with an incoming text. Storm was running late. He could pick her up at three o’clock, if that still worked. She checked the time, then let him know that would be fine.

What does a woman wear on an ice cream date with an old boyfriend? Or was she reading too much into this? For all she knew, Storm might want to clear the air about ancient history, then blow out of town for another thirty years.

Deciding she needed a little armor against the uncertainties that lay ahead, she selected one of her older yet favorite flowing tunics to wear over a comfortable pair of slacks. Both were from one of her store’s special curated lines. If she felt her confidence flagging, all she’d have to do was look down at her outfit to remind herself that she really had built a successful business from scratch. If she could handle that, she could handle anything.

Once downstairs, she found Donna on the porch with a book. “Is that from Sybil’s library? Or did you nab something from one of my boxes?”

“Sybil’s,” she said, closing the reddish-hued hardcover. She tossed it on the wicker coffee table and motioned for Lynette to take a seat next to her. “You look nice. Are you going out?”

Lynette had purposefully avoided telling her mother that Storm was picking her up. “I am. But not until three. Was there something you wanted to talk about?”

“Oh, are you doing something with Annie?”

That rankled a little. “No . . . I kind of have a date. For ice cream.”

Donna’s eyebrows shot up. “A date? Really?”

“You don’t have to act so surprised, Mother. Besides, it might not be a date.”

“With that lead-in, you’re going to have to tell me who this date slash not-a-date is with,” Donna teased.

Lynette decided she was much too old to be sneaking around with Storm again. “It’s Storm. He’s leaving tomorrow, but he reached out to talk.”

“Hmm,” Donna said, looking thoughtful.

Lynette moved to stand, but Donna put a hand on her knee to hold her in place.

“There was something I wanted to discuss with you. It’s a topic I maybe should have talked to you about years ago, but part of me thought that if I didn’t give voice to it, it wasn’t real.”

Lynette had an inkling about what Donna meant. “That sounds ominous.”

“I suppose it is. You see, dear, I haven’t been completely honest with you about my home life when I was a girl. Or the real reason I left.”

She watched Donna rub her hands together. It seemed her mother should have worn some armor today, too.

“Wasn’t I the reason you left? You getting pregnant with me?”

“No,” Donna admitted. “I know I let you think that, but I actually left home a bit earlier, at eighteen. I didn’t get pregnant with you until I was twenty. But things at home were always bad. My father was a mean man, and he abused my mother, both physically and emotionally. She was almost as bad as he was, so I had a tough childhood.”

Even though Lynette had overheard Donna telling Lavonne this same thing, it hurt so much more to see the pain in her mother’s eyes as she spoke. She couldn’t make Donna relive it all yet again by pretending not to know. “I’m so sorry, Mom. I wasn’t completely honest about how much I heard that night. I did hear you tell Lavonne about your sister and your folks,” she whispered.

Donna’s eyes sparkled with unshed tears. “I should have told you the truth a long time ago. I hate that you learned about it that way.”

Lynette clasped her mother’s hands. “And I hate that you’ve lived with this for so long. You lost a sister? I could have had an aunt?”

“You would have had an aunt, if she’d lived,” Donna said, pulling one hand free to wipe a tear off Lynette’s cheek. Her thumb skimmed the scar there.

“Don’t smear my makeup,” Lynette hiccupped.

The levity seemed to help Donna. She smiled. “Irene was a beautiful person, with a heart of gold, and you’d have loved her. Sometimes you remind me of her.”

“I wish I’d met her. Do you want to talk about how she died?”

Donna placed her hand over her heart. “I’d rather not go into too much detail. As I guess you heard me say, there was an accident on the stairs during a fight. Irene fell and hit her head. I heard her scream, but it was too late. After that, I cut off all ties with my parents. Because, you see, even if her fall was truly an accident, which is what they told everyone, they were still awful people, especially Father. Please never think I robbed you of the possibility of a relationship with your grandparents. Trust me when I say you wouldn’t have wanted to get to know them.”

Lynette absorbed her mother’s words. The ceiling fan whirring above them was the only sound.

“My father, then?” she eventually asked.

“I’m sorry, baby,” Donna said. Her cheeks turned crimson at the question. “Life wasn’t easy after I ran away. Or after I left, I suppose I should say, since I was technically an adult. But it wasn’t until I was lucky enough to give birth to you that I truly grew up. Those years in-between were almost as difficult as my years at home. But you . . . you are my greatest gift in life. Even though I can’t be sure of your biological father, and you were unexpected, you were the best thing that ever happened to me.”

Lynette took her hands from Donna’s grasp and fanned her face. “That’s a lot to take in, Mom. Do I look a mess? Should I go fix my face? I appreciate you telling me, though. I always wondered why you would never talk about your life before I was born, or who my father was.”

“Your face is fine, dear,” Donna said. She sat farther back on the sofa and crossed her legs. “I still can’t quite believe you are going out with Storm this afternoon. By the way, I talked to Raven about him when she was here earlier today. She confirmed she had a nephew named Taran Gage. He was her brother Gideon’s son, but bad blood left them estranged. Raven hated her sister-in-law and had no idea that Sybil remained in contact with Taran until I showed her the pictures we found in the box. I told her what you’d found out.”

It was a relief to learn Storm had told her the truth about his ties to Raven and this house. “Raven’s sister-in-law was Storm’s mom, right? I hated that woman, too.”

“You hated his mother? Why? Did she say something to you after you wrecked his truck?” Donna asked, uncrossing her legs and leaning forward.

Lynette snorted before she could stop herself. Maybe if Storm’s mother hadn’t been so cruel and ignored her cry for help, the accident never would have happened in the first place.

Donna looked like she was waiting for an answer to her questions about Storm’s mom. But how could Lynette tell Donna about how the woman had ignored her cry for help without sharing the whole sordid tale?

She couldn’t.

Then the irony of it all revealed itself to her. She and Donna were so much alike. They’d both held tight to stories of deep trauma they’d each suffered, keeping their secrets for decades. When they finally found the courage to open up about the tragedies, it was to their girlfriends instead of to each other. But until mother and daughter both found a way to be honest with the other, neither could truly heal.

She’d learned her mother’s secrets, but only because she’d cheated.

It was time to truly come clean.

“Mom . . . the reason I crashed Storm’s pickup that night was because I was running from a man who attacked me.”

Donna’s hands shot out and grabbed both of Lynette’s in a tight grip. “He came after you after we looped in the authorities? Oh my God, Lynette, you should have told me! How were you able to forgive me for letting that man into our lives?”

Lynette glanced down at her fingers. The tips were turning red because Donna was squeezing so hard. It took her a second to realize where her mother’s imagination had jumped. She yanked her hands free, then clasped her mother’s more gently.

“Mom. Stop. It wasn’t that prick of a guy you were dating. It was someone who used to hang around the pizza place where I worked.”

“What?”

She took a deep breath, then proceeded to tell her mother everything. For once, Donna didn’t interrupt. When she got to the part about stumbling across her attacker’s obituary while packing to leave town, Donna collapsed against the back of the wicker sofa. Her eyes were closed, but tears leaked down her cheeks.

“Oh, Lynette . . . I hate that you’ve carried that awful story inside for thirty years.”

Lynette rubbed Donna’s knee. “It never would have happened if I hadn’t been so stupid and climbed blindly into a stranger’s vehicle.”

Donna dashed a rough hand over her cheeks. “Don’t we make quite the pair?”

“I’ve always said that,” Lynette agreed. “But what do you mean, exactly?”

Donna let out a bone-weary sigh. “We both blamed ourselves for the actions of horrible, selfish men. Neither of us reached out for help from anyone.”

“Well, technically I begged for Storm’s mother to help me while banging on the door of their lake house, but the bitch ignored me.”

Donna smacked the sofa cushion with both hands in frustration, then squeezed the edges of it so tightly that her knuckles turned white. “She ignored you?! And to think I let that awful woman run us out of town.”

Lynette tilted her head, convinced she couldn’t have heard her mother correctly. “Mom . . . why did we really leave Ruby Shores like that? After my accident, you had us out of town within two weeks. It all felt very rushed, and I was heartbroken to leave my friends. And Storm, even though he wasn’t speaking to me after the accident. I always felt like there was more to the story that you didn’t share with me. Did that awful woman have something to do with it?”

Donna gave her a small smile, and Lynette could sense the melancholy behind it. “I’m a little ashamed to talk about it.”

“I promise I won’t judge,” Lynette said. She just wanted answers.

“Well, you might, but why not just get all of our secrets out in the open as long as we’ve started? As Renee’s mother, Lavonne, told me that night while we visited around the firepit at Whispering Pines, secrets are poison. Did you hear her say that while you eavesdropped? Raven said something very similar, earlier today. Fine. Here it goes. Storm’s mother, Delaney Erickson, wanted us out of town, and she offered me ten thousand dollars, cash, if we’d go quietly.”

“No, she didn’t,” Lynette whispered, shocked. “Why would she do that?”

Donna squirmed.

“Mom?”

“She thought you were a bad influence on Storm.”

Lynette paused at this, then burst out laughing.

“You don’t feel bad about her thinking that?” Donna asked.

“Bad? If anyone was a bad influence, it was Storm. Donna, I’d never had sex or even alcohol before I met him.”

Donna slammed her hands over her ears. “La-la-la, I don’t want to hear this,” she said in a singsong voice.

Lynette pulled her hands down. “Oh, stop. You already knew that. I tried to be sneaky, but you weren’t dumb.”

Donna shuddered. “I still don’t want to hear those things about my seventeen-year-old daughter.”

“I was almost eighteen!” Lynette laughed. “Storm’s mother was an awful woman. I knew she didn’t like me. And taking her son’s pickup without permission, then totaling it, probably did nothing to endear me to her. But I wouldn’t have guessed she’d pay money to get rid of me. I wonder if Storm knows . . .”

“I have no idea,” Donna said. “Honestly, honey, I was also feeling terribly guilty about the other situation, too. I worried that if Storm got his hands on my ex, he might do something we’d all regret. There seemed to be so many valid reasons for me to take you away. I was ashamed to take her money, but it gave me the ability to set us up nicely somewhere new.”

The two women sat quietly for a few minutes, both thinking through the heavy things they’d just discussed.

“I don’t know about you, but I feel better now that our secrets are out in the open,” Donna said.

Ebony appeared in the doorway and looked between the two of them. It reminded Lynette of yet another secret.

“I have one more confession to make, Mom, and then I promise there’s nothing left to tell,” Lynette said, watching the cat saunter into the room. “But first, I have a question. Why was that teddy bear I always played with as a kid so important to you?”

Donna sighed. “It was one of the few things I took when I left home. It was Irene’s.”

“Damn,” Lynette whispered.

“Why? Do you know where it disappeared to?”

Lynette pointed at Ebony. “She did it.”

“Did what? Now you sound like me and Irene, blaming each other for things as kids.”

“Brace yourself,” Lynette said. “Ebony ripped the bear’s head off. I’m sure she thought it was a toy for her.”

But Donna didn’t react the way Lynette had expected, either. “I wondered when you’d get around to telling me the truth. I found what was left of him, shoved in a bag.”

Lynette burst out laughing. Would the two of them ever stop hiding things from each other?

The doorbell rang.

Lynette popped to her feet. “Do you want me to bring you home a cone?”

Donna stood, too. “Actually, I want you to invite Storm in. I’d like to have a word with him.”

Lynette felt her smile slip away. “Why? What are you going to say to him?”

“Don’t worry, Lynette, I don’t intend to embarrass you. Now answer the door before he gives up on you.”

The bell rang again. Ebony followed on Lynette’s heels. “No sneaking outside,” she said to the cat as she swung the door open.

Ebony tried to slither around Storm’s legs, but he was too quick for her. He scooped her up and handed her to Lynette. “She’s still trying to put the sneak on you, huh?”

“Come in.”

The cat wasn’t in the mood to be held, and it took everything Lynette had to hold on to her while Storm closed the door.

“I’d offer to bring her along, but I don’t allow cats in my truck,” Storm said, a teasing note in his voice.

“And I don’t think they allow cats in an ice cream parlor. Dogs maybe, if one claims it as an emotional support animal, but not her. Besides, she’s bonded with my mother more than me.” Lynette stopped, realized she was rambling. She focused on the sleeve of her tunic for a second, gathered her composure, then met Storm’s inquisitive gaze. “Donna would like a chance to say hello before we leave. Do you mind?”

She studied his face, being careful not to look him up and down. This new Storm fascinated her. He was the old Storm, but not.

“Should I be nervous?” he asked.

Lynette chuckled. “I doubt much makes you nervous. Come on. She’s in here.”

“It might surprise you,” she thought she heard him say as she turned away, but she couldn’t be sure.

They found Donna in the kitchen instead of the screened-in porch.

“I know the two of you met again, earlier this summer, but Donna, this is Storm. Storm, this is Donna. Or should I call you Taran?”

“Either is fine,” Storm replied.

Lynette thought he looked nervous, which surprised her.

“It’s good to see you again, Taran. I’m sorry I didn’t recognize you when you and Owen helped me dry the basement.”

Donna’s easy comment seemed to put their visitor at ease. He extended a hand to her and said, “And I’m sorry I didn’t tell you who I really was.”

Lynette wasn’t sure if he was apologizing for not clarifying that he was an old boyfriend of her daughter or Sybil’s long-lost great-grandson. He’d probably assumed Lynette had told Donna about his ties to this house.

“How about a fresh start?” Donna said, motioning for them both to take a seat at the kitchen table.

“Oh boy, Mom,” Lynette said, looking between the chairs and Storm. “We probably should get going. Storm might still need to pack, since he’s leaving tomorrow.”

Storm pulled out a chair and motioned for Donna to sit. Then he did the same for Lynette. “I travel light” was all he said.

“What was it you wanted to discuss, Donna?”

“Excuse her,” Donna said, tapping on the tabletop. “She isn’t overly patient.”

Storm wagged his head and shot Lynette a smile.

“Lynette told me you claim that Sybil Wall was your great-grandmother and Gideon Gage was your father.”

“Mother,” Lynette said, hoping her mother would catch the warning. What was she up to?

“That’s correct,” Storm said. He didn’t look fazed. “Raven Gage-Black is also my aunt.”

Donna pushed her chair back and stood. “I spoke to Raven earlier today.”

Lynette could see the surprise on Storm’s face the second before he schooled his emotions.

“Today?” he repeated.

Donna walked over to the kitchen counter and picked up the wooden box Lynette had found in her shed. Lynette hadn’t noticed it sitting there when they’d walked in.

“Yes. She swung by. I wanted to give her this, but it turned out that she didn’t want it. Do you recognize the box?”

Storm extended a hand, and Donna brought it to him.

“It looks familiar. I think this is the box I put out in the old garden shed at Sybil’s request.”

Lynette racked her brain, trying to remember if she’d told him she had found it in the shed.

“I thought it might have been you,” Donna said.

Storm set it on the table in front of him. “Do you mind if I open it?”

“Be my guest,” Donna said with a flourish of her hand, before sitting down again. “Raven was interested in the wedding pictures that were in there. They were of her parents and Sybil.”

He nodded as he browsed through the contents. “What, no tarot cards?” He winked at Lynette.

She shot a glance at her mother. Storm was still getting her into trouble with Donna.

“We wondered about those, too,” Donna said, meeting Lynette’s eyes.

“They’re in my bedroom. I took them to Whispering Pines with me. I thought it would be fun to show them to my friends, but it didn’t exactly go as I’d expected.”

Donna smirked. “Imagine that.”

Storm laughed suddenly as he gazed at the pictures. “I assume Lynette told you this is me?”

“She did,” Donna said. “Raven confirmed it as well.”

At the mention of his aunt’s name, Storm grew serious. “Does she know I’m in town?”

Donna shrugged. “She knows you were here helping me in the basement. I honestly didn’t know if you were still around until Lynette mentioned your date.”

Lynette tried to kick her mother under the table but banged her weak ankle against a table leg instead.

Storm ignored her groan. “What did she say about me?”

Donna’s expression softened. She must have heard the longing behind his question, too. “It shocked her to learn that you’d been here as a boy and had some type of relationship with Sybil. It didn’t sound like she got along with your mother, and she’d only ever seen you once, as an infant.”

Storm sighed, then looked in the box again. He pulled out the vintage ring, studied it, then put it on the tip of his pinkie finger. “Was this Sybil’s? Why didn’t Raven take it?”

“When I first told her about it over the phone after Lynette found the box, the ring and wedding pictures were the two things she was most excited about. I forgot to mention the pictures of you then, since we didn’t even know who the boy was,” Donna admitted. “Raven said Sybil wore it, as did her mother-in-law before her. So it is quite old. When Eleanor, your grandmother, married, it passed to her. Sadly, they found it on her body after she’d drowned.”

Lynette gasped. “That’s awful.”

“Water can be very dangerous if you aren’t careful,” Storm said, pinning Lynette with a warning look.

Donna ignored them both. “But today, Raven decided she didn’t want it after all. She doesn’t wear rings and has no kids to pass it on to. She suggested I take it. Or give it to Lynette. Sybil liked us both. She even joked that you could have it, if you had any interest. You are the only family she has left.”

Lynette could see his Adam’s apple jump.

“She said I could have it? But would you rather keep it, Ms. Howe?”

“Call me Donna,” she said with a shake of her head. “No. That wouldn’t be right. You should have it.”

Storm slipped it off the tip of his finger. “I’d like that. Thank you.”

Lynette watched as he carefully placed it in his shirt pocket, then fastened the button to secure it.

“Raven will reach out if she’s interested in seeing you. Of course, you get to decide whether that is something you want, too, Taran.”

Storm looked around them, his eyes taking in the kitchen. “I’ve always liked this place. It would be nice to meet Raven if she decides that’s what she wants. The only family I’m close with these days is my brother, Shane. And my son.”

Lynette’s eyes were resting on Sybil’s wooden box when he mentioned a son, and everything went wavy for a beat.

“You have a son?” Donna said. “Lynette didn’t mention that.”

Storm surprised Lynette again by reaching for her hand. “We have lots to talk about. I suspect we’ve both done lots of living since we last saw each other. That’s why I suggested ice cream.”

Uncomfortable with the physical contact, Lynette eased her hand out of his and stood. “If there isn’t anything else, Donna, Storm and I should go.”

Donna pointed toward the box. “Is there anything else in there that you’d like, Taran? Do you want to take it all?”

Storm got to his feet and tapped his shirt pocket. “No. This will be plenty. I appreciate what you did for me today, Donna.”

Donna looked up at the man. “Do you mean the ring?”

“Not exactly. I appreciate the ring, don’t get me wrong, but I was referring to the bridge you built for me to find my way back to my father’s family.”

“You are welcome,” Donna said with a smile. “Lynette and I were just discussing how families and secrets aren’t a good mix. Now, you two kids should get going. I hate to keep you from your ice cream any longer.”

Lynette shoved her chair back against the table and headed for the backdoor. “Let’s go out this way, Storm.”

She didn’t even look back for fear Donna would fabricate yet another delay.

Once outside and down the stairs, Lynette waited for Storm to reach her side.

“I really am sorry about that. I hope you didn’t feel like a teenager getting the third degree in there.”

Storm shook his head. “I meant what I said. I appreciate Donna talking to Raven for me. Besides, I always enjoyed hanging out in Sybil’s kitchen.”

Lynette smiled up at him. He sounded sincere. She turned to walk around the front to his truck, but he caught her arm.

“Hold up a second, will you?”

She watched him turn in the other direction and wander over to the water fountain. He reached a hand out and let the water rain down around his fingers. “You’ll want to winterize this before long.”

“I will,” she said. “We didn’t have it out here last winter. Annie and her son helped me pull it out of the shed.” Then she remembered that was the same day that she’d spied him driving by so slowly, though she hadn’t yet known it was him. “Or maybe you saw us wrestle it out here if you drove by here a third time that day.”

He laughed, and she suspected he knew exactly what she meant.

“Did you know the sculptor modeled this after your Grandma Eleanor when she was young?”

“Actually, I did. Sybil told me that when I snuck over here on my bicycle one day,” Storm said. He dried his hand on his pant leg, then extended it to her. “Should we go get that ice cream now? At this rate, it’ll have to count as dinner.”

Lynette let her fingers entwine with his, but she kept them loose. She didn’t want to rush anything. Together they walked to his pickup, and he opened the passenger door for her. He surprised her by dropping his hands to her waist and brushing a light kiss over the tip of her nose before lifting her up and onto the seat.

It all happened so fast, she wondered if she’d imagined it. “What did you do that for? I can get in and out of a pickup, even if it’s as big as this one.”

He laughed and slammed her door. Once he was behind the wheel, he rested his hand across the back of her seat’s headrest. “The one time I gave Donna a ride in this, I had to give her a boost. So I thought, like mother like daughter. Besides, the last time you got out of one of my trucks, they had to cut you out with the jaws of life, so we should be extra careful.”

She took a playful swing at his midsection and he cringed away, but his arm stayed where it was. He had to use his left hand to shift it into gear. Her mind flashed back to an earlier time when he always threw his arm across the back of the bench seat and played with her hair as he drove. He’d had to use his left hand to shift back then, too.

If this fancy new truck had a bench seat, it would have been easy to slide over next to him like she used to, but bucket seats and a center console made that impossible.

She expected him to pull into the street, but when he didn’t, she looked over to find his gaze on her. “Is something wrong?”

He sighed. “Lynette, I shouldn’t have teased you about the accident. That was a terrible time. I know my mother never liked us dating, and when you wrecked the truck her ex-husband had given me as a graduation gift, she lost it. Her ex was furious, too—not that the two of them were really on speaking terms anymore. But I know Mom went and talked to Donna. Or at least she told me she was going to. Then you just left. Without so much as a word. I should have come to you, despite their warnings to me to stay away. I’m sorry I didn’t fight for us. I’m sorry for all of it.”

She played Donna’s rendition of what happened after the accident beside what Storm was saying. “You knew about the money, then?”

“What money?” He looked confused. She believed that he really didn’t know his mother had paid Donna to skip town with her juvenile delinquent daughter.

“Never mind,” she said, breaking eye contact with him. “Wait? Did you hear that?”

He leaned forward, as if listening to his truck’s motor. “Hear what?”

Lynette laughed. “My stomach. I’m starving, and unless I get ice cream soon, I don’t know what I’ll do.”

Storm relaxed back into his seat and eased the truck away from the curb. “We can’t have that now, can we?”

She felt his fingers at the base of her neck as he played with her curls. He didn’t seem to mind that her hair was silver now instead of the rich color of her youth.

“So . . . you have a kid? How about a wife?”

He gave her hair a playful tug. “No wife. Like I said, we have some things to talk about. We better order double scoops. This could take a while.”

Lynette reached up and captured his hand, bringing it around to rest in both of hers. “Storm, where are we going?”

He bent his arm up, bringing her hands with, and kissed her closest knuckle. “Right now? We’re going for ice cream. After that? I’m not sure. But I’m open to suggestions.”

He relaxed his arm again, and as their conjoined hands came to rest on top of the console, she spied his tiny butterfly tattoo.

This time she didn’t comment on it, but the memories of what this man meant to her as a girl, regardless of how young she was, flitted through her mind as he drove them through the streets of Ruby Shores.