41. Henry
“Mom?” Sophie’s voice quavered, and she fell into Josh as Henry swiveled to meet the gaze of the woman he hadn’t seen in twenty-five years.
Sick at the sight of her, nauseous with her betrayal, Melanie was still beautiful, he supposed, but time had worn her down, making her cheeks sunken, which lent to a haggard appearance.
Not only was weight missing, but so was the hope that had once sparkled brightly in her blue eyes, a testament to her belief that she would be somebody important one day.
Too bad she had never realized that she had been.
She’d been the center of the world for two people. Three, if she had stayed.
Melanie glared at Henry. “I tried to prevent all of this, if you had only met up with me. Every call I made to you, begging you to speak to me, to meet with me in person. I tried to warn you she was coming. I wanted to explain-”
“Are you serious right now?” Henry demanded.
“You tried to ‘prevent all of this’?” His arm swept out to encompass the scene of their children comforting each other.
“You caused this, Melanie! The day you left town, pregnant with my child—my daughter! You had to know, right? That you were pregnant?” She avoided his eyes now, looking somewhere over his shoulder.
He snarled as grief and anger collided, “I’m assuming that’s why you left.
Couldn’t bear to raise another child with me or be married to me, so you had to run away? ”
“Dad!” Josh’s voice was panicked. Even in the days following Melanie’s abandonment, Henry had kept his temper from his son.
“I’m okay,” he assured Josh. To Melanie, he said, “Am I right?”
“No,” Melanie denied, shaking her head. “That’s not what happened.”
He raised an eyebrow. “You didn’t walk away from our son? Didn’t leave, pregnant with our daughter, stealing her away from me, from us, from her family?”
“‘Her family’?” Melanie raged, “You mean your family? The one where no one cared about me for the fifteen years I lived there? Only your dad ever gave me the time of day—”
Henry interrupted, “Not this again,” unwilling to listen to her tear his family down.
Melanie had been the one to shut them out, time and time again, not the other way around.
It had been Melanie who had never been interested in bonding with his sister, or chatting with his mom at family gatherings.
Melanie, always reluctant to allow any of Josh’s cousins to stay the night at their place, rarely let him sleep over at their houses.
Despite the fact that Henry had tried to convince her to become part of the small-town community in Clover Lake, she had barely left their home.
Josh said softly, “And what about me, Mom? Where did I fit into all of this? Am I your family? Dad’s family?
My sister’s family?” Josh, still with his arm around Sophie, gave her shoulders a squeeze.
“Because I can tell you with one hundred percent certainty that I cared about you. I missed you.” Josh wrenched off the tie he had worn all day, the tie that Charlotte had straightened for him when she had arrived at Henry’s house as they were getting ready for the wedding.
Thinking they would all be ready for some light snacks, she brought crackers, triangles of yellow and white Colby-Jack cheese, and rounds of cured summer sausage, fresh from the meat locker on the south end of town.
Charlotte had helped Josh to finish getting ready, calming him when his nerves threatened to get the better of him, when it should’ve been his mother there.
“I needed my mom!” His voice hoarse, he let loose the anguish he’d contained for the past twenty-five years. “You are the one who didn’t care.”
“Joshua, that’s not true,” Melanie denied. “I left for you, believe it or not. I felt like I was wasting away in Clover Lake, with nothing more to give—”
Sophie interjected, “Well, that certainly explains all I needed to know about my childhood.”
“Sophie, no, you know I didn’t mean that! I gave you the best I could—”
“The best you could?” Sophie’s lovely face twisted. “Without my dad…without my brother. They didn’t even know I existed, Mom. You robbed me of that…robbed us of all of this,” Sophie sobbed.
“I never meant for that to happen. I wanted to tell you for years, Sophie, baby. You don’t understand.
I…I didn’t mean to leave! I just needed to get away.
My mind was spinning when I found out that I was pregnant again.
I couldn’t think in that god-forsaken town, so I took the bus to Omaha.
I called Casey, and she met me there. I never meant to stay away, or go anywhere else, but then too much time passed.
” Melanie ducked her head, running a hand through her still-blonde hair.
“Casey? Casey met you in Omaha? From Florida? That doesn’t sound like a spur-of-the-moment decision. That sounds like planning, my dear.” Henry quaked with fury. “And don’t forget about the divorce papers you took the time to file in Sioux Falls.”
“No, you don’t understand! Henry, you told me repeatedly that one day I would get to live out my dreams—”
He snorted, “What? Of going to California? You were never serious about that.” Surely, she must have realized by now what a ridiculous pipe dream that had been.
She’d never even taken an acting class. He had encouraged her to at least volunteer with the drama program at Clover Lake High School, or to take part in the community theatre, but she’d told him that was beneath her; instead, she sulked around the house, not even getting about a job.
Not once had she ever acknowledged his own ambitions, dreams that he had forgone so he could provide for her and their son.
“That was the problem, Henry; you never took me seriously! How could I live in that environment?” Her eyes left him to focus on their son.
“Joshua, leaving you was not a choice I made. I never meant to be gone forever. Please—” she started toward Josh, then, but he shook his head and backed up to escape her.
“No. You don’t get to hug me. Not today.
My long-lost mother, showing up out of the blue on my wedding day.
But wait—you didn’t actually come to see me get married, did you?
Oh no! You came to, what? Try and stop my dad and me from learning about my sister?
” Henry’s heart wrenched as Josh, tears coursing down his cheeks, sought the comfort of his new wife, also crying as she held Josh to her.
“Let’s go,” he said to Effie. “I don’t want to start our life together like this. ”
“Joshua, please—” Melanie started.
Henry cut her off. “Let him go.” To Josh, he said, “Why don’t you and Effie say your goodbyes to anyone who is still inside?
” Inside. Where he had last seen Charlotte.
His heart twisted. What must she be thinking?
How was he going to explain any of this to her?
“I’ll finish up out here.” With no idea how long he’d been outside, he cast Melanie a scathing glance.
“I think we’re all too damned tired for this. ”
Effie nodded. “That’s a good idea. We can go to our honeymoon suite, Josh.
” The newlyweds had reserved a room for the next few nights at the Beverley Arms B&B, the nicest place in town, with a view of the river that ran perpendicular to the town.
Henry doubted they’d enjoy any of it now.
Effie hugged him, whispering, “I love you.” She then took Sophie’s hand in hers, drawing her new sister-in-law in for a hug.
“Welcome to the family.” Uncertainty on her face, Effie studied Melanie before turning and going up the stairs.
Josh embraced Henry tightly and then turned to Sophie. “Do you want to come with us?”
“No, thank you. I’ll stay here.” They clasped hands and then, without glancing at his mother, Josh followed his wife.
Once Josh and Effie had left, Henry addressed Sophie.
“I don’t know where you’re staying, but you are more than welcome to come to my house.
You can have the place to yourself, if you wish, or I can stay there, too.
” Desperate to provide something for his daughter in the way of support, Henry was determined not to dwell on the past, and would move heaven and earth to forge a relationship with her from this moment on.
He planned to pick up the pieces of his shattered heart that could have held his daughter for the past quarter of a century.
“I’ve been staying at the Holiday Suites,” Sophie informed him, “for the past week. But I plan to look for an apartment here, if that’s okay with you and Josh.” At Henry’s shocked expression, she explained, “I figure I’ll stick around for a while. Get to know my dad, my brother.”
Melanie gasped, “Sophie, no! You can’t stay here.”
“I think the last thing you will do is keep my daughter from me for any longer.” He scowled at Melanie before gathering Sophie close, unable to stop the flow of tears.
“I can’t wait to get to know you, my beautiful daughter.
There’s so much I—” he stopped himself, afraid of overwhelming her.
“It’s been a long day. You’re sure about the hotel?
” At her nod, he said, “I’ll stop in tomorrow and take care of the bill. Do you want a ride over there?”
“No, I’m okay.” Sophie kissed his cheek, and he yearned for the unknown number of affectionate gestures his ex-wife had robbed him of over the years.
She sighed. “Mom, if you think you can behave yourself, you can stay with me tonight.” Henry’s pride swelled, knowing that Sophie had his forgiving heart.
Melanie’s face crumpled. “I’m so sorry, Soph. I always wanted to tell you—”
Sophie shook her head. “I’m really not interested in hearing excuses, though, and we will have an intense conversation about this tomorrow.
But,” Sophie sighed again, “you are still my mother, and I love you. I’m sure you have some messed-up reason for doing what you did that makes sense to only you. ”
“Thank you, baby,” Melanie bowed her head, then looked over to Henry. “Can we talk a bit more?”
“I have little to say to you right now.” With Sophie taken care of, all he wanted, all he needed, was to find Charlotte, surround himself in her loving embrace, and sleep for the rest of the night.
To Sophie, he said, “I’ll see you tomorrow,” and with one last hug and a kiss to her forehead, he left, without sparing Melanie a backward glance, much the same way she had left him so many years ago.