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My mother’s happiness mattered to me more than my own, more than anything. If she was happier with my father not living here, I needed to accept that—and perhaps be grateful for it.
“It’s a new era for us, Caleb.” My mother reached across the table for my hand. “You know it’s okay if you’re not perfect, right? Even if you handle things wrong from time to time, as long as you treat the people you love with respect, most of the time they won’t leave if they love you back. Your father stopped respecting me. And that’s why I had to leave him.”
I nodded. “Understood.”
It made me proud that my mother had the courage to stand up to him.
After I drank my tea, I went back to my room to see if Teagan was still asleep. To my surprise, she was standing in the middle of the hallway, wrapped in a towel after having apparently come from the shower. Water droplets streamed down her arms, and her hair was damp. I wanted to rip the towel off of her, but that wouldn’t have been wise.
She’d been standing in front of a photo of Emma and me taken when we were toddlers. My mother had taken down most of the photos of Emma over the years so as not to upset me. But as part of my most recent therapy, we’d been advised to put some back up.
Teagan held her towel closed over her breasts as she continued looking at the photo. “I’d never seen her before.”
I placed my hands on her shoulders as I stood behind her.
Expelling a long breath, I said, “That’s my beautiful sister, Emma Louise.”
She reached up to touch my hand.
My mother came down the hall to get to her room and saw us standing there.
“You’ve found my Emma,” Mum said. “She’s our little angel, always guiding us.”
Teagan turned to my mother. “She was so beautiful.”
I swallowed, feeling the pain creep up my throat to choke me. I tried my best to stay strong.
“Caleb normally refuses to look at any photos of her. I think you being here is giving him strength, Teagan.”
My mother patted me on the back before continuing toward her room.
Taking Teagan’s hand, I led her into our room. Our room. That still sounded strange.
Closing the door, I prompted her to lie down next to me. Still wrapped in her towel, she curled into my arms.
“For years, we couldn’t have Emma’s photos out. It was too much for me. But recently we put them back up, and I’ve been dealing with it, but I haven’t actually looked at her face until just now.” I kissed the top of her head. “My mother is right. Having you here is so good for me. It’s the happiest I’ve been in a long time.”
She rested her head on my chest. “It feels so surreal to be in England with you. I’d always had this idea in my head about what it looked like here, the dynamic between you and your mother. I know things are a lot different now that your dad is away, but there’s a serenity I wasn’t expecting. There’s a lot of love here, too—and a lot of pain that lingers. I can feel it all, everything that lies within these walls. I’m just so happy to be here, to have an opportunity to experience a new life, new adventures. But really, it wouldn’t matter where I was as long as I can be with you.”
This girl—this beautiful woman—breathed life into me every second we were together. I needed to find a way for us to stay together for more than just these next six months. I needed her forever.***A week after Teagan’s arrival, the information I’d been keeping from her became hard to contain.
In the months before Teagan’s move, we’d spent a lot of time on the phone. She’d told me she’d decided to Google her birth mother, Ariadne. She’d explained how that led her to realize how important Maura was in her life. I loved hearing that she’d finally given Maura the credit she deserved.
She’d also told me that according to the addresses listed, Ariadne had lived for a time here in the UK. That didn’t come as a surprise, since Teagan had always described her birth mother as a wanderer and world traveler. I remembered her telling me Ariadne had convinced Lorne to quit his job for a time and travel with her all those years ago.
I hadn’t thought much about the Ariadne-UK connection until one night I visited my uncle. Frederick is a cop, and I knew he had access to certain information beyond what a general Google search would provide. For shits and giggles, I’d given him the name Ariadne Mellencamp and asked what he might be able to find out about her time here in England.
