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When I get there, Adrienne introduces me as an old friend of hers to my blonde, big blue-eyed little sister. I don’t correct her, but my heart does pinch at the impersonal greeting. Kara holds on to her father’s hand, curiosity swimming in her eyes as she asks me question after question in her endearing British accent.
“Do you like monkeys?”
“Have you ever seen a giraffe up close?”
“Did you know that elephant tusks are actually teeth?”
Her excitement in visiting the zoo overshadows the fact that she’s meeting me for the first time, but I’m actually grateful for it, as it lessens the awkwardness of this whole outing.
Unlike me, Kara doesn’t look like my mother in the least. She inherited all the traits from my mother’s second husband, Liam Doherty. Even though his light hair and even lighter eyes are a complete contrast to my father, my grieving heart can’t help but make a list of all their similarities. Just like Dad was with me, Liam is patient with Kara, pulling her up on his shoulders when she gets too tired to walk around the zoo but not tired enough that she wants to call it a day. He answers her every curious question with a smile, as my mother and I trail behind without saying a word to each other. Every once in a while, he snaps his head back over his shoulder to see how we are doing, concern marring his features.
When noon approaches, he asks if I’d like to join them for lunch, which I surprisingly accept. Unfortunately, I really wish I hadn’t. Watching my mother preen over Kara, acting like the devoted mother she never was with me, churns my stomach. The minute lunch is over and they order dessert, I politely explain that I forgot I had somewhere else to be, while texting the boys from under the table to come pick me up. To my dismay, my mother offers to walk with me to the parking lot, while Kara and Liam stay back at the restaurant.
My stomach is in knots, hoping she won’t want to have a heart to heart now that we are alone. But my mother has never done anything that I wanted, so I’m not surprised when she breaks the silence.
“Did your dad ever tell you how we met?”
I shake my head.
“It was at this godawful toga party when I was in college that my roommate forced me to go to. She was trying to get some jock’s attention and needed a wing woman to give her the courage to talk to him. So I went, and apparently, the boy she had an eye on also brought his own supportive back up, Eric. After that night, we became inseparable. I was still a junior and he was months away from graduating, but that didn’t discourage us from falling in love. By the time I graduated myself, I was already pregnant with you,” she recollects, sounding nostalgic. “I really thought our lives were filled with so much possibility, but then you got sick. You were so small, Valentina, when cancer started eating away at you. I felt so helpless. Eric was the one who kept me together, until he couldn’t do it anymore since you needed him more. I know it was selfish of me to demand that of him in the first place. Demand he be strong for the both of us. But I saw my twenties being stuck in hospital rooms instead of at the park playing with my little girl, or going on date nights with my husband. It was all so difficult, and I just couldn’t do it anymore.”
“Well, congratulations. You seem to have the perfect family you always dreamed about now.”
“Please don’t be this way. I’m trying to explain where my head was at.”
“I didn’t come today for your explanations, Adrienne. I came to meet my sister, because unlike you, family means something to me.”
“It means something to me, too.”
“Does it really? What if Kara got sick now? Would you stand at her side or would you bail on her like you did me?” I snap, throwing her a black look.
“I’m not that person anymore.”
“I don’t believe you. People don’t change.”
“Yes they do. I did, and if you give me the chance, I’d like to prove it. That’s the other reason why I wanted to talk to you. Come live with us in London.”
“W-What?” I stutter, my feet frozen to the ground.
“I want you to come and live with us in London, Valentina. Your father is gone, so there is nothing holding you to this place. Let me show you how I’ve changed. That I can be a mother to you.” She bats her big brown eyes at me, and I’m taken aback by the true hope swimming in them.
“It’s a little too late for that.”
“It’s never too late. A second chance is all I’m asking for.”
I maul my lower lip.
“They have exceptional universities in England,” she continues on, biting the corner of her lip too. I must have picked up her nervous tic when I was younger somehow, but seeing her do it, makes me release my bottom lip from my upper teeth’s hold.
“They have great schools here, too,” I reply, facing forward and forcing myself to keep walking.
“I’ve already spoken to Liam, and he’s on board. And then if you decided to be part of our family, then I could tell Kara who you really are to her. Your life would be so much simpler with us.”
“What do you mean simpler?” My brows crease in the middle.
“Your love life for one seems a bit troubling and…how can I say this without insulting you…somewhatcrowded.”
I’m about to tell her that my love life is none of her business, when the rumbling of a motorcycle grabs both of our attention.
