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“I don’t know. Buster was in here, and to start I was nervous, but that passed.” Mandy shrugged. “Maybe it’s the changes I’m trying to make?”
“It could be, but you can’t let what just happened stop that from continuing, dear.”
“I-I’m not going to let the fear control me anymore. I don’t want to.”
“Oh, baby, do you know how long we’ve waited to hear you say that?” Her aunt sniffed loudly, her eyes bright with tears. “Don’t let me cry, Mandy, my new blue glitter shadow will rub off.”
Mandy laughed and fell into her aunt’s arms.
“I love you.”
“What have I missed?” Aunt Sarah asked.
“Mandy doesn’t want to be scared anymore, Sarah.”
“Lord have mercy, the day has come!”
Mandy sat then, as her legs felt a bit wobbly.
“I’ve never really known how to change, and you never pushed me to,” Mandy said. “But I know it must have been tough on both of you when you’re so strong.”
“Firstly, we’ve always been proud of you, Mandy, never doubt that,” Aunt Marla said. “But the doctors we spoke to told us we shouldn’t push you, and that if you didn’t bring up what happened, then you would likely forget the horror you experienced.”
Mandy snorted. “I may have been nine, but that night is something I’ll always remember.”
Her aunts looked at each other.
“We’re sorry if we got this wrong, Mandy. Many times, we’ve thought about talking to you. Seeing if we could send you to someone who would help you deal with it. But you never mentioned it and seemed happy enough, even if you were shy and timid.”
“None of this is your fault,” Mandy rushed to add. “You saved me. Without you I would have ended up a ward of the state.”
“But now you want to make some changes. Start really living life?” Aunt Sarah said gently.
“Yes, but I want to take it slow.”
“So no pushing, is that what you’re delicately trying to say?”
“I guess so, but then neither of you have ever pushed me.”
Her aunts smiled.
“Whatever you want, darling. We’re just pleased that at last you want to do something.”
“I may not change, you realize that, don’t you?”
“You already have.”
Aunt Sarah said the words as she walked out the kitchen with her sister on her heels.
For the first time in years, Mandy felt something fluttering inside her chest. Hope, she labeled it. But she had no time to dwell on that. She had a lunch to deliver.
Chapter 7
“Move your feet!”
“I’m trying,” Ted muttered as Jack roared at him.
“Try harder!”
