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Katrina hadn’t been alone with Sophie since she’d come home. She felt heavy with questions. The return to the island was spontaneous. She was terrified it was all a dream.
“You never told me how Uncle Norm’s Broadway show was,” Sophie pointed out.
Katrina’s smile fell slightly. “Oh. Your uncle is so talented, Sophie. If you have time, you and Jared should go into the city and see him perform. Not a lot of time before he heads out west.”
“We might have to do that,” Sophie said. “And what did Grandma say about it? I would ask her myself, but she isn’t here yet.”
Katrina had, of course, noticed her mother was a no-show. She pictured her alone in that massive house, wandering through the shadows, building up a story about Calvin Whittaker that never existed. “He was a saint. He loved his children so.”
“Grandma was captivated,” Katrina answered. It was honest. She held her elbows and continued to stare at Sophie, wondering if she was brave enough to say what was really on her mind.
“You know, your uncle told me something I never knew,” Katrina stuttered.
“Yeah?”
Katrina swallowed the lump in her throat. “He told me he went to rehab. I think he might have gone a few times.”
Sophie blinked several times but betrayed no other emotion. “Wow. Did he say when?”
“No,” Katrina said.
Silence hung heavily between them. Katrina twitched her gaze out beyond Sophie toward the glinting horizon of the Nantucket Sound.
“You know, he told me he could get you a spot,” Katrina continued, her voice like a string. “He knows all the best doctors. It wouldn’t be a big deal or anything.”
Sophie’s smile fell completely. Her face was ashen. “I’m obviously sober now, Mom.” She said it as though she spoke of the weather.
“Right. Okay. Great.” Katrina inhaled deeply. “And you’re going to, um, AA? Or NA? Or whatever it is?”
“I’m sober without it,” Sophie said. “I mean, I’m happier than I’ve been in my life. I don’t need the drugs anymore. Jared and I are building something.”
Bit by bit, light returned to Sophie’s eyes, and Katrina found herself falling into them.
“That’s great to hear, honey,” Katrina said. “Really.”
Sophie leaned over the counter so that her face was no more than six inches away from Katrina’s. “And I have a secret.”
Katrina’s heart somersaulted.
“I’m pregnant,” Sophie whispered, her smile widening.
Katrina’s jaw dropped. She couldn’t believe it. “You’re what?”
Sophie nodded and stepped around to Katrina’s side of the counter. “We just found out two weeks ago. That’s when we officially got out of our lease and decided to come back here.”
“Just like that?” Katrina asked.
“We want our babies to be close to their grandparents,” Sophie said simply.
Katrina fell forward and wrapped her daughter in a hug. The relief she felt was enormous. She hadn’t realized that Sophie’s addiction had been like an elephant sitting on her chest for many years. She’d hardly dared think about Sophie lately for fear that she would learn the worst had happened.
Instead, Sophie had made the best possible decisions. She’d recognized the poisons in her life. She’d moved back home. And now, she was about to make the ultimate transformation—becoming a mother.
“I’ll help you every step of the way,” Katrina promised. “I love you, honey. And the best is yet to come.”
Chapter Twelve
Present Day
