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ChapterEleven
“Andrea, what’s wrong?”
Andrea had been standing by the island, staring at nothing in particular for the past few minutes. Nothing seemed to make sense.
“Drea—”
“David Latcher is dead.” She barely got through the lump that had taken residence in her throat.
“What?” Cora asked, perplexed. “Who is David Latcher?”
“Aurora’s father. He-he-he…he’s dead, and he left her something. I don’t know what, but his lawyer wants to meet with her, and I don’t know what to do,” she rushed out in a panic.
“Oh no,” was all Cora could say as she recognized the weight of the situation her sister was in. Rushing over to her, she threw her arms around her shoulders and pulled her close.
“Rory’s going to hate me, Cora. My god. What have I done…” She broke down as the reality hit her that there was no escape from finally telling her daughter the truth about her father. The pain she felt reverberated from her heart and shook her body with her sobs. “I can’t… I can’t… tell her this. This is too much…”
“Drea, you’ll have to tell her,” Cora spoke softly as she ran her hand slowly over the back of her sister’s head. “If you don’t, you run the risk of the lawyer getting to her, and that will make her feel even more betrayed than if you had told her. At least coming from you, she’ll understand why you did it,” she continued to reason as Andrea sniffled against her chest.
“I’m scared, Cora. I feel like I’m about to lose my daughter,” she managed to get out as her body remained abuzz with the anxiety she felt.
“I know, sweetie, but you just have to be honest with her and soon. If you want me to be there for emotional support when you do, I’ll be there,” Cora offered.
Andrea pulled away from her sister with an all be it small but grateful smile. “Thanks, Cora.”
“Anytime, gummy bear,” her sister replied, calling her by one of the endearing nicknames they had for each other. She bumped her shoulder against Andrea’s in support.
“I’m going to head down by the inn and finish setting up my office,” Andrea informed Cora.
On her walk over to the inn, she chose to take the path behind the house instead of using the walkway on the edge of the driveway that led from the house to the inn. She wanted to use the ten minutes it took to get there to clear her mind.
There were so many times she’d thought about telling Rory the truth about David. The first time was when she’d brought her to meet him to demand he pay child support. She’d been struggling to make ends meet as she tried to juggle her waitressing and bartending work while taking care of her four-year-old and juggling classes at the community college. She was burnt out, and the pay just wasn’t taking care of the bills.
“Okay, sweetie, we’re going to meet a very special person today,” she remembered saying to her daughter as she pulled the second-hand parka she had bought for her daughter at the Goodwill store on Clinton Ave, Rochester.
“Santa?” her daughter asked excitedly as she moved on to fixing the scarf around her neck before putting on her winter hat.
At her daughter’s question, Andrea released a chuckle. “No, sweetie, we’re not just there yet. We’re still in November, and Santa doesn’t come around until December, remember?”
Rory’s face fell at her mother’s revelation. “Okay,” she replied in a small, feeble voice.
“I’ll take you to meet Santa next month, I promise,” Andrea offered as consolation, not liking when her daughter got disappointed.
“Pinky promise?” The little girl perked up once more at the prospect.
“Pinky promise,” she replied, hooking her little finger with her daughter’s and shaking it to seal their pact.
“Who are we going to meet then, Mommy?” Rory asked her mother, who was now shrugging on her own coat, to take her daughter out into the chilly environment.
Andrea evaded her daughter’s question. “It’s a surprise, but a good one, promise.”
On the train ride, she’d been nothing but a ball of nerves. She wanted David to acknowledge that he had a daughter and to start helping to take care of her, but at the same time, she was fearful that he would fight for custody and that she would lose her daughter. What she’d not anticipated was him once again throwing her out as if she was nothing but a piece of gum on his shoe but even worse was him calling her child a bastard and telling her never to show her face around him again or he would have her arrested and her daughter placed in foster care.
His refusal to have anything to do with Rory had cut her deep, considering you only had to look at her hair and emerald eyes that resembled his so much to know that it had to be an act of cruel injustice for her not to be his. From that day, David Latcher had been dead to her, and she committed the ultimate betrayal of her daughter’s trust by lying to her about her father.
Still, she’d committed to working ten times harder than she was so that she would be able to give her daughter all she needed, to make her feel loved and never understand the meaning of not being wanted. Within just over a month from her getting that first call to now, it seemed as if everything had been for nothing.
“Hi, sweetie. Is everything all right?” Becky asked her daughter as soon as she stepped into the lobby area of the inn.
