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Melissa was bewildered to hear both love and pride in her sister’s voice as she introduced the pair. The man’s name sounded familiar. She searched her memory and then asked in surprise, “The same Bryan Healey you dated in high school?”
“The very same,” he admitted with an engaging grin.
Taking a closer look at Bryan, Melissa saw a man of about thirty with thick auburn hair. His deep brown eyes assessed her in return and she had the sinking feeling that he knew all about her.
“Hello, Melissa. I’m pleased to meet you.” He held out his hand and she took it. His handshake was firm and his voice was definitely friendly, no matter what he was thinking.
The boy with tousled auburn hair, glasses and freckles across his nose wormed his way in front of his dad and held out his hand. “Hi. I’m Dylan. I’m five. Amy is going to marry my daddy and be my mother ’cause my real mom is in heaven. Do you wanna help put our puzzle together?”
Melissa turned her startled gaze to Amy. “What?”
Amy blushed but nodded. “That wasn’t exactly how I intended to tell you, but yes, it’s true. Bryan and I are engaged.”
Melissa fought down a stab of jealousy. She loved her big sister and wanted her to be happy, but this news coming so soon on the heels of her own unhappiness was bittersweet. She gave Amy a quick hug. “Congratulations. Wow, both you and Heather have gotten engaged.”
Amy took a deep breath. “And someone else.”
Puzzled, Melissa waited for more of an explanation.
Bryan laid a hand on Amy’s shoulder. “I think Dylan and I will take off. You and your sister have a lot of catching up to do. Come on, son.”
“Aw, do we have to?”
“Yes,” he said. “Melissa has been out of the loop for a while and it’s going to take some time to get her up to speed.”
“What’s a loop? Do we got a loop, Dad?”
“Never mind. Go get your jacket.” Bryan bent to place a quick kiss on Amy’s cheek. “Call me later.”
“I will, and thank you.”
After he and Dylan left, Melissa sank onto Amy’s plush cream-colored damask sofa. “Okay, sis, bring me up to speed.”
Amy swept her chin-length blond hair back behind her ears. “The news about the rest of the family can wait. How are you? You sounded so distraught when you called.”
“I was, but I’m better now. We can talk about me later. Tell me what the others have been up to.”
“My sister, Melissa, doesn’t want to talk about herself. That’s a first. All right, but I’m not exactly sure where to start.”
“Start with Jeremy. How is he? Where is he?”
“He called not long ago. I think I told you he left to go looking for his biological father’s family. He has located his grandparents in Florida.”
“This is so totally strange. Out of all of us, Jeremy is the most like Dad.”
“I know. I was as stunned as everyone else, but truthfully, it hasn’t changed the way I feel about him one bit. He’s still our brother.”
“You’re so right, but it makes me wonder what else Mom and Dad haven’t told us. You implied that you and Heather weren’t the only ones to get engaged. Who else has taken the plunge?”
“The twins started it all.”
She stared at her sister in shock. “Heather and Chris? No way. To whom?”
“Heather is engaged to Ethan Danes.”
“I know you said Ethan on the phone, but do you mean she landed that hunky photographer at the magazine? How did that happen? Heather is so shy, she practically blends into the wallpaper.”
“Not anymore. She received an amazing makeover the same day Ellen Manning, the magazine’s now ex-makeover expert, took off for greener pastures. You wouldn’t believe the change in Heather. She has really come out of her shell. I know it wasn’t easy for her, growing up between us.”
“Between the homecoming queen and the drama queen, you mean?”
Amy chuckled. “Something like that. Heather isn’t as outgoing as you or I, but she has a heart of gold. That’s what Ethan fell in love with, not her new look.”
“And Chris?”
“That is a slightly longer story. I don’t know if you remember the woman reporter the paper hired a few months before you left, Felicity Simmons?”
“Is she the one with long, red hair?”
“That’s her. She was working on a story about political corruption when she began receiving threats. At first she blew it off, but it soon became apparent that she had a stalker.”
“Let me guess. Brother Chris rides in on a white horse and saves the damsel in distress.”
“I think it was his police cruiser, not a horse, but you’ve got the picture. It turns out that an aide to Mayor Whitmore had been taking payoffs from a local developer in a land scheme. When Felicity got too close to the truth, he tried to scare her away. When that didn’t work, he tried to kidnap her.”
“Such wild goings-on in peaceful old Davis Landing. Who would have thought it? Is anyone else in the family getting married?”
“Not at the moment, but Tim is dating Dawn Leroux.”
“His administrative assistant?”
“That’s right. I think Mom is hearing more wedding bells, but there hasn’t been anything official. Enough about our siblings. I want to talk about you.”
“There isn’t much to talk about. I messed up again, only this time in a big way.”
“Tell me what happened. You weren’t making a lot of sense when you called.”
“I know. By the way, thanks for wiring me the money. I don’t know what I would have done otherwise. It meant a lot to me. I wasn’t sure anyone would want me back after this last stunt.”
“Of course we want you here. We’re your family. We love you. I told everyone you had called and they were all glad you were okay.”
Melissa looked at her sister in sudden panic. “You didn’t tell them I was pregnant, did you?”
“Of course not. You asked me not to say anything and I didn’t. But you should go see Mom, at least.”
“I will. In a day or two.”
“Good. Now, tell me about Dean.”
Tears stung Melissa’s eyes. “I thought he loved me. I wanted…oh, I don’t know what I wanted. Maybe to be someone other than Melissa Hamilton.
“At first Dean seemed genuinely happy about the baby. It wasn’t until he started talking about how much money my ‘old man’ would shell out for his grandkid that I started to see Dean for what he was. Someone who wanted me only because I was Wallace Hamilton’s daughter. Dean didn’t have stars in his eyes when he looked at me, he had dollar signs.”
“I’m so sorry. It must have been awful.”
“Once I convinced him that my stern, Southern father wasn’t going to give his pregnant, runaway daughter a dime, Dean couldn’t leave fast enough.”
She didn’t tell her sister about the way Dean had thrown a wad of money at her and told her to “Get rid of it.” She didn’t mention how she spent the money paying for another week in the same motel, or about the days and nights she had waited in that dingy place hoping Dean would change his mind and come back for her. Even now, she shuddered to recall the fear and loneliness that kept her pinned in that small room with the snowy TV, peeling, faded purple wallpaper and black mildew climbing the tiles around the chipped bathtub.
After a week, she accepted the fact that he was gone for good. There had been nothing left to do but pack her few belongings and board a bus.
Amy took Melissa’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “I’m glad you came home.”
Melissa nodded, too choked by emotion to speak.
Amy rose from the sofa. “Why don’t I fix us a cup of tea?”
Without waiting for a reply, she moved to the kitchen and Melissa had a few minutes to compose herself. She was so much more emotional of late. One minute she was fine and the next she found herself crying a river. It had to be the pregnancy. She certainly didn’t intend to shed one more tear over Dean.
Leaning her head back on the sofa, Melissa closed her eyes. She was so tired. Her nerves had been strung tighter than fiddle strings all day. She needn’t have worried. Her big sister was happy to see her in spite of the trouble she brought. Maybe being home wouldn’t be so bad after all.
Melissa opened her eyes and wondered where she was. Pushing her hair out of her face, she struggled to sit up. Both her neck and her back protested the change in position. The afghan covering her slid to the floor and she remembered she was at her sister’s condo.
The living room was dark except for a single lamp glowing softly on the cherrywood desk in the corner of the room. She squinted at the clock on the wall. It said six-thirty.
The darkness beyond the window had to mean it was six-thirty in the morning. Had she really slept away half the day and all of the night?
Rising, she stretched away her aches, then wiggled her toes and wondered where Amy had stashed her shoes. Looking around, she saw them peeking from under the Monet-styled throw her sister had used to cover her. She folded the blanket, donned her clogs and headed for the kitchen. Now, she was definitely hungry.
A quick survey of the fridge netted her cream cheese and blueberry bagels. She popped the bagels in the toaster, set the kettle on to boil and happily discovered her favorite brand of tea bags in the cupboard beside the sink. She inhaled their pungent fragrance and was instantly struck by memories of herself, her sisters and her mother all enjoying morning tea on the terrace at home.
“You’re up early.” Amy stood in the kitchen door. Her normally immaculate hair had run amok in the night and the pink terry cloth bathrobe over her pajamas had seen better days.
Melissa felt a stab of guilt. “I hope I didn’t wake you.”
“No, I have to go into the office early today. How are you feeling?”
“Better, I think. I couldn’t believe I was so tired, but I’m as hungry as a horse.”
“I’d offer to make breakfast, but I see you’ve helped yourself. Will you fix me a cup of tea while you’re at it?”
“I was just thinking about how we used to join Mom on the terrace for tea in the mornings. Dad would be bellowing from inside the house, ‘Nora, where’s my briefcase?’ Mom would smile and say, ‘It’s on the hall table. Right where you left it, Wallace.’ Then he would come out and give us all a kiss before he left for the office and tell us how pretty we were, but you knew he was really telling Mom how pretty she was.”
Amy slipped her arm around Melissa’s shoulders. “There will be plenty of good times with Mom and Dad again.”
“I hope so.”
“Have faith. I don’t believe the Lord is ready to take our dad. I think He has other plans for him.”
“I wish I shared your belief, but I don’t. Not anymore.”
“Is that because of Jennifer?”
Jennifer Wilson had been Melissa’s best friend since kindergarten. She had been witty and funny—always laughing and often getting them both into trouble. Then, the year Jenny turned sixteen, she died of cancer, and Melissa had been by her side.
Melissa nodded, the ache of grief suddenly sharper than it had been in a long time. “God doesn’t care how good someone is or how hard you pray. Dead is dead.”
“Oh, honey. You are so wrong about that. We can’t know what God has planned for any of us, but He loves us. And dead isn’t dead. Death is simply crossing over to a better place where we get to meet Jesus face-to-face.”
Melissa used the whistling kettle as an excuse to end the conversation. “Looks like the water is ready. Do you want cream or sugar in your tea?”
Amy hesitated, but seemed to understand that Melissa wanted to change the subject. “A little cream.”
The conversation lagged until the women were seated at the table. Melissa finished half her bagel before Amy spoke again.
“What are your plans, Melissa?”
“I plan to finish the rest of my breakfast.”
“I’m serious.”
“The funny part is, so am I. I can’t think beyond the next fifteen minutes, let alone make plans for my future.”
“You have someone else’s future to think about.”
“Don’t you think I know that? I’m not mother material. I mean, look at me! I can’t take care of myself. I’m a college dropout. I’ve always lived at home. I’ve never had to take care of anyone. I don’t even have a job.” Melissa’s bagel suddenly lost its appeal. She laid it on her plate, then picked up her spoon and stirred the contents of her cup.
“You have a job.”
She glanced at Amy and raised one eyebrow. “I do?”
“Dad wouldn’t let Tim fill your position at the paper. Instead, he placed you on indefinite leave. You still have a job—one with benefits, like health insurance, which will come in very handy.”
“Do you see what I mean? I never even thought about insurance.”
Amy reached across the table and laid a hand on Melissa’s arm. “Don’t be so hard on yourself. You’ve had a lot on your mind. I know this can’t be easy for you.”
“I wish none of this had happened. I wish Dad wasn’t sick and I wish I’d never met Dean, or run off with him. I wish I could erase the past six months and go back to being a bored copy aide at the Dispatch, answering phones and compiling paperwork for the editors.”
“Oh, Melissa.”
“It’s not possible. I know, but I wish it were.”
“It’s going to be hard, but you have to start looking ahead.”
Melissa remembered Richard’s advice and nodded. “I need to take things one small step at a time.”
“That’s right.” Amy smiled and took a sip of her tea.
