Page 37 of Summer Rose

“One to remember,” Bethany agreed.

For a little while, they could pretend everything was okay. They chatted gently about easy memories they’d shared together, about the sailboat they’d once had, and about the puppy they’d adopted, who’d died not long after Victor had left. All the while, Esme seemed like a ghost hovering around them. Valerie seemed even further away—an entity none of them knew anything about.

“Have either of you heard from your little sister?” Victor asked, his eyes far away. He sensed the missing pieces of their family, as well.

Rebecca and Bethany shook their heads.

“On Facebook, it says she lives in Seattle,” Rebecca explained. “But we don’t know if it’s up to date.”

“Seattle.” Victor said the city's name as though it were a foreign language. “A few years back, I read about an event she planned. It was worth millions of dollars.”

“Yeah. Valerie was in and out of the news for a while. She rubbed shoulders with celebrities and even dated a few of them,” Bethany affirmed. “It always made me nervous when she suddenly dropped off the face of the news sites. As one of her big sisters, it was devastating that I couldn’t keep track of her. And then, even the news couldn’t tell me where she was or who she was with.”

“No news felt so much worse,” Rebecca agreed.

“Isn’t it strange that we were just in our separate cities, googling each other?” Bethany asked quietly.

“We should have picked up the phone,” Victor whispered. “No, correction. I should have picked up the phone.”

Rebecca’s stomach was in knots. She’d never envisioned this reunion, and now that it was happening, she wasn’t sure what to make of it.

“Dad?” Bethany began tentatively.

Victor raised his eyebrows.

“What is going on with you?” she stuttered. “I mean, I know you’re getting divorced. And I’m sorry about that. I really am.” She paused and shook her head, surprised she’d even said it. “But you’re a pretty famous psychologist. You’ve appeared on talk shows and helped prestigious families through difficult times. Didn’t the president mention you recently as an example of good mental health? And you’ve written, what, ten books that give life advice?”

Victor sucked in his cheeks. Even to Rebecca, every single one of Bethany’s words seemed like an attack.

“Don’t you have meetings? Clients to see? Talk shows to appear on? Book signings to go to?” Bethany demanded. “How can you just be here, in Nantucket, chasing after your ex-wife? How can you be here with us, with nowhere else to be?”

The same questions had plagued Rebecca. The two Sutton sisters watched Victor as he contemplated how to answer. All the color drained from his cheeks. It was clear his answers were not easy ones.

But just as Victor opened his lips to speak, the front door screamed open. Who could be here at this hour? Hadn’t all the veterans left already? Rebecca leaped to her feet to inspect, just as familiar voices began to echo.

“I just can’t understand it. I can’t.” An older woman’s voice was overwhelmed with exhaustion.

“Mom. Hold my arm.” It was a younger woman’s voice, exasperated and slightly frightened.

“I’m holding it.” The older woman groaned. “Why would they do this? What has gotten into them?”

“Come on, Mom.”

Bethany and Rebecca locked eyes. Next came the sound of footsteps making their way closer. Someone gasped for breath. Across the table, Victor placed his face in his hands as his shoulders shook. It was as though a monster from the past came into view and wanted to swallow them hole.

It could only be Esme Gardner and Valerie Sutton. They were seconds from being all together again. And the intensity was almost too much to bear.

Chapter Sixteen

Rebecca, Bethany, and Victor stood frozen as Valerie and Esme appeared. Rebecca’s heart beat so frantically that she could hardly hear anything else. When they reached the second story, Valerie and Esme paused, arms linked, and looked at the rest of the Suttons with panicked eyes. It was a face-off.

“Mom…” Rebecca breathed. She took a tentative step forward but held herself back. The sight of her mother, so many years after they’d last hugged one another, so many years after they’d last spoken, was remarkably painful.

Just as it had to all of them, time had aged Esme. Her hair was a silvery white, and her body seemed smaller and frail. She wore a black dress that hugged her tiny figure, and her blue eyes shone with a mix of curiosity and fear. In every respect, she was beautiful, with high cheekbones, a regal lift to her chin, and long fingers. She looked like a painting.

Beside her, Valerie was a beauty in her late thirties. Just like Bethany and Rebecca, she wore her brunette locks long, and although she looked tired and guarded, something about her was stunning.

During these moments of silence, Rebecca was awash with guilt. How could she have let these people become strangers?

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