Page 80 of Pity Present

As we walk into the shop, Melissa calls out, “Molly! I’m glad you came in!”

“Thank you,” I tell her before asking, “Is Sammy here today?”

“She is. Would you like me to get her?”

I nod my head so Melissa waddles across the room. Moments later, she comes back out with her stepdaughter in tow.

Sammy’s smile is radiant. “Molly! How’s it going up at the lodge?”

“I met a very nice man,” I tell her.

“I knew you would.”

Sammy looks toward my sister, so I say, “Melissa, Sammy, this is my sister, Ellen. She’s just come up from Chicago.”

Melissa stretches out her hand first. “I’m happy to meet you, Ellen.”

“Why?” my sister asks grumpily before saying, “I mean, hi. I guess I’m happy to meet you too.”

I roll my eyes, so Melissa knows that I’m aware my sister is being horribly rude. Then I tell Ellen, “Melissa is Sammy’s stepmother. Melissa is married to Sammy’s dad.”

“So?” Ellen growls. “Why should I care?” If Emily Post were still alive, she’d hit my sister over the head with her etiquette book.

Ignoring her question, I ask Sammy, “Would you please tell my sister what you told me about Melissa the other day?”

The red-headed teenager looks confused before asking, “You mean about my loving Melissa as much as my birth mom?”

“Yes, that.” Then I turn to Ellen. “Did you hear that, Ellen? Sammy, who is Melissa’sstepdaughter, loves Melissa as much as her real mom.” Ellen remains quiet, so I tell Melissa and Sammy, “Ellen’s boyfriend just proposed to her, and she said no because she doesn’t want to be second to his kids.”

Ellen hisses, “I didn’t say no.”

But at the same time, Sammy asks, “Didn’t you know he had kids?”

Ellen is clearly not pleased that I outed her, so I answer for her. “Oh, she knew. But my sister is so self-centered that she thinks she should always come first.”

Melissa interjects, “I don’t think it’s about coming first or second. It’s more about becoming a family and making yourfamilythe priority.”

I fling my hand out toward Ellen with such vigor I nearly hither. “See? This is how it’s done. You’re so wrapped up in yourself that you’ve completely missed it.”

“I have not,” Ellen declares with a fraction of her previous heat. “I love Henry’s kids.”

“Then why are you competing with them?” I want to know.

“I’m not competing …” But then reality hits her like a blow to the side of the head. “I don’twantto compete with them.”

“Then don’t,” I tell her. “Marry their dad and become part of their family. Then you’llbothput family first.

I can’t quite decipher what Ellen is feeling, but she no longer seems to be angry with me. Instead, she asks Melissa, “How long have you been married?”

“Just over a year,” she answers. “I met Sammy and her dad when they moved up here two years ago.”

Sammy moves closer to Melissa before touching her stepmom’s stomach. “And now I get to be a big sister. How cool is that?”

Ellen’s head moves up and down almost imperceptibly. “That is cool.”

Turning to my sister, I tell her, “You and Henry and his kids can be a happy family, too. And if you decide to have children of your own, then you can be abig, happy family.”

Her nostrils flare like they do when she’s trying to suppress an emotion. “Are you done?” she asks me.

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