Page 37 of Moonlight Feels Right
"He decided to come at the last minute," her mother replied. "I didn't have time to tell you. He's going to come after me, or he'll send someone. They don't let people just leave."
"They don't have a choice," she told her mom. "You're done with them. This is a new chapter."
"Maybe. But I don't know how long this chapter will last. I think something is really wrong with me," her mother said.
Her lips tightened as she looked into her mother's very sickly face and hoped that this rescue hadn't come too late.
Chapter Eleven
The next hour passed in a blur as they got to the house in La Jolla, which was a beautiful three-bedroom property on a bluff with a view of the ocean. It seemed like the perfect place for her mother to get her strength back. Hunter stayed out on the deck while she and her aunt helped her mother shower and change. Then Linda put out a platter of deli meats, bread, fruit, and vegetables, a celebratory lunch that was just another example of her determined optimism to get her sister back.
Emmalyn had always been grateful for everything her aunt had done for her, but now she realized she'd gotten a lot of her determination from her as well. When she'd left her mom to live with Linda, she'd traded a very weak role model for a very strong one, something else she needed to be thankful for.
As they sat down at the table, her mother was subdued, but she did eat, which was a good sign. Emmalyn felt bad about subjecting Hunter to a somewhat awkward lunch, but he'd told her he had nowhere to be until three, so he was staying until then or until she was ready to leave.
"So, Hunter," Linda began, breaking the silence. "Emmalyn said you're a neighbor."
"That's right."
"What do you do for a living?"
She tensed at Linda's question, knowing how sensitive Hunter was to answering questions about himself.
"I'm a helicopter pilot in the Marine Corps," he replied. "I was injured several months ago, and I've been recuperating at Ocean Shores."
"Oh. I'm sorry to hear you were hurt," Linda said. "But thank you for your service."
He tipped his head. "I'm back to one hundred percent now. Just waiting to be officially reinstated."
"Will you be deployed after that?" Linda asked.
"I'm not sure where they'll send me. But I'll go wherever they need me. That's the job."
His words reminded her that their friendship had an expiration date, but she couldn't worry about that now. As her mom lifted her water glass with a shaky hand, she said, "Mom, are you okay?"
"I don't know if I made the right choice," her mother said. "I've lived on the farm for so long. I don't know how to be in this world. What will I do for money, for a place to live?"
"You'll live with me," Linda said. "Money won't be a problem. You don't need to worry about that. I can take care of you, Sara. You just have to let me."
"And let me," she added.
"I don't want to burden either of you." Her mother's gaze softened as it settled on her. "It sounds like you have a good life, Emmy. I don't want to mess that up."
"I won't let you mess it up," she said. "I'm not a child anymore. I'm in complete control of my life and my happiness, and I want you to be in control of yours. Aunt Linda and I aren't trying to take over where Elias and Jeremy left off. We want to be there to support you in rediscovering your life."
"If I'm going to be well enough to have one," her mother said darkly.
"Well, you have a better chance now of that happening," she said.
"It was good you went to live with Linda," her mother said, meeting her gaze. "She taught you how to be strong. I've made so many mistakes in my life. Having you wasn't one of them, Emmy, but taking you to Haven was. You liked it there in the beginning. It was fun to be on a farm, to play with the animals and the other kids. But I could see as you got older what kind of life you would have, and I didn't want that. That's why I let you go."
"You should have come with me, but that's in the past. We need to look forward, not back."
Her mother slowly nodded. "I know you're right. I'm just not sure I can do that. I feel so strange, so out of my element." She put her napkin on the table. "I'm tired. Do you mind if I lie down in the bedroom?"
"You should rest," she said as her aunt concurred.
Seeing her aunt's worried look follow her mother into the house, Emmalyn said, "Do you think she's going to stay here? Or will she panic and find a way to get in touch with someone at Haven to come and get her?"
