Page 75 of This Memory
“I saw how devastated Evelyn was every time she had a miscarriage, and after thinking about this endlessly for a few months, I knew it was something I needed to do. I’m not going to lie and say I’m not worried about my feelings for this baby, but I’m grateful I will always be in their life.”
She gave me a warm smile. “My goodness. You truly are a wonderful woman, daughter, and friend. I’m sorry if I wasn’t fully supportive from the start, but I want you to know that I am now. You asked what changed my mind, and it was the call from Evelyn. She broke down in tears and told me everything.”
I cringed. “Even what I said this morning?”
Nodding, she replied, “Yes. Even the comment about regretting being a surrogate. I know you don’t, sweetheart, and I can understand why you said it in the heat of the moment. I told Evelyn I thought she was in the wrong, that just because you’re carrying their child, that doesn’t give her the right to tell you what you can and cannot do. If she trusted you enough to ask for this monumental gift, then she needed to trust you enough to know you would never harm the baby.”
I threw my arms around my mother and started to cry. I wasn’t even sure where the tears came from, but whatever dam that had been holding them back burst wide open.
Holding onto me, my mother softly told me everything would be okay. When I finally got myself under control, I stepped back. She handed me a tissue she’d taken from her purse.
“Sounds like you needed that.”
I nodded and blew my nose. “Guess so.”
Nelly cleared her throat, and I looked around my mother. “I locked the front door. I was going to sweep up and mop.”
“You don’t have to do that,” I said, wiping my nose again with the tissue.
Nelly smiled. “I don’t mind, and I want to. You’ve been on your feet all day, so just visit with Nancy for a bit.”
I wanted to hug Nelly. My mother turned and said, “Thank you so much, Nelly, darling.”
Nelly beamed under my mother’s praise. “Of course, Mrs. Duggan.”
When she hurried back out front, my mother turned to me. “I like that girl.”
I let out a small laugh. “I do as well.”
“Feel better?”
“Yes,” I said with a nod. “So much better. You don’t know how much it means to me that you’re supporting me, Mom.”
She winked. “I’ll always support you, darling girl.”
I nodded and looked down at the crumpled tissue in my hand. “There’s something else I wanted to talk to you about.”
“Should we sit down?” Mom asked, motioning to two chairs.
Without replying, I walked over and sat. I wouldn’t admit it out loud, but it felt so good to sit. I didn’t feel like a twenty-eight-year-old woman. I felt about fifty years older.
“When did you know you were in love with Dad?”
Her head jerked back in surprise and her eyes widened. Clearly, she hadn’t been expecting me to ask that question. “Oh, well…” She smiled as if enjoying a memory. “If I’m being honest, I would say the first moment I saw him. So many people don’t believe in love at first sight, but I do. I wouldn’t say I was bowled over with the feeling, but there was something different about your father. Something that made me feel…safe. Seen. If that makes any sense.”
I thought about the last few months, and how Gavin had been by my side almost every step of the way. He’d been so supportive, and the way he made me feel last night when he made love to me was unlike anything I’d ever felt before in my life.
Even through the years when I’d wanted to hate him, he’d been there for me a time or two. Like when Bobby Yarning got too touchy-feely at The Muddled Moose one night, and Gavin had stepped in, telling him to leave me alone. Bobby scoffed about how I wasn’t worth a fight, that I was just another dumb woman—and Gavin lunged forward, fist cocked back. James had moved in fast to stop him, reminding him that he was a cop who needed to think before he reacted.
I hadn’t understood why he’d gotten so mad at the time, but now it made sense.
“It makes perfect sense.” She tilted her head and smiled. “Does this have anything to do with Gavin Quinn?”
“Aunt Judith?”
Mom rolled her eyes. “You would be correct. She informed me of your growing…friendship. I told her to mind her own business. I swear, I’d punch her in the face if she weren’t my sister.”
I covered my mouth with my hand to keep from laughing. “Mom!”
