Page 89 of Clean Sweep
Starla wiped the tears off her cheeks with the back of her hand. She didn’t look at me when she murmured, “Thank you, Leslie.”
“It’s my pleasure.”
Her teeth dug into her lower lip before she blurted out, “My mother and father divorced when I was eight. I lived with my Mom and we were so close. So close.”
Tears thickened her voice again. She stared straight ahead, but her voice had strength in it as she continued. I sat back to give her space to speak.
“Then she died in the middle of what should have been a pretty routine surgery and they found she’d had an underlying, undiagnosed heart issue they weren’t aware of. I was seventeen. My father had moved on, found another wife, and had more children. We weren’t in contact. He reached out to me on her death but I didn’t answer the calls. We haven’t spoken since my tenth birthday, which was the last time he called.”
Landon, whether on purpose or not, had pulled her closer—if possible—and tightened the arm around her shoulder. Pride swelled in me for him. My son was a good man. In all this mess, he’d only wanted to make the love of his life happy.
I could easily forgive that.
“So,” Starla whispered, clearing her throat, “with the help of friends, I found my way to the preschool where I worked and have been figuring out my life ever since. It’s been hard. Money has been a struggle, and sometimes I thought I’d be so lonely I would die.”
Her face lifted to look right at Landon. She reached up, a trembling hand pressed to his face.
“Then I met your son.”
Her words sent a shiver through me and I had to bite back my own sob. Starla blinked away tears, but they tracked down her face anyway.
Landon stared at her with an adoration I’d never thought possible. An adoration straight from the romance novels Lizbeth constantly shoved under my face. The ones I pretended to hate but secretly craved. The ones I’d never really believed in . . .
. . . until I saw that expression on my son’s face.
Not Lizbeth, not romance novels, not any number of Tanner’s kisses could have convinced me more than the unconditional love that washed between them. Tears pricked my eyes. Had I actually witnessed a Christmas miracle?
Sure felt like it.
“Now,” Starla cleared her throat, “I have a family and a beautiful wedding, and a diagnosis that I don’t have to deal with on my own. I’m just so grateful.”
I touched her shoulder. She turned. “Starla, I didn’t know your mother, but I have a feeling that she’s right here with you already. Can I give you a hug for her?”
Tears dropped down her cheek, thick yet bright. She fell into my arms.
“You absolutely have a family now,” I murmured, looking to Landon over the top of her head.
He blinked, eyes red, and nodded.
“And this family is loud,” I continued, “often obnoxious, and we are here foreverything. There is no bill so large, no diagnosis so deep, no treatment so difficult that it could scare us away. You, Landon, and the entire Miller family will get through this together, all right?”
She nodded against my shoulder, her sobs deep and wracking. I stroked her hair back from her face.
“As you so deeply wanted, your secret is safe, and this is on track to be the happiest day of your life—the way it should be for any bride and groom.”
Half a minute later, with a bolstering sniffle, she pulled out of my arms. An embarrassed chuckle followed while she mopped her face up.
“I swear, my life isn’t always this dramatic.”
“We all are,” I said with a wave. “Now, shall we fix up your makeup for your wedding?”
20
TANNER
“Don’t care how many times you tell me you’re not,” Celeste called from the other room. “You’re definitely going to the wedding.”
I grumbled from the depths of my closet in response.
