Page 83 of Unraveling the Truth About Love
Chapter Thirty-Nine
THE EVENING BREEZE blew across the front porch of Riley’s parents’ single-story home. Riley watched the sun dip behind the trees and hunkered down in her thick sweater, anticipating the chill it would bring. She heard the front door creak open and turned to see her mother joining her on the porch. Her once dark brown hair now laced with plentiful threads of silver hung justabove her shoulders in thick waves. She wore a barn coat over her sweater and carried a bottle of wine and two glasses, which she set down as she seated herself in the rocking chair next to Riley.
“How’s my girl?” her mother asked.
Riley considered herself lucky to have always enjoyed a strong relationship with her mother, Arlene. Her mother had always used a tender tone, even when Riley knewshe’d deserved a strong reprimand, and because of that, she’d always felt comfortable seeking her advice.
“I’m okay, Mom. It’s good to be home.” Riley had been thinking of Josh all afternoon. She wondered what he was facing back in New York. Was the media hounding him? Had he found any further evidence of Claudia’s guilt? Was he having doubts about her? About them? She was still wrestling withthe harsh reality that by being linked to her, Josh’s reputation would be tarnished.
“We’ve missed you, but we all knew that one day your time would come. You’re too talented to be wasted at Macy’s,” her mother said.
“Thanks.”
“Do you enjoy the work as much as you’d hoped you would?”
She knew her mother was dancing around the subject of Claudia’s accusations, but she, too, was not ready tojump in and discuss it. “I’m only doing assistant work right now, but yeah. I do like it, and I like New York in general—or at least I did.” The porch boards creaked beneath her rocker’s rhythmic motion.
“That’s good,” her mother said. “You’ve always been able to adapt to change easily. Even when you were a little girl, when we’d travel to see Aunt Betty or to go on a summer trip, you never hadtrouble sleeping in new beds or adjusting to new schedules.”
“I remember.” Riley smiled at the memory of her aunt’s gingerbread cookies. She always had a batch ready when Riley arrived.
“There’s not much you can’t handle, Riley.”
Her mother looked at her then, her hidden meaning exposed in the glint in her eyes and the nod of her head.
“I’m not so sure,” Riley admitted. “Mom, how did you knowDad was everything you’d ever want?”
“I didn’t,” she admitted. “I’m not sure he is now, either.”
Oh no. Please don’t tell me any more bad news.She fixed her stare on a knot in the railing and set her rocker into motion.
“I love your father. He’s a remarkable, caring man who would do anything for you or me. But, honey, we never know today what we’ll want tomorrow, or why.”
Riley met her mother’sgaze.
“How can you know in your thirties what you’ll want in your forties? You haven’t been there yet. Love is a powerful thing, but desire is, too, and one without the other can be deadly to even the strongest relationship.” Her mother paused to pull her jacket tighter across her chest. “I didn’t know when I married your father if I’d still want to be with him in two years, much less thirty,and I knew that despite how much he professed his love for me, there was no way he could possibly know either.” She looked out over the mountains. “I took a leap of faith, and I hoped for the best. I knew that I loved him, and I knew that I desired him. The rest”—she shrugged—“I figured I’d deal with along the way.”
“And?” Riley pushed.
“And desire and love wax and wane in relationships. Eventhe strongest of them. I’ll let you in on a little secret that my mother shared with me.”
Riley leaned forward, ready to hear her grandmother’s secret.
“I’m not so sure that the powers that be knew what he was doing when he gave us the idea of living together, even after being married. Men and women are just wired differently. We think differently. We have different wants and needs, and thatalone can drive a couple apart pretty quickly.”
So I was right; you don’t have a loving relationship with Dad?
Her mother smiled up at the starlit sky. “So I had a heads-up going into my marriage, and I knew that we’d probably come across some frustrating times when I’d feel like I hated something your father did or wished he’d do something I knew he never would. I think my mother saved ourmarriage by sharing that with me, because when those times came, I was prepared. I saw them for what they were. Tiny bumps in a very long road. I didn’t give up, and I didn’t walk away. And when desire seemed very far away, we both worked to reel it back in.”
How could I have been so wrong?“So?” Riley asked.
“So, you might never really know what the future holds, and you have to go on whatyour heart tells you when you believe you’ve found your forever love. You’ll know when it’s time to take that giant leap of faith.”
Riley let out a breath. “A giant leap of faith.”
Her mother picked up the bottle of wine and poured each of them a glass. “And a little wine might help clear your mind.”
“Yeah, it just might.” Riley sipped the wine, processing what her mother had just revealed.
