Page 90 of Made For You
I laughed as her face pinched, as if she smelled old, crusty milk and a rotten egg. It was obvious she hated the idea.
“I like to work.”
“I know, but you’re not in a rush. Maybe you can do something with photography. You have all the time in the world to figure that out. But until then… I want to show you the lodge today, if you’re up for it. I know Gigi wants to see it too.”
“I think my entire family wants to see it. You’ve been so hush-hush about it.”
She was right. I didn’t want to give too much away while we were developing the lodge, because it felt so much more personal this time around. It wasn’t just another hotel renovation; it was a way to remember my mom. I also had a few surprises up my sleeve for Aurora.
“Okay, maybe we make it a group thing. See if they want to try the new restaurant. The chef is there experimenting with new recipes before we open after the new year. I’m sure he’d like some feedback.”
Aurora agreed to ask her family. She seemed excited about visiting the lodge again. She’d only been once before, when we started the renovations, and had wanted to wait until itwas finished to see it again. Overall, the lodge was complete. We were just in the process of some final touches and training the staff. There was going to be a grand reopening in January, and I hoped that people would fall in love with the serenity of the lodge and the splendor of the surroundings the same way I had.
With one last kiss, Aurora and I exited the truck. She was still learning to allow me to open the door for her, and I fussed at her whenever she forgot. Gigi would be horrified if she witnessed me not opening a lady’s door.
Inside the house, we found all Aurora’s siblings crowded around the living room, looking at various photo albums spread across the floor. Nate and Colton were laughing at something on the television, and Nash, Marisol, and Gigi were seated at the oversized kitchen table with a photo album between them.
“Hi,” Aurora greeted shyly. “We dropped the leftovers off at the church and brought back the empty crates.”
“Thanks, sweetie,” Marisol said as she looked up from the photo album. “There are fixings for sandwiches on the counter for lunch if you want to help yourself.”
Aurora smiled and shuffled beside me. “Thanks, Mom. You… uh… said you had something for Talon?”
“Oh!” Her mom practically bolted out of her chair and dashed toward the living room. She scooped up something off an end table and brought it over. It was a stack of pictures. They were bent on the edges in some places, curled in others, and anyone could tell they’d been stored away haphazardly. “Here they are. I thought you might like to have them.” She held out the stack, and I took them suspiciously.
Turning them over, I didn’t recognize the group at first, then my eyes recognized a face in the crowd. It was my mother. She stood in front of a tall man with jet-black hair, and a tiny boy stood between her legs.
“That one was at a church cookout.”
“How?” I asked, my fingers shaking as I moved on to the next image.
“When we first met you, I thought you looked familiar, but I didn’t think much of it. But each time I saw you, I’d think the same thing, and it started bothering me. Then, the other night when I was watching Molly and Eloise, they pulled out all the old photo albums. These were tucked in the back of one of Autumn’s albums. I suppose you’re only a couple of years older than her. She was a tiny baby then.”
“So, you’re saying my mom lived here? In Ashfield?”
“She did. For a year or so anyway. Then she moved to Knoxville one day, and we never heard anything else about her until Betsy saw her name in the obituaries.”
“Wow,” I had so many questions. So many thoughts. Did they know her well? Was she a good person? Was she strong and resilient? Did she regret leaving? Marisol must have noticed how my entire body trembled at the revelation. I’d waited my entire life to learn more about my mom, and here it all was, ready for me.
“Talon. I know it doesn’t make up for her loss, and I don’t remembermuchabout her or your dad. He didn’t live here with her. But I do remember clear as day how much she loved you. She kept to herself mostly. I think she was battling her own demons. But whenever we ran into her, you were all she would talk about. You were her pride and joy. And I think the name she gave you fits you perfectly.”
“Mom, are you saying Talon lived here in Ashfield?”
From the table, Gigi spoke up, and I looked over to find her wiping tears from her cheeks. “They did.”
“You knew, Gigi?” I asked her, even more flabbergasted than before.
“I knew she moved closer to the Knoxville hotel she loved. I didn’t know her exact location, but she once sent us apostcard with the return address of Ashfield. Honestly, I didn’t even know the town existed. You couldn’t find it on a map back then. But when I learned of Aurora being from the same town, I knew your mom must’ve been playing matchmaker up in heaven. She was always a romantic girl like that.”
I let the older women’s words sink in. Their stories filled me in a way that left me reeling but made me feel like the impossible was attainable after all.
“You really do look just like your mom,” Aurora pointed out as I flipped to a closeup of the young woman. My features were more masculine, but I had similar-shaped eyes and her smile. I got my height and hair from my dad. I knew nothing about him except that once he and my mom got married, he wasn’t around much. But I believed it was because he worked a lot, trying to give my mom the life he felt she deserved, even though all she really wanted wasus.
I sifted through a few more pictures until I came to the last one and did a double-take.
“Where is this?” I asked, holding up the image for the room to see.
Alex answered first, her eyes squinting. “Oh, that’s the local watering hole. That’s way before the town took it on and revamped the area around it.”
