Page 18 of Ripple Effect
I let out a measured breath. “To talk to her. All she wanted me to do was talk to her.”
Sam’s about to say something when we hear a crying screech of “Aunt Libby!” Sydney goes running across the yard. Libby immediately drops to her knees, and Sydney crashes into her arms. The younger girl starts talking animatedly before pointing at her elbow, which clearly has a long scrape on it. Libby’s face softens. She leans forward and kisses Sydney’s wet cheek and then the hurt arm. Standing back up, she guides the little girl to the main house like a protective mother.
And in that moment, I realize how badly I fucked up because I just saw a vision of my future walk away from me.
I need to figure out a way to fix things between us and quickly.
11
Present Day
Elizabeth
“How did he get you to talk with him?” Dr. Powell asks.
I shoot him a look. “This is Calhoun Sullivan we’re talking about. The man doesn’t understand the meaning of the word defeat, Doctor. Cal does what he does best: he planned a strategic attack and executed it.”
We both laugh at my wry acceptance of my husband’s skills. Still chuckling, he asks, “What do you mean?”
“Cal saw me go into the house with Sydney. He figured there would be few, if any, people inside. So—” I shake my head in bemusement at the memory. “—he followed me. What he didn’t count on was what he found.”
“Oh?”
I hesitate because it’s difficult to explain. “I have always been Elizabeth Dahlia Akin. Nonna said I kept my emotions locked inside except for those people I cared about. Libby is who I’m comfortable becoming when people are allowed to get close to me. At college, I was different because I didn’t have the chance to throw up those shields; Iris wouldn’t let me.” For just a moment, the reality of everything of those horrid months before theSea Forcecomes rushing back: Cal, Iris, Sam. “So, Nonna knew I had the tendency to pull back emotionally to protect myself, but my family—” I shake my head. “—they’d just never witnessed it. Until my broken engagement. And those years when Sam and Iris kept bringing up Cal’s name. They had no idea I was hurting because day after day I was waiting for a silly little email.”
“It isn’t silly if it was a promise broken,” Dr. Powell points out logically.
“It seems silly now in light of everything else.” We’re both quiet for a moment. I close my eyes for just a second before continuing. “Anyway, Cal followed me and Sydney into the kitchen.”
“Then what happened?”
12
Elizabeth
Twelve Years Ago from Present Day
“Any better?” I’ve already cleaned and covered the scrape on Sydney’s arm with three Band-Aids since three is her favorite number. Pressing a kiss to the wound, I meet eyes the same exact shade as my own. They’re Nonna’s eyes passed down to another female in our family. Mine fill with tears over my heartbreak knowing Sydney will never hear the stories Nonna shared with me as I grew from a girl her age with skinned knees as I tumbled over the roots of the trees running around the farm, like she did, to the comfort she offered me as a woman when a hopeful heart began to wither as day after day passed with nothing from a man who offered me flowers that seemed to promise me everything.
“Yes, Aunt Libby. Thank you.” Sydney leans into me. “What about you?”
I hug her tightly. “Do you mean about Nonna?” At her nod, I go on. “It’s going to hurt for a long time.”
“Like it did about that man? Did he tell you I stomped on his foot?”
I pull back in surprise. “What do you mean?”
“I heard you talking to Nonna, Aunt Libby. When Sam introduced him, I stood up for you—the same way you’re always standing up for me.”
“Oh, Syd.” I pull my brother’s daughter against my heart again and let her love flow over me. “There was no need to do that.”
“He made you cry.” Her small little arms try to wrap around me. “I didn’t mean to, but I heard you tell Nonna.”
“I wish I’d known that, baby. I would have tried to explain.” But what would I have said? That I didn’t cry over Calhoun Sullivan? Because that would have been a lie. And I don’t lie. Not ever.
I was the foolish girl who pinned happiness on nothing but mismanaged dreams. And as months passed without a word, I made excuses: he was busy, he wasn’t settled. But when Iris came home talking about the business venture she was now involved in with Cal, I’d gone down to the river and sat as the water rippled past. I knew the last part of my girlish dreams were gone. There was something wrong with me.
Then I met Kyle. After the way that ended, I encased my heart in stone. Or so I thought. It was then I went to Nonna and cried.
