Page 104 of Summer Longing
“I didn’t even bring a change of clothes,” she said. He told her to borrow something from Jaci.
Olivia left her muddy boots on Lidia’s porch and took the stairs to the second floor, texting her mother that she would be there soon.Are you there yet? Don’t leave before I get there. I want to see it.
She knocked on Jaci’s closed bedroom door out of habit, then opened it. The bed was made and the windows were half open, letting in the warm breeze. Olivia felt bad going through her dresser looking for a T-shirt, but Marco had assured her it was okay. She wanted to find something Jaci wouldn’t miss right away, so she passed over the top layer of crew-neck T-shirts and tanks and dug into the bottom of the pile.
She pulled out a Long Point T-shirt and in the process dislodged a notecard that had been buried underneath all of the clothes. She recognized the stationery her mother had been using for her little gift packages.
How sweet that Jaci had saved her mother’s note. She couldn’t help but wonder what her mother had written. Olivia was still trying to reconcile the selfish, absentee Ruth of her childhood with the caring, present, infinitely giving woman she had been living with all summer.
Accidentally discovering the note was one thing, but Olivia knew that reading it would be crossing the line into officially snooping. Still, she couldn’t resist seeking one more clue as she tried to put together the puzzle of who her mother actually was. Maybe she was both the woman Olivia remembered and the woman she had experienced this summer. If so, what did it mean for the future of their relationship?
She unfolded the notecard and sat on the edge of Jaci’s bed.
Dear Jaci,
I know this is a difficult time for you. I know the choice you made feels like the best choice today. But please know, mother to mother, that whoever you are today will change. You will not be the same person five years from now, ten years from now, fifteen years from now. You will change, circumstances will change, but motherhood is forever. I am here if you want to talk.
Warmly, Ruth
Olivia read the note until it was burned into her memory, and only then did she let herself acknowledge what the note meant: the mystery baby belonged to Jaci.
And her mother had known all along.
Chapter Forty-Four
Ruth had been disappointed that Olivia didn’t show up to see the house on Nickerson, but she told herself there was plenty of time for that later. The more she thought about the house, the more she loved it, and she wanted Olivia to share in the excitement with her. It was something they could bond over: a new home for this new chapter in their lives together. It would be the place Olivia would visit, where she’d bring her own children someday.
But not only did Olivia fail to show up to tour the house with her, she didn’t return to Shell Haven that night or for several nights after. She did not answer Ruth’s texts or calls. The only reason Ruth didn’t panic was that Marco assured her that she was fine, that she was just busy. They were just doing their thing.
But Ruth knew something wasn’t right.
After a call to Marco, she located Olivia sorting oysters by size at a metal table inside the shed behind the Barroses’ house.
“What are you doing here?” Olivia said with a level of irritation Ruth had not heard in her voice since the beginning of the summer.
“I came to visit,” Ruth said. “I haven’t seen you in days.”
“I’m working, Mother,” Olivia said, scribbling information on a white tag and then attaching the tag to a mesh bag.
“Yes, I see. I’m so happy that you found something that—”
“Oh, save it!” Olivia snapped.
Ruth pressed her hand to her chest. Before she could respond, Olivia said, “I know you’ve been lying all this time about Mira. I know Jaci is her mother.”
Ruth leaned against the table. “She told you?”
Olivia shook her head. “No. Of course not. And Marco doesn’t know.But he should know. I confided in you the other day, not only about my relationship with Marco but about the problems they were having with Jaci. They didn’t understand why she wanted to run off so quickly, and you just stood there nodding, knowing this giant secret the whole time! How could you keep this from me? How could you keep this from Lidia?”
Ruth flinched at the mention of Lidia. The thought of her, more than anything, was keeping her up at night. Lidia’s granddaughter was right there but living blocks away instead of under her roof. No matter what Jaci said about the baby being a potential burden to her parents, Ruth knew in her heart that was not how the Barroses would feel.
“I promised Jaci…” But that wasn’t entirely true. She had actually promised Amelia, although this was not something she could share. It wouldn’t do to implicate Amelia.
“You cannot keep this secret. It’s wrong. And it’s putting me in a terrible position with Marco. If he finds out that I knew about this…”
“So why would you have wanted me to tell you?”
“I want you to do the right thing! You’re an adult. A mother! How can you let her pull this crazy stunt with the baby? Youalwaysdo things like this.”
