Page 105 of Summer Longing
“Always do things likewhat?”
“You avoid, avoid, avoid. You check out when a situation gets inconvenient. But I can’t let you do that this time.”
“Olivia, this isn’t our business. I agree, the truth has to come out. But the time and place for that is not ours to decide.”
“Not our business? I’m in a relationship with Marco. I’m involved with that family. Itismy business. But I can’t be the one to do this. Jaci will never forgive me, and I need to have a relationship with her. What if Marco and I end up together?”
Ruth bit her lip. “Is it that serious?”
“I don’t know! But I don’t want this between us. You have to do something. And I’m not coming back to Shell Haven—or talking to you—until you do.”
“Ignore Bianca,” Amelia said.
After a nonstop afternoon at Tea by the Sea, Elise wanted to hunker down at Shell Haven with Mira, have a glass of wine, and shut out the world. Instead, she was covered in sequins, glitter, and glue in Amelia’s art studio, helping to make decorations for Carnival.
Elise looked at Fern.
Fern, a sequin stuck to the side of her face, put down her glue and said, “It’s not that simple. She’s threatening us.”
Amelia waved the words away. “I’ve known Bianca since she was this high. Her bark is worse than her bite.”
Again, Elise turned to her wife, who seemed unmoved by this comment.
Elise didn’t know what to make of Fern’s behavior in the past few weeks. She had been certain she would use Bianca’s threat as an excuse to go right to the Department of Children and Families. Instead, she appeared determined to do just the opposite. She’d been acting strangely in general: Leaving the room to answer phone calls. Taking a midweek trip to Boston that seemed to have little to do with the weekend farmers’ markets. But at the same time, she wasn’t pulling away from her; if anything, Fern seemed more devoted and acted more loving than she ever had before.
It was unsettling.
Now that Fern wasn’t pushing the issue of going through the “proper channels,” Elise felt her own urgency to initiate adoption proceedings. She wanted to make things official with Mira. The insecurity and worry about the future was starting to outweigh her fear of getting a government agency involved.
“I think it’s time to call a lawyer,” Elise had said just before turning out the lights the night before.
“We’re not going to let Bianca bully us,” Fern had said.
Elise was starting to get a Twilight Zone feeling; apparently, she was the only one who recognized the precariousness of the situation.
Now, faced with Amelia and Fern in agreement, she decided she would have to speak up more firmly. “I don’t think we should take any chances,” Elise said. “I can’t sleep at night wondering if Bianca is going to make the phone call thatweshould be making. This whole process will be messed up if it starts that way. I can’t wait any longer.”
Fern and Amelia exchanged a look that completely excluded Elise. The glance was so weighted, Elise wondered if she had imagined it. Fern pulled Mira from her car seat and cradled her in her arms.
“What? What’s going on?” Elise said.
Amelia smiled at her and reached across the table to place her hand on top of hers. “Don’t act out of fear,” she said.
Elise sat with that a minute and finally understood she had been acting out of fear of losing Mira all summer—that was what had gotten her into this predicament.
“I’m trying not to,” Elise said, looking to Fern for backup. “That’s why I want to make this call. There’s something I didn’t tell you. Either of you. Brian Correia stopped by the house last month. Someone reported the baby. He believed me when I explained that we were in the process of adopting. But I realize now that I should have told him the truth.”
Amelia patted her hand. “A little more time,” she said.
Fern nodded her agreement.
Elise had never felt more afraid.
Chapter Forty-Five
Olivia sat at the Barroses’ kitchen table dicing up dried seaweed for the genmaicha-and-kelp blend while Marco took a meeting on the East End. The morning was turning into afternoon, and she was eager to finish before Lidia showed up. She had been avoiding spending time with Jaci and her mother ever since discovering the note.
“You’re still here, love? I would have helped with all this if I’d known Marco was going to be gone so long,” Lidia said, breezing into the room. “I’m starting lunch. Don’t run off without eating.”
