Page 26 of Meant to Be
Chapter Six
Sydney scoopedup the cherry tomatoes and threw them in the bowl. Two caught the rim, bounced out, and rolled into the sink.
“Just great.” She ignored the lost tomatoes, remembering reading somewhere that the sink was the most germ-filled place in the house. Even more so than the toilet. She picked up the knife to cut the green onions.
“Hey.” Patrick pushed a tendril of her hair back behind her ear. The gesture was comforting, and yet, at the same time, Sydney worried Patrick’s actions were an attempt to rekindle an intimacy she wasn’t interested in setting aflame. “Why don’t you let me finish the salad and entertain Julia while you call your mom about those letters?”
Sydney rested both palms on the counter, one still gripping the knife she’d used to cut vegetables. She turned her head to look at Patrick. “You’re not here for very long. I don’t want to take up our visiting time by dealing with that.”
“Go call your mom,” Julia called from the couch, where she was supposedly recovering from a sugar-infused coma after eating several deep fried Oreos. “You won’t be any fun until you do.”
“She’s right.” Patrick took the knife from Sydney. “Call your mom.”
They were right. The idea that her mom would have done something so awful as to purposefully keep her and Mitch apart would eat at her until she confronted it
“I won’t be long.” Sydney grabbed her phone from her purse and retreated to her bedroom, shutting the door behind her.
Her mother picked up after the second ring. “Sydney! What a surprise. I just finished lunch with Mrs. Andres. She said Julia and Patrick are visiting you.”
“Did you take letters Mitch sent me?” Sydney was too mad for small talk.
The line was quiet until her mother sighed. “Yes.”
“Why would you do that?” For the second time that day, Sydney’s world tilted. She sat on the edge of the bed, not sure her legs would hold her.
“You know why, honey.”
Sydney shook her head and swallowed back tears. “I couldn’t understand why he was so angry, even hurtful. I believed he left me. But he didn’t. He wrote. God, Mom, he even tried to call and e-mail. That means you broke into my e-mail and blocked him. And I guess that’s why we got a new phone plan.”
“Sydney. I know it was awful of me.”
“Did dad know?”
There was a pause. “He didn’t like it, but he couldn’t talk me out of it.”
Her gut burned and swelled with anger. How could her own parents have done this?
“I’ve feared the day you’d discover my actions—”
“That’s why you didn’t want me to come to Virginia. Because you knew I’d find out what you did.” She flopped back on her bed in a huff. Sydney felt like she was twenty-one again, trying to convince her mom she was old enough to make her own decisions.
“No. I always knew you’d find out someday. Secrets have a way of coming out. Even if I’d burned the letters.”
Sydney lurched upright. “You still have them?”
Her mother sighed. “Yes. Guilt wouldn’t let me destroy them. If you want them, I’ll send them to you.”
“Yes, I want them!” Her mind reeled at her mother’s interference. “Never in a million years would I have thought you’d do something like this.”
“I know. Me too. But I did. And I’d do it again, Sydney. You were so young. I know you thought you could go to medical school and still marry Mitch — when you’re young and in love, anything is possible — but enough time has passed that you know now that life is messier, harder. You spent most of your life wanting to be a doctor. I didn’t want you to give that up.”
“I had no intension of giving it up. And Mitch supported me all the way.”
“Yes, I know. But the reality of trying to go school while married to a man in the military who moved a lot would have eventually forced you to make a decision. What if he ended up stationed in a place that didn’t have medical school or he was required to move before you were done earning your degree or finishing your residency? What would you do? Live apart? Married people need to put their marriage first, which means you’d have to follow him. I didn’t raise you to be one of those women who gives up her hopes and dreams to make a man happy.”
Intellectually, Sydney knew her mother had a point. But she’d always thought she and Mitch were different. “He thinks you did it because he wasn’t rich enough to impress you.”
“You know that’s not true. Your dad and I aren’t like that.”
