Page 11 of Beyond Reach

“Don’t take him away from her.”

Chanda gaped. “E-excuse me?”

“You could. I know you could. I don’t like to admit it, but Marcella is, I guess I want to say, special. She’s different, and it takes a lot to embrace all of her. Garner can do it, and he’ll make her the most wonderful husband. She won’t have to look up twenty years from now and regret her choice.”

A huge weight settled on Chanda’s shoulders, although she couldn’t have said why.

“Let Marcella have him. You’re strong and smart, able to come through anything better than when you went into it.”

Chanda gasped. She reached up to her face and found tears there. Brushing them away fiercely, she turned her back to her aunt.

Her aunt hugged her from behind and kissed the top of her head. “Let it out. I bet you didn’t have anyone to cry with you all those years ago.”

“Aunt Hope.”

“You should have come home. I would have rocked you in my arms until the hurt eased. But I don’t hold it against you. I know it was hard, sweetheart. I’m here now. You can always talk to me.”

Chanda cried harder. She never meant to, and she didn’t know where all the tears were coming from. Perhaps it was the fact that her aunt looked somewhat like her mom and that they had a similar tone of voice.

At the same time, anger stirred in her chest. Her aunt was going to say she would be there for her and would have in the past. At the same time, she warned Chanda away from Garner—like she’d come home to steal him from Marcella. In the same instance her aunt complimented her, she drove a wedge between them.

“You don’t have to worry about me, Aunt Hope. I’m actually involved with someone. It’s not to the point of marriage, but it is serious. He had to work, so he couldn’t come with me on this trip.”

How easily a lie came to her lips.

Her aunt straightened and wiped her face. Chanda realized she had cried along with Chanda. “Oh good. I’m so glad to hear that. Now, let’s eat cake and hear all about your life.”

After eating far too much cake, Chanda excused herself to use the restroom. For a few moments, she stood in front of the mirror to see if her eyes were red. Regret washed over her for breaking down the way she did. She’d thought all the emotions were in the past and that the pain was gone.

She touched her chest and felt around mentally. Was her heart still broken? Maybe a little over her parents, but what about her aunt asking her not to get in the way of Garner and Marcella?

“What I’m feeling is resentment,” she grumbled under her breath. The idea—no, she wouldn’t think about it. Her aunt didn’t have to beg her like that. She’d had no intension of trying to ruin their happiness. What kind of woman did Aunt Hope take her for anyway?

She left the bathroom and almost bumped into her uncle just coming in the door. They had never seen eye to eye on anything. She used to wonder if he even liked her when she was a kid and visited the family.

“What are you doing here, Chanda?” He stumbled and almost toppled the both of them to the floor.

Chanda darted to the side, and he crashed into the wall. He looked at her as if it was her fault he’d been drinking too much. Unlike Marcella and her mom, Uncle Bill had gained a lot of weight over the years. His belly looked like a beach ball, and his spindly legs under it seemed to struggle to hold the weight.

“Hey, Uncle. How are you doing?”

“Did you hear my baby girl is marrying your old boyfriend?” He grinned. “Bet that gets your goat, huh?”

She blinked at him.

“Not that you’re a bad choice. You’ve always been smarter than Marcella.”

“Um…” She didn’t want to get into it with him, and she sure wasn’t going to thank him for his half-hearted twisted compliment. “I’m going to be Marcella’s maid of honor.”

His gaze zipped down over her form. “You won’t outshine her on her big day.”

Chanda sighed. “Take care of yourself, Uncle. I’m going to get out of here. Please tell Aunt Hope I had to run.”

She started for the door, glad she’d brought her purse with her to the restroom so she wouldn’t have to return to the kitchen.

“It nearly destroyed him when you left.”

Chanda froze.

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