PART 2<\/p>\n
Sophie held the faded pink shovel in her lap during the drive. Caleb wore headphones in the back seat, although I could tell no music was playing. When we finally pulled into the beach house driveway, Linda was already walking toward us.<\/p>\n
She stopped in front of me.<\/p>\n
\u201cI owe you much more than an apology.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, you do. And I want everything said openly. No whispers. No excuses. No pretending this was some misunderstanding.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have my word.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Sophie stepped from the car, Linda looked as though she wanted to hug her but stopped herself.<\/p>\n
\u201cSophie, I am so sorry. I truly believed you weren\u2019t here because your mother wanted distance. I never knew you thought we didn\u2019t want you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sophie held the shovel against her side.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou never called me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Linda flinched.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. I didn\u2019t. That was my mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nathan\u2019s father, Thomas, appeared on the porch as Caleb climbed from the car.<\/p>\n
\u201cClaire? What\u2019s happening?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNathan told my children that you didn\u2019t want them here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas\u2019s face went pale.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe told us you refused to come.\u201d<\/p>\n
Before I could respond, the screen door opened and Aurora stepped outside. She looked at me, then Sophie and Caleb, and immediately understood something was wrong.<\/p>\n
\u201cClaire, I thought you knew Ava and I came every year. Linda told me about your call.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew Nathan had a past. I didn\u2019t know he was using that past as an excuse to leave his own children out of his present.\u201d<\/p>\n
Aurora shook her head.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought I was respecting your wishes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI never made those wishes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ava appeared behind her mother, looking confused and embarrassed. I knew immediately that none of this belonged on her shoulders.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want any of our children blamed for Nathan\u2019s lies.\u201d<\/p>\n
Aurora nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cNeither do I.\u201d<\/p>\n
Linda glanced toward the house.<\/p>\n
\u201cNathan is inside. Dinner just started.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at Sophie and Caleb.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t have to go in.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sophie shook her head.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to hear what he says.\u201d<\/p>\n
Caleb moved closer to me.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll stay with you.\u201d<\/p>\n
We walked inside together.<\/p>\n
Nathan sat near the head of the dining table laughing with his sister. The moment he saw us, his smile disappeared.<\/p>\n
\u201cClaire?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou forgot to mention a few details about your family tradition.\u201d<\/p>\n
He pushed his chair backward.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not the time.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat has been your answer for eleven years.\u201d<\/p>\n
His eyes moved toward his mother.<\/p>\n
\u201cMom, what did you do?\u201d<\/p>\n
Linda stepped beside me.<\/p>\n
\u201cI told Claire the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou had no right.\u201d<\/p>\n
I almost couldn\u2019t believe him.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo right? You told me your family didn\u2019t want us here. You told them I refused to come. You gave everyone a different story so nobody would ever compare notes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nathan lifted his hands.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was trying to keep the peace.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. You were trying to keep control.\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked toward Aurora.<\/p>\n
\u201cAva needed stability after the divorce. Aurora was already comfortable with everyone. I didn\u2019t want things to become awkward.\u201d<\/p>\n
Aurora immediately stepped forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo not blame this on Ava or me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nathan turned toward her.<\/p>\n
\u201cAurora\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. You told me Claire wanted distance. If I had known you were deliberately excluding Sophie and Caleb, I never would have accepted this.\u201d<\/p>\n
I squeezed Sophie\u2019s hand.<\/p>\n
\u201cAva deserved stability. But Sophie and Caleb deserved grandparents too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nathan rubbed his forehead.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t know how to fix it once it started.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou knew exactly how. Tell the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas looked directly at his son.<\/p>\n
\u201cWere Claire and the children ever actually invited?\u201d<\/p>\n
Nathan looked at his father, then at me, then down at the table.<\/p>\n
He said nothing.<\/p>\n
His silence answered everything.<\/p>\n
Sophie stepped forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I was little, I thought Grandma didn\u2019t like me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nathan\u2019s face crumpled.<\/p>\n
\u201cSophie, sweetheart\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen I got older, and I started wondering if maybe you didn\u2019t like me either.\u201d<\/p>\n
He reached toward her, but she stepped back.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you know I stopped asking to come because I couldn\u2019t stand hearing no anymore?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI love you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Caleb pressed against my side.<\/p>\n
\u201cMom, can we go home?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nathan panicked.<\/p>\n
\u201cClaire, wait. We need to talk.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have talked. For years. You just called it nagging whenever I asked questions you didn\u2019t want to answer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Linda looked at her son.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re not staying here tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m your son.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd those are my grandchildren. All of them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom now on, if we want to see Sophie and Caleb, we call Claire directly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Aurora took Ava\u2019s hand.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re leaving too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ava looked at Sophie.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought you didn\u2019t want to know me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sophie swallowed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought you were the reason Dad didn\u2019t want us here.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sophie placed the old pink shovel on the floor beside her.<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t forgiveness.<\/p>\n
But for the first time, it was the truth.<\/p>\n
PART 2 Sophie held the faded pink shovel in her lap during the drive. Caleb wore headphones in the back seat, although I could tell no music was playing. When we finally pulled into...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n