Pathway to my Heart

Chapter 4

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“Mom!” Kayla yelled as she entered her parent’s home.  “Mom!” She called again when a quick search of the living room and kitchen held no sign of her mom.

“I’m in the den!” Kayla heard her mother call softly.

Kayla trembled as she made her way to the back of the house.  She found her mother sitting calmly on the seat by the bay window reading a book.  Why they had a bay window at the back of the house she didn’t know?

“You sold grandma’s house?” Kayla spat out.  She was trying to control the anger she felt bubbling up inside her, she really was, but she figured her mother could see the anger anyway.

“Bruce sold it.” Her mother said as if it meant nothing.  Bruce was her mother’s brother, Kayla’s uncle.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Kayla asked.  Her voice was wobbly and her hands shook with anger and betrayal. 

“I didn’t think it was that important to you?” Her mother told her.  Her mother looked concerned about Kayla’s outburst.  Of course she wouldn’t think it was important.  Kayla hadn’t told anyone about the key her grandmother had sent to her or the endless house Kayla spent talking to the old place like it listened to her every word.

Taking a deep breath Kayla tried to calm herself but fidgeted with the edge of her shirt.

“What is this about?” Her mother asked after a few seconds of silence.

Kayla decided against telling her mother that she’d walked the hallways of her grandma’s house for hours on end.  “I was shocked I guess.” She finally settled on saying.

“I’m sorry, I would have told you but you’ve been so busy and I’ve been so busy…it slipped my mind.” Joyce, Kayla’s mother, said.

“It’s fine.” Kayla mumbled.  Now Kayla felt awkward standing in the den with her mother.  She had burst into the house fuming and now she felt as if she’d made a fool of herself.  Could this day get any worse?

“You still coming over for dinner on Sunday?” Joyce asked as she set her book down and patted the seat next to her to try to influence Kayla to sit down.  Kayla decided against it and continued to stand.

“I always do.” Kayla answered.  “I’ve got to go.” She added as she gave her mom a light hug and headed back to her apartment.

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Joyce sat in silence for several minutes after her daughter had left.  She felt her daughter was so distant, as if she’d put a wall around her heart that extended several feet around the girl herself.  As a mother Joyce didn’t know how to help her daughter.  She only spoke in small sentences and rarely showed any emotion.  It had caught Joyce off guard when her daughter had burst into her house almost…almost sounding angry.

Her daughter had been so excited on the day of her wedding; she had laughed and twirled in her white dress like a little girl again.  When the realization that Todd wasn’t going to show up finally sunk in a piece of Kayla slipped away and Joyce was afraid her daughter would never be able to regain that light she once had.  She could tell her daughter was still struggling, even a year later, despite the strong face she put on.

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Scott had been looking out the window when the old Ford had stopped a few houses away.  He noticed the car as the one that sat in front of the antique shop and for a brief second thought that the woman had stopped by for a visit.  His poor wounded ego began to soar until the car abruptly made a u-turn and vanished from his sight.