What The Heart Wants

Chapter 28

Sinuhe...

Emily recognized her by the set of her plump shoulders and the halo of carefully arranged brown hair around her head.

But she couldn't see her aunt's expression until she pulled the door wide-open. "Emily. Hello." She looked irritated, maybe? Her eyebrows were pinched together, her mouth all pursed up.

"Sinuhe? Are you all ri—"

Her aunt cut her off. "May I come in?"

"Of course." Emily stepped back. "Come in... let's go to the kitchen." She gestured towards the arch that led to the back of the house.

"The babies?"

"Napping at the moment -and it's warm out. How about something cold to drink?"

"No, it's fine. Alison's at work?"

"Yes."

"It's just us?"

"That's right."

"Good. We need to talk." Sinuhe turned and headed for the kitchen on a mission. Emily just stood there and stared after her, wondering what in the world was going on. Her aunt paused just past the arch to the living room and aimed an impatient glance over her shoulder. "Well? Are you coming?"

"Sure." Emily hurried to catch up. In the kitchen, she gestured at the table. "Have a seat. I can make some –"

"No. Nothing. Really." Sinuhe went and stood by the island. Not sure what to do next, Emily followed her over there. Her aunt stared at her for a long, very uncomfortable string of seconds before announcing, "I just feel I have to say something. It's about Hanna."

"Hanna?" Emily's stomach lurched. "Is she all right?"

Sinuhe wrung her hands, blinked and looked down at them. Shaking her head, she smoothed the ruffles on the front of her shirt and tugged on the side seams of her A-line skirt. "She's making things up. That's what she's doing. Hurtful lies."

Dread crept over Emily, like a cold fog on a dark night. "What lies?"

"Well, I just dropped in at Lake Breeze to see how things were going. You know... And there was Hanna, painting the wood trim on the door to the restroom hallway. She said Pam had to run out for more paint or something but would be back soon. I decided to wait and we started chatting, Hanna and I. And then, out of nowhere, she asks me if I know about you and Alison."

Emily blinked. There was a sudden buzzing sound in her ears. She put her hand on her stomach and prayed that everything in there wasn't on the verge of coming up. "What about me and Alison?"

As if she didn't know.

Dear, sweet Lord, this was the exact wrong way for Sinuhe to find out that she and Alison were a couple. It was supposed to be done on Wednesday, done kindly, with love and respect.

We never should have kept the secret in the first place, said an accusatory voice in the back of her head.

But they had. And now came the part where they got to live with their bad choices.

"Hanna said she saw you and Alison kissing, right here in this kitchen, yesterday morning." Her aunt touched her then. She reached out and gently squeezed her shoulder. All Emily could do was stare. "Sweetheart. Don't look so crushed."

"I'm not, I –"

"Because of course, I don't believe a word of it. I just really felt that you should know that Hanna is, well, she's spreading tales about you. It's a problem, a big one. She has all these... issues with Alison, though the good Lord knows why. She's been a saint, we all know that. With Hanna, with all of her siblings. She and my Camila, what they did to keep that family together..."