Grace
As I walked up to Judy and Hank’s place after spending most of the day in The Silent Bookshop, I saw the panic in my sister before she even spoke a word my way.
She rushed out the front door, whisper-shouting, “Grace, listen, I’m so sorry, I didn’t know this would happen, and you’re going to kill me because I let it slip, but I didn’t mean to let it slip, and I’m so sorry!”
I cocked an eyebrow. “What are you talking about?”
“It’s Mama.”
“What about her?”
“She’s here, and she knows about Finn.”
“What? How?”
“Well, she doesn’t exactly know, but people were gossiping at the service about how they saw you and him fighting in town last night. They asked her about it, asking if you two were okay.”
Oh, great, people were already running their mouths about Finn and me. That didn’t take long.
“Mama was so thrown off, but she smiled through it all. Then she gave me a good talkin’-to…and she invited herself over for dinner. Which is happening now.” The guilt of it all swam in Judy’s eyes, but it wasn’t her fault.
I gave her a tight smile and told her it was okay. Mom would’ve found out anyway. I just wished she hadn’t learned it from random people in the church. Even though she smiled through it, I knew that being blindsided would’ve upset her.
“We better get inside before she loses her mind even more,” Judy warned.
“Where’s Hank?”
“Are you kidding me? The moment he found out Mama was coming over, he got out of dodge.”
Smart man. “What about Dad? Is he coming?” He worked pretty well as a buffer between Mama and me when we ended up butting heads, which was inevitable. If anything, I was a daddy’s girl through and through, so I always did better when family dinners involved him.
“Mama said he’s working at the church tonight, so it’s just the three of us.”
“Oh.” I groaned. “Wonderful.”
The moment we stepped into the foyer of the house, Mama was there wearing the biggest frown of her life, and her arms stretched out to embrace me.
“Oh, Gracelyn Mae.” She sighed, shaking her head back and forth. “You look awful.”
Home sweet home.
* * *
“I was blindsided at the church today,” Mama told me as we sat down at the dining room table. “You could’ve given me more warning, Gracelyn Mae.”
“I know, and I’m sorry, Mama. I didn’t know anyone saw Finn and me last night.”
“This is Chester. Someone is always watching.”
She wasn’t wrong about that.
“I just cannot believe this is happening.” Mama gasped, seeming completely stunned after learning about what happened between Finn and me. I’d never seen Mama so distraught. She kept shaking her head back and forth in disbelief.
“It’s really okay, Mama. You don’t have to be so heartbroken,” I told her, pushing my food around on my plate.
“You can’t just give up, though, Grace. You can’t walk away from your marriage. Your vows!” she cried. “Didn’t your vows mean anything to you?” I doubt she meant for her words to hurt me so much, but lately, hurting was all that my heart did.
