Love Will Keep Us - Book 5

We Will Always Love You

LENA POV

"Mom, I don't know. She's just not communicating with me. She said this case just means more to her than all her other ones." I say to my mother as I rub my forehead, for I am very frustrated by now considering I know Stef was not being 100 percent up front with me.  Why she couldn't be, I really don't know,  and I just don't buy her reasoning that this particular boy just really, really touched her and that she had been going to see him sometimes. None of it made any sense to me whatsoever.

"Okay, so why is that hard for you to believe, honey?" She asks as I begin to put the food away I bought for Thanksgiving dinner. It's so hard to believe we only a few days left, and there was so much that needed to be done.

 "I don't know. It just is. I know her."

"My dear love, I also know you, and I know you're holding back. Talk to me, baby," I hear my mother's soothing voice as I grab the bag of sweet potatoes that Frankie needed for her pie and shove them in the cupboard.

"I guess it scares me to be honest. Like, communication has always been so important to me, and Will did this to me. He held things in and wouldn't talk, and Stef? She's no different. It's like pulling teeth sometimes with her and even then I still wonder if she tells me everything."

"Ahhh, there it is. You can't compare relationships like that, sweetheart. Will didn't start doing that until after the war, right? Stef, well, she wants to talk to you, baby, but I'm sure she has her reasons. It's not fair to her for you to compare her to Will like that. They are two different people and from what I remember it has always been hard for Stef to talk because of the upbringing she had that you told me about."

I sigh as I roll my eyes and grab the dish rag to wipe down the counter. "I know, Mom, but it's hard not to compare. Sometimes I feel as if I'm this consolation prize with Stef. Like maybe I'm not enough," I admit, for with my mom, I've always ended up being very truthful. She had a way of getting me to spill each and every time even if I have yet to tell her that Will possibly had another child floating around.

"Oh, my dear Lena. You mustn't be so negative! How do you think Stef would feel if she heard what you just said? Hmm? That you are a consolation prize. That is such nonsense. Do you think she'd run to you and declare how much she loves you?"

"No, Mother," I snap, now annoyed as I hear her soft sigh in the phone. "I'm sorry. I'm exhausted, I guess."

"Well, I thought you were past all of those doubts with your wife. I find it completely and utterly unfair of you to still be feeling this way. That woman uprooted her job and little girl for you and your children. She treats you and them like gold. Think about it," my mom reprimands softly, yet I feel every word in my heart as hot tears burn my eyes.

"Frank and Sharon are coming here for Thanksgiving. That's originally why I called you, Mama," I change the subject.

"Oh really? I thought Sharon would never enter the house of the sinner!" she laughs as I wipe my eyes and laugh with her.

"Yep. I was just as shocked, but my guess is either she feels really guilty for how she has treated my wife or maybe she just is curious."

"Well, I do not think that woman is curious. In fact, I think it's more along the lines of possibly giving Stef a guilt trip for never visiting her or even she's coming to see her little Callie baby."

"Really? Why give Stef a guilt trip? I mean, she's the one who told her never to set foot in her home again unless she's repented," I laugh awkwardly as I hear my mother cluck her tongue.

"Tsk, tsk. I know her kind, my dear. She will come in, lay it on thick and feign an illness or that she's not physically well. A bunch of malarkey if you ask me, but I wish we could make it as well. I think maybe we'll fly out for either Christmas or the New Year, and if not, I will make sure to make it out there soon, my baby."