Emma lowered her mug and swallowed. “What about not telling me things?”
“When we pushed you away, and you stayed away…it was hard. At first, I thought about coming to the city so many times. I almost did a few times.”
Emma’s heart sputtered and started back up again. “Why didn’t you?”
“Because I was afraid you would turn me away. I couldn’t face the fact that it might be the last straw, so I stayed away. I let my fear get the better of me.”
Emma’s stomach dipped as she took a step in Marie’s direction. “Mom—”
Marie held a hand up. “Let me get this out, please. I know we should’ve provided you with a more stable childhood. You weren’t wrong to make that comment.”
Emma shook her head. “It was completely out of line. I shouldn’t have said that.”
Despite their flaws, they had tried.
More than she cared to admit sometimes.
Marie set down her drink and let her hands fall to her sides. “No, you were right. Accusing you of turning your back on your roots and becoming a sellout… That was harsh.”
“I don’t know if you were wrong about that…”
She’d often questioned it over the years, and she was no closer to having an answer.
Her job, the one she’d worked hard for, no longer held the appeal it usually did. After years of being weighed down by red tape and legal loopholes, she had lost some of the zest and passion that had made her turn to it in the first place.
But she wasn’t sure if she was ready to turn her back on it, not when it had exacted such a heavy toll on her life.
All those long hours, all the blood, sweat, and tears.
All the missed recitals and school plays…
She didn’t want it to be for nothing.
Marie sighed. “Regardless, after the years passed, it just became harder to make amends. When I got sick, your dad had to step up and take care of me, and I thought about reaching out to you, but I didn’t want you to see me like that. You’ve alwaysseen the elegant and glamorous Marie Sullivan… I didn’t want you to see the shell I’d become.”
What was she talking about?
Her mother was human—she was allowed to have her off days—and it broke Emma’s heart to realize she’d been carrying that feeling around.
No one should have to keep appearances, especially around family.
Emma’s chest tightened. “Mom, you are not a shell. You could never be…and you wereneverMarie Sullivan to me. You were just my mom. I would’ve been there for you, no matter what happened.”
And it wouldn’t have made a difference that they’d always had a strained relationship.
All she wanted—all she’deverwanted—was to be able to spend time with her mother, the real version of her, not whatever part she wore for the press.
“I know that now,” Marie whispered, pausing to bridge the distance between them. She stopped an inch away and lifted her gaze. Her mouth moved soundlessly for a few minutes; then, she met Emma’s eyes and didn’t look away. “I know we’ve got a lot to make up for, but I want us to start over. After what happened to your dad, I…I don’t want to waste any more time on regrets.”
Emma made a low, choked sound and threw her arms around her mom, allowing the familiar scent of vanilla and Chanel No. 5 to wash over her. “Neither do I.”
For a while, they stood in the middle of the kitchen, crying and holding on to each other. Emma wanted the moment to last forever, afraid of what might come between them if she drew apart. Eventually, it was her phone that prompted Marie to be the first to pull away and dab at her eyes. After sending the call to voicemail, Emma pulled out two of the high chairs and waited for her mom to sit down.
It shouldn’t have taken her dad’s illness to get them there, but it had.
Emma was oddly thankful for the scare that had brought her mother back to her, and she could only hope that solving the mystery of the eclipse would have the same impact on her father.
It was time for them to heal.
