twenty-three
HARLOW FOUND HER aunt in her sitting room, photo albums strewn around her. With a smile, Lillian patted the space next to her. “Come sit with me, and we’ll go through memories together.”
“I’d like that.” Harlow settled close and hugged her aunt. “Mom’s boss, Mindy, just showed up. I think there’s going to be some drama later on.”
“Other people’s drama is the best kind.” Lillian reached for an old, battered photo album. “Let’s look at this one. Your uncle is very dashing.”
They flipped through pages of pictures. Scribbled notes on the side dated them back to the 1960s.
“You got some good height on your hair,” Harlow said, smiling at a picture of her aunt with bangs, a headband and shoulder-length hair that flipped up at the ends. “Your skirt is a little short.”
“I was daring, and miniskirts were all the rage.” She patted Harlow’s arm. “Look at your uncle.”
“So handsome. You’re a cute couple.”
“We were very much in love, right until he died.” Lillian sighed. “I won’t tell you we never fought, because we did, but we learned from our mistakes and did better.”
She turned the page. Harlow stared at the pictures of large crowds with signs about the right to vote.
“What are these?”
Lillian peered at the photographs. “Your uncle and I spent two summers down South, helping register Black folks to vote. It got a little dicey every now and then, but it seemed like the right thing to do.”
“You were part of the Civil Rights Movement?”
“They didn’t really call it that back then, but I suppose we were.”
Harlow studied the pictures more closely. Her aunt and uncle had risked their lives in a social movement that changed the country, and she was whining because her father hadn’t been honest about buying her a business?
“I need to work on my priorities,” she murmured.
“Why?” her aunt asked.
“I was just thinking how upset I am about my dad, but these pictures put everything in perspective.”
She explained about the kayaking business and how she’d thought her father wanted to buy it.
Lillian listened attentively. When Harlow finished, her aunt said, “It seems to me you acted in good faith. He’s the one who changed the rules.”
“I was entitled. I should have thought it through.”
“But you did. You researched the company and understood the numbers. You didn’t do anything wrong, Harlow.”
“Then why do I feel stupid and young?”
“Because you were betrayed by someone you trust. That always hurts. You’ve always been tenderhearted.”
“You’re being too nice, Lillian. I don’t feel tenderhearted. I think I can be difficult.”
Lillian brushed aside that comment. “I remember when you were a little girl. Maybe ten or eleven. You’d beaten the cancer, but you were still recovering from the treatments. You and Austin and your mom came here for the summer. Leo and I loved having you.”
Harlow remembered that time as well. She’d grown stronger out here, running around with her brother, sailing with her mom. She couldn’t recall specifics, but in the back of her mind, there was a sense of sadness about the trip. Something had happened—she just wasn’t sure what.
“We were here a long time,” Harlow said. “Did I go visit the local elementary school? I sort of remember that.”
“You might have looked it over.” Lillian carefully avoided her gaze.
“Why would I have done that?”
“You were interested.”
She’d been ten. No kid was that interested in another school—especially in summer. She also recalled her mother crying. Robyn had tried to conceal it, but Harlow had found her in tears more than once. There had also been quiet conversations behind closed doors.
“Dad never visited us,” she said slowly. “Not until the end when he showed up to tell us he’d bought us a new house with a swimming pool and a view of the water.”
The house her mother lived in now. The one she had to sell. A house she’d never really liked.
“Dad bought that house while we were gone. The first time we saw it was when we came home. All our stuff was moved in. But Mom never left here that whole summer.” Harlow stared at her aunt. “Did my dad buy a house and move us into it without my mom ever seeing it?”
Lillian closed the album. “Well, this is awkward. I’m not sure what Robyn would want me to do. I suppose the truth doesn’t matter now, so I’ll tell you. That’s exactly what he did. Your parents were having a difficult time, and he wanted her to be happy.”
A month ago, Harlow would have accepted that statement and moved on. But now she knew more. She knew that her father was a chronic cheater who didn’t respect the women he was with. Now she knew her father had cheated on her mother, and that was the main reason their marriage had ended.
She thought about the long months of her cancer treatment and how her mother had been there for every second of it. She thought about how her mom had taken her and Austin away for the summer. She remembered visiting the school and her mother crying and hearing, “You’ll always be welcome here,” from her aunt and uncle.
Twelve years ago, while she’d been dealing with cancer treatments and her mother had been by her side, her father had cheated, and her mom had found out. Things had gotten so bad that her mother had taken her and Austin across the country while she figured out what to do next.
Somehow their dad had convinced her to give him another chance. Harlow wasn’t sure if the house was a bribe or what, but somehow it played into all this.
“I didn’t know,” Harlow whispered. “About any of it.”
“You were a child, darling. You weren’t supposed to know.”
Her mother had protected her and her brother. She’d never let on there were problems or what Cord had done. She’d made the summer happy and wonderful, allowing Harlow to heal. And in the end, she’d taken her children home because that was where they would be happiest.
“I don’t know if I could do that,” Harlow admitted. “Sacrifice myself for my kids.”
“You would. It’s biological. When you have children, everything changes.”
She thought that might be true. Everything had changed for Robyn. Even if Cord had sworn he would never cheat again, she’d suffered through the pain of it. She’d been betrayed by the one person who had vowed to love and protect her forever. Once shattered, how could that trust be rebuilt? How could she have gone on for so long?
Harlow had known in her head that marriage was hard and love required a lot, but until this exact second, she hadn’t understood what that really meant. The bigness of loving someone else. The responsibility of having children. Thinking about that now put her own problems in perspective.
“I have a really great life,” she said aloud.
Lillian smiled. “That makes me happy, sweet girl. It’s all I’ve ever wanted for you and your brother. To have a really great life.”
* * *
After three hours of listening to Mindy sob, cry and swear she couldn’t understand what had gone wrong, Robyn escaped. Her claim of needing to get dinner started was actually the truth, which helped her say the words sympathetically, as if she really didn’t want to leave her friend.