A Daughter's Trust

“It’s my job to help your mom acclimate. To do anything I can to facilitate her ability to be a good mother to Carrie.”

“You’re so bound and determined to throw my mother in my face. I’m beginning to wonder if you aren’t playing favorites, after all. I’m just not the favorite.”

Shocked that he’d even think such a thing, Sue stared. She wanted to argue. To deny his accusation. And was even more shocked when she couldn’t. Was he right? Was she overcompensating?

“My report to the committee will be fair,” she assured him. “I paid close attention to your visit tonight.”

“Uh-huh.” He slid his hands in the pockets of his pants. “And how’d I do?”

“Great. You’re a natural at handling a baby.”

“And?”

“Your situation reminds me of my mother’s,” she started. “She grew up without that sense of being a full-fledged member of a family. She was always on the outside looking in. She got to live with them, call herself one of them, but it was never quite the real deal. Like you, in all those foster homes. You could pretend you were a member of the family, but you always knew you weren’t.”

“What’s your point?”

“Look what that did to my mother. The same thing it sounds like it did to you. As soon as you were out on your own, you found a relationship and wanted to get married, to raise a family, to have a family of your own.”

His eyes narrowed. “Yeah.”

“Not like most people want families. You want an all-consuming relationship. Just like my mother. Except that she was a little luckier when she met my dad then you were with Sheila. Because my dad wanted the same thing she did.”

“Again, what’s your point?”

“You want Carrie to be your all-consuming family.”

“I believe family is everything, yes.”

“I don’t want you to have her because of the risk that she’d grow up like I did. You’d smother her. Suffocate her. Especially after having lost Hannah.”

He looked as though she’d slapped him. “That’s unfair.”

“Maybe,” she conceded. “But look how much you’ve been here. We’ve only known each other a few weeks and you’re practically living with us.”

He pulled back, his entire countenance stiffening.

“I thought you wanted me here.” His eyes held no warmth at all.

She had. She did. And that was a big part of the problem. Not his, though. Hers.

“What I want is beside the point. I just think you have too many issues to be good for Carrie. You’ve been hurt so much. You can’t see your mother clearly. Can’t give her the benefit of the doubt, and I understand why. But that doesn’t make it good for Carrie. And then there’s Hannah. You have so many scars….”

“And my mother doesn’t?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t met her yet.”

“Well, give me a call after you do,” he said, heading for the door. “Or better yet, don’t. Maybe you’re right. Maybe we need time apart to figure out what we’re doing here. I’ll see you Wednesday at four.”

Before she could come up with a reply, he was gone.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

“WHAT’S UP, MAN?” MARK huffed as he went for the rebound.

“Why does anything have to be up?” Rick was first to the ball. Took it back.

“A Tuesday afternoon game is a sure sign that something’s wrong.” Mark stayed right on him, his hands filling the space around him.