Celeste’s voice was perfectly steady, but there were tears streaking down her face.
It was the one thing Sera could never hold out against. She gently put a hand on Celeste’s. “Or you could call or come by. This does not have to be a war between us. I wouldn’t mind Luc having another grandmother. But that’s all you can be. You can’t make Luc a replacement for Wes.”
Celeste nodded, but her eyes were on the yard. “I know that. Sera, I’m sorry. I have spent a lot of time recently pondering my own hypocrisy. I’ve been in your position and I blamed you for not making the same choices I did. In many ways, your choices were braver than mine, and I didn’t appreciate that mirror I had to look into.”
She could rail at this woman. She could demand more than a simple apology, and there were plenty of people who would say she had the right. Having the right and using the right were two different things. In the face of Celeste’s emotion, she couldn’t find righteousness. She could only find compassion. “I wasn’t in your shoes. I don’t know what I would have done if I had been.”
“Somehow I think you would have found a way to deal with it better than I did.”
“I think your kids turned out pretty great. Isn’t that what matters at the end? I know Wes loved you.”
For the first time, Celeste turned her way. “Did he hurt you that night? Is that why you wouldn’t talk to him again? Please understand I’m so sorry I blamed you for Wes leaving. I know why he left now. He wrote a letter to Cal. He said he was so sorry for what he did to you that night. He asked Cal to check in on you, to tell you how sorry he was, but Cal didn’t actually get the letter until . . .”
“Until after Wes died,” she finished because Celeste couldn’t. “And no, he didn’t hurt me. He got very angry with me, but we just made a mistake.”
“I think he wanted to take responsibility for that. He wanted to let you know how sorry he was,” Celeste explained. “I had Cal make a copy of the letter for you. It’s here.”
She opened the folder and pulled out a single sheet of paper, handing it to Sera.
She took it, and a few moments later, she was crying, too.
“I did love him,” she whispered, staring down at his handwriting. “Just not the way he needed.”
It was Celeste’s hand that came out to cover hers this time. “You loved him the only way you could. We can’t make people love us. God knows I tried. I was hoping that when you feel comfortable, I might get to see Luc. Here, of course. I would like to spend time with him.”
Sera nodded and so much of her worry fled. Celeste might be wearing her uniform, but it looked like she’d taken off the armor and laid down her weapons. “Of course. You can see him today if you want. We’re about to have lunch. It’s sandwiches, though. Momma made a ham and we’re having leftovers. You don’t have to eat.”
“I would love to,” Celeste said quickly. “My dad used to fry us up bologna for sandwiches. My sister and I would watch him. It was the only thing he could cook, but I think they tasted better because he would talk to us while he did it. He would tell us funny stories.” She dabbed her eyes with a tissue. “I think one of the hardest things about all this self-revelation has been the realization that I miss my parents so much. They’re all gone. My mother and father and sister. I’m the last one left.”
“That’s got to be so hard.” Sera wasn’t going to point out that she had her kids and now Luc. No. It was a different kind of pain, being the last one left, having no one who remembered what it meant to be a child in that particular world. She relied on her brothers, and Celeste hadn’t had anyone.
“Well, I made some decisions that kept me apart from my sister,” she admitted quietly. “I want a different life now. I need you to know I’ve called Quaid and told him to stop everything I asked him to do yesterday. I’m not going to come after you. I promise you that, and I promised my kids. I would like to be a part of Luc’s life, but only in a way that enhances it. Not in a way that causes chaos. I’ve got some thoughts on that, but we can talk later.”
Sera was willing to listen. “Okay.”
Celeste was silent for a moment and Sera let it lengthen, let them find some comfort between them.