Page 118 of Forever Enough
I watched as he grabbed his gloves, and he and Merit made their way out of the office. Lou softly shut the door and turned to face me.
“Are you okay?”
I nodded. “Should I feel upset?”
“I don’t know.”
Slowly sitting down in the chair, I drew in a deep breath and exhaled. “I think she’s at peace now. She’s with my father and she’s at peace. I have to believe that.”
Lou rubbed my back. “Take the rest of the day off. Call your sister, spend some time alone, and I’m here if you need to talk.”
Standing, I shook my head. “I appreciate the offer. But please don’t think badly of me if I say I’d rather work today and keep my mind busy. If you’ll just give me a few minutes to call my sister.”
She took both my hands in hers. “You take all the time you need. I’m going to head back out there and finish watering and getting Avery’s area ready.”
I smiled. “Thank you, Lou. And thank you for never pushing me to share things.”
With a wink, she turned and headed out to the greenhouse. I drew in a deep breath and hit my sister’s number and waited for her to answer.
“Hey.” Her voice sounded sad.
“You know?”
“Yeah.”
“How?” I asked as I sat back down in the chair.
“A friend from high school sent me a text not that long ago to tell me how sorry she was to hear about Mom passing away. One quick Google search gave me all the answers.”
“I’m so sorry you found out that way, Em. I just found out myself. A detective from Atlanta flew all the way here to tell me. Turns out he knew Dad and wanted to tell me in person. I was hoping George’s sister hadn’t contacted you.”
“I haven’t heard from her in years.”
“The detective tried to give me the address of the service and funeral, but I didn’t take it. If you want to go, I can—”
“No, I really want to remember her the way she was before he came into her life.”
“Good. You’re okay?”
“Strangely enough, I feel relieved, Kenzie. Like she’s finally out of the hell she’d been living in. I hate that she died in such a terrible way, but maybe she’s with Daddy now.”
I quickly wiped away the tear that had slipped free. “I’m sure she is.”
We sat in silence for a few moments before my sister spoke. “We both know that she left us a long time ago.”
“She did,” I softly replied.
“Okay, well, that terrible part of our lives is over. I’m going to probably cry later, but right now, I’m going to focus on packing. Once Doug comes home, I’ll tell him and…” Her voice cracked slightly.
“I love you, Em.”
A soft sniffle came through the phone. “I love you too, Kenzie. Let’s talk tomorrow, okay?”
Nodding, even though she couldn’t see me, I said, “Tomorrow.”
The phone call ended, and I dropped my hand to my lap. I stared out the window that was behind Lou’s desk at the soft snow falling. As it covered the entire countryside in a beautiful blanket of white, a strange sensation came over me. Maybe it was peace. Relief. Sorrow.
Whatever it was, it caused me to wrap my arms around my body, close my eyes, and whisper, “Bye, Momma. I forgive you, and I hope you’ve found peace.”