Mom, Don’t Marry My Father

Chapter 4

My mother caught up with Nathan, threw herself into his arms, and slipped the ring back onto her finger.

I watched my hand turn solid again, and a cold dread settled over me. We were right back where we'd started.

Several of Nathan's friends appeared and began cheering them on.

"True love wins! Claire, you have no idea how hard he cried last night."

"He's right, Claire. You don't find men like Nathan every day."

Cheers and applause filled the air.

Then I noticed someone standing apart, looking dejected. It was Daniel Mercer, the family friend who had taken care of my mother's funeral arrangements in my previous life.

He'd never married. Every year, he'd left a bouquet of gardenias at her grave. Only then had I learned how long he'd loved her.

I hurried after him and stepped into his path.

"Mr. Mercer, please wait."

He looked at me in confusion.

"Aren't you the girl who disrupted the engagement party yesterday?"

"It doesn't matter who I am. I can help you win Ms. Bennett over."

He stared at me. Before he could interrupt, I went on.

"Her favorite flowers are gardenias, but she likes dried flowers, not fresh ones. When she's upset, she sits alone on a bench along the trail behind the hill. She loves pasta with anchovies, but she always eats it in secret because she's afraid people will turn their noses up at it. She also has congenital heart disease. If you really love her and you're willing to accept that, learn about her condition. Then you'll be able to look after her and help her when it matters."

Daniel glanced at my mother in the banquet hall. Nathan's friends had gathered around her, and her smile looked strained.

He was quiet for a long time. Then he nodded, deciding at last to tell her how he'd felt all these years.

After the crowd dispersed, I saw him ask her to join him on the trail behind the hill. Hope stirred in me again.

The man who'd been willing to love her for the rest of his life would never hurt her the way Nathan had.

I returned to my temporary lodgings. I'd barely sat down when the door flew open and my mother stormed in, livid.

"I don't know how you know all these things about me. But what gives you the right to tell other people about my illness and everything I like?"

She strode up to me and slapped me hard across the face.

"I treated you like a friend! What am I to you? Someone you can just hand off to whichever man you choose? Who do you think you are? What gives you the right to interfere in my life?"

The blow snapped my head to the side, leaving my cheek burning. My mother was breathing rapidly. Her face had turned gray, and her lips were bluish.

"Get out. I don't want to see you again!"

She swayed as the words left her mouth. Forgetting the pain in my cheek, I lunged forward and caught her.

"Mom! I'm sorry, Mom. Please don't get upset. You can't let yourself get this worked up."

I supported her and rubbed her back, trying to help her breathe. She went rigid, her breath catching.

"What did you just call me?"