open. Emma was sitting with her bare feet propped up on the railing, and Coco was curled up in her lap.
“Are you coming out for supper?” Sophie eyed Emma closely. Had she had a baby and given it away, then repressed all that pain?
“Is it all right if I stay right here?” Emma looked nervous, but her hands remained still.
“That’s perfectly fine. I’ll bring you a plate,” Sophie told her. “Did you remember anything else today?”
“No, and I don’t deserve food brought in for me. I should be strong enough to go out there and eat,” Emma said. “I’ll get myself a bowl of cereal.”
Victoria wouldn’t have let Emma have a child. She would have made her have an abortion, and that would have set Emma on an even bigger guilt trip.
“Nonsense,” Sophie scolded. “We all understand. You’ve come a long way in only one day, and if you want to stay in, that’s fine. You’ll lose Coco in about ten minutes, though. When she hears Arty say grace, she comes running from wherever she is.”
“Thank you,” Emma said. “This has been the best time of my life, Sophie, and I mean that.”
“Good. Maybe I can talk you into doing some paintings pretty soon.” Sophie visualized days when she and Emma had lain under the shade trees in the backyard and colored in their books or sketched. Emma was always whistling or humming in those days. Sophie wanted Emma to have those kinds of moments in her life again.
Josh waved when Sophie stepped out onto the porch. “Arty made pot roast tonight, and Filly has apple dumplings with caramel sauce,” he yelled across the courtyard.
“Sounds wonderful,” Sophie said as she made her way over to the picnic table and took her usual place.
“Is Emma coming out tonight?” Filly asked.
“Not tonight. She’s had a big day,” Sophie answered. “She’s been through a lot, and she’s”—she struggled for the right word—“she’s really, really shy right now.”
Arty said his quick grace and handed a big spoon to Filly. “You can dip the food up.”
“Do you think she’ll ever feel like joining us?” Josh asked. “Is Coco helping her a little?”
“She’s working her way through a lot of problems right now. Whatever they are, she’s buried them down deep since she was eighteen years old, and it’s real hard for them to surface, and, yes, Josh, I believe Coco is helping her a lot. I just hope that living here among all of us will also help her get over whatever it is that’s holding her back from having a real life.”
Somedays, Sophie wished that she could bury her own guilt over the relief she’d felt when she had lost her baby. The child would have been a teenager now. That was hard to even imagine.
“Earth to Sophie.” Josh chuckled.
“I’m sorry.” She shook her head. “I was woolgathering. What did you say?”
“It was me talking to you,” Filly answered. “I asked if you’d pass your plate.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Sophie picked up the disposable plastic plate and handed it to her. “This all looks delicious. I’m starving.”
“What do you think happened to Emma?” Arty asked.
“I don’t know, but it had to be traumatic enough for her to just let her mother take over her entire life, and that is not a good thing,” Sophie answered. “Victoria has controlled Emma her whole life. She was never allowed to make any decisions on her own—clothes, meals, extracurriculars, nothing. When Victoria was away from the house, and Mama and I were in the house, she could be more herself. All she ever got from her mother was criticism, and her dad just went along with whatever Victoria said. I feel so guilty that I didn’t make a bigger effort to see her before now.”
Josh nodded several times. “I can so relate to that. My parents are still disappointed in me. I was a genius, so I was supposed to force myself to use my brain for something other than drawing pictures with pen and ink.”
Sophie thought of Rebel, who never told her that her dream of being an artist was stupid. “I’m finding out that I had the best mother in the world,” she said and then tried to change the subject. “Arty, how have you outrun the women all these years? Any man that can cook like you do should have been dragged to the altar years ago.”
“He can cook, but he’s not got a romantic bone in his body,” Filly answered.