yourself. I hope you find a way to do that with sincerity and an open heart, knowing that you may not get the forgiveness you want, but that it’s the only way you will have a shot at having some kind of relationship with your sister. Sierra loves you. She has been there for you your whole life. You deserve your feelings and hurt and grief, but so does she. And you’re the one who caused them. It’s up to you to try to make amends.”
“I just want to move on.”
“That’s your choice, too. But think of what it will cost you before you put this in the past and live your life without dealing with this first.” Dede never stopped being Mom.
She walked out leaving Heather with I’m disappointed in you, and an implied demand that she make better choices.
She should have gone to work today instead of trying to hide and just take a day to figure things out. Of course her mom showed up to hold her accountable. She wanted all her daughters to get along. She wanted them all to be happy.
Heather was pretty sure happiness was a myth.
A picture of Hallee caught her eye and she dismissed that thought altogether. All of a sudden she understood her mother a lot better. Of course she wanted this to all be sorted out and for her girls to get along and be happy. She wanted to go back to holiday get-togethers and birthday parties with everyone smiling and happy for each other.
Heather wouldn’t take back what she’d done, but she could accept the blame.
For Hallee, and because she really did love her sister, she’d do everything possible to make up with Sierra, so they could have some semblance of a relationship where they could be cordial and all the kids stayed connected. They shared David’s loss. Maybe being with her siblings would someday help Hallee connect to him through her brothers.
Heather walked back into her kitchen and stared at the kettle. A cup of tea wasn’t going to make her feel better. She needed to do what her mother said and dig deep, put herself in others’ shoes, and understand that, yes, her feelings mattered, but not more than theirs because she was the one who did the harm.
She knew that. Of course, she did, but she’d been hiding behind lies, omissions, and delusions to keep her secret instead of facing the truth and putting her heart out there to make things right.
Not anymore.
Time to take responsibility and do the right thing, even if it was hard and meant more heartbreak for her.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Sierra leaned back into Mason, loving the feel of his arms around her. Yesterday had been one of the worst days of her life. But she woke up next to Mason with a sense that if she focused on their future, everything would be all right. More than that, she believed they could have a happy life together.
“What do you think?” Mason asked.
Sierra stared at the room that used to be Mason’s when he was a teen and lived here with his parents. Since then he’d redone it and turned it into a guest room with basic wood furniture and a queen bed covered in an old quilt. “If we paint and update the pictures and bedding, I think one or both of the boys will love it.”
“The off-white walls are kind of dull. Abstract art probably isn’t the boys’ thing. The bedspread was something left over from when my parents lived here. We’ll go shopping. New bedding. They can pick the wall color and decorations. What did you think of the other room?”
Sierra glanced through the Jack and Jill bathroom at the room beyond. “Same. Paint and updates to the bedding and decorations.” She glanced up and over her shoulder at Mason. “It’s time the boys get to have their own space and make it theirs.”
“When do you want to talk to them about us?”
“What do you think about getting the rooms ready first? We could surprise them. We could ask some questions about what they’d like their new rooms to look like in a general kind of way, letting them know I’m thinking of moving us to our own place. That will give them a chance to talk about what they want and how they feel about moving again.”
“We’ll do it slow,” Mason agreed. “Take all the time you need.”
She stepped out of his embrace and turned to face him. “I don’t