Summer on Blossom Street (Blossom Street #6)(84)

“Sure you do.”

Anne Marie ignored that. “For Tim and Ellen’s sake, I’d like to suggest we start over.”

The phone went silent and for a moment Anne Marie thought the other woman had hung up.

“Vanessa, are you there?”

“I’m here.”

Despite the inclination to give this up as useless, she tried again.

“Would you be willing to accept my apology?”

Vanessa hesitated. In a lower voice, she answered, “All right.”

“I mean it, Vanessa. I’m not a threat to your relationship with Tim. For him and for Ellen, it would help if you and I could come to some agreement.”

“You agree to keep your hands off Tim, and we’ll get along f ine.”

“No problem.”

“Good.”

Anne Marie smiled, relieved that she’d done what she needed to do. “Friends?” she asked.

After a short pause, Vanessa repeated the word, again with some hesitation. “Friends.”

“Thank you.”

“Stick to being Ellen’s mother, and everything will work out just f ine.”

“I will,” she promised. “It was a pleasure talking to you,” she said. “Goodbye.”

“Anne Marie,” Vanessa said quickly. “This couldn’t have been an easy call to make. I want you to know I appreciate it.”

“You’re welcome. I hope to see you soon.”

“And you.”

The truth was, Anne Marie would probably never be close friends with Vanessa but at least they understood each other now. Both were determined to make the best of an awkward situation. The rest of the day, Anne Marie and Teresa were busy with customers. There was a run on the newest installment of a popular series, and Anne Marie found herself constantly occupied—for which she was grateful. About four-thirty, just before Ellen was due to return, Tim walked back into the store.

He looked, if anything, even worse than he had that morning.

“Is Ellen here?” he asked.

“Not yet. I thought you were coming tonight.”

He shook his head. “I don’t think I can wait that long. Now that the decision’s been made, I want to get this over with.”

Anne Marie could understand. “I’d like to be in the room when you do,” she said. “Are you okay with that?”

He nodded, hands buried in his pants pockets. A few minutes later, Ellen ran into the store with her backpack bobbing on her shoulders. “Mom, Mom!” She stopped abruptly when she saw Tim, glancing from him back to Anne Marie.

“Hello again,” Tim said in a deceptively casual voice.

“Hi. Vanessa’s not with you?”

“Not this time.”

“Tim has something he wants to tell you,” Anne Marie said, reminding Tim that his visit had a purpose. She turned to Teresa, who’d been taking a phone order. “I’m going to the apartment for a few minutes. Would you cover for me?”

“Sure thing.”

The three of them walked up the stairs, Ellen f irst, then Anne Marie and Tim. Having heard Ellen’s voice, Baxter waited on the landing, eager to go out for his afternoon walk. He scurried into the bedroom and returned with the leash in his mouth. Ellen was proud of teaching him that trick.

“In a few minutes,” Anne Marie told her Yorkie, bending to pick him up.

“Let’s sit down,” Tim said, motioning to the sofa. Ellen did, and Anne Marie sat next to her with Baxter on her lap. She hooked her free arm around her daughter’s shoulders. Tim looked ashen as if he didn’t know where to start or how. Ellen sighed loudly enough for him to hear. He turned to her and opened his mouth but nothing came out.

“Are you my father?” she asked unexpectedly. Tim nodded and sank to the carpet on his knees in front of her. His eyes were moist. “Yes, Ellen. I’m your father.”

“I thought so.” Smiling up at Anne Marie, she said, “I wanted to meet my father, remember? It was one of my wishes. Then you told me that Tim knew Grandma Dolores and my other mom and I knew God had sent me my daddy.”

With that she hurled her arms around Tim’s neck and hugged him f iercely. “I’m so glad it’s you.”

Anne Marie felt tears in her own eyes.

They’d make this work, all of them. For Ellen.

Chapter 30

It is so important to allow yourself the time to be creative, because without creativity how can you imagine possibilities? For me, it’s always been knitting and crochet and they have opened the door to limitless possibilities.

—Candi Jensen, author and producer of the Emmynominated PBS TV show, Knit and Crochet TodayLydia Goetz

As I’ve mentioned, A Good Yarn is closed on Mondays; that’s when I schedule my doctor, dentist and other appointments. I also catch up on paperwork and accounting. I’d also started leaving part of every Monday open to visit my mother. Thankfully Mom was only in the hospital overnight. Ever since her fall she seemed so frail to me, and I noticed that her mind wandered more. Some days she seems lost in the past. A couple of weeks ago, I swear she didn’t know who I was. Margaret and I both feel we won’t have her much longer, so it’s important to spend as much time with her as possible. Moving her into an assisted living complex had been a diff icult decision, but more than ever, we realized it was the right one. Mom seemed to decline with every visit and she still missed her home, but we’d had no other choice, Margaret and I, since she couldn’t live by herself anymore.