Finding the Rainbow by Traci Borum

Author:Traci Borum
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Red Adept Publishing
Published: 2015-03-04T00:00:00+00:00

At midnight, hearing her father shut the front door, Holly clicked her laptop shut. She’d expected him to be late, probably hoping the girls would all be in bed when he arrived so he wouldn’t have to face them. But not this late.

She could hear him in the study, creaking steps on the wood floor.

The longer she’d waited for him, the more she’d stewed. The burden he’d placed on her, telling the girls alone, had been unreasonable. And she wanted him to know it.

She headed down the shadowy hallway, the grandfather clock gonging the hour behind her, sonorous and mellow.

As she entered the study, he looked up, startled.

“Hi, love. I didn’t realize you were still up.”

“Couldn’t sleep.” She sat across from him.

“How was your day?”

“Not good. I told the girls.”

“Did you?” He shut down his mobile. “How did it go?”

“Not well.”

He sat back and exhaled. “I’m sorry, honey. I shouldn’t have put you in that position.”

“No, you really shouldn’t have. It was a struggle.”

“How did they take it? What did they say?”

“Well, let’s see. Bridget walked out the front door in a huff, Rosalee ran upstairs in a huff, and Abbey sat in the corner and cried.”

“Oh.” He gazed down at the desk, his eyes hollow, contemplative.

Holly’s anger dissolved a little. “Look, Dad, you have to remember we knew nothing of your… relationship with Mildred, until now. It’s all so new. Most of the anger we feel is due to the shock. We’ve had no time to adjust. And we can’t help but feel a little betrayed.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I mean, how would you like it if I came home one day and announced to you I was getting married, and you never even knew I was seeing anyone?” She paused and shook her head. “No, that scenario won’t work. This situation is different, because there’s a mother figure involved. Mildred will become a stepmother to all of us. Honestly, I don’t know what that means for me. Where I’ll fit in now…” She drifted off, hating the direction this was going, not wanting to speak her fears aloud. Not yet.

“You’ll always be welcome here. You know that. As long as you like.”

“Yes, but in what capacity? I’ve practically run this household for years, and now what? This changes everything. For everyone. Don’t you understand that?”

“I do now.” He raised himself up and turned, talking to the wall. “Okay. Then it’s off.”

“What’s off?”

He swiveled to look at Holly. “The engagement. Nothing’s been promised yet. I haven’t asked Mildred to marry me. It won’t even have to be undone. She’ll never know.”

“Dad, that’s not what I meant. You don’t have to go to extremes.” She leaned forward as he took his seat again. “I just want you to understand how we feel in all this. You have to be sensitive. Look at things from our perspective.”

“How do I fix it?”

The helplessness in his eyes surprised Holly. He genuinely didn’t know what to do. His dumping of all this into her lap, making her tell the girls—it wasn’t a macho, insensitive gesture.

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