The Brutal Heart by Gail Bowen

Author:Gail Bowen
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: McClelland & Stewart
Published: 2011-08-08T21:00:00+00:00

The Friday before Mother’s Day, Zack flew up north with a client who was the CEO of a mining resources company. Their meeting was in La Ronge, and the client took pleasure in flying his own plane and doing some serious sightseeing en route. I spent the day trying not to think of my husband suspended over one of the heart-stoppingly immense lakes that make the north so beautiful and so deadly. At three-thirty, I left Ginny campaigning in a seniors’ home and picked Taylor up at school. We were going shopping.

Taylor surprised me by suggesting we start at Value Village. “Sometimes they have neat stuff,” she said. “And I don’t want to be like everybody else. I guess I’m kind of like my mother.” Her dark eyes scrutinized my face, watching for a reaction. I sensed there was something more she wanted to say, so I waited. “Did it matter to my mother that she was beautiful?” she said finally.

I shook my head. “No. The only thing that ever mattered to your mother was the art she made.” It was the truth, but that didn’t make the statement any less thoughtless.

Taylor didn’t let it pass. “And me,” Taylor said. “I mattered to my mother.”

“Yes, you did. Very much.”

“Because I had talent.”

“She loved you,” I said. “Your talent was just something else that connected you to her.”

Taylor’s look was assessing. “I guess some day I’ll figure out whether that’s true.”

I put my arm around her. “In the meantime, we might as well check out the bargains.”

The shopping gods were with us that afternoon. Value Village offered up a genuine treasure – a white cotton jersey T-shirt with cap sleeves and printed with Andy Warhol’s acerbic observation “Everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes” in black and pink. The moment Taylor put it on, she knew what she needed to complete the look: fitted black cotton pants, pink Capezio ballet flats, and a black cardigan. We continued shopping, stopped for a bowl of soup at the Creek Bistro, then went home. While Taylor changed, I let out the dogs and tried Zack’s cell, but he was out of range. I’d just started to riffle through the mail when Taylor came in wearing her new outfit. She looked like a very young Audrey Hepburn.

“So what do you think?” she said.

“I think for a girl who used to go to birthday parties in frilly dresses, pyjama bottoms, and odd socks, you’ve developed a definite fashion sense.”

“Did you really let me go out wearing my pyjama bottoms?”

“Sure. You were happy. That was all that mattered.”

Taylor lowered her head and stared at her pink Capezios. “Jo, what would have happened to me if you hadn’t taken me?”

“Where did that come from?”

“Lately I’ve been thinking about it a lot. You know, just kind of wondering …”

“Well, my guess is that some amazingly lucky family would have adopted you, and you would have been fine.” I touched her cheek. “But, Taylor, I wouldn’t have been fine.”

Her voice was small.

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