The Long Way Home by Cheryl Reavis

Author:Cheryl Reavis [Reavis, Cheryl]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780373242450
Publisher: Silhouette Books
Published: 2000-05-18T23:00:00+00:00

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Chapter Seven

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"Mama?"

"Yes, Olivia."

"Hold this."

"Hold this, please," Rita said.

"Hold this, pease," Olivia echoed.

Rita cupped her hands to take the pieces of sidewalk chalk Olivia was meticulously giving her.

"Can I draw?" Rita asked.

"No, Mama," Olivia said. "You can hold."

"Don't the holders get to draw?"

"Holders draw next," Olivia assured her.

Rita smiled. The two of them had been at this a long time. Olivia was in the process of covering a long section of the Beltran front sidewalk with various pastel scribbles she had dubbed "Flowers for Daddy."

And Rita was only too happy to participate. After her outing with McGraw, she had been desperate to see Olivia. Olivia was the only family she had left that really mattered to her, and seeing that burned-out house had really brought that fact home. She had needed this unscheduled visit badly, and Corey had let her come, even if it wasn't officially time for it. If she wasn't careful, she was going to end up feeling far more obligated to Corey Beltran than she ever intended feeling.

"Come on, Mama," Olivia said, moving farther down. She held both little hands out and shook them in the air to indicate how important this project was. She couldn't afford to have the help's attention wander.

"Oh, sorry," Rita said, moving closer and offering the chalk.

"Thank you, Mama."

"You're welcome, Olivia."

"See? More pretty flowers!"

"They're really nice. Daddy will like this."

"Daddy will like this," Olivia repeated, intent on filling the next section of the sidewalk.

But Rita's thoughts wandered back to the burned-out house. She hadn't meant to cry like that in front of McGraw. She rarely cried, and when she did, she never wanted an audience. Of course, she had tried to get away from him when she realized that tears were going to be inevitable. The last thing she had expected was that he would actually hobble after her. The next-to-last thing was how much she would want to talk to him about it, when she had never really spoken of her sorry childhood to anyone. Even Matt had only gotten the severely edited version. He knew she came from an incredibly indifferent family, but he'd never known that in that family there was one shining jewel. Sadie Warren, Rita's paternal grandmother. Sadie would have loved Olivia. Sadie would have even liked McGraw.

And now there was nothing of Sadie Warren left except that pile of rubble. Even her prized teacup was gone. Sadie had won it from an expensive jewelry store in Greensboro after she'd filled out a handful of tickets she'd picked up at the grand opening. The store was expensive, not the cup, but Sadie was no less thrilled with it. Actually winning something from a place where she would never have been able to shop was the main thing. The cup was plain white and really not much to look at. But when it was held up to the light, a cameo of a beautiful lady appeared in the bottom. Rita had loved that cup when she was a little girl, and she had treasured it as long as it was in her possession.

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