Page 15 of A Family Affair: The Vow
She would not admit she’d never quite been able to forget it either. “I see.”
“I don’t think you do. Even after you left, Leah would not let go of how wonderful you were. I still believed her because I wanted to, I guess. But then I began to observe the relationship you had with your family and realized you weren’t kind or generousorcaring. You were selfish. You weren’t interested in helping your family or anyone but yourself.” She opened her mouth to speak, but he held up a hand to stop her. “Let me finish and I’ll tell you what I figured out. Your father had hip surgery and your mother came down with pneumonia shortly after they landed in Florida. Leah wanted to fly there and help them for a few weeks, but she settled for four days because she couldn’t be gone from the shop any longer than that.”
“Is there a question?”
“Damn right there is. Why didn’tyouhead to Florida for a few days, tag team with Leah? Or maybe come back here for a week or two so she could stay there? People would have helped you keep things going here and Leah was just a phone call away. Why couldn’t you have done that for her?”
Rae looked away, settled her gaze on the desk. “She never asked.”
“And you couldn’t tell the worrying about your mom and dad ate at her? You couldn’t hear it in her voice because everybody else sure did.”
“No, I wasn’t aware.” She’d been too busy with her own life and had opted to send a gift basket with her father’s favorite smoked meats and cheeses and books from her mother’s favorite author. What had she done for Leah? Nothing.
The muttered curse spun between them, grabbed her. “Of course not. Climbing that career ladder and staying on top were more important to you than family.” Pause and a quiet “Did you know the business was causing a lot of stress for your dad? The high-blood pressure, acid-reflux, can’t-sleep kind that earns you a warning from your doctor that your health’s at risk?That’sthe real reason your parents retired. Your mother insisted they were leaving town so he couldn’t wander into the shop or ‘fill in’ on occasion. She said she was not going to be a widow to that place, and you know when Peg gets something in her head, she won’t let go.”
“I had no idea.” They’d told her they wanted to settle in Florida where they didn’t have to think about plowing snow and frigid temperatures. “They didn’t tell me that.”
“Well,I’mtelling you. And here’s something else. Remember the trip to Aruba Leah planned to take last year, the one she cancelled because her friends backed out?” Those blue eyes narrowed. “They didn’t back out,shedid.”
“Why would she do that? She’s always wanted to go ever since...”
“Yeah, ever since you went and told her there was no place like it. I heard all about it and wished I hadn’t.” His tone shifted, filled with disgust. “She didn’t feel she could leave. One guy was out on medical leave, she’d just gotten a rush order, and the computer system crashed. She’d been planning that damn trip for a year and she just cancelled it. Nate and I offered to cover for her, but she said no.”
“I wish I’d known.”
“Why?” He pinned her with a hard stare. “Would you have offered to help out?”
He spoke as though he absolutely knew the answer. “I might have.”
“Who are you kidding? Do you know how many times I had to hear about how you had to focus on your work and couldn’t afford distractions.Distractions?Do you consider helping family a distraction? But when she referred to the importance of your careertrajectoryand how you had to stay on track for the next big promotion, then I figured you out. You weren’t interested in the day-to-day life stuff of your family or anyone but yourself and your own plans to get ahead.”
“That’s not true. I was caught up in my work, but all they had to do was ask and I would have been wherever they needed me.”
“Really? You would have dropped everything, packed up the briefcase and left your job andDick?” The tone of his voice and the expression on his face said doubtful. “What did you think it looked like in Florida with your father laid up, your mother sick, and your sister trying to keep it all together? She needed you, Rae, but you created a wall of ‘too busy’ that made her unable to reach out. It’s not in her nature to ask, can’t you see that?”
No, she hadn’t seen that, maybe because Leah always came across as self-sufficient and independent. And she’d always put Rae first, teaching her that she had special gifts and wasn’t like everyone else. In fact, she wasbetterthan everyone else.
But she wasn’t and it had taken losing her job and the man she thought she’d marry to realize that. It had also taken Leah’s accident and the unavoidable return to Magdalena to witness her sister’s true generosity and her own selfishness.
“Did you know she thought about going back to college?”
Vic’s words surprised her. “College? Leah? No, she never mentioned it to me.”
“Of course not, because why would she, right? It’s always about you and what you want and what you need. I bet if I peeked into that life of yours, I’d see you’re not helping anyone but yourself and the people who can get you to the next level of whatever BS your world says is essential.” Those blue eyes glittered, his voice laced with anger. “I see who you really are, not the version your sister wanted you to be. She might not have your money, clothes, or fancy education, but she’s got heart. She cares about people and causes and family. I’ll bet you look at Betty Rafferty and don’t even see her, but Leah does. She bought her a new sweater last Christmas, which she said matched her eyes. Leah sees people, Rae, not goals or a way to get to the next level.”
“You don’t know anything about me. All you know is what youthinkyou know.” The man had no right to question her life, her motives, or her behavior. But a tiny piece of her wondered if she’d been missing the whole point all these years. Gone afterthingsand lost sight of what made a person solid, trustworthy, honorable? Real.
“You’re right, I don’t know you, but I can put the pieces together and come up with a pretty decent picture.” His expression turned cold, his voice colder. “I think beneath the looks and charm is a self-absorbed person who won’t do anything that doesn’t forward her own agenda. Sure, you’ll stay here until Leah returns, and then you’ll head back to Virginia, pick up your fancy lifestyle, and you won’t think about her or any of these people again.” Pause and a deep sigh. “And your sister won’t ask you for help, even when she needs it.”
Rae hadn’t been there for her sister, but as Vic Tramont’s accusations torched her, she vowed she would not let her down again. She’d talk to Leah, make sure she wasn’t alone, and would offer to help—maybe not in Magdalena, but certainly in her sister’s life. Yes, she’d gotten sidetracked and been so absorbed in her own life she’d forgotten her family, but it wouldn’t happen again. And—
“Face it, you’ve always been the princess in the Darlington family and Leah hasn’t minded. But she deserves better. If she thinks you’re such a stand-up, wonderful person, then can’t you at least try to be one?”
9
Who’s the new girl with the 10-carat attitude I spotted in Sal’s the other day? Didn’t talk to a soul, not even Law Carlisle and everybody talks to him.
What a hunk. She really ignored him?
