Page 94 of The Scars I Bare
I felt that anxiety beginning to rise again in my throat. “Are you sure? Because I could, I don’t know, try to shoo some of these people out of here. I know you’ve got a lot going on with the wedding coming up in a few days.”
She laughed, making a face, as she grabbed one of the platters to carry into the parlor. “You’ll do no such thing. Let me do my job with the guest, and you do yours.”
I looked at her while the guys made themselves useful and each grabbed a platter. “And what is mine exactly?”
She just shook her head, pointing to the counter where the gorgeous cake rested. “Go be a mom,” she said.
“Oh,” I said. “Right.”
Grabbing the lighter and the cake, I took a deep breath and followed everyone into the parlor. Like the parting of the sea, I finally found Lizzie, laughing and acting like a regular five-year-old with a couple of friends from school. They chased each other around the parlor with a green balloon. Apparently, it was an alien, and when you got caught, you died.
Pretty typical.
When their eyes turned and saw theMy Little Ponycake Molly had created in my hands though? Green-balloon alien was forgotten.
It was cake time.
They all started talking and yelling at once. The blonde girl with the glasses wanted the part with the pony head on it. The cute, shy boy wanted to sing Lizzie “Happy Birthday” first.
I liked him.
I set the cake down on a card table that Dean and I had set up the night before as everyone gathered around us. I realized in that moment that it didn’t matter that I might not know everyone in this room. They’d all taken time out of their day to come celebrate my daughter’s birthday.
Because we were part of the community.
Part of the family.
I swallowed hard, and Dean’s warm hand slid around mine for comfort.
“Okay, who wants to sing ‘Happy Birthday’?”
Lizzie looked wide-eyed at her cake as I lit the candles, and everyone began singing. I tried to hold back the tears I felt creeping up. This was what I’d wanted when I stepped onto that ferry not too long ago.
A new start.
I don’t know how I’d managed it, but I’d found a good life here in Ocracoke.
Dean’s arm crept around my shoulders as he whispered in my ear, “You’re not singing.”
I could detect a hint of a smile in his words.
“This is everything I’ve wanted for her,” I said.
Cheers fell around us, and she blew out her candles.
“It’s only the beginning,” he said.
“Mommy! Can I have that piece?” Lizzie asked, pointing her finger to the direct center of the cake.
“Of course you can,” I said, laughing.
Dean and I stepped up to begin serving the masses.
It was then that my eye caughthis.
It was then that my happy little world stopped.
Standing in the doorway, still holding his designer suitcase, his eyes fixated on mine, was Blake.
