Page 29 of A Mommy for His Daughter

And although she tried to hold back the rush of emotion she just couldn’t.

“Le´elk’w…” Evelyn whispered, tears stinging her eyes.

Le´elk’w smiled at her brightly. “You do remember me, then?”

Evelyn laughed and ran into her arms.

Le´elk’w whispered words in her mother’s language but Evelyn couldn’t find the words to speak back. It was too hard.

“You must speak English first here, Evelyn. No one knows Tlingit.”

Evelyn sighed and stared up at her grandmother, annoyed that another note had been sent home from the principal about her using what he assumed were curse words in another language directed to other kids.

“I’ll try, Grandma. I’m just so used to speaking—”

Her grandmother cut her off. “You’re doing it again. English, please.”

Evelyn began to cry. Tears rolled down her cheek.

“Ladies don’t cry, Evelyn. You are a Saunders woman and we are strong. Resilient. Never show your tears.”

“Yes. I’ll try to fit in better, Grandma.”

Her grandmother smiled. “I know you will.”

She swallowed down the tears, hearing her grandmother’s words in her head.

Evelyn broke the connection and took a step back. “Joe Jr. told me that you were still in town.”

Le´elk’w cocked an eyebrow. “You mean he told you that I was still alive. You’re just putting it nicely.”

Evelyn chuckled. “I suppose so.”

She wanted to ask why Le´elk’w had never written to her, never called, but she was too afraid. Too afraid of being hurt. Because she really hadn’t fitted into Boston well and maybe she’d never really fitted in to Wolf’s Harbor either.

You need to know.

“Why didn’t you write or call?” Evelyn asked.

Le´elk’w was stunned. “Your grandmother had a private number that was blocked. I wrote, but all my letters were returned to sender.”

It should have shocked Evelyn, but it didn’t. It sounded exactly like her grandmother.

Which made her angry.

“Are you okay, Evie?” Le´elk’w asked.

“I’m fine. I’m glad to see that you’re still here.”

Le´elk’w grinned. “I’m in my nineties. My life expectancy is not the best.”

Evelyn frowned. “Are you ill? Is that why you’re here?”

“No, I came to talk to you about Jennifer.”

“I can’t do that. It’s doctor-patient confidentiality.”

Le´elk’w snorted. “We’re family.”

“Well, yes…sort of.” She instantly regretted the words as she said them.

Great way of mending fences, Evelyn.

Le´elk’w didn’t look fazed. “I knew that your father’s mother would try to erase all you’d learned up here. I knew that she would turn you into the kind of person your father was when he first arrived in Wolf’s Harbor.”

Evelyn sighed and walked back to her pile of charts. “It has nothing to do with my late grandmother.”

“I hadn’t heard that she’d passed. I’m sorry.”

There was genuine regret there. Evelyn nodded, but couldn’t look Le´elk’w in the eye. “It’s regulations. I’m bound by certain laws, and discussing Jennifer’s file without her presence is against them.”

Le´elk’w crossed her arms. “I can wait until Jennifer comes. She wants me there when the baby is born. Just like I was there when your mother had you. We’re blood.”

Evelyn’s stomach twisted in a knot. They might be related by DNA, but she wasn’t sure that they were family. Not anymore. It was her fault that her father had died and she’d been was sent away.

They’d been estranged for so long.

She wasn’t sure she could ever go back.

You’re scared to try.

“That’s fine.” Evelyn turned back to her work and tried not to think about her mother or about her childhood.

If she hadn’t agreed to take over Stefanie’s practice she wouldn’t be here in Wolf’s Harbor. She’d thought that while she was here she might be able to lay some ghosts to rest, but she was finding it particularly difficult to do that.

It seemed that the ghosts of her past didn’t want to be laid to rest. They seemed to pop up unexpectedly and at the most inconvenient times.

“You have closed your heart,” Le´elk’w said out loud.

“What?” Evelyn asked, stunned.

Le´elk’w sighed. “I can’t fault you for that. You never got to grieve for your father and I don’t think you forgave him for almost marrying Jocelyn.”

That struck a chord, but she was about to make her excuses, because she didn’t want to talk about Jocelyn. If Jocelyn hadn’t existed then her father would never have gone out that night to visit her. But she’d ruined Jocelyn’s life, and there was no way Evelyn could make it up to her.

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