“What are you up to?” he asked. He lifted his daughter up in a quick bear hug before taking her hand in his and starting up the walk.
“Gram let me invite Tara over for lunch with us so that she could meet my mom.”
“That’s wonderful,” he said, his spirits lifting at the sight of his daughter looking so happy. “What are we having for lunch?”
“Gram says she’s making chicken fingers and French fries for Tara and me, and you guys are getting quiche. Yuck!”
“Where’s Tara?”
“She’s inside, talking to Mommy. They’re in the living room looking at old pictures of me at Camp Wasi. Mom says I was the best swimmer that summer,” Morgan said proudly.
“We’d better get in there before Tara discovers the photos of you and me clinging to the Ferris wheel for dear life.”
“We weren’t clinging! You maybe, but not me,” Morgan said.
He opened the door leading into his mother’s kitchen, and the familiar feeling he’d experienced the first day he’d moved back home assailed him. It was as if he’d never left—the same white curtains, the same green floor tiles, the same everything, including the scent of citrus and cilantro that his mother had favored for as long as he could remember.
“Hi, Mom.”
She put the hot dish on the top of the stove before turning to him. “I hear you all had dinner last night. Morgan told me all about it this morning in between games of Scrabble with Lilly.”
His mother’s worried frown told him she wanted to talk about Lilly, but now was not the time. “Anything I can do to help out?”
“Tara and I set the table and filled the water glasses,” Morgan volunteered, an impish expression on her face. She seemed so normal, as if there wasn’t any problem, and Neill caught himself wishing it were true. Yet he couldn’t seem to stop watching her, wondering—as he had years before—if she was about to have another seizure, and he hated himself for seeing his daughter that way.
“We’re about ready to eat,” his mother said, taking a cookie sheet of chicken pieces and fries from the oven.
Just then Lilly appeared in the kitchen with her arm around Tara’s shoulders. They were laughing at something, eliciting a quick glance of resentment from Morgan.
Neill hugged Morgan to his side. “Okay, kiddo, let’s eat. By the way, you did a great job setting the table,” he said. She hugged him back with such ferocity Neill realized he’d been right in his assessment. Morgan wanted all her mother’s attention, and he could hardly blame her. Lilly had announced last evening that she would be returning to Houston later today.
Putting aside his worried thoughts as they all took their places at the table, he settled next to Morgan, focusing all his attention on her. “So, rumor has it that you not only set a great table—you’re also becoming quite a cook.”
“Yep.” Morgan’s eyes did a quick check of her mother. “I make mac and cheese from the box.” She ducked her head and giggled.
“Then we’re lucky to have two cooks in the house. Did you help do the cooking today?”
Morgan nodded vigorously. “I put the chicken fingers on the cookie sheet, I’ll have you know,” she said, her voice brimming with enthusiasm.
“So, we have you and your gram to thank for such a nice lunch.”
“That you do,” Donna said, her round face beaming with pleasure.
“It’s so nice to be here all together,” Lilly responded, her eyes meeting Morgan’s.
They ate and chatted, Morgan teasing her grandmother about her lack of internet skills and how she was going to get her dad to buy her grandmother a cell phone that she could text on. Lilly left the room twice to take a call, while everyone else huddled together, laughing over another one of Tara’s silly jokes. When everyone was finished, the attention turned to Lilly as she announced that it was time for her to leave for the airport.
Knowing Morgan would be upset when her mother drove away, Neill followed Morgan and Lilly out to the car. Morgan hugged her mom fiercely, her shoulders drooping as Lilly let go of her, opened the car door, got in and snapped on her seat belt. Offering a wave and a kiss to Morgan, she eased the car away from the curb and drove down the street. Morgan shielded the light from her eyes, waving until Lilly’s car turned the corner and disappeared. With a too-bright smile, Morgan grabbed her father’s hand and pulled him back toward the house. “Want to play Scrabble with us?”
“Sure. But can I win just this once?” he asked, relieved that Morgan had taken her mother’s departure in stride. This was the first time there hadn’t been tears. Could he dare hope that being in Eden Harbor and spending time with his mother was part of the reason?
“Dad, I’m not going to let you win. You have to earn your win,” she said, pointing her finger at him as they approached the door.
They settled in front of the game table with the board. A mere twenty minutes later, his daughter had won easily. “Dad! You need a dictionary!” Morgan’s laugh rang out in the room as his mother and Tara clapped.
“Enough. I’m a beaten man,” he teased, tousling her auburn curls. With that he got up to leave. “Are you staying here with your grandmother, or are you coming home with me?”
“Dad, can Tara come with me?”
“Why not? You guys can help me put the trampoline up in the backyard.”
Morgan wrinkled her nose. “Dad! That’s work!”
“That’s right,” he said, shepherding the two girls out the back door toward the car.
His mother followed him, a look of concern on her face. “Can I talk to you?”
“Sure, Mom.” To the girls he said, “Get in the car, and fasten your seat belts. I’ll be right there.”
“What’s up?” he asked, almost certain his mother wanted to talk about Lilly.
“I’m worried about Morgan. That seizure the other day...”
Relieved, he agreed, “Me, too, but all we can do is be supportive. She knows what to watch for, and she’s a good kid.”
“Do you think she’s happy here?”
“She seems to be. School is going well. She and Tara have struck up a friendship. Morgan talks about her a lot.”
“What happens if she has another seizure?”
“I’ll take her back to Boston to be reevaluated. I won’t have a choice.”
“Would you move back if she needed to be near a bigger center?” she asked with a look of loneliness so profound it frightened him.
His father had passed away four years earlier, and he’d known how lonely his mother had been living without him. She played bridge and had a large circle of friends, which helped. Yet, until that moment, seeing the look in her eyes, he’d had no idea how much his mother needed Morgan, her only grandchild, in her life.
“Mom, we’re here to stay. Morgan is fine. Her seizures are under control. We want to be here with you, and I’m glad to be back,” he reassured her.
His mother’s arms came around him, and she pressed her head to his chest. “I’ll help you any way I can. Your happiness means everything to me.” She stepped back as if embarrassed and smoothed her gray bob. “You go and have a good day. I’m going to play bridge this evening, but if you need me...”
She left the sentence unfinished, but he knew she would be there at a moment’s notice. It had been that way all his life, and even more so when his father was alive. Because he