Aunt Clarissa, who lived in San Antonio about two-and-a-half hours southwest, had hurried to Canyon Creek to be with Hope when Hope’s mother had collapsed from a burst brain aneurysm a week ago, killing her without any symptoms or warning. Fortunately, as a survey associate for a market research company, Clarissa was able to work anywhere there was a telephone and an internet connection. They’d talked about Clarissa’s moving to Canyon Creek and becoming Hope’s legal guardian, as her mother’s will specified. With the lawyer’s bombshell, that was no longer an option.
Maybe if Clarissa was truly her aunt it would’ve been possible. But just like Hope, her mother had been an only child. Rebecca and Clarissa had become best friends as teenagers, and Clarissa was the closest thing to family that Hope had. She’d called her aunt since she was a toddler and loved her as much as she could’ve loved any family member.
Clarissa had wanted to accompany her to the meeting with the lawyer, but Hope knew Clarissa was in the middle of a project with a tight deadline. When a problem had arisen that morning, Hope had insisted she’d be fine on her own. Besides, Luke had offered to walk over to the lawyer’s office with her, to keep her company and then wait for her outside. In the end, Clarissa had agreed to stay home. Now Hope had to tell her what the lawyer had said. Unlike the way she had with Luke, she wouldn’t be able to forestall the inevitable with Clarissa.
Hope found Clarissa in the kitchen, bent over her laptop, fingers flying across the keys. Red-framed reading glasses perched on the bridge of her nose, and her hair looked as if she’d dragged her fingers through it more than once. Her foot tapped the tile floor to some silent beat. Clarissa always seemed to have limitless energy, yet just seeing her calmed Hope and eased her feeling of despair.
Clarissa had been there for her, as had Luke, in the long, dark days since her mother died. Now Hope would have to say goodbye to her, too. Canyon Creek and Clarissa’s home in San Antonio were a world away from where she’d be living in California. Hope’s throat clogged with unshed tears, and she tried to clear it with a little cough.
Clarissa’s fingers stilled. Noticing Hope, she jumped up and rushed over, pulling her into a comforting hug. “You’re back. How’d it go?”
“Not good” was Hope’s muffled response.
With a final squeeze, Clarissa stepped away and searched Hope’s face. The concern in her eyes was enough to make Hope lose control, and her body began to shake.
Clarissa slid an arm around Hope’s waist and guided her to the kitchen table. “Here. Sit. I’ll get you a cup of tea.” She passed Hope a box of tissues, fixed two cups of tea and sat next to her. “I knew I should’ve gone with you. I just knew it. Tell me what happened.”
Hope reached for a tissue and blew her nose. “The lawyer—Mr. Burrows—he says I have to live with my father. Move to San Jose,” Hope said in a strangled voice.
“Your father?” Clarissa appeared shocked. “How is that possible?”
Hope’s face crumpled, and another deluge of tears threatened. She managed to explain what the lawyer had told her. “He...he said I...I don’t have a choice.” Her voice sounded that of a much younger child rather than the adult she had so vehemently asserted she was to Arthur Burrows. “What am I going to do?”
Although they’d spoken about the possible scenarios, Clarissa had insisted she’d move to Canyon Creek so Hope wouldn’t have to leave her school and her friends. Now it seemed she’d be uprooted anyway, forced to live in a place she’d never seen, with a father who was a complete stranger to her. “This is so unfair,” she wailed. “Mom was only forty-three. Why did she have to die?”
Hope’s hands were busy shredding a damp tissue, and Clarissa enfolded them in her own. “There are no easy answers to your questions, honey. I’m not sure anyone knows what causes a brain aneurysm, and there’s no telling when or if it will rupture. It was sudden, which means your mom didn’t suffer. There should be some comfort in that.”
Hope pulled her hands back and dropped her head into them as she continued to weep.
Clarissa wrapped her arms around Hope and rocked her gently. “Oh, Hope. I’m so sorry.” When Hope’s tears slowed and her breathing leveled, Clarissa eased back. She got another tissue and mopped the moisture streaming from Hope’s eyes. “I should’ve gone with you.”
“No. No, it’s okay. It wouldn’t have changed anything.”
“Well, this isn’t right.” Clarissa rose. Riffling through the letters and notes in a basket on the kitchen counter, she located the lawyer’s business card.
Hope felt a glimmer of optimism. She held her breath as Clarissa had a mostly one-sided conversation with Arthur Burrows, concluding the call with “I see. Yes, tomorrow’s fine” and a curt “Thank you.”
“What did Mr. Burrows say?” Hope asked as Clarissa sat back down.
She smoothed a few tendrils of Hope’s hair from her forehead. “I’m going to see him tomorrow. We’ll see what can be done.”
* * *
HOPE WAS SITTING on the front steps of the house, a book on her lap, when Clarissa returned from her meeting with the lawyer. Clarissa lowered herself to the step and slid an arm around Hope’s shoulders, drawing her close.
“I’m sorry, honey,” Clarissa began. “I think Mr. Burrows is right. If your father wants you to live with him, there’s not much we can do.”
“But you said I could stay with you!”
“I did. But I never expected that we’d hear from your father—or that he’d insist on having you live with him.”
“Can’t we stop him? Can’t we get him to change his mind?”
Clarissa ran a hand down the length of Hope’s hair.
“I don’t think so. Your father has the law on his side. Jock’s lawyer made it clear to Mr. Burrows that he’s adamant. Mr. Burrows didn’t get the feeling that it was negotiable.”
“Can’t we take some sort of legal action?”
“Your father has money, lots of it. Even if we wanted to fight him in court, we’d run out of money long before Jock felt the slightest ripple in his net worth. I’m sorry, but I can’t see any way around it. It’ll be okay, honey,” Clarissa tried to reassure Hope.
“How can it be? I don’t know my father. I’ve never been to California. You and Luke and all my friends are here. It’s going to be awful.”
“I’m sure it’s not going to be that bad. We’ll only be a phone call, Skype or email away. I’m certain your father will let you visit, too.”
“That...that’s not...the same.” Hope could barely get the words out, she was sobbing so hard.
“Come here... Shh.” Clarissa held Hope tighter. “You’re going to be eighteen in less than a year. At eighteen, you’ll legally be an adult. If things don’t work out for you with your father, you can live with me then. But give it a chance first, okay?”
“It’s almost a whole year. My friends will forget about me. And Luke...Luke will have a new girlfriend.”
Hope thought about her father leaving her. Now her mother was gone, and it seemed that Aunt Clarissa was abandoning her, too, despite her promise. If she moved, Hope faced losing everyone close to her. She’d be all alone.
SLEEP ELUDED HOPE that night. When she wasn’t crying, she was either staring up at the ceiling or out the window at the black velvet sky with its myriad of diamond-bright stars. By morning, her eyes were so puffy she could