Page 158 of Run
Ethan reaches over and places a hand on my bare thigh, giving it a firm squeeze. “Trust me. They don’t care what we look like.”
“I don’t know how you can say that so surely.” I rip off a piece of nail with my teeth that I’ve been chewing on the entire ride, then spit it out. “It’s not every day the child that you willingly gave up shows up on your doorstep—and looking like this.” I wave a hand at my face. “She’s probably going to thank God she dodged this bullet.”
Ethan just smiles.
“They’re expecting us?” I ask again.
“Yes, I told you, they can’t wait to meet you.”
“I’m still pissed at you for coming here yesterday. I mean it, Ethan. If this goes sideways, it just might be my undoing. I still can’t believe I let you talk me into coming.”
“Just breathe, Red. It’ll all make sense in just a minute.”
Ethan parks in front of a cute house on a quaint little street and points at it. “We’re here.” I keep bouncing my leg and look at my hands in my lap. Turning toward me, he brings a hand to my cheek, gently gripping my chin and turning my face toward his. “I would never put you in a position to get hurt again. You know that, right?” I nod. “Then I need you to trust me.”
Smiling, I reach out and touch the new cut he has on the other side of his top lip, which will surely scar. “It’s like you have twoclifflips.”
He grins. “You love myclifflip.”
When we get out of the Jeep, Ethan takes my hand in his and leads me along the side of the house. “Where are you going? Why aren’t we going to the front door?”
“They’re probably in the garden.” He points toward the back fence. “Shirley said they like to spend as much time out there as they can.”
I smooth a hand over my tank top, suddenly wishing I wore something better than jean shorts for the occasion.
When we get to the gate, Ethan reaches over and unhooks it. “Hello?” he bellows into the yard. “Shirley? Bonnie? It’s Ethan and Ari.”
We step into the backyard, and I’m taken aback. It’s so serene out here. There are large green fern-like plants overflowing into a walkway that winds through the small backyard. I can see various colors of roses in different locations mixed in with tulips and wildflowers.
“You’re here!” a sweet voice calls, and I turn to see a gray-haired woman in a pair of faded overalls with dirt-stained kneescoming at me, arms stretched out to her sides. She walks right up and embraces me, then pulls back and stands with her hands on my shoulders. I remain frozen, my hand squeezing Ethan’s as this woman looks at me like it’s the first time she’s seeing the world in color. “Oh, my sweet grandbaby, you’re here,” she whispers, her eyes glassy.
“Um … Hi,” I squeak out. “I—”
“Momma, are they here?” I hear a nasally voice, and turn toward it, Shirley’s hands dropping from my shoulders.
And I know without a doubt that the woman I’m looking at is my mother. She’s wearing a green summer dress that makes her pale skin and red hair pop, as well as her green eyes. Green, almond-shaped eyes that are set wide on a flat, round face that is accentuated with a small mouth. She’s short and stocky, and absolutely the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.
She takes me in just as I do her. Looking down at her hands, then back up at me, she says, shyly, “I waited a really long time to meet you.”
I swallow, just staring at her. Ethan squeezes my hand, and I blink a few times. “I …”
The woman tucks a strand of hair behind her ear, just like I do when I’m nervous or rattled. “Am I not what you expected?”
I shake my head, but she can’t see it because she’s looking down again. “No. Yes—I mean …” I reach down, since she’s shorter than me, and grasp her hand. She looks up at me. “It’s really nice to finally meet you. I’ve looked for you for a very long time.”
Bonnie’s gentle eyes lock with mine as she raises her free hand and brushes her fingers across my blackened cheek. “Can I show you my garden?”
I nod frantically. “Yes, I’d like that very much.”
“The ivy is my favorite.” She gives me a tug in that direction. “When it gets direct sunlight, it just grows and grows and spreads everywhere. It’s so beautiful.”
Our hands still joined, my mom leads me under an arbor and down a stone path into a magical little world that is filled with colors and life and hope.
***
Shirley sets two glasses of lemonade on the little, round glass table between us, then sits in the chair opposite me on the back porch. I’ve been watching Bonnie give Ethan the same tour of her garden that she gave me, and I’m absolutely mesmerized.
“William and I knew she was dating someone,” Shirley begins. “She was involved with a center in town that runs various programs for people with disabilities. And she would come back from a visit there with the biggest smile on her face. Then she started talking about a boy she had met. We thought nothing of it. We figured, she was a young woman, and she met another young man like herself at the center. It was sweet. She spoke of this boy, George, and then one day when we went to pick her up, she introduced us to George, and he was no boy.”
