Once they were inside the small room, Trudy immediately began to pepper her daughter with questions.
“What’s going on? Did the two of you have a fight?” Trudy asked. Alarm rang out in her voice.
“It wasn’t a fight,” Piper said, letting out a sigh. “He’s been keeping a huge secret from me, and I found out that he’s nothing more than a big, fat liar.”
“Piper! You don’t mean that!” Trudy admonished her. “He’s your oldest and dearest friend in the world. You shouldn’t speak about him like that.”
Her cheeks felt heated as a result of Trudy’s sharp rebuke. Ever since she was a small child, she’d hated being the object of her mother’s wrath. Braden deserved every ounce of her scorn. Her mother needed to realize that she wasn’t being unreasonable.
“Mama, I do mean it,” she said, her lips quivering. “He lied to me. Ever since Daddy’s accident, Braden has been withholding the truth from all of us!”
Trudy gasped. “Whatever do you mean?”
Tears welled in her eyes. Just when she thought there were no more tears to shed, more materialized. Her pain felt almost unbearable. “That day on the mountain, Braden and Daddy had a big argument. Daddy was angry with him about some rumors he’d heard about Braden being reckless on the trails.”
Trudy frowned. “That doesn’t sound like Braden at all. He’s always been so responsible. And caring.”
“Well, it’s true. They had a terrible argument. As a result, Daddy was upset. He went out on the trails after their fight, which Braden conveniently left out of his narrative. He took credit for doing CPR and trying to save Daddy’s life, but the truth is he’s responsible for what happened.”
“I don’t think you can put this on Braden,” her mother said with a shake of her head. “I’ve known him all of your life. There’s no way I’ll ever believe he was so ugly to Jack that it led to the crash.” She reached out and squeezed Piper’s hand.
“It’s all his fault!” Piper said, shaking her head.
Trudy’s gaze hardened. “How do you figure that?”
Piper frowned at her mother. “Didn’t you hear me? Daddy called Braden out about driving irresponsibly, and instead of just apologizing, Braden fought back and it led to a heated argument. Daddy wasn’t in the right frame of mind to go snowmobiling, which led to the accident. You know how much he took things to heart. It probably broke his spirit.”
“Oh, my darling. It’s not that simple.” Trudy sat down in a chair, shoulders slumped. “Have you been looking all this time to blame someone? If that’s true, you’re going to have to start with me.”
Piper sat down across from her mother. “What are you talking about? You’re not at fault for anything.”
Trudy folded her hands in front of her and heaved a tremendous sigh. “The morning of the accident your father and I had a spat. I didn’t want him to go snowmobiling because there were a hundred little things to fix around the inn. The water heater was acting up, and one of the dining room table legs was wobbly. Not to mention a bunch of other stuff that seems so unimportant now. It struck me as selfish of him to go joy riding while the place was falling apart around us. I told him he was being childish, and he stormed off.” She blinked back tears. “You have no idea how much I wish I’d been kinder and gentler that day. Over the past four years, I’ve had to live with the fact that the love story we shared wasn’t on full display on the last day of his life.”
“Oh, Mama. I’m so sorry! You and Daddy loved each other so much.”
“We did,” Trudy acknowledged, dabbing at her eyes with a tissue. “When I lost Hank’s father, it felt like my heart shriveled up into nothing. I promised myself I’d never love again. Then one day, Jack came barreling into my life with his magnetic smile and wide open heart. I fell faster than a ton of logs down an icy hill.” She began to chuckle. “No matter what we last said to each other, our life together was a testament to the love we shared.”
Piper let out a sob and jumped up from her seat, wrapping her arms tightly around her mother. “Of course it is. I’ve always known how fortunate I was to grow up witnessing your love story. You’ve truly shown me what love between a couple looks like. Neither one of you was perfect, but you loved one another wholly and completely.”
Piper kissed her mother’s cheek. “That will always outshine a little squabble. You lived in love every day.”
“There’s something else,” Trudy admitted. “I probably should have mentioned it at the time, but we were all so grief stricken I couldn’t even think straight. His doctor suspected Jack might have had a heart attack that day. He’d been dealing with a lot of fluctuations in his blood pressure over the past few years.”
Piper felt as if someone had ripped blinders off her. She’d known about her father’s high blood pressure, but a medical condition had never been linked to the accident. Now, according to her mother, it was possible he’d suffered a heart attack.
She ran a shaky hand over her face. What had she done in blaming Braden? She’d hurt him badly with her baseless accusations. She’d been mean-hearted and cruel.
“Mama. I said terrible things to him about causing Daddy’s death. How can I ever face him again? I told him never to come around the diner and that I was done with him.”
Trudy made a tutting sound. “Where there’s love there is understanding. Compassion. Redemption. You and Braden have been joined at the hip since you were little. I may be completely off base here, but I suspect your feelings for him have blossomed into something else. Am I right?”
Her heart sank. So far she’d been keeping her feelings for Braden under wraps. Coming to terms with these budding sentiments hadn’t been easy. “I-is it that obvious?” she asked, already knowing the answer.
“Probably not to most folks.” Trudy reached out and tweaked Piper’s nose. “But I know you inside and out, my darling. You’re a lot like Jack. You wear your heart on your sleeve.”
Piper let out a groan. “I don’t know what to do. I need to apologize and tell him how wrong I was to blame him.”
“I think that’s a great start,” her mother said, nodding. “And perhaps there are a few other things you should tell him while you’re at it.” Trudy wiggled her eyebrows. “Pour your heart out to him. Don’t let a single thing remain unsaid.”
