A Walk Down the Aisle

“So, we’ve decided that if you’ll agree, we’ll let her spend some time with you this summer.” Dom reached over and took Gloria’s hand.

Gloria had on a pair of dress slacks, a turquoise blouse and well-matched jewelry. She looked sleek and put together. Dom wore an old Rolling Stones T-shirt, splattered with bits of blue paint, and Sophie wasn’t sure the last time a brush had touched his rumpled-looking hair. And yet, despite those differences, Gloria and Dom fit together. They were a united couple. And they were the kind of parents she wished she’d had—parents who put their children’s needs first.

And though she’d always believed she’d made the right decision for her daughter, she felt reassured yet again. These two people loved Tori enough to share her because Tori wanted, or maybe needed, it. “I can take her whenever you want, for however long you want.”

She felt a spurt of elation at the thought of spending time getting to know Tori. It mixed right in with her other chaotic and jumbled emotions.

“Don’t you have to work?” Gloria asked.

Sophie thought of Colton’s comment about her being rich, and for once her trust fund didn’t seem like a thing to feel guilty about, but rather a blessing that allowed her flexibility and freedom to do whatever Tori needed. “I can work around whatever you have in mind. It’s an advantage of being self-employed.”

“Then, what we’re proposing is we take Tori home for the week and she can pack, then we’ll come back next weekend. JoAnn at the bed-and-breakfast said she’d put rooms aside for us each weekend this summer. During the week, Tori will stay with you, and we’ll come down each weekend to spend time with her and get to know you better. If my daughter has her way—”

“And she always does,” Dom informed Sophie.

“—we’ll be seeing a lot of each other.”

“You’re going to let Tori stay with me?” In her wildest imagination, she’d never dreamed this particular scenario. “Really, you don’t know—”

“We talked to Dylan, and you can be sure, we’ll be talking to other people in town....” Gloria shook her head. “It’s not ideal. I’ll want Tori to call every night. But I don’t know what else to do. She’s very determined.”

“That was an understatement,” Dom agreed. “But the three of us will need to come to some agreement on a proper punishment. Stealing a car is serious. There has to be some sort of repercussion.”

Listening to a man who grew up on a commune talk about repercussions sounded strange.

Dom must have sensed her thought because he laughed. “Like I said, Mom and Dad are the hippies. I’m a father who loves his daughter enough to see to it she understands the gravity of what she’s done. And I understand her enough to realize that she won’t let go of the notion of getting to know you. It’s not that she wants to know about you and spend time with you—she needs to. Just like she needed to see how the television worked when she was five and took it apart. She tried for a week to figure out how it worked, then—”

“She put it back together,” Gloria finished, her pride evident. “She understands how things work. And not just electronics and cars, but computers. She can take them apart physically, and she can do pretty much anything with them in a programming basis. She simply gets it. And when she needs to understand things, she’s like a dog with a bone. She won’t let go until she does. Right now, she needs to know you, to understand you. And nothing Dom and I say will dissuade her.”

“I realize having her here will disrupt your summer,” Dom started.

“I would let anything and everything fall to the wayside in order to spend time with Tori,” Sophie told them. She was in awe of these two people, her daughter’s parents. Their putting Tori’s needs first contrasted her parents’ need to put image first.

“Then, we’re decided,” Dom said. “We’ll head home today and bring her back next Friday night, and stay the weekend. Then, that Monday, she’ll stay with you?”

Sophie suddenly remembered a saying about doors closing and windows opening. The sound of Colton closing that door this morning would haunt her dreams for the rest of her life, but having Tori come stay with her, getting to know the daughter she had lost—that was more than a window opening. It was as if a cyclone had blown the whole darned house to Oz. Everything was suddenly in Technicolor and anything was possible.

Sophie remembered she hadn’t answered. “Yes. I swear I’ll take good care of your daughter. And as for her punishment for stealing a car, I think I have an idea.”

* * *

THE REST OF THE DAY was a blur. Sophie made arrangements for Tori’s punishment, although in her mind, it was a wonderful way to spend a summer.

She decided that she could balance having Tori with her work. Tori would do her punishment time, but when she was off, she could come to the wineries when needed. Not that she would be needed for a few weeks. Sophie had taken two weeks off for her honeymoon, so she had unanticipated free time.

She went home and started to unpack her boxes, ignoring what she’d imagined she’d be doing with the contents when she’d packed them. She ignored the fact that she’d planned on putting her grandmother’s desk in the corner of Colton’s office. She ignored that she’d imagined the two of them sitting in the office in the evening, Colton working on the farm’s books and herself working on winery promotions.

That future was over now.

But there was a new future. One that included her daughter.

Doors closing...windows opening.

That was her new mantra.

Getting to know Tori was her window. Tori would be here on Friday. Sophie concentrated on that fact as she studied her guest room. She wanted to do it over for Tori.

A double bed, a small dresser and nothing else. She’d removed the minutia and packed it away.

She decided she wouldn’t put anything back in the guest room. She’d let Tori decorate the room. She could paint it, too, if she wanted.

Maybe blue to match her hair?

She smiled at the thought. Tori was unique. And she had parents who seemed to encourage that uniqueness.

Sophie wondered what it would have been like to have that kind of love and support.

Her doorbell rang as she started to slip into the past, wondering about what-ifs. She was thankful for the interruption, but she didn’t want to answer the door. She’d stay up here until whoever was there left.

“Sophie, we know you’re in there, and we’re not leaving until you let us in,” came Mattie Keith’s voice.

Sophie didn’t need to wonder who the other part of Mattie’s we was. She went down, opened the door and found Mattie with Lily.

“Listen, I’m not really up for company...” she started, but let the sentence fade on its own because as she looked at her friends, she knew they weren’t leaving until she let them in. “Fine, come on in.”

“I brought some wine,” Mattie said. “And Lily’s got the fixings for bruschetta. That was our girls’ night option. But in case we need something stronger than that, I brought...” She reached into her grocery bag and pulled out a pint of ice cream. “I bought one of every flavor they had.”

“I think we might need some of both,” Lily said.

Both women walked through the door without an invitation. They looked at the half-unpacked boxes. “Packing?” Mattie asked.

“Unpacking,” Sophie told her. She saw understanding register in both Lily’s and Mattie’s expressions. “The wedding’s off.”

“Temporarily?” Lily asked.

“I don’t think so,” Sophie admitted. She’d like to think she and Colton could find a way to fix things, but she remembered his expression before he turned and walked out of her house. There was a sense of finality in it. “No, I don’t think so.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” Lily asked gently.

“No, of course she doesn’t want to talk about it,” Mattie said with an air of surety. “But she needs to talk about it, even if she doesn’t know it. First some wine, then some talk. Speaking of wine, there’s a chance I won’t be drinking much more of the stuff. Finn and I are talking about adding to the family.”

“You and Finn are that serious?” Lily asked as she put her grocery bag on Sophie’s counter.

“We’re talking about a quick marriage in August.” Mattie glanced at Sophie. “I wasn’t going to say anything, but Finn said you’d want to know. That you’d find out eventually anyway.”

“Are you kidding?” Doors and windows, Sophie thought as she hugged her friend. “Of course I want to know. And this calls for a celebration.”

She took the wine out of the bag and dug through her kitchen drawer. “I’ve got a bottle opener somewhere in here.”