Now, here I was, a member of a family I’d never expected to have in my life, and it felt good.
Rae adjusted her electric reclining chair. “My mother used to sing that song to me.”
“Which song?”
Rae began singing Snow White’s song about her prince coming one day.
Becca raised her hands and laid them on her grandmother’s face, enjoying Rae’s clear, strong voice vibrating over her.
“My mother used to sing it to me, too,” I said. “And I used to fully expect a man in colorful tights, a cape, and a crown on his gorgeous head to come knocking on my front door at any moment.”
Rae’s face warmed with a smile that told of a lifetime’s worth of contented sighs and rich heartbeats. “Mine did.”
“From everything you’ve told me about your husband, he certainly was a prince.”
“A farmer prince!” Rae laughed.
I packed the DVD back into its case. “My mom used to tell me, ‘He will come one day, and you best be ready for him.’”
“She was right. But that doesn’t mean that you wait by the door with your coat in your hand, ready to take off the second Mr. Prince comes knocking. No, first, you need to be the person you want to be, and then you’ll be ready for your proper prince. Otherwise, he won’t be the right prince for you.”
“Good point,” I said.
Rae sipped on her tea. “It’d be unfair to yourself and to him—expecting him to make your dreams come true, to fill you up and make you happy. If you’re not happy on your own, with yourself, you will never find it in someone else. It simply doesn’t work that way.”
Catch and I had done that, hadn’t we? We’d had so many expectations for each other from the very beginning. As soon as all the little disappointments had piled up, the resentment had grown easily and created a thousand wedges between us.
“Look at Snow White,” I said. “She had to deal with the huntsman, the dwarfs, and the evil queen before she was ready for that magic kiss, right?”
“Your mommy is so smart!” Rae said to Becca, who was gnawing on a graham cracker.
I glanced at my daughter. Becca wore the same adamant look of concentration on her face that her father did while he ate.
Rae stroked Becca’s back. “You’re young yet, Jill. You’ll find someone else, and he’ll find you. I only hope it’s not too late for Tania. She’s determined to follow through on her divorce. Who knows? Maybe she’ll give Kyle another chance now that she’s going back to Racine.”
“Rae, she’s going back to pack up her stuff and see her lawyer. She seems very sure. Upset, but sure about her decision, especially about moving back here to Meager. That’s really exciting, don’t you think?”
In two days Tania would be leaving South Dakota to return to Racine, where she lived with her soon-to-be ex-husband. Having Tania here the past two months had been great. She’d made sure that Becca and I felt comfortable, that her mom and I settled into a routine around the house and with Rae’s various doctor and rehab appointments. I genuinely liked Tania; I would miss her. She was the older sister I’d never had, and she and Becca had fallen in love with each other.
“I just don’t want her to have regrets,” said Rae. “Ending your marriage is serious business. They’ve been married for just over ten years now. It’s a shame. I mean, now they’ve figured out that they don’t get along?”
“You get comfortable, even when you’re unhappy, don’t you think? Sometimes, it’s really hard to take charge of your own unhappiness.” I picked up Becca’s jumbo Lego blocks from the floor and put them back in their plastic jar. “Better now than much later on, right? At least there aren’t any children in the mix.”
Rae’s lined face etched into a tight frown that was more like a carefully constructed dam holding back an overflowing reservoir of frustration and disappointment. “They just kept putting it off. See how time flies away with you? I know, it’s her life. But that’s my headstrong daughter for you, barreling ahead, not much thought to the future.”
I scooped up Becca in my arms. “I’m looking forward to having her back with us soon.”
Rae sighed. “So am I. She’ll be back before we know it.”
My phone pinged a text notification. I knew it.
Can’t make it today. Will call u
Typical.
This was the third time Catch was blowing off visiting his daughter. But now those visits included his mom, and Rae hadn’t seen her son in years. She didn’t talk about him much to me, which was just as well, but on occasion I’d hear her telling Becca stories about her dad as a boy. She was his mother, for Pete’s sake.
“Rae? I don’t think Catch will be able to come today.”
Rae’s neck stiffened. “Oh? That’s too bad.” She adjusted the small pillow she kept at her lower back.
I bit my lip. “He got sent out of town at the last minute. Can’t say no to the boss.”