“What’s wrong?” Callum said, the minute he entered Claire’s hotel room and saw the expression on her face.
She shook her head, as if to say, “Nothing,” but the sob that followed was a clear indication that wasn’t true.
“Come on, love,” Callum said, riding his chair over to her, and putting his hand on her back. “What’s going on?”
Claire wiped at her tears and turned her laptop screen to Callum. He began to read the opened email.
“Wow,” he said, when he had finished it. “I’d say they’re not happy.”
“You think?” Claire said sarcastically, though she certainly wasn’t in a joking mood.
“What prompted this?”
“I sent them an email when we got back from Europe. I thought telling them about us was the right thing to do. I tried to say it as carefully as possible. I knew it would hurt them, but I tried to do it as gently as I could.”
Claire had sent Jack’s parents an email sharing with them her relationship with Callum. She felt she owed it to Bill and Nancy to let them know she’d met someone, that she was in love and finally finding some happiness after the tragedy. Though she never thought they’d be thrilled about it, she hadn’t anticipated this angry, visceral reaction.
“Your in-laws sure don’t mince words, do they?” Callum asked.
“They accused me of never loving Jack!” Claire said, a sob escaping her again. “Of finally being free of the burden of a family!”
She put her hands to her face and began to cry again.
“I thought you said your father-in-law was usually kind,” Callum said.
Claire nodded, her face still covered.
“This letter doesn’t sound too kind.”
Claire took a deep breath and grabbed a tissue from the nearby box. She wiped her eyes again and blew her nose.
“I’m sure he wasn’t the one who wrote this. To be honest, he might not even know she sent it. He might not even know about you. Knowing her, she probably never even told him.”
Callum reread the email, inhaled deeply and then blew his breath out forcefully.
“Okay, then,” he said. “What are we going to do about it?”
“Do about it?” Claire asked, blowing her nose again. “What is there to do about it?”
Callum chuckled at the fear he saw pop up in her face. “I mean, what are we going to do to calm down your mother-in-law?”
“I don’t think there’s any chance of calming her down. She feels I should be in mourning for the rest of my life, which, to her, means me not having a life.”
“Well, that’s ridiculous.”
“Try telling her that.”
Callum looked like he was about to speak, then paused.
“I think I will,” he finally said.
“What? Oh, my gosh, you can’t.”
“Why not? Are you afraid I’ll go in, guns blazing, and tell them off?”
Claire paused. “I don’t know.”
“Oh, come on, Claire. You know me better than that,” Callum scolded. “Of course I wouldn’t do that. And I wouldn’t do anything to hurt you, either.”
“They live in West Virginia, right?”
Claire nodded.
“Where are we going to be speaking in two weeks?” Callum asked.
“Oh, no,” Claire said, uneasy about where Callum was going with this train of thought.
“Oh, yes,” he said. “Let’s invite them to our seminar. Though I wouldn’t ask your mother-in-law, if I were you. I’d go straight to your father-in-law. Can you call him when she’s not around?”
“He still works part-time at his law firm.”
“There you go. Call him there. Explain the situation. It would be better for him to hear your voice on the phone than for you to put it in an email. Plus, he can’t forward an email to his wife if there’s no email to forward. Explain the situation to him and tell him you’d really like for them to come. Tell him you miss them, would like to spend some time with them and, most importantly, don’t go too much into your relationship with me. Instead, why don’t you tell them how much hearing me, that first night, really helped you?”
“So, you want me to give you credit,” Claire said, raising her eyebrows.
“Of course I want you to give me credit!” Callum said, laughing. “Who deserves more credit than me? And, don’t you dare say Gia, because, though she’s wonderful, she doesn’t kiss you the way I do.”
“I should hope not,” Claire said. “Okay, so I’ll call Bill and ask for them to come hear you speak.”
“Yes. Tell them you’ve arranged for the tickets to be at the door and that, on Saturday night, after the day-long session, you’d like to take them out to dinner.”
“And then I spring you on them?”
“Well, in a manner of speaking,” Callum said. “But, by the time we have dinner, I’ll have already won them over.”
Claire raised an eyebrow. “You’re very cocky.”
“I prefer to say I’m confident,” Callum said, with a wink.
“What if they won’t come at all? To the seminar, I mean.”
“They will.”
“You did read this email, right?” Claire asked, gently pushing the laptop closer to Callum.
“She’s in pain, Claire. She’s not really angry with you. She’s angry with the world. She lost her child. Her grandchildren. She doesn’t know how to cope with that and so she’s lashing out at you because she doesn’t know where else to put her anger. She’s no different than all of the people we meet every weekend. She just happens to be related to you.”
“She’s related to Jack,” Claire said stubbornly. “She’s not my relative.”
“Claire,” Callum said gently. “She’s related to you. She’s your husband’s mom. She’s your children’s grandmother. You might not always like her, but she and Bill are really the only family you have left. You don’t want to burn that bridge.”
“She’s the one who’s burned it,” Claire said, with a pout.
“And you’re the one who’s going to be the bigger person and mend it,” Callum said, his voice stern.
Claire stared at Callum. She wasn’t thrilled with him at the moment. She didn’t want to mend bridges. She wanted to say, “I don’t regret the bridges I’ve burned; I just regret certain people weren’t on those bridges when I burned them.” But, she didn’t.
Instead, she reluctantly saw his point.
“This sucks.”
“It totally sucks,” Callum agreed.
“I shouldn’t be the one who has to try to fix this. She’s the one who’s been cruel to me.”
“I know.”
“But I still have to try to fix it?” Claire asked.
“You do. Well, I guess you don’t have to. You’re not obligated to fix it. But I think you know it’s the right thing to do. Besides, remember, love, forgiveness isn’t about the other person. It’s about you. You don’t want to end up bitter like her. You don’t want to let this anger grow in you. You’re the one who’ll feel the most pain.”
“Sometimes I hate you.”
“You do?” Callum said, surprised.
“I hate that you’re so wise and forgiving and you expect me to be the same. I’m very happy to just hate her, too.”
“You don’t hate her or me and you know it. And she doesn’t hate you,” Callum said. “You can do this, Claire.”
Claire shrugged. “Okay, then. I guess you should leave the room so I can call my father-in-law,” she said, glancing at the clock.
“And tell him you love them and have missed them terribly.”
“Now you’re pushing it,” Claire grumbled, as she leaned in to kiss Callum on the lips. “You’d better leave before I lose my nerve.”
Callum turned his chair toward the door.
“I love you, Claire.”
“I love you, too,” Claire said, as Callum left the room. Taking a deep breath, she picked up her cell phone off the desk and began to dial.
• • •
Claire nervously played with her napkin on the table, as she took deep breaths.
“Will you sit still?” Callum asked. “You’re going to make me nervous, too.”
“Okay,” Claire said, quieting her hands for a moment, before she began to, once again, play with the napkin.
“I don’t know why you’re so worried. They showed up for both days of the seminar. I didn’t get to spend much time with them, but they didn’t look miserable to be there.”
“I know.”
“And you spent a little bit of time with them, right?”
“Yes.” Claire sighed. She’d been thankful when Bill had told her he thought coming to the seminar was a great idea and he’d do his best to convince Nancy. On the call, he’d said he missed her a great deal and, by the end of it, Claire was pretty certain he had no idea his wife had sent the angry email to Claire and Claire felt it best to not mention it.
No need to stir the pot.
To Claire’s surprise, Bill called her a day later to say both of them would be happy to attend and were looking forward to spending some time with her. Claire had resisted the urge to say, “I doubt that.”
Claire had been by the ticket counter when her in-laws arrived on Friday evening. She’d given both of them big hugs and, though Bill’s embrace was warmer, her mother-in-law did reluctantly hug her back.
“You look great,” Bill had said, holding Claire at arm’s length to get a good look at her. While Nancy hadn’t said the same thing, she did seem to nod when Bill said it.
It wasn’t much, but Claire would take it.
She hadn’t talked to them since they’d arrived, but she’d kept an eye on them from a distance. It was hard to tell, from her vantage point, what they thought about everything. Claire had noticed both of them crying at times, which was understandable. Callum was very moving to hear. Most people cried, at least a little, when he spoke.
She was curious to hear their impression of the event. But, more importantly, and what she was most nervous about, was she wanted them to meet Callum and to approve of him.
No, more than that, she wanted them to love him.
She didn’t know why that was important to her, but it was.
“So silly,” she said to herself, shaking her head. “They’re my husband’s parents. They’re not going to love my new boyfriend.”
But, she was wrong. Very wrong.
The moment her in-laws walked in the door, Claire could see the change in them, especially the change in her mother-in-law. She was softer. Her edges were gone. Both of her in-laws seemed more relaxed.
When they spotted Callum and Claire, they headed straight over. Before Claire was completely out of her seat, her mother-in-law’s arms were around her. The older woman didn’t say anything, but she didn’t need to. The way she cried while holding Claire spoke volumes.
“It is an honor to meet you,” Bill said to Callum, shaking his hand firmly and patting Callum on the back. “Truly. Nancy and I have never had a more moving experience than we just had at your seminar. Life changing. I can’t tell you how much we needed that, what a difficult time we’ve had these past couple of years…” His voice trailed off.
“There’s no need to tell me,” Callum said, glancing at Claire. “I think I know.”
“Yes, I imagine you do,” Bill said, his eyes meeting Claire’s.
Claire had to pull herself from Nancy’s embrace. “It’s okay,” she said to her mother-in-law, kissing the older woman on the cheek. And it was.
Slowly, all the pain and resentment Claire held toward her mother-in-law began to fall away. In that moment, all the years of hurt, both while Jack was alive and once he was gone, no longer seemed to matter. They were a part of Claire’s family. No family is perfect. Heaven knew Claire, herself, wasn’t perfect. They were all coping the best they could. Who was Claire to judge the way her in-laws dealt with their grief? Thinking back to her night at the pool party, Claire wasn’t always proud of the way she’d coped with hers, either.
“Why don’t you all sit,” Callum said. “So I’m not so lonely down here. I would like for this evening to be lighthearted and fun. I think we’ve had all the soul searching we can take for one weekend.”
Nancy and Bill nodded, as Nancy wiped the tears from her eyes. Claire handed her a tissue from her own bag.
“But, before the festivities begin, I’d like to say something.” Callum looked across the table at Claire and smiled softly, before directing his attention back to Nancy and Bill. “I’d like to say I know Claire loved your son with all her heart. She’s spent hours and hours telling me about Jack and your grandchildren and, to be honest, I feel like I know them. I know that sounds silly, but I do.
“This situation can’t be an easy one for you. I can’t imagine how it feels to see Claire dating another man. But, I want to make sure you know, in no way am I trying to replace Jack. He will always be a part of Claire, just as he and Luke and Ella and Lily are a part of both of you. All I can say, though, is that I love Claire very much and I will do my best to always make her happy. I want you to know that. But I also want you to know, you are always welcome in our lives. Claire loves you very much. We don’t want you to feel you’re no longer her family. As she and I have learned, traveling with the wonderful people on our team, family isn’t always about blood. It’s about love. And I promise you, Claire has enough love for you that it’ll never vanish.”
If Claire had loved Callum before, she loved him even more now. Not only had he, clearly, won Jack’s parents over, but he’d helped her heal the anger and bitterness she’d felt toward them, especially following the accident.
If it had been solely up to Claire, she would’ve broken all ties with Jack’s parents and pushed them away forever. They were a headache she didn’t need.
But Callum had been right. She didn’t need the grief, but she did need her family. And, whether she always liked it or not, Nancy and Bill were a part of that family. Claire had learned the hard way that family is something you should never take for granted. You should never let a moment pass when you can tell someone what they mean to you. Never let the sun go down on your anger, because you never know what tomorrow might bring.
Tomorrow wasn’t promised. But today? Today, as she sat at this table with her new love and the parents of the man she once loved, life was suddenly full of happiness and laughter and healing.
And if Claire and Nancy and Bill needed anything, it was that.