CHAPTER 10

Sunshine

Sunshine stood in the hospital hallway outside of Beth’s room with a growing sense of dread. Talking to her sister was never pleasant. Their relationship had been strained for years and had grown even more so since Beth’s move to Portland. She’d spoken to Ellie more in the last three months than she had in the last five years. This rift between them started back in her college days when Sunshine was in art school.

Immediately Peter came to mind, and with his memory a flash of pain. The sharpness had receded through the years. Thoughts of him no longer crippled her as they once had. Time does that, she reasoned, dulling the razor edges of disappointment and loss.

As much as Sunshine would like to delay talking to her sister, she couldn’t. Beth was anxious and the added stress wouldn’t help the healing process. She scrolled down her contact list and hit the button. Her heart pounded in her ear as she waited for her sister to pick up. Sunshine would have much preferred to speak with her brother-in-law. Unfortunately, Phillip was sure to have left for the office by now.

“Yes?” Ellie answered, her voice clipped and short. “What is it this time?”

Stiffening, Sunshine noticed that her sister avoided saying hello because she had caller ID. It was Ellie’s less than subtle way of letting Sunshine know she didn’t welcome the call. She sighed and repressed the urge to tell Ellie she wasn’t keen to talk to her, either. Not a great way to start what was certain to turn into an unpleasant conversation. Come to think of it, they hadn’t shared a friendly chat in more than thirty years. Sad as that was to admit.

“Hello, Ellie.” Sunshine did her best to remain calm after the rude greeting.

“Hello, Louise.”

Sunshine disliked her given name, which was one reason she’d changed it. She gritted her teeth and waited several seconds until she could speak calmly. “I thought I’d give you an update on Beth.”

“I hear from my daughter. I don’t need you to act as a go-between.”

Maybe it would have been best to let her niece handle this. “You’re right, of course.”

“Nice of you to admit it, Louise.”

Again she was forced to silently count to ten as her sister pointedly tried to irritate her. “After a small glitch in her recovery, Beth is doing better.” She avoided finishing the sentence, avoided explaining. And technically Beth was doing better than yesterday.

“I’m coming to check on her myself. Now, why is it necessary for you to disrupt my morning? I have a lot to do before I leave.”

Sunshine started to respond, but before she could speak, Ellie continued.

“Just because my daughter chose to move to Portland, you seem to think it’s your duty to fill me in on matters that are none of your concern.”

“I was only—”

“Looking to rub it in my face that Beth chose to live close to you.”

Biting down on her inner cheek, Sunshine forced herself to not retaliate. “Ellie, please—”

“My point,” Ellie said, slowly releasing her breath, “is that Beth is my daughter and I don’t need you to update me on her condition.”

“I agree,” she said, in an effort to keep the peace. “This time, though, Beth asked me to contact you.”

Her announcement was met with silence.

“What’s wrong?” The change in Ellie’s attitude was immediate.

“It’s a small complication.”

“What kind of complication? Never mind. I’ll cancel my luncheon and catch the next flight out.”

“Don’t, Ellie. Please. Keep your original flight. Beth is fine and she wants to do this on her own. I’m here as a backup should she need anything. I realize my being close to her upsets you and I’m asking, begging, you, really, to give Beth a chance to spread her wings without either of us standing guard over her. I can appreciate how difficult that is, especially now. Wait, please, give her some breathing room, and when you do arrive, I promise to stay out of your way.”

Ellie’s breathing evened out, and Sunshine could see that her sister was taking her words to heart. She hesitated, as if weighing her options.

“I’m in charge of a charity luncheon this week. Perhaps it would be best if I kept my original flight.”

Again she paused, and Sunshine could almost hear her sister chewing on her bottom lip as she considered her options.

“You’re sure Beth doesn’t need me to come right away?”

“Positive.”

“I don’t know…” Ellie whispered.

Time to draw her big gun. Phillip. Beth’s father had become his daughter’s greatest ally. “If you don’t trust me, then talk it over with Phillip before you change your flight,” Sunshine suggested.

“And if I don’t, you’ll call him yourself.”

“Yes.” Without hesitation.

“Have it your way, then,” Ellie said stiffly. “I love my daughter and I refuse to let you or my husband keep me away from her.”

“No one is keeping you away from your daughter. Beth specifically asked that you not come rushing to her side now. Listen to her, Ellie. It’s what she is asking of you. Don’t you care about what Beth wants?” Sunshine asked.

“My daughter needs me.”

“For what?” Sunshine asked. “To buy her clothes, to decorate her apartment, to introduce her to men you consider a good match for her? Just whose life is this? It doesn’t sound like Beth’s. It sounds like yours. For the love of heaven, Ellie, don’t you realize you’re smothering the poor girl?”

“You’re as bad as Phillip.”

Nicest compliment Sunshine had gotten all week.

“All right,” Ellie said grudgingly. “I’ll keep my original flight, but if I hear one more thing about Beth and this accident there is no way anyone is going to keep me away from my daughter.” The words and the way she spoke told Sunshine further arguments would be useless. Her sister’s mind was made up and there was no changing it.

“Beth will be out of the hospital soon and well on her way to recovery.” She didn’t mention that Beth would be transferred to a rehab facility. Sunshine would let her niece explain that.

“Thank you, Ellie. I know Beth will appreciate your restraint.”

Ellie didn’t say anything for a long moment, and when she spoke next her voice was less brusque. “Is my baby hurting?”

“She was in the beginning, but she’s getting better day by day.”

“Thank you,” her sister whispered, sadness fusing with her words. “I’d like to say it was a pleasure, but alas, it never is with the two of us, is it?”

“No. I wish it was different, though.” Once again Sunshine extended a hand to Ellie. It was up to her sister to reach for it.

Her words were met with silence and then “Good-bye, Louise,” Ellie said as she cut the connection.

One final dig.

It saddened her that they couldn’t let go of the past. This matter with Peter stood between them as wide as the Grand Canyon. And it didn’t look to be shrinking anytime soon.

Sunshine remained in the hospital hallway for several minutes, mulling over her conversation with her sister. It hadn’t always been like this between them. As teens they’d been close, trading each other’s clothes, telling each other secrets. Naturally they squabbled now and again. What two sisters didn’t? They decided early in their teen years to attend the same college. That was the start of all the problems, although they would never have guessed it at the time.

A year ahead of Ellie, Sunshine was a junior when she met Peter. The two of them dated exclusively. A few times they even doubled up with her sister. It was all so perfect, so wonderful. Peter loved her and she loved him. Loved him still.

Ellie liked Peter, too, and repeatedly told her how lucky Sunshine was to have him in her life. Young as she was, Sunshine hadn’t realized how fragile love could be.

Sunshine swallowed down the sense of hurt and betrayal just as she had so many times before. The two people she had loved most in the world had betrayed her; they might as well have ripped her heart out of her chest and stomped on it. The pain had lessened with the years. She refused to allow herself to wallow in it again. It served no useful purpose; nothing positive would come of dredging up the memories that had the power to torment her.

Once more Sunshine reminded herself all that was in the past. She had a good life, friends, a career she loved, and she made enough money from her artwork to live comfortably. What she didn’t need was the strife and angst of her emotionally needy sister.

Yet here they were again, and the prize this time was Beth.

The phone conversation with her sister had shaken her. It took several minutes to calm her nerves. Once her head and her heart were settled, Sunshine returned to Beth’s hospital room.

Her niece looked up, her eyes and face full of anxiety as she waited to hear. “How’d it go?”

“I should have talked to your father.”

“Mom answered the phone?” Beth tilted her head back and stared blankly up at the ceiling.

Sunshine didn’t need to explain further. It’d been an error in judgment to hope Ellie could put their differences aside when it came to Beth, seeing that they both loved the young woman.

“Is she rebooking a plane ticket as we speak?” Beth asked, nervously rubbing her palms together.

“She says she isn’t, but only time will tell.”

Beth looked miserable. “I suggested she discuss it with Phillip. My guess is your father will talk her out of it. She did have something important on her plate this week, so that works in your favor.”

“Dad might think she should come, though.”

“Maybe, but I doubt it.” Sunshine felt bad. “She said she didn’t need me to act as a go-between and that you’ve been talking to her.”

Beth rubbed her palms together and looked away, but not before Sunshine saw the look of guilt.

“Beth?” Something was definitely up. “You have been talking to your mother, haven’t you?”

“Yes…sort of.”

“What does that mean?”

“I haven’t lied,” Beth rushed to add. “I couldn’t even if I tried. Mom would see through that in a heartbeat. I haven’t been telling her the full truth is all. She might…you know…assume things.”

The way her sister had kept Beth under her thumb was just plain wrong as far as Sunshine was concerned. Her niece was an adult and her sister insisted on treating her daughter as a child. Little had pleased Sunshine more than the day Beth announced she was moving to Portland. The fact that Beth had chosen to live in the same city as Sunshine had rubbed salt in Ellie’s wounded pride.

Beth was smart. Smarter than Ellie gave her credit for. Sunshine loved her niece and they were tight, but Beth chose to live in Portland because she knew her mother wouldn’t be inclined to visit often, for obvious reasons.

“What assumptions has your mother made?” Sunshine asked.

“You know…that the accident wasn’t nearly as bad as it was,” Beth reminded her, and bit down on her lower lip.

Sunshine nodded.

“I did tell her it would be awhile before I returned to work and I might have let her assume all I needed was a few days to rest up.”

They both knew it would be weeks before Beth returned to teaching, possibly even months. Beth was in for a long haul of physical therapy due to the rod in her hip. She’d been up and walking, but it was difficult and painful for her. The doctor had scheduled her for intensive physical therapy until she’d gotten the blood clot in her lung. Now her rehabilitation had come to a standstill.

“Do you still call your mother every day?” Sunshine asked. That was one of the stipulations Ellie had made when Beth chose to leave Chicago.

“I did in the beginning,” Beth admitted. “Now it’s every other day. I’m weaning myself away from her.”

“Good for you.” Sunshine was happy to see her niece make the break. It was long overdue.

Beth looked down and avoided eye contact. “Unfortunately, Mom isn’t taking it so well. If I don’t call her, then she calls me.”

There was more to this, and Sunshine waited for Beth to explain.

“I let her calls go to voicemail.”

A smile crept across her mouth as she struggled to hold back her amusement.

“I explained I can’t be at her beck and call while teaching. I have a life, and really it’s ridiculous. I’m twenty-five years old, not fifteen. Mom asks the most outrageous questions.”

No doubt. Ellie’s real fear was that Beth, given her own choice, would steer away from the life path she had chosen for her daughter. It astonished her how little her sister knew Beth. Again and again Sunshine had been impressed with her niece’s kind heart, her passion, and her insights into the teens she worked with at the high school. Beth was wonderful, and her sister didn’t seem to appreciate or understand her own daughter, nor did she trust her.

“How’s that working for you?”

“Up until now, fairly well. Mom isn’t controlling me, and it’s like her main purpose in life has been taken away from her.”

“It’s time, Sweet Pea.”

“Past time.”

Sunshine more than agreed but didn’t say so. Beth had been smart enough to figure this out on her own.

“Now, about your young man—”

“He isn’t mine,” Beth cut in, her cheeks flushing pink.

Sunshine held back the giggle as best she could. “My dear girl, I know your mother has controlled most of your social activities from the time you were old enough to date. You should know no man spends the night in an uncomfortable chair if he doesn’t have a strong interest in a woman.”

Beth’s shoulders tensed. “If you’re going to make an issue of the fact that he isn’t someone—”

“Hey, hey.” Sunshine did laugh then. “I like Sam. He’s good for you.”

Beth’s eyes smiled, although Sunshine could tell she struggled to hide her feelings for Sam. “I think he’s good for me, too.”

Before Sunshine could comment, Beth continued.

“We’re not dating or anything…”

“Yet.”

Beth did smile then. “Yet,” she agreed. Almost right away the smile faded and her eyes grew dark and serious. “I know Mom will be here soon, and I’m worried.”

“About her meeting Sam?”

Beth nodded. “You and I both know Sam isn’t someone my mother would consider suitable for me. Which in my mind is ridiculous. What about character? What about being a man of his word? Those are qualities I consider important. Okay, I know all about The Dog House from Nichole, but—”

“The Dog House?”

She snapped her mouth closed as if she wanted to yank back the words before she quickly added “Never mind.”

“Beth, you don’t need to defend Sam to me. I’m on your side.”

Her niece’s shoulders visibly relaxed. “Good, because I like Sam…a lot.”

“I know you do, and that’s great.”

—

Sunshine left the hospital shortly afterward and headed to her studio, eager to get back to her latest project. Often, when she returned from a business trip or a few days away, her head would swim with ideas. She could barely wait to get to the studio and get a paintbrush in her hand. Not so this day. Once in her studio she found she couldn’t paint. This was what Ellie did to her. She’d allowed her sister to steal her joy. So many times over the years, Sunshine had wished for a better relationship with Ellie. It hurt that they couldn’t be sisters, couldn’t be friends.

After an hour of fussing around her work area, Sunshine drove home. Agitated, she cleaned her house and scrubbed the stovetop until she wore a hole through her rubber gloves. Then she set to work in her yard, clearing the flower beds despite the threat of rain. It was necessary to do whatever she could to take her mind off the sadness that made her heart ache for the sister and the friend she might have had in Ellie. This lifelong tug-of-war that had left them divided and wounded. Sunshine couldn’t help wondering if it would ever end.