Lost and Found Family by Jennifer Ryan

Sarah heard the doorbell downstairs. Though she expected Sean’s sister, Bridget, and her daughter, Sophia, to arrive sometime in the next half hour, she still had to tamp down the anticipation that it might be Luke. She hated the way they’d left things yesterday, and especially didn’t like that he thought her reckless and anything like the woman Margaret made her out to be.

Since school had started a few weeks ago, the kids were working on the packets their teachers had given her before they left for the trip. She hated taking them out of school for this extended time but Margaret hadn’t left her a choice.

She handed Jack his math worksheet. “Do all the problems you can on your own. I need to go see who is at the door.” She checked on Nick, lying on the bed with his clipboard in front of him. “How are the b’s coming?”

Nick stopped tracing the next one on the sheet and looked up at her, smiling. “I did it.” He’d traced the dotted letters about twenty times now.

“Great job, buddy.” She handed him a blank sheet. “Now try to write them on your own.”

He took the paper and did the first one, then showed her the shaky but definitely proper lowercase b.

“Don’t forget to do a line of uppercase ones, too. I’ll be back soon.”

Sarah rushed down the stairs just as Margaret came out of the kitchen. “I’ll get the door.”

“About time,” Margaret snapped, like Sarah had somehow become the butler.

Sarah opened the door, disappointed to find Sean’s sister, Bridget, standing on the porch and not Luke.

“About time,” Bridget snapped in the same tone Margaret liked to use on her. “What took you so long?”

“I was helping the boys with their homework.”

Bridget walked in, making Sarah have to stand back and out of the way before she got run over.

Sarah was getting really tired of the cold shoulder and outright attacks from Margaret. She didn’t need more of them from Bridget, too.

Bridget went to Margaret and hugged her. “Hi, Mom. How are you?” She glanced back at Sarah, then focused on Margaret again. “Everything okay?”

Like Sarah would do something to harm Margaret. She rolled her eyes, not even trying to hide her irritation.

“Yes. I’m fine. Just waiting for the boys to come down so we can have some fun with Sophia.”

Sarah’s gaze fell on the pretty ten-year-old who walked in behind her mom. “Oh my God, Sophia, you’ve grown a foot since I last saw you.”

Bridget pinned her with an angry stare-down. “It happened when you refused to let Sean visit his family. You could care less if the kids really get to know each other.”

Bridget’s hostility made Sophia uncomfortable, and the little girl took a step away from all the adults.

“Sean did whatever he wanted.” A fact Margaret and Bridget never accepted. Since she couldn’t make any headway with them, she focused on her niece. “How have you been, sweetheart?”

“Good, Aunt Sarah.”

“How is your dad?” she asked, hoping to show Sophia that she still cared about her and her family.

“Hopefully crying over his new girlfriend dumping him if she’s smart.” The venom in Bridget’s voice made Sophia’s embarrassed and hurt gaze drop to the floor.

Sarah took a step closer to Sophia. “I was really sorry to hear about your parents’ divorce. That’s got to be really rough.”

Sophia’s head came up and she nodded.

“The boys are upstairs in their room. They can’t wait to see you. I might have also left a present upstairs with them for you.”

The sadness in Sophia’s eyes disappeared behind her excitement.

“Go on up and get it.” Sarah waited for Sophia to leave before she turned to Bridget. “What is wrong with you?”

“Me? You’re the one who sent Sean over the edge and kept the boys from us all this time.”

“If you wanted to see them, all you had to do was ask.”

“Like you’d bring them.”

“They’re here,” she pointed out.

Bridget pressed her lips tight. “And you’re here.” The snide tone irritated Sarah. “But we both know it’s only because Mom threatened to take you to court.”

“All either of you had to do was ask. We don’t need a lawyer or judge. It’s unnecessary and a waste of money when a civilized conversation would do.”

Margaret joined in on the attack. “Sarah loves spending Sean’s money. She had her housekeeper drive in to clean my house and called a gardening service.”

“You’re welcome,” Sarah shot back, because Margaret should thank her for fixing up the house and yard. “The house and yard needed to be clean and safe for the boys.”

Margaret’s gaze dropped to the floor. Maybe she regretted jabbing at Sarah with the unwarranted accusation.

“We know you’re just showing off.” Bridget dared her with a look to contradict her.

Sarah really didn’t want to fight.

Bridget didn’t back off and spewed even more indictments. “Now you’re buying off my daughter with gifts so she’ll still like you.” Snotty. And untrue.

“The gift is because I feel bad for feeling like I couldn’t reach out to her the last two years to give her birthday and Christmas gifts because you and Margaret made it clear I wasn’t welcome. I wasn’t sure that if I sent her something, you’d actually give it to her.”

“Of course I would.” Bridget sounded sincere, but Sarah didn’t quite believe her. “I’m not a monster like you.”

“So talking about her dad like that is you being nice.”

“Enough.” Margaret turned to Bridget. “I understand you’re upset that the divorce was just finalized and he’s seeing someone new, but talking that way . . . It’s not good for Sophia to hear things like that or see you so angry at her father.”

Bridget’s eyes glassed over. “The divorce was only final yesterday. But he’s been seeing that bitch for weeks.”

“You two have been separated for a long time,” Margaret gently pointed out.

“I hoped he’d change his mind,” Bridget admitted. “Instead, he just agreed to everything. The alimony. Custody arrangements. He just wanted it done. He didn’t care if Sophia and I ended up in a tiny apartment I can barely afford.”

“That had to really hurt.” Sarah sympathized, knowing exactly how it felt to be with someone who didn’t want you anymore. She also knew what it was like to end up with nothing and have to start all over.

“Oh please.” Bridget rolled her eyes. “You don’t care about me and Sophia.”

“I do.” She hoped Bridget believed her and they could somehow get past all this hostility. But Sarah didn’t hold her breath because she knew Sean had confided in his sister a lot and loved to tell Bridget things to get her sympathy and the attention he loved. “I know what it’s like to have your life turned upside down by the loss of your husband and partner.” Maybe their situations weren’t exactly the same, but it still boiled down to being left alone and having to start over.

Bridget narrowed her gaze and shook her head. “Don’t do that. Don’t compare what happened between you and Sean and what happened in my marriage. You ruined him. You took everything from him. You never cared about him. You made his life a living hell. That’s not the same as two people growing apart over the years.”

“You only know what Sean told you. That’s not the whole story.”

“Like I’d believe anything you have to say about it.”

Neither Bridget nor Margaret wanted to know what really happened.

Sarah’s cell phone rang upstairs. “Believe whatever you want.” She turned to Margaret. “I bought and set up all the ingredients in the kitchen for you to make and decorate cupcakes. I’ll send the kids down and get back to work so you can enjoy your time with them.”

Sarah turned for the stairs just as Sophia ran down them, her brand-new tablet in hand.

Sophia launched herself into Sarah and hugged her. “Thank you so much, Aunt Sarah. I love it. I’ve been wanting one forever, but Mom said it was too expensive.”

Sarah held Sophia and kissed her on the head. “I’m so glad you like it. Now you can play games, read books, and use it for schoolwork.” Sarah stepped back and took the tablet. She clicked on the store icon, then handed it back to Sophia and pointed out, “See here? You’ve got a fifty-dollar credit. Use it wisely and not all at once.”

“Are you serious?” Bridget fumed. “That’s too much.”

Sophia turned to her mom. “I’ll be responsible. I won’t spend all of it at once, like she said. And there’s this sci-fi book series I’ve been dying to read. All the kids at school have all five books and I have no idea what they’re raving about. Now I can read them.”

Bridget reluctantly nodded for her to go ahead and get the books. “But you can’t get anything else until you read all of those first.”

Sophia beamed. “Yes. Okay. Thank you.” She turned to Sarah again. “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

Sarah smiled. “You’re welcome. Now go make cupcakes with your grandma. I’ll send the boys down.”

Sarah started up the stairs when Margaret said to Bridget, “At least she spent some of Sean’s money on his niece. He’d have wanted to do that for her.”

However Margaret and Bridget wanted to justify the tablet for Sophia without giving Sarah credit for doing something nice, fine. Sarah didn’t really care. Let them think Sean would have done it. She knew the truth. Sean hadn’t bought anything for any of them in all the years they were married. She sent all the birthday and Christmas gifts. She had to remind Sean to call his mom and sister on their birthdays. And when he did, he played it up big-time that he remembered them and was so glad they liked the gift he picked out just for them. They ate it up. Sean kept his good-guy, best-brother-and-son status because of her.

They really didn’t know him at all.

Not the way Sarah did.