'This isn't funny.'
'I know, Mom, but these are only people, and they have very little to do with who you are. You have a life. You own a house that's nicer than this one. You have great friends and a great job. Let that lady stare.'
She was right, of course. By the time Susan had given Lily's hand an appreciative squeeze, Martha Barnes was heading into the house with her husband in tow.
Susan took a deep breath. 'Let's go.' Heart pounding, she slid out of the car, pocketed the keys, and, holding Lily's hand, went up the walk. Once inside, she heard voices coming from the kitchen, but her eyes quickly went to the living room. She saw no people, just a large coffin. It was open, as she had known it would be. John Tate was as close to royalty as this town got. His minions would want to see him one last time.
So did Susan, which was why she'd come all this way. But suddenly she couldn't move. 'I don't know if I can do this,' she whispered brokenly.
Lily linked their arms tightly. 'You can,' she whispered back. 'You're a survivor, Mom. This is a piece of cake compared to some of the things you've done.'
It wasn't, but having Lily there was a help.
Removing her dark glasses, Susan approached the coffin. Her father looked amazingly well-dark hair thinner than it had been when she'd left, but skin attractively tanned. He was a handsome man.
What to tell him? Susan couldn't think of a thing. Wrapping an arm around Lily's waist, she drew her closer to the coffin. He would know who the girl was.
'Is this how he looked?' Lily whispered.
'Yes. Always in a suit. He said it added dignity to the job of mayor. He took great pride in that.'
Lily reached out, but inches shy of touching his hand, she pulled back. Susan completed the gesture herself. Her father never had the roughened skin of a cattle farmer, but his hands were strong. Even now, fingers linked lifelessly over his middle, they had that commanding quality.
Not once, though, had he raised a hand to Susan. There had been many sweet times between father and daughter, but they were forgotten when Susan was sent away. Remembering them now, she felt a searing pain. So much was lost.
Her eyes filled with tears, which was why she didn't notice a nearby movement until Lily's elbow tightened around hers. At the foot of the coffin stood Ellen Tate. She looked smaller than Susan remembered, though not as much in height as in an odd inner quality. Her eyes were filled with exhaustion and grief, but not surprise-no, not that. She gripped the edge of the coffin, seemingly for support, but Susan imagined a certain possessiveness and, caught trespassing, released her father's hand.
'Mom,' she said softly.
Ellen just stared at her.
'I couldn't not come,' Susan explained. 'He was my father.'
Ellen said nothing.
'I wanted Lily to see him. This is the only chance she'll have.'
Ellen's eyes skittered to Lily-reluctantly, even involuntarily, Susan thought. Of course, Ellen had seen pictures of the girl. Susan had sent plenty over the years, and though there had never been any acknowledgment, she had to believe her parents had looked at them.
'Lily, this is your grandmother.'
'Hi,' Lily said in a small voice. There was no 'Nana,' but Susan couldn't fault Lily on that. Nothing about Ellen right now was warm and fuzzy-or welcoming, for that matter.
Susan might have been angry, if she hadn't been juggling so many other emotions. She had seen newspaper snaps of her parents at events here in town, but it wasn't the same as real life.
'You're looking well, Mom.' Exhaustion and grief aside, she actually did. Her hair, Susan's sandy shade laced with silver, was stylishly cut to the chin. She wore a black sweater and slacks not entirely unlike the ones Susan wore, and though she was a bit too thin, she held herself well. She was only fifty-nine. Had her face not been drawn, she would have looked younger than that.
Ellen still made no response. From the archway, though, came a grating, 'What the hell?'
It was Jackson, four years older than Susan, a head taller, and scowling darkly. 'What are you doing here?' he asked, coming to stand beside Ellen, her protector now that John was gone. As preordained, he had taken over as mayor when his father decided not to run again. Susan had followed that in the paper as well.
Now she was angry. Her mother not welcoming her was one thing. But Jack? He had basked in his father's love. It wouldn't have hurt him to show a little compassion to Susan, who had not.
Granted, they had never been close. Jack had always been the heir apparent and way too arrogant for Susan's taste. Through the trauma of her final weeks here, he hadn't offered a word of support, though in his own twenty- one years, he had broken every rule except impregnating a girl. And now he was head of the house? How pathetic was that?
She raised her chin. 'I've come for Dad's funeral.'
'He would not want you here.'
'How do you know? Did you ask?'
'I didn't have to,' he said smugly. 'I was here. I saw what he did when he was alive. He didn't ask for you even when his health started to fail.'
Ellen shot him a glance, but if it was a warning, she let it go and looked at Susan again.
Susan was on her own and uncowed. 'Thanks for telling me that, Jack. I might not have known.'
'I'm Lily,' came a surprisingly strong voice from her side.
Jack spared the girl a brief glance before returning to Susan. 'I want you to leave.'
Lily replied before Susan could. 'We just got here, and we had to spend all of yesterday traveling to do it. Mom left town at a time that was really, really bad for her, that's how much she wanted to be here. And I've never been to Oklahoma before.'
She wasn't entirely on her own, Susan realized with a glimmer of pride.
Jack stared at the girl. 'Then I'm sorry the trip will be so short. You'd be better off back in school anyway.'
'Actually, I wouldn't,' Lily said, and Susan did nothing to stop her. 'I brought books with me and can get my assignments online. That was one of the first things Mom did when she became principal. You know that's her job, don't you?' Jack didn't answer. 'She's the youngest person ever to hold the position, and she's the best. I mean, like, everyone loves her-the kids, the parents.'
'Then it won't be hard for her to turn around and go back,' Jack said.
'No,' Lily argued calmly. 'You don't understand. She's good at what she does because she cares, and that's why she's here. I know all about you. You're married to Lauren, my cousins are Thomas, Emily, and Ava, and you live in a big yellow house in town that was owned by the Farrows when my mom lived here. See, even with none of you giving her an ounce of encouragement, she taught me to care.'
'But she didn't teach you not to talk back.'
'I'm not talking back. We're having a discussion.'
'What about respect for your elders?'
'When they earn it,' Lily said.
Susan nearly clapped. Had it not been for the coffin and Ellen, she would have been enjoying herself. Jack had met his match.
So he turned on Susan. 'You think she's cute, but wait. That kind of lip causes trouble. She must inherit waywardness from you.'
'Either that or sensibility,' Susan said. 'And for the record, I wouldn't call what she said cute. I'd call it true.'
He sighed. 'Okay. Look. It's been a trying few days here, so let's cut to the chase. You want money.'
That took Susan by surprise. 'Excuse me?'
'But why would he leave you any? You weren't a part of his life.'
