Kathleen lost patience. “Mother, that was not the issue. I stayed here because I wanted to work Friday and Saturday. I’d already made that decision and spoken to you by the time Destiny said anything at all about joining them. When she found out I had no plans, she included me in hers. I think it was very generous of her.”
“Of course, your work was what actually kept you away,” her mother said scathingly, making it sound like a dirty word. “How could I have forgotten about that?”
Kathleen desperately wanted to tell her mother that perhaps if she’d had work she loved, she might not have fallen into so many awful relationships, but again she bit her tongue. Getting into an argument wouldn’t serve any purpose. They’d been over the same ground too many times to count, and it never changed anything.
“Mother, why don’t you come down to visit and see the gallery for yourself?” she asked, knowing even as she made the invitation that she was wasting her breath. Her mother hadn’t made the trip even once since Kathleen had opened the doors. Seeing her daughter happy and successful didn’t fit with her own view of a woman’s world. Kathleen had finally come to accept that, too, but she kept trying just the same. Maybe if her mother met someone like Destiny, it would enlighten her, as well. Heaven knew, Kathleen’s grandmother with her passive nature hadn’t been an especially good role model.
“Perhaps one of these days I’ll surprise you,” her mother said.
There was an oddly wistful note in her voice that Kathleen had never heard before. She took heart. “I hope you will,” she said quietly. “I really mean that, Mother.”
“I know you do,” her mother said, sounding even sadder. “I am glad you had a nice holiday, Kathleen. I really am.”
“I wish yours had been happier,” she told her mother.
“My life is what it is. Take care, dear. I’ll speak to you soon.”
She was gone before Kathleen could even say goodbye. Slowly she hung up the phone and felt the salty sting of tears in her eyes, not for herself, but for the woman whose life had been such a bitter disappointment. Kathleen wanted to shout at her that it wasn’t too late, but who was she to say that? Maybe for her mother who’d allowed herself to be defeated at every turn, it was impossible to imagine that there was any hope to be had, much less reach out for it.
“Let that be a lesson to you,” Kathleen muttered to herself, immediately thinking of Ben.
That was the difference between herself and her mother, she told herself staunchly. She wasn’t going to let any man defeat her. She’d get those paintings of his and maybe even a few more of those amazing kisses. She just had to be careful she didn’t lose her heart along the way.
* * *
Ben gave up any attempt at painting after Kathleen left on Sunday. If his feeble attempts on Saturday had been a disaster, anything he tried after seeing her again was bound to be worse. The fact that she was affecting his work irritated the daylights out of him, but he was a realist. When the muse was in turmoil, he might as well get away from the farm.
Going to see his family was completely out of the question. His unexpected arrival on any of their doorsteps would be welcomed, but it would also stir up a hornet’s nest of questions he didn’t want to answer. Mack was out of town with the team, anyway, and Richard was probably driving Melanie mad with his doting. As for Destiny, her home was absolutely the last place he could turn up.
Usually he would have been content with his own company, maybe a good book, a warm fire and some music, but he knew instinctively that none of that would soothe him today.
Maybe he’d go for a drive, stop in one of the restaurants in his old neighborhood and have a good meal. If that put him in proximity to Kathleen’s art gallery and gave him a chance to peek in the windows, well, that was nothing more than coincidence. Happenstance. Accidental.
Sure, and pigs flew, he thought darkly.
Still, once he was on the road, he headed unerringly toward Alexandria, cursing all the way at the traffic that didn’t even take a rest on Sundays anymore. What the hell was wrong with all these people, anyway? Surely they couldn’t all be suffering from the same sort of malaise that had gotten him out of the house. Wasn’t anybody content with their lives, anymore? Did everyone have to go shopping? He directed the last at the lineup of cars backed up in the turn lane to a mall.
By comparison, Old Town Alexandria was relatively quiet and peaceful. There were still cobblestone sidewalks here and there and an abundance of charm. The big chain stores hadn’t made many inroads here. He parked off King Street and got out to walk. If he stayed away from the street where the family town house was, there was little chance he’d run into his aunt.
Destiny was probably sitting in front of a fire with her feet tucked under her, a glass of wine at her side and some sort of needlework in hand. She’d recently taken up—and quit—crocheting and knitting. He suspected her attempts at cross-stitching wouldn’t last, either. Once she’d tried quilting and given up on that, he figured she might be ready to do some serious painting again. It was obvious to him that these other creative outlets were no match for the talent God had given her.
Ben turned a corner on a street near the Potomac River and stopped short. There it was right in front of him, Kathleen’s gallery. The bold, modern paintings in the window weren’t to his taste, but he could appreciate the technique and the use of color. He
