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Sophie was so relaxed, and all she could hear were the geese and other birds. She took advantage of the solitude by closing her eyes and taking a rest.
7
Hayley pulled the car over at a suburban dog park outside of Baltimore. Major needed to relieve himself and get a bit of exercise so he’d have a chance to sleep for the rest of the drive.
“I couldn’t help but notice that, along with your suitcase, you brought the urn where you keep Devon’s ashes. I can’t believe you made it yourself. Those high school pottery classes were good for something. Are you going to scatter them in Maryland?” Maura asked.
“No, that would be silly because he had no connection with St. Michaels. I’m going to scatter him from a plane since he was happiest in flight,” Hayley said. “If you must know, I like having him with me.”
“Oh, that surprises me,” Maura said.
"You think I didn't go through any kind of grieving process, don’t you?” she asked.
“It’s hard not to feel that way. You seem to have it together with work and volunteering. You said you plan to take a sabbatical in South Sudan, where you’ll volunteer at a hospital, and I believe you’ll follow through on that. Everything you plan happens, and it doesn’t look like you’re any worse off than you were before,” Maura said. “I don’t mean it as an insult. I’m in awe of you. Bringing Devon’s remains with you doesn’t jive with the image you portray. Please don’t take that as an attack.”
Hayley took a deep breath. “It’s all a perfectly choreographed act. Devon died when Mom was first diagnosed with cancer, and there wasn’t time to grieve. It was easier to be sad in private, and it made sense because I’m not the type to wear my heart on my sleeve. I cried in the shower and when I knew I was alone. Not a day goes by that I don’t think of Devon. I loved him, and I miss him so much that it hurts. I almost lost it when you brought up my frozen eggs because Devon and I dreamed of being parents. We wanted to have one of our own and adopt at least one."
“You can rely on me. I had no idea you felt this way, and from now on, I’ll force you to open up. It’s not healthy, and if anything happened to you, it would be the biggest loss of my life,” Maura said sympathetically.
“I feel lighter having told you how I’m coping. Maybe I will scatter Devon’s ashes in Maryland. If it’s pretty, then he’ll be happy.” Hayley put her head on her sister’s shoulder.
“Excuse me.” A big burley man with a small dog on a leash stood over Maura and Hayley. “Is the fat, yellow dog yours?”
Hayley stood and put her hands on her hips as she addressed the rude stranger. “His name is Major, and he’s by no means fat. He recently went to the vet, and he’s perfect for his age and breed. He has a lot of energy because we drove down from Syracuse today. He deserved freedom and socialization with other dogs.”
“I don’t know what your leash laws are in New York, but here, we keep them tied up while on public property.”
“I have two things to say to you. First, the sign on this side of the tennis courts indicates that this is an off-leash area. Secondly, if your dog relieves himself on the urn containing my dead husband’s ashes, I’ll sic Major on your little rat dog,” Hayley said. The little dog was raising his leg, but she knew Major would never harm another dog.
The man glanced up at the sign, picked up his little dog, and walked away.
Maura patted her sister on the back. “I haven’t seen that side of you since Margaret Martin was bullying me in the fourth grade. Nice work,” Maura said.
"He crossed the line when he said Major was fat. I could have said the same thing to him, but I would never sink that low, although I thought it. If his little dog had done anything more than lift his leg, then we would have had a fight on our hands.”
“This is one of those times that I’m glad to be on your side,” Maura said.
“Always, sis. You’re always going to be on my side.”
Maura and Hayley got back in the car with Major and continued on to St. Michaels. The trip kept getting better, and they each promised to drive somewhere every year because their relationship was better with a regular check-in. Maura had been making assumptions about Hayley, and it went both ways.
“What’s the first question you want to ask Sophie?” Hayley asked.
“Were there signs that anything was amiss? I can’t believe that one person would have the stamina for two families. Maybe she thought he was cheating because he was gone so much,” Maura said.
“I doubt she did because we didn’t. He was our father, and we had a happy family. Why would we have questioned anything? I thought engineers worked on the rig, and I never questioned anything. I wonder how Bill Allen really died, or Bill Cast, for that matter. What if he isn’t dead, and he has a third family hidden away somewhere?”
“Stop with the conspiracy theories. The only reason I want to meet Sophie is to find out what she knows. As far as I'm concerned, I only have one sister, and that's you. It’s impossible that our father was as devoted to her as he was to us,” Maura said. She figured her life was full enough with kids and a husband. “David and I were talking about the two of us offering to buy Sophie out of her share of the house. It will be a good investment. We rent it out through a service and hire a management company.”
“That sounds okay, but we don’t want to make it seem like we’re pushing her out of our lives just as soon as we meet her,” Hayley said.
“Isn’t that what we’re doing?”
Hayley shrugged. “I’m not looking for a sisterly bond with someone who’s a virtual stranger, but it might be nice to keep in touch. Beyond the DNA connection, we probably have a lot in common with her. There are bound to be a lot of similarities in the way we were raised.”
“You always were more compassionate than me. I can see a scenario where you remain friends with Sophie, but I can’t see anything else working into my life,” Maura said.
“You said earlier that you didn’t like who you were becoming, and you’ve mentioned that your plate is full. You need to start delegating to me and David. I can help with Mom, and he can do more for the kids. You don’t have to be a helicopter parent anymore. They live in a different state.”
