36. Learning To Live

36

LEARNING TO LIVE

“ M om, Dad, this is Sloane Redding. Sloane, my mother, Doreen, and my father, Mark.”

Sloane wasn’t sure why Dane was more nervous than her. She was trying not to take offense to it, but maybe he just wasn’t used to dealing with women like she was.

“It’s nice to meet you,” she said, shaking Mark’s hand. “And to see you again, Doreen.”

“You too,” Doreen said. “Tiffani keeps asking me to bring her back for a pedicure, but I know that Chloe did weeks ago. She said you did her nails not that long ago with Shiloh’s?”

“I did,” she said. “Shiloh isn’t into the girl things just yet. She likes to play and have fun and worries she’ll chip the polish.”

Her sister had said more than once that she didn’t want to get in trouble. She’d thought Shiloh was joking but found out it wasn’t the case.

It seemed her sister got in trouble for a lot of things with their mother. Guess some things hadn’t changed. All those rules she and Sabrina had in the cult, her mother still enforced or parented that way.

She’d assured her sister that there would be no more standing in the corner or other humiliating acts. That Shiloh was going to get in trouble and make mistakes because that was all part of life, but she didn’t want her sister to not experience life because of that fear.

One of the things the counselor had urged her to talk about.

As much as she wasn’t a fan of going to counseling, she did find it helpful. Not just with raising and dealing with her baby sister but with her past as well.

She didn’t expect to find any closure there and wasn’t sure she was looking for it. There would or could be no closure for what she experienced and what was most likely still occurring there.

For her it was learning to live with what happened and she felt she had a good handle on that.

“Kids should just be kids,” Doreen said. “Sometimes Tiffani tries to be a little doll to be looked at and placed just right for attention, but it doesn’t feel as if she wants to be.”

“It’s not the time,” Dane said to his mother. “I’ll talk to her more.”

“Tiffani said her mother wanted her to wear a dress today, but she wanted to be like you and wear jeans,” Doreen said to Dane.

He laughed. “I’m good at convincing her to think it’s her idea.”

Sloane hadn’t known what went on upstairs between Tiffani and Dane. There wasn’t a time to ask since it’d happened and if Dane wanted her to know, he’d tell her.

She was assuming this had to do with Mel putting ideas in Tiffani’s head and that was something Dane was going to have to deal with.

The fact that Tiffani complimented Shiloh on her clothing and then asked her to spend the night went a long way with her in that her baby sister was starting to feel some acceptance that she hadn’t had in her short life.

“You might have your work cut out for you,” his father said. “In the future.”

“I’ll deal with it,” Dane said. Sloane wasn’t sure what this was about, but the look her boyfriend was sending his parents said it was a private matter.

“How is Shiloh doing?” Doreen said. “I’ve got to imagine it wasn’t just a huge change in your life but in hers also.”

“She’s doing well,” she said. “I think better than maybe everyone expected.”

“Some children can thrive with change. Others not,” Dane said. “I think moving to a better life and situation has made it somewhat easier.”

“Not completely,” she said. “Sometimes she thinks it’s all going to be taken away. We are working on it.”

She turned and saw Shiloh filling a huge plate of food at the snack table and elbowed Dane.

“Let it go,” he said. “She’s still very skinny and active. She’s hungry. Could be a growth spurt.”

“Is she worried that that food will be taken away or she won’t have it again?” Mark asked.

“I don’t know. I think she was limited in what she ate and when she did eat, it wasn’t a lot. She wasn’t undernourished but definitely not fed this much.”

“Not like I’ve seen with some kids that have a lot of food at their disposal but are just picky,” he said. “It hasn’t been that long and she has to understand that there will be more there for her. ”

“Maybe Tiffani and Tyler can help with that,” Doreen said. “Did you think to ask Tiffani to say some things?”

“No,” he said. “If I do that there is a chance that it gets back to Mel. She doesn’t need to know more than she does.”

Sloane wouldn’t comment on that either. She had no dealings with Mel, but she knew at some point she might. Dane had met both of the men that Mel had dated but said that Mel hadn’t asked to meet Sloane again other than that run-in at the festival.

She wasn’t going to let that bother her. She’d told Dane already there was jealousy there, but she could handle it. She’d leave it all up to him.

“You might have to deal with that problem too,” Doreen said.

“Not the time,” he said. “Can we just enjoy Willow’s party without too many negative subjects?”

“You’re right, Dane,” Doreen said. “I’m sorry.”

She heard Dane being called by Tiffani and waved over to the swing set. “I’ll be back,” he said. “I can tell she wants me to push her.”

“He’s so good with the kids,” Doreen said.

“He is,” she said. “I’d be lost without him right now.”

“It’s hard for you to admit that, isn’t it?” Doreen asked.

“Yes. I know you’re aware of my background.”

“Which means nothing to me,” Doreen said. “Go help Dane, Mark. Let us have some girl talk.”

Oh boy. She didn’t know what was in store for her now but watched Dane’s father move toward the swing set to push the kids. Shiloh was pumping her legs and doing it on her own, then Dane moved over and pushed both girls each at the same time.

“Shiloh has never had a man in her life,” she said.

“And neither have you,” Doreen said. “I’m not judging and won’t. Dane told you we’ve always been open with our children about their backgrounds.”

“He has,” she said. “I think it’s great. Not many would be that way.”

“There was no reason to keep it a secret,” Doreen said. “I wasn’t lucky enough to have my own children, but both of my kids are mine though I didn’t birth them. If they decide to have a relationship with their birth parents, I’m confident enough to know they still love me.”

“Dane doesn’t appear to want to find out,” she said.

“No,” Doreen said. “He never has. I’m not sure the reason and that is his choice. Mel, she wanted to know and it caused some fights with them.”

Sloane nodded. “I think that should be a personal decision on Dane’s part and no one should or can tell him how to handle it.”

Doreen smiled. “You’re better for him than I thought you’d be.”

“Thanks,” she said. “I think.”

Doreen patted her hand. “Don’t think anything of it. Dane deserves to be with someone who lets him be who he is and understands him. I think he’s got that now. It might be the happiest I’ve seen him in years. The fact he’s putting his foot down with Mel is another thing. That makes me happy.”

“We don’t talk about it much,” she said. “Again, I don’t want to get in the middle of it. It’s new yet and I barely know what a normal relationship looks like, let alone a blended family one. No reason to make things difficult.”

“It’s a good attitude to have, but I also think you’ll stand your ground if you have to.”

“Always,” she said. “If you’ll excuse me, Shiloh is waving to me. Maybe I’ll go push her too. ”

“You do that,” Doreen said.

“You’re a sly one,” Diane said to Doreen two hours later.

“Excuse me?” Doreen asked.

“I see the grin you’re trying to hide,” Carolyn asked. The two of them saw the opportunity and were going to take it when they noticed Doreen walk into the house with some plates to clean up from the lunch that had been put out.

“I’m thrilled to see my son is so happy,” Doreen said. “Nothing wrong with that.”

Diane looked at Carolyn and smirked. They were right and they knew it and were going to get Dane’s mother to admit it.

“You set your son up,” Diane said. It took her a bit to figure it out, but after watching what was going on and overhearing the first conversation between Doreen and Sloane and then bits and pieces more throughout the day, she was positive that was the case.

“I’d never do that,” Doreen said. “Why would you say that?”

Her sister-in-law laughed. “We know you’re trying to deny it. Your secret is safe with us. But we told you at Chloe’s bridal shower that we were thinking of finding someone for Dane.”

“And I told you to let him figure it out on his own. He’s had a hard time of it with relationships,” Doreen said.

“No one knows their boys like a mother,” Carolyn said. “I know that. So does Diane. You beat us to the punch when you heard Tiffani talking about wanting her father to feel happy too. Maybe you thought Sloane could do it in more than one way. ”

“I bought a massage for my son from his children,” Doreen said, smirking. “Nothing more than that.”

“That’s your story and you’re sticking to it,” she said, putting her fingers to her lips and turning an imaginary lock. “Got it.”

“I’m telling you, Jolene,” she said hours later that night. “Doreen did it. She set her son up and she will take that secret to the grave with her.”

Diane was sitting in the living room talking to her sister-in-law who was in Charlotte and wanted an update after the party.

“Good for her,” Jolene said. “It’s rubbing off. But you know darn well you and Carolyn still had a hand in it.”

“Of course we did,” she said. “But in the end it only matters that the couples are happy.”

“Don’t I know it,” Jolene said. “Ben proposing to Eve was the best one yet. When they ask you to be part of it, you know you’ve done right. Remember that. You haven’t had a hand in it yet.”

“Don’t go there,” she said, laughing. “We were part of Trent’s engagement and you know it.”

“You were there for it,” Jolene said. “The same for a few others. But I planned this one.”

They’d all heard the story a few times. Jolene wasn’t going to let anyone forget that she was asked to come up with the trivia questions the night Ben proposed to Eve. That she’d actually helped plan it more than any of the other engagements.

“You did,” she said. “And for now you’ve got no one you’re working on. That isn’t like you.”

“I’ve always got one up my sleeve,” Jolene said. “Give me time yet. What about Zander?”

“It’s getting there,” she said. “The guys have a better handle on this. We like to think it’s a team effort. At least we got an opportunity there to see Sloane and Dane on the same day.”

“Some are harder than others,” Jolene said. “But as you said, as long as the couples are happy in the end, it’s all that matters. Still more work to do with Dane though by the sounds of it.”

“Baby steps,” she said. “Just like we got to see Willow standing on her legs today. She’ll be running soon and giving her mother and father fits. I miss those days.”

“We’ve got plenty of grandchildren to help remind us,” Jolene said.

“And we get to give them back after we wind them up,” Diane said. “Even better.”