Chapter 15 - The First Thing They Gave Each Other Directly
Four months later, the first repayment deposit arrived.
Three hundred dollars.
Exactly as agreed.
Maren received half.
Clara received half.
Directly.
No middle account.
No explanatory phone call.
No guilt attached.
Darlene had taken an administrative job at a dental office in Aurora. She was earning less than before, but enough to stabilize the mortgage while she decided whether keeping the house still made sense.
She and Maren had not gone back to normal.
That was the point.
Normal had included too many things neither woman wanted anymore.
Darlene no longer entered the house without asking.
She no longer commented on what Maren spent.
She no longer referred to raising children as a debt that matured when they became adults.
Maren had apologized for shoving and hitting her.
Darlene had apologized for hitting Maren too.
Neither apology erased the other harm.
Clara and Maren were rebuilding more quickly.
They talked directly now.
Sometimes awkwardly.
Sometimes about money.
Sometimes about things they realized they had avoided for fifteen years because Darlene had always been the person carrying news between them.
One Saturday morning in October, they walked along the Riverwalk in downtown Naperville.
June slept in the stroller.
Clara pushed it.
Maren carried two coffees.
“You know,” Clara said, “Mom told me you hated when I borrowed your clothes in high school.”
“I did hate that.”
Clara laughed.
“Okay, bad example.”
Maren laughed too.
Her phone buzzed.
A message from Darlene.
I know I’m not supposed to ask through anyone else, so I’m asking you directly. Would you ever be comfortable letting me take you and June to lunch? No pressure. You can say no.
Maren read it twice.
No accusation.
No debt.
No reminder of sacrifice.
No mention of everything Darlene had done for her.
Just a question.
Clara glanced over.
“You okay?”
Maren locked the phone and slipped it into her coat pocket.
“Yeah.”
She took the stroller handle from Clara as they reached the bridge.
June stirred, opened her eyes for a few seconds, then settled again.
Maren kept walking.
May you like
She did not answer her mother that morning.
But for the first time in years, whatever answer she eventually gave would belong entirely to her.
