"What?"
"Just kidding about that one," she said with a laugh, but Arabella wasn't so sure.
Arabella raised her glass. "I'll drink to that," she said, and tapped her glass to her mother's. "The speaking your mind part, not the tattoo." She unzipped her hoodie and reached for a warm cookie cooling on a rack. "Mmmm, Granny York's recipe!"
"She gave it to me a long time ago." Mindy smiled softly. "After the divorce, your grandmother and I remained on friendly terms. Close terms, actually, but you know that."
"Well, Mom, you were the one who patched things up between Granny and Dad. I have a lot of respect for you. Not everyone would have been so forgiving, and it couldn't have been easy."
"Thank you, Arabella. Sometimes the right thing to do isn't the easiest. Life turned out okay. I got you. And I found Joe." Her smile wobbled at the corners.
Arabella took a bite of the buttery cookie. "Oh, so good! Mom, you've nailed it!"
"Thank you."
Arabella polished the cookie off and played with the stem of her glass as her mom pinned her with her eyes.
"Are you going to tell me why you're here? And why you didn't tell me you were coming?" she finally asked with a hint of hurt in her tone. She pushed a lock of red hair from her forehead and waited.
"Since when are you a redhead?"
"Since I decided I wanted to be sassy." She did a shoulder shimmy.
Arabella laughed and raised her glass. "I'll drink to that too."
"So. What brings you here? Not troubles, I hope."
Arabella licked her bottom lip and felt her throat tighten with hot emotion.
"Oh, Bella. Are you running away?"
Arabella looked at her mother in surprise.
"This house has always been your place to escape, and I don't blame you. I would have run here too."
"I mostly rode my bike," Arabella said, trying to hide her emotion with humor.
Mindy took a sip of wine and then lowered her gaze to the table as if trying to find the right words. "I know you left home as soon as you could find the means to do so. I don't blame you for that either."
"Mom, I was ready to start a career," Arabella said, but her words sounded hollow.
"You don't have to protect me from the truth. Your father and I should have split sooner for all our sakes."
"Mom . . ."
Her mother reached across the table and put her hand over Arabella's. "I can't change the past, but I want to have you in my life," she said tearfully. "Your father and I were caught up in our own war. . . . I deeply regret that." She sighed. "But I'm glad you could escape that constant tension here in this house with Granny York." She swallowed hard and stared down at her glass.
"Mom, you don't have to do this. We've been down this road."
"Yes, I do," she said. She took a sip of wine and stayed silent long enough for Arabella to feel a flash of apprehension.
"Mom?"
"Your grandmother told me."
The cookie in Arabella's stomach flopped around. "Told you . . . what?" she asked in a whisper, but she knew the answer.
"About the"-Mindy closed her eyes for a moment-"baby."
Frowning, Arabella felt a sharp stab of betrayal.
"No, don't be upset. Granny York knew how hard you took the loss and wanted me to keep in touch with you. And . . . and I tried, but you were so distant. I couldn't tell you I knew and that it hurt me to the core that you didn't confide in me."
"Oh . . . Mom." Arabella shook her head. "You'd been through so much. You deserved peace and I didn't want to interrupt your life with my . . ." She couldn't finish.
"Granny York said as much, and I tried to accept that, hard as it was for me. She was just so worried about you."
///
"Does Dad know?"
"No."
Arabella nodded, trying to digest this new twist in her life. "Why tell me this now?"
"Because . . . because I want to be that person in your life. I want to be your mother, your friend, the person you can come to no matter what."
"Mom, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to shut you out."
"That's not what this is about." She nodded to the glass. "Sometimes things happen just at the right time. You showing up like this? I might not have had the courage-"
"Without your red hair?"
Mindy laughed. She reached up and touched her loose bun. "Isn't it funny how changing your hair color can change your attitude? I almost got it all chopped off, but Joe likes my hair long."