Mabe's Burden Read Online Free Page B

eyes,
pale face. She never remembered Meg looking so frail, but it had
been a long time. “Why did you leave? I never understood why you
just took off the night before Rod left for the Army. I was so
worried about you. Da went nuts calling around, sending out half
the patrons at Shenanigans to look for you.”
    Meg took her hand and led her around
the Explorer. She opened the door to the passenger’s side. Mabe
froze. Sitting in the front seat was a beautiful little girl of
around ten years old. Her long black hair hung down her back in a
sleek tail nearly reaching the cushion she sat on. She had pale
blue eyes with a smattering of freckles across her nose. She was
neither plump nor thin, and when she glanced up shyly at her aunt,
she offered a tentative smile.
    “ Oh, my God, Meg.
She’s….”
    “ My daughter.” Her sister
finished for her. “Emma, I want you to meet your Aunt
Mabe.”
    Mabe rocked back a step to let her
niece slip down, her white tennis shoe clad feet stretching to
reach the driveway. Mabe offered her a hand. “Here you go,
sweetheart. It’s so good to finally meet you. Let’s get your stuff
out of the back. We’ll get you settled in your very own room. Sound
good?”
    The girl glanced at her
mother. When she nodded, Emma skipped to the back of the truck.
Mabe caught her sister’s eye mouthing, what the hell?
    Meg mouthed back, I’ll explain later.
    Mabe helped her sister and newfound
niece carry their few small suitcases up to Meg’s old room. She
watched her take in the sunny yellow walls. A white, Queen Ann bed
sat by the window. A dresser, along with a small desk, completed
the simple ensemble.
    “ You haven’t changed
anything. It’s just like I left it.”
    “ I never knew when you might
come home. I didn’t want to change it. Everything is clean,
including the towels in the hall bathroom. Come on, Emma. I’ll show
you where you can stay.”
    “ She’ll stay in here with
me,” Meg assured her. “Emma doesn’t like to sleep alone in strange
places.”
    “ Uh…okay, sure.” She smiled.
“It actually works out best if Mara wants to stay here. Okay with
you, kiddo?”
    Her niece nodded. She climbed on to the
bed with her stuffed bear.
    “ Can she watch the TV in
here?”
    “ Of course,” Mabe told her,
moving over to the flat screen television positioned on the corner
of the desk. She twisted it around so the screen faced the child on
the bed. Handing her the remote, Mabe looked at her sister. “I’ve
got some great cinnamon buns in the kitchen. You two want
one?”
    Emma shook her head. She pressed the
power button on the remote, quickly finding an engaging
channel.
    “ One hour, little girl,” Meg
told her daughter.
    “ Aw, Mom, come
on.”
    Mabe held a hand over her mouth to hide
her smile. A memory of when they were kids flashed into her mind.
Before their mother died, she would always restrict the amount of
time they could watch television. Emma sounded exactly like Meg had
when they were her age. She watched in slight amazement how Meg
tilted her head at just the same angle their mother used to. She
gave her daughter the same stern look. “One hour.”
    “ Okay, okay.” Emma lay on
her stomach on the bed, her pretty face propped on the back of her
hands.
    “ Come on, sis. I want one of
those cinnamon buns. Is it Mom’s recipe?”
    Mabe nodded, allowing her sister to
lead her to the kitchen, still stunned by her extra, unexpected
guest. After making a fresh pot of coffee, she joined her sister at
the table.
    “ Things haven’t changed
much,” Meg observed, looking around the kitchen.
    “ No, not here. But you? My
God, Meg. A daughter? Why in the hell didn’t you ever tell
us?”
    Her sister sighed, dropping her gaze.
“I know, right? Imagine me, a mother.” She huffed out a low
laugh.
    “ How old is she, like
ten?”
    Meg nodded. “She’ll be ten in March.
And, irony of all ironies, her birthday is St. Patrick’s
Day.”
    “ You’re kidding.”