The Courage Tree - Diane Chamberlain [56]
“I guess that makes two of us.” She touched her fingertips to his splint. “I apologize.”
“Accepted.”
“What’s wrong with your wrist?” she asked.
“Carpal tunnel.”
“Do you wear the splint all the time?”
“Uh-huh. The latest research has shown that if you work and play and sleep in the splints, the better off you’ll be.”
“Is it from repetitive movement?”
“Oh,” he sighed. “I don’t know. It’s from some gardening task, I suppose.”
“Have you ever been married?”
He grinned at her. “Twenty questions, huh?”
She nodded. Suddenly she was very hungry for information about him.
“Yes, I was married for twelve years,” he said. “We’re still friends. She’s a terrific woman.”
“Why did you split up?”
“We got married too young.” He sat back on the ottoman, letting out a long breath. “We were both twenty. We still had a lot of maturing to do, and when we finally did grow up, we discovered that we didn’t have a heck of a lot in common. She was a psychologist, and I hung around plants a lot. She wanted a nice colonial home she could decorate, and I wanted to live in a tree.”
Janine laughed. “Where does she live?”
“Pennsylvania. She calls from time to time, or I call her. We e-mail. She got married again a couple of years ago, and fortunately her new husband understands our friendship.”
“You’re very lucky,” she said.
“Yes, I am. And what about Sophie’s father? Joe, is it? Are you two still friends?”
“Only when it comes to Sophie,” she said. It was hard to explain her relationship with Joe. “He’s still very close to my parents, since he really has no parents of his own. And they’re crazy about him. They still call him my husband. I think they blame me for our divorce, even though he had an affair. They don’t know that, though.”
“Ouch,” Lucas said.
She had told no one, other than her two closest female friends, about Joe’s affair. She’d let her parents think her decision to end their marriage was just another one of her impulsive, selfish acts. Joe had begged her not to poison their feelings about him with the truth.
She looked up at the ceiling. “I can’t believe I’m telling you so much,” she said.
“You don’t have to.”
“I want to.” She went on to tell him about her high school pregnancy and the shotgun marriage to Joe. She told him about the canoe trip, and her stillborn baby boy.
“All right,” he said. “So you showed some poor judgment when you were eighteen, when most kids have poor judgment. You’re still blaming yourself for that all these years later?”
“Are you always this supportive of everybody?” she asked.
“Only people who deserve it,” he said.
Her gaze was drawn to activity in the driveway, near the mansion. She stood up and, through the bare trees, could see her father’s car pull into the garage.
“My parents are home,” she said.
Lucas stood up as well. “I’d better get back to work, then,” he said. “I’ll fix the pane in your door tomorrow. “
She realized she didn’t want him to go, but she didn’t want her parents to discover him there, either. “Thanks for breaking into the house, and for listening. And for the encouragement,” she said, as she walked him to the door. She glanced toward the hallway leading to Sophie’s bedroom. “Unfortunately, though, I don’t believe in miracles.”
He stepped onto the front stoop, then turned to look at her, a small smile on his lips. “I’m not talking about religious miracles,” he said. “I’m not talking about a sign from heaven. I’m talking about man-made miracles. I think human beings can do anything they set their minds to, and somewhere, right now, some scientist is trying to figure out a way to help Sophie and other kids like her. And maybe he—or she—will succeed. All I’m saying is that you need to be open to that possibility. Don’t give up hope.”
She nodded. “I’ll try not to,” she said. “Thank you.”
She watched him pick up the bucket and walk toward the mansion, where he turned on the hose. Then she walked into Sophie’s room to check on her. Sophie was still in a deep sleep, and Janine watched her for