Page 101 of A Home for Harmony

“My daughter knows to protect herself and take precautions also,” he said. “And she follows Harmony. I will admit I don’t care for it, but as I said, Harmony has made me more open minded.”

“You have a daughter?” her mother squeaked out, her eyes all but stretched to her hairline. “Are you married? Have you been married?”

“I’m divorced,” he said. “Since you’ve been divorced, I’m assuming you don’t think ill of it.”

There were a lot of laughs turned to coughs over that comment.

Yay, Micah. That was a good one and said sincerely and not like a dick.

“Of course not,” her mother said. “Sometimes marriages don’t work out.”

“They don’t,” he said. “My ex-wife and I co-parent our daughter.”

“How old is your daughter?” her mother asked, frowning.

“She’s sixteen,” he said. “And she’s met Harmony and loves her.”

“I’m sure she does,” her mother said. “They probably have a lot of the same mentality and are closer in age.”

“Mom,” she said, the smile gone from her face. “I’m going to leave in a minute. I mean it. You’re being hurtful, not helpful.”

She knew her voice cracked and she was close to tears falling. It was one thing she never wanted her mother to witness, since it didn’t make a difference.

“Marion, tell Harmony you’re sorry,” Jerry said firmly.

Her mother turned to Jerry and saw his eyebrow raised. She’d always thought Jerry was a pushover and was stunned to see this.

“I was speaking the truth,” her mother said.

“Speaking the truth can still be hurtful if not done correctly,” she said. “Your truth doesn’t mean it’s right.”

“That’s right, Harmony,” Jerry said. Her stepfather turned to the room. “You might all wonder what is going on.”

“You don’t need to tell them,” her mother rushed out to say.

“Are you okay, Mom?” Theo asked. He looked concerned, which of course turned the dial on everyone’s radar just now.

“Of course I’m fine,” her mother said, but she dropped her smile, which might have been forced.

“Your mother is worried that she is losing all of her children. Theo is going to have a family of his own. Erica is getting married and informed your mother it’s going to be a destination wedding and that she won’t have any say in it.”

She saw where this was going. “It’s not right,” her mother said.

“It’s my choice,” Erica said.

“And now Harmony has a man in her life that appears very serious,” Jerry said. “We had a long talk and I pointed out there was a reason she wasn’t close to her children and she asked that Ipoint out every time I see her do something that might push you all away.”

“You’ll be pointing things out the entire dinner,” Erica said. She laughed over that comment, but Tucker elbowed her.

“I told her that too,” Jerry said. “But she insisted that isn’t what is happening. So now you know.”

“Are we allowed to point it out?” Harmony asked.

“No,” her mother said. “Because you’ll do it with everything I say and try to make a joke out of it.”

“I don’t think she will,” Micah said. “We talked on the way down and I told her to be honest with you. To say when she was hurt and she did. She should be allowed to voice those things. I tell Scarlet, my daughter, all the time, that I want her to know she can come to me for anything. It’d break my heart if she thought she couldn’t. Do you really want your kids to feel that way? That they can’t tell you how they honestly feel?”

“Well said,” Jerry said. “The ball is in your court, Marion.”