Page 7 of Pieces into Place (Moonflower Cove Romance #16)

Isla

S traight to Ale had hit its late afternoon lull, and Isla was debating calling it a day.

The bar operated perfectly fine without her constantly hovering around the place, anyway.

She’d spent the morning approving the prior week’s payroll before mingling with the patrons and her staff.

Isla missed when Alexis and Emily were her main employees.

While Alexis had quit after getting pregnant with the twins, Emily was still on maternity leave after having Finley.

Emily had plans to come back and Isla couldn’t wait.

Not that the rest of her employees weren’t amazing.

They were. Her staff made Straight to Ale one of the top places to eat in the Cove.

Several people had weekly lunch or dinner dates at the bar, while others would drive from out of town for one of the bar’s themed nights.

Isla was beyond proud of herself and her entire team for what they had created.

Having worked at the bar since she was in her mid-twenties, Isla couldn’t imagine her life without it.

The bar had been a second home to her family as they grew up.

Mason and Ellie had worked at the bar. Brayden took his first steps in the kitchen.

Everleigh used to draw on the wall behind the bar that Isla still hadn’t been able to paint over.

It meant so much to her that Isla couldn’t stand the thought of ever stepping back.

Even though she knew eventually, she’d have to.

Vera had already taken a step back from work to spend more time with Everleigh since they started homeschooling her.

Isla had noticed a major shift in both of them for the better.

Everleigh was no longer dreading getting out of bed to go to school and Vera seemed to thrive with only working three days at the hospital.

She was on-call once a month, which wasn’t bad at all to what it had been when they were first together.

The new chapter in her family’s life was a blessing, and Isla loved every minute of it.

Well.

Almost every minute.

Until Isla could fix her relationship with Blake, she knew her heart would never be truly at peace. It ached for Blake to want her to be her mom. That was all Isla had ever wanted. To be a mommy to Blake.

Isla had been so scared when she first found out she was having Blake.

She was only eighteen and not married to Ben yet.

Hell, they weren’t even engaged. Her parents were devout Catholics and called her a disgrace when she’d told them she was pregnant.

They told her she had to get married to Ben or they would shun her from the family.

So she married Ben.

She loved him, yes. They had been high school sweethearts, even if he was a few years older than she was.

He was a nice enough guy though and began working at his father’s insurance company soon after graduating.

And Isla knew from the moment she told him she was pregnant that he didn’t want a baby.

“I’m pregnant,” Isla had nervously told Ben as they sat in the empty subway car on the way back to her house. She hoped he would be happy, but Ben just sighed.

“Are you going to keep it?”

“Wh—what?”

“The baby.”

“I know what you meant. ”

“Well?” Ben turned to look at her. “Are you?”

“I am.”

Sighing, Ben leaned back in the seat and looked up at the ceiling. “Well, I guess we have to get married now.”

It wasn’t the proposal that Isla had dreamed about, but it was all she was going to get.

Over the next few months, she and Ben got married and moved into an apartment his father owned.

When Blake was born, Ben was at work and didn’t leave the office to be there with her or see their baby be born.

Isla never told anyone, but she still harbored hate toward Ben over that.

Over the years, Isla often wondered what would have happened if she chose not to marry Ben back then.

Would she have made it on her own, just her and Blake?

Isla knew she could, but that one decision would have changed so much about her life.

There would have been no Mason. No Vera.

No Ellie or Brayden or Everleigh. No Moonflower Cove.

Everything in her life would have been totally different if she hadn’t been so scared back then.

You were only eighteen, Isla reminded herself for the millionth time. She couldn’t imagine Ellie or Brayden having to make the decisions she had to make at their age. They were too young, too innocent to have those decisions thrust upon them.

Sighing, Isla turned off her computer and gathered her things.

She needed to get out of the office and out of her own head.

Her bad thoughts had a tendency of overtaking her mind these days and she knew she had to be careful.

Vera had prescribed her some medicine for it, but Isla hadn’t started taking it yet.

She’d made it fifty-six years without needing antidepressants. Isla didn’t need to start now.

At least that’s what she kept telling herself.

Sneaking out the back door, Isla climbed into her Jeep as she pulled out of the back parking lot of the bar.

She made her way down Main Street, unsure of where she wanted to go.

It was cold, which was typical for mid-November.

The gloomy day matched her attitude, which Isla hated.

Especially since her birthday was the next day and Vera had planned an entire party. As per usual.

Isla was indeed excited about the party, as she was every year.

She loved having her family all together, no matter the occasion, but she selfishly enjoyed it when they were all there for her.

Her kids always made the day extra special, with Vera providing the cherry on top of the cake at the end of the night.

Isla’s body was already ready for Vera to touch her as they celebrated her birthday in her favorite way.

Pulling up to a stop sign, Isla noticed a familiar face walking down the street in her direction.

Blake had her head down, looking at her feet as she walked.

Her baby bump was slightly visible under her sweatshirt.

But it was the tears streaming down her face that Isla immediately noticed.

Isla’s mom instincts kicked in as she parked the Jeep and opened the car door.

“Blake.” Isla waved at Blake, who looked up at her like a deer in headlights. Blake stopped in her tracks, wiping the tears from her face.

It didn’t take a genius to know something was wrong.

And as her mother, Isla knew her daughter.

They may not have grown up together, but Isla had seen the same look Blake had reflected back at her in the mirror before.

She was hurting, and it was Isla’s motherly instinct to go to her.

To hold her. To let her know things were going to be okay.

But it was clear from Blake’s body language that she didn’t want any of that. She crossed her arms over her stomach as if trying to shut Isla out. Isla felt her heart breaking even more than it already was over her eldest. Shaking her head, Blake lowered her gaze from Isla’s.

“What’s wrong, honey?”

“I’m sorry.” Blake shook her head, keeping her eyes from Isla’s. “I can’t. Not right now. ”

Every bone in Isla’s body wanted to pull Blake into a hug as she walked past her. She wanted to take her in her arms and tell her that whatever was bothering her it was going to be okay. Isla wanted to tell her she loved her and was there for her.

Always.

But Isla watched her go.

As Blake turned a corner toward Main Street, Isla lost sight of her.

If it had been any of her other four kids, Isla would have been hot on their tails to make sure they were okay.

She would have held them as they cried and told her about whatever was bothering them.

But Blake wasn’t like her siblings. Blake didn’t want what Isla so desperately wanted to give her.

And Isla’s heart broke even more at that realization.

Pulling her jacket tighter around her body, Isla crossed her arms over her chest. It started to rain, which was fitting for her mood.

She got back into the Jeep and made a beeline to the one person she knew would hold her while she cried over Blake.

After all, Vera had done exactly that for nearly three decades.

The drive home felt like a blur. Isla parked the Jeep in the driveway and headed inside.

She saw Everleigh in the home office, staring at the laptop.

Although Everleigh had her headphones on, Isla kept her steps quiet so as not to let her know she was home yet.

Walking into the kitchen, Isla found Vera sitting at the table working on her laptop.

As soon as Vera made eye contact with Isla, she closed the laptop and stood, pulling Isla into her arms.

“What’s wrong? What happened? Are you okay?”

“I don’t know,” Isla sobbed into Vera’s shoulder.

“Talk to me, baby. I’m here.”

“I saw Blake today.” She tried to compose herself enough to tell Vera what happened.

As she spoke, Vera tenderly caressed her cheek with one hand as she tucked her hair behind her ear with the other.

“She was crying and looked so upset. I stopped to talk to her but she just,” her voice quivered, “doesn’t want to talk to me. ”

“Oh, honey.” Tears formed in Vera’s eyes as she listened to Isla continue.

“Part of me wonders if I should quit trying with her. It’s been five years. She clearly doesn’t want the same thing I do out of our relationship.”

“Isla,” Vera gently scolded.

“I don’t mean it,” Isla sighed, plopping down onto the nearest kitchen chair. “I’m just saying.”

“I know you’re frustrated.” Slowly, Vera sat in the seat beside her.

She put a hand on her shoulder as she spoke.

“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t frustrated too.

I know how hard this is for you. How hard it has been for you for thirty years.

There’s nothing new I can say to take that pain away from you, even though I wish I could. ”

“I just don’t know how to make her see how badly I want to be in her life and help her. When I saw her today, my first thought was my baby is hurt , and I wanted to protect her but she just pushed me away. None of our other kids would have walked away like she did.”

“But Blake wasn’t raised in our house, baby.” Vera’s voice and eyes were both sad. “She wasn’t raised a Mackenzie. This is all new to her.”

“It’s been five years,” she repeated for what felt like the five millionth time over the last few months. “How can she still not know how badly we want to be in her life?”

“I don’t know, honey. But she’s our daughter. And we won’t give up on her.”

“I just wish she’d let me in.”

“I know. Me, too. I’m sorry all this is happening the day before your party.”

“I’d never have a party again if I could have my daughter instead.”

“I know, baby.” Vera stood, putting her arms around Isla as Isla did the same back. They held each other as if their lives depended on it as Isla let more angry tears fall. “Maybe it’s time I should talk to her. She needs to know how upset you are about this.”

“We’ve talked about this. I don’t want to push her away.”

“Push her away? Honey, it’s not like we have her close to us right now, anyway.” Vera sighed. “I don’t know what else we can do at this point.”

“Me either.” As Vera sat back down beside her, Isla put her hand on her arm and squeezed. “Part of me wants to just storm over there and yell at her for keeping us out of her life like this.”

“I’ve been wanting to do that for years ,” Vera sadly chuckled.

“But the other part knows that will just push her further away.”

“Maybe we could talk to Alexis?”

Isla shrugged.

“It could be a start, babe. At least then we might get a feel for what Blake is thinking.”

“Or Alexis will tell Blake that we were talking to her about it and then it’ll push Blake further away.”

“Or maybe it will be what Blake needs to see things differently.”

“I doubt it.”

Sighing again, Vera tossed up her arms and let them dramatically fall to her lap. “I don’t know, Isla. It’s been like this for five years. I try to help and you end up shutting me out along with Blake. I don’t deserve that.”

Vera stood from the table, walking over to the kitchen sink where she braced herself for a moment.

Isla didn’t dare move; didn’t dare say anything.

She and Vera rarely fought. But when they did, it was almost always about Blake.

While Vera wanted to confront her, Isla wanted it to be in Blake’s own time.

She wanted her daughter to want to be in their lives .

But Vera was a doctor. Her job was to fix the broken, and that’s what she had been doing since she met Isla. Now she was just trying to do it to Blake, too.

“I’m sorry,” Isla softly said, still not looking at Vera. “I don’t want to fight about this anymore.”

“Me either. But you know it’s not going to stop until you and Blake work things out.

” Vera walked over to her, putting her hands on Isla’s shoulders as she squeezed.

“I’m always going to be here for you, Isla.

Through the good times and the bad. But, honey, it’s getting to the point where your anger with Blake is bubbling over onto everyone else.

I’ve been taking the heat to keep it from the kids, but I can only do so much.

It’s time for you to realize that waiting around for Blake to make a move might not be the route that gets you the outcome you want. ”

Burying her face in her hands, Isla’s tears flowed even harder than before.

Vera bearhugged her, holding her tight from behind as they cried together.

Isla knew Vera was right. She always was.

Her anger toward Blake had bubbled out of the box Isla tried to keep it in.

And if she wasn’t careful, she could lose the rest of her family because of it.

And that was the last thing on earth Isla wanted to happen.

Vera was right. It was time for Isla to ask Blake the hard questions. Even if she didn’t get the answers she wanted, at least she would know where Blake stood. And what Blake wanted. Two things that Isla currently had no clue about.

“I’m so sorry, Vera.”

“I know.”

“You’re right. I need to talk to her. Soon.” Turning around in her chair, Isla looked up at Vera. “Maybe after the party she and I can find some time.”

“I’ll be there however you need me to be. Always.”

“Thank you.” Standing, Isla put her arms around Vera’s neck as they embraced once again. “I love you.”

“I love you.”