“Hi!” the girl called, her thin, somber face lighting up with a grin. She immediately walked over to give Colleen a hug.
“Hey, how are you doing?” Colleen responded warmly. It did her heart good to see the girl smile. Melanie and Nathan had seemed so serious and sad since Cody, their adoptive father, had left. “I’m sorry Ellen, Father Mike,” she apologized as Ellen, Nathan and Father Mike approached them. “We didn’t mean to interrupt. Eric wanted to speak with you, Father.”
“We were just finishing up,” Father Mike said amiably.
“No problem at all,” Ellen assured him, giving Colleen a quick hug. “I’m glad to see you. We haven’t spoken since the engagement party. I know I told you before, but you two did a wonderful job with it,” Ellen said kindly, including Eric in her glance. “Are you here about Liam’s wedding?”
“Yes. We had a meeting with the florist and wedding planner.”
Eric hadn’t met Ellen’s children, so Colleen introduced him. She began catching up with Ellen and the kids while Eric and Father Mike stepped a few feet away and addressed Eric’s question. At one point in their chat, Ellen and Nathan became involved in unfastening Nathan’s stuck coat zipper. Melanie looked up earnestly at Colleen, the two of them somewhat isolated from the others for a brief moment.
“We were meeting with Father Mike because Dad…Cody, I mean,
hasn’t been around to see Nathan and me since he moved out,” Melanie told Colleen in a hushed tone.
A rush of compassion went through her when she saw the girl’s careworn expression. Melanie was an especially bright girl who seemed older than her ten years.
“That’s a good idea for you three to talk to someone. I’ll bet Cody’s leaving is making you and Nathan really sad.”
“Nathan won’t say it out loud, but I can tell it’s really bothering him.”
“And you?” Colleen prompted softly. Melanie nodded in agreement.
“Did it help, talking to Father Mike?”
“Yeah. I was starting to feel…you know, really bad about myself because both my father and Cody left. I thought maybe it was something I did…something about me. But my mom said no way. Father Mike told me that love from parents is very, very important. He said God would never stop loving me for a second, and neither would my mom. He said that the real challenge was for me to keep on loving myself, no matter what difficult things happened to me in life.”
“He’s a smart man, Father Mike. You’re a smart girl with your own unique gifts to give the world. Life will go on, Melanie. You’ll see.” She ruffled Melanie’s hair as they shared a meaningful glance. Colleen’s head turned when Eric stepped beside her. He did a double take.
“Are you okay?” he asked, looking confused and concerned as he focused on Colleen’s face.
“Of course,” she answered, suddenly feeling self-conscious under Eric’s stare. He must have read the compassion and sympathy she’d been experiencing for Melanie. He really was a mind reader.
“So, Melanie, when might be a good time over the holidays for your mom and me to take all you kids to the indoor water park?” Colleen asked, neatly turning the subject. She felt Eric’s gaze on her intermittently for the next few minutes as their small party was joined by Liam, Natalie and Delores.
She should have known she couldn’t avoid Eric for long, however. He called out to her after they’d finished their business in the church and she was on her way to her car.
In his typical fashion, he didn’t bother with chit-chat before he cut to the chase.
“What was that all about with Melanie Rappoport?” Eric added as he caught up to her in the parking lot. The temperature had dropped enough so that vapor clung around their mouths. The earlier rain and sleet had turned to fat snowflakes that flurried around them. They paused next to their cars.
“Melanie?” Colleen asked, tightening the belt of her coat. “Oh—we were just talking about life going on after Cody’s departure.”
“You seemed upset,” Eric said.
She shrugged and avoided his searching stare. “What can I say? I like Melanie. It’s hard to think about what she must be going through, having not one but two fathers leave her.”
He didn’t respond immediately. “I see,” he finally said gruffly. Colleen studied him from beneath a lowered brow.
“Do you?”
“Yes.”
Colleen blinked in surprise, caught off guard by his uncharacteristic irritation.
“I’m not that shallow, Colleen. Cody’s misbehavior broke more than just Ellen’s heart. I’m not close to them, like you are, but believe it or not I have some inkling how hard it must be for those children…some tiny glimmering of compassion in this robot brain of mine.”
“Eric, I’m sorry,” she said hastily, feeling contrite. “Of course you do. I didn’t mean to imply otherwise.”