It was almost a week later when Diane returned to Nathan’s office for one of her regular appointments. Though Elizabeth had continued to monitor all of her mother’s vitals and medications, these weekly check-ins were a necessary part of her recovery to ensure that her body was tolerating her treatments.

“Diane, Kate.” Nathan nodded as he entered the room, sorely disappointed not to see Elizabeth there. He had been hoping that having her close by would quiet the frustration and sadness that had enveloped him since he left her kitchen.

“Nathan.” Diane smiled at him warmly. Kate said nothing.

“Your results look a little off so I’m going to order some more blood work,” he said as he opened the file and scanned the results again. He was afraid that she had developed an infection.

“If you think that’s best.” Diane looked calm. It was clear to him that she trusted him deeply and he was so grateful for that.

“Where is Elizabeth? I’d like to talk about this with her.” He knew that she would want to be updated on his suspicions, even if she was avoiding him.

“Just focus on mom,” Kate snapped.

“Kate, please.” Diane shot her daughter a disapproving look.

“Is she coming?”

“You should know,” Kate replied, unable to let go of her anger. “I told you to leave her alone.” She had been concerned when she came home from the studio to find Elizabeth crying at their kitchen table. Once her sister told her what happened, she was furious.

“I just wanted to explain something to her,” he sought to justify doing the very thing Kate had told him not to do.

“You wanted to explain so you could feel better.”

“That’s not it.”

“Kate, that’s enough!” Diane attempted to stop her daughter.

But Kate ignored her warning. “Yes, it is. You do nothing but hurt her.”

“I’m so sorry,” he began, not at all sure what else to say to her. She was right and he knew it.

“Kate, maybe you should wait for me outside,” Diane interjected before he could say anything else.

“With pleasure.” Kate kissed her mom on the cheek before walking quickly out of the room.

“She’s very protective of us. You know it’s been just the three of us for a long time.” Diane reached over and patted his arm gently.

“I really messed this all up, didn’t I?”

“Your youth is the time to make mistakes. It gives you plenty of time to put things right.”

“I think it might be too late,” he admitted, worrying that one day Diane would feel the same resentment for him that Kate did.

“Are you dead?”

“No.”

“Is she?”

“God forbid I ever live to see that day.” He shuddered at the thought.

“Then it isn’t too late,” she said with a kind smile.

“She won’t listen to me. How can I make her see that I love her?”

“She’s spent a lot of time running from the heartache you gave her. Facing it will be hard for her but it’s the only way to build upon the past.”

“I’ve really missed you, Diane.” She had been like a second mother to him from the moment he had met her and Nathan had missed her words of wisdom and encouragement for too long.

“I’ve missed you too, my boy. You’ve grown into a wonderful man.”

“I don’t know how to get her to forgive me.”

“Be honest.”

“She doesn’t want to listen.”

“Well, that’s a hurdle we’ll have to get over.” She gave him an encouraging wink. “Do you love my daughter?”

“I never stopped,” he answered without hesitation.

“Do you think she loves you?”

“I hope so.”

“I’m sure she never stopped but I think she spent many sleepless nights convincing herself that she can’t love you.”

“I need her to forgive me so she’ll believe me.”

“I have faith in you, sweetie.”

“Why?” he asked, unsure why she was willing to help him when he had hurt her daughter so deeply.

“Because I know you’re a good man and you just got a little lost.”

“I see that now.”

“You have to understand Kate. She’s an artist. She’s passionate. She feels everything very intensely.” Kate had been that way since childhood. She took everything to heart. Wearing her heart on her sleeve made her love big but it also made her pain amplified.

“I’ve heard her art’s wonderful,” he said, hoping to lighten the mood.

“Elizabeth does like to brag about her.” Diane chuckled.

“I’d love to see her work but she’d never show me.”

“Well, lucky for you I like to brag about her too.” She reached into her bag and pulled out an envelope of photographs, all of Kate’s work. As he looked through them, he was amazed by her talent. They were all vibrant, with a dreamlike quality that amazed him.

“These are remarkable.”

“Yes, but those are a year or so old,” Diane explained, looking a bit disappointed.

“Really?” He was not sure why her mood had shifted.

“She won’t show me her newest stuff.”

“Why not?”

“It’s about me,” she whispered as she lowered her eyes.

“How do you know that?”

“Well, she used to rush to show me everything. There’s only one reason why she wouldn’t. Art is how she deals with her emotions. I’ve given her a lot to deal with.” She looked guilt-stricken over her daughter’s pain.

“I can’t believe she did all this.” He tried to draw her back into a happier topic.

“She’s a talented girl.”

Nathan kept flipping through the photographs of Kate’s paintings, enthralled by their beauty. The last one, though, took his breath away. There, staring back at him from the canvas was his own face. The background was dark and stormy, with bright, colorful circles floating in it that held memories he had shared with Kate.

“Is this me?” he blurted out in utter shock. He’d been sure that Kate hadn’t even thought of him in years, until her mother’s illness forced him back into her life.

“Is it?” Diane asked with feigned innocence.

“That’s us, when I drove her to her middle school dance.” He smiled at the memory. Kate had insisted that it would not be cool if her mother or sister took her. She had wanted it to be him because that was what big brothers were for, as she had put it back then.

“I guess it is.”

“She painted this last year?”

“Yes.”

“We look so happy, but everything around us is such darkness.”

“It is,” she said calmly.

“So maybe not all her memories of me are tainted,” he mused, unable to deny what was before his eyes.

“See? A place to start!”

“Thanks, Diane.” He got up from his desk so that he could give her a hug.

“You’re welcome, my boy.” She patted him on his back as Nathan’s face lit up with a smile full of hope.