Her eyes lit up. “Really? You don’t think I’m crazy?”
“I think you’re brave,” I said, surprised by how much I meant it.
“And I want to help you.”
“You do?”
“Of course. But no more sneaking around. We’ll do this together, okay?”
She hugged me then, something she’d never done before.
“Thank you, Claire. You don’t know what this means to me.”
That evening, after helping Marlene fold her now-clean linens, I heard Evan’s key in the lock. I quickly wiped away the tears we’d shed while she told me stories about all the animals she’d saved.
“Everything okay?” he asked, noticing the laundry basket.
“Mom’s washing machine still broken?”
I thought about the kitten Marlene had described finding last evening, barely alive in a dumpster.
About how she’d stayed up all night feeding it with an eyedropper. About this whole other side to the woman I’d misjudged for so long.
“Actually,” I smiled, “I think her washing machine’s not gonna work for quite some time. She can feel free to use ours.
I don’t mind!”
“Really? I thought you were—”
“Let’s just say your mom has her reasons,” I said, thinking of our new shared secret. “And they’re better than I could’ve ever imagined.”
I left that conversation with a new understanding of the woman I’d thought I knew.
And while our relationship would never be perfect, I learned that sometimes the most beautiful truths hide in the most unexpected places… even in a pile of crimson-stained laundry.
Source: amomama
