Commitment Read Free

a sigh and shrugged. “I don’t know,” she answered, sighing at the perplexed expression on Cassidy’s face. Helen reclaimed her seat and pointed to the envelope. “Alex found a letter addressed to me in her father’s desk. That was with it.”
    “Does Alex know?”
    Helen shook her head. “No. I don’t see how she could. It was inside, addressed to you.” Cassidy looked to Helen hesitantly. “He said in his letter that I should give it to you when I thought the time was right.”
    Cassidy tugged at her bottom lip with her teeth as she pondered the paper in her hand. “Do you know what it….”
    “I have no idea what it says, Cassidy. It’s his writing. It is addressed to you. Evidently, he felt there was something he needed to say.”
    “I don’t understand,” Cassidy whispered.
    Helen smiled. “Nicolaus was a complicated man. He wasn’t always that way.” She paused and shook her head. “You know, we were apart for the first few years of our marriage; almost entirely. I was so relieved when he came home, supposedly for good.” Cassidy studied the woman across from her. Helen’s eyes had taken on a faraway glaze. “When Alex came, well, I thought that would settle him.” Helen closed her eyes and exhaled forcefully. “It did; for a while.” Cassidy sensed the sadness in the older woman’s voice and instinctively took Helen’s hand. “Oh, Cassidy. Things sometimes change. You love someone, well…you learn to accept those changes; even when you don’t understand them. He always had other commitments. My commitment was always to him.” Cassidy offered an understanding smile. “I don’t know what is in there,” Helen said. “I expect there are many things I don’t know.” Helen saw Cassidy’s expression darken slightly. “Oh,” Helen chuckled. “I know more than he or Alex, or even you might think. You live with someone long enough, well…There are no perfect secrets, Cassidy.”
    “Why give it to me now?” Cassidy asked.
    Helen took a moment to regard the younger woman before her. She took a deep breath and then gently touched Cassidy’s cheek. “Oh, Cassidy. You and I are very much alike; I suspect. Alex will always have other commitments. She is very much like her father in that way.” Cassidy swallowed hard. “And you, well, your commitment is to your family. So is hers. She just has a different way of showing it. She is her father’s daughter, even if she would like to deny that. I’ll leave you for a while. Read it orwait. I have no idea what it says. I know two things. Two things I have always known. Nicolaus loved me,” she paused.
    “And?” Cassidy gently urged.
    “And, he loved his children. No matter what he said or what he did.” A tear trickled down her cheek. “He loved them.”
    Cassidy felt Helen place a gentle kiss on her forehead and watched her leave the room silently. She loved the older woman. Helen was quite different from her mother. She was more reserved and quiet, but Cassidy had grown to understand Alex’s mother. She giggled inwardly. “She’s a lot like you too,” Cassidy mused aloud. She often marveled at how much Alex looked like her mother. Cassidy had come to learn that Helen was also extremely sensitive and thoughtful. They were qualities Alex shared with Helen. They were qualities not everyone took the time to see in Alex. Cassidy loved the sensitive side of Alex. It gave her wife a sense of vulnerability. In its unique way, that made Alex the strongest person Cassidy had ever known. “Well,” she sighed. “Let’s see what you have to say.”

    “Where are you off to?” the congressman asked.
    “Why? Will you miss me?” Claire Brackett laughed. “You have that pretty blonde waiting for you at home. What’s her name, again? Shelly?”
    “Cheryl.”
    Claire Brackett shrugged. “You like those blondes; don’t you, Congressman?”
    “Jealous?” he quipped.
    “Hardly. Don’t flatter yourself.”
    “So? Are you going to