The
Ones Who Matter Most. Rachel Herron. New American Library/Penguin Publishing
Group. April 2016. 342 pp. ISBN#: 978451476760.
Abby Roberts is beyond infuriated
when she discovers that her husband, Scott, had a vasectomy after she had three
miscarriages. After uttering four words
to him, he slams into the bathroom when Abby hears a crash and then
silence. Ten minutes later, Scott is
dead, the victim of a massive heart attack.
The feelings that race through Abby’s heart and head in the days that
follow defy description.
Imagine her shock anew when she
finds pictures that reveal Scott was once married to Fern and had a son,
Mattie. So she does what very few women
would have done; she sets out to Fern’s home.
The initial reception is cool and awkward indeed, ending with an invitation to Fern and Mattie to attend
Scotts funeral and cremation. Here
begins a story fraught with ambivalence, suspicion, anger, neediness, rejection
and acceptance.
Fern drives a public bus for a
living but can barely pay her bills and now without Scott’s child support she’s
in a desperate situation. She has
overwhelmingly mixed feelings about Abby and surely doesn’t understand why Abby
wants to get to know Mattie better.
Mattie, however, gradually will warm up to Abby, but Fern is determined
that Abby will never have her son’s total loyalty and devotion as much as she
does.
The essence of this unusual story is
the tormented journey both Abby and Fern must experience that is really more
about grieving for Scott and the past and learning to trust again. Abby seems a more generous, forgiving
character but she also is financially safe enough that she’s not as worn out
with fear and apprehension about the future.
Both women have been betrayed and still have feelings for Scott which
they must work through. Eventually, the
bond they forge is unbreakable and both become open to new possibilities with
men and their place in the larger work world.
Rachel Herron does a superb job of
crafting a tense, volatile story with just enough tenderness to keep both women
from eternal bitterness, choosing instead to embrace trust. It’s about allowing relationships that
normally would never develop to go where they must. Romance, mystery and hope will rule the day
after one can let go of the past enough to bloom like those flowers and plants
that Abby so naturally grows and nurtures into birth. Very nicely done, Rachel Herron!
No comments:
Post a Comment