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Back The Favorite Daughter
Chapters (51)
  1. Cover
  2. Praise for
  3. ALSO BY PATTI CALLAHAN HENRY
  4. Dedication
  5. Epigraph
  6. Prologue
  7. Chapter One
  8. Chapter Two
  9. Chapter Three
  10. Chapter Four
  11. Chapter Five
  12. Chapter Six
  13. Chapter Seven
  14. Chapter Eight
  15. Chapter Nine
  16. Chapter Ten
  17. Chapter Eleven
  18. THE MEMORY BOOK
  19. Chapter Twelve
  20. Chapter Thirteen
  21. THE MEMORY BOOK
  22. Chapter Fourteen
  23. Chapter Fifteen
  24. Chapter Sixteen
  25. Chapter Seventeen
  26. Chapter Eighteen
  27. THE MEMORY BOOK
  28. Chapter Nineteen
  29. Chapter Twenty
  30. Chapter Twenty-one
  31. THE MEMORY BOOK
  32. Chapter Twenty-two
  33. Chapter Twenty-three
  34. Chapter Twenty-four
  35. Chapter Twenty-five
  36. THE MEMORY BOOK
  37. Chapter Twenty-six
  38. Chapter Twenty-seven
  39. Chapter Twenty-eight
  40. Chapter Twenty-nine
  41. Chapter Thirty
  42. Chapter Thirty-one
  43. Chapter Thirty-two
  44. Chapter Thirty-three
  45. Chapter Thirty-four
  46. Chapter Thirty-five
  47. Epilogue
  48. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  49. Readers Guide
  50. About the Author
  51. What’s next onyour reading list?

Colleen sat on her bed and took out her computer—she would focus on work, not on what was happening in the kitchen, not on what was happening in a life that wasn’t hers anymore. If she decided to walk in that kitchen right now, there would be awkward silence. And it would be her presence that caused the change—her appearance in her own family. She slammed her fist into the soft mattress and then flopped back in bed to stare at the white ceiling fan going around and around, dust darkening the edges of the blades and shadows flipping.

She allowed her thoughts to ricochet from scene to scene, from memory to memory, without ever sticking on any of them; they would not go away or leave her alone, but she treated them lightly, easily—they were butterflies; they were fuzz from a blown dandelion; they were dust. How was she to continue avoiding and holding disdain for a man who was so kind to her beloved dad?

A soft knock sounded on the door and she sat up. Please God, if you hear me at all anymore, do not let this be Walter.

“Yes?” she called out.

“Little lark, may I come in?”

Colleen stood and opened the door to her dad. “Of course.” She swept her hand for him to enter the room. “What’s up?”

“You ran away just now. I saw you there, right there on the stoop, and then you went inside and hid in your room.” He shook his head. “We can’t be this way, little lark. We cannot.”

“I didn’t want to make it awkward while everyone was having fun. It’s okay for me to step away once in a while, especially when it’s weird.”

He stared at her for a beat too long. Maybe he’d forgotten why it was weird. Maybe he wanted to say something that was stuck in his synapses. Maybe he was confused and had already forgotten why he was there. But no matter the reason, he finally spoke softly. “Your mom would not want this unforgiveness. She would not.”

And he walked away.

“Mother,” Colleen corrected, calling after her dad’s retreating back. “Mother would not have wanted this unforgiveness.”

But he didn’t turn around; he didn’t say another word.

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