After that, Georgia would return home for two weeks — two weeks, she suspected, of very sad good-byes with her friends — and then she would be off to Boston where she would attend the Berklee College of Music.
I’m on my way, she thought. Her very next thought was, But what am I on my way to?
“What am I on my way to?” she said aloud.
No one had to ask what she meant.
“Impossible to know,” Great-Grandma replied after a moment. “But whatever it is, we’ll be with you every step of the way.”
And once again the four generations of women clasped hands.
When you’re an old woman, people bring you things: iced tea, a sweater, a seat in the shade. They’re solicitous of you.
They call your name often.
“Great-Grandma!”
“Here, Mother.”
“Great-Great-Granny, look at me!”
So I sit in the shade on the bench behind the beach cottage, wearing my sweater, drinking my iced tea, and watching my family. I haven’t been to the cottage in several years. Getting here is a bit of a chore. I have to wait for someone to drive me.
“Great-Great-Granny, it’s almost time for your birthday cake!”
This is called out by a giddy three-year-old. He belongs to Richard. This is the first time he’s visited the cottage and he’s overexcited. The cottage does that to children.
Another voice. “Hi, Great-Grandma.”
Georgia lowers herself onto the bench beside me and I edge over slightly to make room for her. I’m still surprised that the airlines let people fly when they’re as pregnant as Georgia is.
“Hi, sweetie.” I take her hand. “How are you feeling?”
“Fine. I want this baby to be born, though. Alexander and I can’t wait for her to get here!”
“She’ll be here soon enough.”
Georgia lives in California now, a place I’ve never visited. So far away. Everyone is scattered. Richard and his family live in Michigan, Henry lives in Philadelphia, Francie and George are back in Princeton.
The cottage is a summer cottage again, a vacation destination. A place for holidays and celebrations. Today’s celebration is my 100th birthday, an unbelievable milestone, even for the person who has lived every day of those hundred years.
I sit quietly with Georgia and look around at the people in the yard, some of them standing exactly where the rosebushes used to grow. The people I see at first, though, are the ones who are gone now: Orrin, Rose, Adele, Fred, the baby born to Richard and his wife last year.
“Are you okay, Great-Grandma?” asks Georgia.
I realize that my eyes are brimming. I’m a foolish old woman.
I laugh. “I’m fine! Just wool-gathering.”
“You’re supposed to be celebrating.”
The party swirls around me — so many, many people. I’m lucky. I shouldn’t be thinking about the ones who aren’t here.
Dana approaches, carrying a lawn chair. She’s followed by Francie with a matching chair. They place the chairs one at either end of the bench and sit with Georgia and me.
“Here we are again,” says Georgia. She turns to her grandmother. “Remember when you hauled me back here after I ran away?”
“How could I forget?”
There’s a lull in the party, a break in the talking and laughing and eating. Everyone turns toward the back door. Richard and Henry are edging through it carrying a platter with an enormous sheet cake on it.
The birthday song begins and the cake is set on the table before me.
I hear a child ask, “How come there’s only one candle?”
Another child calls, “Make a wish!”
I reach for Dana’s hand and Georgia’s. Georgia reaches for her mother’s hand. We’re linked again.
I lean forward and blow out the candle.
“What did you wish?” Georgia whispers to me.
“It’s a secret,” I tell her, because some secrets really are meant to be kept secret.
Ann M. Martin is the acclaimed and bestselling author of a number of novels and series, including Belle Teal, A Corner of the Universe (a Newbery Honor book), A Dog’s Life, Here Today, P.S. Longer Letter Later (written with Paula Danziger), the Doll People series (written with Laura Godwin), the Main Street series, and the generation-defining series The Baby-sitters Club. She lives in New York.
ALSO BY ANN M. MARTIN:
Belle Teal
A Corner of the Universe
A Dog’s Life
Everything for a Dog
Here Today
On Christmas Eve
P.S. Longer Letter Later
written with Paula Danziger
Snail Mail No More
written with Paula Danziger
Ten Good and Bad Things About My Life (So Far)
Ten Kids, No Pets
Ten Rules for Living with My Sister
The Baby-sitters Club series
The Doll People series
written with Laura Godwin
The Main Street series
Copyright © 2015 by Ann M. Martin
All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Press, an imprint of Scholastic Inc., Publishers since 1920. SCHOLASTIC, SCHOLASTIC PRESS, and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2014947737
First edition, January 2015
Cover art © 2015 by Bagram Ibatoulline
Cover design by Elizabeth B. Parisi
e-ISBN 978-0-545-77759-9
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to Scholastic Inc., Attention: Permissions Department, 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.
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