by Susan Ward
“Isadora understands English, but she doesn’t speak it. She’s only been in this country a few months. She’ll get you where you need to go, Miss Birch.”
He steps around me and the girl’s face lights up when she sees Mr. Carson. “This is a friend of Eric’s. Can you help her find him?”
“Si, Señor Carson.”
Before I know it, Carson’s gone, the door’s closed, and the girl is gesturing with her hand and nodding at me.
When I don’t move, she gestures more spiritedly. “De esta manera.” She starts moving toward the back of the house, and I guess I’m supposed to follow her. We turn into an enormous open kitchen and she pauses by the door in the wall of glass.
She points. “La familia está con el Señor Jack, pero después cenan aquí.”
The only part of that I caught was Jack, and I look out onto the patio, hoping there’s a clue there. Oh no, did I invade uninvited a family function? The tables are set with sparkling china and lit candles, and a long buffet is waiting by the pool. No people, but there’s something happening here.
It’s so quiet you could hear a pin drop, a quiet that’s more than quiet and something you feel in the air. I look back at Isadora and she nods. “You go there.”
She points again.
I go there…
She opens the French door, leaving me no choice but to step into whatever this is, though I’m not sure that I should. I’d much prefer her finding Eric and bringing him to me.
At the first chair I reach, I turn back to her. “You want me to wait here? Then you’ll go find Eric.”
She’s momentarily flustered as she shakes her head. “No. No. La ceremonia está allí. Señor Jack. Esto es después. Señor Eric está ahí.”
I stare at her, wishing to God I’d paid attention during Spanish class in high school. That time the two words I understood were Eric and Jack.
She frowns then points again. As I try to figure out what’s going on, she grabs my arm in an unexpectedly strong grip given that she’s pint-sized and starts walking toward the lawn. I trail after her and once I’m on the grass I realize where she’s taking me.
My happy butterflies being almost to Eric alter into frantic ones as my stomach drops.
The entire family is together on the cliffs with the setting sun behind them. Rapidly searching, I find Eric standing between Hana and a tall black-haired girl that I think is one of his sisters.
Facing my direction is Alan Manzone, his arm around a small gray-haired woman holding something. He’s talking, I can’t hear the words, but oh no, I understand how they’re gathered.
I stop walking and my mouth drops.
I know what that woman is holding.
Señor Jack.
It’s an urn for ashes.
What have I done?
If there’s a God in heaven, the earth would swallow me whole. I should break free my arm from Isadora and discreetly disappear into the house, but I’m too dumb with disbelief to manage anything but being dragged forward by her. This isn’t what I planned. This is not the right moment. I’m crashing Jackson Parker’s burial.
MY SHOCK SLOWLY WANES as I hover politely several feet back behind the family. I’m grateful that no one has noticed me, not even Eric, so deeply focused are they on the ceremony—well, other than Alan Manzone who fixes me in his potent black stare for a split second, making me tremble in my shoes before his legendary raspy voice continues with his tribute to Jack.
“So many of you kids wondered why we are doing this at sunset since Jack and the dawn are synonymous. Your grandfather was a man of symmetry, and it was his wish he be released with the setting sun. The dawn signifies the start of a new day and possibilities. The sunset signifies the close of a day. With Jack’s passing, not only has it been the close of an amazing life but the close of an era. He represented something rare in this world today. Brilliance, kindness, humility, and genuine caring. His life was our gift. You kids are his proudest legacy. But it’s time we set him free for new journeys and new roads.”
Tears run down my face and I fish in my bag for a Kleenex. What I’ve caught of the service has been beautiful, the way this family talks about their patriarch, the love you can feel abounding the cliffs. My panic and nerves are forgotten in the richness of better things that being here makes me feel.
Eric’s mom steps forward, lifting the lid from the urn. Her hands close atop those of Eric’s grandmother, then the vessel with Jack is slowly tipped and the light breeze carries him over the cliffs.
I see Eric’s fingers do a tight squeeze on Hana’s as his sister lays her head on his shoulder. Then the little girl breaks free, rushing to her grandmother, and on the edge of the cliffs Hana starts to twirl.
Chrissie begins laughing through her tears as she gazes at Hana, then everyone starts to soggily laugh, and they are hugging and kissing, milling about among themselves as Christian Parker twirls on the grass with her granddaughter.
I’m not sure what I’m watching, why everyone’s face immediately changed from sad to lit up as Hana began to spin, but it’s poignant. Even their laughter is a moving thing.
Eric is standing alone watching his family as they surround their mother, and whether my being here is wrong or right, my legs move me toward him.
I’m less than five feet from him, and he hasn’t noticed me since I’ve arrived, but I can’t endure another second not being close to him.
The scrunch of my shoes against the grass is oddly loud, and my nerves grow tauter with each passing second. Then all at once he turns and his gorgeous blue eyes lock with mine. It’s the first time I’ve seen his face since getting here. His face is red from tears and sad. For a moment he stares, then…
The lines of his face change and I know that look in his eyes. He closes the distance between us in two strides. In a flash, I’m in his arms, crushed against his trembling body.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?”
He’s kissing and touching me in a sloppy way, and my emotions swell. I thought I’d blown it, that this was the wrong time. There is no wrong time for us, my heart sings.
I have to catch my breath to speak. “I wanted to surprise you the way you always surprise me. But I ended up being the one surprised as always. I didn’t know your family was doing this today. Why didn’t you tell me?”
His arms tighten around me. “We didn’t know. We’ve been waiting for my mom to be ready for this, and this afternoon she said it’s time.”
I tuck my face against his neck to hide my tears. “I hope it’s all right that I’m here.”
He holds my face in shaking fingers, staring down at me. “All right? I never want you anywhere except beside me ever again.”
Chapter Forty-Three
Willow
JESUS, THINGS HAPPEN QUICKLY here.
One minute I’m on the cliffs at a memorial, the next in Eric’s arms, in a blink being introduced to Hana, then surrounded by his family and warmly welcomed, and now I’m on the patio at what feels like a party eating Mexican food at a table with Alan Manzone and Chrissie Parker.
Being surrounded by Eric’s family is like a revelation. I understand so much about him by having simply met them.
They talk so fast, their voices overlapping. They laugh so much as they endlessly poke fun at each other. And they move from tears to joyful at lightning speed as they emote genuine feeling into the air every second amid an undercurrent of affection that flows and never ebbs.
I don’t feel like my head has stopped spinning or my feet have touched the ground since I arrived here, and yet as I’m being swept along with this family, it not only feels wonderful, it feels right.
As my gaze darts around the table, the blood is pumping so quickly through my veins that I’m breathless. But I’m happy. So happy. Happier than I expected to be after figuring out what was what on the cliffs.
I lean into Eric as I struggle to keep up with what’s
going on around me, and his fingers lightly squeeze mine. Our hands are under the table, a discreet not-Eric type of thing I’m pretty sure has something to do with Hana across the table from us, giving me the little girl stink-eye.
There’s a lot of work that needs to be done in that direction, but my heart melts every time I look at her. She’s like a tiny replica of Eric in a puffy pink dress and ribbons.
Khloe drops down on her seat and sets her plate on the table. She arches her brow at her brother and sits back. “I can’t believe no one has said it yet. All right, I will. Really, Eric? Why doesn’t it surprise me that you’re the first person in family history to bring a date to one of our burials.”
I flush, since the last thing I need reminding of is that I crashed a memorial service to be with my man, and I really wish she hadn’t said that in front of Hana who views me suspiciously enough as it is. With all that was going on while I was being introduced to the family, I didn’t catch exactly how he explained who I was to his daughter.
I glimpse Eric’s narrowed gaze on Khloe as his family busts up in laughter, and he looks almost irritated, but not quite. I see the telltale hints of a smile on the edges of his lips. He absolutely adores Khloe.
“Oh, will you leave the boy alone?” Linda exclaims. “Jack loved it. Your grandfather was a hopeless romantic.”
“Yes, he was,” Alan concurs, settling his eyes on me, his full smile on his face. “I’d rather find out what Willow thinks of us all. That, no doubt, will be fascinating.”
My blush changes to a burn. Holy cow. Is he serious? I can’t tell if he’s truly asking me that. I haven’t figured out how to read them as effortlessly as they read each other. Nervousness prompts me to laugh instead of speaking.
Uh-oh. A mistake.
They’re all staring at me now.
Worse, I have Alan Manzone’s undivided attention on me. “This should be good. Why are you laughing?”
My face turning fiery, I glance at Avery, and she grins, her eyes bright and wide.
“Sorry, it’s how you say Willow,” I admit reluctantly.
“Aha,” Linda says. “You can’t stop there. I can tell there’s a story behind that.”
A very interesting story, but not one I’ll ever tell. I lift my nose. “Well, it reminds me of how someone used to say my name. I haven’t heard my name said that way for a long time. It made me happy.”
I chance a glance at Eric.
He’s grinning.
He leans into me and whispers for only me to hear, “Willow…if all I have to do is say your name that way, love, to make you smile like that, I’ll do it the rest of our lives if you want me to.”
He gazes intently at me and I want kiss him right now because the memories that used to hurt me he’s magically turned back into beautiful things. But remembering Hana across the table, I ease back from him.
Linda’s staring at me with a severely arched brow. She tosses her napkin on the table. “Well, so that’s how it is between you two. But something tells me you’re a strong enough girl to manage him.”
How she says this one makes everyone laugh, especially Eric. And without explanation, she leaves the table. Kaley and Krystal stand up and scoot from the patio.
They all begin talking at once again. The plates are taken from the table by Isadora and coffee brought for everyone.
Chrissie curls up in her chair with her feet on the edge and leans into Alan. “It’s been a beautiful day. Jack would have loved it.”
He kisses his wife. “Yes, it has, love. I’m sure he did.”
Love…my thoughts are whisked back to the past, hearing Eric’s voice in my ear. If I’d known Alan then, I’d have figured out Eric that much faster. How the men in this family feel is in their voices and eyes, not their words.
“It’s getting late,” Eric says, stretching back in his chair. “It’s been a long day. Isn’t anyone else tired?”
My pulse jumps. There’s no mistaking how he said that. A nervous thrill runs through my body at the prospect of finally being alone with him, even though I’m not sure how that will work with all of them and Hana underfoot to contend with.
Khloe’s face snaps in his direction. “Oh, don’t even try to cut out. Not subtle at all. You bail now you’ve gotta deal with Kaley and Krystal later.”
“What?” There’s an adorably confused crinkle in his brow. “Just making an observation.”
“Suck it up,” she commands. “You can do this for them.”
The patio lights are shut off and the door from the kitchen is opened. The girls saunter back onto the patio, each carrying a cake and singing “Happy Birthday.”
Eric groans as one cake is set in front of him and another in front of Ethan. With much less enthusiasm than his brother, he blows out the candles.
Through the well-wishes, hugs, and kisses I hear Chrissie Parker say, “Oh no, Alan. We forgot it was their birthday today.”
Alan’s black eyes sparkle. “I didn’t forget.”
“We didn’t forget either, Mom,” Khloe announces.
Chrissie’s face twists up into an expression that’s bizarre and sweetly moving. “Why didn’t someone remind me? I would never…what I mean to say is, we could have done Daddy’s release another day.”
“Don’t sweat it, Mom. We all voted to let the release happen today,” Eric says, staring at his mother affectionately. Tears drip from her eyes, and both her sons scramble from their chairs to her.
“It’s all right, Mom,” Ethan assures, hugging her.
“Alan!” She brushes at her tears.
He closes his hand over hers. “It took so long for you to be ready to say goodbye to Jack. None of us wanted to change that for you.”
“I’ve had so much on my mind,” she moans. “I don’t know how I forgot.”
“There are a lot of us kids, Mom. No one expects you to remember every birthday every year,” Eric states firmly, then laughs.
My eyes go wide as he shakes his head at his sisters, and I sense the girls weren’t supposed to do cakes today.
“Eric, why didn’t you tell me it was your birthday?” I ask, my tone soft, trying to mask my hurt.
He shrugs and reaches for the knife. “I didn’t think of it. It’s just another day.”
“Well, not to me. It’s a very special day to me.”
I stare at him. He sighs.
“If you didn’t bring me a present”—he devilishly grins—“you can make up for it later. In fact, that’s my preferred present.”
He drops a kiss on my nose and I playfully shove him away.
“I’m really mad at you. We’re supposed to tell each other these kinds of things.”
He closes his eyes briefly—yes, he’s wondering if I’m sincerely upset, which I’m not—then he thinks to mollify me with his sweet little pout.
I lift my nose. “Not working. Not at all, Eric. Thankfully, I’m always prepared.”
I rush from the table into the house and to my suitcase left in the room Chrissie thought best I share with Khloe instead of being in Eric’s. I drop to my knees, quickly unzip it, and there, carefully tucked inside my clothes so as not to get damaged, is the white box with the violet ribbon he gave me the prom corsage in.
At last, I’m surprising him. I fight to rein in my excitement as I go back to the patio and settle in my chair. I set the box in front of him. I’ve finally found the right time, the right spectacular moment to give him this.
I’m beaming. “Happy birthday!”
By how Eric looks at me, I can tell he recognizes the box. “Is it safe to open this? It doesn’t have what I think it has in it? You’re not trying to join in with my family embarrassing me 24/7, are you?”
Laughing, I push my face close to his and shake my head. “Never. And unlike you, there’s no doubt in me this is going to go over well and you’re going to want to wear it.”
Now he’s studying me, curious, and I innocently
smile back. He continues to study the box.
“Open it, Eric,” Avery prompts. “After that, I really want to see what Willow gave you.”
Everyone is staring at us with rapt attention.
Eric still looks unsure. “Is it too late to tell you I don’t like surprises, Willow?”
“Very. Open it.”
He rakes back his hair and, with reluctance I can taste, undoes the ribbon. Slowly, he lifts the lid enough so he can see in and no one else can.
He whips around on his chair to stare at me in disbelief. “I can’t believe you still have it. I didn’t think you did.”
How he’s looking at me I feel all through my body. “Well, you were wrong. Do you like your surprise?”
Even with Hana watching, he clutches my face and plants a kiss on my mouth that floods me with everything he’s feeling. “I love you,” he whispers.
“Tell me why.”
He sets his nose against mine, locking our gazes. “Because you are you.”
My heart soars in memory. “Because you are you.”
“What is in the box, Eric?” Khloe demands impatiently.
He takes out his grandfather’s watch, and there isn’t a person at the table who doesn’t recognize it.
“Willow, how did you find the watch Eric lost?” Chrissie asks, emotion wrought and bewildered.
Eric shoots a glance at his mother. Not telling.
Chrissie’s enormous blue eyes widen as she returns his gaze and Eric flushes.
“Chrissie, leave your kid alone. Something tells me EJ is never going to tell any of us the story behind Willow having the watch he told us he pawned years ago,” Linda announces, and I look up to find her standing next to the table with a stack of envelopes in her hand.
Eric grins. “You’re right about that one, Linda. Let’s leave it at I’m the luckiest man on earth to have found Willow.”
Chrissie wipes at the moisture on her cheeks. “Fine. Don’t explain, EJ. Some stories are better left not shared, but however she found it, I’m glad Jack’s watch is back. And I can’t think of a better day for it to have happened or Willow to show up here.”
