by Geeta Kakade
“It’s good to take it easy once in a way,” said Moira.
“Everyone needs a lie in now and then,” said Christy. “And anyway there wasn’t much to do.”
The guests had called to say there were staying on at South Lake last night.
“Where are Mark and Andrew?” Bridget hoped her tone was nonchalant. She hadn’t seen them in the garage with Toby and Frank who were working on one of the latter’s model planes.
“They left a little after midnight when they heard of this new storm approaching. They have a reunion in Los Angeles today and tomorrow they want to do some Christmas shopping. They’ll be back the middle of the week.”
Andrew hadn’t said goodbye, thought Bridget. Suddenly the muffin in her mouth tasted like cardboard. She stood up and took her plate to the sink.
“I’m going to wrap presents upstairs,” said Christy. “It’s a good thing I finished all my shopping in Chicago.”
“I’ve got a book I want to read,” said Mrs. Kemp. “Mr. Kemp’s online with some Bridge group playing a thanksgiving marathon so we won’t hear from him for a while.”
“I’m going to make a batch of cranberry muffins and then start a crockpot of chili. Leftover roast turkey minces up just as good as any other meat and tastes amazing in the chili.”
“I guess I’ll start packing.” Bridget said.
The words had a hollow ring to it.
“You could still change your mind and stay,” said Christy.
The others nodded.
Bridget knew she couldn’t stay and be around Andrew every day. It was just too painful and awkward for both of them. She had to start on her new life sometime.
“It’s been a wonderful visit,” she said and then cleared her throat. “I need to go back to the Convent and get started on my business.”
“We are going to miss you,” said Mrs. Kemp reproachfully.
Moira turned away and went into the pantry as if she couldn’t trust herself to speak.
“Not as much as I’ll miss all of you,” said Bridget.
The next few days seemed to fly by and before she knew it, it was her last evening.
Christy, Moira and Mrs. Kemp made a special dinner Tuesday night but Bridget couldn’t eat much of it. Mr. Kemp told her that any time she wanted a ride back to Cupid Lodge he and Mrs. Kemp would be happy to come get her. Frank hadn’t said much and then he’d excused himself saying he had to finish his homework. Moira had given her two huge boxes of cookies saying there was one for every child at the Orphanage and some for the nuns too. Toby had said he couldn’t stay as he needed to get home and see someone about something.
Everyone had tried to be cheerful but the conversation had petered out and finally Bridget had asked them to excuse her too.
The puppies followed her into the room and she didn’t shoo them out.
Her heart heavy she packed the new suitcase Moira and Frank had given her as a Christmas gift. Frank had made her laugh by telling her that it was from the Swap Meet and his Mom had bargained till the man with the suitcases had said she was robbing him. In the end he had let them have the suitcase saying, “Promise you won’t come back for any more.”
Bridget had accumulated so much in the few months she had been at Cupid Lodge but it wasn’t just the clothes that Christy had insisted she take that filled the suitcase. There was the second diary that Christy had insisted she keep, the CD collection that Andrew had given her, the beautiful, light, pure wool thermals from New Zealand that the Kemps had brought back for her. Toby had given her a huge abalone shell, saying the colors reminded him of her. The pale pink of gentleness, the green of generosity, the blue of integrity, the purple of grace and the oyster sheen of real beauty; the kind of beauty he’d said that comes from deep within a person. She had started crying and he had taken out a huge handkerchief and blown his nose, overcome with emotion himself.
There was a lot of love packed in that suitcase. The sense of loss deepened as a torrent of tears began to flow. Bridget picked up Emma, hugged her and whispered. “I love them all so much.”
It seemed just as she thought her heart couldn’t ache more than it already did, more emotion got piled on.
Christy took Bridget to the bus stop Wednesday morning, repeating her favorite remark that Bridget would always have a home with Mark and her at Cupid Lodge.
Bridget hugged and kissed her silently, unable to say anything as she got on the bus.
Frank had dashed off to the school bus stop after hugging her and saying he would write to her every week. Toby had disappeared to the greenhouse after a quick goodbye. Mr. Kemp had hurried away to the garage and Moira and Mrs. Kemp had been in tears as they’d seen her off. Mark had called her last night and wished her all the best. He hadn’t mentioned Andrew.
The bright sunshine this morning seemed cruelly cheerful. It didn’t go with Bridget’s dismal thoughts and the sadness she saw in Christy’s eyes.
She was glad when the bus pulled away. Clean breaks though tough when they happened healed the best.
Phillip was very pleased with his plan. Agnes didn’t know about it yet but there was a time when men had to make decisions on their own.
He looked at the huge tree that lay across the road. There was something to be said for this spirit business. One could fell a tree just looking at it and wishing it down. It stopped all traffic on both sides and it would take a while for the emergency crews to clear it.
There were detours on the side roads so he couldn’t catch the edge of Agnes’ tongue for closing the road to emergency vehicles and he had been especially careful to make sure no deer had been close to the road or on it when he’d brought the tree down.
He apologized the squirrels and birds he had startled, wishing them luck finding new home in neighboring trees. This tree wouldn’t have lasted long anyway…it had been attacked by the pine beetle common to the area.
Settling himself on the huge trunk, Phillip waited with unusual patience. Timing was everything. He had seen Andrew and Mark whiz past on their way home and waited till the bus was ten minutes out of Silver Lake before he’d felled the tree with a glance. He had found a detour sign and put it on the old Silver Lake Road so traffic from Silver Lake would take the detour to South Lake.
As soon as he saw Mark’s SUV return he would remove it.
He felt he had done good.
In the attic Agnes smiled. She was glad Pa had finally taken the initiative. It was his assignment after all.
Mark and Andrew were headed back to Silver Lake with a great sense of relief over the mission they had accomplished. Phil and his family were on their way to a new life.
They had picked him up from the Convent around one a.m Friday morning and driven straight to San Francisco. Saturday and Sunday they attended a couple of meetings with people handpicked by General Paul O’Keefe to handle the matter.
Phil’s family had come in on a flight from Turkey Sunday night and on Monday, Mark had taken them to the professional who did their makeovers. While they’d been having their hair cut and dyed and trying on new clothes, under Mark’s and a local female officer’s supervision, Andrew had shopped for cookies, chocolates, fruit and snacks for them to take on the flight. He’d bought some gifts for the family, a doll for the little girl, an iPod touch for the eight year old boy and a mini iPad for the twelve year old. Phil and his wife each had a MacBook Air.
They were excited about the gifts when he gave it to them that night and Andrew hoped in some small way these things would ease the transition for them.
In their new clothes and haircuts Phil’s kids looked like any other American kids. Phil and his wife’s looks had been changed the most…hair color and new hair styles made a big difference. They were dressed in the anonymous clothing of most Americans…jeans, tops and jackets. Hopefully everything would go without a hitch from now on for the family.
Everybody ate the pizza Andrew had picked up for dinner and went to bed early worn out with their long da
y and jet lag.
Andrew wished Bridget was with them so she could have met the family and helped him choose their gifts. He wanted to tell her how worried he was about them, especially the children. The US Protection Program wasn’t easy on anyone even on people who had lived here all their lives. It must be terribly hard for Phil’s family to leave everything familiar, their friends, the life they knew and go to a strange place and learn to assume a new identity and remember to tell a different story about their past. Would the gift of a new life in America be enough compensation for the psychological stress they’d face in the next few months? He’d seen the fear in the children’s eyes as they stuck close to their mother and responded to his efforts to make conversation with one-word answers.
An incident with Frank came to mind. He had just remarked to Bridget that it must be hard on the boy not to have his father around and she had said, “Sister Winifred says children can adapt to anything.”
For the sake of Phil’s family, Andrew hoped so.
On Tuesday Mark and Andrew left Phil and his family at the hotel where two officers were going to talk to them about their new life and rehearse every day events and how they should handle things. They knew a little about the background developed for Phil and his family. They were to say they were refugees from Syria who had come in through Turkey to the USA as they had an uncle in Florida who had helped them. He had brought them the dry cleaning business they were to run in the new place and they worked for the uncle.
The only people who knew where Phil and his family were going were General O’Keefe and two officers. Everyone else had just worked on parts of the whole process.
Finding themselves with a free day, Andrew and Mark decided to part company. Mark said he had Christmas shopping to do and would meet Andrew at the Mall. Andrew went to his appointment at the Vets Hospital where two specialists studied his last x-rays and confirmed his knee was healing great. In a year he could have the operation that would remove the pins that held the two portions of his knee cap in place. They were pleased that he could do a straight leg lift without extensor lag and he had 90 degrees of knee flexion. He didn’t need a brace any longer and he could choose when to throw away his cane but they told him he had to go slow and not try anything too risky. They commended Dr. Rustom for his treatment and told Andrew what he wanted to hear…with continued therapy and treatment he should be back to as close to normal as they could get him.
That night they all had takeout from a famous Chinese restaurant that Andrew and Mark had picked up and Phil’s family had turned in. Mark went to his room to call Christy and Andrew and Phil stayed up talking till late.
Wednesday morning Mark turned to Phil at the airport drop off zone. He handed him a large manila envelope. “This is sealed so Andrew and I don’t know the contents but you will find everything you need there for a new start…tickets in your new names, passports, driver’s licenses, a credit card and money and the address of the flat rented in your name.
My uncle says there are papers with the business franchise you requested and a bank account has been opened in your name and your wife’s name. He says the American government is grateful for your service to the country and wishes you all the best of luck in the future. None of us will have any contact of any kind with you after today.”
Phil thanked them, echoed by a chorus of thanks from his wife and three children. He shook their hands and said he would never forget what they had done for him. There were tears in his eyes as he got out.
Andrew leaned back in his seat and stretched his right leg out as Mark took the 101 N freeway to the I-80 East freeway out of San Francisco. They stopped to have breakfast and then he fell asleep after they got on to 1-80 E. He woke just as Mark was getting on US 50 E and looked at his watch. It was barely seven a.m. From Sacramento to the South Fork American River Canyon the 50 E would become a four lane divided highway and then after that a two lane road when the going would be slower.
They ought to be back in three hours.
“Sorry I fell asleep,” he said.
“Don’t apologize,” Mark turned to him and grinned. “You’ve barely slept a few hours since we picked up Phil. You shouldn’t have stayed up every night. I told you to wake me at one this morning.”
“No point in both of us staying up,” said Andrew. “I wouldn’t have been able to sleep anyway.”
“Well Phil’s safe, reunited with his family and off to a new life thanks to you and Bridget so you can relax on that score.”
“The nuns, you and your uncle made it possible too. I’m still sorry I had to involve Bridget and agree to have him at Cupid Lodge for those few hours. I cannot describe how adamant Phil was that he would not deal with anyone other than me.”
“I believe that,” said Mark. “Don’t worry about the rest any more.”
“Thanks for everything,” said Andrew. “I’ll be moving out by the end of this week.”
“What’s the hurry and where are you planning on going?” asked Mark surprised.
“There’s a house I like in Fallen Leaf Lake. I have to move out and get as independent as possible again now that I have the medical all clear.”
“Have you told Bridget this?” With Phil off their minds, it was time to turn to more personal matters.
“She isn’t interested in marriage.”
“How do you know?”
“I proposed and she turned me down flat.”
“When?” That was a surprise. Christy would have told him if Bridget had said anything to her.
“Thanksgiving Day when you were sledding with Christy and Frank.”
“What did you say to her?”
“What does any bloke say? I said, “Marry me,” she said ”No!’”
“And that’s it?” demanded Mark. “You, the guy I’ve never seen back down, taking what she said at face value and crawling off to lick your wounds? What’s the matter with you man? Do you love her or not?”
“More than I’ve ever loved anyone.”
“So why have you sidelined yourself? Did you ask her why?”
“I know why. She wants to be a nun.”
“Not true. She called us in Chicago and told us of her decision not to join the Order weeks ago.”
“Why didn’t she tell me?” A pause and then Andrew said, “I even told her I didn’t want her to go back to the Convent and she said nothing.”
“What else did she say?”
“She told me she wanted to be free to develop her business.”
“And it didn’t click then that she wasn’t going to become a nun?”
“It didn’t. Anyway why would she say she wanted to be free?”
“What else would she say if she thought you were marrying her out of pity to save her from life in a Convent?”
Andrew looked at his watch again. “I’ll talk to her as soon as we get back.”
“See that you do. Christy and I love her like a kid sister and we don’t want her hurt. Christy says she’s been awfully quiet since we left but she thought it was just because Bridget was worrying about you and Phil’s family.”
CHAPTER TEN
They were on the drive and Mark got out just as Christy came to meet him, the dogs rushing to greet them.
“Hi Mark. Hi Andrew. Everything go okay?” asked Christy
“Great,” said Mark kissing her. “I missed you.”
“Missed you too.”
“Hi Christy.” Andrew said as he got out carefully and Mark called the dogs away. Only Sheba stayed close watching Andrew and he put his hand out and patted her head.
“Bridget’s on her way back to the Convent,” she announced giving Andrew a look he couldn’t fathom.
“Already?” Mark said.
“Yes. I tried keeping her here till the afternoon but she insisted on taking the earlier bus.”
“I have to stop her,” said Andrew urgently. “ I can’t let her go back. May I have the keys?”
Mark hesitated for a few seconds, the
n threw his friend the keys.
As Andrew came around to the driver’s side, he said, “Good luck.”
Mark grinned at Christy as Andrew turned the SUV around and shot down the drive. “Well we can go in and relax while they sort stuff out,” he said.
“Or we could plan a wedding,” his wife suggested with a mischievous smile.
Bridget stared out of the window. The driver had pulled up, scratched his head and turned around to announce that the bus wasn’t going anywhere in a hurry.
They had all gotten down to look at the fallen tree and realize nothing could be done.
A few people had decided to hike up the hill to get around it and get a ride with any vehicle on the other side that was going to backtrack.
Bridget and the rest of the passengers had gotten back on the bus. She thought of calling Christy to let her know what had happened but decided against it. Christy would only insist on coming and getting her and there was no point in that.
Bridget knew there would be no going back for her.
She took out her knitting. The iPod Christy had insisted on giving her was loaded with all her classical favorites and she would listen to them while she waited. Bridget called Sister Winifred first to let her know she would be late but didn’t tell her about the accident.
Andrew saw the bus as soon as he turned the corner in the road and stepped on the brakes.
The tree blocking the road was enormous.
He pulled up on the side and wondered if the tree had just fallen. His was the only vehicle on the road behind the bus.
Getting out he walked as fast as he could to the driver, “Is everyone all right? Can I help in any way?”
“No one’s hurt,” said the driver.
“Did you see a young woman about this high on the bus?” asked Andrew, putting his hand heart high.
“Dunno,” said the driver. “A few of the passengers decided they were going to walk around the tree by going up the hill. Told them not to with all the snow, but they said it was a free country. You can check on the bus if she’s there.”
