Drew was as good as his word. He has cared for me when times have been better and when they have been worse, when I have been sick and when I have been healthy. He will care for me until I go, parted from him by death.
That is love. If you have love, nothing else counts. Love is eternal. Drew’s love surrounds me, now, it will encase me through my last days, and it will last forever.
Amy put the book down again, lay her head in her hands, and began to sob. She cried until there were no more tears. “Di would understand,” she said as she wiped her face. “She would understand completely.”
An hour later, she still sat with the book in her lap. She flipped through the directory on her telephone. Finding the number, she hesitated, then she dialed.
***
The next morning, Amy sat in the coffee shop staring at the cup on the table in front of her. She glanced over her shoulder, surveying the crowd that filled the shop on Saturday mornings. She turned and gazed through the front window at the towering oak tree that stood in the middle of the parking lot. As she looked at the tree, she saw a metallic red BMW swing into the parking space beside her Corolla. That’s the car, she thought, the one from Drew’s driveway. She stared, waiting to see whose it was. The door opened, and Jennifer climbed out. “So stupid,” Amy whispered.
Jennifer strode purposefully across the lot. Amy turned back to her coffee and waited. A few minutes later, Jennifer settled into the chair across from her.
“It’s crowded this morning,” she said as she raised her ceramic cup to her mouth. She closed her eyes as she tasted her drink. “That’s good. There is no better start to the day than a hot latte. She turned her face toward Amy, appearing annoyed. “Now, what did you want to talk about?”
Amy stared at Jennifer’s cup. She had never understood why one would bring their own cup to a coffee shop. Did she need to prove that she had a nice cup? Is that why she brought her own?
Jennifer seemed to read the expression on Amy’s face.
“I don’t like the taste of coffee from a paper cup.”
Amy turned her eyes away, embarrassed.
“Besides, snotty rich people like the ten-cent discount.”
“I’m sorry,” Amy shook her head. “I didn’t mean—”
“It is what you believe, though, isn’t it? My father and I, my family, are simply a bunch of rich snobs.”
Amy didn’t reply.
“Dad thinks you believe that.” Jennifer cocked her head to one side and waited.
“I…did say some things like that.” Amy nodded. “I don’t believe what I said is true. I didn’t believe it at the time.” She sighed. “I said some really hurtful things to your father. I did accuse him of being a snob, of looking down on me because I don’t have much money. I blamed him—all men, really—for what my husband did in his will.” She looked up at Jennifer. “You know what I’m talking about?”
Jennifer nodded. “From more than one source.”
Amy’s eyes opened wide in surprise.
“Your husband’s attorney discussed the will at length during a wedding reception last month. He used no names, but I recognized the story.” She paused. “Even as a child, I never really liked Mr. Cooper, but I didn’t know he was such a jackass.”
“I told your father that he was just like my husband and his attorney and that I wanted him to leave me alone.” A tear ran down her cheek. “It wasn’t true. None of it was. And I didn’t want him to leave me alone. I wanted him to call. I sat with the telephone in my lap all evening, hoping he would.” She paused. “I really lit into him, as my father used to say. I understand why he didn’t.” She wiped the tear away.
“I did some hurtful things—the private investigator. I didn’t hire him, but Elaine told me about it and I could have objected, but by that time, everything else had happened and…and I was not thinking clearly.” She looked into Jennifer’s eyes.
“The private investigator?” Jennifer’s face turned deep red and she lowered her eyes. “Right after you and Dad started to date, I…well, I hired someone to check you out.”
Amy’s mouth dropped open.
“I’m sorry.” She looked at the table. “Dad went ballistic when he heard Lucas mention the ’vestigator. He refused to even look at the report. There was nothing there, anyway.” She paused. “If that had been the only thing, he would have had to laugh it off, but he took it as another indication of your lack of trust. He concluded that he was acting like a fool, that you didn’t love him, and that you had been using him all along.”
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry for what I said, for what I did.” She took a deep breath. “I read your mother’s book. In the first chapter, she writes about her fear of not fitting in with your father’s family, with his friends. As I read it, I read her words, but I heard my voice. I felt exactly as she had.”
Jennifer took a drink of coffee. “Mom did have those feelings. Dad knew how you felt. He wanted you to trust him. He understood your anger at your husband and his attorney.” She glared at Amy. “He did not understand being told that he was just like them. If you think that about him, he believes you cannot possibly love him.”
“What can I do?”
“Is he right? Is that what you think?”
“No. No. I was angry.”
“Do you love my father?” Jennifer demanded.
“I love your father, Jennifer. I miss him. I miss talking to him, going for walks with him, sitting in the family room watching television. I think about him when I wake in the morning, just before I go to sleep at night. I dream about him…”
“Tell him the truth.”
“What?”
“In the Nelson family, if you have done something wrong, if you’ve hurt another person, you tell that person what you did and you say that you are sorry. It is never mentioned again.”
Amy stared at her. “It’s not that easy.”
Jennifer nodded. “It has always been. Since I was a child.” A baby cried out and Jennifer turned to look. “That sounded like Sarah.”
“Where are the children?”
“I dropped Ben and the kids at my aunt’s house on Sullivan’s Island. Ben is probably chasing Lucas down the beach by this time.” She smiled, then she looked back to Amy. “I want my father to be happy.”
They talked for another half hour. Jennifer went for more coffee, returning with Amy’s in a brand-new ceramic cup, one of the ones Amy had admired the day she’d run into Drew. “You need to acculturate.” Jennifer smiled and Amy laughed.
Jennifer sat down. “I’ll do what I can to help you.”
***
Drew paused in front of the Martins’ store and looked toward the lake. It was only nine o’clock, and the mountain air was crisp. He shivered in spite of his windbreaker.
“Here I go!”
Drew looked toward the sound and watched a little boy run the length of the pier, launch himself into the air, wrap his arms around his legs, and torpedo into the water, splashing everything within fifteen feet.
“Me next!” A second child’s shout was followed by another splash.
How can they possibly swim in that water? It must feel like ice.
He chuckled as he recalled how he would take Jennifer and Matthew to the lake when they were children. The water had not seemed as cold back then—probably age. Lucas would arrive for a visit later in the week and Drew knew that he would want to spend most of each day in the lake. He shook his head.
Taking a last look at the children, Drew pulled open the door and walked inside.
“Morning, Drew. Good to see you.” Tim Martin greeted him with a cup in one hand and a coffee pot in the other. “Coffee?”
Drew nodded. “Yes. Thank you.” He took the coffee and lowered himself into a chair beside the large window that faced the lake. He was the first to arrive this morning and he and Tim had the store to themselves.
“So, Drew, will you be with us this summer, or are you renting out the cabin again?”
/> “I’ll be here, Tim. No renters.”
“That’s good.” Tim filled his own cup. “Not that there is anything wrong with renters. The folks at your house last summer—one family spent six weeks as I recall—they seemed to be really nice people.” He sipped his coffee. “But it’s nice to have the old-timers come in.”
“Old-timers?” Drew pretended to be offended, and Tim laughed.
“I’ve seen you here every summer for four decades—except for last year.” He paused, looking down at the counter. “So you definitely qualify as an old-timer. You’re family, really.”
“Why, thank you, Tim.” Drew smiled. Tim and his wife, Martha, were good friends, had driven to Charleston for Di’s funeral.
“We missed you and Di last year. I suppose it would have been…difficult to come without her.”
Drew looked down and nodded. “Yes, it would have been.” The two men gazed through the window at the mountain that rose on the other side of the lake.
“How’s the family, Tim? It’s been a long time since I’ve seen Martha. She had a heart attack, I understand.”
Tim nodded. “Last summer. Mild one. Doctor put her on medication. Put her on a diet.” He sipped his coffee. “She has lost thirty pounds. Feels great. I’ll bet you wouldn’t recognize her.” He chuckled. “I don’t sometimes.”
“What kind of diet?”
“Oh, you know. Low fat, low cholesterol. Fruit, vegetables. She sticks to it pretty well—except at breakfast. She still eats eggs and bacon for breakfast.” He watched a bird fly across the lake. “She told the doctor that she would be miserable if she couldn’t eat her breakfast and that there was no point in living if she had to be miserable.”
“What did the doctor say?”
Tim laughed. “He agreed with her. Said if that was the only way that she cheated on the diet, she would be fine. So far, she has been.”
“That’s terrific. I’m glad.”
“I was really proud of her. Seems to me that a lot of people just let themselves be unhappy when a small change would make a huge difference.”
A bell rang as the front door opened.
“Excuse me a minute.” Tim turned toward the door. “Evelyn Johnson, how are you this morning?”
Drew gazed out at the lake. He could count a dozen children splashing in the water now, and half that many adults sitting on the beach talking. Across the lake, the mountain jutted out of the water, its slope rising at a forty-five-degree angle. A couple of teenaged boys had moored a canoe, tying it to a tree that sprouted on the side of the mountain. They had come ashore and had begun to climb up the slope.
Drew chuckled, remembering when Matthew had done the same thing about ten or twelve years ago. After climbing for three hours, he and his friend, Alex, had made it to the top. On the way down, Alex had slipped. Matthew had grabbed for his hand, missed, and, thrown off balance, had slid behind him. The trip down had taken much less time than had the climb up. They both had hit the water and, except for scratches and bruises, were all right.
“More coffee?”
Drew looked up to find Tim beside him, coffee pot in hand.
“Yes, thanks.” He turned back to observe the two boys. Tim leaned over and peered through the window too. As they watched, one boy lost his footing and began to slide toward the lake, grabbing a tree limb just before tumbling into the water.
Tim chuckled. “Think they’ll make it?
“I don’t know. A lot of them do.” They watched for another moment.
“We saw you here last fall,” Tim said. “You and a pretty woman were walking out by the lake. I started to invite you in, but you headed back up just as I reached the door.”
Drew nodded. “Drove up for the day to check on the cabin.”
“Snowed that day.”
“It did.”
“A good friend?”
“What?”
“Is she a good friend?” Tim blushed. “Martha is going to ask me.”
“She was.”
Neither spoke for a moment.
“I didn’t tell you that Ashley is getting married, did I?”
“Your daughter, Ashley? How old is she?”
“Twenty-four. Matthew’s age.”
“That doesn’t seem possible.” Drew shook his head. “Who is she marrying?”
“Jonathon Harris. His parents own the hotel at the other end of the lake. Jonathon manages the hotel now.”
“That’s terrific. She won’t be too far away.”
“No. In fact, she’ll be closer than she is now. She lives in Charlotte, you know.”
“I know.” Drew nodded.
Tim gave a little laugh. “They have been engaged a little over a year. Would have had the wedding already, but they broke up back in January.”
“What happened?”
“Oh, Jonathon came up with some crazy idea that Ashley wanted him to move to Charlotte after they were married. He went to visit one weekend, and her friends were talking about how much they enjoyed the city, how they never wanted to leave. A couple of the guys made comments about how Jonathon lived out in the wild. Really shook him up.”
“So?”
“He told Ashley what he was thinking. Basically said he was sure she would not marry him unless he moved. Implied that she was interested in one of the other guys.” Tim shook his head.
“That’s awful.”
“Really. Ashley hit the ceiling. Told him that if he didn’t know her better than that then they had no business getting married. She yanked the ring off her finger, slapped it into his hand, and showed him the door.” Tim took a deep breath. “Ashley was quite upset.”
“I can imagine.”
“She came home the next weekend. She and Martha talked for a long time. Ashley told her mother that if Jonathon could treat her as he did that he couldn’t possibly have ever loved her, that she was well rid of him.”
Drew shifted his uncomfortably and looked away. “What happened?”
“A couple of months later, he showed up at her apartment. He told her he was sorry, said he had acted like fool.”
“What did Ashley do?”
“She agreed with him.” Tim laughed. “She called her mom and asked what she should do. Martha told her that if she loved Jonathon and if he was really sorry, then she should forgive him. Ashley said it could not be that simple, but Martha told her it certainly was. People sometimes do stupid things, but if you love that person, you are always ready to forgive, she said. Life is too short to hold a grudge when it’s not necessary.”
The bell rang and Tim excused himself. Drew finished his coffee, left money on the counter, and started back to the cabin.
***
Jennifer and Lucas arrived on Thursday afternoon. Drew heard the car as it pulled to a stop in front of the cabin.
“Grandfather, I’m here!” Lucas bounded up the steps. “I brought my books for you to read.” He pointed toward the car where his mother was struggling to lift a box from the trunk.
“Can we go down to the lake? I want to go swimming. My friend James and his family are staying up here. Have you seen them? Can he go to the lake with us?” Lucas danced around the porch. “Have you ever climbed up the mountain? Can we climb it one morning?”
Drew laughed and ruffled Lucas’s hair. “Good to see you, Lucas. Let me help your mom. Looks like you brought half of your room with you.” He left Lucas staring intently at the mountain while he went to help Jennifer.
“Thanks. I don’t know how many books he packed.” Jennifer sighed as Drew took the box from her. “He said that a week is a long time and he didn’t want you to get bored.”
Drew chuckled. “I’m sure that we’ll make it through the entire collection.”
“Can we go swimming?” Lucas asked as Drew and Jennifer finished unloading the car.
“I tell you, it’s getting late. Look at the sun.” Drew pointed behind the house where the sun was beginning to disappear behind a mountain. “We’ll walk do
wn to the lake in a few minutes. James’s mother called a little while ago, and she invited you to go swimming with them tomorrow. Said you could spend the morning there and eat lunch.”
“Yes!” Lucas punched both fists into the air.
“You’re sure that you’re up to this, Dad?” Jennifer laughed and shook her head. “He is a handful.”
“We’ll be fine. I managed to keep up with you when you were his age. Lucas will be a piece of cake by comparison.”
***
Twilight was approaching as they returned from their walk to the lake. Jennifer stopped at her car.
“I need to get those papers you asked me to bring you.” She reached in the trunk and took out a box.
Drew carried it inside and placed it on the table in the family room. “All of this was on my desk?” he asked as he opened it. He held up a small, flat box. “This was on my desk?”
“It was on top of the stack of papers. I didn’t know what it was, so I packed it up with everything else. It looks like a jewelry box.”
Drew slipped the top off.
“A ring? It’s beautiful. Whose is it? Oh! You were going to ask Amy to marry you,” she exclaimed.
He nodded. “Anna Thomas helped me select it. I bought it the morning before…before things started to happen.”
Lucas walked over.
“Can I see what’s inside?” he asked.
Drew held the box out for him to look.
“It’s pretty. What’s it for?”
“It’s a ring that a man gives a woman when he asks her to marry him,” Jennifer said.
“Oh.” Lucas drifted away, plopping onto the sofa and opening a book.
“Why didn’t you return it, Dad?”
“For a while, I hoped that things would work out. Then, well, I just never got around to it. I’ve no idea why it was on my desk.”
“There was an envelope too.” Jennifer craned her neck so that she could see into the box.
“I don’t see an envelope.” Drew flipped through the papers.
To Fall in Love Again Page 27
