by Cat Gardiner
Juliana chortled. “Hi, Aunt Lizzy.”
Lizzy turned serious and thoughtful, placing the palm of her hand on her niece’s cheek. Green eyes embracing blue, her words conveying the deep emotion in her heart. “Hello to you, dear girl. Welcome home. It’s about damn time.”
They smiled affectionately to each other until Louie stood beside them, pulling his granddaughter into his solid embrace. “Bet you didn’t expect me here. Did you, my jewel?”
“How on earth?”
“Your grandfather telephoned me out of the blue. I love surprises, but this one knocked me for a loop!” Lizzy hooked her arm with Louie’s and leaned into him. “I haven’t seen or heard from my brother-in-law in forty-three years, and he hasn’t changed one bit. Still a wolf, still a dreamboat, and still as charming as ever. He invited himself today, not that he needed an invitation to begin with. Evermore had always been open to him and my sister.”
“Yeah, well that’s a conversation for another day. Not today,” he said.
“Then, we’ll have to save that topic for Paris … when we’re all together.” Lizzy winked at him.
“You’re sure about that, huh?” Louie raised an eyebrow.
“You forget, brother dear, I’m an optimist.” She leaned into his ear and whispered, “I know Will, and since he’s not married, I’m sure he’ll be there. Jack is certain of it, too. He may still be thinking about it, but in the end, he won’t be able to resist his heart.”
“Hmmm. You just may be right.”
Louise came to stand beside the group, attempting not to intrude, but it was Juliana who broke the ice.
Besieged by all the affection, she courageously edged her way closer to her grandfather’s friend. “Hi Louise. I’m really happy to see you here. I know we got off on the wrong foot, but I’d like to start over with my best foot forward.”
“Oh, darlin’. I completely understand.” Louise laughed. “Frankly, I should have presented myself a little better.”
Juliana didn’t know what possessed her but she reached out and hugged Louise. “Well, from what I understand, my grandfather is hard to resist. So don’t think anything of it.”
Lizzy held back the tears welling in her eyes. On this glorious day, healing was taking place. John would be so happy. Her eyes met Kitty’s, the emotional chasm between them bridging ever so slightly as they smiled wistfully at each other. She wished Lillian could be here to witness this special reunion and be a part of what should have taken place a long time ago. Now, only one more person remained to bring back into the fold of her fractured yet loving family. According to Jack, Will had a lovely house—but needed to come home. She knew that he needed his daughter and his grandchildren. And, he needed her.
Jack tapped Juliana’s shoulder and leaned down to her ear. “I’d like to introduce you to my parents.”
Following yet more introductions of Jack to her grandfather and Louise, Juliana turned, recognizing Henri from the video in the museum. In person, she could really see the similarity between him and his son. The twinkle in their eyes and the confident stance they both possessed were quite endearing. He had a tangible warmth about him that made her feel right at home in this foreign setting of an actual family tallying far greater than a mere four people, now.
“Julie, this is my dad, Henri and my mom, Marion.”
They hugged as though they had always known each other and when Henri spoke with such kindness and familiarity, she knew her life and her relationships had turned a corner.
“I owe your grandmother my life, Juliana. I can think of no one better suited than her granddaughter for my son to fall in love with. If your heart is anything like hers, well then, my son chose wisely.”
She looked at Jack smiling sheepishly beside her, then back to his parents. “Boy, for a family that keeps its share of secrets, he sure didn’t waste any time in telling you how he felt about me. Did he?”
Marion laughed. “Oh, I like her, Jackie. She’s as funny as her grandfather.”
“Cuter, too,” Jack said.
Adam walked over to the foursome, holding out toward Juliana a plate piled with potato salad and a double hamburger. He stiffly said, “Hi. This is for you.”
She took the ample offering. “Thanks! You must be Adam the rocket scientist I heard so much about.”
He smiled tightly and shifted his weight a bit. Juliana was mesmerized by him and the resemblance to her great-uncle. “So does that make you smarter than a brain surgeon?”
His smile grew to a grin and it was then that she noticed that exact dimple and the presence of a small cleft in his chin. Annette approached them at that moment, beaming in the same fashion: dimples, perfect teeth, and a particular twinkle in her brown eyes. Again, Juliana couldn’t help thinking about Uncle William.
~~*~~
Kitty’s two-year-old grandson, Stephen, sat on Juliana’s knee as she bounced her leg up and down playing horsey with him. His gleeful baby laughter rose above the conversation and amusement taking place at each wooden picnic table.
Juliana laughed along with him, holding his hands outward to keep him balanced. Lizzy watched her great niece from her position beside the old rickety barbeque—a cherished heirloom from the seventies that would not be replaced until it cooked its last burger. They had many gatherings on this lawn beside the lake; some beloved family members had died, and now others had come to take up their places in the empty seats. She smiled thoughtfully at how Jack admired Juliana from the opposite side of the picnic table. He held a dreamy look, one all men in love possessed when gazing upon their sweethearts. It had been a very long time since someone looked at her like that. John never did, but she deeply hoped that Will still would.
Without thought behind the action, the grandmother in her smoothed a hand down Adam’s back as he stood beside her char grilling the remaining hot dogs. He was just like her Will, and therefore, he’d always held a special place in her heart.
“Is that it for the hot dogs?” she asked.
“Yup. Do you want me to grill the last few hamburgers?”
“No. Why don’t you take them home to that bachelor pad of yours. Have Karen cook them up for you. She can make them into a meatloaf or something.”
Adam snickered. “She broke up with me about three weeks ago.”
“Impossible!”
“She did. She called me a bore because I wouldn’t go mountain climbing with her.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry, dear. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I knew what you’d say, Grandma.”
“And what’s that? You think you know me so well.” She cocked an eyebrow.
“You’d tell me that I should have gone with her. That I should do a lot of things that I don’t.”
He was right. Lizzy sighed. “Listen to me.” She turned her grandson to face her then reached up, cupping his cheeks flushed from the barbecue. “Listen to me, dear boy. The right girl will make you feel like climbing Mount Everest, and you will. The right girl will inspire you to do things you have never done before—for her, with her, because of her. Love does that, and you obviously didn’t love Karen. She simply wasn’t the right girl, but you can’t bury yourself in work all the time or you’ll never find the one.”
“I thought I loved her.”
“No, you didn’t love her. You never looked at her like your cousin Jack is looking at Juliana, or like Mitch is looking at Sunny.”
Adam glanced over to his free-spirited brother reclining on the cedar lounge chair. “Mitch is stoned, that’s why he looks like that.”
Lizzy playfully slapped his arm. “Oh you! The only elixir he’s on is love. You’ll know when you’re in love—It’ll bolt you from the blue and you’ll look stoned, too.”
“Dad never looked at Mom like that with that sick puppy dog expression.”
She patted his cheek before turning to leave. “And that, my darling, is why she kicked his sorry ass to the curb.”
Adam laughed. “Hey,
that’s my dad you’re talking about.”
“And thank G-d you inherited very little of his looks, personality, temperament, or doll dizzy ways. No dear boy, your DNA is just perfect. You get that from your mother’s side.”
She smiled brilliantly then departed, making a beeline straight for Juliana. They had a few things to discuss.
Lizzy bent and kissed her great nephew’s cheek as she lifted him from Juliana’s lap. “Sweet Julie, would you care to take a stroll to my tea garden with me?”
“Uh oh, she’s going to pump you for information.” Jack chuckled when his grandmother deposited Stephen into his arms, with her devilish grin.
Juliana beamed, reached across the table to Jack, and removed his Giants ball cap, promptly settling it upon her head. “Sure, I’d love to take a walk, Aunt Lizzy. I have something to give you. Something important that I brought with me.” She reached below the bench, carefully withdrawing her backpack with its sacred contents.
“Oh, you shouldn’t have bought me anything. Really, honey—your presence is my gift.”
“It’s not that kind of gift.”
A hooked arm tucked within Juliana’s one guided them away from the family. Several cousins jumped into the lake from the small dock beside them. Their adult shouts carried across the yard as though they were children. Aunt and niece chatted pleasantly until Juliana suddenly stopped at the garden gate, her hand gripping the wooden frame. She turned to look back at the family celebration.
Her eyes drank in the panorama before her, Jake, Stephen’s brother, laughed running through the gathered family as everyone talked and ate. Her cousin Mitch’s wife sat on his lap with her arms wrapped around him. Henri and Marion danced—and Grandpa Louie and Louise were out there, too!—to an unfamiliar Doo Wop song as Uncle Danny placed his hand upon Wendy’s tummy to feel his grandchild’s movement within. All around Juliana was the dream she had always conjured—a big family, and in the center of it all sat one man looking frazzled by little Stephen fidgeting upon his lap.
Jack looked up and their eyes met through the crowd. They smiled affectionately at one another and her heart flipped. Yes, she had fallen for him. Yes, he was the one. Meeting him had been the real catalyst that completely changed her outlook for the future.
“What is it, Julie?”
“I have a family,” she stated dreamily in reply to her great-aunt. “I’ve wanted this my whole life. I just can’t believe that this is my family. I wish Dad could be here to be a part of it.”
“Oh, he is honey, and so is my sister.” Lizzy brushed the hair framing Juliana’s face. “We’re all so happy you’re here.”
“Me, too. I feel like I’ve finally found home.”
“You have.”
Lizzy wrapped her arm around Juliana’s waist and held her close. Turning, they walked together, traversing a floral maze alternating from pergolas to trellises, stream to pond. When the stone pavers finally gave over to thick green grass, they arrived at her quiet refuge hidden from the cacophony of the world outside. A metal garden bistro set sat in the middle of the small clearing bordered by blossoming Sweet Williams. The wafting fragrance of honeysuckle and roses intermingling created a blissful aroma.
“Wow, this is beautiful, Aunt Lizzy. I feel like I’m in the Garden of Eden.”
“It is paradise, isn’t it? It’s the one place where I feel completely and utterly at peace. No CNN and no telephone, just me and my thoughts and on Sundays with a newspaper or two. I have some of my best conversations here.”
“Alone?”
Lizzy smiled softly, thinking how she had never been truly alone in this garden. “Alone with my memories.”
She smiled thoughtfully. Like her annual dancing to her and Will’s song, this garden was where heaven existed on those private, permissible moments of escape to 1942. Of late, it seemed that every day she found refuge here with her treasure box. Sunday visits to her tea garden had become daily ones and significantly, without any newspapers.
Juliana walked to a low-growing border planting of small, vibrant pink flowers and bent to inhale their fragrance. “They smell like cloves.”
“Yes. I think of all the flowers in this area, the starry-flowered Sweet Williams are my favorite. I planted them because, in the language of flowers, they represent gallantry and your great-uncle was that. Those across from you are also from the Dianthus family. They’re called First Love.”
“So, is that your entire theme in this garden? A tribute of sorts?” Sort of how I found the mantle in Primrose Cottage.
“Yes. Every flower here means something. It’s hard to find perennials to last the difficult northeast coastal winters but I painstakingly continue. Like that pitiful looking Gardenia.” She sighed. “One day that baby is going to blossom for me.”
“That’s very optimistic of you.”
“I’m determined to wear one in my hair.” She motioned to the bistro set. “Let’s sit and talk about you, sweetheart. Jack tells me that you work for Allure magazine and that you were considering writing an article about the romance between Will and me.”
The women sat across from one another, when Juliana shifted uncomfortably. “I was but … that’s changed.” She sighed. “Actually, the article was really an excuse to go and find you both so I could learn your story.”
“Why was it so important for you to discover us?”
Juliana’s eyes settled upon the effusive hot pink color of the Sweet William’s displayed beyond where Lizzy sat. It wasn’t that she was avoiding her aunt’s gaze, but she couldn’t help her mind roaming to the significance of the flower.
“Julie?”
“Right. Sorry. They’re just so captivating. Passionate, really. The color is quite evocative and the white trim on each petal reminds me of a tender innocence which explodes into this burst of intense rapture.”
Lizzy grinned. “That’s exactly why I planted them.”
“Well, that’s why my curiosity was piqued by the photographs and the things I found in my great-uncle’s footlocker. I felt that intense love between both of you from the moment I entered Primrose Cottage. I know it sounds weird, but it was as though the house wanted a happy ever after.” She snorted. “I’m not too familiar with those. It’s not as if I’m experienced in relationships. Heck, I never believed that I could be worthy of such a thing, or even, if intimate romance actually existed at all. But you two showed me that love … deep, abiding love of true devotion can endure—even when apart. And now …”
“And now?”
“I’m a believer. Absolutely. I’m willing to put myself out there.”
“Because of my grandson.”
Juliana blushed. “Yes, because of Jack. He’s everything I wanted to find in a man. I have never before felt the way I do when I’m with him. He’s different from the other guys I’ve dated, and he makes me feel as though I can do anything.” Her voice grew more animated, more excited with each declaration of Jack’s attributes. “He’s kind and gentle, easy going, and patient. He took me sailing! We went to Alaska, and I flew in Uncle Will’s floatplane! I went to Temple and afterward Jack and I cooked a meal together from one of the Dutch cookbooks at Primrose!”
“You went to Temple? With Jack?”
“Well, we stopped in together. I wanted to see what it was like. So we went to Temple Beth … something … not far from my house.”
“Wow, that’s unprecedented, Julie. Jack hasn’t attended services or stepped foot in a synagogue since, probably his Bar Mitzvah.”
“Well we went, and he seemed excited about it. He taught me about the Holy Ark and the Torah scrolls. I showed him the mezuzah at my house and the Kiddush cup. Did you know that my uncle was Jewish?”
Lizzy smiled. “Yes, I knew. It seems as though you affected Jack as much as he affected you. I do believe that my grandson is in love with you, you know.”
“I know, and I think I’m in love with him, too. I just don’t want to rush it.”
“G-d willi
ng, there won’t be any need to rush your romance. Just don’t wait too long, and be sure to speak your heart freely before something unexpected comes your way and it’s too late.”
“Is that what happened between you and Uncle Will? He told me that you stopped writing him. Was it your father who separated you?”
Lizzy’s eyes drifted to the barren Gardenia bush. “No. Frederick didn’t know that we still corresponded. He had nothing to do with our separation.” She sighed and held Juliana’s gaze. “You see, I was led to believe him dead.”
“Because he was in a POW camp for two years?”
The palm of Lizzy’s hand smoothed across her furrowed brow, sliding down to hover over her mouth. “I didn’t know that he was a prisoner of war. That must have happened afterwards. After our correspondence ended. Oh dear. He never said so in …”
Try as Lizzy might, she was having a difficult time concealing her emotions. Her eyes pricked with tears at the thought of his wartime experience and it near broke her heart to think of him in captivity, in such horrible conditions after all he had been through, all the unnecessary heartache that had preceded it.
Her thoughts trailed and silence ensued for what felt like many long minutes as she reeled in her distress. Finally, she forced a smile. “Well, so what’s this gift you have for me?”
“Oh, I almost forgot!” Juliana reached into her backpack, removing the Tiffany blue box. “These are yours. Well actually, they were my uncles. You sent them to him; they’re your letters. I would have given them to him directly, and I do think he would have been happy to have them again, but I figured you would want to give them to him personally. You know … when you see him in Paris.”
Lizzy’s tentative fingers lifted the lid to reveal the stack neatly tied with the green bow. “Oh my. He saved these.” Overwhelmed, her eyes completely filled with tears. Damn if this conversation wasn’t getting the best of her resolve to not cry over the past and only look forward to the joy waiting for Ducky and her in the future. “Was, was this his bow?” He was always such a romantic.
