A Mew Beginning

by Kathi Daley

  “It’s nice that it’s such a lovely day and everyone is able to enjoy the outdoors,” I said to Siobhan, after joining her in the kitchen.

  “It’s a perfect day,” she agreed. “It does my heart good to have everyone together again. Well, everyone other than Aiden. I do find I’m missing him today.”

  “Yeah,” I agreed. “Me too.” I glanced out the window. “Connor is having a blast with Barry. They really are at a fun age.”

  “They really are,” Siobhan agreed. “Mom and Gabe came over last night and helped Maggie, Michael, Finn, and I hide eggs. Connor was excited when he woke up to find that the Easter Bunny had been here. When Cassie came by for breakfast, he spent the entire time she was here telling her all about it.”

  “I’m sorry I missed it.”

  She opened the refrigerator and took out the potato salad. “You’ll have your own little ones to enjoy an egg hunt with soon enough. Can you stir the beans?”

  I did as she asked. “I’m not really sure about that, but I am enjoying viewing the holiday through the eyes of my nephew.” I glanced out the window. Mr. Parsons, Balthazar, Francine, Summer, and Banjo were sitting in lawn chairs being entertained by Connor and Barry, who seemed intent on showing them every egg in their baskets. Mr. Parsons seemed to be enjoying the attention, but I did wonder how he would feel about things if Cody and I did decide to bring a child into his home. I supposed he’d be fine with it. He did, at times, talk about Cody and me having a family.

  “So are Tara and Danny living together?” Siobhan asked. “They really seem to be in an on-again phase in their relationship, which made me wonder. I asked Danny, but he was noncommittal. I figure that Tara might have talked to you about it.”

  “I did ask her about it, and she said that they haven’t done anything formally, but he does spend the night at her place pretty much every night, so it’s probably just a matter of time.”

  “Are you worried?”

  I paused and held up the spoon I’d been stirring beans with. “I was at first, but I spoke to Tara, and she seems certain that things will work out this time. I really hope they do. I want that for both of them.”

  “Yeah, me too.” Siobhan took down a bowl for the coleslaw she’d made earlier and refrigerated. “They’ve been through so much together. I really hope they find their light at the end of the tunnel. I guess if Danny and Tara do eventually marry, we’ll just have Aiden to work on.”

  “What about Cassie?” I asked.

  “She’s just a baby. She has time to find Mr. Right. But Aiden, he’s getting on in years. I really do fear that if he doesn’t find someone soon, he never will. I want for him what Finn and I and you and Cody have. I want him to find his other half to grow old with.”

  “Yeah,” I agreed. “That would be nice. I guess these things tend to work themselves out on their own timeline.”

  “Speaking of timelines, last night, Maggie told me that she and Michael are thinking about moving back to the island.”

  I raised a brow. “Really?”

  She nodded. “The only reason they moved in the first place was because they felt it would be easier after Michael decided to leave the priesthood to marry her. When we talked, she told me that enough time had passed and people had gotten used to the idea of the two of them being together, so she thought it might be okay.”

  “She doesn’t want her house back, does she?”

  Maggie had gifted the house she’d inherited from her father to Siobhan when she’d married Michael and moved away.

  “No. She assured me that was the furthest thing from her mind. Actually, there’s a house for sale on the water near where Mom and Gabe live. They went and looked at it yesterday and plan to go for a second look tomorrow.”

  “Wow. That is wonderful news. I’ve really missed having her around. I hope it works out.”

  She picked up the plate with the sliced ham and grilled ribs. “Yeah, me too. She’s part of our family. She should be here with us so she can be an everyday part of our children’s lives.”

  “Do you need help?” Cassie asked after walking in from the yard.

  “I’m ready to start putting the food out,” Siobhan said. “But first, as long as I have both of my sisters here at the same time, I have something to tell you.”

  “Is everything is okay?” I asked.

  “Everything is great. Finn and I plan to announce this to the group when we pray before dinner, but I wanted the two of you to know first.”

  “Know what?” Cassie asked.

  “Come this November, Connor will be getting a younger brother or sister.”

  As I hugged Siobhan, I glanced out the window behind her. Almost everyone I loved had gathered together on this special day. There were times when life was trying, but deep in my heart, I knew that even if I had a chance to do so, I wouldn’t change a single thing.

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  Preview of Summerhouse Reunion

  Sometimes life is about letting go. Letting go of the way things were supposed to have been. Letting go of unmet dreams and incomplete plans. Letting go of the anger that consumes you as you struggle to make sense of an unfinished life. I’d spent the last year denying the inevitable, negotiating for a different ending, screaming to the heavens that it wasn’t supposed to happen this way, and finally struggling to accept an ending that should never have been.

  Letting go, I realized somewhere along the way, was the hardest thing I’d ever had to do.

  “It’s a beautiful day.” A woman with white hair walked up beside me as the spray from the rough sea misted my face.

  “Yes.” I turned and smiled. The woman looked to be a few years older than my sixty-eight-year-old mother; unlike my mother, however, who simply could not or would not understand the grief that haunted my every waking moment, this woman looked at me with compassion and understanding. “It’s a little rougher than I like my ferry rides, but beautiful all the same. My name is Kelly. Kelly Green. I’m afraid I can’t immediately place you, but I feel like we’ve met.”

  “We have met, although it has been a long time since we’ve seen each other. About twenty years, to be more specific.”

  My brows shot upward. “Dottie Pemberton?”

  The woman smiled and offered her hand.

  “Wow.” I reached out and hugged the woman. “I’m so sorry I didn’t recognize you. It’s just that…”

  “It’s just that the fifty-two-year-old woman you remember looked a bit differently from the seventy-two-year-old woman standing before you today.”

  “Yes.” I stepped back. “I mean, no. I mean, sure, your hair is different, and I guess we all have a few more laugh lines, but still…” I realized I was rambling, so I stopped and hugged the woman again. “How are you?”

  “I’m as well as can be expected. I was sorry to hear about Kayla.”

  My smile faded just a bit. The death of my twin sister and best friend still hurt almost more than I could bear. I’d tried to do as others seemed to want and hide my pain, but no matter how hard I tried, the simplest thing—a song, a scent, a memory—would remind me just how much I’d lost, and the grief would return in a wave that would envelop me and then cast me into a sea of darkness once again.

  “I guess it must have been extra hard with her in a coma for so long and not knowing how things would work out in the end,” Dottie added after a moment.

  She had no idea. In reality, Kayla had died a year ago, when a distracted driver had slammed into the car she was driving, but while everyone assured me that her mind was gone, her body had lived on, and as long as she clung to life, I’d clung to hope. Then, two months ago, her distraught husband decided to pull the plug and let her go peacefully, and I knew that my life would never be the same.

  “How’ve you been holding up?” Dott
ie asked. She looked concerned, which I supposed was understandable because I hadn’t said a word since the moment she’d brought up Kayla’s name. “I do understand how difficult something like this can be. I suppose it is even possible to lose ourselves in our grief.”

  I cringed as I remembered the random acts of craziness that had been brought on by my overwhelming grief. “It has been hard,” I finally said. “But I’m hanging in there. Some days are harder than others. Some days it doesn’t seem real. But I guess you might understand that. I heard your Harold passed away as well.”

  “Yes. Three years ago. He was the love of my life, and I miss him every day.”

  I squeezed her hand. “I’m so very sorry. Sometimes I think Kayla’s death would have been easier to deal with if she’d lived a good, long life before passing. Forty-two is much too young. She had so many things yet to do. She had a husband and two daughters who needed her, and she had me, who probably needed her most of all. But then I stop and ask myself if her passing would have been easier if she’d been seventy or eighty or a hundred, and I can’t help but be faced with the truth—when you lose half of your heart, it is going to hurt no matter how long you’ve had together on this earth.”

  “It is true that losing someone you love is never easy. How are her husband and daughters holding up?”

  I thought about the husband and daughters left behind. “It’s been hard, but the girls are in college now and live busy lives. The accident did occur a year ago, so I guess you could say they’ve had time to adjust. Mark was a mess in the beginning, but he seems to have moved on. He’s even dating.” I exhaled slowly. “Truth be told, I’m really the only one who hasn’t been able to let go. Everyone says I should. Everyone says the time for grieving has passed. But losing Kayla feels like losing half my soul.”

  Dottie smiled in understanding but didn’t respond. She turned to watch a pair of dolphins who’d decided to race the ferry, or at least it seemed as if that was what they were doing. I took a moment to rein in my emotions. They still felt so raw, I couldn’t quite shake the feeling that a huge cosmic mix-up had occurred, and Kayla wasn’t meant to die. Not only was she much too young, as I’d pointed out to whatever celestial body might be listening, but in dying, she’d broken a promise, and Kayla was the sort to take any promise she made quite seriously.

  A small black bird landed on the railing, not far from where I was still standing next to Dottie. I closed my eyes as I let my mind transport me back in time. I felt the tension fade just a bit as the years fell away, and I conjured up a happier time. I thought about the two little girls who’d looked just the same. Two little girls who were not only sisters but best friends and soulmates as well. I remembered the promise made by those little girls, and I grieved for the hope that had been shattered when that promise was ultimately broken.

  When Kayla and I were kids, I guess around six or seven, a friend of ours lost both her parents in an airplane accident. The tragedy was too great for either of us to understand, and I remember that we’d both had nightmares for weeks. The content of our dreams was somewhat different, but the subtext was much the same. We both dreamed of a dramatic event that would rip us from the life we loved, only to be thrust into an empty space, where we’d find ourselves lost and alone.

  One night, long after we were supposed to be asleep, Kayla came into my room and climbed into my bed. She was shaking and crying, so I held her close while she shared the depths of the terror she’d been feeling since our friend had been orphaned. I’d been feeling it as well, but I wanted to comfort my sister, so I reminded her that no matter what happened, even if our parents died and we were left alone in the world, we’d always have each other. That reminder seemed to help both of us, so we’d made a pact that we’d always be there for each other, no matter what. We’d even promised to die on the same day, so neither of us would ever have to be alone. As absurd as that might sound, I think there might be a tiny part of me that was angry with Kayla for not upholding her part of the promise.

  “So, what brings you to Shipwreck Island after all these years?” Dottie asked after a while.

  I tucked a lock of long blond hair that had blown across my face behind my ear before answering. “Carrie Davidson invited me. I guess she had the idea of getting the whole gang together for a long-overdue reunion.”

  “So Quinn and Nora are coming as well?”

  I nodded. “They are. Carrie rented the summerhouse my family used to own for five weeks.”

  “Five weeks. That’s quite the vacation.”

  “I’m not sure I’ll stay for the entire period, but I did promise to show up and see how it went. Honestly, I may not have made the effort at all, but this year is the twenty-fifth anniversary of the summer Peggy went missing, and Carrie wanted to do something to commemorate the role she played in our lives.” I turned slightly as a seagull landed on the railing beside me, chasing away the small black bird that had occupied the space. “It’s not that I don’t want to remember her; it’s more that I’m afraid my already raw emotions aren’t going to be able to endure yet another reminder of what has been lost.”

  “I remember you were close.”

  “The closest. She was like a sister to us, and we never really had the chance to say goodbye. Given the fact that she simply disappeared and no one ever knew what had happened, her family never did hold a funeral. I guess they never gave up hope that she’d find her way back to them.”

  Dottie didn’t respond, but I could tell that I had her full attention.

  “Carrie thought it would be nice to have a small ceremony,” I continued. “Nothing formal. I think it will be just the four of us.”

  “I guess it’s been quite a while since the four of you have been on the island at the same time.”

  I nodded. “I was here for Carrie and Carl’s fifteenth anniversary party almost five years ago, but Kayla was on a cruise with her husband, so she didn’t make it, and Quinn was overseas doing a story, so she didn’t make it either. Kayla and I came for our birthday when we turned thirty, but Nora was in Europe, and Quinn was in Africa, so I think the last time we were all on the island together was for Carl and Carrie’s wedding. Wow, I had no idea it had been almost twenty years since we’d all been together.” Where had the time gone? “Of course, now that Kayla is gone, I guess we can never all be together again.”

  My heart tightened as I thought of the six little girls who lived different lives but reunited each and every year when our families returned to their summer homes. Carrie’s family lived on the island year round, but Quinn, Nora, Peggy, and Kayla and I lived elsewhere during the school year. I remembered how much I’d looked forward to summering on the island. Those summers were some of the best times of my life.

  “I ran into Carrie at the market a few months ago. She’s lost a lot of weight,” Dottie informed me, changing the subject, which was very much appreciated given my fragile emotional state. “I’d wondered if she might be ill, but her mother told me that Carl had filed for divorce, and Carrie wasn’t dealing with things all that well. I guess I don’t blame her. I can’t imagine having the man you loved and planned to spend your life with decide that he preferred to spend his life with someone else.”

  “It has been difficult for her,” I agreed. “I’ve chatted with her on the phone on a regular basis since Carl left, and she just seems so lost. I suppose it’s even worse when Jessica is away at college, and poor Carrie is living in that big, old house all alone. I suggested to her that she should sell the house and buy something smaller, but I think there has been a part of her that’s held on to the hope that Carl would come to his senses and return one day. Of course, now that the divorce is finalized, I guess she doesn’t even have that to hang on to.”

  “I don’t know Carl well, but based on what I do know, I think Carrie might be better off without him. I’d noticed him noticing other women for years.”

  I hated to admit it, but I’d noticed the same thing almost since the day the
two married. “I couldn’t agree more,” I voiced. “Carrie really is better off without Carl, although I would never say that to her. I think she is still at the point where she is totally focused on what she’s lost and is not of the mind to consider what she may have gained with Carl’s departure.”

  Dottie shielded her eyes from the sun as the ferry turned toward the island. “I ran into Ryder just last week, and he said pretty much the same thing. Based on what I’ve heard from others on the island, he’s been her rock through this whole ordeal.”

  I smiled at the memory of Carrie’s little brother. “Ryder always did have his sister’s back, even though he was younger. Carrie told me he’s the mayor now.”

  “Yes, and a darn good one he is. Much better than Mayor Hadley, may he rest in peace.”

  I crossed my arms on the railing and looked out to sea. “I’m having a hard time picturing Ryder as mayor. When we were kids, he was such a pest and always in trouble. In fact, I think he was voted most likely to end up in prison by his senior class.”

  Dottie chuckled. “He does have a colorful past, and he still tools around town on that Harley of his, but in my opinion, he has done more to bring growth and prosperity to the island than any of his predecessors. The boy might wear his hair a bit too long, and I’m not overly fond of the leather jacket he seems so attached to, but Ryder has vision, and he’s a hard worker. He has a promising future ahead of him.”

  “Has he kept his veterinary practice open?”

  “He has. Being mayor in a small town like Hidden Harbor is more of an honorary title than a source of income, so all our mayors have had day jobs. Ryder is still very committed to the animals he cares for, but now he is committed to the people of the island as well.”

  I shook my head as I tried to picture Ryder West all grown up. I hadn’t run into him during my last two visits to the island, but I had seen him briefly at Carl and Carrie’s wedding almost twenty years before. Even then, he’d showed up in a leather vest and leather pants rather than the tux Carrie had picked out for him. Of course, he’d only been seventeen at the time, which meant he must be thirty-seven by now. I had to admit that most people matured quite a bit in the years between seventeen and thirty-seven.