First Class Farewell (8 page)

“We’re fine!” Tim smiled. “All three of us.”

*****

The next morning was bittersweet. It was the day that had
been set aside for Ray’s ashes to be washed away in the clear turquoise water.
But the excitement and joy that filled the house was palpable. The news that
after years of disappointment Beth was finally pregnant lifted the sadness that
had encircled the Lathems for the past four weeks. As they said goodbye to Ray,
they also rejoiced in the coming arrival of another precious baby.

At eleven o’clock, the family met together at the water’s
edge. Matt held a silver urn in his hands as he solemnly walked a few feet into
the warm water and quietly said his goodbyes. Tears were shed, memories were
remembered and the ashes washed away quickly into the ocean.

Several minutes went by before Matt could turn and face his
family. His tear-stained cheeks spoke volumes. It was hard to say goodbye. But
he had and it was time to let Ray go.

Several years before, Matt and Ray had attended a funeral
for a member of the security team at MEL Holdings. He’d died in a motorcycle
accident that had shocked the company and blanketed them in grief for several
weeks. He’d been a well-liked and beloved member of the work family and the
church had been overflowing with those people whose hearts he’d touched during
his short thirty-two year life.

The two men had sat on the bench of the church grieving with
everyone else when Ray had turned to Matt and quietly whispered, “This is
depressing. I want my life to be celebrated when I die.”

At the bar later that day, as the men he used to work with
toasted him, Matt and Ray again had a conversation.

“I want there to be party when I go,” Ray had said. “I want
people to miss me, sure. But I also want them to be glad they’d known me and to
celebrate it. I don’t think I could stand it if it was a morose affair.”

“My parents and my tailor will be the only ones to miss me!”
Matt had joked.

“That’s B S and you know it!” Ray had replied. “You’ll find
a woman that will make that heart of yours melt and then you’ll find the
fountain of youth and you won’t ever get old and you’ll live forever.”

“Unlikely seeing as though I plan on never letting a woman
have the opportunity to rip my heart out and stomp all over it with her five
hundred dollar stilettos. I am a confirmed bachelor…mark my words.”

Ray had laughed…a knowing laugh…like he didn’t believe a
word Matt had said. And obviously, he’d been right. Matt met Janie just a month
later.

As Matt watched Ella and Christopher play in the pool, the
long-ago conversation reverberated in his head. Ray didn’t want people mourning
him. He wanted his family and friends to celebrate his life.

Finding Mr. and Mrs. Urain, the caretakers who lived over
the garage year-round and took care of the house and the family when they were
in residence, Matt discussed with them his idea for a party the following
evening; music and dancing and lots of great food, with decorations and
entertainment. He asked them if they could arrange it on such short notice.

“For you Mr. Matt?” Mrs. Urain had said. “We can do
anything
for you and Miss Janie.”

*****

With her brow wrinkled and her lips pursed, Shelby sat on a
chaise under an umbrella on the beach. For the past school year, her fourth
year of medical school, she’d been working as in intern at a hospital in
Newark, New Jersey. Now that she’d taken her finals and had completed several
months of round the clock Emergency Department bedlam, it was time to move on
to the next phase of her career. Having had to wait two weeks after finals to
see whether or not she’d passed all her classes had been painful enough, but
now Shelby was anxious about where she would be accepted for her residency.
Applying all over the eastern United States, she hoped a hospital close to New
York would accept her. For the last four years the city had been home and she’d
grown to love it and desperately wanted to stay. That, however, was no longer
up to her.

“You look lost in thought,” Adam said, as he sat down on the
sand sharing her shade out of the midday sun.

“Just thinking about the future…where I’ll be headed in a
few weeks.”

“You’ve applied to several really good facilities. I’m sure
they’ll all want you.”

“Johns Hopkins already said no. So did Concord. But they
weren’t my top choices, so fingers still crossed.”

“So Beth Israel and Mount Sinai are still on the table,” he
encouraged. “You can’t beat either of them.”

In the weeks and months following her brutal attack when she
was fourteen years old, Shelby had survived by focusing on one day at a time.
In the beginning, it was more like an hour at a time. But as the years passed,
with the help of caring and exceptional doctors, her physical and emotional
wounds healed and slowly but surely, she began to think about the future.

She’d attended support groups. In fact, on occasion, she
still did. Meeting with other women who’d gone through unspeakable cruelty and
abuse, humiliation and shame, had helped her to realize what she’d wanted to do
with her life. With her personal experience and her commitment to helping
others, psychiatry was her field of choice. Many teachers and faculty during
her pre-med days in Boston, and medical school in New York, had suggested that
over the course of her education she’d probably change her mind several times
as to in which field of medicine she truly belonged. They’d been wrong. Her
resolve had never wavered. She’d been determined. There were still several
years of residency and then fellowships before her dream would be realized, but
it would all be worth it.

Dr. Margot LaVaughn had been her doctor in Portland for
several months before she’d moved to Wisconsin to live with her grandmother.
There, she’d seen Dr. Michael Inglethorpe who had also been crucial to her
recovery. In Boston, she continued to see a psychiatrist, Dr. Elsa Weaving,
who’d encouraged her in her career path and had even written letters of
reference for her when applying to medical schools. These three people had left
a lasting impression on her and she felt it was almost a calling to continue in
their footsteps.

It was so close she could taste it.

“Is there something else you’re worried about?” Adam asked,
seeing something else in her eyes.

Shelby shrugged with her left shoulder and sighed.

“Tell me,” he insisted. “Maybe I can help.”

She shook her head. “I’m fine. I just don’t like waiting. I
keep checking my email hoping that my fate has been revealed, but…nothing yet.”

“It will come,” he reassured her. “But in the meantime,
let’s go swimming.” He yanked his t-shirt over his head and stood, holding his
hand out to her.

Shelby paused. Hesitantly, she swung her feet over the side
of the chaise and accepted Adam’s hand. With an unsteady hand she fidgeted with
the cover-up that covered her swimsuit. Looking down at her hand, she shuddered
ever-so-slightly, but Adam saw.

“It’s okay,” he whispered and took her hand and held it in
both of his. With his thumb he caressed the soft skin and bent his knees so he
could look at her in the eye. “We’ve all seen it before.”

With a deep breath she nodded once and pulled the fabric
over her head and tossed it on the chair. Her skin looked pale against the
black of her bikini. Her hand immediately found the scar on her stomach, just a
couple of inches below her belly button and to the left. It looked like a
surgical scar to anyone who didn’t know her history, but to Shelby it was the
only physical reminder of her horrific past. The stab wound had healed but she
often wondered if she would ever be able to look at it without the visions of
the bastard who’d inflicted it on her.

“Shelby,” Adam whispered, trying to keep his emotions in
check and not let his voice crack. “Let’s go swimming.”

She looked into his baby blue eyes and managed a smile. Then
she took his hand and pulled him down the sand to the warm Caribbean water.

*****

For twelve years Shelby had been part of the Lathem family.
Every member had accepted her as a sister, a daughter, a granddaughter, an
aunt. And every member of the family loved her unconditionally.

The first four years after leaving Portland for Wisconsin,
she visited Katy in New York on school holidays. With Adam being six years
older than her, at first, they didn’t spend much time together. But once she’d
declared pre-med as her major and was in college, the age difference wasn’t so
noticeable and the two found themselves in deep conversation at family events
and on vacation.

A few years ago, when the whole family had spent the week of
the Fourth of July in the Hamptons, Adam had thought they might be becoming
more than just friends. After a long walk on the moonlit beach one evening,
she’d taken his hand as they’d strolled back to the house and when Adam had
tried to kiss her, she’d bristled and dropped his hand quickly.

“I can’t,” she’d said. “I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to
have a relationship. Or at least a normal one,” she’d confessed.

So Adam had lightened the mood by telling her that his last
girlfriend had told him he kissed like a dog when she’d broken up with him.
They’d laughed and tried to decide what that actually meant and he hadn’t
attempted to get close again.

But that didn’t mean he didn’t want to. In fact, since she’d
moved to New York, and was living only a short subway ride away, he’d become
quite creative in coming up with excuses to see her. Being a doctor only helped
his cause. He’d offered help with studying and would bring her takeout and
Frappuccino’s, all in the name of
understanding what she was going through
.

During her second year of medical school, she’d begun to open
up to him about the attack and how she’d been trying to use the experience
positively…how she could empathize with her future patients, understanding the
uphill battles they faced in recovery. They’d talked for hours and hours about
the weeks and months of abuse that led up to the violence that landed her in
the ER and her attacker in prison. Adam knew it all and Shelby had admitted
late one night that she’d assumed he’d disappear from her life now that he’d
learned all of her dark secrets. It’d had the opposite effect. The admiration
and love he felt for her had only been strengthened by her vulnerability and in
the fact that she trusted him enough to share it all with him.

He was a successful young pediatrician and was ready to
settle down and have a family of his own. He’d at one time thought it might be
with Shelby but she still wasn’t ready and had made her reservations about any
kind of intimate relationship known repeatedly. So Adam had dated - had had a
lot of
first
dates, a few second dates, and a scarce number of third
dates. There wasn’t anyone that he was as comfortable with as he was with
Shelby…and she wasn’t interested.

*****

Bob and Cynthia Urain had both been born and raised on the
island. They loved their home and they loved their job. For most of the year,
they lived, just the two of them, on the beautiful estate. They kept the house
in immaculate condition and took care of the family when they were there
relaxing.

The Urains loved the Lathem family. Matt was a kind employer
who paid them generously and was kind and undemanding when he was in residence.
Everyone
loved Janie and the Urains were no exception. She asked about
their grown children who now lived in Florida and after Cynthia’s mother who
was suffering from Alzheimer’s. The Lathems paid for the facility that cared
for her, even though Cynthia protested. Matt insisted, telling them that it was
the least he could do for them after all they did for his family. And besides,
what better thing to do with all his money than to help those people he cared
about?

As much as the Urains loved the children, Ella and
Christopher loved them back times ten. Christopher used to follow Bob around
the house and the gardens as he inspected the gardener’s work, or the
contractors if they needed plumbing work or the roof fixed. He would try to
imitate the faint accent that Bob had and would have the family in stitches
over his attempts. Ella wasn’t interested in cooking with her mother at home,
but when they came to their vacation home, she placed her apron over her head
and spent hours as Cynthia’s sous chef and loving every minute of it. In fact,
Cynthia was such a positive influence for Ella that with her and Maureen’s
combined efforts, in just a couple of days they’d managed to help Ella
understand that
all
food was good…just in moderation. Matt was
incredibly grateful.

So when Matt had asked for their help in having a
celebration, they pulled out every stop and called in every favor they had to
ensure a magical party was what he received.

The vans started arriving just after lunch. The first to be
unloaded held tiki torches and thousands of twinkly lights that were soon
strung all over the patio of the house. A bar was set up and liquor and soft
drinks were delivered by the crate. The DJ arrived next with massive box
speakers that were placed on each side of the pool, ready to fill the air with
drum beats and mumbled lyrics. By five o’clock, the catering van pulled into
the semi-circular driveway and servers in shorts and flip flops hauled tray
after delectable tray into the kitchen, awaiting the appropriate hour to plate
it all on the tables being set up next to the pool.

The children buzzed with excitement and Matt looked on with
satisfaction as the final preparations were made for their celebration to honor
Ray. As Tim and Beth sauntered through the great room, Matt turned to his right
and watched the aura of joy they carried. This celebration would be for them,
too. There was nothing more deserving of a party than the upcoming arrival of a
much-wanted, already adored baby.

Beth had called her parents and informed them of the happy
news. They were naturally thrilled with the addition to the family. Rupert,
Beth’s older brother, had married but had yet to produce a grandchild, so
Beth’s baby would be their first.

Beth had also decided, after capturing in her journal her
thoughts and feelings after the blessed phone call from her doctor, that she
would, at some point, turn her very personal writings into a book. Struggling
with infertility was not a unique problem known only to her. Just the clinic
she’d visited regularly had hundreds of couples dealing with the exact same
thing and the knowledge that she’d finally been able to do the one thing her
heart craved, conceiving a child, had given her the desire to share her
experience with others. No matter how personal and how private it was, she
wondered if there hadn’t been a higher meaning…a purpose behind the experience.