Hand-Me-Down Love (26 page)
Authors: Jennifer Ransom
Chapter
Thirty-One
Cynthia watched Sean
and Marla walk out to the truck. They got in, but they didn’t drive
off right away. She could only imagine how Marla was hurting at the
way her father had treated Sean. She was angry at Bob, but she also
knew him very well. Better than he knew himself. He would come
around.
As she stood at the
window looking out, she thought about Meredith. When she was born she
was completely bald with the biggest blue eyes she’d ever seen. By
the time she was two, Merrie had a full head of shiny blond hair. She
was always laughing and learned to talk very early. She loved words
and she used them to play jokes on people. Merrie loved to play
jokes.
Cynthia didn’t
know how she had survived watching her baby girl die in that hospital
bed in the sick room. It nearly killed her to be so helpless. To not
be able to make her little girl well. Isn’t that what mothers do?
Make their children well?
Sean’s truck
finally pulled out of the driveway. Cynthia walked into the living
room where Bob was still sitting, staring at the wall. He blinked
when she came in and looked at her.
“
To think I
trusted him with my daughter. I wish I’d never hired him.”
“
You trusted him
because he was trustworthy. Is trustworthy,” she said. “Why do
you think Merrie loved him so much? Because he’s a good person. And
that’s why Marla loves him, too, whether you like it or not.”
“
I know you’re
on their side,” he said.
“
You’re damn
right I am. Can’t you see how much they love each other? Do you
have any idea how hard it was for them to come over and face us? You?
They were hoping for our blessing.”
“
They’re not
getting that from me,” he said harshly.
“
Well, they’re
getting it from me,” she said. “I’m not willing to lose another
daughter, and you shouldn’t be either.”
Cynthia left Bob to
stew in his own juices and walked into the kitchen. She sat down at
the table and unfolded the piece of paper Marla had given her. Her
sweet little girl’s handwriting was so weak, it stabbed Cynthia in
the heart. When she had finished reading it, she folded it back up
and put her face in her hands and cried.
Bob walked in while
Cynthia was crying. “What is it? What’s in that paper?”
She handed it to
him.
Chapter
Thirty-Two
“
Do you wanna go
out tonight?” Sean asked Marla. She was sitting at the desk in the
shop, going over receipts. In the days since they had gone to her
parents, she had been quiet. There was sadness in her eyes. He asked
her once if she regretted it. “Not one bit,” she had said. He
believed her. She needed some time to deal with everything.
“
Like where?”
“
We could go to
Steamboat Joe’s. That’s always been a good place for us.”
“
Okay. I guess
so.”
“
Or we can stay
home and I’ll grill some steaks and shrimp. How about that?”
“
I like that
better. Let’s do that.”
“
I’ll go to the
store then,” Sean said. “Be back soon.” He walked over and
kissed her. “I’m sorry you’re going through this, Marla. I feel
responsible for splitting your family apart. I never thought that
would happen.”
“
No,” she said
emphatically. “It’s not your fault.” She kissed him goodbye and
decided to call it a day. She called Cody and Lucy in from the
courtyard and they all went upstairs.
Later, when he was
grilling the steaks on the balcony, Marla came up behind him and put
her arms around him. He reached back and stroked her arm.
“
These are almost
ready. You got the salad and baked potato?”
“
They’re ready.”
While they were
eating, Sean broached a subject he’d been thinking about for a few
days, well, ever since they’d talked to Marla’s parents.
“
I’ve been
thinking,” he said.
“
About what?”
“
About our moving
away from Bay Point. Maybe it’s too hard to stay here.”
Marla stopped
chewing and put her fork down. “Move away?” she said. “But I
love Bay Point. This is where I’m from. It’s my town. My parents
are here.”
“
I know. It
wouldn’t be far away. Just a little way, so you could still see
them anytime you want. I was thinking Daphne.”
“
Daphne? I don’t
know.”
She picked up her
fork and started eating again. Sean knew her well enough by this
point to know that she was thinking about what he had said. It might
take her a few days, but she would think about it.
That night in bed,
Sean held Marla close and kissed her.
“
I know we’ve
never talked about this,” he said. “But do you want to marry me?”
“
Are you asking me
to marry you?”
“
I’m asking,”
he said. “Will you marry me?”
“
Yes.”
He kissed her again.
“
I know it’s
hard to think about leaving Bay Point, and we won’t even think
about that if you don’t want to.”
“
I’m thinking
about it,” she said.
Marla called her
mother the next day, as soon as she got up.
“
Mom?”
“
Hey, honey.”
“
Sean asked me to
marry him and I said yes.”
“
Congratulations.
I know you’ll be happy together.”
“
Thanks, Mom.”
It was hard to say
the next part, but she did. “We’re also talking about leaving Bay
Point.”
“
Is it because of
your father?”
“
I guess so. It’s
too hard to stay here if he won’t give us his blessing. It’s
going to be hard enough with everyone else in town, but without his
blessing. . .”
“
I don’t want
you to go,” Cynthia said.
“
I know. I don’t
want to leave you and Dad either.”
“
When are you
getting married?”
“
We haven’t
really talked about that. But it’ll be soon, I think. We sort of
feel like we’re against the world right now and getting married
will make us solid.”
“
I get it,” her
mother said.
After she hung up
from her mother, Marla walked down to the shop, and Sean went with
her. Jada and Derrick were outside finishing up some furniture for
the Labor Day sale. Sean went out to help them while Marla worked on
the books. It was a good business and she didn’t know what she
would do to make a living if she and Sean moved away. They hadn’t
talked about that. She knew Sean could never be a banker again. What
would they do?
Late that afternoon,
as Jada and Derrick were getting ready to leave, Marla said, “Guess
what?”
“
What?” Jada
said.
“
Sean and I have
decided to get married.”
Jada burst into
tears.
“
Well, it’s not
that bad,” Marla said, laughing.
“
No, I’m just so
happy for both of you. I know things haven’t been easy.”
She and Derrick both
walked over to hug Marla. Sean came in the back door.
“
What’s this?”
he said. “Am I missing a group hug?”
“
Congratulations,
man,” Derrick said. Sean smiled and joined the group hug.
“
Let’s go out
and celebrate this weekend,” Derrick said as he and Jada walked out
the side door. “On me this time.”
“
I think they’re
our best friends,” Sean said after they left. “I’m glad you
told them. It makes me know you’re happy about it.”
“
Of course I’m
happy about it.”
“
I know you wish
the circumstances could be different.”
She heard the front
door and Marla realized she hadn’t locked it for the day yet. Her
father walked in. He had only been in her shop a few times, even
though he owned the building. She took Sean’s hand and together
they walked to the front.
“
Hey, Dad.”
“
Hey, honey.”
“
Hello, sir,”
Sean said.
Bob put out his hand
to Sean. “Hello, son.”
Sean shook his hand.
Marla was going to start crying, she knew it.
“
Your mother
called me today to tell me that you’re getting married.”
“
Yes,” Marla and
Sean said at the same time. They looked at each other and laughed.
“
She also said
you’re thinking about leaving Bay Point.”
“
That’s true,”
Sean said.
“
I guess it takes
a house to fall on me sometimes. I’ve been thinking ever since
y’all came over and ever since I read what Merrie wrote. Thinking a
lot. And then today your mother called me with the news.”
Sean and Meredith
waited for him to finish.
“
And I want to say
I’m sorry to the both of you.”
Marla had never
heard her father say he was sorry in her entire life.
“
I was wrong to
say those things to you, son. I understand now that you really do
love each other. And if it means anything to you, I’m giving you my
blessing. But on one condition.”
That was her father,
always making deals.
“
What’s that,
sir?” Sean asked.
“
That you not move
away from Bay Point, at least not because of anything I’ve done.
It’s killing Cynthia. And I don’t like it, either.”
Marla was weeping
openly now. Her father put his arm around her.
“
You’ve got a
deal,” Sean said.
Epilogue
On a warm day in
late September, two weeks before Sean and Marla’s wedding, Sean and
Marla and Bob and Cynthia went out on the bay to scatter Merrie’s
ashes. Marla had removed the ashes from the plastic bag and put them
directly in the Chinese vase.
When they were
a long way from land, in the middle of the bay, Bob turned off the
engine. The blue water was calm and a faint breeze flowed across
their faces, through their hair and clothing.
“
I’m sorry
it’s taken so long to get here,” Sean said to everyone. “I know
we should have done it sooner.”
“
We’re
doing it at just the right time,” Cynthia said, hooking her arm
through Sean’s. “Now is the time.”
Marla removed
the top from the Chinese vase. Sean was the first to put his hand
into the ashy mixture that was the last of Meredith’s physical
being. Everyone else followed Sean and let the ashes flow gently from
their hands into the water. Sean threw white roses into the water and
they floated on the surface.
Handful after
handful, they put Meredith’s ashes into the water of the bay she
had loved. When they were finished, they were silent, but all were
crying silently, even Bob. Sean walked to the back of the boat and
sat solitarily staring at the bay. Marla did not go to him. She left
him in his personal grief.
After a few
minutes, Sean walked back to join the rest of them. Bob pulled out a
bottle of champagne from a cooler and filled glass flutes. He handed
them to Cynthia and Marla and Sean.
“
To Merrie,”
Bob said. He put his arm around Cynthia and Sean took Marla’s hand.
“
To Merrie,”
everyone said, clinking their glasses together.
To
further support this author, please take a moment to review this book
on Amazon.
Review
"Hand-Me-Down Love" Here.