The Fragile Things, page 15
Chapter Forty-four
October 4
8:07 a.m.
Emily and Ethan stayed overnight at the beach house until the next morning when their plane would leave for Antigua. Like her parents had talked about for themselves, Emily suggested to Ethan her desire to go to an island for their honeymoon. Ethan was all for it.
“Do you want to eat on the patio?” she asked him.
“Fine with me.” He headed toward the bathroom. “I’ll be out in a few minutes.”
“Okay, breakfast should be ready by the time you’re finished.”
Emily went down the winding staircase leading to the first floor and turned for the breakfast nook that led into the kitchen.
“Morning, Dad,” Emily called to him in the Great room as she passed through to the kitchen. From where she stood, she heard him talking. Emily put the water on for tea and oatmeal. She gathered the place settings on a large tray and washed some strawberries they’d purchased at the local farm market. While the oatmeal simmered, she put two pieces of toast in the toaster oven and poured orange juice into glasses for Ethan and herself. Emily then sipped her juice outside on the patio while enjoying the balmy morning breeze coming off the ocean. Later, she prepared the breakfast tray for them and brought it back out to the patio. Coming back inside once more, she heard her dad still talking.
“Yes, it was beautiful, darling,” he spoke quietly while he stood in front of the fireplace. “She looked like a miniature you in her wedding dress—same hair, same eyes. . .I thought for a moment it was you.” He smiled.
Just then, Ethan came down the stairs. “I’m starving. . .what’s for breakfast?”
“Oatmeal, berries, toast and juice.” She pointed to the patio. “It’s outside. Help yourself.”
“Sounds good, but aren’t you joining me? Our first breakfast together and—”
“Yes, but shhh. . .”
“Why?” he whispered. “Why so quiet? What’s going on?”
“Just go eat your breakfast. I promise to join you in a minute, okay?” Emily planted a kiss on his cheek and nudged him toward the patio. He gave her a funny look. “Just go, please. Your oatmeal is probably getting cold.”
“Okay, okay, but I’ll need an explanation later.”
“You got it,” she replied.
When Ethan left, Emily went into the Great room and stood at the threshold.
“I know I couldn’t give you the wedding that you’d always wanted, Sarah,” came Nick’s voice. “But I want you to know that everything was perfect. . .as perfect as you’d always dreamed. In fact, it was better than I’d even imagined.” He paused and smiled again. “Because you were there.”
Emily stood listening to Nick. No one else was in the room.
“Dad. . .are you okay?”
Nick turned around. He looked surprised. His eyes enlarged, and he gave her a somewhat sulky smile as he stepped toward her. “Yes, honey, I’m fine. How are you?”
“I heard you talking in here, and I. . .”
“I was just talking. . .to your mother.”
Emily came over to him and put her arm around his waist. Together, they looked up above the fireplace mantle to a picture of Sarah, Nick, and Emily. The picture was taken at the restaurant where Nick had proposed to Sarah years before. In the background, the garden’s trees and blooming wisteria—Sarah’s favorite flower—draped along trellises that rested by an old, stone edifice. Sarah liked it so much that she requested the photo be professionally enlarged and framed.
“You really miss her, don’t you?” Emily studied him.
His eyes bore that same wistful look when he took her arm in his at the wedding. It couldn’t have been clearer what had been on his mind—both then and now.
“You need to ask me that?” he said, and gave her a gentle one-armed hug.
“Not really, but I just didn’t know what else to say.”
Nick and Emily stood together in silence for a moment.
He turned to her. “You miss her, too?”
“You need to ask me that?” she said with a half-smile. Together, they turned toward the picture. A mild breeze floated through the screen door of the patio and made its way through the house. The scent of warm, salty air blended with jasmine filtered into the room. The scent was intoxicating to her. “It’s perfect,” Emily said to him.
Feeling the warmth of his body against her arm wrapped around him gave her pause to think how much she’d grown to love him. How blessed she and her mother had been to have him in their lives all these years. Those two short years they’d been married before she passed away had slipped by like a dream. Life is strange. If it hadn’t been for her mother’s tragic accident, Nick may have never come back into their lives. Of course, if she hadn’t left the hockey camp that night, her mother may still be alive today. Emily pondered the weight of her actions in light of her present circumstances. While she couldn’t take back that dreadful night, she did realize that while God took away her mother, he also blessed her with a second father and a husband, too. She’d heard her mother once say, The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. We’ll never understand God’s plans or protocols because we’re not God. Tears drew to her eyes.
Nick turned to face Emily and placed his hands gently on her shoulders. His gaze met hers. “Yes, Em, it is perfect. Everything may not be exactly as I’d like it to be, but what I do have is perfect. Just perfect.”
The End
Mary Cantell, The Fragile Things
