“After Bill and I married, I heard he’d had a crush on me too. But every time he tried to get my attention, I would avoid him. I thought he’d caught me staring at him, and I was always so embarrassed.”
“So how did you two get together?”
“Your grandmother, of all people. She used to tell me I was hiding behind my books, and how when I was little, I used to be so much fun. Junior high was hard on me—I went from a skinny stick to a curvy girl, and I was teased a lot for that. I guess I just folded in on myself. I didn’t want to be hurt anymore.”
Those words hit a nerve. Olivia didn’t know what it was like to be picked on, other than a few wisecracking kids calling her a nerd or a bookworm in school. Some of her classmates had also made fun of her when she was useless in gym class. But when she’d complained after school one day in fourth grade, her mother had told her to look logically at the situation.
“You do enjoy reading and learning,” Mom had pointed out.“And you certainly aren’t athletically gifted. Not everyone can be. Your peers are engaging in provocative behavior tomake themselves feel better about their inadequacies. When they get older, they will reassess their juvenile actions and feel varying levels of guilt. You may even receive an apology at some point. It is a normal pattern among youth and nothing to concern yourself with.”
After her mother put it that way, Olivia didn’t give the comments much thought or reaction, and that’s when the teasing stopped.
But the pain she’d experienced at Kingston’s rejection... She wished she could have shaken it off that easily.
“I’m sorry you were so hurt, Aunt Bea.”
“It’s okay,” the other woman said, smiling. “The day after we graduated, I found out Bill was going into the army. He’d signed up on his eighteenth birthday, a month before school ended.” She shook her head. “That was my turning point. I didn’t want him to leave Maple Falls, so I tried talking him out of joining.”
“It must have worked,” Olivia said. As far as she knew, Uncle Bill hadn’t served a day in the military.
“It did.” Smiling, Aunt Bea turned to her. “He said he wouldn’t join—on one condition.”
“Let me guess. He wanted a date.”
“Yes sirree. And I said yes, and he didn’t sign up. He was a little sneaky about it, though. Later he admitted he’d been rejected because he didn’t pass the physical due to a heart murmur. He already knew he wasn’t going, but he didn’t want to miss out on a chance to go out with me.” She sighed, still smiling. “The rest is history.”
“Then Uncle Bill is the one who brought you out of your shell.”
“He helped. I was never going to be a Skinny Minnie again, and he loves me the way I am. He loves my cooking too. A good thing, since I love to cook.”
Olivia grinned. Uncle Bill was, in Aunt Bea’s words, “a Slim Jim.” Kind of unfair that he could eat large portions of food and not gain an ounce.
“We’ve been happy for forty-seven years and counting.” Aunt Bea took Olivia’s hand again. “My point is that if I hadn’t listened to my mother and taken a chance, I would have missed out on the best thing in my life. Well, second best, next to you.”
Olivia’s heart warmed. She could always count on her aunt to make her feel good. “Thanks, Aunt Bea.”
“And if I hadn’t gained the confidence to approach your uncle, I wouldn’t have gotten what I always wanted.”
“Marriage,” Olivia said.
“Yes. I don’t want the same thing to happen to you.”
Olivia squeezed her hand and let go. “You’re assuming I want to get married.”
Her aunt’s mouth tugged into a frown. “I reckon I might be wrong to assume that.” She paused. “Am I wrong to assume you’re lonely too?”
“No,” Olivia said softly. “I do get lonely sometimes. But doesn’t everyone at one time or another? Even married people?”
Aunt Bea nodded, staring at the plate of brownies in front of her. “They sure do.”
“I’m touched that you want to help me, but I’m fine. Really. I’m satisfied with my life, and I have no intention of getting married.” Or dating, but she wasn’t about to go into that with Aunt Bea now.
Her aunt sighed. “All right. I understand. I need to remember you’re an adult, and I’ll respect your decision not to go Monday night. I’ll also stay out of your personal business from now on.”
“Thank you.”
Aunt Bea went to the fridge and opened it. She mumbled something about “canceling” and “Singles, Inc.,” but Olivia couldn’t make out everything she said. Her eyes widened as her aunt placed four plastic containers of food in front of her.
“Are these all for me?”
