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“I feel like it had everything to do with me.”
“No, let me explain. When I was there, the rest of the world didn’t exist. If you ask other men in the infantry, they’ll tell you the same thing. Your aim was to stay alive at all costs, and that meant killing anyone who was a threat. We lived that around the clock.
“When I met Linh, I was at the lowest point of my life. I was scared to death, Betty. She offered an escape for me. Her family had a hut outside the base where I was stationed, and when I was there, when I wasn’t fighting, they cared for me.
“When the United States pulled the troops out in nineteen seventy-three, I was able to get her to Cambodia. We had one chance and I took it, knowing you were going to be hurt. But it was that or her possible death. When Saigon fell on April 30 two years later, her entire family was murdered by the North Vietnamese.”
Elizabeth knew the story of the US signing the peace treaty with Hanoi and giving the responsibility of the war to the South Vietnamese. The shock and horror when the war resumed two years later saddened the US, but they weren’t going to go back. Val was back in Louisiana with Linh by then.
“I guess I have to accept that you loved her enough to save her, and that meant leaving me. But I have to ask. Did you love me?”
He looked at her and she could see he was weighing his words carefully. “I loved you as a young man loves his first girlfriend in a fairy tale. I’ve thought of you, Betty. And when Linh died, I wanted you again. But it didn’t feel fair to you to try to pick up where we left off. It felt like the action needed to come from you.
“When you didn’t get in touch, I decided I had to make a move. Floyd told me you were coming, and I whipped myself into shape.”
Laughing, they held hands again. “What did you have to do? Maggie said you looked good when she saw you in the hardware store.”
“Oh, you know, all the things you have to do that no one else sees, like clipping toenails.”
“Oh lord.”
“And wearing something other than the uniform I’d been wearing every day. I have ten pair of khaki pants and ten blue shirts.”
“I noticed,” she said, smiling.
“So do you accept my explanation?”
“I do, Val. And I do.”
He leaned over and hugged her, wiping away an errant tear. “When can we do it?”
“I want a fall wedding, so soon. Are you good with that?”
“Perfect. And you’ll live with me here?”
“Yes, of course. Bayou Cottage belongs to my niece now. It’s no longer my home.”
Chapter 9
Annie Markley pulled up to the gate at Bayou Cottage and, as arranged, beeped twice. In seconds she watched Maggie sprint through the gate and down the steps of the porch, in the lights of Annie’s car to the gate. They hugged, both women emotional for what had felt like a long separation, but in reality only a few weeks had passed.
“I’ll open this thing and you pull up to the cottage.”
She locked the gate after her, its barrier now an important icon of safety. Although the past had taught her that danger could come from the woods, too. Even after Amber’s apology, Maggie no longer felt completely safe unless the wild horses were in the yard. Their presence would alert her to any intruders, and she listened to their telltale signals.
Up at the cottage, Annie pulled her bag out of the backseat.
“This is fantastic,” she said. “I sort of remember it from pictures, but it’s so much more being here.”
“Look,” Maggie said, pointing to the water. “Beyond the cove is the bay, and beyond the bay, the gulf.”
“Wow, you’re really at the edge of the country.” She looked at her friend. “It’s pretty isolated. I wondered if I was on the right road to get to you.”
“Ha! It feels that way, but not a day has passed that someone hasn’t stopped by. I was more isolated in Jacksonville than I am here.”
“Is that a problem?”
“It might be. Come up and meet Brulee, and I’ll tell you everything after I hear about what you’ve been up to, and what you and Steve have to say to each other!”
