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“I really wish I could,” Eloise said. “But I have plans.”
Anna shifted back in her chair. For a moment, Eloise thought Anna would pester her and demand what plans, exactly, she had. But instead, Anna said, “Okay, but you’re not off the hook, you know. We’ll get you to The Copperfield House before you leave Nantucket.”
Eloise pressed her lips together and tried to smile, but couldn’t quite manage it. “How long do you think you’ll stay on Nantucket?” she asked Anna.
Anna dropped her gaze and stared into her coffee cup. “I don’t know. I’m taking a leave of absence from work. Every single corner on every single street in Seattle is filled with memories of Dean, of how we met and fell in love. How can I just go back to that like nothing happened?”
Eloise nodded, as she understood better than most. Every room of the farmhouse had been filled with memories of Liam, and they’d initially cut her to the core. She hadn’t ever dreamed the house would burn down, that the memories would become ash that ultimately floated into the ether, along the fields, and out into the open blue.
“I thought Seattle was my future,” Anna said. “And now…”
“There’s no rush, honey,” Eloise assured her. “You need to be patient with yourself. You need the comforts of home.”
* * *
Eloise hugged Anna goodbye on the ferry and watched as she traced the path down the staircase and out into the April sunlight. In the distance, three women flailed their arms next to a waiting vehicle, and Anna jumped up and waved back. Eloise’s heart lifted with the knowledge that soon, Anna would be safe within the arms of the Copperfield Family. She’d done a good thing in taking her home.
Eloise returned to the truck and waited quietly as the cars in front of her disappeared down the ramp and gave her space to move. As she drove down the ramp and out onto the street, her heart leaped into her throat, and she was overcome with the realization that this was Nantucket. This was the island she’d once called home.
Eloise rolled down her truck window and inhaled the salty air as tears came to her eyes.How was it possible it had been fifty years since she’d seen this gorgeous place?Overwhelmed, she pulled into a nearby parking lot, where she parked and felt tears rain down her cheeks. Along the nearest sidewalk, a young mother corralled three children, all in brightly colored spring jackets, with ice cream cones in their hands. Behind them, lovers young and old walked hand-in-hand, their hair caught in the Nantucket winds.
Eloise thrust herself from the driver’s seat and leaned against Liam’s truck, lifting her face toward the sun. For the first time in a very long time, she felt that her father had robbed her of a wonderful life— that he’d ripped the life that was meant to be hers out from under her and forced her to make something out of nothing. It felt unfair.
Still, Eloise didn’t want to be the type to carry that anger around with her, not this long after what had happened. Anger festered. It caused wrinkles. It destroyed your heart.
Eloise got back into her truck and routed herself toward a hotel she’d once been very impressed by— one where tourists who sailed and dressed up for dinner stayed. Eloise parked in the parking lot and walked into the lobby with her overalls still on, past vacationers in sleek pantsuits and Italian-cut suits. Her money was just as good as their money, even if she didn’t wear it.
“Hello, and welcome to the Garden Bay Hotel,” the woman at the front desk greeted her warmly, as though she was just another tourist.
“Hi,” Eloise said. “I would like to book a room.”
“How long?” The woman placed her fingers on the keyboard and began to type quickly.
“Three weeks,” Eloise heard herself say.
“Wonderful,” the woman said. “Normally, we don’t have rooms available for such a long time, but it’s only April. You’re in luck.”
“Wonderful,” Eloise said.
“I assume you’re here for the Daffodil Festival?”
Eloise’s heart opened at the thought. “Yes,” she said. “I just adore the festival.”
“Me too.” The woman smiled. “All those glorious blooms everywhere make me forget winter altogether, I think. They’re healing for the soul.”
Eloise took the hotel key card with her, went out to her truck to grab her suitcase, and then boarded the elevator to the third floor. Her room had a queen bed and a window overlooking the street, and in the distance over the tops of houses was the gleaming bay, which was just as crystal-clear as it had been in Eloise’s dreams.
For a little while, Eloise collapsed on the bed and stared at the ceiling, wondering at the immensity of life.How was it possible she was there? How was it possible she’d just spent so much time with Anna Crawford?A part of her feared she would wake up in a few hours in her bed in Indiana, perhaps even in the farmhouse, as though none of the past week had happened at all.What would she do, then?
Eloise cleaned herself up, donned her overalls again, and returned to her truck. She watched herself drive the route, as though she was far above her truck and not in the driver’s seat, until she parked in the cemetery parking lot. There, she slipped out and entered the gates, where she froze, suddenly terrified. Many years ago, she’d been at the cemetery to bury her grandmother, who’d passed away when she’d been only a girl. She remembered her itchy black dress and that her mother had curled her hair. She remembered that her shoes had been too tight, that it had hurt to walk through the rows of gravestones.
It took Eloise longer than she’d expected to find them. But soon, there they were: April and Keith Richards, her dearly beloved parents. It was surreal to see their names etched within the gravestones, along with the dates of their births and deaths, and even more surreal to realize that a part of her had half-expected they’d still be here on Nantucket, waiting for her to return. But that wasn’t the case. In the past fifty years, both of her parents had passed on— her father with his dark and angry heart, and her mother just going along with whatever her father said.
Eloise collapsed in front of their graves with her heart in her throat. With her finger, she traced first her mother’s name, then her father’s, as tears rained down her cheeks.
“I know you didn’t know what to do with me,” Eloise finally said, her voice breaking. “I didn’t know what to do with me, either. I still don’t.”
Exhausted, Eloise stretched out on the grass in front of her mother and father’s graves. The grass was new, fresh, and springlike, so she inhaled the beauty of it as her spirit lifted to the air above them. Someone had planted flowers in front of their graves recently, and the flowers flourished in yellows, reds, and oranges and filled the air with vibrant life.
