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It was here, lying in the grass beside her parents’ graves, that she reached the depths of forgiveness. She could do nothing but love who they’d been and the goodness they’d given her when they’d been able to— and forget the darkness they’d brought to her life.
Maybe she should have reached out to them as an older woman. Maybe she should have invited them to her wedding or asked if she and Liam could come to visit. Maybe she was partially to blame for the very long silence, which had only intensified with their deaths.
ChapterEight
Anna and Julie laid back on the bed that would be Anna’s during her stay, both staring at the ceiling. Despite her three hours of sleep in Eloise’s truck, Anna was exhausted, her eyes bleary. Julia’s face was marred with worry.
“He just disappeared,” Anna whispered, not for the first time to her mother. “Out of thin air. Just like that.”
Julia reached for Anna’s hand and held it tenderly. “I can’t imagine what that felt like. It’s one of the worst things I can imagine.”
Anna swallowed the lump in her throat. Around them, The Copperfield House sighed and creaked with the springtime winds.
“I’m just so glad to be here,” Anna said. “I wasn’t sure how I was going to make it.”
“Your friend Eloise is still on the island?” Julia asked.
“I asked her to come to dinner,” Anna explained. “But she had plans.”
Julia was quiet for a moment. She then propped herself up on her hand and regarded her daughter with sharp eyes. “I contacted a grief therapist here on Nantucket just for information about what she could offer you. Would you consider going?”
Anna considered the massive weight on her chest, which seemed to press at her lungs and crack her ribs and make her heart bleed. “I don’t know if it would help.”
“Don’t you think it’s worth a try?” her mother asked.
Anna lifted her torso and let her legs hang over the side of the bed.
“Just think about it, honey,” Julia urged her. “Your father said—”
Anna turned and gave her mother a dark look, one that made Julia stop speaking. “You’ve been talking to Dad?”
“Honey, we’re worried about you,” Julia breathed. “Our problems are minuscule compared to yours.”
“I just hope he knows he can’t just slink back into our family like that,” Anna said softly. “He wanted out, and now, he’s out.”
“Honey…” Julia placed her hand on Anna’s upper back and rubbed it, but she didn’t say anything else.
A moment later, there was a knock at the door. Julia and Anna called, “Come in,” and Scarlet appeared in the crack, a half-smile on her lips. Scarlet was Anna’s cousin, and she’d just moved to the island full-time in the wake of her mother’s cancer treatments and a big breakup back in New York City. Anna didn’t know her well, but she seemed to be a sweetheart.
“Grandma says dinner is almost ready,” Scarlet explained.
“She sent you to get us?” Julia asked with a funny laugh.
“Grandma runs this house,” Scarlet said, matter a fact. “Everyone knows that.”
Julia eyed Anna knowingly. “I don’t blame you if you don’t want to come down.”
“No, no. I want to see everyone.” Anna brought her hair up into a ponytail and reached for a sweatshirt, which she shrugged over her shoulder. She then followed after Scarlet, with Julia hot on her heels, down the circular staircase and all the way to the kitchen, where Greta Copperfield stood in all her glory at the stovetop in a beautiful apron.
Immediately, Greta placed her spatula to the side and hurried over to Anna for a bearhug. Anna’s head fell against her shoulder, and she suppressed a sob.
“It’s so good to see you, honey,” Greta whispered as she moved back and looked Anna deep in the eyes. “We’re so glad you’re here.”
As usual, the kitchen at The Copperfield House was vibrant with wonderful scents and conversation. Aunt Ella sat at the kitchen table with her son, Danny, who was a senior at Nantucket High School and hard at work on a final paper about economics. Beside him sat Ivy, Scarlet’s younger sister, who was a senior doing online classes, as her entire family had moved out to Nantucket a few months before her graduation. Aunt Alana burst into the kitchen at that moment, whipping her large Chanel sunglasses from her eyes as she cried out, “Is that my darling, Anna?”
Anna laughed and allowed herself to be hugged by her beautiful, ex-model aunt, who always smelled of something intoxicating and seemed effervescent and alive. Although her Paris and modeling days were through, she brought a bit of flair to The Copperfield House.
Anna did her best to hug as many of her family members as she could, bouncing from room to room and hearing how everyone was. Everyone greeted her warmly and was careful not to mention how sorry they were about what had happened, as they knew better than anyone not to point at the sight of the injury. It only made it worse.
