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“Hello, this is Dr. Lucas.”
“Hi, Dr. Lucas, this is Ellen, Myrna’s daughter.”
“Yes, hello, Ellen. Nice to hear from you.”
“Glad I got a hold of you. We had the reading of the will today, and my mother wanted you to have something. It’s nothing of high value, but it was sentimental to her. I was hoping you might be able to come by the house tomorrow to pick it up? I’m there all day, so any time.”
It was unexpected, but unbelievably touching. “Yes, how about in the morning?”
“Terrific. You’ll need to bring your SUV, but that’s the only hint you’ll get from me. My mom loved surprises.”
I chuckled, wondering what Myrna had up her sleeve. “I’m touched she thought of me.”
“You meant a lot to her. And knowing she had you in her corner looking after her health meant a lot to us. What you do and how much you care for your patients matters, Dr. Brennan. It matters a lot.”
She had no idea how much I appreciated her words. “Thank you.”
“See you tomorrow.”
I staredat the wooden bench in front of me, baffled as to why this, of all things, would be what Myrna left me. It was beautiful, no question with its workmanship and unique woodgrain, but I didn’t understand the significance.
“Here’s the note. I’ll leave you to read it.” Ellen patted my shoulder and walked away, leaving me alone in the garden with the bench. I took a seat and unfolded the note.
Dearest Dr. Lucas,
Edward and I used to sit on this in the evenings and talk about our future together, discuss our kids, and watch our grandkids play. We’d chat about the mundane and the important things. Through the highs, the lows, this bench was always there for me.
I want it to be there for you. Think about your dreams, your future, and what it is you wish for. Life is short, squeeze every minute out of it like I did. And every once in a while, think of me smiling down on you and wishing you happiness and joy. You deserve it.
Love always,
Myrna
I exhaled a long breath, reread the note, and tucked it into my pocket. My hand ran over the wood of the bench, smiling at how touching it was she’d left it for me. And how strange to tell me I deserved better when I’d just told Brooke the same thing yesterday.
“You okay?” Ellen approached a few minutes later.
“Yeah. Are you certain me taking this bench is all right?” I didn’t want to take something of sentimental value to the family.
She smiled wide. “Absolutely. My mother had benches made for each of us kids which sit in our own gardens. She wanted you to have this one. Plenty of other sentimental stuff in the house. It should come as no surprise to hear she wrote notes for a lot of people. Probably sat at this bench thinking about what should go to who.”
“It’s incredible. Thank you.”
“You might not feel the same way once you have to load it up. It’s heavy.”
She wasn’t kidding. I wrestled the thing into the back of my SUV. Even with the seats down, the bench took up the majority of the space. After a full day of lugging it around to all of my appointments, I headed home. There, I decided the perfect place to put it was in my backyard facing the beach. That way the balcony off my living room above protected it from the sun, and the small shrubs on either side offered some privacy. I could sit on it after a run or after surfing, or at night to watch the sunset.
As I placed it there and took a seat, I realized Myrna had thought of me more than my own mother had. Instead of shutting down the old hurt, I let it wash over me. It didn’t make me angry any longer. Rather, I made peace with the fact my mom hadn’t been able to cope with my father and the military life of moving every few years. And after their divorces, my stepmothers hadn’t had a lot of options for staying in my life. Wasn’t as if I’d had a cell phone as a kid, especially living overseas. I even managed to forgive my father who, at the best of times, wasn’t the greatest father, but he’d done his best to provide for me.
Damn. Perhaps this bench had magical abilities for there was peace on my mind. With one exception. Brooke. If I thought for a moment, I wasn’t completely in love with her, I was fooling myself.
A bench made for two was a sad object when there was only one person sitting on it.
