by Andrea Hurst
They settled on the antique sofa and sipped their tea as Maggie tried to focus her mind on what could be delegated and what only she could accomplish. “I have a long list and a short amount of time,” Maggie began. She was pleased Mary did not try to deny the reality of what she said.
“Then let’s get started. What can I do?” Mary asked.
Maggie delegated the minor repairs on the house for Mary to contract out. She also asked her to come up with a plan for Mary to continue to come once a week after she was gone. Someone would need to maintain the house until…until what? She added that to the list. “I think I can count on Shirley to take care of the garden. I’ll ask her tomorrow.”
Mary nodded. “She’s always happy to help. And I’ll bet Betty can do a lot of these repairs.”
“That’s for sure,” Maggie said. “She’s in her seventies and more spry than all the rest of us.”
The rest of the list included contacting her lawyer to finalize her will and hiring an investigator to find her daughter-in-law, Katherine. She had no idea how to go about finding an investigator, but Maggie would figure it out herself. She added one more line to the list. She would do that today.
After Mary left, Maggie walked down the stone path to her neighbors’ cottage. The two sisters had owned that house their whole lives. Shirley had moved to Seattle when she was married, and then back to Madrona again as a widow. Betty had stayed to care for their mother and the house and land until she passed. Two better neighbors and friends were not to be found. Before she could knock on the door, Shirley pulled it open and welcomed her inside.
“That woman just won’t stop,” Shirley said, pointing at her sister. “She’s been banging around in there under the sink all morning.”
Betty stuck her head out from under the kitchen sink and waved. “Don’t mind her,” she said, pointing to Shirley. “Been in a bad mood all day. Nothing new.”
Maggie stood in the doorway, wondering if it was a good idea to get between these two today.
“Come in, I’ll make some tea,” Shirley said. “You hungry?”
Maggie took a seat at their dining room table and watched Shirley bring down the china teapot. “Just tea for me, please.” She’d already spent most of the morning having tea with Mary, but Shirley was always happiest when she was playing hostess.
Loud hammering filled the room and Shirley rolled her eyes. “Enough,” she yelled. “We have company. Come on out and join us.”
Betty slid out from under the sink and pulled herself up from the floor. “I’ll just wash my hands,” she said.
Once seated at the table, the two sisters stopped bickering and gave their full attention to Maggie. “How are you feeling, dear?” Shirley asked.
She forced a smile, but a sigh drifted out. “Tired. And I still have so much to do.”
Betty patted Maggie’s hand. “Anything I can help with?”
Maggie thought about the leak in her upstairs bathroom and the other little fixes needed around the house. “I am happy to pay you,” Maggie said. “Mary has a list.”
Betty lifted her hand like a stop sign. “I will take no money from you, Maggie. That’s what friends are for.”
Not to be outdone, Shirley offered to come help sort paperwork and tend the garden.
Relief washed over Maggie. “You are the best friends I could ever hope for. All these years through the terrible problems with my son, losing Lily, and almost losing the farm before I turned it into a Bed and Breakfast, you two have never let me down.”
Shirley beamed. “And never will.”
For a moment the only sounds in the room were the clinking of the teacups in their saucers and the call of the wild birds floating in through the open window.
“I wonder…” Maggie said. She looked up into their concerned faces. “I wonder where Lily is now.”
“Are you going to look for her?” Betty asked.
“Not directly. Maybe look for her mother, Katherine, first. I’ve done a lot of thinking, and I want to leave Lily the house and the business. I’m not sure what she’ll want, but she always loved visiting the island. And my house.”
Shirley nodded. “Makes sense.”
“We could ask the sheriff in town how to go about looking for her. Or you could hire one of those private investigators. He would know how.”
Betty looked excited by the challenge. “Now that’s a good idea. We could drive into town tomorrow and meet with the sheriff.”
“Do you want us to go with you?” Shirley asked.
“No, I think this is one meeting I want to do alone.”
Shirley rose and began clearing the table. She nudged Betty. “Let me clean these off and the sink’s all yours.”
Maggie thanked them for the tea and turned to go.
“We’re here if you need us,” Shirley said.
Maggie pulled open the door and steadied herself before turning back to them. “I am grateful for you both.” She blew them a kiss and followed the path back to her home.
John sat waiting for her on the porch swing. As Maggie approached, Gretel leapt down the stairs to greet her. She petted the black, silky fur and gave the dog a scratch behind her ears.
“What’s on your agenda for the day?” John asked.
“Well, so far, I’ve had a hard day drinking tea.”
John laughed. “I’m reporting for duty, or fun. Your call.”
Maggie sat down beside him and took his hand in hers. “Let’s just sit here for a while, and then I think I’d like to take a nap.”
The panoramic view of the cove never ceased to please Maggie’s eyes. Endlessly, the tide came in and went out, the sun rose over one set of mountains and set over another. How many sunrises had she seen here? Many thousands, she was sure. How many more would she be gifted with? That was for God to decide.
⌘
John was savoring every day he had with Maggie. When he heard the rooster this morning, his eyes strayed to the calendar. It had been two weeks since she’d told him about her diagnosis. Each day he fixed himself up and went to her door, wondering how she’d be today. Maggie put on a good face, but her energy was waning fast. Today he would be driving her into town to meet with the sheriff and pick up some supplies at Tea & Comfort. He started the pickup truck and drove out to the street, making a sharp right into Maggie’s drive. She was waiting for him on the porch.
He jumped out and opened the passenger door for her as she approached. “You look lovely today,” he said.
Maggie’s blue eyes twinkled. She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. “A little hair fluffing and makeup can go a long way.”
She didn’t need anything to show the attractive woman she was. Her silver-streaked hair cascaded around her face, framing the bright eyes that bore the truth of her beautiful soul.
“Buckle up,” he said before starting into town.
John dropped Maggie off at the sheriff’s office and walked down Main Street to stretch his legs. The bookstore had a new display of local authors in the window and he stopped to admire them. The action adventure book with the helicopter on the cover looked like it might be worth a read, so he slipped inside and bought a copy.
He had the new cell phone that Ian had gifted him so they could stay in touch and provide John with emergency backup if needed. Little Jason had taught John to text, and he’d been so excited to have another way to communicate with Maggie.
John continued down the block past the ice cream store that always sported a line out the door and down its steps. The smell of waffle cones cooking wafted out into the street and drove a lot of traffic to the store. Another block down was Kyla’s shop, Tea & Comfort. She’d opened it about a year ago and was already doing a booming business. They had decided to meet there when Maggie was finished with her meeting. John popped inside, setting off a tinkle of bells over the door. He inhaled the fresh, herby scent that permeated the shop. Kyla, her red hair trailing down her back, was standing behind the counter. She turned an
d waved him over.
“Just the man I want to see,” she said.
“At your service,” he said.
Kyla looked behind him, toward the door. “Is Maggie with you? I really wanted you both together.”
“She’ll be along soon,” he said. “Mind if I wait?”
“Of course,” Kyla said. “Why don’t you go sit at the front window table and I’ll bring you some of my just-baked lavender chocolate chip scones?”
“Sounds good to me,” he said.
The window table was covered in a lace tablecloth with a small vase filled with herbs and wildflowers in the center. Kyla had a way with decorating. The handmade oak shelves displayed her herbs and spices, soaps, candles, and lotions of all kinds. It was even rumored, for friends only, Kyla did an occasional tealeaf reading. All for fun, he was sure.
Kyla, in a long bohemian-type dress in vibrant shade of emerald, seemed to flow across the floor with his order. There was something almost mystical about the young woman. She placed a glass plate with three scones next to him and a dish of whipped butter. “Can I get you something to drink? Lavender lemonade is our special today.”
“The special, it is,” he said.
He broke open the still-warm scone and watched the chocolate chips ooze out from the buttery dough. Other than Maggie’s brownies, Kyla’s scones were his favorite treat in town. Wiping away the crumbs from his face, he stared out the window, watching for Maggie. He hoped she found what she was looking for at the sheriff’s office and that the visit wasn’t wearing her out.
⌘
Twenty minutes later, and now on his second scone, bells echoed and John turned to see Maggie walking in the front door.
“He’s right here waiting for you,” Kyla said, leading Maggie over to table. “And he even left you a scone.”
Maggie’s soft laugh warmed John’s heart.
“The special’s lavender lemonade today and it’s delicious.” John held up his glass for Maggie to taste and watched her eyes register pleasure with the first sip.
“I’ll have one too,” she said to Kyla.
“Coming right up. And I have a little gift for you two before you go.”
John winked at Maggie. “I wonder what kind of gift Kyla has brewed up for us.”
“It’s nice of her to think of us,” Maggie said. “Shirley has obviously been busy making sure everyone in town knows about my condition.”
John rolled his eyes. “She means well.”
“Not that it wasn’t warm and friendly before,” Maggie said, “but it does seem people are putting out a little more effort to be here for me in a special way.”
“They all love you,” John said. “Especially me.”
“And I love you,” she said.
They sat in silence a moment, staring into each other’s eyes. Finally John broke the stare and pointed to Maggie’s plate. “You better take a bite out of the scone before it gets cold, or I eat a third one!”
John waited until Maggie had sampled the scone before asking her about her meeting. “How’d it go with the sheriff?”
Maggie hesitated and then met his eyes. “I was going to ask him to look up the whereabouts of Katherine, Lily’s mother. But he told me that using his confidential resources to do an unauthorized, unlawful search was a violation of a citizen’s privacy and a serious offense. Instead, he showed me a site on his computer where I could pay to get the information I wanted. I walked over to Jude’s house over the café and she let me use her computer. It took hardly time at all to find out that Katherine, is living in southern California. Jude do a Google search too, and we found out she’s a nurse. ”
“An honorable profession and stable one.”
“I now have a phone number for her and…and I guess I will call her. Soon.”
As sadness washed over Maggie’s face, John longed to wipe away all her past hurts. He knew how much Lily meant to Maggie.
“If only I had reached out sooner, John. How much should I tell her? I don’t want her thinking I’m putting pressure on her or using my illness to get to Lily.”
John let the possible scenarios run through his mind, searching for the one that felt right. “First of all, you have nothing to feel bad about. Katherine could have reached out to you, too. Once enough time went by, the danger had passed. After all, you are Lily’s grandmother. And second, what do you want? Do you want to see Lily?”
Maggie gasped and put her hand to her mouth. “If only I could, but this is not the way I want her to see me. It will only make Lily feel worse, and I want her to remember me from her youth and the happy times we had together.”
“Tell me if I’m wrong, but it sounds to me like you want to make sure Lily is doing well and find out how to get the final papers to her when the time is right.” The word “right” echoed in John’s ears. How could Maggie dying ever be right? But he knew her greatest hope was that Lily would come to the B&B, perhaps bring it back to life again and find the joy Maggie had found there. If nothing else, it was a valuable property to leave her only grandchild.
She nodded a few times, staring out the window. “Right, you are right. I will make sure Lily is well and secure Katherine’s address for my attorney. I’ll let Katherine take the lead if there is to be more.”
John could see Maggie’s mind was made up and quickly changed the subject. “Would you like to take a drive this afternoon, perhaps along the coast?”
A twinkle, faint but present, returned to her eyes. “That would be lovely.”
Kyla approached the table. Her height and grace made John think of a model, but no one really knew much about Kyla before she’d arrived on the island, and she wasn’t much for sharing. In her hand was a small purple-colored velvet pouch. It was tied with a silk ribbon and a few sprigs of fresh lavender were tucked inside. She placed it on the table before them.
“I made this for you both. Go ahead and open it.”
John gestured for Maggie to have the honors. She carefully untied the ribbon, laying the lavender sprigs on the table. John could smell their sweet scent from his seat. From inside the pouch, Maggie pulled out an egg-shaped pink quartz rock with an image hand painted on one side. She held it up for him to see.
“Look at this, John.”
“It’s beautiful,” John said. “Did you paint it yourself?”
A smile filled Kyla’s lovely face. “I did. Each heart represents one of you, and they are held together by the gold infinity symbol indicating soul mates. True love.”
Maggie sighed. “So very perfect. Thank you.”
John stared at the painted rock and felt a tightening in his chest. Maggie was truly the love of his life, and the reality of what was to come took his breath away. He pushed down the emotions and squeezed Maggie’s hand.
“There is more,” Kyla said. “If you want, you can use this rock to create a little ceremony.”
“How is that?” Maggie asked.
Kyla sat down beside them at the table. “I suggest you pick a place by the Sound that has meaning for you both. Stand at the shore and watch the infinite ocean, with waves that always recede and return. Say a little prayer and, together, toss the stone far out into the sea, knowing that your love will go on forever.”
A tear rolled down Maggie’s pale cheek. “Let’s do it,” she said.
John was too emotional to speak, so he nodded his assent.
Kyla pushed out her chair and stood. “Well, I leave you two to finish here. It’s on me. Have a wonderful afternoon.”
Maggie stood, hugged Kyla, and whispered something into her ear. John could not hear what she said, but he knew it was loving.
⌘
Once back in the car, they chose to drive down to the beach, where they had walked and watched many sunsets together. The velvet pouch was tucked into Maggie’s jacket pocket. They wove slowly down the farm road leading to the expansive beach area before parking the car. The trail down to the water had a few pieces of large driftwood to traverse before
stepping out on the wet sand, but it was worth the effort. The jagged Olympic Mountains scraped the distant sky with the glacial ice at the top of each peak. The sea sparkled with light and a low mist hovered. John inhaled deeply, enjoying the salty smell of the fresh, clean air.
“Look,” Maggie said. She pointed out at the water. “See the little head pop up?”
“I do. It’s a seal. And there’s another one.”
They wandered down the beach, following the seals’ progression, catching them popping up here and there as they went. Maggie’s delight was evident, and for a moment John forgot she was ill at all.
Suddenly, she stopped and turned back to him. “This is the spot,” she said. Her blue eyes stared into his. “I remember sitting on that big log with you not too long ago and sharing a sweet kiss.”
Her memory was still impeccable. John had so many wonderful memories with Maggie that some blurred together. But this spot was special. “I agree,” he said.
Maggie pulled the pouch from her pocket and removed the stone. “Here,” she said, “you keep the pouch. It is meaningful too.”
John clutched the velvet bag in his hand; he would keep it always. He slipped it in his pocket and prepared himself for the next moment.
Maggie held the rock in the palm of her hand, and he placed his hand over hers. “We will toss it into the infinite sea together,” she said. “First, close your eyes, John. We can both pray what is in our heart.”
For a few moments they were silent. Their hands gripped the rock as they made their final vows. John opened his eyes at the same time as Maggie.
“Are you ready?” John asked.
“Together now,” she said.
They lifted their hands toward the sky and tossed the quartz stone into the glistening water. It was done and the rock would move with the tides until their wishes were fulfilled and it was found again someday.
⌘
Maggie found she was waking later and later each passing day. Sometimes it was difficult to get out of bed at all. This was one of those days. She could hear Mary in the kitchen rattling around and preparing her breakfast. Yesterday she had brought it in on a tray for a special treat of breakfast in bed, like Maggie used to do for some of her guests when the inn was open. How she missed her guests and the happy buzzing of the inn. She sat up in bed and pulled the Guestbook out from her nightstand. Last week she had placed some of her favorite recipe cards in the back and a photo of her and Lily from many years ago. She cherished the old leather book. The pages smelled of dried flowers and she thumbed through them, catching an entry here and there.