Elizabeth sobbed and shook, her head turned away from Ida.
Aunt Ida took her hand, and said, “Listen to me. Right now. You must hear me.” Her tone was firm, but kind. “I forgive you, Elizabeth Woods. I forgive you because I’ve made mistakes, too. I cost my best friend her twin boys because I thought I was doing the right thing. I, too, have lived with the guilt and shame of causing another person to lose something most precious to her. We are human. We make mistakes. If nothing else, we must learn to forgive ourselves, and to forgive other people.”
Sarah wept and stroked her mother’s head. She strode over to Aunt Ida and hugged her.
“Thank you. I know this was hard for you to do.”
“No, Sarahlei. After my ordeal, it’s impossible for me not to do this. We’ve all suffered. It’s time to let the healing begin.”
“Thank you,” Elizabeth said.
“One more thing,” Aunt Ida added.
“What?” Elizabeth asked.
“Mitzi will be cared for the rest of her life. I set up a trust fund. She’ll have anything she needs. My one stipulation is that her family must remain intact.”
“Aunt Ida, don’t you want to be in her life?” Sarah asked.
“Yes,” Ida said. “I expect to be part of her family. Can you live with that, Elizabeth and Bernice?”
“Yes, oh yes,” Elizabeth said.
Bernice nodded in agreement.
A grunting sound came from Ethel.
“Mom?” Sarah said. “Was that you?”
“Sarah, I think your mother’s coming to,” Dan called to her while moving closer to her bedside.
Aunt Ida walked over and stood by her old friend. “I’m sorry, Ethel,” she stated. “No more secrets. It’s time for us to be honest with everyone, including ourselves.”
Ethel opened her eyes, blinked several times, lifted her hand, and signed, “I love you, Sarah.”
“I love you too, Mom.” Sarah leaned over the bed and gave her mother a fierce hug. “I knew you’d come back. Thank you for everything you've done for me. As soon as you're up to it, we're going to make up for lost time and have a lot of very long conversations. Maybe you'll even tell me a few secrets.”
Epilogue
The room shimmered with candles and the scent of white lilacs, the first of the spring from Aunt Ida’s yard, filled the room. A string quartet, which had been playing a medley of classical rock songs, stopped playing, and then commenced the wedding march.
A small cordon of wheelchairs sat in the front row, advance guard of the women from the nursing home. Ethel looked regal with her hair pulled up in a French twist. Elizabeth sat next to her in a daffodil yellow dress, her white hair coifed into a soft pageboy.
Aunt Ida wore a beautiful aqua blue gown that set off her skin tones. Her signature bun was decorated with white and purple lilacs.
As Sarah walked down the flower petal strewn aisle on the older woman’s arm, she could see Dan’s handsome face and broad smile welcoming her. At one point in her life, she thought she would never be heading toward the flower bedecked wedding canopy, with her true love waiting for her.
Family and friends had come in from all over the country, filling every seat in the room and lining the walls with a standing room only crowd.
Sarah had been concerned about overburdening the facility, but Ms. Evans had been insistent that the couple use the Shady Rest Community Room for the affair.
Not that it had been a totally easy last six months.
Between trying to decide where to have the event, who to invite, who not to invite, and who would be insulted if they didn’t invite them, the planning had been like a roller coaster. On top of everything else, Dan had been adamant about one particular detail: Winston had to be the Best Man.
Wearing a black bow tie, the large gray dog was the first to enter, carrying a small basket in his mouth. A tiny satin pillow holding two rings rested within the basket.
When everyone was in place, a hush fell over the crowd.
The same rabbi who had officiated at Aunt Ida’s celebration of life had returned for the couple’s wedding vows. At Sarah’s request, the rabbi began with the Story of Ruth, the first recorded convert to Judaism, ending with, “And Ruth said, ‘Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.’ For this is the power of love—Amen.”
The rabbi nodded at Dan.
“Sarah Leah Wright,” Dan began to speak, “You are the strongest woman I have ever known, aside from Aunt Ida.”
Giggles came from the crowd and he smiled. “I know I can be a pain in the neck. I’m hoping you can look past that and see how much I love you. I want to be with you the rest of my life. For richer or poorer, good health and bad, forever and ever. Will you marry me?”
Smiling with her eyes full of tears, Sarah looked around the room at her friends and family and thought of Aunt Ida’s words: Never give up hope.
“Daniel Rosen,” Sarah stated. “You are a pain in the neck—but so am I. We were destined to be together. It is beshert. Life, birth, kidnapping, death threats, and arrests, I want you by my side. Yes, I will marry you.”
“By the power vested in me by the State of Maryland, and through the power of God and love, I now pronounce you husband and wife.”
A glass shattered.
“Mazel tov!”
Dan leaned down and gave Sarah a passionate kiss.
Sarah closed her eyes. The room and the crowd disappeared as she responded with equal fervor.
“Get a room!” Sol yelled.
“Better yet, get me grandchildren!” Gertrude shouted.
The room erupted in whistles, applause, foot stomping and barking.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
After working in health care delivery for years, Sharon Buchbinder became an association executive, a health care researcher, and an academic in higher education. She had it all--a terrific, supportive husband, an amazing son and a wonderful job.
But that itch to write (some call it an obsession) kept beckoning her to "come on back" to writing fiction. Thanks to the kindness of family, friends, critique partners, and Maryland Romance Writers, she is now published in contemporary, erotic, paranormal and romantic suspense.
When not attempting to make students and colleagues laugh, she can be found herding cats, waiting on a large gray dog, fishing, dining with good friends, or writing.
www.sharonbuchbinder.com
RT Book Reviews Nominee for Best Erotic Fiction Book of 2011
Some Other Child Page 23