by Nancy Naigle
“Miss Maeve, I made some soup. Can I get you a bowl and a sparkling fruit spritzer?”
Well, that didn’t work so well. Maeve pasted a pleasant look on her face. “The fruit spritzer sounds wonderful. I guess I could eat something. I’ll take it on the patio.” She walked out on the deck, looking out over the water as she had for so many years.
The water perked and rippled when she saw the first dolphin crest. With delight, she reached for her binoculars. Sure enough, it was the dolphin with the notch out of its dorsal fin that made it look like a hook was among them. It was hard to count with so many coming out of the water alongside one another. At least twelve or more. Then she followed one specifically. A calf. So much smaller than the others. “Thank you for visiting me one last time.” She watched until they were out of sight.
The helper came out and placed a bowl of soup with a lovely garnish on top and the drink on the table. “There you go. Amanda is at the door with her little girl. Should I ask them to join you or have her come back?”
“Please let them in, and if there’s enough, it would be nice to share the meal with them. Thank you.”
“There’s plenty.” The woman scurried off, seeming pleased to have something to do.
Maeve stood there at the rail. If Amanda had been a few minutes earlier, she might have seen the dolphin pod too. Hailey would have gone wild over the baby dolphin. She’d have to be sure to tell them to use these binoculars. No reason to take them with her.
Amanda, carrying a spritzer like the one the nurse had given Maeve, came outside. “Hi!”
Hailey carried hers with two hands.
“Hello, Amanda. What a nice surprise.” Maeve locked eyes with Hailey. “It’s marvelous to see you, my best friend.”
Hailey giggled.
“Where’s your brother today?” Maeve asked.
“He’s with Paul. Mom and I are doing girl stuff with you,” Hailey explained.
“I’m very happy that you are.”
“Your helper is very nice,” Amanda said. “She’s going to bring us soup so we can join you.”
Maeve rolled her eyes. “Soup isn’t exactly summer food. I guess she thinks sick people eat soup. Whatever. Come, let’s sit.”
The chairs screeched against the slick worn wood beneath them as they sat down.
Amanda lifted the glass to her lips. “Oh, this is good. Apple, pomegranate? Maybe a dash of grape juice and seltzer water?”
“I have no idea. We don’t talk much. I think she respects I like to be on my own. I like that she respects that.”
“Well, that’s good.” Amanda took another sip, then set the glass back on the table. “You look well today.”
“I feel well.”
Amanda paused. “Maeve, I want to talk to you about our discussion yesterday. Were you serious about us moving here?”
“Very. I’ve got an appointment with my lawyer in the morning. I want to be sure no one can hassle you about it. I talked to Tug about it too.”
Hailey clenched her fists, her feet swinging so much she practically wiggled out of her chair. “I’m going to be able to live in this house with the shell room?”
Maeve nodded. “Will you take care of all my treasures?”
“Forever!” She crossed her heart. “I promise.”
Maeve leaned over and hugged Hailey. “You are as special as your mother. Don’t let anything or anyone change you.”
“Yes ma’am, and I’m going to love Methuselah for you too.” Hailey straightened in her chair, glancing at Amanda in a way that told Maeve she’d been encouraged to be on her best behavior.
Amanda put her forearms on the table. “I thank you so much for the generous offer. I’d love to take you up on it. I promise we will take wonderful care of it and carry on the kindness you’ve shared in this town.”
“I have no doubt that you will, and Hailey, too, as she grows up.”
Amanda grabbed Hailey’s hand. “I’m as excited as she is.”
“Can I go tell Methuselah?” Hailey pointed to the scruffy dog lying in the shade in the backyard.
“Yes. He should definitely hear it from you,” Maeve said.
Hailey raced down the ramps to the backyard. Her feet pounded on the boards.
“Maeve, how will I ever thank you?” Amanda lifted her hair off her neck. “There’s so much room here, and air-conditioning too.”
“Oh goodness, you don’t have air-conditioning down there? Amanda, you all need to come stay immediately. It’s so muggy this time of year.”
“We’re fine. I promise. I have a little window unit and fans. The kids haven’t even complained. We’re managing.” She leaned back in her seat. “I do want to ask you a favor, though.”
“Okay.”
“I’d like for you to let me talk to your sister.”
Maeve wasn’t so sure about that. She took a deep breath in, but before she could respond, Amanda rattled on.
“I’d love to accompany you to Georgia, Maeve. Please? We could make a girls’ trip out of it. I was thinking it would be a much nicer ride if we split it into two days.”
Maeve agreed that two short days in the car would be easier than one marathon ride.
Amanda continued. “I want to leave here on Friday and take you to Charleston. I want you to see the trees and all the Spanish moss. We’ll stay the night. I’ve already looked into it, and Paul will stay here with the kids. Then we’ll drive the rest of the way the next day after a nice leisurely morning. Please. Please say yes. I promise it won’t be a lot of walking, and if you’re tired, you can just look out the window at them.”
Maeve lifted her glass to her lips, then flopped back into her chair. “That might be the kindest thing anyone has ever thought of doing for me.”
“Please. It will be wonderful. A memory I can cling to, and you too. Please?”
Maeve sat there, rubbing her finger along the condensation on the side of her glass. “Yes. Yes, we should do that. I feel good enough to do it, but frankly the long trip, sitting in a car all that time, did seem a bit daunting even if Judy was going to send a limo.”
Amanda squealed, leaping to her feet and running around to the other side of the table. She wrapped her arms around Maeve, laying her head against her shoulder. “Thank you! You won’t regret it. Thank you!”
The helper stepped outside with the soup.
“I’m so excited!” Amanda scurried back to her chair. “This is wonderful!”
The woman placed the soup in front of Amanda and another bowl on the table for when Hailey returned.
“Thank you.” She watched the nurse leave and shut the sliding glass door behind her. “I can’t eat. I’m too excited. My stomach is full of butterflies. Our trip is going to be so beautiful.” Maeve smiled so wide she could feel her bottom lip tremble.
Amanda picked up her phone. “Can I call Judy now and discuss it with her?”
“Yes. Use my phone. She may not answer if she doesn’t recognize the number. She’s funny like that.”
“Can’t really blame her,” Amanda said.
Maeve went inside and got her phone, then came back. She pecked the number on the screen. “Hey, Judy. Yes, it’s me. Of course I’m fine. I will be until I’m not. Yes.”
Maeve put her hand over the phone. “She’s a worrier.”
“Mm-hmm. No, we’re set, but I need you to talk to my dear friend Amanda. We want to change something about the ride down. Yes, I’m still coming.”
She handed Amanda the phone and watched her light up as she talked to Judy. Maeve almost wanted to pinch herself to make sure this moment was real. To see the beautiful moss-laden trees, in person, was the only thing that she’d never had the chance to do. She couldn’t wait. She couldn’t think of anyone else she’d want to do it with either.
�
�Yes ma’am,” Amanda said. “I’ll stay in touch the whole way. I’ll text you my number as soon as we hang up. Thank you for allowing me to butt in on your plans. This is really important to me. Maeve has been a life changer for me, a real angel. I can’t wait to share this with her.”
Hailey marched back up the ramp at a much slower pace with Methuselah in her wake. “We had a really good talk. He’s super excited. He asked if he could sleep in my room with me.”
“I see.” Maeve winked at Amanda.
“I don’t know. What do you think, Maeve?”
Maeve pursed her lips, as if really considering it. “I think he would love it. He has a doggy bed that he sleeps in just outside the kitchen, but I bet you could teach him to sleep in it in your room too.”
“Yes! Jesse can sleep with Denali, and I can sleep with Methuselah. We can each have our own dogs. The older one for me because I’m the oldest.”
Amanda’s head bobbed up and down. “That makes perfect sense to me.”
They ate their soup, and it was actually quite good. Maeve felt a little bad for the snarky thoughts earlier. That poor woman was doing a fine job. It wasn’t her fault she wasn’t wanted, or even really needed at this point. There’d come a time when having a helper was necessary. May as well get used to it now.
When they finished eating, Amanda cleared the dishes, leaving Hailey sitting there with her. Maeve could see the questions rolling through the young girl’s mind.
“Mommy said you have to move away. That you’re sick.” Hailey studied her. “You don’t look sick. You’re old, but you always look that way.”
Maeve’s belly shook as she swallowed back the laugh. “Well, it’s not the kind of sick you see.”
“Mom said you two are going on a road trip next weekend.”
“That’s right. I’m going to live with my sister in Georgia. I won’t be coming back.”
Hailey looked out toward the ocean. “Are you going to heaven?”
Bless her little heart. It saddened Maeve that these children, at such a young age, already understood this kind of loss and what going to heaven meant. A knot formed in her throat. “I most certainly am going to heaven. It’s going to be so beautiful.”
“The most beautiful place ever.” Hailey’s eyes widened. “No one hurts there, and all the animals are nice, even the wild ones, and the streets are gold. You might need sunglasses, because gold is really shiny.”
“I hadn’t thought of that. I’ll pack my favorite ones.”
“I’m not sure if they have shells there. I hope so.” Hailey tilted her chin up. “Please tell my daddy I love him and will never forget him. I’ll see him again one day. And you too. Will you look for me? You won’t forget me, will you?”
“No ma’am. I will never forget you, Hailey. Your daddy won’t either. I hope that every time you stand in my sunroom you think of me.”
“Is it okay if I call it our shell room instead?”
Our? “I’d love that.”
“I’m going to have you in my prayers every single day, and Jesse and I say prayers together with Mommy, so that’s prayers times three.”
Such big and loving promises from an innocent, sincere heart.
28
Friday morning got there so quickly that Amanda barely had a chance to worry about how much she’d miss Hailey and Jesse. But she wanted to do this for Maeve. The kids were in good hands with Paul, and he had Tug to call in a pinch.
She had to work fast to pull it all together. She’d never been to Charleston, either, but with a specific goal in mind, she had a good plan and couldn’t wait to get started. Taking the trip would be bittersweet, but she treasured the opportunity to spend this time with Maeve uninterrupted, helping her fulfill her lifelong wish.
Judy had insisted they use the limo service she’d scheduled and offered to pay extra to allow them to break up the ride into two days for the side trip. Paul used his airline miles to book Amanda a flight back home. Everything had fallen into place without so much as a snag.
Amanda looked forward to meeting Maeve’s sister. The age difference between Judy and Maeve was nearly twenty years. She could see why Judy might feel like she needed to take care of Maeve, since Maeve had taken care of her when she was young. She wondered how much Judy would be like Maeve, if at all.
Amanda and the children met up with Paul and Tug at the diner. The guys assured her everything would be fine and made her promise not to worry and to have the trip of a lifetime. That was a hard promise for her to make, but she’d try to keep it.
She hugged and kissed Hailey and Jesse, but they seemed almost eager to get rid of her since they were so excited to have a camping weekend with Paul. She tried not to take it personally.
The kids waved goodbye from the counter while Paul walked her back outside to her car.
“I trust you completely.” She placed her hand on his cheek. “I can’t thank you enough for doing this for me. I know it’s a big favor to ask.”
“It’s not. I’m happy to do it. Now, you better get going.” Paul stopped next to her car. “I’m not going to bother you, so you call if and when you need to, okay?”
She nodded and started to open the car door, then turned back and ran into Paul’s arms. He held her tight. “You girls make these days the best possible, and then you and I are going to make memories here. I love you, Amanda. I always will. I’ve got this.”
He kissed her, on the mouth this time.
“Thank you. I’ll see y’all soon.” Amanda let go of Paul and got in her car, throwing it in reverse and heading home before she changed her mind.
He loves me.
She drove to her house with those words teasing her brain. Like love love? I can’t process this right now. Focus on Maeve.
The driver would be picking them up at Maeve’s at ten o’clock.
Amanda had made some cookies and a casserole for Paul and the kids, but if she had to guess, they’d eat at Tug’s the whole time she was gone. She wrote a good-night note for each of them and laid them on their pillows. A big heart on the front of each note. Paul’s too.
She grabbed her luggage, then closed the door behind her, feeling blessed for the path she was on. She loved this little house and all the special moments Whelk’s Island had given her so far.
She drove over to Maeve’s house. She left her overnight bag in the car and climbed the stairs.
Maeve met her at the door. “Are you as excited as I am?”
“Yes. I couldn’t sleep all night!”
“Come on in. I feel like ten o’clock will never get here.” Maeve hurried her inside. It was a beautiful day. The Carolina blue sky was as clear as could be. There wasn’t one cloud overhead, and the ocean was as calm as bathwater.
The nurse had finished up her short term last night, so Maeve and Amanda were alone.
“It was nice to have the place to myself this morning,” Maeve said. “One last time.”
“Are you sure about all this? You can change your mind. We can make it work. Me. Tug. Paul. We’ll all do whatever you need us to.”
“No. I’m sure of my plan.”
“Do you have everything you want to take?”
“Yes.”
The doorbell rang. “That’s probably our driver.” Amanda grabbed Maeve’s hands, unable to hold in the little squeal of anticipation. “I’ll let him in.”
But it wasn’t the driver. It was Tug. “Look what the cat dragged in, Maeve.”
Maeve turned from where she stood at the deck’s railing. “I thought we said our goodbyes.”
“You said I could pack you some stuff for the trip.”
“You’re right, I did. Thank you.” Maeve gave him an obvious look up and down that made Amanda laugh. “I don’t see anything. What’d you bring me? A jelly bean?”
He lifted hi
s empty hands. “Ha! No. It’s downstairs. I put everything in two small coolers. One for hot stuff, and one for cold. Figured I’d load it in the limo for you.”
“A limousine. Can you believe it? I’ve never ridden in a limo before,” Maeve said. “Not even on prom or when we buried Mom and Daddy. They just had a Lincoln Town Car for the family, and that was expensive enough.”
“We’ll be traveling in style.” Amanda struck a playful pose, one she thought would give her that socialite appearance, flinging an imaginary scarf over her shoulder.
A double honk came from outside.
“I bet that’s him this time.” Amanda left Tug and Maeve and went to the front porch to check.
“Holy cow!” Amanda shouted. The limousine looked like it stretched clear across the driveway. She waved to the driver. He stepped out of the car, wearing a blue suit and a hat. “We’ll be right down.”
He waved, then got back in the car.
“Oh. My. Goodness. Gracious. Wait until you see our ride!” Amanda called Maeve and Tug over. “Come on. You have to see it. And, Maeve, he’s even wearing a hat!”
Maeve stepped onto the porch. “What in the world was Judy thinking?”
“I don’t know, but you are in for a treat,” Tug said. “You deserve it. Enjoy every moment of it.”
“Oh, Tug. Goodbye, my dear, dear friend.”
Amanda watched Tug hug Maeve gently, as if he thought she might break, and then he kissed her on the neck. Tug, having known Maeve his whole life, would surely feel an enormous loss when she was gone. Amanda’s heart ached for him. Heaviness weighted her own heart, and she hadn’t even known Maeve that long.
Amanda ran down to her car and grabbed her bag while the driver went upstairs to get Maeve’s things. When she looked up, she saw the driver carrying two small suitcases, and Tug was escorting Maeve down the stairs.
How does someone reduce a whole lifetime of belongings and memories down to two suitcases?