“Another time,” Dad said, smiling. But there was something sad in his eyes. “Caleb, we’ll see you tomorrow.”
Emery walked him out to his truck. “I’m sorry, I don’t know why he’s being so weird.”
“I get it,” Caleb said, popping open his truck door. “He wants a family dinner. I’d want that too if Cass wasn’t a freakazoid.” He kissed her quickly on the cheek. “See you tomorrow.”
She waited as he drove off, waving one last time.
Back in the cottage, Dad set out the mustard and ketchup and aplate of sliced onions and tomatoes. Mom set the seventies-style dishes on the table. They were eating at the table? Guess they were serious about this family dinner.
Dad put Emery in charge of the potato salad, coleslaw, and baked beans. He filled glasses with ice, and Mom poured the sweet tea.
Oldies played softly on the kitchen radio, but dinner wasn’t their usual lively affair with Dad telling corny jokes and Mom trying not to laugh, Emery sharing anything and everything about her day.
Dad was preoccupied. Mom looked more tired than usual. Emery couldn’t stop thinking about Caleb and their inevitable good-bye as she choked down her hamburger, which sat in her stomach like a rock.
At the end of the meal, Dad wadded up his napkin and said, “Let’s sit in the living room.”
“Here, Em.” Mom patted the settee, a rectangular velvet box resting in her lap. The Force family pearls. “I want to give you these.”
“The pearls? Why?” Emery wasn’t partial to pearls. No one her age wore them. But these were special. A family heirloom, given to a Force woman for her wedding. Tradition dictated that the bride’s mother hooked the choker necklace on the inheriting daughter the moment before her father walked her down the aisle. “I like Caleb a lot, Mom, but I’m not ready to get married just yet.” Her laugh sounded hollow. What was going on here?
“I want to give these to you now since I won’t—” Mom smiled faltered, and her eyes filled her tears. “I won’t be here to give them to you for your wedding.”
“What are you talking about?” Emery looked at Dad, then Mom. “Why won’t you be here?”
Mom gathered Emery’s hands in hers. “When you were born ... I was so happy. Finally, I had my baby. We’d tried for so long.” Mom’s tears spilled over and slipped down her cheeks.
Emery pulled away, standing. “I don’t know what you’re going to say but—”
“Will you please sit down? I have this whole speech prepared, and I’m going to say it.” Mom patted the cushion again, and Emery sat with a huff. “Your dad and I always planned to give you the Force name. It’s your heritage and your character.” She opened the pearl box for Emery to see the white strand resting against the black velvet. “You come from a line of loving, kind women who understood the power of family and motherhood. They stood up for things even when it wasn’t popular. Shelby Force Canton was the first to wear the pearls. Her parents went all the way to Tiffany’s to buy them. She gave them to Elizabeth Force Jones, who gave them to Grace Force Wilder, who gave them to me, Rosie Force Quinn.” Mom set the pearls in Emery’s hand again. “Now I’m giving them to you, Emery Force Quinn. Be strong, Em. Be a force for good. Don’t look back, don’t give up. Yet lean on those who love you and care for you. L-let God into your life.”
“All right, that’s enough.” Emery was on her feet again. “Tell me right now. Why won’t you be here when I get married?”
Mom wiped her wet cheeks with a wad of tissues. “Don’t wear them until your wedding. Have some woman you love hook them on for you. I don’t have a sister, nor does your father, but—”
“Mom! Stop talking about my freaking wedding and tell me right now. What’s wrong?” But she knew. She felt it in every part of her trembling being.“I won’t be here to give them to you.”
“—whatever you do, don’t let your friends try them on or borrow them. They’re not for a prom. They’re for your wedding. But be generous whenever and wherever you can. As I don’t know what the future holds for you and your dad, you can share with—”
“Me and Dad? Me and Dad?” Emery paced through the small living space, into the kitchen, back to the living room, gripping the side of her head, fingers twined with her hair, shaking so much she feared she’d lose it. Flat-out lose it. “Are you ... dying? You’re only forty-nine.”
“Em,” Dad began, sad and low, “your mom has stage-four brain cancer. The days we disappeared? We were checking with specialists in Jacksonville and at the University of Florida.”
“I knew you weren’t visiting old friends,” she whispered. She waited for him to say more. “And ...?”
“And there’s nothing they can do. She could go through surgery and chemo, but it will be hard on her physically and mentally. At best, she’d live three or four months longer, sick more than not the entire time. Mom has chosen to forgo treatment and be present with us for her final days.”
Emery snapped the pearl box closed and tossed it on the settee. “So let me get this straight. You and Dad have been on a journey discovering you’re going to die without saying a word to me? Letting me run all over Sea Blue Beach with a cute boy as if life was all sunshine and lollipops? I feel like I’ve been living a lie. Why didn’t you tell me any of this? I’m sixteen, not six. When did you find out you had cancer?”
“May,” Mom said softly.
“May? And you’re just now telling me? It’s mid-July.” She faced her father. “So this whole summer was a fraud. We’re not here to make family memories. We’re here to say good-bye to Mom. For you to give me the Force pearls. Well, I’m not wearing them. Ever.” She ran out of Cottage 7, Dad’s voice calling after her.
“Emery, please come back inside.”
She crossed the courtyard and kicked a fallen pine cone. When her bare feet hit the beach, she ran toward the water, stopping on the edge of the low tide, where the sands of Sea Blue Beach washed out from under her feet with each receding wave.
Tipping back her head, she screamed against the wind and toward the last bit of gold, red, and orange resting on the horizon, then raised her fist at the first peek of the full, luminous moon, thepearlof the night sky.
