“Well, there’s a lot to the story, but her and I had a falling out when I broke your Uncle Cole’s heart.”?
That wasdefinitelynot the best moment to take a sip of wine. The second her words landed, I sputtered, sending a fine mist of merlot across the table—and straight onto Eunice. “Oh, Lord, Eunice, I’msosorry!” I gasped, half-choking,half-apologizing as the wine burned its way through my nose.
I grabbed at my sleeve in a panic, dabbing at her with all the finesse of a toddler cleaning up a juice spill. My thin sweater soaked through almost instantly, leaving both of us dripping and me flushing with a fresh wave of mortification. Eunice blinked at me, her face caught between horror and amusement, as a single red droplet traced a deliberate path down her cheek.
Eunice motioned for the server, who came running over. “Napkins, please. And two shots of tequila. We may need it.”?
In all my life, I’d never seen Eunice Wilder take a shot of anything that wasn’t meticulously prepared, garnished, and served in the finest glassware. We sat quietly for a moment, and when the shots were dropped off at the table, I’d somewhat regained my composure and had expelled the remaining wine from my nostrils.?She lifted her shot glass to cheers with mine, and we locked eyes for a moment before shooting them down.?
“I guess I’ll just start at the most important part. I loved your uncle. I loved him very, very much.”?
I watched her in complete bewilderment. Fancy-pants, immaculate, Daughter of Savannah Civic Society herself, Eunice Wilder was once in love with my scruffy, no-frills bartender Uncle Cole. I just couldn’t wrap my head around it.
“We fell in love when we were kids. Not unlike you and Lee. I realized that almost too late. He even escorted me to the Fall Formal once. My daddy had an absolute fit over that one.” She paused, staring out over the river as if the memories were flickering in front of her like an old film. “It’s strange, really. Almost like history’s trying to play out the same old scenes, even if the players have changed. Just like how you and Lee are finding your way back to a friendship, it feels like we’re all destined to relive these moments, no matter how much we try to rewrite them.”
?She laughed and looked down into her lap, playing with a napkin she used to clean up the wine that I had nose-hosed onto her blouse.?
She went on. “We had a few beautiful years together until I went to Boston. That’s where I met Vance, you know. Well, not met him, but re-met him, I guess. Our parents had been friends. I was at Wellesley, and Vance was at Harvard. We ran into each other at a party in Boston and sort of formed this weird, southern alliance amongst all those Yankees.”?
I imagined a young, vibrant Eunice, traipsing through the snowy streets of Boston, and of all people in the city, she ran into Vance Wilder.?
“Anyway,” she continued, “Vance and I went home for Christmas break, together but not dating, of course. I still loved your uncle. We wrote every day, and he would send me sketches of things that he drew on the back of O’Malley’s napkins. He was so romantic. But when we got back to Savannah that winter, my daddy and Vance’s daddy had caught wind of the two of us spending time together, and well, my father gave me an ultimatum.”?
I was hesitant to say anything, so I nodded for her to continue. Given the kind of outdated, sometimes absurd expectations I’d faced being drawn into their world, I could only imagine what she’d been through.
“Politely as ever, of course, my father told me if I wanted to continue my education in Boston, I should let Vance court me. His father had struck some sort of deal with Daddy, and, well, my father was named a partner at the Wilder firm by spring. Vance and I were engaged by fall.”?
My eyes went as wide as saucers. “I don’t know what to say. So, what did you do about Uncle Cole?”?
Eunice released a weary breath. “Your uncle came to see me in Boston right after my engagement to Vance hit the pages of the Savannah Local. He begged me to change my mind, but I knew how important it was for my family that I marry Vance, so I broke things off with Cole. For good.”?
I wanted to tell her I could only imagine how difficult it must have been, but she always seemed unfazed by her relationship with Vance. As the pounding in my ears grew louder and my blood pressure spiked, I clamped my lips together, swallowing my thoughts before they could escape.
“Anyway, your momma called me once she found out and said she would never speak to me again, and that was that. She kept to her word and never did. It broke my heart. I’d run into her occasionally, but once she moved to Tybee Island with your daddy, that was pretty much the end. He’d always give a polite hello, but your momma… well, she was as stubborn as ever.” Her laugh came out as a breathy, shaky sound, and she quickly caught it with a sniffle. Her words shattered my heart into a million pieces.
I nodded and put my hand on her shoulder, offering her what little comfort I could.?
Eunice turned to me and gave me a sad, tired look. “I need you to understand that I don’t regret one second of my life. I have never wanted for anything. Vance and I have a wonderful home, great friends, and we work well together. I was able to continue my education and fulfill my dream of becoming an antiquarian. And, most importantly, I have two beautiful, albeit insane, sons. And both of them are just crazy about you.”?
I took our bottle of wine out of the chiller and refilled our glasses, letting her continue. She looked away from me, and I could see her shoulders rattling as she fought back tears.?
“I learned to move on from the love I had for Cole. It took some time, and my obligations to Vance were a great distraction. But not having your momma, or her love and friendship in my life, was the worst heartbreak of it all. The void she left behind when she walked out of my life echoed louder than any other loss I’d ever experienced.”?
Her words hit me like a truck, and I leaned back in my seat, feeling the weight of the conversation. “I miss her, too. But I know my momma. She probably loved you until her last breath.”?
“Like I said, our friendship reminded me so much of yours and Sutton’s. I often wonder what our lives would have been like if I’d had the courage to listen to her when she asked me to instead of doing what I thought was right,” she said, her voice tinged with regret.
We let the quiet settle between us for a moment. The traffic-heavy river bustled below, full of bellowing cargo ships and troves of tourists milling up and down the cobblestone streets. The sounds of laughter, of normalcy, wafted up toward us as we both struggled to figure out what to say next.?
Eunice turned and met my eyes, tears streaming down her face. “Do you love Dane, Magnolia?”?
“Of course I do. I always have. In a different way, of course. It’s all very complicated,” I offered nervously, bouncing my leg up and down and fighting the urge not to chew on my bottom lip.?
She let out a small laugh. “Is it, though?”
“It is. If we’re being honest with each other, having Lee home—and now wanting to stay home—is complicating things. I’m appreciative of him, truly, that he would want to step in and help me with the bar, but I can’t help but wonder ifthis is some weird, sick thing to get back at Dane for something? I don’t know.”?
Eunice shook her head. “No, it’s not that. I think Dane is confident enough in your relationship not to let Lee’s homecoming get in the way. And I know my Leland; he will put up a fight if he wants something. I saw it last night when we were going over the paperwork. And I know he’ll do it. He’ll fight like hell if he wants you back.”?
