“Better than the news,” Marnie agreed.
“Too bad it’s not as reliable.” Simone took a sip of tea and settled in. “I married Michael Nolan the year after I graduated from high school. Michael and Tommy had grown up together and were best friends. Then they went off and joined the Marines together. I was a couple of years behind them in school, and let me tell you, the summer after I graduated, when Michael came home on leave…” She smiled, her eyes going soft with memory. “Well, I knew the moment I saw him that something had changed. Or maybe I had.”
Marnie settled deeper into her chair. She’d missed conversations like this. She’d always been so careful not to forge new bonds or make new friends. Losing Sloane, her closest friend, had been like losing the best part of herself, and she hadn’t been willing to go through that again.
Simone set down her teacup. “Let me tell you, there’s something powerful about a man who has that quiet confidence in himself. Who can command with a look. Who doesn’t have to speak to be heard. Michael Nolan had that in spades. And when he came back home on leave, he’d grown into himself in a way that took my breath away.
“Girls flocked to him that summer. But I knew the way to catch the interest of a man like Michael wasn’t to throw myself at him like the others. I kept my distance.” She winked. “Oh, I made sure I was in his path every now and again. I’d make eye contact and give a friendly smile. Then I’d turn around and walk the other direction.” Her laugh was full of humor and good memories. “I drove him crazy.”
“What happened?” Marnie asked.
“Men like Michael aren’t ones to let moments pass them by. I was driving my daddy’s pickup home one afternoon and got a flat tire. Our house was a good forty-five minutes outside of town, and there were no cell phones in those days. I was well and truly stuck.
“To make matters worse, the sky opened up and we had a torrential downpour. I had blankets in the truck, a book, and groceries I could eat if I was there too long. I knew if it got dark my parents would come looking. So I hunkered down and waited.
“Not twenty minutes later, here comes Michael, his headlights glaring into the cab of the truck when he pulled up behind me.”
Simone’s gaze turned nostalgic. “There are moments in a woman’s life she’ll never forget. And I knew the moment he knocked on that window in the pouring rain that it would be one of mine.”
Her eyes grew misty. “Well, I don’t have to tell you what happened. He changed my tire in the rain, and then he climbed into the cab to wait out the worst of the storm with me, and by the time the rain stopped, I knew I was going to marry him. He told me later he’d known it too.” She smiled softly. “We were married within the month.”
“That’s beautiful,” Marnie said quietly.
“Finding someone like that is rare,” Simone agreed. “I was lucky enough to find it twice. Michael and I hadn’t been married but a few months when a couple of uniformed officers showed up on my doorstep. Tommy was with them. I could see he’d been wounded—his arm was in a sling and there was a bandage on his head. But we weren’t close then. He was just my husband’s best friend.
“It was hard to focus on anything other than the fact that they were telling me Michael was dead.” Simone’s voice caught. “I was nineteen years old, pregnant, and a widow. I couldn’t imagine living a life without Michael in it.”
A tear trickled down her cheek, but she didn’t wipe it away. “It wasn’t long after that I lost the baby too. The doctor said the shock and stress were just too much for my body. I didn’t think I’d ever recover. She was a girl—the only part of Michael I had left. Losing her was like having him die all over again.”
Marnie felt helpless. Seeing this woman who’d always been so strong show such vulnerability made her ache. “I’m so sorry, Simone.”
“You know what?” Simone pulled a handkerchief from her purse and dabbed at her face. “You’ve been a daughter to me from the first time Sloane dragged you to the house. Poor little thing. Scabs on your knees and dirty clothes, all that beautiful hair a tangled mess. And then I looked into those sad brown eyes of yours and I just fell in love. Pure and simple.”
Now it was Marnie who felt tears prick at her eyes. She looked away, remembering all too well the little girl she’d been.
“I’m going to give you some advice,” Simone said, her tone shifting to something more matter-of-fact. “Just like I would give a daughter. Because that’s what you’ll always be to me, and I don’t care who tries to say otherwise.”
The sudden shift made Marnie laugh despite the emotion thick in the room.
“People like you and me are survivors, Marnie. The past is what shapes us. What makes us who we are. But it doesn’t define us. It took Tommy three years to wear me down. To pull me out of my grief and misery so I could see what was right in front of me. We all get second chances. And third chances. And fourth. But we have to be aware enough to recognize them when they come. Otherwise we miss out.
“Thank God that man was patient,” she continued. “I’d wrapped myself in my sadness like a shroud, and I didn’t want anyone trying to take it from me. But the thing about the past is that no matter how we might want to cling to it, the distance keeps growing. The memories will always be there. That’s good—that’s how we learn. But they’ll never be our future.”
“Is that your way of telling me I should give Beckett a chance?”
“I’m telling you that you’re worthy of love, Marnie. Tommy loved me despite myself. Don’t get in the way of your own happiness.”
“Is that what you think I’m doing?”
“Partly.” Simone nodded. “But I also understand the need to protect yourself. Just because I lost you all those years ago didn’t mean I stopped trying to find you. I hope you know that Tommy and I fought tooth and nail to get the state to let you come live with us. We didn’t know how bad it was at home. I knew money was tight, so we offered your mama work when we could. And I suspected your daddy had a hard hand. I looked for marks on your body every time you came over.”
Marnie stared into the bottom of her teacup. “I didn’t come over unless I was healed. And I’d learned to stay out of his way for the most part, the older I got.”
“My poor girl.” Simone let the tears flow freely now. “I’m so sorry we couldn’t save you.”
Marnie cleared her throat and reached across to hold the other woman’s hand. “I’m back now. That’s all that matters.”
“And maybe someday you’ll be comfortable enough to tell me about the sadness you brought back with you. I know you left a relationship to come home. That’s never easy.”
