CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Emma
Ididn’t tellGrams I found Charlie or that he would be here this morning, just in case it didn’t happen. I couldn’t bear to disappoint her. However, I also wanted to see the look on her face as he walked through the door. Mom and Annie aren’t here yet, which is a good thing because I think they might interfere with Grams and Charlie’s reunion, but I have to be here for this because Grams entrusted me with hersecret.
“Emma,” Jackson whispers into my ear. “Maybe we should give them aminute.”
“I can’t leave,” I whisper back. Both of us are standing at the door, and I know Jackson wants to hear what happens just as much as Ido.
“All right,” hesays.
“Amelia,” Charlie says her name again as if he just wants to hear it out loud. He’s caressing her cheek and wiping her tears away. He leans forward and gives her a long hug. Grams closes her eyes, and her lips quiver as her chest rises andfalls.
I’m having a hard time breathing just watching them. The honor of watching a love story that has spanned seven decades is nothing I’ll ever forget. After a moment, Charlie turns and takes ahold of a chair by the bed, pulling it up beside Grams and takes her hand within hisagain.
Charlie is gazing into Grams’s eyes, and it looks like he is struggling to find the right words to say. “I brought you something,” he tellsher.
“You brought me something?” Grams asks, trying to laugh against hertears.
“I was worried you might be hungry,” Charlie says as he hands her the pastry bag he had beencarrying.
Grams peers inside and cups her hand over mouth. “Charlie Crane,” she says,weakly.
“A sweet roll for my sweetheart—your favorite,” hesays.
Grams’s eyes well up again as she continues looking at the fresh pastry in the bag. She swallows hard and finally looks back up at him. “I thought you died, Charlie. I waited in Switzerland for a year, but when you didn’t come back to me, I assumed you had been killed, so I made the decision to move here. I thought if by God’s grace you were still alive and you were ever going to find me, it would be here—where our dreams were supposed to cometrue.”
Charlie rests his hand on Grams’s and encloses her fingers in his. “I was sent to prison for ten years when they took me away from you that day. I was so angry that they ripped us apart, but I saw you get far enough away that I had some relief knowing you would be able to escape. When I was released, I looked everywhere for you. I wasn’t sure if you were even alive, but I didn’t stop, Amelia, not until I foundyou.”
“Oh Charlie, my sweet Charlie. It took seventy-four years, but you found me, my love,” shesays.
Charlie looks down at their hands for a moment before gazing back up at her. “Amelia, I have to be honest with you aboutsomething.”
“What is it?” Grams asks with wonder and her voice cracks with a sound ofweakness.
“I—I found you a long time ago,” Charlie says. He takes a deep breath and looks back up at her. “It didn’t take seventy-five years, Amelia. I wanted to have you back in my life so badly, but I saw you at an airport one day with your family, and I accepted the fact that you were happily married with two daughters. I wasn’t going to interfere with the life you made for yourself. I just couldn’t be thatselfish.”
I gasp, making my presence known at the doorway, and Charlie turns around as Grams stares at him with her mouth wide open. “Give us a moment, will you, sweetheart?” Charlie says tome.
Jackson pulls me from the doorway but just around to the wall so we can still hear theirconversation.
“You’re a doctor, you know, you shouldn’t be spying on patients,” I tellhim.
“Shush, I can do what I want. This is not a violation of patient privacy. It’s about a lovestory.”
“That’s my grandfather in there,” I tell Jackson. “I think he’s Mom’s dad, and she doesn’t even know. I know the truth, and she doesn’t. That’s not fair toher.”
“Em, your grandmother may not want your mom and Annie to know, and you have to respect that. That information could destroythem.”
“Grams wouldn’t ask me to keep a secret like that,” I tellhim.
Jackson leans forward, bringing himself down to eye level with me. “She kept a secret for seventy-four years. I wouldn’t be sosure.”
I rest my head against the wall, exhaling despair. I can’t keep that kind of secret from Mom. I hope Grams tells them thetruth.
“Charlie, how could you? And what do you mean, you saw me at the airport?” I hear Grams speaking louder thanbefore.
“I was at the airport in Rhode Island one day many years ago, and I saw you from a distance. I couldn’t believe it was really you, but it was. I was so happy, so overjoyed. I headed toward you, but as I got closer, I saw you were sitting there with your family. You were smiling and laughing. You were happy, Amelia. I saw it with my own two eyes. That’s all I wanted for you,” heexplains.
