“How is she?”
“Sleeping… finally,” said Amelia, exhaustion showing on her face. She shut the door and joined Ellie at the rail. “This has been an emotional day for her.”
“I’m a little surprised.” Ellie couldn’t recall a time when she’d seen her mother display any emotion other than anger or disgust.
“I suppose none of us are impervious to the effects of death,” said Amelia. “Not even our mother.” She leaned against the rail and drew a deep breath of the cool evening air. “Besides, Clara was her sister. I know I’d be devastated if anything ever happened to you.”
Amelia’s words left Ellie feeling hollow. “You know I feel the same about you, right?”
Amelia nodded knowingly. “But it wouldn’t hurt you to say it sometimes.” She grinned, then set her gaze upon the water below. “You weren’t lying when you said this place was gorgeous. How come you never came back after that summer?”
Ellie considered that. “I had planned to,” she said, recalling the promise she’d made to Jack about returning, “but after Jack went to war, I couldn’t stomach the thought of being here without him. Then after we broke up, I tried to forget about this place. I suppose I could have come back to see Clara, and in retrospect, I should have, but it would have been too hard. This is a small town, and sooner or later, I would have run into Jack. And what do you say to the man whose heart you broke?”
Amelia cast a look of suspicion in her direction. “I thought you said Jack left you?”
Ellie averted her eyes. “That’s what I told everyone, but the truth is I’m the one who ended it.”
“Why? What happened?”
Stricken by remorse, Ellie hesitated before answering. “From the moment I returned home, Mother was in my ear, trying her best to convince me that I should forget about Jack and focus on school. But I was stubborn and refused to give in. Determined to prove her wrong, my love for Jack strengthened, and for a while, things were great. Despite the distance, we wrote almost every day. I was convinced we were going to make it, that once school was over, we would get married and spend the rest of our lives together. Then in November of that year, Jack came to visit, and something happened that caused a fracture in our relationship.”
“What?”
Panic stirred inside Ellie as she recalled the details. “Considering it was Jack’s first time in Bloomington, naturally, I wanted him to meet my friends. I thought they’d love him for all the same reasons I loved him, but I was wrong. Anyway, Jack and Michael got into an argument, which led to Jack leaving a day early. I was devastated. In the days that followed, all I could hear was Mother’s voice inside my head, saying told you so.” Ellie paused as a wave of agony tore through her. “A few weeks later, Jack received his draft letter. Things were never the same after that. We hung on for another year, but eventually, I think we both knew our time had come and gone, so in the summer, I decided to end it. I felt terrible for breaking his heart, especially considering he was at war, but I felt as if I had no other choice.”
Amelia took a moment to process Ellie’s words. “I didn’t realize you had gone through all that. Why didn’t you come to me?”
“I was hurt and ashamed,” she said, fighting tears. “I loved Jack with all my heart, and breaking up with him was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. Over the years, I’ve tried to forget about him, to move on, but I can’t. A piece of my heart remains with him.”
“Do you still love him?”
She dissolved into tears.
Amelia comforted her until she stopped crying.
“You must think I’m a fool, carrying on like this.” Ellie dried her eyes.
“Of course not. This is an emotional time. Honestly,” Amelia said, releasing her, “I’m relieved to see that you still have feelings.”
“What?”
“Well, it’s just that normally nothing seems to affect you. You’re very…” She seemed to be searching for a word. “Stoic. At least now I know you’re not completely heartless. For a while, I was starting to think you were turning into Mother.”
They burst into laughter.
“I needed that.” Ellie took a moment to compose herself. “You don’t know how much I’ve missed this.”
“What?”
“Talking, just the two of us, like we did when we were teenagers. I don’t know if I ever told you, but growing up, I had this vision in my head of what our lives would be like when we got older. I figured we’d both be married, live in the same city, maybe even on the same street, and have children that grew up together.” She frowned. “But that couldn’t be further from the truth, could it?”
“We can still have those things,” said Amelia. “But that would require a rearranging of your priorities, and I’m not sure you’re ready for that.”
* * *
After another sleepless night, Ellie woke the following morning with the sole purpose of finding Jack. Emotions held captive for the past decade had broken loose at the mere sight of him, filling her with a sense of hope—and dread. She loved him, of that she was certain. The only question was: did he still love her? Moreover, she hadn’t noticed a wedding ring, which made her wonder why, after all this time, he hadn’t married.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Marie looked up from the morning paper, stalking Ellie with her eyes.
