Jep’s note was frayed from being carried around and read so many times. She still did not know what he’d meant. It didn’t matter. Jep had written only two lines on the page of notebook paper, with several spaces between.
I love you, Ella.
P.S. Please don’t tell.
Ever so carefully Lucy tore the page in half, splitting the message. She refolded the two pieces and shoved the one she wanted in her front pocket.
Back in Ella’s room, Lucy pulled up a chair. “You were amazing today,” she said. “You’re getting stronger and stronger.” Again, Ella looked pained by the praise. She didn’t want Lucy to see her struggle.
There would be no reading ofAnne of Green Gablestoday.Instead, Lucy pulled the note out of her pocket and set it on the blanket across Ella’s lap.
At first Ella stared at the folded paper. Lucy watched her pick it up, her fingers shaky still. But the light that registered in her eyes when she saw the handwriting was instant.
“You know who that’s from?” Lucy asked.
Ella couldn’t tear her eyes from the note, still folded. She nodded.
“Would you like me to read it to you?”
With trembling fingers Ella opened it. When it lay open, Lucy watched Ella’s eyes travel across the message once, then twice. Then up at her.
Ella made a noise in her throat, her lips moving. Lucy couldn’t understand what she was saying. She tried to guess. “Jep came to see me. He wanted you to have it.”
Ella made another noise, still unintelligible.
“I was afraid to give it to you,” Lucy went on. “I didn’t want it to upset you. Is it okay that I did?”
Ella nodded her head. Without warning, her face crumpled, tears streaming down her cheeks.
“Shit.” Lucy grabbed her sister’s hand and the note dropped on the bed between them. “It did upset you.” She never should’ve let Jep get to her; she should’ve listened to her gut. Lucy began to well up, too. “I’m sorry,” she cried, laying her head on Ella’s lap.
Ella’s hand went to Lucy’s hair, stroking it. It was what she’d done when they were little girls and Lucy would bring her hurt feelings to her big sister. When Lucy looked up, Ella was shakingher head back and forth, a smile so full and so beautiful spreading across her face. “You’re not upset?” Lucy managed.
Ella shook her head again, bringing the note to her chest. She pressed it there, tight against her heart, and finally Lucy understood.
When Ella opened her arms, Lucy surrendered. In one mercurial motion she slipped from her chair and onto the bed, spilling into Ella like water, all the punctures and hollows between them filling once more. Heads pressed together, the sisters wept, Jep Parsons’s note collecting their tears like raindrops.
