Page 58 of Key West Homecoming

Until that moment, she hadn’t thought about how long that really was. She had imagined Gloria’s gentleman friend as someone who had appeared late in her grandmother’s life. Perhaps he was a companion she met for dinner or someone who sat beside her at Margarita Max’s.

Eight and a half years was different.

That was birthdays and holidays. It was ordinary Tuesdays and Sunday mornings. It was enough time to know what someone drank with breakfast and which stories they told too often. Edmund hadn’t been standing at the edge of Gloria’s life. He had been part of it, and her grandmother never said a word about it to her.

Emma looked again at the line near the beginning.

We were dear to one another.

She wondered why Gloria had never told her.

The question brought an uncomfortable one behind it. Had Emma ever given her the chance?

Their Sunday calls had usually been about Emma’s work, Chicago weather, Gloria’s garden or whatever book she was reading. Emma could remember asking whether Gloria was feeling well and whether she needed anything. She couldn’t remember asking if there was someone in her life. It never occurred to her to ask.

Then there was the other sentence.

I have something she asked me to give you.

Emma read that one again.

Whatever Edmund had been carrying for her had come from Gloria, and Gloria had apparently believed there might be a day when the two of them would meet.

Emma wasn’t sure what to do with that yet.

She folded the letter along its creases and then immediately opened it again.

Your grandmother spoke of you with great love.

Her eyes filled before she could stop them.

Emma looked toward the window until the feeling passed. She wasn’t sad exactly. The words simply reached somewhere she hadn’t expected them to.

Tess appeared beside the table with a bowl of soup and a glass of iced tea. She set both down without asking a question.

Emma appreciated her for that.

“Can I borrow a piece of paper?”

Tess pointed toward Emma’s bag. “You own a legal pad.”

“I don’t want to answer him on yellow paper.”

“Fair enough.”

She returned a moment later with a sheet of white stationery and an envelope.

Emma took out her pen.

Dear Mr. Fairbanks,

Thank you for your letter. I would very much like to meet you. Ten o’clock tomorrow at The Reading Room is perfect. I will find you at the corner table.

I’m glad you are well enough to be here. Please give my regards to your daughter.

Sincerely,

Emma Kendrick