Authors: Suzette Vaughn
And the dock that she was now sitting on had been the final piece to make her stay. It jutted out a good bit from the shore giving her an unblocked view of the water, and the sun rising, and if she could see beyond her limited eye sight all the way to Europe. It was as close as she could get to Europe and still be away from the fighting.
It was as close as she could get to Galen. The first time she’d realized that
,
she cried for three days, sitting on this dock. Instinctively she’d done it. She’d gone as far as she could to get to him. This dock was her final resting place since she was sure he’d die fighting across the s
ea that separated them.
Even with part of her dying, she’d started working at the diner. She’d bought the cottage knowing he’d be proud of her. Her Mama would have been proud too.
The leaves rustled behind her but the wind wasn’t blowing that hard. S
he half hoped it was Frank so she didn’t have to talk to Galen, yet. The other half of her went the other way.
“It’s beautiful
,
Madelyn.”
“I can second that.”
The sun was just cresting over the ocean creating a
vision by which to live one’s life.
“The whole property, but that view is spectacular.” Galen sat down putting his back to the next pole down from her.
“Do you mind if we stay out here and talk?”
“I’m fine with that.”
His tone stayed soft.
She pulled her quilt tighter, trying to figure out where to start.
“Harland,” she said. “That might be a good place to start.”
His face flushed.
“You want to go in for coffee?” She decided maybe
that wasn’t
a good place to begin.
“You’re comfortable here. Let’s talk about Harland.” His eye was slightly bruised.
Her eyes moved back to the water.
“When you left he was very kind.” She started but she wasn’t going to tell him how devastated she was at that time. “Somehow he
understood
what I was going through.
“
Well
,
one night I was mindlessly straightening papers in Fredric’s study and he walked up behind me and said my name. When I turned around, he was on one knee with your grandmother’s ring in an open box.
“
I wondered what in the world he was doing. Before it really registered, he’s putting that ring on my finger, your mama’s laughing, and Fredric is patting him on the back. It took all night for me to figure out what really happened then I still couldn’t figure why. Really what was he thinking?”
“Taking care of his brother’s widow.” Galen’s eyes were planted on the
north
side of the beach away from her.
“Maybe. At least that makes some kind of strange sense. Of course, we would’ve needed to actually be married and you dead for it to be true.”
“Why didn’t you just tell them
,
‘
N
o
,
’ once you came to your senses?”
“I was working on that. The next day everyone kept saying congratulations. Then after dinner, Harland’s giving me bridal magazines, Kate’s still laughing, and Fredric’s standing around like a guard dog.
“
While I’m trying to figure how to tell them all it’s a mistake
,
it hits me that if I do, I might as well not exist. I would never get a job, never find a home, and there would be no one to help me. There wasn’t anything in town that Fredric didn’t have a hand in.
“
And when I looked at him
,
he smiled. He knew when I realized
it
. He’d been waiting for me to try and break it off so he could explain the situation I was in.
“
I told them I needed rest, that it was all too exciting. I went up to your room and cried. I really didn’t know what to do. Each time someone opened the door to check on me
,
I feigned sleep.”
She couldn’t look at Galen but he was intently watc
hing her now
,
instead of the shoreline
.
“When everyone was asleep I packed. I’d decided it was the only thing I could do. Leave and try to never be found.”
“That sounds simple.” Galen’s voice was deep, riddled with anger. At least he was showing some kind of emotion.
“It was harder than joining the
war
.” She bit back.
His eyes were mere slits with the glare she received.
She huffed, “If you don’t want to listen then we are wasting my time. You might as well do what you want.”
Her stomach hurt. Too much emotion pouring through remembering that time and the decisions she had to make. It was torturous staring at the sea with him so close and not being the man he once was. To think
about
how long he was gone and then have him show up like this.
“How did you find me?” It shocked her that the question came aloud when it was barely a thought.
“A man
knocked on the door with a picture and a place
.”
“I haven’t had my picture taken.”
He rifled
through
his jacket and handed a picture to her. She was serving Frank coffee in the diner.
“Still have no clue who or when but thank you.” She handed it back.
He stared at it for a moment
,
the
n
put it back in his pocket.
“Are you going to tell me how you ended up being
accused
of stealing the payroll?”
She considered for a moment the way he put accused. He was accusing her of it himself. She didn’t like it but he didn’t understand. She hoped by the end of the day he would understand the full story.
“I walked in the back door with my suitcase full of what I could take with me
, which wasn’t much
. I went into the study to put the ring on the desk where it wouldn’t be missed and Kate was asleep on the sofa, still wearing her dinner dress. She’d done that a few times since you left. I put down the suitcase and retrieved the quilt that was in the parlor. When I put it over her though she woke up.”
“What are you doing up?” Kate asked, then she saw the suitcase. “I wondered if you wouldn’t end up running.”
“I don’t have any other choice.”
She sat up on the sofa. “Before you go I want to talk to you. Get me a drink if you will.”
Of course, Maddy did as asked.
“Sit down, sweetie.”
She sat in the chair by the desk as Kate took down the bourbon.
“Fred has a mind of his own, thinks he rules it all too. It was his idea that Harland ask you and he wouldn’t take no as an answer. You’re doing both
of you
a favor taking off. I don’t want to know where you’re going
,
but how do you expect to get there?”
“I don’t know where I’m going and I’ll walk or catch a ride. I just can’t be here.”
“I’m amazed you’ve stayed as long as you have. Fred shouldn’t have sent Galen off like that. He just can’t see it.”
Maddy looked to the floor, she couldn’t think about Galen just now. He wasn’t here and he would have to understand.
“I need to tell you something that I’ve held in too long.” She held out the empty glass.
Maddy refilled it and took her seat again. Kate didn’t slosh it down like she had the last but took a reasonable drink of the clear brown liquid.
“Your mama was working late.” She took another sip. “I offered to give her a ride home but she declined as always. Said the walking did her good, kept her closer to God. I always thought she didn’t want me to come face to face with your pa but I never knew for sure and
he was gone at that point anyway
.”
“Probably a little of both.” Maddy offered.
Kate looked up from the drink to her but only for a moment. “You remind me more and more every day of her. Your hair may
be dark but you are your mother’s daughter. Anyway, Cassie said she was going to put the washtub away in the garage and go on home. I agreed she’d worked late enough
.
Y
ou’d been sick that week and she was picking up the slack, of course. Cassie just couldn’t leave something left undone.”
It hit Maddy that she was talking about the week Mama had disappeared.
“I saw Will pull in the driveway and expected he was going up to his apartment over the garage. You remember he stayed here for a time.”
He’d stayed there for years
prior to Maddy moving in.
“A little while later, I couldn’t tell you how long, I heard a noise in the garage and went out to check. I figured Will was working on the car but Fredric had told him not to do that, it leaves oil stains on the floor.”
Kate took down the rest of her drink, again in one swallow. Maddy stood to refill it but got waved back to her seat. Each word came out a little softer as Kate continued, she was lost in the memory. Her eyes glossed over and it wasn’t
only
from the liquor.
“The garage door was closed
and I thought that was odd,
Will never remembered to close it. So, I went through the side door and stopped. My hand covered my mouth so as to not scream. I didn’t believe what my own eyes saw. Will was . . .” Kate cleared her throat. “He had Cassie sitting on the work bench out there, pushed back toward the corner, cans from the bench tossed on the floor. At first, I thought I’d walked in on the two of them having an affair but I knew Cassie better than that.”
Even though Kate was looking at her, Maddy couldn’t return the look. Too many questions going through her mind and each making her more angry.
“I looked closer and Cassie was trying to talk. There were red marks on her throat, to the point that it was raw, where she was scratching trying to loosen the belt he’d wrapped around there. I’m not sure if he realized he was slowly choking her or not. He yelled something at me. I don’t know if he was so out of his mind that he didn’t speak right or if I was in enough shock that I didn’t hear it.”
Her jaw shook. She stood and walk
ed over to pour her own drink, clanking the glass together. She took a large swallow almost emptying the glass.
“I ran from the garage. I intended to call the police and have them come and help. I didn’t know what else to do. I didn’t know how to help her. When I came into the kitchen, Fred was there. I started telling him what I could and trying to drag him to the garage. He patted my hand and walked out there telling me to stay in the kitchen. He told me to get a drink and calm down
, that
he would take care of Will.”
She
finished off her
drink probably mimicking what she did that day.
“I waited in the kitchen
.
Tess came in asking about the commotion, and I sent her upstairs to clean up
.
S
he didn’t need to see what Will had done. When Fred came in, he took me up to bed. Said I had an awful fright but everything
w
as fine. He was going to take Cassie to the doctor and make sure she was alright
. T
he two had gotten into a fight, that was all. I tried again to tell him what I saw and he kissed me and left me to rest in bed.”
Kate stared at Maddy for a moment. Tears were falling down Maddy’s face no matter how much she tried to stop them.
“I woke up when you came in the house that night.” Her voice filled with sorrow. “I just couldn’t think about what I’d seen and what you were saying. After Galen left with you, Fred came up to checked on me.”
Kate sounded like she’d gone completely back to that day, like she was no longer in the study. It was eerie enough to stop the tears.
“I tried to tell him again what I’d seen. He said that I hadn’t seen anything
. He said
I was dreaming it because I had a fever and was hearing you talk in the foyer. He gave me a pill and told me I was never to speak about it to anyone.”
Kate
reached for
the decanter.
“The next morning I tried again. He yelled
saying
I would obey him as his wife. That I would never say what I thought I saw. It would ruin the family. It would ruin my sons. I kept trying to ask him what it would do to you not to know. He said it was simple, Cassie ran away. That was it.”
Kate sat back on the sofa with a full drink.
“I wonder what he’ll do when I tell him I told you? Told you everything.”
She laughed, like she had over the previous two days. That laugh that said everything was funny to her because it was so surreal.
“You know,” Kate continued, “you try and tell anyone I told you this I’ll deny it. Much like you have no choice but to leave, I have no choice but to stand by my husband.”