Authors: Rosemary Fifield
Paul put his hand under Connie’s elbow and guided her out the front
door. The iciness of the night air burned against the rawness of her eyes and
cheeks. Paul silently opened the passenger side door for her and waited until
she was inside before coming around to sit behind the steering wheel. Connie’s
head was stuffy and ached; she must look awful, and this was how he would
remember her. She turned away from him to look out the side window.
The drive to the library parking lot was painfully short. He pulled up
beside her car, but left his motor running. She would need to open her own door
and quietly slide out of his life.
She turned to look at him, her eyes pausing for a moment on his mouth,
and he shook his head. “Don’t.”
Connie took a deep breath. She was aching to feel his lips on hers one
more time. “Please?”
Paul shook his head, his face stern. “No. Please go.”
She closed her eyes and drew another deep breath to calm herself.
“Don’t make it harder,” he said.
Connie turned away from him and pushed the car door open. She felt as
though she were shoving her way through gelatin; the air was thick and held no
oxygen, and her movements were a struggle. She didn’t want to believe this was
the last time she would see him, possibly forever. Yet, she had no desire to
make anything harder for him than she already had. “I’ll pray for you, Paul.
Every day.”
“Thanks.”
She stepped out into the night air once more and closed the door behind
herself. Paul waited until she was in her car with the motor running and the
lights on before he backed up and drove away.
epilogue
May, 1969
The procession of cars rolled slowly down the quiet country road, tires
crunching gravel as the vehicles followed the silver hearse. Connie stared out her
side window, noticing the spring green of the trees, their leaves unfolding fresh
and new on this beautiful, sun-filled day.
The cemetery came into view ahead, but as non-family they were
considerably back in the line, and when Greg pulled over to the side of the
road, she could just see the others gathering to walk in behind the hearse.
She stepped out of the passenger side of the car and waited for him. He
stood tall and handsome in his dark suit and tie, and when she reached out to
take his arm, she felt a surge of pride in being with him. He smiled at her,
and she smiled back as they set out together toward the group congregating on
the grass at the cemetery entrance.
The hearse was the only vehicle that had entered the small cemetery
itself, the other cars remaining at the entrance and lining up along the road.
Connie and Greg were among the last to walk in under the arched entrance gate,
and when they reached the gravesite, the pallbearers had already placed the casket
on the scaffolding suspended over the open grave. A throng of people dressed in
dark colors were gathered on three sides, leaving the space at the head of the
casket for the priest and the two altar boys in white cassocks who assisted
him.
Connie and Greg stepped into place beside Mamma and Papa. Gianna and
David stood behind them. Near the head of the casket, on the opposite side, Angie,
in a dress of black, stood between Ethan and Francis LaCroix, her head down as
she held their hands.
The ceremony at the gravesite, presided over by the priest, was short.
The funeral Mass had been held earlier and the eulogies delivered. It was time
to surrender Marie Francoise Morrisette LaCroix to her final resting place.
Angie stepped forward and placed a spray of fresh pussy willows on the gray
metal casket; she had gathered them from the woods behind the LaCroix
homestead. The priest anointed the casket with holy water and led the group in
prayers before reciting his final blessing over the remains. Little by little,
the people around the casket moved away to embrace the grieving family members
before heading to their cars.
Instead of leaving, Mamma and Papa strolled deeper into the grassy
recesses of the sunlit cemetery, and Connie and Greg followed them. Connie read
the names on the flat headstones, names she had read once before without
knowing their significance, for the name Morrisette had held no meaning for her
then.
Mamma stopped walking about two-thirds of the way down the last row;
they were almost to the back corner of the cemetery. She stood still for a
moment, then turned to Connie and gave her a melancholy smile.
“This is where it started.” She spoke in Italian. “Right here. They met
us here and gave her to us to take care of for them. Poor Marie cried so hard.
And I was so worried you girls would wake up, I just wanted to take her and
hurry back to the car, but they were having such a hard time letting her go.”
She turned to Papa, her eyes shining with tears. “She was so tiny, remember?
And now she’s all grown up and leaving us.”
“Only for the summer, Mamma,” Connie said. “They need her right now.
And she’ll come visit us on weekends.”
Mamma nodded and turned away to cry where they couldn’t see.
Connie glanced at Greg standing quietly beside her and translated for
him what her mother had said. He smiled at her, then reached down to take her
hand in his. The diamond on her ring finger caught the sunshine, sending rainbows
of light back at them, and he gently brushed it with his thumb as his fingers curled
around hers.
So many things are changing
, Connie thought as she looked down at their joined
hands. But most of the changes were good and exciting and promised better times
to come.
The four of them turned and walked back toward the entrance. Angie—who
now wanted to be called Hope Marie—stood with Gianna and David at the base of
the stone angel that extended its arms in peace over everyone gathered there.
She turned toward Mamma and Papa as they approached and gave each of them a
hug, then embraced Greg and, finally, Connie.
“I got a letter from Paul,” she said into Connie’s ear. “He’s stationed
in Germany for now. He says he doesn’t know how long he’ll luck out, but so
far, so good. I thought you’d want to know.”
Connie stepped back and smiled at her. “Thanks. I’m glad he stays in
touch with you.”
“He’s going to be okay, Connie. Just like Nino and Frankie.”
“We’re all going to be okay.” Connie smiled into her younger sister’s red-rimmed
eyes. “Both you and this place are called ‘Hope.’ That’s not a coincidence.”
She smiled at Greg, then reached out to take his hand again, her heart
swelling with love for him. He smiled back, and contentment filled her. She looked
up at Hope’s angel. The benevolence in its face was just as she had remembered
it.
The End
Other books by Rosemary Fifield available on Amazon:
Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground
Stephanie knows she should avoid
the family of Ellis Walker. Her late boyfriend was responsible for the
drunk-driving accident that caused Walker's death. But his family
members keep coming into her life, and when she falls in love with one of
them--a performer with a popular country band on the East Coast--she
can no longer keep her distance. He's even willing to accept the unborn
child she carries, not realizing who the father is.
But some secrets have a way of
making themselves known, and some people should never be lied to.
Lonely Souls
Blinded and disfigured by the
accident that took the lives of her husband and unborn child, Shelby
Weaver-North seeks to start a new life in the small town of Chatham, Vermont.
She soon finds others like herself--lonely souls haunted by their personal
demons. Some wear their pain on their sleeves. Others carry their anguish deep
inside. Shelby's young housekeeper, Cassie Marsh, harbors a painful secret of
her own, embodied in the illegitimate child she carries. When unspeakable
tragedy shatters the lives of her new friends, Shelby must face her own inner
torments in order to help her friends deal with theirs.
A Road Well-Traveled
Becky Slater and her husband have
purchased a burnt-out old farmhouse in a small Vermont town, where they plan to
rebuild and make a new life for themselves. Before they get very far, however,
Becky's husband leaves her. Now living alone in a trailer on a backroad, Becky
knows only the dairy-farming O'Connor family and Hayden Flynn, the quiet young
handyman from a frighteningly dysfunctional family down the road. Her
friendship with the O'Connors--brothers Dean and Chip and their wives--becomes
central to her future as she seeks to sort out her relationship with Hayden,
who both fascinates and frightens her.
As the truth about the O'Connors
begins to unfold, however, Becky finds herself fluctuating between being the
counseled and the counselor. An unexpected pregnancy changes everyone's lives
and threatens the survival of this otherwise closely knit farming family. For
Becky, the startling revelations only reaffirm her doubts about commitment and
fidelity, sending her down a road from which it will be difficult to return.