Page 98 of Sweet Somethings

Fourteen

"Your apartment is cozy and cute," Cecelia told Juliette as she wandered around the studio Saturday afternoon. "It reminds me of my first place. I felt so independent, so modern, to be on my own." Her smile was a bit sad. "That was a long time ago."

"Please, sit down." She waved Cecelia toward one of the two chairs at her small kitchen table. While she'd been swamped in the bakery downstairs, when Cecelia had shown up, she couldn't resist taking a break and inviting her upstairs so she could talk to her before she handed over the letters.

"I don't want to take up too much of your time," Cecelia said.

"Don't worry about it. I could use a few minutes off. My day started around four, so I've already put in twelve hours."

"That's so early. I don't know how you do it."

"It's a busy time of the year for me, but I love it."

"That's the way it should be." Cecelia's gaze strayed to the metal box between them. "I still can't quite believe you found that."

"Roman was the one who discovered it under the floorboard. He thought the letters might belong to my parents; that's why he called me about it. But we soon realized that they'd most likely been written years before. Can I say again how beautiful your writing is? I felt like I was experiencing the same emotions you were. I was completely caught up in your story."

"That's sweet of you to say. I've always felt more comfortable writing than speaking. Words come easier when I don't have to say them out loud." She drew in a breath. "You want to know the whole story, don't you?"

"If you have any interest in sharing—yes. I think I know the man you were writing about."

"I had a feeling you might figure that out." She paused, gathering her thoughts. "I met Vincent when I was nineteen years old. He was twenty-three and so handsome, so worldly. I had seen him around, but the first time I spoke to him was in the drugstore. He had a cold, and he asked me if I knew what medicine he should take." She smiled to herself. "It shouldn't have been romantic at all, but when he smiled at me, I felt a fluttering in my heart that I'd never felt before."

"That's sweet," she whispered, once again caught up in Cecelia's story.

"It seemed like fate had thrown us together. We probably wouldn't have met otherwise. My parents were very protective of me, and Vincent was a diamond in the rough, you know? He was a construction worker, and my father had bigger plans for my future. But I didn't care about those plans. Vincent and I saw each other whenever I could sneak out to meet him. Being with him was…exhilarating."

Juliette smiled at the love in Cecelia's eyes. The years were fading away as she told the story, as she remembered the girl she'd once been.

"I fell madly in love with him," Cecelia continued. "I couldn't eat, couldn't sleep, couldn't wait until I could see him again. He was my world. It was all him—every breath that I took." The gleam in her eyes dimmed. "Until my father found out about us. I know it will seem silly to a woman of your generation, but fifty years ago, my father ruled our house. What he wanted for his children was all that mattered, and he wanted me to marry the son of the senior partner at his law firm. He said it would make his career, that he would be named a partner, that he would never have to worry about being fired, and that we needed the security. My mother had a lot of health problems, and her care was expensive."

"It sounds so mercenary," she muttered.

Cecelia nodded. "It was all about the money. The man in question—he wasn't bad. He was even somewhat attractive. I just didn't love him. And I couldn't talk to him the way I talked to Vincent. He and I could discuss anything. We could share our dreams and not feel foolish. That wasn't the case with the other man. I didn't know what to do, Juliette. I didn't know how to say no to my father. And it wasn't just about him; it was about my mother, too. She was ill, and I did want the best care for her."

"It sounds like a complicated situation. But you had a sister. Why couldn't Martha marry him and save the family?"

"Martha was already engaged. Her fiancé was in medical school. He was someone my father approved of, because he was going to be a doctor. He thought his girls would have dream lives as the wife of a doctor and the wife of a lawyer."

"So you broke things off with Vincent and agreed to marry the other man?" she asked, eager to hear the rest of the story.

"Yes. It was the most difficult thing I ever had to do. Vincent was angry and hurt. The pain in his eyes almost killed me. He thought I was weak and a coward, and he wasn't wrong. He said horrible things, and I felt like I deserved them." Cecelia's chest heaved as she tried to breathe through the painful memories. "Vincent left town shortly after our breakup. He said he couldn't stay and watch me marry someone else. For the next year, I planned my wedding and tried to pretend my life wasn't ending. But as the date neared, I got cold feet. I knew I couldn't go through with it. I couldn't marry this man when I loved someone else. It wasn't fair to him or to me. I finally got up the courage to call it off."

"That must have been incredibly difficult."

"It was awful," she said with a shudder. "I hurt him terribly. I felt so bad about that."

"Did you go to Vincent then?"

"Yes. I found out where he was living, and I went to find him. I wanted to tell him I was sorry, that I loved him and only him, but when I got there, I saw him in a pub with another woman. They had their friends with them, and they were toasting to Vincent's engagement. I watched him kiss her, and then I left without saying a word. They got married a few months after that, and six or seven years later, they came back to Fairhope with a son."

"I'm so sorry," she said. "I really wish your story would have ended differently."

Cecelia gave her a watery smile. "It was my own fault. I didn't have the courage to pick the man I really wanted, to go against my father, to stand up for Vincent. I know Vincent was disheartened by my lack of strength. He didn't believe I loved him enough."

"I'm sure he understood that your father was too powerful for you to fight."

"At some level, perhaps, but every man wants a woman who will fight for him. At any rate, I tried to be happy that Vincent had found happiness with someone else. He deserved that. His wife was a good woman. I got to know her a bit over the years."

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