Page 31 of An Island Summer
“Well, yes, we do,” he said happily, guiding her into another room. “The World Wars begin here on this wall and wrap around.”
“Thank you,” she said, her attention falling onto a black-and-white photo of a battleship. Meghan stopped to read the plate on the wall that accompanied it.
Unbeknownst to many, in 1942, a battle thundered off the coast of the Outer Banks. The battlefield spanned the Atlantic, all the way to Europe, a massive conflict for control of the sea. Forty boats were sent to a watery grave over that year at the hands of German U-boats in blasts that shook the earth like an earthquake.
Meghan covered her gaping mouth as she read it. “It’s real,” she said to herself. She continued on reading about the war, but there was nothing else about that particular moment in history. As she left the museum, thanking the curator on her way out, she retrieved her cell phone and Toby’s business card, dialing his number.
He answered on the first ring. “Hello?” his smooth voice came through the phone.
“Hi,” she said, needing to catch her breath at the sound of his voice. “This is Meghan Gray.”
“Hey,” he returned quietly.
“I’m sorry to call, but I was wondering, have you ever taken Rupert to the Outer Banks Museum?”
“All the time,” he replied. “It’s one of his favorite places.”
“Oh,” she said, slightly deflated.
“Why?”
“He talked about Hester and World War Two, and, Toby, it was so convincing. I want to believe so badly that he’s really there in his memories, but I suppose I need to come to grips with the fact that he just isn’t.”
“Meghan,” he said, his voice soft, the sound of her name making her skin tingle, “he’s barely ever in reality anymore. It took me a while to come to terms with it too.”
His voice didn’t sound like someone who’d steal from his grandfather. He sounded truthful and honest in a way that made her curious about who he really was when he let his guard down.
“Yeah…” she said, still thinking about it. “Do you ever wish you’d had more time with him before the dementia set in?” she heard herself ask, knowing the question was more for herself than for Toby.
“Of course,” he said. “He’s all I’ve got. Taking care of someone who doesn’t even always know who I am is tough.”
“It’s funny how consistent he is with me,” she said. “He never falters when he sees me. I’m always Hester Quinn.”
“Or, seeing you reminds him of his reality and he slips into the fantasy every single time to get through it.”
Her mind wandered to the flicker of hope that Rupert might have known Pappy, since the two of them were from the same town. She hadn’t admitted it to herself until now, but deep down, she wished she could sit with Rupert and talk about old times in Hatteras, maybe hear some great stories about her grandfather…
“What is the reality that I remind him of, do you think?” she asked.
“I suppose you remind him that life is still moving and he can’t go back because the people in his memory aren’t there anymore. He’s here now and probably finds himself alone.”
There was a pain in his words that made her ask, “Are you sure you’re talking about your grandfather?”
He was so quiet that, for a second, she thought the call had been dropped. “Meghan,” he said so softly, her name coming out on his breath like a tumbleweed in the wind. She waited, hanging on his words, for whatever would come after. But then he cleared his throat. “I need to go.”
His words hit her like a splash of water. “Oh,” she said, gripping the phone and suddenly not wanting him to hang up.
“Bye,” he said.
The line went dead.
Stunned by the moment they’d just had, for an instant she didn’t move. She just stood there in the parking lot of the museum, her mind in a muddle. She didn’t know much about Toby Meyers, but what she did know was there was a lot to him, and so many things he needed to say but wouldn’t.
Meghan put her purse down and came into the bedroom, grabbing the old T-shirt and shorts she had laid out on the bed for when she’d gotten back.
“You covered everything in plastic—thank you,” she said to Tess when she walked into the living room.
Tess gave her a proud smile while stirring the paint. “I’m excited to get going.”
