Page 71 of Sea La Vie
“How could she forget?” I say.
“But she never came,” he whispers.
A soft knock fills the room, and Grandpa clears his throat. “Come in,” I say.
A man in his mid-fifties walks through the room, dressed impeccably in a suit and loafers. Behind him, a small gray-headed woman follows him into the room. I watch as she immediately locks eyes with Grandpa and a smile lights up her entire face. She shuffles over to him, and he takes his hands in hers.
“Beau,” she says.
“Emma. My, Emma.”
I glance at the man and stick a hand out. He shakes it, confirming that he’s Emma’s son. “Would you like for us to leave?” he asks, looking at his mom.
She shakes her head. “I need to explain what happened all those years ago,” she says.
Grandpa gulps, his Adam’s Apple bobbing with nervousness.
“I was ready to run away with you,” she whispers, and it’s so faint, I strain to hear her. “I had my bag packed. I didn’t know where we were going, and I didn’t care. I just knew I wanted to be with you.”
Grandpa’s face softens. “Why didn’t you come?”
Emma licks her fuschia-tinted lips. “I came down with the flu. But I wasn’t going to let that stop me. My mom caught me right as I was heading out the door. She knew what I was doing, and she called for our butler to make sure I stayed in bed until my fever broke. I battled it for a week, only getting better after we were settled back in Charleston. By then, I figured you thought I had changed my mind.”
A tear runs down Grandpa’s cheek. “I had no idea.”
“I tried to come find you,” she says. “A few years later, after I worked up the nerve. I saw you, too.”
“You did?” Grandpa asks.
Emma nods. “You were with a woman, and you were pushing a stroller down Water Street. You looked so happy.”
Grandpa puts his face in hands and lets out a soft groan. “Oh, Emma. I thought you weren’t coming back.”
“It’s okay,” she says and rubs along Grandpa’s shoulder. “Things happened the way they did for a reason.” She turns and looks at each of us. “From the looks of it, you have a beautiful family now. And I do, too. My husband was very good to me, and I loved him dearly. He gave me my perfect son.” Her son smiles in return and nods for her to continue. “I thought about you so often,” she says.
Grandpa’s chin wobbles. “I thought about you everyday.”
Emma smiles, tears building in the corners of her eyes. “Do you remember what you told me once?”
Grandpa pauses to think for a moment, and she continues. “You said you’d find me in this lifetime and any lifetime after this. And look. Here we are, fifty some years later.”
Grandpa pulls her into a hug, and she wraps her small arms around him.
“Did you do it? Did you build boats?” she asks, resting her head on his chest.
The smile that overtakes my Grandpa’s face is enough to make my heart swell. “I did,” he says. “For forty years.”
Emma nods into his chest. “Good,” she whispers. “I knew you would.”
“Well, what do you know,” I murmur. Emma’s son slips out of the room, and Lainey catches my eye. She nods toward the door, and I follow her out as quietly as possible.
“Thank God he remembered,” I say, breathing a sigh of relief.
“You know, they kind of remind me of us,” Lainey says. “They got a second chance at love.”
A smile creeps across my face. “I’m glad our second chance came before we were in our seventies. I don’t think I could stand missing out on decades more with you.”
Lainey smiles and stands on her tiptoes. She gives me a kiss on the cheek, then whispers, “Me either.”
