Page 50 of A Seaside Escape
Sam had always been obsessed with her happiness and had even made her cry once by insisting that if ever anything happened to him she should move on and remarry.Remarry. If only she had married in the first place.
Thursday brought rain and lots of it. The family spent a fun day indoors playing on the games consoles and sitting at the table playing cards. Mallory had wowed them with her poker skills and had taken almost all their matchsticks. Ryan insisted that the next time she came over there would be a rematch– then he had apologised for the bad pun.
Thursday evening, they had decided to go and eat out. They had toyed with the idea of several different restaurants, but couldn’t agree on a single one. Mallory had been listening to Renee and Ryan arguing over the Steak House on King Street, which Ryan championed, and the Japanese place on Division Street that was Renee’s choice.
‘Can we go to Aqua Terra, please?’ Mallory’s voice was small, but they all turned to look at her. ‘I… I’d really like to. It’ll be hard, but I feel I need to go there before I go home.’
Renee immediately picked up the phone and rang the restaurant to speak to the owner.
Their table was booked for eight and she had worn the red dress that she had bought back in Scotland. When they arrived, her senses were bombarded with the sights, sounds and aromas from the night almost exactly a year ago when Sam had proposed. The music was the same. It drifted through the air and transported her back in time to that happy evening.
Mallory was understandably quiet throughout dinner and Renee kept squeezing her hand to ensure that she was okay. Mallory nodded each time. Eventually, when dinner was done, Ryan asked her to dance. He took her hand and led her to the dance floor. He held one hand at the small of her back and Mallory’s right hand in his left as they swayed to the sounds of ‘That’s Life’ by good old Frank Sinatra. The lyrics seemed somehow apt and Mallory smiled as she leaned her head on Ryan’s chest. She didn’t cry, even though she had thoroughly expected to. At least that was some kind of progress.
*
Friday came around too soon. It was her last day in Canada with the wonderful Buchanan family and Mallory was packing her suitcase.
Renee knocked on the bedroom door and entered. ‘Hi, darling. I just wanted to check that you are okay?’
She smiled. ‘I’m fine thanks, Renee. I’m just trying to figure out how to get all this stuff in my suitcase.’
Renee began to assist her with the mammoth task of folding. ‘I hope this time away from home has been helpful to you, honey.’ She lightly squeezed Mallory’s arm.
‘I’ve loved being here, Renee. I’ve felt closer to Sam. But I feel I’ve been able to deal with my grief easier being amongst all of you.’
Renee nodded. ‘It’s been good to have you here. I think it’s helped all of us too. Losing Sam was so difficult, but we made a pact as a family not to dwell on the sadness.’ She sat down on the bed, ‘Sam was so full of life. He would hate us all sitting around crying and gnashing our teeth.’
Renee paused and fiddled with the hem of a top she was folding. ‘After his uncle’s funeral, he told me that if ever he died, he wanted people to wear bright colours and laugh. I just didn’t want to do that at the time. But I thought the gathering we have been planning for tonight would be a wonderful time to do that. I mentioned it to everyone and they are waiting for the go-ahead. What do you think?’ Renee cringed as she awaited Mallory’s response.
Mallory sat down too, absorbing Renee’s words. ‘Oh, wow. I think it’s a wonderful idea.’
Renee exhaled a sigh and looked relieved. ‘Oh, that’s wonderful, darling. I’m so happy you think so.’ She held Mallory’s hand in hers. ‘Ryan and Cara are out in the yard hanging coloured lights on all of the trees, whilst Dylan sleeps. The food should be arriving soon and Ryan has put up the gazebo and strung that with lights too. I have asked everyone to write something down to read out and as you suggested we have some lanterns to release. It’ll be so beautiful.’ A tear cascaded down Renee’s cheek and Mallory hugged her.
*
Everything was arranged for eight that evening, in time for when the sun was descending. The weather was being kind and even the earlier breeze had dropped.
Mallory wore her bright red top and white linen trousers. She walked downstairs when she was ready and out into the back garden. She inhaled sharply as she saw the stunning sight before her. The garden twinkled with thousands of coloured fairy lights in all of the trees. It was so beautiful and she knew Sam would have loved it.
There were coloured lanterns hanging from spikes in the grass and around the edge of the gazebo and a long table displaying an array of rainbow-coloured food. There was a large photograph of Sam on the table with a garland of colourful paper flowers strung around it. The photo was one that Mallory had taken in Edinburgh with the backdrop of the colourful buildings of Grassmarket behind him and that wonderful grin on his face. She had sent a copy of it to Renee for Christmas. He looked so very handsome and happy; his green eyes vivid and sparkling.
Gradually people began to arrive and fill up the garden. She had met some of them when she was over in Canada last time with Sam by her side but everyone was kind and friendly. She was hugged and kissed more times than she could keep track of.
At ten o’clock Renee clinked her glass and a hush fell across the twinkling garden.
‘Thank you so much for coming tonight everyone. As you know, we’re here to celebrate the life of my son, Ryan’s brother and Mallory’s fiancé. He was such a special boy, but I know I’m preaching to the converted when I say that.’ Her words choked in her throat, but after a reassuring squeeze on her arm from Ryan she continued. ‘I asked all of you to write down a memory on a little tag you were given. We’re going to each read them aloud and once they are attached to the lanterns we’ll release them into this beautiful clear night sky.’
Everyone was silent as the first person came up to read their memory. Mallory could feel her emotions rising to the surface, so she took her place by Renee’s side and held her hand. They knew they were in for a rough ride.
‘I knew Sam from kindergarten. He was one nice guy. My earliest memory is the best one. I had joined kindergarten as the new kid. None of the other kids wanted to play with me, but Sam came over and handed me half his snack and told me his name.’ The large tough-looking man choked back a tear. ‘That has stuck with me ever since and we stayed friends from that day. And now the world is worse off for losing him.’ He wiped his eyes as he was handed his lantern and dutifully tied his tag on.
‘I worked with Sam at Woolworths when we were in college,’ the pretty redhead told the group. ‘We used to laugh all the time. The most vivid memory I have is when we had to chase a shoplifter down the street. It was a woman who was wearing a wig with things hidden underneath and as she ran away the wig flew off. It was such a crazy sight and Sam and I had to stop running as we could hardly breathe for laughing.’ She smiled. ‘I kept in touch via email and he came to my wedding. I miss those emails… I miss hearing his news.’ She tied her tag to a lantern.
‘Sam and I were good friends at High School. When you met Sam, you knew that his friendship was for life. He was there for me when my dad got ill. He supported me when I thought I couldn’t cope,’ the mousy-haired skinny man said as he fought back tears. ‘I used to get called “geek” and all sorts of other names at school by the supposed “cool” kids. Sam was different. He was popularandcompassionate. I love you, man,’ he ended, looking up to the night sky and stepping down before his emotions got the better of him.
The memories ranged from school to work colleagues. It was so very emotional for Mallory, hearing how well thought of her man had been. There were a few jokes too which lightened the mood.
After a while it was Ryan’s turn. ‘Losing my bro is one of the hardest things I’ve ever gone through, losing Dad was bad enough. We weren’t like a lot of brothers. There was no real sibling rivalry. Don’t get me wrong, he was such an idiot sometimes, like the time he decided to put the Christmas lights on the roof to save Dad a job and we had to get the fire department out ’cause he got scared and couldn’t move. We ribbed him about that for years. But he was there for me no matter what. When Cara and I split up briefly in college and I was so sure none of it was my fault. He somehow made me realise that it was actuallyallme, being an ass. Maybe if he hadn’t done that I wouldn’t have my beautiful wife and son.’ He rubbed his eyes and looked up at the sky. ‘If you’re up there lookin’ down bro, keep an eye out for Dylan, ’kay?’ He stepped away and tied his tag on his lantern.
