Page 100 of Love At First Fright
“Thanks, I’ll join you in a minute. Just want to go see Mama.”
He nodded, sadness flickering across his face.
Her mom was buried under the cherry tree, its dark branches curved protectively over the well-cared-for patch of grass. They had laid a small headstone on the ground and sowed her grave with wildflower seeds that sprouted into a riot of colour every spring. Rosemary sat down beside the grave.
When her mama had told her she wanted to be buried under the tree, Rosemary remembered asking why, and her mama had said that when she died, she wanted to become a part of the world around her, and to Rosemary that sounded like a lovely way to go on living.
“Hey, Mama,” she said, running her fingers through the delicate green stems of dormant flowers. She sat in silence for a while, letting the damp cold seep through her limbs and clear her head. After being cooped up in the stuffiness of her bed it was a nice change. She looked back at her family home, winter sunlight reflecting off the windows, but her eye was caught by something small and orange trotting up the dirt path to her.
Little Bee, dwarfed by the long grass, had followed Rosemary all the way from the house. And she wasn’t alone. In herwake, her edges glowing silver, was the ghost cat, Little Bee’s mama. The small kitten scampered over to Rosemary, who held out her hands and picked up Bee, cradling her to her chest.
“What a brave girl you are coming over here.” She tickled Bee under her tiny chin. The ghost cat came around and sat down by Rosemary’s knees. “You making sure your baby is going to be safe with me, Mama?” She said to the cat, who looked up at her with too-wise eyes.
Rosemary sat under the cherry tree until her stomach began to grumble.
“Come on, let’s go home,” she said, placing Bee in her oversized coat pocket. The ghost cat ran ahead of them on the dirt track.
“She’s with you?” her dad said, nodding at Bee, as Rosemary walked into the kitchen through the back door. “Couldn’t see her anywhere and I was worried.”
“She followed me out to the grave. Her mama was with her, though, I think she’s keeping an eye on her baby.”
Her dad smiled, and ran a hand through his thinning hair. “Ready to eat?”
“Please.”
They sat at the table and ate in companionable silence for a bit. Rosemary noticed her dad’s gaze kept flitting to a book on the countertop, titledA Rake for the Lady.She smiled to herself, thinking just how much Cecilia and Juliet would have enjoyed reading a book like that.
“Dad, are you reading Regency romance?”
“What? Oh, um, it’s for book club.”
“You’re in a book club?”
Her dad looked sheepish. “Just a small local one, they run it out of the church centre on Wednesday evenings. We read all kinds of stuff, not just romance. This was Maria’s pick.” Hewent and pulled the book off the counter and showed it to Rosemary. She noticed he’d dog-eared many pages, and when she flicked through she saw he’d underlined some of the more romantic passages in pencil.
“You seem to be enjoying it.”
“Well, it’s one of Maria’s favourites, and I thought she might want to talk about it so I figured I better read it and get familiar with the plot and all that.” His words tumbled out so fast and his cheeks turned so pink Rosemary had to stifle a laugh. Bless her sweet dad.
“Of course.” She took a slow sip of her drink. “So who is Maria then? Does she run the book club?”
“No, she just goes, same as me. She’s the principal of the local elementary school, she took over from Mr. Wright when he retired.” Her dad paused. “She’s a widow, too. Lost her husband ten years ago.”
Rosemary met her dad’s eyes, saw the hope and caution there. “She sounds lovely, Dad. I’d like to meet her at some point, if that’s something you’d want?”
Relief relaxed his features. “That would be nice, sweetpea. Maybe next weekend you could come with me to the market? She usually drops by the stand to say hi.”
“Sure, Dad.”
Rosemary did the dishes while her dad crouched by the kittens’ eating corner, cleaning up the mess they’d all made.
“You know, about Ellis,” he said, his back to her.
“What about him?”
“Well, you know I’ve always got your back.”
“I know, Dad.”
