Page 88 of The Singing Trees
“Thank you.” He slipped his glasses back onto his wrinkled nose. “Sounds delicious.”
On the way up, Annalisa found a letter from Mrs.Barnes, which was rather shocking. It was the first time the woman had written her in their entire relationship. She couldn’t even imagine what its purpose would be. Talk of a wedding? Or was it something worse? Had Mr.Barnes found out about their engagement? Maybe it was good news—perhaps Emma was ready to visit.
Upstairs and out of breath, Annalisa sat at the table, or more like plopped down, as was the case these days, and she carefully opened the envelope.
A photograph spilled out, and her heart froze. It depicted Thomas in his jungle fatigues kissing a Vietnamese woman on the lips. They were sitting next to each other in white plastic chairs and leaning toward one another. He looked happy, a smile pulling away from where their lips met.
Everything she’d let herself believe about love shattered all at once. To think she’d given him a chance, finally letting him in. She instantly saw him on his knees at the sushi restaurant, offering the gold band that now wrapped around her finger. The ring felt like a serpent strangling her, and she pulled it off as quickly as she could.
Annalisa’s fists tightened, and she would have punched him had he been standing there. She stared at the picture for a long time, feelinglove crumbling to dust in her hands. There was a letter in the envelope, too, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to read it. Truthfully, she didn’t have to. The look on Thomas’s face said it all.
Annalisa wasn’t stupid. She’d heard the stories of soldiers finding lovers in Vietnam. Some women were okay with it and had accepted their men back. Bile crept up Annalisa’s throat at the idea of Thomas cheating on her with this woman. Even before she read the letter, Annalisa felt herself falling back to the person she used to be, the girl who didn’t believe in love.
This was exactly why. The hollowness she felt inside as her eyes glazed over was numbing, like everything that she’d worked toward had been a waste. As she came to grips with what might happen now, especially with her baby, Annalisa began to hate him. Before she even read the letter, she hated him.
As a chilly numbness spread over her, she finally unfolded the letter and flattened it on the table.
Dear Annalisa,
I know I’ve been hard to deal with lately, and I’m sorry for that. Thomas being gone has not been easy. We all should have done better to be kind to you. But the past is the past. Thomas has fallen in love with a young woman from Vietnam. Her name is Linh, and he’s bringing her home. I figured you should see this photo he sent recently. Anyway, good luck to you. You’re a pretty girl. I’m sure you’ll find someone soon.
Kind regards,
Elizabeth Barnes
As numb as she was, she could still think. Now it made sense why he hadn’t contacted her as often. And even why Emma was still avoiding her and had reacted in such a way at the game.
Moments passed and she felt so empty. The numbness passed, too, and she felt her heart aching in ways she’d never known, as if it might give out on her. A terrible sadness rushed over her, and as she considered her baby, their baby, she hated that this precious being had to endure life on earth.
It made her retch to think about how she’d given Thomas her virginity while he was already very possibly sleeping with this woman. Once again, Nonna had been right all along.Screw him,she thought, for tricking her into loving him and for destroying her dreams and for painting a big stroke of black across her whole life.
Utterly devastated and mad as hell, she flung the letter, the photograph, and the envelope onto the floor and dropped her head onto the table and cried. How dare she believe in love. Hadn’t she learned anything from her parents’ relationship? What a fool she was...
It made no sense. They’d connected so deeply in Hawaii, and he’d been so incredibly in love...or at least he’d acted superbly well. Was she nothing more than another girl? Nothing more than this fling he was having between battles? Annalisa didn’t want to believe it.
Wanting a better explanation, she decided to call Mrs.Barnes. Sitting on the edge of the couch, she dialed their number, and the line was answered after one ring.
“Hello?” It was Emma.
“Hey, Emma, it’s Anna.” Her voice shook over the syllables. She didn’t know what Emma might know about the letter. “How are you?”
“I’m fine. And you?”
“I’m...” She swallowed past a thick throat. “I’m looking for your mom. Is she around?”
“Yeah, but...are you okay?”
Emma’s kind question touched Annalisa’s heart, but how was she to answer it? “I’m miserable, to be honest.”
Emma took a breath. “Yeah, I bet. I guess you got my mom’s letter?”
So she did know. Annalisa could barely get out, “Yes, just a minute ago.”
“I’m sorry,” Emma said compassionately. “I can’t imagine what you’re going through.” Then her tone changed. “My mom thought you might call and told me to tell you that it’s best you don’t reach out anymore.”
“What?” Annalisa started to cry.
“Look, I’m really sorry. Apparently, he’s very much in love and bringing her home and all that.” With a hint of kindness, she added, “And I’m sorry that I haven’t been nice to you. Or thanked you for what you did.”
