Page 42 of The Singing Trees
Annalisa sighed, wanting to make sure, as though her doubts had one last stand in them and they needed to be slayed. “I’m all in, Thomas, but I don’t want to be responsible for messing up your family.”
“Then you know what?” he said, shifting in his seated position. “You shouldn’t have been at that museum. You shouldn’t have gone to the Eagles game that night. You shouldn’t be so...you. Because I’m in it now, and I’m not going anywhere. Forget my dad and forget my prestigious education. Right after this semester, you and I are driving down to Portland and not looking back.”
There it was, her feeble last stand slayed by his love for her. Nothing was going to get in their way. Except for this piece that she was determined to finish before he moved.
After telling him so, she picked back up her pencil and said as she worked, “But we can’t get a place together. Nonna would kill usboth. Andstopmoving; you’re messing with my light.” Of course she was joking, and he went along with it, letting her, like always, put her art first.
He spoke without moving his mouth, like a ventriloquist. “How would Nonna know? And besides, I think she’s starting to like me.”
Bouncing her eyes back and forth from the page to him, she said, “You can move your lips, dummy. Just stop flapping your arms; I’m almost done. She might like you, but she’d never approve of us sharing a place.” Annalisa almost said, “Not until we’re married,” but she didn’t quite let that out. It was okay, though. One thing at a time.
He grinned. “So, seriously, how would she know?”
“How would she know?”Annalisa asked, feigning mild shock from the question. “Have you not met Nonna? We’re not talking New York here. Portland isn’t that far away. For one, she’ll send the family down to scout things out, and I’m sure she’ll drop by herself too. No way we’re getting a place together.” She raced to finish the drawing because she wanted to be closer to him, to let him come her way.
“Okay, fine, we’ll get two separate places.” He crossed his arms again in obvious defiance. “With adjoining doors. Until we make it legal.”
She pointed the pencil at him. “What did I say about moving your arms?”
He pushed up to his knees and started her way. “I’m having a hard time hearing you from over here.”
“You’re in so much trouble,” she said, tossing her pad and pencil to the sand. Who cared about a silly drawing when the real thing was right in front of her?
He crawled toward her, making a big deal of it, almost prowling like a lion. She felt playful, too, and laughed as she played the part of a tigress being circled by her mate. When he reached her, he lifted a leg over her waist and straddled her.
She lay back against the sand, his eyes like slivers of stardust staring down at her. A wolf howled from deep within the forest. Or was it deep within her?
He slowly lowered his head down, stopping an inch from her face. “I love you, Anna. More than you could ever know.”
She ran her fingers through his hair and stared into his irises, losing herself in the galaxy of his love. Without a doubt in the world, she said, “I love you too.”
Chapter 14
EMMA, THEEXTRAORDINARY
Thomas broke the news to his family that weekend, and it went much like they’d thought it would. As Thomas had relayed to her on the phone, Mr.Barnes had stormed out after a shouting match, assuring Thomas he’d never give him another dime. Mrs.Barnes had finished her drink and poured another. Emma had gone to her room.
Over the course of the next week, Emma refused to take Annalisa’s phone calls, and Annalisa had to work hard not to let the Barnes family’s lack of support knock her down. She and Thomas had made their choice, though, and as Nonna said, it was theirs and theirs alone to make.
Toward the end of April, after the snow was gone, Annalisa invited herself over to their house for the first time. Try as he might, Thomas was having very little success prying Emma from her gloom, so Annalisa hoped she might have better luck. She’d been there, feeling all alone, and she didn’t want Emma to think she’d abandoned her.
It was just a matter of finding a time when Mr.Barnes wasn’t home. Thomas suggested that coming Saturday. His father, desperate to get out on the course after the long winter, planned to play thirty-six holes at the club and then would have dinner with his buddies.
Thomas picked her up early in the morning, and as they’d done several times lately, he stopped at an exit to let Annalisa test her drivingskills on a quiet country road. She practiced parallel parking between two logs that Thomas had rolled out onto the road. It took her quite a few tries before she finally pulled it off. She rewarded her driving instructor with a kiss and a little bit more before they continued on to see if they could team up to help Emma.
When they arrived, Annalisa found the Barneses’ house to be even more intimidating than Annalisa had anticipated. “This isn’t really yours, is it?” Annalisa asked as they crunched gravel down the long driveway leading to a big white colonial revival house with tall columns.
“I know. It’s almost ridiculous.”
Almost?she thought.
Thomas parked on the left side and pointed through the windshield toward the water. “That’s Wilby Island out there past the cove.”
This was the first time she’d truly grasped what Thomas was losing. He’d told her they were wealthy, which was no surprise considering his father was a lawyer and they lived in Davenport, but seriously. “I can’t believe you grew up in this house. Are you sure you want to say goodbye to all this...for me?”
He took her hand and pecked her cheek. “If I were an emperor, I’d say goodbye to my entire kingdom for you. What’s all this if you don’t have the person you love to enjoy it with?” She would have rolled her eyes had he not said it so sincerely. As much as a sports guy as he was, she thought he, like his sister, had art in his soul.
Fair enough,she thought. He won. Again. And she loved it, the idea that he would never waver from his love or their decision. To give this all up for her. What a display of his affection. No, not affection. What a display of his devotion to her.
