Page 90 of Authentically, Izzy
Date: May13
Subject: Re: An unexpected-yet-expected journey
Luke and Penelope,
I just sent Brodie an email after speaking to Aunt Louisa about time off. I’ve told him I’ll come the third week of June as he’d suggested because it’s some big festival they have in Skymar during that week, and he thought I’d enjoy seeing the culture.
I don’t know what’s going to happen next. I don’t know how we’re going to make this relationship work, but I do know that he’s worth every fear and insecurity I have, because when I’m with him, somehow I feel like I’m a better version of me. There’s something incredibly special about that kind of... love? Dare I even think it?
So I am going. And I am hoping. And whether all this turns out to be the perfect romance or not, somehow I know my heart needs to take this chance... to believe in my choices again. Brodie is worth it and so am I.
Izzy
PS: Luke, thank you for being brave enough to step into the world of repartee. Loving someonedoesgive us courage. Sedatives may help a little too.
Part3
Of Bookshops, Manor Houses & Being Brave
Chapter17
From: Izzy Edgewood
To: Josephine Martin, Luke Edgewood, Penelope Edgewood
Date: June21
Subject: Survived with everything but my pride
I’ve just landed and wanted to send you a quick email—while I have Wi-Fi access—to let you know that I survived the flight. I wasn’t quite sure how my body (or my mind) would handle seven hours on a plane just to get to Dublin and then another two hours to Skymar International Airport, but I slept most of the way and only woke myself up once with my own snore. Now whether that’s a testament to my lack of snoring or the potency of my cocktail, I can’t say, but a few glares from my seatmate makes me wonder. (She had no right for glares... See my note below.)
Josephine, though I appreciate your intentions, drinking copious amounts of water while on a flight is not a good idea, despite the benefits of hydration. NO ONE wants to try to avoid doing the pee-pee dance while hundreds of people watch you wait for that teeny-tiny bathroom door to open... andthena sudden bout of turbulence hits. Can I just say I don’t think I’ve prayed that hard since Penelope got her head stuck in that pipe under Grandpa Edgewood’s house because she was pretending to be a rabbit. I had no idea firefighters answered calls like that. As a mom who has twins dancing on her bladder on a regular basis, I thought you might be a little more aware about these sorts of things.
Otherwise, besides my seatmate snoring like Luke’s dog when I was actually coherent, the flight offered a beautiful view. I suppose there will be lots of views I’ve never seen before, since I’ve never traveled outside of the United States, but this flight, at night? Wow! The moon glowed down on the tops of the clouds like some magical world. I envisioned a dozen stories before sunrise. It was a great way to pass the time and I could pretend my seatmate was the disgruntled dragon in my make-believe story, until the cocktail took over and I lost consciousness for a while.
Unfortunately, as I wait to disembark my nerves have ramped back up to irrational.
Luke and Penelope, just so you know, if I die in some foreign country and Brodie’s family turn out to be some mafia-like group that use their bookstores as a front, it was all because you forced me to go. Okay,forcedmight be a really strong description, but saying things like, “If you don’t, you’ll always wonder. You don’t deserve that and neither does the man you choose.” I think Penelope even hinted to me being a coward.
What’s a girl supposed to do about something like that? My future at stake? My courage? How can a woman who is trying to be a heroine turn away from such a challenge? Well, I can assure you, if flying across an ocean with the threat of losing my “water” in front of a hundred strangers doesn’t increase one’s courage, I’m not sure what will! And as I wait to disembark, my courage is sufficiently stretched, despite the mafia possibilities.
Because (thank you, Luke) only my ENTIRE FUTURE hangs in the balance! No stress there!
Well, here I am. And so I will be brave and move forward into the great unknown of Brodie’s family and Skymar—a country wherea significant portion of the population do not speak English, so hopefully I’ll never get lost on my own or else I may be putting those expert skills into practice I learned in playing Pictionary with you guys. (As I recall, I usually won, if I didn’t have to draw animals . . . in which case we all know how that turned out. Yes, I do know that cows and monkeys look very different from one another.)
I kept reminding myself how Brodie and dreams were worth all of this and my parents would be smiling down from heaven. That helped. Especially when my thoughts turned to certain heartwarming memories of the lip-on-lip variety.
I’m not sure when I’ll be able to send another email, but if you don’t hear from me in a few days, just assume I’ve suffered the fate of Stevenson’s David Balfour: been struck senseless, kidnapped, and am drifting on the high seas somewhere. (Is the guilt trip working?) Okay, okay, it’s just my nerves, but the flight attendant has announced that it’s time to disembark so... here I go.
I love you all.
Heroically,
Izzy
PS: I can’t help but think of one of my favorite quotes at this moment: “It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.”
PPS: Let’s hope the “sweeping” isn’t by pirates.
