I regretted my words as soon as they were out of my mouth. Howard slumped. “Do you think I don’t know that? But I’m trying to make amends.”
“By saving Charlie,” I said.
“Did you know that today is All Saints’ Day?” Howard said. “Every year the good sisters who took care of Marnie send me a church calendar.”
“They haven’t given up on your soul,” I said.
“They’re the only ones,” Howard said grimly. “Anyway, today is the day the faithful light a votive candle and recite a rosary for the departed. This morning while I was shaving, I started thinking about who would say the rosary for me – couldn’t think of a goddamned person.”
“What about me?” I said.
Howard frowned. “You’re not even Catholic,” he said.
“I could learn how to say a rosary,” I said.
Howard stood up and pulled on his toque. “Well, get started,” he said. “Because I’m going to need all the help I can get.”
CHAPTER
13
There was a cab idling in front of my house when Willie and I came back from our run the next morning. It was still dark, just before seven o’clock, but the streetlight’s beam was bright enough to outline the silhouettes of two figures in the taxi’s front seat. Unsettling, but not so troubling as the solitary figure on my front door step. The collar of his pea-jacket was turned up and his watch cap was pulled low to obscure his face, but even from the street, I had no trouble recognizing the slender figure of Ethan Thorpe. He was carrying a box about the size of a small city’s telephone book, and he seemed frozen, unsure of what to do next.
I let Willie off his leash and he bounded up the walk towards Ethan. When Ethan turned to pat him, I called hello. Ethan was a handsome boy, but the unforgiving porch light revealed eyes that were swollen from crying and a face crushed by pain.
He held up the box. “I wanted to give this to Taylor. I rang the doorbell, but nobody came.”
“Taylor’s the Queen of the Sound Sleepers,” I said. “I can take the box if you like.”
Ethan clutched it to his chest. “I wanted to give it to her personally,” he said.
The cabbie honked his horn. Ethan darted a glance at the taxi. “I have to go,” he said. “We’re catching a plane.”
“My father and me,” he said.
“So you’re moving to Ottawa,” I said.
“No, Winnipeg – to a boarding school.” Ethan swallowed hard. “It’s supposed to be pretty good.”
The cab driver hit the horn again. Ethan thrust the package into my hands.
“Ethan, I’m sorry about everything that’s happened. I know how difficult this is for you.”
His eyes met mine, and I hoped I would never again see such desolation. There had been no happy ending for Ethan. With a dead mother and an indifferent father, he was at the end of the line. I was all too familiar with the pattern. The private school at which I had been a boarder had been a fine one, but we all knew we were there because nobody else wanted us.
“Stay in touch, Ethan,” I said. “I mean that. I want to know how you’re doing.”
His laugh was harsh. “Yeah, right,” he said. “Could you tell Taylor …”
“Tell her what?”
The horn sounded for the third time. “Tell her I wish we could have been like Soul-fire and Chloe.” He ran down the path, jumped in the back seat of the cab, and slammed the door. I watched as the car sped away.
In our family, we always left mail and messages on the kitchen table, but I took Ethan’s parcel up to my room and placed it on the top shelf of my cupboard. It was going to be tough enough for Taylor to deal with the rumours and gossip at school; she didn’t need to start her day with a fresh reminder of Ethan.
I sat down on the bed and dialed Zack’s number. “I was just going to call you,” he said. “The contractor’s going to meet us at the new house in two hours.”
“I’ll be there,” I said.
“You don’t sound very enthusiastic,” Zack said.
“I am enthusiastic,” I said. “Ethan Thorpe just left. He wanted to say goodbye.”
Zack sighed. “You didn’t need that.”
“Agreed. I would have felt better if Ethan and I’d had a chance to talk, but his father was in the cab waiting impatiently.”
“So Dad’s going to step up to the plate after all.”
“No,” I said. “Dad’s going to drop Ethan off at boarding school in Winnipeg.”
“What a champ,” Zack said. “We should introduce him to Mrs. Parker. They appear to be birds of a feather. Last night, Glenda asked me if there was any legal way her mother could keep her from attending Sam’s funeral.”
“Beverly’s trying to do that?”
“Yes. She even tried to enlist me to smooth the process.”
