“Time might heal our wounds, but that doesn’t mean we forget how much they hurt in the first place.”
Alice smiled. “Something tells me you know something about being wounded, Leila. Well, you may be right. Still, I owe you an explanation for my brother’s odd behavior.
“So, on that night, I went home alone in the rain. It had been raining hard for a couple of days. I waited, but they didn’t come back. Finally, I put on my raingear and walked back to the church. There were firemen and emergency vehicles blocking the street. The roof on the church had collapsed. It had been a flat roof. The scuppers on the drains from the roof had been plugged by leaves, and the water built up on it until it just gave way. Chloe and Billy were killed.”
“I’m sorry.”
Alice shook her head. “I identified their bodies. They took them away. I sat there, next to the place they had been killed, unable to move, getting drenched by rain. I kept wondering how I could possibly tell Jonathan about what had happened. A policeman tried to get me to go home. I saw one of Chloe’s boots; I guess it had come off of her when they pulled her body out. I picked it up, and a piece of stained glass that lay next to it. Don’t ask me why. I didn’t know then, and I don’t know now. The policeman walked me home. On the porch step, he handed me Jonathan’s pocket watch and little bag of marbles. Billy had been carrying them.”
After a moment, Leila said, “And Jonathan? What became of him?”
“He was devastated, of course. I worried for a while that I would lose him, too. He wasn’t quite recovered when he returned, and with Chloe and Billy gone, he just didn’t seem to have the will to live. He pulled through, though. The war workers who lived here were laid off and moved on, and he moved back into the house. He went back to the store and went on with his life. He began to talk to me more about Chloe and his son, seemed able to cherish their memory instead being beaten down by it.”
“You said Chloe was his first wife. Did he marry again?”
“Yes. Not right away, mind you. About fifteen years later, he met another woman. Monica.”
She said the name with obvious distaste.
“You didn’t like her.”
“Not in the least. She was an Amazon of a woman, and bossy to boot. But Jonathan was lonely, and had been for years. And I think she appealed to him on some-hmm, basic level, we’ll say. He was turning forty, and she made him feel, well, virile.
“Just before Jonathan and Monica were married, Jonathan told me that he was going hide all of his reminders of Chloe and Billy from his new wife. He said Monica was insanely jealous of their memory, which he couldn’t understand.”
“Can you?”
“Of course. Monica could see for herself that Jonathan’s heart still belonged to his first wife. How could she compete with a memory?”
“But Jonathan was aware of her jealousy?”
“Yes, even Jonathan could see that. He told me she had destroyed his favorite photo of Chloe. He decided he wanted to keep his reminders where Monica couldn’t harm them. Now, thirty years later, you’ve found the place where he hid them. Where were they?”
“Beneath the loveseat.”
Alice looked back to the corner of the garden where the loveseat had been. “I should have guessed. You’ve had the pieces taken away?”
“Yes, I’m sorry if it was special to you in some way.”
“No, not to me. But it was to Jonathan. He used to sit there with Chloe. An extravagance for newlyweds, but the house had come to him furnished by my uncle, so that loveseat helped them to make the place their own. In much the way you have, with this garden. Jonathan would have loved this garden.”
“How was the loveseat broken?”
Alice laughed. “That was the time Monica went too far. They weren’t married for more than a year or two when they started having problems. She’d throw tantrums, and he just withdrew more and more from her. He’d come out to the garden.
“One day, Jonathan was sitting on the loveseat, doubtless remembering happier times. Monica came striding across the yard, carrying a sledgehammer.”
“What?”
“Yes, a big old sledgehammer. She lifted it up over her head and brought it down with all her might. Jonathan barely got out of the way in time. Busted the loveseat in half.”
“Was she trying to kill him?”
“Jonathan told me he didn’t believe she meant to harm him, but I don’t think he was certain of that. In any case, they separated, and she went off to live with a sister in some other state. He divorced her. He was disappointed, but he didn’t seem overly bitter. Said that maybe he’d caused it by hanging on to his memories of Chloe. He lived here by himself until he died, about a year ago now. I miss him.”
Alice looked away for a moment, then turned back to Leila.
“In the last ten years he was pretty much crippled up by arthritis, and he couldn’t take care of this yard. You’ve made it beautiful again, you’ve brought it back to life. As I’ve said, it would make Jonathan proud.”
“Thank you. It sounds strange, but I’m sorry I didn’t get to know him.”
“You would have liked him. I think he would be quite happy that you are the one who came to live here. I think Chloe and Billy would be, too.”
They chatted for a while, and then Leila brought out a small box and loaded Jonathan’s mementos into it.
“After all your hard work, you should keep something for yourself,” Alice said. “I know they’re rather silly little treasures, but are you sure there’s nothing here you’d like to have?”
“They aren’t so silly after all, are they? And they’ve been buried together for all these years. I wouldn’t want to separate them.”
“So, you are sentimental after all.” Alice smiled. “Don’t look so surprised, Leila. When you bought this old house, I wondered about you. You seemed so business-like, so self-possessed, so emotionless. But why, I asked myself, would such a modern person want such an old house? I don’t know who made you believe that feelings don’t matter, but they were very wrong.”
Leila looked out across the yard. “You know, Alice, until I moved here and worked on this garden, I don’t think I would have been able to understand that.” And before she knew it, Leila had told Alice the story of Sam and Marietta.
Alice listened patiently. “This Marietta sounds a lot like Monica. A perfectly dreadful girl. But I’m not sure Sam has forgotten you any more than Jonathan forgot Chloe. I think Sam just needs to wake up and realize that you’re a person with feelings. It sounds as if you’ve been more like a mother, or perhaps another male friend, than a partner to him. The next time you see him, don’t be afraid to let him know you have feelings. And if he can’t respond to them, find a man who can.”
Leila laughed and thanked her.
Alice gave her a hug, and carrying the box of treasures, took her leave.
Leila made a big bowl of soup for dinner, went to bed and slept soundly.
The next day was a work day. She noticed that for some reason, men in the office were paying attention to her. She wondered if they had paid attention before, without her being aware of it, or if something about her had changed.
Later that evening, in line at the grocery store, a good-looking man stood just ahead of her. He smiled at her. When she smiled back, he spoke to her, laughing with her about an article featured on the cover of a tabloid. Suddenly, she heard a familiar voice calling her name.
“Leila?”
She turned to see Sam and Marietta at the next checkout stand. She waved, and turned back to talk to the man who had been flirting with her. “Friend of yours?” he asked.
“Former boyfriend,” she whispered, as the checker handed the man his change.
The man looked back at Sam and Marietta and shook his head. “He’s crazy,” he whispered back, and to her shock, leaned over and kissed her cheek. “Goodbye, Leila,” he said loudly, “Don’t forget our date!” He winked and smiled as he walked out with his groceries.
