Chapter 8
Cady
After we eat the casserole I’d put in the oven earlier, we go to the attic to get Martha’s tabletop mini tree and all the angels Shea, Chris and I gave her over the years.
Moving her calla lily to where she always shifted it, I open the box and set up the mini tree with the tiny lights. The simple purity of what she always did warms my heart.
Séamus carefully lines up her angels in the windowsills on each side of the tree. He places them in the same order she always did.
Pulling my hastily created gift from my backpack, I hand it to him. “This is really for both of us.”
Pulling off the tissue, he stares down at the simple picture frame made of twigs and the photocopy picture of the last Christmas Martha, Chris, Séamus, and I were together in this very room.
He looks up at me, tears in his eyes.
“Martha left us her angels. I want us to start our own family tradition. This is the first of many.”
He places the picture in the center of the fireplace mantel. “Every year a new one just like this.”
I nod. I’m so thankful she left the house to Shea. I know what she meant to him and I’ve got a pretty good idea what he meant to her.
Chris and I loved joining them here as we slowly pulled away from mom when her fake displays of caring got more and more extravagant each year. After they went away to the military, I came on my own as often as I could. And always on Christmas.
At the bottom of the box of angels there’s a white envelope I’ve never seen before. It’s addressed to Séamus, Chris, and I. “Shea, look at this.”
He joins me on the couch. Carefully he slides a finger under the flap and pulls out a letter before tilting the envelope over his other palm. Two simple gold bands slide out.
“Shea?”
“Last time I was home, she showed me where she kept her lock box hidden. She told me then that if anything happened to her, the house and land were mine and all the information I’d need were in the lock box and that her lawyer had the duplicate information.
She called me when I was first admitted to the hospital.
I was pretty drugged up and don’t remember much except her reminding me about the box and her telling me she loved me and Chis like sons.
Her lawyer called me when she died. He handled everything until I made it back home. ”
He holds the letter so we can read at the same time.
“Did you know that Martha had been married?” I blurt when I get to the part where her husband had died in Vietnam.
He looks at me just as shocked. “No. She never said anything. She didn’t go by Mrs. at school. She was Miss Adams. I don’t remember a ring. Wait, yes I do. She wore a gold band on her left thumb.”
I slide the bigger of the two bands on my thumb. “It must have been this one.”
He takes the smaller and slides it on his pinkie. “Hers.”
The letter goes on to say that Séamus reminded her so much of her late husband, she had to set him on the right path, too. Chris and I were neglected in other ways, but she came to love us all and think of us as her children.
Séamus clears his throat and reads the rest out loud. “Now dry your tears and the two of you have a happy life. Chris and I will be with my Pádraig watching over you.”
We sit in silence for long moments before he speaks.
“I know it’s a little late coming, but I never answered your last letter. I couldn’t. I got it the day Chis died. You thanked me for taking care of him and keeping him safe. But I didn’t. He died in my arms.
“We were clearing buildings. When he breached the doorway of the last home we were to check, the explosion went off. A piece of debris hit him in the wrong place and went under his ribcage. I threw myself over him when the second blast hit, shooting fire everywhere. When it settled, I lifted him and ran to the medic. He didn’t last long, too much impact damage and internal bleeding.
He asked me to watch over you, keep you safe from the losers out there because you were the best of all of us.
“I always felt I was one of those losers because of my upbringing or lack of upbringing before Martha took me in. She saved me and put me on the right path. I loved her as the mother I never had. I learned from her about chosen families.
“I adored you as a little kid. The way you always wanted to follow me around made me feel special. Like maybe I was lovable. Then when we were in high school seeing your mom’s neglect pissed me off.
You had just started junior high and Noelle started throwing herself at me.
She confided in me that you were afraid of me, and I needed to give you space, so I did.
“I could never figure out what I did to frighten you. Your letters were always friendly and light. I was confused. Then the pictures started and my feelings took another turn. I was afraid of what I felt for you.”
“That explains a lot,” I say. “Noelle told me you liked me okay for a little kid. And that I was annoying to you and you wanted me to leave you alone. When I saw her start to throw herself at you, I realized it was just another one of her games.
“I didn’t care what she said. You were mine before she even met you. You saved me when I fell. I wasn’t letting go. So, I kept on with the letters and cherished every one you wrote to me. I carry them in my backpack so she could never find them.
“When Chris died and you didn’t answer my letters, I knew you were blaming yourself. The last time I saw Martha, she told me to give you time to get over your own pain and the grief of losing Chris. But not too long, she warned.
“Christmas was my personal deadline. I knew the holiday could heal us.” Shifting, I straddle his lap and cup his face. “I love you, Séamus Lonn. I will always love you.”
“I love you, Cady Bernard. I’m done trying to make decisions for you. You’re mom and sister will make a fuss, but will you marry me as soon as I can get you a ring and to the justice of the peace?”
“Yes, but we already have the rings I want.”
He was right, Mom and Noelle had a fit when we married at the courthouse two weeks later and didn’t invite them.
We didn’t have to deal with it for long because they were arrested for attempted insurance fraud.
They each tried to blame the other. Mom had to sell her designer house, and they both ended up doing time.
Once they got out, they headed to Dubai learning there were a lot of rich people there and hoping their reputations wouldn’t follow.
Spring break he drove me five hundred miles so I could pick out Guinness, our adorable Rottie puppy.