Chapter 24
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Vivian set the last plate into the dishwasher and stretched her back before looking around her kitchen with a smile.
She never had many dishes to do when she cooked for just herself, and that night she had prepared a simple meal of salmon, scalloped potatoes, and green beans.
She looked over her tidy kitchen, remembering the days when her sink had been piled high with dishes that she thought she’d never get done.
When all of her children had been little and she and Frank had been running the pub together, they had been so busy all the time.
She’d done her best to keep her home tidy, since she liked it that way, but there had been so many days when she’d lost that battle.
She’d learned to stay cheerful about it, however, treasuring the time with her children while they were at the height of their imaginative exuberance.
She’d been chatting with Julia on the phone earlier that night, both of them wanting to catch up while they did their dishes.
Julia had talked about how Macey had pushed over a whole bag of flour, laughing as if it had been something purely entertaining instead of a time-consuming disaster.
Vivian was very impressed by her attitude, especially considering Julia had only recently become a parent.
The conversation had made Vivian start reminiscing about the past, and now she looked around her kitchen and let her mind become flooded with memories.
As she pictured a teenage Alexis sitting at the kitchen table, making bracelets out of brightly colored beads, a twelve-year-old Hazel crying over a burnt pan of muffins, Julia fingerpainting on the wall by the refrigerator when she was two, and ten-year-old Dean climbing onto the counters to kill a spider that everyone else was too afraid of, she realized with a pang that she remembered exactly where Frank had been for all of those memories.
She remembered him looking over Alexis’s shoulder, offering her warm encouragement.
She remembered the way he’d pulled Hazel into a bear hug, telling her that it was just one batch and she could try again—right away, if she wanted to.
She remembered the way he’d guffawed with laughter when he saw Julia’s unauthorized artwork, and the way he’d stopped quietly in the doorway to let Dean kill the spider on his own, allowing him to be the man of the family for a few moments.
“I miss you, Frank,” she whispered.
Her heart stirred, and she smiled. Those memories made her feel as though he was still woven into their present, somehow. After all, his love and care had shaped each of her children into who they were. He lived on in them, and the thought brought tears to Vivian’s eyes.
All at once, she felt an itching to look at more old photographs.
It had been something she’d avoided to an extent after the funeral, since thinking about Frank had been hard in more ways than one, but because of all her recent trips down memory lane in the attic her craving for reminiscing was strong and sweet.
She made her way upstairs to the attic, where most of the photo albums were kept in the old trunks.
There were a few special photo albums downstairs, but she had taken a lot of pictures while the children were growing up, and there had been too many albums to fit on the bookshelves in the living room, which were packed with Vivian’s favorite books and all of the classics that the children had loved reading growing up.
She turned on the attic light, taking a deep breath of the slightly dusty, dry smell of the attic. It smelled faintly of paper and cedar wood, and she smiled. She walked over to one of the chests and opened it slowly, almost reverently.
She picked up one of the photo albums and opened it. She felt a wash of relief, realizing that the pain of everything connected with Frank’s death and betrayal had faded significantly. She inhaled, knowing that she would continue to heal more and more as time went on.
She spent the next hour going through pictures, feeling a bittersweet ache in her core.
She felt sad, but more than that she felt incredibly grateful to have had the happy years with Frank that she’d had, and to still have her incredible children in her life.
After she’d thumbed through two full albums, she suddenly got an itch to look through the pictures she had of their current lives.
Oh, it’s been much too long since I’ve put together a photo album, she thought. Not since a little before Frank passed.
She shook her head, thinking of the myriad of joys that had entered her family since then.
Jacob and Hazel’s new house, Cooper and Julia’s wedding, Alexis’s jewelry business and the way she waitressed at The Lighthouse Grill with Cash strapped to her back—gracious, only Alexis had been married the last time she’d made an album.
The last photo album she’d put together had been full of pictures of Dean and Hazel, who had never moved away from Rosewood Beach, along with photos of the occasional visit from Julia or Alexis.
Grayson, who had been staggeringly wealthy in money but crushingly poor in time while he was running his finance business in L.A.
, had featured in only one or two pictures, since he’d rarely come with Alexis on her visits.
Life is better now, Vivian thought, reminiscing on how everything had come together so beautifully. It’s been so wonderful to have all my children here in town with me again. I remember when family dinners were just me, Frank, and the twins. It was lovely, but now our family has grown so much.
She shut her eyes, thinking of all the happy moments they’d shared in her home as their circle grew.
Noelle and Jacob and Cooper had joined their family, Faith and Ryan always brought laughter and joy when they came over, her dear friend Sally often came to dinner nights, and her kind-hearted Terrence was a treasured addition to their family life.
She opened her eyes and pulled her cell phone out of her pocket.
She wanted more than ever to look at pictures from their current lives, as a way of treasuring in that moment what she knew she would be looking back on fondly in the years to come.
She scrolled through images of Samantha cheerleading; Dean and Noelle dancing at Julia’s wedding; Julia and Cooper holding Quinn; Alexis, very pregnant with Cash, standing proudly in her repainted living room with Grayson; Hazel and Jacob kissing just after they’d closed the deal on their dream home; Faith’s surprise birthday party; and a picture of her and Terrence in front of the fireplace at The Lighthouse Grill at Christmastime.
She found herself smiling broadly, and she made a mental note to buy a couple of new photo albums later that week and get all her pictures printed. It would be fun to look through all the photos with her family sometime, maybe in the living room after dinner one evening.
She felt a sparkle of anticipation when she thought that soon she would be able to add Dean and Noelle’s wedding to her trove of captured memories. At the thought of their wedding, she was struck with inspiration.
I know money is no object for them anymore, but I bet they’d like to use some of the things I have squirreled away up here, she thought. Dean could wear the cufflinks that Frank wore at our wedding, and I have all those beautiful glass candlesticks somewhere –
Feeling suddenly energetic, she tucked the photo album back into the chest and stood up.
She’d recently finished reorganizing the attic, so she had a good idea of where most things were, although there were a few boxes that still had unknown contents.
That was why she didn’t quite know where the candlesticks were, but she had a feeling they were in the second box on the lower shelf in the corner, which had been heavy and had tinkled slightly when she’d moved it.
She began to rummage around eagerly and soon located the candlesticks exactly where she thought they’d be.
There were only twelve of them, not enough for every table at Dean and Noelle’s wedding, but Vivian hoped they could be added to the centerpiece arrangements, since she knew that there were three different centerpieces planned.
She smiled, loving the idea of Dean and Noelle having some family heirlooms involved in the decorations for their wedding.
Suddenly she remembered a couple of white lace tablecloths that she knew would be perfect for the place card table and the cake table.
Humming cheerfully, she dug them out of the old linen chest, and then her humming faded as she went to the box where she’d placed many of Frank’s belongings.
Slowly she took his best gold cufflinks from the box.
They were encased in a green velvet box, and she opened it, studying the way they gleamed in the light.
An ache of love for her husband welled up in her heart, and she closed the box again, looking forward to giving the cufflinks to Dean.
She knew Frank would have wanted it, and she loved the idea of having something that was his be such an integral part of Dean and Noelle’s wedding day.
She was about to close the lid of the box when she froze.
A photograph of her wedding to Frank, which had rested on his night table for most of their marriage, was tucked into the box.
After he’d passed, she’d been too grief stricken to look at it, especially because it was a picture that he’d chosen himself and had framed in a sentimental silver frame made of linked hearts.
It was a picture of the two of them laughing while they were in the middle of their first dance, and Vivian hadn’t ordered a larger print of it because it was blurry.
Frank, however, had declared it to be his favorite picture of the two of them, and had proudly shown it to her the day he’d bought the frame and put the photograph into it.
Tears blurred Vivian’s vision, and she lifted the frame out of the box and gazed at the picture.
She smiled, feeling a glow of love for her husband, despite the ways he’d failed her.
She thought of the money he’d left and felt happy about it, even though the circumstances of him leaving it were bad.
She knew that her children had been incredibly blessed by how things had worked out, and she knew that Frank would have been thrilled to know it.
Now they have what they need, Frank, she thought.
You gave them that. Dean has what he needs to cover the cost of his surgery and the treatments without sacrificing anything for his and Noelle’s wedding, Julia will have enough space to be more comfortable while she’s adjusting to having two little ones, and Alexis and Hazel know that the money is there for them for whatever they might need.
You provided for them long after we thought you could.
She stared at the picture for a few more heartbeats, remembering her wedding day and how much joy she’d had.
“Dean is getting married, Frank,” she whispered.
“And Hazel got married, and Julia did too. We all wished you could have been there. I love the idea of Dean wearing your cufflinks at his wedding. You would have been so proud of the way he’s persevered through these challenging months.
He’s been so strong, and kept his spirits up better than anyone else I’ve ever known could have.
And you’d be proud of the girls, too, seeing the way they care about their families and how creative and brave they’ve been.
And I think you’d be proud of me too.” She smiled down at the image of Frank and carefully kissed the glass.
She added the picture to the box of items that she planned on carrying downstairs.
She didn’t feel ready to replace the picture on the nightstand that had been Frank’s—maybe she never would be—but she wanted to hang it downstairs somewhere.
Maybe in the hallway near the staircase, she thought with satisfaction.
As she picked up the box and headed toward the staircase, she felt as though a weight had been lifted from her. She finally felt at peace with the way things had turned out. At last, there was closure, and it felt like another unexpected gift.