Chapter 34 New Beginnings
As soon as we return from the woods, we visit my parents and show them the ring again. I called them from Arkansas; therefore, they knew about our re-engagement, but they said that they needed to see me to ensure my happiness.
Jake and I share an abbreviated version of our story with them. The memory I will always cherish is my father stating loudly, “I understand happiness, and Emma, I can see you are happy. If Jake has given you that, that is all we have ever wanted for you.”
This from the man who ranted about Jake my whole life. Miracles do happen. Then my mother squeezed my hand, her eyes warm. Now, without the shell I built around myself, I can clearly see their love. A love that was there all along.
Jake submitted his thesis before he ran off to find me, and he had to defend it when we returned.
He was thrilled that only minor revisions were needed in order to pass.
I was incredibly proud and excited as I finally could fully grasp his presentation—thesis, charts, graphs, and all—but also was so grateful that I played a small part in the research work.
Watching Jake present, I could feel a delicate thread connecting me to the graph displayed on the big screen that reached all the way down to a swamp in Arkansas.
Shortly after that, the University of Connecticut offered Jake a teaching position in rural Storrs, Connecticut. Professor Montgomery provided me with an excellent recommendation, and I landed a full-time position as an assistant to a professor in the university’s ecology department.
Vee decided to stay in Mississippi. She’s working for a large department store as a buyer and sounds strong and content, working every day to maintain her sobriety.
Her parents are happy to have her. While her mom holds out hope of her rekindling her modeling career, she’s considering going to college to get a degree in fashion merchandizing.
Jake and I continue to live in her condo, and Vee says she will sell it once we move to Connecticut.
Amid the July summer heat, Carol invites us over for lunch.
Picturing her icy hand sliding the envelope across the table, I plead, “Jake, I don’t want to go. I can’t. You understand?”
“Mom really has changed,” he begs. “She seems truly contrite and is working on herself and her own happiness. Please, give her another chance.”
Gazing into his warm brown eyes, I vacillate. I can’t imagine she has changed, but Jake’s eyes plead with me. Finally, I nod. Jake yanks me into a bearhug, pulling a laugh from deep within me.
Walking through the park to see Carol later that week, I squeeze Jake’s hand and say, “I’m really nervous.”
“I know, sweetheart. It will be okay, I promise. She really has changed.”
Shrugging my shoulders, I continue to walk toward Fifth Avenue, despite wanting to run in the other direction.
We gather around the kitchen island with Carol; Maria is nowhere in sight. Carol appears relaxed and actually hugs me like she means it. But it is her apology that finally wins me over.
“Emma, I can only say that I was wrong and I’m deeply ashamed.
I want to meet your parents and really get to know you,” she says, looking directly into my eyes.
“I was in a dark place, and from that place, I could not recognize the love you had for my son and he for you—a love like I had with Jake’s father.
That memory was too much to remember—what real love looked like and felt like.
But enough of this maudlin stuff—believe me when I say welcome to the family.
I’m truly happy for you both.” She reaches for our hands and grips them tightly.
I reply simply, “Thank you.”
Carol tssks and waves us over to sit down at the kitchen island. “Just some sandwiches and salad. I didn’t want anything stuffy or overdone. Is that okay?”
I glance at Jake. He looks as surprised as I do.
I didn’t think Carol ever did anything that wasn’t overdone.
As we crowd around the island, it reminds me of Vee and the cooking lessons we held in this very kitchen.
I meet Jake’s eyes. He smiles, I’m sure he’s remembering the same.
That was the start of our crazy adventure.
He grabs three plates, and we make our sandwiches. Carol even makes me a cup of tea when she gets herself coffee.
Once we’re seated and eating, Carol clears her throat and announces, “So, I’m divorcing Oliver.”
We halt mid bite and forget all about our food.
Jake charges around the island and wraps her in a hug. “Mom, really? Are you sure?”
Carol pushes him away and retorts, “Yes, I’ve made up my mind.
I already visited with an attorney, and it turns out because your father and I owned this apartment and the beach house before I married Oliver, I will get them both as the prenup doesn’t just protect Oliver, it protects me as well.
Also if everything works out, I’ll receive a considerable amount of alimony for the past twenty years of suffering.
I’m just sorry I didn’t investigate this sooner, to see if I could find some genuine happiness for myself.
” She pauses, and with a slight catch in her throat continues, “I’ll never find the happiness I had with your dad.
He was one in a million. But I may find something more than the miserable excuse of a life I have with Oliver.
God, that man is impossible. I could never admit that until now. ”
Jake gives her another quick hug and responds, “You deserve all the happiness in the world, Mom, and I know you’ll find it.”
Carol smiles wistfully. “I’m planning to spend the rest of the summer at the beach house while the lawyers work on the details, just in case they’re wrong, and I lose everything.
” She laughs—a tinkling, lighthearted laugh I’ve never heard before.
“I’d love it if you both could come for the summer.
It’s so lovely there, with tons of birds.
” She laughs again. “I’m planning to invite Beth and Joe and Vee.
It’s about time I righted that wrong, too.
I’ve ignored it for too long, and Beth deserved better from me. ”
Sitting back, I look back and forth from mother to son. I suddenly see more of a resemblance. Carol seems softer and certainly happier.
“We’ll see,” Jake says, darting an uncertain glance in my direction.
“That sounds just lovely,” I jump in. “I’ve always wanted to stay in the Hamptons for the summer. I’ve watched that bus leave every day, all summer long, for years. I’m itching to get on it and see what all the fuss is about.”
Carol’s face brightens, and she smiles at me with a tenderness that takes my breath away. For the first time, I see the person she was before life happened to her.
Later that summer, Jake and I marry in a small backyard wedding at Carol’s beach house.
My parents make the trip to the Hamptons on the bus and no one notices when they are an hour early for the ceremony, but that is only because they stayed overnight in the carriage house.
We chose the weekend Aunt Beth, Uncle Joe, and Vee were visiting.
Everything is perfect until Vee lightly touches my cheek with her makeup brush, which starts my tears.
They only stop when Vee sternly tells me I’m ruining everything and that she won’t be blamed for a bad makeup job.
I look out at the small group of people gathered for the ceremony and think, These are my people.
When the Justice of the Peace is going through our commitment to each other, I glance behind Jake and spot a blue-and-black kingfisher awkwardly perched on the scrubby bush up on the bluff.
The bird looks at me with his opaque black eyes and it’s as if he can see all the colors of the rainbow that fill me.
I stretch my hand towards him, and he dips his head and takes flight, swooping into a denser corpse of trees.
The wind kicks up, and I know the gods are pulling their magic strings high above us.