The Avalon Ladies Scrapbooking Society (48 page)

She flips open the lid before she can give it a second thought.

At first she stares at the contents, blinking. Yvonne was right—it’s practically empty. There’s a thin manila envelope and a small white envelope with Isabel’s name written in Bill’s unmistakable style.

She slowly reaches for the envelope, her mind spinning. An apology, maybe, or a belated confession?
Isabel, I want to explain what happened
. Or maybe a favor from the grave?
Isabel, I know you must be angry with me but there’s something I need you to do
. Isabel turns over the possibilities in her mind, none of them quite convincing enough.

She finally turns the envelope over and breaks the seal. It’s a card. Isabel pulls it out, stares at the simple drawing of two red intertwined hearts. Below it are the words,
MY BELOVED WIFE
.

This can’t be right. Isabel feels almost light-headed as she opens the card. It’s dated March 17, the year after they got married. Their first anniversary.

Inside the manila envelope she finds a handful of pictures—waiting in line at the Ferris wheel at the county fair, large plates of spaghetti from the questionable Italian restaurant near Bill’s dental college, the night he proposed, their wedding, their disastrous honeymoon in the Bahamas where they both got food poisoning. Standing in front of the house the day they bought it, Bill’s hand resting proudly on the mailbox as Isabel stands next to him, laughing, tucked under his arm. A notarized copy of Bill and Randall’s partnership papers, his first business card. A long list written by hand of what was happening in that year, the beat-up Honda they were driving, places they visited, their favorite foods and movies. A bar napkin with a short list of baby names they’d come up with when they found out Isabel was pregnant, two weeks prior to their anniversary. The miscarriage would happen five weeks later.

Isabel looks at the evidence of her early life with Bill, spread out in front of her like a show-and-tell project. She feels her eyes sting with tears and, at the same time, is shaking her head with a wry smile. Because this is exactly the kind of thing Bill would have done. A
romantic gesture that would have been lost on Isabel because Isabel is the least romantic person in the world, but it would be just like Bill to do it anyway.

It’s been so long since she’s thought of him in this way. Her chest hurts, like the ache that comes with holding your breath for too long. To be able to think of him with fondness, with a smile on her face, to remember the good moments. When was the last time she could do this?

The pain catches her off guard, a sudden sting, a punch in the gut.

Bill
, she thinks. He can hear her, she’s sure of it. She glances around, then settles back in her chair.

“Bill,” she says aloud. “If you’re up there somewhere, watching me look through all this, well, I can’t help but wonder if you forgot about this box. We were so young … I’m sure you didn’t think it’d end up like this. I sure didn’t.”

She hesitates, then takes a deep breath. “So things are going okay for me. I’ve been fixing up the house, as you probably know. Bettie’s house burned down, though, but she’s okay. We’ve become friends, actually. I know, I know. To think she used to drive me crazy all these years. Turns out she’s all right. More than all right. She’s kind of become like family to me. I’m glad you helped her out as much as you did when you were alive.

“You know how you were always telling me to go out and meet new people? Well, I have a new friend, Yvonne. She’s a plumber here in town. Really nice, very pretty, great teeth, gums to die for.” Isabel smiles. It was a standing joke between her and Bill—while most men judged women by their bodies, Isabel would tease him that the first thing he looked at was their teeth. “Work is going okay, too. I keep thinking I’m going to leave, but I just heard from my boss that I’m going to get a raise. Did you know I haven’t used a single vacation day since you died? I guess I should have taken one earlier—I seem to make more money that way.” She shakes her head, gives a small smile.

“So I guess if you hadn’t died you’d probably be married to Ava by now, maybe even have another kid.” Isabel is silent for a while.
“Max is cute, Bill. He looks like you. I gave him some things of yours that I found in the attic. Well, gave them to Ava. She’s been hanging around a lot, but you probably knew that, too. It looks like they’ll be moving. It’s probably a good thing—the place they lived in was a dump, and Randall was a jerk to her so she can’t get another job as a dental assistant. She does these bottle-cap things—necklaces and rings—they’re pretty good but it’s not enough. When you died all our money was tied up with the dental practice, and you know how that went. Randall bought out your share of the business, but it was such a paltry sum based on your partnership agreement. The lawyer explained it to me like you tried to a million times. Wish I’d listened better but I was too mad at the time.

“Ava’s all right. Not that you’re asking me for my approval or anything. I mean, I suppose if you’re going to leave me for someone, you could have done worse than her. Lately it seems like I’m the one who’s married to her. Did you see what she did when she put my name on her emergency call list? I had to go pick up Max from school! We had a fun time, though. I do wish he was at a better place. Ava and I kind of got into a fight about it. Not that it’s any of my business.”

Isabel picks up one of the pictures. Their first Thanksgiving as a married couple, gathered round the large oak dining table at Bill’s parents’ house. Everything was too big—the table, the turkey, the amount of food. Edward and Lillian had teased them, saying that they were waiting for grandchildren to fill the table.

“Anyway …” She gestures to the things on the table. “I’m not sure what I’ll do with it, but it’s nice to have it. I threw out a lot of things when you left, I was pretty angry. But I’m not angry anymore, and I’m glad to have them. So thanks.” She glances up at the ceiling, unsure if she should say anything else. “And um, take care.”

Isabel is gathering everything together when Mrs. Snyder pokes her head in. “Everything all right?” she asks, eyebrows knit in confusion. Her eyes look around the room. “I thought I heard you talking to someone in here.”

“It’s just me,” Isabel says. She stands up. “I’m finished here.
Thanks for all of your help.” Her arms are full but she suddenly feels lighter.

“That’s what we’re here for,” Mrs. Snyder says, still looking around the room. She gives Isabel one more perplexed look. “Are you sure there wasn’t anyone here with you?”

Isabel pauses for a moment, feels a shimmer of electricity that tickles her arm. “No,” she says honestly, but before Mrs. Snyder can ask any more questions Isabel steers them out the door. “You know, I think I’ll take some of that Amish Friendship Bread after all.”

“Connie, there’s someone here to see you!” Madeline calls from the bottom of the stairs. A familiar bleat fills the tea salon followed by the sound of running footsteps. “Serena, goodness, give that back!”

Serena? Connie quickly finishes trimming a photo with her new paper cutter and hurries to the door. She throws it open and runs down the stairs, her face bursting into joy when she sees Serena run past, a dishtowel in her mouth, her nails skittering on the hardwood floor. Connie lets out a whistle and Serena skids to a stop, the dishtowel falling out of her mouth as she does an about face and trots toward Connie.

Connie already has her arms around Serena’s neck when Madeline appears behind her, slightly out of breath.

“I swear, that goat knows this house better than me,” Madeline says. “She had us going every which way.”

“Us?” Connie says. She looks up and sees Eli Ballard hurry into the room, a relieved look on his face. She almost doesn’t recognize him without his white lab coat.

“What are you doing here?” Connie asks, not sure if she’s referring to Eli or Serena.

“Supervised visitation,” Eli says with a wink. “Jay Doherty came into town to run some errands and brought her with him. Asked if I could babysit Serena for a couple of hours so I thought I’d bring her by.”

At the mention of Jay Doherty’s name, Connie smiles. Connie’s
grandparents had all died when she was young, and Connie thinks that was one reason why her father’s death was so hard on her mother. Connie doesn’t have a memory of them at all, but if it were up to her, she’d have a grandfather like Jay Doherty.

“Don’t you have patients to attend to?” Connie asks, straightening up. Serena leans hard against her legs, happy, and Connie scratches her under her chin.

“This is technically my lunch hour and I am allowed to eat,” he says. “But why is the
CLOSED
sign up?”

Madeline smiles. “It’s just for the week,” she says. “We’re closed for inventory.” She exchanges a smile with Connie. They’ve both been working on their scrapbooks, getting some much needed rest, and enjoying their quiet days together. It’s also given them a chance to talk about the tea salon, about setting some new goals for the next year. Connie still wants Madeline to think about selling her tea blends online. Another stream of revenue might mean that they won’t have to feel as much pressure about the tea salon doing well all the time. This time off is giving them a chance to talk about all that, and they both agree that closing the salon more often is a good idea. The tea salon is Madeline’s labor of love, but it’s no fun if they’re laboring all of the time.

Eli looks disappointed. “Just my luck. The one day I choose not to bring in a sandwich …”

“We still have to eat,” Connie says quickly. “And I’ve got to feed this girl, too, don’t I, Serena? I got a nice green salad waiting for you!” Connie sits down on the bottom step and wraps her arms around Serena, giving her a big hug.

“Okay, then,” Eli says. “Then I’ll have what she’s having.” He turns beet red when both Connie and Madeline turn to look at him with their eyebrows raised. “I meant the salad.”

“Oh dear, I think that’s the phone,” Madeline says suddenly, disappearing even though Connie didn’t hear the phone ring.

“Thanks for bringing her over,” Connie says. With Madeline out of sight, she lets go of the leash and lets Serena sniff and wander.

“Boy, it’s like you’re asking for trouble,” Eli says. He goes to pull
the two side parlor doors closed. “This place is like one big playground for her. Goats like to get into everything.”

“Serena’s a good girl,” Connie says loyally. “She listens to me.”

Eli nods but continues to grunt as he works the heavy pocket doors. “Someone needs to add oil to these rollers,” he says.

“That someone has heard you and will add that to her list,” Connie says with a grin.

“It’s just the two of you?” Eli asks. He manages to get the doors closed and satisfied that Serena won’t be running amuck, flops onto an overstuffed Victorian parlor armchair.

Serena looks up the stairs, curious, and Connie shakes her head. “Don’t even think about it,” she tells the goat. She turns back to Eli. “Yes, but we have a lot of friends around.” Connie likes how that sounds.

“I mean, is there a boyfriend, fiancé, husband? Anyone available to help you out? For, um, either one of you?”

Connie hides a smile and decides to be direct. “Eli, are you interested in asking me out, or Madeline?”

Serena wanders over to Eli and gives him a sniff.

“You,” he says, his ears turning red.

“I’d love to,” she says honestly. “But are you sure you want to go out with a girl who hangs with goats?”

“Connie,” he says, arching an eyebrow. “You seem to be forgetting that I’m a vet.”

“Good point.” She rescues the new supply of business cards from Serena’s mouth and Eli takes them from her, replacing them onto the table. They grin at each other, and Connie feels butterflies in her stomach, suddenly self-conscious. “So I guess we’re on then.”

“I hope so.”

Serena is looking restless so Connie stands up. “I know that look. I’d better get her outside before I end up having to scrub out the rug.”

Eli stands up, too. “I’ll go with you.” He reaches the door before Connie and holds it open, and Serena is the first to exit. If Connie didn’t know better, she was sure she saw Serena wink at her as she passed by.