The Charm Bracelet (26 page)

Arden's eyes widened at her mother's clarity and intuition.

It's like she can read my mind,
Arden thought
.

“I do,” she said, smiling, hugging her mom before giving the glider a gentle push with her feet.

“Wheeee!” Lolly said.

Before the glider had stopped swinging, Arden's cell trilled.

“Simóne's doing a GREAT job filling in for you,” Van replied.

What a jackass. No “Have a good time, you deserve it,” or “How's your mom?” Not even a “Let's talk when you get back after your vacation.” Just a thinly veiled threat,
Arden thought, annoyed.

Lolly patted her daughter's leg. “You don't need anyone's permission to be who you dream of being. You are here—right here—because of the journey you took.”

Lolly stopped, her voice quaking along with her sequins. “There is no one else in the world like you, my beautiful girl.
No one
. Please know that. You are made up of so many dimensions. Now it's just up to you to let the world see that beauty.”

Arden began to cry, without warning, her tears a downpour, a sudden thunderstorm of emotion.

“There, there,” Lolly said, comforting her daughter, holding her tightly. “There's no need for tears. Why don't you go write?” she added, brightening. “Just go sit and write. Lauren knows clearly who she wants to be. No one tells her to paint. She just paints. Remember when you used to write because you loved it?”

Arden sat straight up.

“Are you okay?” Lolly asked.

“Yes!” Arden replied. “I am!”

“Are you off to write?”

“I am,” Arden said, standing. “But I have to do something first. Where's your paper and scissors?”

“What? Why?” Lolly asked, before seeing the determination in her daughter's face. “In the kitchen. Junk drawer.”

Arden gathered her materials, sat in front of the living room fireplace, and made a blizzard of snowflakes for her mother, which the pair then hung in the cabin's windows.

And then Arden sat on the dock and wrote until dusk, until the dragonflies called her home for dinner, summer snowflakes twinkling in the cabin's lights.

 

part nine

The Shooting Star Charm

To a Life in Which You Are Lucky in Love

 

Thirty-four

Arden yawned in sync with Lauren, their eyes fluttered, and then their heads dipped, until their chins were resting on their chests.

Lolly clapped, waking her dozing daughter and granddaughter with the subtlety of an earthquake, their eyes shooting open in alarm.

“Here, girls, have some more coffee,” Lolly said, rushing into the kitchen and returning with a pot of coffee. “You can't go to sleep yet!”

Arden looked at her watch and slumped deeper into the couch. “It's nearly eleven o'clock, Mom. I need to be in bed, not chugging caffeine. Do you really think this is such a good idea?”

Lolly filled the three mugs sitting on the coffee table in front of the fireplace and turned to look at her daughter. “There has never been a better idea, my dear,” she said with complete conviction. “We may never have the chance to see the Northern Lights again together.”

Lauren shook her head and said, “You're right, Grandma. I've heard about them my whole life. Now it's the right time to see them. Together!”

Lolly smiled. “It's a perfect night. Clear as a bell. The weatherman says it might not happen again for a while. Wanna help me with some snacks?”

Lauren nodded. “Grab us some sweatshirts, my dear,” Lolly said to Arden. “It'll be chilly on the beach, especially if we have to wait awhile.”

Arden considered protesting what she felt was likely a wild-goose chase, but her mother's face said there would be no discussion. Instead, Arden nodded, too, and grabbed some sweatshirts.

 

Thirty-five

Lolly, Arden, and Lauren were stretched out on a giant quilt, lying side by side, staring up at the starry sky, the sound of the waves from Lake Michigan lulling them into a trance.

There was an out-of-body experience to being on the beach at night. A few other hearty stargazers were camped out on the sand, but no one had lit a fire or had flashlights shining. Everyone was waiting for the show, almost reverential in anticipation of what might occur.

“It's so dark and quiet out here,” Lauren said. “In Chicago, there's always light—streetlights, headlights, apartment lights—and noise from people, airplanes, sirens, the highway, the city.”

“That's why it's so perfect to see the Northern Lights here,” Lolly said. “There is no pollution in the sky to hide the show. And you can see from heaven to earth, and east to west, forever.”

Seeing the Northern Lights in Michigan was akin to seeing Bigfoot,
Arden thought
. Everyone in Michigan said they had seen them at some point in their lives, but few could ever offer up specifics, or even a great photo.

Arden had studied the Northern Lights in science class. If she remembered her studies well enough, the Northern Lights—or aurora borealis—were a natural light phenomenon in the sky, mostly seen in high latitudes. They were named after the Roman goddess of dawn (Aurora) and the Greek god of the north wind (Boreas) by Galileo. The Northern Lights are the result of collisions of gaseous particles in the earth's atmosphere with charged particles released from the sun. The effect was akin to a 3-D kaleidoscopic light display in the sky. The light displayed in many colors and forms, including shades of green, pink, red, yellow, blue, and violet—in arcs, streamers, rippling curtains, and shooting rays that lit up the sky in an eerie, otherworldly glow.

The three stared into the sky. “Isn't this exciting?” Lolly asked, her voice high.

“Are you sure this is going to happen, Mom?” Arden asked after a few minutes of silence.

“Oh, it'll happen,” Lolly said, grabbing Arden's and Lauren's hands in the dark. “When you least expect it. It's like love. You just have to be patient and then—BOOM!—you see lights.”

Lauren laughed. “Did you see lights when you first met Grampa, when he hooked you with his fishing lure?”

“I think I saw my life flash before my eyes first,” Lolly laughed. “But, yes … I know this sounds a little silly, but I immediately saw light radiating from him when we met. I just knew.”

Lolly smiled to herself and continued. “You know that photo I have in my bedroom? The one taken at sunset on the beach? It was taken right here. Your grandfather brought me here on a date. He roasted hot dogs and we made s'mores, and then he told me the date wasn't over. He said he'd asked my dad if he could show me the Northern Lights. But my dad didn't like me staying out so late with a boy, so Les invited my dad to join us. And the lights were spectacular.”

Lolly stopped and closed her eyes. She was silent for a moment. “And in the middle of the Northern Lights—right in the middle of all that color and those shooting stars—he gave me a charm.”

Lolly sat up. “Your phone has one of those flashlights on it, doesn't it? Jake's taught me all about those—what are they called?—apples?”

“Apps, Grandma.” Lauren laughed, turning on her phone. “Here you go.”

Lolly held her charm bracelet in front of the light and shook it. She held out a charm and sighed. “It's appropriate the light is shining off it so brightly,” Lolly said. “This is my shooting star charm. When Les gave it to me in the middle of the Northern Lights, he whispered, so my dad wouldn't hear, ‘To a life in which you are lucky in love.'”

“And I whispered back, ‘You will always be my lucky star.'”

Lauren sat up. “Don't make me cry again, Grandma.”

The three listened to the waves crash onto the beach, and owls hoot from the aspen and pine trees in the dunes behind them. “Did you see light when you met Dad?” Lauren asked her mother.

Arden considered lying to her daughter, but she sat up and said to the lake, “No, I didn't, sweetie. I saw … stability. I saw … a life of ease. I saw … well … no fireworks, nothing that had anything to do with love, sadly.”

Arden stopped and put her arm around her daughter's shoulder. “But the greatest love of my life resulted from our marriage. So I can never be sorry about that decision. And you certainly light up my life.”

“Thanks, Mom,” Lauren said, hesitating before forging on with a question. “Did you see lights with Clem?”

“I did,” she said. “I didn't just
see
fireworks, I felt them. I felt like I'd eaten a million lightning bugs when I was with him. He made my soul brighter, and that's all you can ask for when you're in love.”

Arden inhaled the lake breeze. “Your grandmother is right. There is a bit of luck involved in love. You have to be open to it.”

“Open to what?”

The three women jumped and screamed at the deep voice booming over them.

“I didn't mean to scare you,” Jake said. “I'm so sorry.”

Lauren beamed her flashlight at his face. “Light,” she said, suddenly laughing. “I see light coming from him, Mom.”

Arden wrestled the phone from her daughter's hands and clicked off the app. “What are you doing here?” she asked, pleasantly surprised. Then it hit her. “This isn't coincidence, is it, Mom?”

“I invited him,” Lolly admitted. “I texted him, as you kids do these days. Surprise!”

Arden couldn't help but smile in the dark.

“Mind if I steal Arden away for a minute?” Jake asked. “Wanna go for a walk? I promise I'll keep a tight hold on your hand, and the moon will light our way.”

“So romantic,” Lolly and Lauren said in unison, sighing dramatically.

 

Thirty-six

“Have you ever seen the Northern Lights?”

Arden and Jake were holding hands and walking barefoot along the edge of the water, where the lake naturally “scooped” into the land. Locals said this giant half-circle in the lake had been created when God—in the midst of all His hard work—attempted to dip a giant ice cream scoop into the dunes, believing the golden sand was ice cream that could cool Him off. Scoops was named after this natural wonder.

“I have,” Jake said. “Many times. It just takes timing and a little patience.”

“Like love?” Arden offered softly, her hair rustling in the breeze.

“Just like it,” Jake said. “And I've seen lots of shooting stars, too.”

He stopped walking and turned to Arden, gently taking her face in his hands. “But I've never seen one as bright as you.”

Jake stopped. “I know we've only just met, but there's something between us, Arden, that is as special and wondrous as the Northern Lights. I can feel it. Can't you?”

“I can,” Arden said, her voice quivering.

Jake pulled her into his arms to warm her, to hold her. “Lolly and Lauren are such bright lights, too. For your mom to invite me tonight…”

Jake stopped. “Do you know how much that means to me? And do you know what a good mother and daughter you are?”

“No,” Arden said, her voice suddenly breaking and tears forming in her eyes. “Sometimes I don't.”

“You are,” Jake said. “You're such a whole person now. You need to see that.”

“Thank you for saying it to me,” Arden said. “Thank you for seeing it.”

“Sometimes people think they're lucky in love or life when really they've just made themselves open and aware to the incredible possibilities and gifts that life has to offer.”

“Deepak Chopra?” Arden joked.

“No,” Jake said. “Just my little old philosophy on life and love.”

“I like this little old philosopher.”

“Old?” Jake laughed. “Little?”

Arden looked into Jake's face. The moon and stars were illuminated in his eyes, as if he had swallowed the whole night sky so it would shine in his face for only Arden to see.

“I know we have a lot of things working against us,” Arden said. “Distance, careers, my mom's health issues, obligations, exes, family … I mean, I don't even know that much about your family yet … but I want to give this a chance. I really do.”

“I'm so happy to hear you say that. I've never wanted anything more in my life, either,” Jake said. “And on Memorial Day? We'll have a proper date, okay? No more surprises. I'm officially asking you. What do you say?”

“Let me think about it.” Arden laughed, quickly adding, “Okay, I thought about it. Yes!”

“I think it's only right that we come back here, to this beach, just the two of us, like your mom and dad did on one of their first dates. How's that sound?”

“Perfect,” Arden said.

“I hope this is, too,” Jake said, leaning in and kissing Arden.

As if on cue, Arden saw a shooting star arc across the night sky. “You make me see stars,” Arden said.