Court of the Myrtles

Court of the Myrtles by Lois Cahall

Book: Court of the Myrtles by Lois Cahall Read Free Book Online
Authors: Lois Cahall
Tags: General Fiction
Ads: Link
don’t want to complain to you, Alice,” I say between sniffles. “You’ve been through something so much worse.”
    â€œIt’s all relative, Marla. I may have lost a child, but truth is, you were closer to your mother than I
ever
was to my child.”
    â€œStill…” I say getting up and brushing the damp from the grass off my bottom.
    â€œDon’t you have a meeting today?”
    â€œYeah, but how do you know?” I ask.
    â€œYou told me last week, remember?”
    â€œI can’t stay long. I just didn’t want you hanging here wondering why I didn’t show. I’m meeting with the college advisor about my schedule for fall semester. Besides, I’m not in the mood for cemeteries. Not today.”
    â€œHad one of those days last week. Today I’m better.”
    â€œI used to read those ads in the newspapers—you know the ones people take out on the anniversary of some loved one, post a photo from when they were twenty-one, even though they died at like age seventy and say, ‘Gone but not forgotten’ and I’d think to myself, ‘It’s been twenty years since that person died, aren’t they over it yet?’ Little did I know. You never get over it.”
    â€œYou just learn to live with it,” we both synchronize. And then she slaps my back a single time and rises up.
    â€œYou’re almost through the holiday hurdles,” says Alice. “After Mother’s Day you’ve got about five months off until Thanksgiving rolls around.”
    â€œThe Fourth of July doesn’t count for much.”
    â€œUnless you were the child of Thomas Jefferson.”
    â€œNo,” I chuckle. “I wish. But no relation.”
    â€œFunny how we have to get
through
our holidays now instead of enjoying them.”
    I head toward my car, pausing to snap a couple of lilac branches from a nearby tree. “You know, Alice, if I’d married Eddy, I’d have a husband now, a family to be there for me. You got me thinking about things. You ever think about the highlights and lowlights of your life, Alice?”
    â€œI’m still working on them.”
    I toss the bouquet of lilacs through my car window onto the passenger’s seat.
    â€œHey, you can’t do that,” says Alice. “Town property.” And then she winks.
    â€œYeah, whatever…” I shoo her off before waving goodbye.
    â€œBad girl,” she yells out. “So you
can
be daring after all…”
    â€œIf you call stealing lilacs a risky dare.” I say, opening my car door. “Look out world, here I come…”
    â€œHey, it’s a start,” she hollers after me. “See you next week.”
    But I’ve already turned over the key to the ignition.

Chapter Ten
    My eyes darted around, following the flight pattern of a red cardinal as it swooped down to his mate on the branch, hovered over the rotting porch. The groove worn in the old banister is the only sign that my grandma once sat here in her wheelchair.
    My focus shifted to my mom standing before me, struggling to pin a Virgin Mary medal onto the lace collar of that gown that once belonged to Grandma.
    â€œStubborn thing,” said Mom, determined to attach it. Then, “There, got it,” patting my chest. “Something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue. Guess we got the blue and the old part right.”
    â€œI wish Grandma were here.” And then I blurt out, “Okay, not really,” at the exact time Mom said it. We both laughed and then hugged tightly.
    â€œShe’d have hated you marrying Eddy,” said my mom, still holding me.
    â€œHated him,” I mimicked. “That part when the priest says, ‘is there anybody here today that can give good reason these two should not be wed?’ she’d have chimed in about Eddy’s Irish heritage, kicking and screaming as they removed her from the

Similar Books

Notorious

Michele Martinez

Tundra Threat

Sarah Varland

House of the Blue Sea

Teresa van Bryce