Page 124 of True North

When nobody responds, I set the jug on the counter and wander down the hall. The light in Rosie’s room is on. That’s odd. We haven’t ventured into her space since the funeral.

I stop in the doorway to find Harry sitting on the floor, leaning against the foot of the bed.

Shit.

Closing the distance, I sink to the floor by his side. I nudge his shoulder with mine, and he turns to face me. He’s all tear-streaked cheeks, red eyes, and clenched jaw.

“Oh, Harry.”

An ache swells in my chest. He moves his mouth like he’s going to say something, but snaps it shut and snaps his gaze to the dresser. The way his stare burns into it, I’m surprised the old piece of furniture doesn’t burst into flames.

He holds out an envelope to me. Another sits by his other side, open, the letter underneath the cream envelope. I take mine from his fingers.

“She wrote me?”

He barely nods.

Sucking in a breath, I turn the envelope over. It’s not sealed. Maybe he read it. I don’t mind. I slide the letter from its casing and unfold it. Harry doesn’t move an inch as I read Rosie’s pristine handwriting.

To my dearest Louisa,

I can call you that, can’t I?

You are so precious to my Harry and me. And you have always felt like my daughter. I saw it, the connection between the two of you, the day you met. When we got home, I saw how my son lit up with the mention of you. Well, a mother knows these things.

The years you were gone were hard, I’m not gonna lie. And I understand why you left. Really, I do. More than you will ever understand. To be independent in this day and age as a woman, is truly admirable. Not everyone sees it that way, specially in these parts. I blame our mothers before us.

Enough of that.

I want to talk to you about Eddy.

And Harry.

I never told Harry about that night. Being a mother takes certain sacrifices. Some small and some much, much bigger. I have made my bed, and I’ll lie in it when my time comes. But I don’t regret dealing with Eddy, it needed to be done. It was the only thing I could give you two in the way of a real shot at a life together. He never would have allowed it. Well, you know the rest.

Now, to my darling Harry. He really is the most incredible man. I’m biased, as all mothers are, but I never could have asked for a kinder, harder working, more selfless son than our Harry. That man would give the air in his lungs for the people he loves. He’s always been able to read what people need. So, promise me, when I’m gone, you will take care of him in the ways a good woman does for her husband.

Now, don’t go getting all coy on me girl, we both know that is where you two are heading. And, on the off chance I don’t get to be there when you do, your something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue are in my top left dresser drawer in a box for you. Only, don’t look at them ’til that day. Do me that one little favor, sweetheart.

That’s all for now.

Yours,

Rosie.

For now. Like she’d planned to tell me other things. Like we’d have time to bond, mother to daughter. My chin wobbles as I stare at the paper in my hand. It blurs, the pressure building behind my eyes.

I sniff, trying my best to hold it together, and look up to Harry. His jaw is set, and hurt and pain lance through his deep blues.

His jaw feathers. “You knew,” he chokes.

Knew...

About Eddy.

That Rosie?—

And Harry mustn’t have.

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