Page 64 of Anchored

I’m starting to feel like we’re in the way of an epic reunion. Like maybe these two want some privacy, and Maple and I are standing in the way of that.

“We should…” I trail off, looking to Maple, like she has any idea of what to do here.

“Yes, let’s get inside where we can sit and catch up.” Maple puts her arm around Gracie’s shoulders and steers her back into the condo. “I’ll go put these in water for you.”

I put my hand on Grandpa’s back and shuffle alongside him. When we get to the living room, I point to the couch where he sits. Gracie also takes the couch. Maple heads for the kitchen, probably to find a vase. The two old lovebirds are still staring at each other, maybe cataloguing all the ways in which they’ve changed over the years.

“You look the same,” Gracie says, still sounding shell-shocked.

“And you’ve grown more beautiful.”

Wow, Grandpa’s got game. I have memories of him and Grandma together, but they’re hazy. I have no idea if he was a player in his younger years. That’s just not something you normally ask your grandfather.

“Well, this is a surprise!” Maple comes back in the living room, the flowers in a vase, which she places on the coffee table. She comes back to my side and we stand there, watching the two of them as they ignore us to stare at each other.

“Grandpa called me yesterday. Asked if I’d come pick him up so he could see Gracie today. I hope the surprise was okay.”

“More than okay,” Gracie answers. Then she leans to the left and places her hand on Grandpa’s knee. “Have you had a good life, Hank?”

He places his hand on top of hers. “I have, but I never forgot about you, Gracie. I never got to tell you I’m sorry.”

Gracie shakes her head violently. “No, it’s okay. It was a long time ago.”

Grandpa is just as adamant. “No, it’snotokay. I left without a word and that will forever be my life’s regret. Please tell me you ended up having a good life. If you say you did, maybe then I can start to forgive myself.” Grandpa’s voice warbles at the end there.

Gracie swipes her hand under her eyes, actively crying, but she doesn’t let go of Grandpa’s hand. “I had a wonderful life. I found a good man and had two children. Multiple grandchildren, including Maple here. I don’t regret a thing.”

Grandpa nods. I watch a tear slip down his weathered cheek. Maple rests her head against my shoulder with a shaky inhale, so I pull her close.

“My father, he wasn’t a good man. We moved so many times. Always because he couldn’t hold down a job. He found happiness in a bottle while my mother and I barely scraped by. I didn’t want to introduce you to all that ugliness, Gracie. I didn’t want you to think differently of me.”

Gracie shakes her head again. “I knew who you were, Hank. That’s all that mattered to me.”

“But the church robbery was something else. He’d never done something like that before, and to this day, I don’t think he did it. But I knew the whole town would think he did. My family name would come with a cloud of shame. I couldn’t let that shame touch you. When my parents told me we were leaving in the middle of the night, I went willingly. As much as I loved you, I had to protect you.”

Gracie sniffles, her breath coming in hitches now. At least she finally got closure on what happened all those years ago.

“I guess it just wasn’t meant to be for you and me,” she finally says.

“It just wasn’t our time back then,” Grandpa agrees, nodding sagely. Then he looks back at Gracie with a sparkle in his eyes. “But maybe it is now.”

There’s so much hope in his voice it makes my own heart break. Gracie whimpers and suddenly the two are embracing, both crying and whispering to each other as they rock back and forth. If I squint my eyes, I can just imagine the two of them sixty years ago. See the youthful glaze of innocent love that had been snatched away too soon.

Maple looks up at me, and I kiss her quickly.

“Let’s give them some space,” I whisper. She nods, tears welling in her own eyes.

“They can spend the day getting caught up and then we can have them over for dinner tonight at the cabin.”

“Sounds good.” I take her hand and pull her to the front door. The two lovebirds don’t even notice our exit. When the condo door closes behind us, the heat of the mid-morning sun hits my skin. I tilt my head back and soak it in for a moment. What a crazy summer it’s been.

“I’m so happy I could cry,” Maple admits, her forehead dropping to my chest. I smile down at the top of her head and rub my hands up and down her back.

“It’s crazy to think they might have a second chance at a sixty-year-old love story.”

Maple’s head lifts and her piercing blue eyes find mine. “I want that for us. Not the breakup in the middle, of course. But I want a love that lasts for decades, through deaths, generations, and setbacks.”

I’m nodding, agreeing wholeheartedly with her, even as part of me immediately worries she’ll eventually get frustrated with me like Macy did. “I want that too. But I’m not easy to live with, you know.”

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