Page 10 of Love Conquers All

“We have to take Sylvie with us,” Graham said.

His mother hesitated. “I don’t know about that.”

“She’s over there,” Graham said.

Suddenly, Graham’s mother ripped back the sheet to look at Sylvie. Sylvie felt exposed and pulled herself upright, wrapping her arms around her knees.

“How are you feeling, honey?” Graham’s mother asked.

“She doesn’t feel good,” Graham declared. “That’s why she’s here!”

Graham’s mother sighed. “Did they call your dad?”

“I can’t go home,” Sylvie told her quietly.

The nurse entered, observing the scene with a nervous smile. “Are we all ready to go, Graham?”

“We’re taking Sylvie,” he said again.

His mother lent the nurse a nervous smile.

“Tell them, Sylvie,” Graham insisted. “Tell them that your father can’t pick you up. He’s too busy with work.”

A look of shame passed over Graham’s mother’s face. It was clear that, as a mother, she felt she had to step in to save this poor motherless girl.

“We’ll have to call your dad to make sure it’s okay,” the nurse said with her hands clasped.

But when they called the house and then The House on Nantucket Inn, the phone rang and rang and rang. James didn’t answer.

“We’ll stop by on our way and let him know,” Graham’s mother said, her voice edged with authority.

The nurse looked panicked until her eyes fell again on little Sylvie in the bed. Pity took over her face. She said, “Oh, honey. You need to get out of here, don’t you?”

This was how Sylvie found herself at Graham Ellis’s house for the first time.

On the way, they’d stopped by both Sylvie’s house and The House on Nantucket to speak to James, but he hadn’t been there.

It was only an hour after she’d encountered Graham in the nurse’s office, and Sylvie found herself bundled up on Graham’s sofa, with Graham bundled up beside her and his mother doting on them, filling mugs with tea and bowls with soup, baking chocolate chip cookies, and asking them to tell her what they needed, when they needed it. Sylvie had never experienced that level of care. When she went to the bathroom that morning, she burst into quiet tears and cleaned herself up immediately, not wanting them to know how sad she was. All this tenderness made her miss her mother so desperately.

When they arrived, they put in a VHS ofLabyrinthwith David Bowie. Sylvie had never seen it before, but apparently, itwas a favorite of Graham’s and his mother’s. She was fascinated with how bizarre it was and even more surprised at how funny Graham and his mother were as they watched it, quoting the lines and saying, “Oh, this is the best part!” every few scenes. Sylvie felt relaxed and sleepy and so, so happy. When it was time for her to pick a movie to watch, she went through the VHS tapes, nervous about picking the right thing. Eventually, she settled onIndiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. Graham clapped his hands wildly.

“It’s the perfect sick movie,” he explained.

“I can’t watch this movie again,” his mother said with a laugh. “You guys holler if you need anything.”

Suddenly, Sylvie found herself alone in the living room with a boy. Her heart started to pound. Was this the kind of thing Caitlin did all the time now? Her hands clammed up as Harrison Ford embarked on an adventure across the desert. She was filled with questions. Why had Graham gone out of his way to invite her to his house? Why was he being so nice to her? Didn’t he know that nobody liked her? That her best friend had abandoned her? That she was weird?

She was dying to know what he was thinking about. But she soon got her answer. During a particularly lovely scene, when Harrison Ford kisses Karen Allen for the first time, Graham reached under the covers and took her sweaty hand in his clammy one. They linked fingers, unable to look one another in the eye. Sylvie thought she was going crazy. But up till now, it was the happiest moment of her life.

Chapter Six

Present Day

James Bruckson had left elaborate instructions for his funeral. For Sylvie, this was no surprise because the man had always been a control freak, so much so that he hadn’t even let anyone do his taxes, book his flights, or even butter his bread for him. He’d needed to know exactly how much saturated fat had bled into the pores of the slice.What kind of life was that?Sylvie wondered as she mounted the steps of the funeral home and stepped inside. She’d arranged to meet the funeral director, Mr. Slader, a meeting that felt more for Mr. Slader’s comforts than for herself. Mr. Slader wanted to know if he was taking care of those “left behind” by the one they’d lost. He wanted to let Sylvie know he was there for her.

In short, he wanted to be able to go home at the end of today and think he’d done a good job. Sylvie decided to give him that.

Sylvie hadn’t been to the Nantucket funeral home since her mother’s funeral. It was something that only occurred to her when she stepped into the wall-to-wall carpeted foyer, withits deep blue wallpaper covered with elaborate flowers, and remembered herself as a little girl, curled up against that very wall and tracing the patterns with her fingers, feeling both ignored and overwhelmed by too many hugs. Miraculously, the carpeting, wallpaper, and furniture all looked well-kept and new, making her wonder if they bought the same things, updating the space so that nothing ever felt worn. To her, it felt like stepping back in time.

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