Page 118 of Marriage (Red, White &) Blues

Believe it or not, he agreed to have us stay through the end of the month to give me a chance to say goodbye to all of my new friends. They were surprised to meet Blake, to say the least, and we had to explain his sudden appearance to a few of them like Cheryl and Duane.

Wally took the news of my leaving about as well as I thought he would, that was to say not at all. I never said a word about Blake or why I’d showed up to the island alone, but the kid was as smart as a whip andveryprotective of me.

He got right in Blake’s face. “You show up here, force her to leave with you?”

I placed my hand on his vibrating arm. Wally was livid. “Wall, he’s not forcing me. It’s just time.”

“I don’t buy it. He hurt you—I know he did. The kindest woman in the world doesn’t show up here, of all places, from the mainland, pregnant, and not have been hurt in some way.”

“Wally—” I tried again, but he cut me off.

“No, Gloria. He doesn’t get to hurt you again.Iwon’t let him.”

As my heart grew exponentially with love for this kid, respect shone in my husband’s eyes. “I’m not here to hurt her. I promise. But we live in Vermont. It’s time for her to come home. But, Wally, can I ask you to be one of our baby’s godparents?”

His head jerked back. “Me?” he asked.

“You.”

“But I’m only fifteen.”

“That doesn’t matter to me, if it doesn’t matter to you. We want you to teach the baby all the things you’d teach him or her if Glory still lived here. We’ll FaceTime and come for visits.”

“Yeah?”

“Of course. Do you think Glory would leave you forever?”

“I didn’t think you’d?—”

“Let me impart some wisdom, man to man,” Blake said, cutting him off. “Happy wife, happy life. If my wife is happy, then I’m happy. And that advice works whether you end up with a wife, a husband, or a partner. When they’re happy, you’re happy.”

Wally nodded, as if he really understood this logic. “So, you’ll bring her back?”

“If I didn’t, she’d come on her own. We’ve already established that.”

My wonderful friend laughed. “Okay. Then yeah—I’d love to be one of the baby’s godparents. My mom’s going to flip.”

I hugged Wally good and hard with tears running down my cheeks once again, but I also did it laughing. I’d miss him and Cheryl and Duane. I’d miss tutoring Gabby and all the others. I’d miss the ocean and the boat tours. I’d miss everything about the island. But I’d be back.

Time to go home.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

We landed in Vermont right as a cold snap hit. We got these in Michigan, too. A cold snap was when Mother Nature woke up to an already very cold day and decided, ‘There’s not enoughfrostbite in this state.’ “Maybe we could winter it out back on the island?” I asked, hope coating my words for a brief moment before the icy frost got to them.

“Glory, sweetheart, this is our home—frozen as it is. Why do we live here, again?” he asked, and for a moment I thought,Yes! We’re wintering on the island.But that thought only lasted a moment when he said, “Oh, that’s right, you’d be miserable without regular visits to Michigan. Do youwantto take a twenty-hour flight with an infant every time you have a hankering for American Coney Island?”

Well, that was a good point.

“Plus,” he went on, “our child needs the best care I can provide.” Thatlosthim a point.

“Uh—I object. Dr. Cruz is a fabulous doctor. She’d been taking very good care of me.”

“You’re right. That was terrible of me to assume that just because you lived on an island, you weren’t getting the best care.But, Glory, this is our home. Maisie and Dee miss you. If we moved, then we’d have to lay them off.”

“I don’t want to do that.”

“I know you don’t. Neither do I. They’re more family than my family. And what about your mother and Carl? We could fly them out to see their new grandbaby, but how long could they stay? They both have jobs.”

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