Page 150 of Always Meant for You
“Could we take a walk?” she asks. “There’s somewhere I’d like to go.”
The lively notes from the fiddle and banjo from the square-dancing music carry on the breeze.
And I get an idea.
“Okay, but after that, I’ve got somewhere I’d like to take you. I’ve been tasked with making sure you have some fun.”
That catches her attention. “Oh yeah? You have a plan for fun?”
I bite into the Rocky Road. “I always have a plan, and your father is the one who asked me to make sure you had a good time tonight.”
She pauses mid-step. “My father said that?”
“He did. I didn’t expect it either.”
She laughs and licks a stray bit of ice cream from her lip. “That doesn’t sound like Elias Muldowney.”
“I think he’s got other things on his mind,” I say as we continue our stroll. “He might be seeing someone.”
“Claudine?” she offers.
I nod. “They danced a few times. Then they left together to walk Gran home.”
“Good,” Mabel says, nodding. “She’s kind, and he’s been alone long enough.”
We cross the street, passing the quiet church.
I take a bite of my Rocky Road. “Now that I think about the amount of time your dad spent at the library over the last year, this thing with Claudine might have been going on for a while. I didn’t see it coming. And I live a stone’s throw away.”
Mabel raises her ice cream to her lips, but then she pulls it back. “You’d be surprised how much someone can hide.”
I hear the anguish in her voice. She’s talking about more than her dad. I can read that between the lines, but I don’t push.
She stops in front of the old wrought-iron cemetery gate. “I haven’t been here since I got back.”
I watch her. “Do you want to go in and see him?”
She exhales a shaky breath. “Every time I get to the top of the steps, I expect to see his door open. I expect to hear the two of you talking about nothing and everything.”
I swallow hard. “I miss him too. Jamie would be proud of you, Mabel. Of what you did today. Of what you’re doing.”
She doesn’t respond right away. Her gaze stays fixed on her brother’s headstone.
I should tell her everything now. About Jamie. About what he said to me before he died. About what he wanted for her. About how I love her. But the words knot in my chest. I look past the iron gate at the headstones. My gaze travels from the ones with Muldowney etched into the stone to the two with Horner carved into the granite slabs.
Stanley Horner and Sabrina Horner.
“I didn’t think I could do it,” Mabel whispers.
I return my attention to her and try to read her. I’m not sure if she’s talking to me or Jamie.
“Do what?” I ask gently.
She wipes a tear from her cheek, her gaze never leaving her brother’s grave. “Build something that matters again.”
My throat tightens. “Again?”
She forces a smile and wipes her cheek. “Look at me, getting all teary at a cemetery. We should be celebrating. You said you had a place you wanted to take me?”
