Page 93 of Someone to Remember
“Which tells me you know this isn’t the best idea you’ve ever had.”
“Haha, yes, I know. But I’m still going.”
I reach for her, and she comes to me, relaxing into my embrace. “I love you for caring so much about your friend that you’re willing to put your own well-being on the line to be there for her.”
“I’ll be okay.”
“I’ll make sure of it.”
We plan to meet the others outside the funeral home in Falls Church before the wake so we can go in together.
I get a text from Iris as I’m getting dressed.I feel like Roni is coming to support me, but she really doesn’t have to do that.
Try talking her out of it.
Sigh.
See you soon.
Love you guys.
Love you, too.
I’ve been blessed with tremendous friends in my life, but my Wild Widows are a cut above the rest, and while the last thing in the world I want to do on a Sunday afternoon is attend a wake for a man I barely knew, I understand why Roni needs to be there for Iris. Despite my reluctance, I want to be there for her, too, the way she’s always there for us any time we need her.
I decide against wearing a tie, and as I put on a suit jacket, my gaze wanders to the photo of Victoria that sits on my dresser. Though I notice that photo every day, I rarely look closely at it the way I did when she first died, and I was desperate for answers as to why she betrayed me. I found out later that she didn’t, that her loyalty to me led to her murder.
It’s been almost three years since that grim day when I came home from a weekend at Camp David with then-President Nelson to find her dead on the floor of our kitchen and our daughter missing for a time. The days that followed were the darkest of my life, an experience so dire I’d rather be dead than ever go through it again.
I simply can’t fathom what Taylor must be feeling, how surreal it has to be to have lost her second husband, too.
Will seemed like a great guy, the sort who’s friends with everyone. He had an easy smile and a quick wit, and I enjoyed the brief time I spent with him at Iris’s house. The most recent was last summer when they came to swim in the pool on a hotAugust Sunday. I remember how great Will was with Taylor’s kids, giving them his full attention even when surrounded by other people. I recall her son, Miles, with his arms around Will’s neck as Will towed him around the pool, making boat noises that delighted the young boy.
It’s so fucking heartbreaking.
“Keep an eye on us today, will you?” I ask Vic. “It’ll be a tough one.”
I head downstairs, where Roni is getting the kids settled with her parents. Maeve loves them as much as she loves mine, and they’ve treated her like a granddaughter since they first met her.
Taylor’s tragedy is a reminder of how lucky and blessed we are to have this second chance at happiness.
“You kids have a nice time,” Roni’s mom says as we leave.
Roni and I share a grimace on the way out the door. Nothing about this outing will be “fun,” except the kid-free time with her, but even that’s tinged today by the dreadful occasion.
The ride to Falls Church is quiet, but we hold hands the whole way, drawing strength from each other the way we have from the start. She’s given me a whole new lease on life that I didn’t realize I needed until she came along. At first, I thought she was stalking me, which put me on high alert due to the bizarre series of events that resulted in my wife’s murder. Later, she confessed that I reminded her of her late husband, Patrick, from behind, which had her following me, looking for something that was lost forever.
Then she appeared at the White House as the first lady’s communications director, and I found out we had widowhood in common when she attended a Wild Widows meeting. I’d been a member of the group for a while by then. After that, it seemed like fate wanted us together, even if it was far too soon for her. We were close friends for a long time, includingthrough the birth of her and Patrick’s son, Dylan, before our relationship became romantic.
“Thank you for this,” she says after a long silence.
“No problem.”
“Sure it isn’t,” she says with a laugh.
“I owe Iris, Christy and Taylor so much for starting the group that saved me in many ways. There’s no way I would’ve been ready for you and this if it hadn’t been for them. Taylor was long gone by the time I joined, but I’m still thankful to her for what she helped to start and for what a big difference it’s made for me.”
“All that said, you’re really doing this for me.”
