A Dream Weekend: A Tale From Blythe Cove Manor (5 page)

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Authors: Lorraine Bartlett

BOOK: A Dream Weekend: A Tale From Blythe Cove Manor

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And she vowed that she would never, ever cry. She was too angry to cry. Angry at the stupid driver of the SUV. Angry at fate. Angry at a God who would let that beautiful child with so much potential, such a beautiful spirit, to be taken from them.

In that moment Paige was forever changed. A coldness surrounded her heart. An icy prison so formidable that nothing could penetrate it. Not sorrow, not joy … not even love.

That was it. She would never allow herself to love anyone ever again.

Not.

Ever.

A
lex awoke
to the sound of muffled sobs, the bed shaking in the dark.

“Paige?” he called groggily, and reached across the expanse of mattress to gently touch her shoulder. He expected her to pull away, as she had so many times during the last year, but this time she rolled toward him, burying her face in his shoulder.

“I don’t want to die,” Paige wailed and started to cry even harder.

“Hey, hey,” Alex soothed, wrapped his arms around his wife and kissed her forehead. “You’re not dying.”

“But I’d planned … after we got home … after you left me.”

Her words were like a knife in his soul.

“Oh, Paige,” Alex said sadly, but he couldn’t admit that that had indeed been his plan.

“I was angry with you because….” A sob kept Paige from continuing.

“Because I lived and she didn’t?”

She nodded. “At first I was glad I still had at least one of you, but as the months went by….”

She didn’t have to say it. Every day Alex questioned why he’d been spared but his daughter had died. Because the SUV that had crashed into them had hit the passenger side when running the light. Alex had never even seen it coming. Survivor’s guilt ate at him and it had taken more than a year for him to come to terms with the reality that fate had spared him. Perhaps there was a reason. To save Paige from the horrible depths of her grief.

“Chrissy’s dead!” Paige wailed. “She’s dead and I’ll
never
get over it. I’ll
never
be happy again.”

“You’re right,” he soothed, his voice ragged with emotion he’s tried for so long to stifle. “You will never get over Chrissy’s loss. Neither of us will. Neither will anyone who ever knew that golden girl. But you
can
be happy again. We can
both
be happy again, but only if we remember why we got together in the first place. Why we got married. Why we vowed to be together today, tomorrow, and always, always, always.”

Her sobs quieted and he could just see the glint of her damp eyes in the room’s scant light. “You remembered,” she said, her voice sounding small and subdued.

Alex smoothed her hair back away from her face. “You silly girl, I never forgot.”

And then they were hugging one another with an intensity they hadn’t mustered for many, many years. They kissed, and kissed again, and Alex was overcome with such a feeling of desire—of protection—for this beautiful, now fragile woman who’d taken herself out of his life—had given up
on
life. Was there a chance they could make it work once again?

If he did nothing else for the rest of his life, Alex knew he had to do everything in his power to try.

T
he drive
back to Albany was quiet, but this time the atmosphere inside the van was devoid of tension and replaced with a sense of love, and finally … understanding. They’d made a joint decision to do everything they could to repair their shattered marriage.

Alex steered the van up the driveway of their house in Albany and cut the engine. “Home again, home again—”

“Jiggity-jig.” Paige finished the phrase without thinking. It had been something they’d said—and shared with their daughter—upon arriving home ever since Chrissy was a toddler. For a moment Paige thought she might cry, but then she managed a wan smile. Chrissy had loved the ritual. Just because she was gone didn’t mean they should abandon such rites. In fact, Paige felt determined to remember the best of their times with Chrissy, to honor them, instead of trying to eliminate all memory of them.

She cleared her throat. “I was thinking that since we had such a big breakfast that we might want to have a light supper.”

“Do we have anything in the fridge?”

“Everything we need to make waffles.”

Chrissy had loved waffles, and neither of them had eaten them since the day they’d lost their daughter. They hadn’t eaten any of her favorite foods. They hadn’t celebrated any occasions. They had mourned and forgotten how to live. It was time to start over. To finally heal.

“I think I’d like that.”

Again Paige smiled. “Me, too.”

T
he sky was
gray and a cold wind blew off the ocean on a cold late afternoon in April a year later. Blythe walked the length of the B and B’s driveway to collect the day’s mail. When she got back inside she thought she might make a nice apple crisp for dessert. The spicy smell would fill the kitchen and it would make a nice treat for her guests if they came back from dinner with just a little room left in their stomachs.

The mailbox was filled with circulars, bills, and a small white envelope. She smiled at seeing the return address in the upper left-hand corner, but had decided to wait until she came back inside to the warmth of the inn to open it.

After hanging up her coat, she sorted through the mail, discarding the junk which would go to the recycle box, and setting the bills aside. Blythe headed for the inn’s reception area, which often doubled as her personal desk. Picking up a brass letter opener, she slit the small white envelope, removing its contents. Little yellow ducks swam across the blue background on the bottom of the delightful picture announcement.

Rub-a-dub-dub,

there’s a new baby

in the tub!

Ian Christopher Campbell

was born on

March 20
^th

7lbs 3oz ~ 20½ inches

to proud

Parents

Alex & Paige

Blythe’s heart nearly melted as she studied the baby’s delighted smile. He looked like his daddy, but had his mommy’s eyes.

Martha strolled into the room. “
M’row!
”

Blythe looked up from the photo.

“What?”

“
M’row!
” Martha insisted, and walked in a circle.

“You want me to follow you?”

“
M’row!
”

“Oh, all right.” Blythe set the announcement down as the cat disappeared around the corner. She came out from behind the desk, and trailed after the feline. Martha sat in front of room six, her tail swishing. She mewed again. “What do you want to go in there for?” Blythe asked.

“
M’row!
” Martha insisted.

“Oh, all right,” Blythe said, taking out her master key. She unlocked the door and the cat marched in ahead of her, immediately jumping onto the bed.

Blythe had always loved this room and had enjoyed decorating it. But what always caught her attention was the vintage framed photo on the wall. This time she noticed it more because it was crooked. She crossed the room in seven steps and adjusted the ornate oval frame and smiled. It was uncanny how the couple in the sepia photo so strongly resembled one of the room’s former occupants.

None other than Alex and Paige Campbell.

About the Author

T
he immensely popular
Booktown Mystery series is what put Lorraine Bartlett’s pen name Lorna Barrett on the New York Times Bestseller list, but it’s her talent--whether writing as Lorna, or L.L. Bartlett, or Lorraine Bartlett—that keeps her in the hearts of her readers. This multi-published, Agatha-nominated author pens the exciting Jeff Resnick Mysteries as well as the acclaimed Victoria Square Mystery series, the Tales of Telenia adventure-fantasy saga, and now the Lotus Bay Mysteries, and has many short stories and novellas to her name(s). Check out the descriptions and links to all her works, and sign up for her emailed newsletter here:
http://www.lorrainebartlett.com

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