SPOTLIGHT (11 page)

            “I love you too William,” Abby said.

            They kissed and just like the first time, Abby saw fireworks. But it was better than the first time because she had him back, all of him.

            Abby spent the rest of the evening in William's arms. They sat on that old lumpy couch reading through Angie's old letters. At first Abby felt badly about going through the letters, like she was reading the diary that Angelica had never kept. But the more she read the more she felt that she was setting things right.  She was getting to know her sister the way she never did in the last few years of her life. And she was doing it with William beside her. Suddenly she didn't feel so alone.

            Abby looked up into William's eyes and he was smiling down at her like he couldn't look away and never would.

Epilogue

           
Abby and William didn't speak on the drive from the airport. There was nothing really to say, just an unspoken agreement between them that when they reached South Meadow this would be the first thing they did. It had to be.

            The cemetery was empty when they reached it just after noon and a light snow was falling that made everything look grim and gray. Abby knew the way even though it had been six months since she'd been here last. William followed close behind her, not saying a word as they weaved between the tombstones.

            Angelica's headstone was simple but a sleeping angel had been carved into its arch, its wings forming much of the stone. Her name and their shared birth date were already starting to look weathered.  Abby bent down on one knee before it, knocking on its edge, three soft taps.

            “Hey Angie,” Abby said as she straightened up “I'm sorry, I know it's been a long time since I last came to see you. New York is beautiful, it's everything we dreamed it would be. And I was cast in a commercial! They play it like ten times a day.”

            “And she watches it every time it comes on,” William added from behind her.

            Abby laughed. “Anyway, enough about me. I brought someone to see you. An old friend.”

            William stepped forward. He knelt to place the bouquet of white roses in front of the headstone. William had told Abby that white roses had been Angie's favorite flower. She hadn't known that.

            “I'm finally back home, Ang,” he said softly. “I missed you.”

            Abby stood, walking part of the way back to the car they had rented. She wanted to give William a little space. She knew that there was much he probably had to tell her. And that was okay.

            In the last six months, she and William had grown even closer and that closeness had helped Abby make peace with the feelings she had been carrying around for years, and she felt that William was laying to rest some of his baggage as well. They both mourned Angie because they were the two people who had known her most. What one of them didn't know about her the other did and together they were able to celebrate her memory. They were two pieces of a puzzle that had been finally brought together, the way they should have been all along. Abby could see that now.

            William walked back towards her, his expression lighter somehow.

            “Thank you,” is all he said to her but she understood completely. She took his hand and together they walked back to the car.

            Abby's house was just as she remembered it, and her parents just as hilarious. As soon as she had arrived with William in tow, her mother had been trying to feed them and her father had been cracking jokes.

            Once they were all fed and deemed well-nourished by her mother, they sat around watching her commercial about half a dozen times. She played a singing bank teller in it. It was a small role but it was her first and she was extremely excited about it. So was everyone else apparently.

            “One more time,” her mother urged.

            “This'll be only the hundredth and first time,” her father joked in his deep drawl. “What do you think Will?”

            “I could watch her all day,” William said.

            Her father laughed and clapped him on the back like a comrade. He had taken an instant liking to William, which pleased Abby. She wanted her parents to like him as much as she did.

            When she had related the whole story to them, her parents had been shocked to start with and then somewhat resistant. But they had quickly warmed up to the idea, especially when they first spoke to William on the phone. He had loved and respected both of their daughters and that simple fact had earned him their blessing.

            They all watched the commercial a few more times until Abby jokingly declared that she'd go mad if she had to hear herself sing the bank's jingle one more time. Her mother had gone off to fetch them dessert and her father had commandeered the television remote to check the score of the football game.

            Abby and William wandered out to the backyard together. It was cold and fine snow was falling but from there they could look out at the whole neighborhood.

            “Glad to be home?” William asked.

            “Very,” Abby said. “Listen. Can you hear that?

            William stood listening for a while. “No?”

            “Exactly, it’s the sound of nothing. It's wonderful. No car alarms, no honking traffic or people yelling on their cellphones. Suburban night time silence.”

            Laughing, William led them out further onto the lawn. He pointed to the tops of the houses that stretched down the street and at one in particular.

            “That was where I lived. They've painted it a different color. But it still looks mostly the same,” he said.

            “I remember,” Abby replied softly.

            She turned to look at William. He was dressed for the cold weather in a smart black peacoat that showed off his lean frame and contrasted nicely with his blonde hair. Around his neck he wore the light blue scarf that she had bought for him for Christmas which was still a week away. She knew it would be the perfect match to his eyes and she couldn’t hold back and had given it to him early.

            Beside her, William looked as stunning as she had ever seen him. His cheeks were rosy, slightly flushed from the cold and the falling snow was glistening like tiny diamonds where it landed on his hair. She could have stared at him forever then, she decided. She wanted to tell him how much she loved him, to tell him how much he had changed her life for the better. He had given her back some of the things she had lost when Angelica died. He had restored her confidence and her faith.

            Abby wanted to tell William all these things but she knew no simple words could embody how grateful she was to have him by her side. She kissed him instead, a deep, passionate kiss, but he pulled away too soon.

            “Don’t go,” she began to whisper but William knelt in front of her, getting to one knee in the snow.

            Dumbly, she bent with him, thinking he had dropped something.

            “No,” William admonished grinning, “you have to stay up there for this part.”

            Abby straightened and William, still on his knees, pulled a little black box from the depths of his pockets. Abby let out a gasp. Her heart beat an unsteady rhythm in her chest.

            “Abigail Dawes,” he began.

            “Just Abby,” she said in a hoarse whisper.

            William laughed. “Abby. You are the one I have been waiting for all my life. You are my other half. I love you. Will you marry me?”

            William clicked open the box to reveal a gorgeous diamond ring, complete with three glimmering stones and she knew at once what they symbolized.

            “Yes!” Abby said her voice breathless. “Of course, William. Yes!”

            “Good,” said a deep voice from across the yard. Abby realized her mother and father were standing together in the shade of the patio. They were looking on and smiling.

            “Let him get up,” her father joked. “His knee’s probably soaked.”

            William slipped the ring onto her finger. Then he stood, sweeping her into a fierce hug that had her legs dangling in the air. They laughed and kissed again, spinning around in the falling snow. This was the moment she had always wanted but was afraid to dream of. Abby looked up at the sky, feeling safe in William’s loving grip, feeling finally complete.