A Letter for Annie (18 page)
Read A Letter for Annie Online
Authors: Laura Abbot
Tags: #American Light Romantic Fiction, #Romance: Modern, #Contemporary, #General, #Romance, #Romance - Contemporary, #Fiction, #Fiction - Romance, #Love stories, #Designers, #Oregon, #Construction workers
“What time is it?” she asked.
“A little before four.”
“Could we make a small detour?”
“Sure. Where to?”
She pointed to a side street that led to the top of a hill. “It’s time for me to do this.”
When the truck crested the rise, they were at the entrance of the Eden Bay Cemetery. Without a word, he drove through the gates and followed the winding road until he found a parking spot near Pete’s grave. “Over there.” He gestured in the direction of the headstone. “Do you want me to come with you?”
“Someday. Not today.”
He waited as she gathered her courage. Then, as if coming to a decision, she nodded to herself and got out. She took a couple of steps before turning around. “Was there an honor guard?”
Everything about the day they buried Pete came rushing back—the singing of “America,” the flag-draped coffin, the rifle salute and the mournful, haunting sound of the lone bugler playing “Taps.”
“Yes, Annie. There was an honor guard.”
I
T WAS QUIET
under this tree. Distant traffic noises seemed to belong to another planet. One other time, Annie had attempted this journey but she hadn’t been able to do it.
To come here was to admit that he was really gone. Now indisputable evidence stared at her from the headstone:
Peter Nelson Nemec. Beloved son, brother and friend.
Without conscious thought, she found herself speaking aloud, as if Pete were here. “My love, I had to leave Eden Bay. I couldn’t stand the thought of you confronting George. I know I hurt you. I hurt, too. We were meant to be together. But then, I guess you always knew that. And knew that I never stopped loving you and wishing the best for you. I’m sorry it didn’t work out for us. I came to say goodbye to you, but I know now that will never happen. So long as Kyle and I remember you, there will be no goodbyes, because you will always be part of us. Thank you for giving him to me.”
She moved to the headstone, surrounded by beautiful red roses that filled the air with their fragrance. She bent to touch the name etched in the granite. “Rest in peace, darling Pete.” When she straightened, she looked toward the heavens, blue and clear. “Okay, God. I think I get it. Take care of my Auntie G. and Pete.”
Slowly she made her way back to the truck, where Kyle stood waiting for her. She stepped into his embrace, knowing there was no need for words.
A dog barked somewhere in the distance and she stepped back. “I’d like to see Pete’s family now,” she said. He helped her into the cab and they were off to face the final challenge.
K
YLE RANG THE DOORBELL
. Almost immediately Bruce opened the door. He was more wrinkled and his hair
more silver than Annie remembered, but he had the same kind eyes. “Annie, Kyle. Please come in.”
The scent of a familiar spicy potpourri took Annie back in time. She had spent hours here with Pete’s family—watching TV, playing games, looking at family photos with his mother. In a daze of memory, she let Kyle lead her into the family room, where Janet, Margaret and Rosemary waited. Margaret sent Annie an encouraging smile.
“We’re relieved you decided to come, Annie.” Janet gestured to the game table. “Have a seat, please. Could I get either of you something to drink?”
Annie declined, even though her mouth was desert dry.
“No, thanks,” Kyle said.
“We’re interested in listening to whatever you have to say.” Although Bruce’s tone was conciliatory, Annie noticed both of the senior Nemecs held themselves stiffly.
After they were seated, Kyle broke the awkward silence. “Annie realizes how devastating it was to Pete when she left so suddenly. She knows you must’ve wondered how she could treat him so callously. But she had a good reason. It’s a difficult story, but I think it may help to lay some questions to rest.” He turned to Annie and nodded encouragingly.
She felt all pairs of eyes boring into her. She had an overwhelming urge to bolt from the room.
“I can only guess how horrible it was for Pete when I disappeared. I want you to know I would never have hurt him if there’d been any other choice.”
“Go on,” Bruce said, his face blank.
“I know everyone in town regarded my stepfather highly for all he did for the community. So it would have been incredibly difficult for me to shatter that image. Only Pete knew the truth.”
Janet sat forward. “What truth?”
Biting her lip, Annie looked from one person at the table to another. “Late in my senior year, George started abusing me.” Once the words left her mouth, it was as if she’d slapped both Nemecs in the face.
“Wait.” Bruce shook his head in confusion. “What are you saying? George Palmer?”
“Pillar of the community,” Annie said bitterly, the remembered helplessness rising to the surface. “Loving stepfather.”
Janet’s eyes were round with shock. “Verbally? Physically?”
“No. Sexually.”
Bruce buried his head in his hands, and Janet uttered a small cry. When he finally looked up, he said, “And Pete knew?”
“He vowed to kill George if he ever laid a hand on me. I never doubted him.”
“Oh God,” Janet said. “There’s more, isn’t there?”
Ducking her head, Annie felt shame reddening her face. In a squeaky voice, she said, “Yes. On graduation night George raped me.”
Rosemary uttered a strangled cry, and Bruce leaped to his feet, knocking over his chair. “Goddamn it! That son of a bitch!”
Janet rose to calm her husband. “Let her finish, Bruce, please.”
Bruce picked up the overturned chair and slumped back into it. “Annie, I’m so sorry. You must have felt completely alone.”
“Except for Pete. But I couldn’t tell him. He was leaving for Guard camp and…he’d said he would kill George. I couldn’t let that happen.”
Janet’s eyes filled with tears. “So you left Eden Bay to save him?”
“And to save myself.”
“Oh, honey,” Janet said, sniffling into a tissue.
Bruce seemed puzzled. “George claimed he tried to find you. Said he hired a private investigator.”
Annie choked back a sardonic laugh. “Not likely. It was to his advantage for me to disappear and never return.”
“I see that now.” Bruce blew out an exasperated sigh.
Annie shifted the subject, anxious to move beyond the specter of George Palmer. “I’m sorry about the way Pete died.”
“It was an accident of war,” Bruce said in a firm voice. “Pete’s death is nobody’s fault.” He looked from Annie to Kyle. “Both of you have wasted too much time blaming yourselves. Yes, we miss our son, but we don’t want you living with regret.”
Janet wiped her eyes. “I’m so ashamed. All this time I thought you’d treated Pete shabbily. Please, Annie, accept my apology.”
“And mine,” Rosemary said, rising to her feet and placing her hands on Annie’s shoulders.
“There’s nothing to apologize for. How could you have known?”
“Will you stay in Eden Bay?” Janet asked hopefully.
“I’d like to, but I don’t want my presence here to cause anyone further pain.”
Bruce smiled Pete’s lopsided smile. “The only pain you would cause is by leaving.”
Janet stood, a loving smile on her face. “I believe there is some champagne chilling in our refrigerator. I can’t think of a better reason to open it.” Bruce went with her to open the bottle.
Kyle rose and pulled Annie to her feet. “Feel better?”
She nestled against him. “Now I do.” She took a cleansing breath. “No one’s angry.”
Both Rosemary and Margaret laughed, and Margaret said, “I, for one, am tired of being angry.”
“Think about it,” Kyle said, nodding his head toward the sisters. “This family is a big reason why Pete was such a great guy.”
Bruce and Janet came back into the room carrying flutes bubbling with pale champagne. “A toast,” Janet said, raising her glass. “To Annie. Welcome home!”
After they each took a sip, Bruce followed suit. “To Annie and Kyle and their future in Eden Bay.”
“Here, here,” the rest of the Nemecs chorused.
“One more, please.” Kyle’s expression turned serious. He put his arm around Annie and drew her close. Then he raised his glass. “To Pete.”
Annie looked up at Kyle, her heart overflowing with love. Gently, she clinked her glass to his. “To Pete,” she echoed.
Late September
A
NNIE STUDIED
her reflection in the full-length mirror. The dress was plain, but classic in its simplicity. The sleeveless, V-necked bodice hugged her breasts, then tapered to her waist and clung to her hips. Just above the knee, the material gave way to gores of embroidered satin. She had never imagined having such a beautiful wedding gown. She touched a hand to her upswept hair, adorned with a coronet of white rosebuds. She hardly recognized the woman looking back at her from the mirror. For so long, she’d hidden her body. It was hard to imagine the glamorous creature in the mirror was the same Annie Greer.
Slowly she pivoted to face her bridesmaids—Carolee, her matron of honor, and Pete’s sisters. Their dresses, in variegated tones of sea-green and teal-blue, reminded her of her beloved ocean. “I can’t believe it,” she murmured. “This is like a fairy tale.”
Margaret stepped forward to tuck a lock behind Annie’s ear. “We were all due for a happy ending.”
Embracing her, Annie whispered, “Thank you so much for loaning me your beautiful wedding dress.”
“It was the least I could do after being so bitchy to you.”
Smiling, Annie mused to herself about the long way they’d all come in these past few months. She and Kyle had found each other and, with the love and understanding of the Nemecs, had been able to move beyond their shame and guilt.
“Ready?” Carolee asked. “It’s almost time.”
“Give me a minute.” Annie took a tissue and wiped her eyes, trying not to disturb her makeup.
Rosemary touched her arm. “Are you all right?”
“Yes, I’m fine, really. It’s just…for a moment there, I felt Pete’s presence so strongly.” She gazed fondly at each of the women. “He’ll always be part of me.”
“Of all of us,” Rosemary said. “More than anyone, though, he would want you to be happy.”
Annie turned to the window, picturing Kyle, appreciating from the bottom of her heart his patience, understanding and huge capacity for love. “I am,” she breathed, opening her eyes and facing them again.
Rosemary straightened the hem of Annie’s dress. “You’re getting a wonderful guy. Remember, I once thought he was the one for me.”
Annie smiled at her. She and Rosemary had discussed the issue.
Rosemary continued. “I realized several months ago that Kyle and I were never meant to be. And now—” she winked mischievously “—I’m bringing someone to the reception I want you all to meet.”
“A man?” Margaret and Annie shrieked in chorus.
Like a cat licking cream from her whiskers, Rosemary grinned. “You’ll see.”
Janet and Bruce waited downstairs, and as the four women approached, Janet clapped her hands. “You’re all simply breathtaking. But especially the bride.” She held out her arms to Annie. As they embraced, Janet uttered words Annie knew she would never forget. “Darling girl, Bruce and I are so blessed to have you back in our lives. We love you.”
It was a short drive to the picnic pavilion at the end of the fishing pier. Carolee, Jill, Lindsey, Mary and Betsy had insisted on decorating it with ivy and fresh flowers. At the end nearer the water, they had erected an arbor where the Nemecs’ minister stood with Kyle and his groomsmen. A trio of musicians sat to one side. Partly obscuring the setting sun, wisps of coral, mauve and pink floated above the ocean.
They waited as the last of the guests gathered. Exactly ten minutes before the sun was due to slip beneath the horizon, the musicians began playing “You Light Up My Life.” Janet walked down the pier and took her seat. To the strains of Pachebel’s “Canon in D major,” Auntie G.’s favorite, one by one the bridesmaids took their places to the right of the minister. Then it was Annie’s turn.
She tucked her arm into Bruce’s. He patted her hand. “You’ve done me a great honor by asking me to give you away.”
She stood on tiptoes and kissed his cheek. “You’re the closest thing I have to a father. Thank you for loving me.”
“Pete wouldn’t have it any other way,” he said, his voice husky. He cleared his throat. “Now, young lady, let’s get this show on the road. This day is for you and Kyle.”
Her journey to this moment seemed impossibly long, but so very worth it. Waiting for her was the man Auntie G. and Pete—the two most important people in her past—had selected for her. Kyle Becker, the man who knew her innermost secrets and loved her still. The man who had taught her the most important lesson of all—to live!
“I’m ready,” Annie said, with a confidence born of her great love for Kyle and his for her. With her eyes focused on her handsome bridegroom, she took her first step into the future.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-3170-6
A LETTER FOR ANNIE
Copyright © 2009 by Laura A. Shoffner.
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
® and TM are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and in other countries.
