The Reunion (20 page)

Ebony lay down on a back pew with a sweater rolled up as a pillow. In the silence of the church, its huge stained glass windows glowing in the moonlight, she thought of her entire life, from her childhood in numerous foster homes, to meeting Ethan, their romance, his betrayal, his return, the dory races, the dance, the note she found, the decision she would soon have to make. Ebony looked at her watch and saw it hit the stroke of midnight. Then time passed into a new day,
the
day. Now she had to make the biggest decision of her life.

Chapter Ten

“I’m sorry I lied, Ethan,” Carlos apologized with a pained look at the exact moment in time that Ebony was looking at her watch. “She said she would fire me and make sure I never worked again. I have a wife and five children.”

“I understand,” Ethan replied, nervously waiting as Carlos unlocked the door to the boathouse. “I shouldn’t have trusted her, but when
you
told me her father was dying and his last wish was to see me, what could I do? I couldn’t desert him. He was like a father to me. He turned my life around.”

“Anthony’s fine,” Carlos noted with a sheepish look. “I was talking to him half an hour ago. He has no idea any of this is taking place.”

“He will have to be told,” Ethan said.

“I’ll tell him tomorrow,” Carlos pledged. He frantically looked around. “But hurry. If she wakes up, she’ll have the other men stop us from leaving.” He looked at his watch. “It’s thirty minutes to shore. I’ve booked you a flight an hour from now so we’ll have time. You’ll be back in Canada tomorrow morning. You can celebrate your birthday with Ebony.”

Ethan was wildly agitated. “Can I use your mobile phone to call her?”

“There’s no service out here. It won’t come in until we reach shore. Then you’ll only have a brief window before you get on the plane.”

Carlos opened the boathouse, and they quietly removed oars, a small outboard motor, and a can of gasoline. Moving like thieves in the night, Ethan and Carlos hurried to the wharf, where Carlos took out his keys and opened a huge padlock secured to the boat. Together they put on the motor, hooked it to the gas tank, and put in the oars. Ethan rowed a mile before they started the motor. From there it was a direct line to shore. Ethan called Ebony and Jenny, but there was no answer. He left messages. A short time later, he was rolling up the tarmac, heading back to Shad Bay and the woman he loved, now deep in sleep in the back of the church.

* * * *

Ebony awoke to the first rays of light on Sunday, the eleventh day of May, Ethan’s thirty-first birthday. For some unknown reason, she was convinced Ethan had returned. She left her things in the church and walked down the road, convinced she would see his car. But it was not there. The dory sat unmoved from yesterday. Tears rolled down her cheeks, and her lip quivered. She noticed a tiny spider’s web on a tree branch, and in it, there was a spider on top of a dead fly. In some strange way, she identified with the hapless insect, as if her inner essence was also being sucked out of her.

She remembered the day he originally disappeared as if it was yesterday. How could he be so cruel? But then to come back and leave her again? If he had left her, she would never, never forgive him. Not this time. She’d have no choice but to go away. It would be too painful to live in Shad Bay, to see his house, his dory, his sister…and all those people. All those people with their mumbled words, darting glances, gestures, looks of pity. Two times a sucker. No, she could not go through that again.

To Ebony, it seemed as though a powerful force was trying to keep them apart. At times she wanted to give into it and run away, but a strange feeling kept rising in her soul, a feeling that told her to wait and have faith. But wait how long? Another five years? A lifetime? Or maybe only one more day?

Who knew?

Not Ebony. She had no idea when, or if, he would come back. And her life depended on what she decided in the next few hours.

She might never see Shad Bay, or Ethan, again. That idea overpowered her and made her feel more alone than ever before in her life. Yet, as stark as that feeling was, it was juxtaposed to the fear of being ridiculed by everyone in the community. She would be a monumental laughingstock, a clown for people to point at and jeer, the shamed woman who had danced with the man who’d betrayed her, in front of people who knew every agonizing detail. That thought took her breath away.

Ebony suddenly felt queasy. Her head ached. She walked to her house, poured herself a bowl of cereal, and ate some fruit. She walked into her bedroom and sprawled on the mattress.

Tick, tick, tick…

She wished that time would stop. Until now, she had hedged, always considering a trip to Africa somehow unreal. It had been her dream for years, but now, as is often the case when a dream approaches reality, she started to wonder. Is that what she really wanted? Or, perhaps, had the dream only really been inspired by anger at Ethan? No matter what the reality, what choice did she have now?

Tick, tick, tick…

She wrapped her stained glass picture with cotton and several layers of brown paper. She tied strings around it and slipped it into the inside pocket of her jacket. She walked by the phones on her table without even noticing them, put on her jacket, and stepped out into the warm, sunny morning.

At seven fifteen, Ebony stood on her hill overlooking the bay and took a deep breath. In her lifetime, she had resolved thousands of questions and made countless decisions, but this one taxed her more than all the others combined. Go or stay? That was the question. And it all depended on whether or not she absolutely trusted Ethan. Her future depended upon another human being. Looking deeply within herself, Ebony Evans decided once and for all what she would do.

* * * *

Ethan laid his face against the window as they approached the landing strip. The moment the plane came to a stop, he jumped out of his seat and got to the exit as quickly as possible. He moved through customs, passed the baggage claim, and ran to the phone. He called Ebony, but got no answer. He jumped into his car and hurried home, arriving after noon.

“Please be there, Ebony,” Ethan prayed. “Please, please, be there.”

When he drove into her yard, he was surprised to see Jenny.

“Ethan,” she exclaimed, hurrying up to him. “I got your message. What exactly happened?”

He jumped out of the car. “It’s a long story,” he said, hugging her. “Where’s Ebony?”

Jenny made a strange face.

“Is she home?” he asked frantically.

“I don’t know what’s going on. I came here at ten this morning and that’s when I heard your message, but Ebony is not home. Her suitcases are gone. Her phone is here with a note for me to cancel it. I’m totally confused.”

Ethan looked up at Jenny with a devastated expression. “She left?”

“I think she might have actually left for Africa. I just came back and wasn’t here five minutes before you arrived.” Jenny looked hard at him. “You left her a note saying you were going away. Why would you do that, Ethan?”

“I didn’t do that. I left a note telling her I was going to Anthony Vaccaro because he was asking for me on his deathbed. Cassandra met me at the wharf and told me. She was a mess. I called a man I trusted named Carlos, and he confirmed it. He told me Anthony was begging to see me one last time. She followed me to Ebony’s, where I put my note on the table.”

“No,” Jenny said with a puzzled look. “The note you wrote said, ‘I am going away, and I am never coming back.’ It was in your handwriting. I saw it.”

“I didn’t write that note to Ebony,” he argued, incredibly irritated. “That’s the note I wrote to Cassandra.” Suddenly, in a flash, it became clear to him. “She must have switched them when I turned to leave.”

“Oh?” Jenny moaned. “Ebony and I were out that day. It was a setup.”

“Where is she?” Ethan asked frantically.

* * * *

Ebony sat on the bank of the Nine Mile River. The early afternoon air was warm, not a single cloud encroaching in the light blue sky. Birds flitted from tree to tree, and everywhere, in the fresh scent of pine, in the newly spun spider webs strewn from branch to branch, in the carpet of soft moss covering the ground, in the reflection of the lush green forest on the river, everywhere there pervaded a sense of peace and calm.

Ebony stood up, brushed herself off, then walked along the river. The forest invited her deeper and deeper into its quiet, secluded beauty. The farther she went, the greater her sense of liberation from the yearnings of her heart. She could no longer hear the dull roar of vehicles, nor see boats and canoes hauled up on skid ways. The path grew narrower, with wildflowers abounding. Their intoxicating aroma imbued the still air with an almost mystical ambiance. Fear did not enter her mind. She just walked thoughtlessly, flowing along the path like a restless spirit.

She refused to acknowledge that she was ill and weak. On the contrary, she convinced herself that she had never felt better in her life. She walked deeper into the forest, stopping occasionally to touch a flower or to watch trout jumping in the river. Late in the afternoon, she reached the Stillwater, the place where, accompanied by Jenny, she had first met Ethan. He would go on to propose to her at that very spot. It was a magical, romantic place to her.

The Stillwater, completely enclosed by high hills covered with spruce trees, was fed by several streams and Shad Bay Lake. Being in a hollow and protected on all sides, it was almost always calm. Its mirrorlike surface reflected in precise detail the natural, unspoiled surroundings, the virgin perfection, the interplay of light and shadow enveloped in a dreamlike softness. It seemed to Ebony that this was the very essence of beauty, a place where the human heart was freed of its heavy burdens.

She sat on a rock and looked out over the water. A beaver, silently skimming across the lake with twigs in his mouth, glanced at her with a curious expression, then waddled up to his dam. She watched the beaver for a long time, and with each pass, the animal fetched larger sticks, as if showing off for his guest.

Noticing a huge spruce tree where she and Ethan had sat, she lay down on the warm, sun-drenched grass and closed her eyes, trying to remember every detail of that day when the young lovers exchanged heartfelt pledges. She yawned and, with the lack of sleep catching up to her, dozed off.

She did not awaken for several hours. When she glanced at her watch, she was shocked to see it was past six. Even more disconcerting, she suddenly felt incredibly, undeniably ill.

Before leaving the Stillwater, however, she wanted to fulfill a special mission. It was only another hundred yards farther along the path that led to Shad Bay Lake. Years earlier, on the day Ethan proposed and she accepted, they had planted a tiny pine tree in a small field.

Ethan had said on that day, “This tree is a symbol of our love. If it grows, our love will grow. If it dies, our love will die.”

An overwhelming curiosity took hold of her. She felt sick and weak and knew she should head for home, but she really wanted to know how the tree had fared. She hesitated for a moment, glanced in the direction of Shad Bay, then headed away from it and up the path. Because few people ever walked past the Stillwater, the path beyond it was overgrown and difficult to negotiate. Still, Ebony was determined. As she reached the spot where they had planted the tree, she stopped, and her heart sang out. In the middle of a small opening, right where they had planted it, rose a young and strong pine tree. On its upper branches, two small birds sat beside a nest.

Dark clouds suddenly rolled across the sky. When she saw them, Ebony’s mood completely changed. She felt cold and abnormally tired. It was a huge effort to simply put one foot in front of the other. The air grew damp, and the wind seemed to come out of nowhere, chilling her to the bone. The sun was swallowed by black clouds, and tiny droplets of rain tapped against her jacket. Birds stopped singing, and the forest became deathly quiet, almost eerie. Ebony, feeling as weak and ill as she ever had in her life, realized it had not been wise to travel so far into the woods. She felt disoriented, lonely, scared. She started back, hurrying as quickly as her exhausted body would allow. A light rain began to fall, and soon it was replaced by showers. Ebony, feeling pressured, began looking for some way to make her return easier.

She had walked in on the west side of the river because it was the more scenic route, but if she returned on the east side, she would not have to skirt around a series of pools, lakes, and bogs, saving herself two miles. The only drawback was that she had to cut cross-country to the log bridge that spanned a narrow part of the Nine Mile River. Ethan had showed her the shortcut years earlier. Ebony was convinced she would find it within a short time if she headed due east from her point on the path. Feeling the way she did, that prospect was too attractive to ignore. She veered off the path and headed down a hill.

Ebony had walked extensively in the woods near her home and knew them like the back of her hand, but it was different here. Things had changed. A lot. Huge trees that were once landmarks had fallen and partly decomposed. Small trees not even noticed before now comprised little thickets. Everything was so unfamiliar. Ebony didn’t like the feeling of having no idea where she was, so she decided to walk back to the path and take the long route. But she couldn’t find the path. She started walking faster, tripping over roots and expending energy to climb over fallen trees instead of going around them. Soon she was running and trying hard to catch her breath. The forest closed in around her, looking darker and more foreboding than she had ever seen it. The silence was interrupted only by her labored breathing and the snapping of branches. She felt her little remaining energy sapping, but she couldn’t control herself. She just wanted to get home.

She checked her watch. Seven thirty. Stumbling haphazardly down the hill, she suddenly heard the river. After fighting her way through a wall of dense, twisted alder trees, she saw, by pure chance, the bridge she had been searching for. Finally, a stroke of luck. The luck was short-lived, though. As Ebony rushed along the riverbank, a clump of sandy grass slipped out from under her, and she fell into the fast-flowing river.