The Judge began to go over all the estate documents for us and one day, we all went to his home to listen to what would be. Grandma Olivia had done what she had promised ... she had left
instructions for my taking eventual control of most of the family fortune. In the meantime it was held in a trust supervised by her bankers and brokers and the Judge was appointed executor.
"You will have to decide about the house," he said. "You can put it up for sale or you can move into it."
"Let's put it up for sale," I said quickly. "I don't think it holds enough happy memories for the family."
"I understand," the Judge said.
With such a fortune in our hands, Cary could be confidant that his boat building business would be a reality. He could build on his small beginnings and establish his own company. Kenneth gave him advice and the two of them went searching the area for a good site to put up a factory.
The night before graduation, Cary and I took a walk on the beach. I was too nervous to sleep anyway. So much attention was on me and our family since Grandma Olivia's passing. I was nervous and sure the audience would hang on every word of my
valedictorian address.
"Have you given thought to what you want to do, Melody?" Cary asked me. We stopped at the edge of the water and stared out at the moonwalk that led to the edge of the world.
"I'm not going to the prep school, Cary. The kind of life Grandma Olivia was designing for me is not the life I want for myself," I said. "I don't want to strive to get my name in the society columns."
"I know you're very smart and should probably go to college, but--"
"I don't want to go to college just to say I'm in college, Cary. Maybe I'll go next year. But
somewhere close. I think I have a clear view of what I want now."
"Wha
t's that?" he asked turning to me.
"I want something simpler but more substantial. I want what I never had, Cary. I want a real family, real love."
"Could you have it with me? Now?" he asked timidly. "We could build this new business together and we could build our own house and we--"
I put my fingers on his lips.
"I was wondering when you would have the nerve to ask," I said and he laughed.
We kissed and held each other. The ocean seemed to glitter even more and the stars, the stars were never ever as bright.
The next day was magnificent. Without a cloud in the sky, with the wind warm and gentle, we were able to have an outdoor graduation ceremony. I began my speech with the first lines of a mountain song Papa George had taught me years and years ago.
"I have come a long way from home with just a hope and a prayer,
But I got a suitcase full of memories to keep me warm on lonely nights."
I turned to my fellow graduates and talked about graduation as a kind of pulling up on the anchor and setting sail--of being captains of our own destiny. We were leaving our parents, our friends and our teachers back on the shore and setting out on a course of our own making. I talked about courage and opportunity and thanked our families and teachers for giving it to us. I ended by singing the first line of This Land Is Your Land and an amazing thing happened: the whole audience joined me and sang the whole song.
I was overwhelmed by the applause and the congratulations afterward. People who didn't know me well told me how proud Grandma Olivia would have been. Cary's eyes grew dark and angry, but he kept his rage contained when I gave him a look of reprimand.
Afterward, we had a party at Aunt Sara's. Kenneth, Holly and Judge Childs were there, as well as Roy Patterson and Theresa. Cary made a clam bake and I played the fiddle. Judge Childs said he would take a piece of the graduation cake up to Grandpa Samuel the next day.
Cary and I set a date for our wedding soon afterward. In the meantime, I spent my summer days with May and Aunt Sara while Cary worked on the new boat and began to build the factory on the site he and Kenneth had found.
One morning May came in with the mail and waved something at me, all excited. It was a postcard. It had been sent from Palm Springs, California. There wasn't much written.
Hi,
I just thought I'd drop you a line to tell you I'm no longer with Richard. I'm with a real agent this time. He's even taken me to Palm Springs for a holiday and he says I have a good chance of making it.