"No, Laura. We can't go back," Robert said. "Come . . ." He gestured with his head toward the overturned sailboat.
"Oh," I said. I smiled, understanding.
We swam together for a few moments and then I reached forward to touch the boat. Robert did, too. We turned to each other and we brought out lips together and kissed as the darkness swept in over us.
But I was happy, as happy as I had once been.
I was with my love.
Forever.
Epilogue
.
The black Rolls-Royce climbed the hill to the
clinic slowly, rising over the crest of the knoll. The automobile came to a stop in front of the main entrance as the sun was covered by a long, dark cloud. The driver got out and quickly opened the door for Olivia Logan. He reached in to take her at the elbow, but she shook him off.
"I'm all right, Raymond," she snapped. She paused after emerging and looked at the building as if it were alive and the windows now glittering like mirrors were the dozens of eyes greeting her.
"Just wait right here," she ordered and made her way to the steps.
Raymond watched her obediently for a few moments before getting back into the Rolls. He reached for his newspaper and lowered the back of the seat.
Before Olivia Logan reached the entrance, the door opened and Doctor Scanlon, with Mrs. Kleckner on
one side and Mrs. Roundchild on the other, stepped forward to greet her. She paused and looked at them, her eyes full of contempt and accusation. The three seemed to wilt; Herbert Scanlon, the most. It was as if his clothes were growing on his body. His shirt collar widened and he pressed the knot of his tie between his right thumb and forefinger before reaching out to take Olivia's hand.
"Where is she?" Olivia asked.
"We have her in the infirmary. I'm sorry," Doctor Scanlon began. "I--"
Olivia put up her black-gloved hand, palm forward. "Save your explanations for later," she said. "Take me to her."
The three separated, Mm. Roundchild stepping back so Olivia could enter the building.
There wasn't anyone in the lobby. The patients were all at lunch. Olivia paused, struck by the silence, and then continued as Herbert Scanlon directed her to another doorway and the corridor beyond. The two nurses trailed behind, neither looking at the other, neither saying a word.
"The patients are all in the dining room," Doctor Scanlon said.
"Except one," Olivia remarked.
He glanced back at his nurses and continued walking. When they reached the end of the corridor, they turned right at a door labeled,,Infirmary. Dr. Scanlon opened it and stepped back for Olivia to enter. The nurse, wearing a nametag, Suzanne Cohen, rose so quickly from her desk chair it looked like she had been sitting on springs. She looked at Doctor Scanlon, her face gray with concern.
"This is Mrs. Logan," he said. "She's here to see Laura."
"Oh yes," the infirmary nurse said. "I'm so sorry," she added.
Olivia closed her eyes and shook her head.
"I'm not interested in hearing apologies," she replied. Sue Cohen glanced at Doctor Scanlon and saw from the expression on his face that she should move quickly.
"This way," she said, and led them through the small lobby to a rear door and down a short hall, on either side of which were examination rooms, radiology, a laboratory, and at the very end, a room that fortunately was used rarely. It had no label on the door, but everyone who worked there knew it to be their morgue.
She opened the door and stepped back.
Olivia approached slowly and gazed in at the steel gurney covered with a sheet, on which lay the body of her granddaughter. The room had no particular odor. It seemed aseptic, devoid of any character, or light.