“It’s available for rent,” Amelia said with a sad tone in her voice. “The current occupants will be out by the end of the week.”
Elizabeth spied the pot of cocoa on the stove. “You sit down. I’m going to finish this cocoa and you’re going to tell me what’s going on.”
Amelia did as she was told, climbing gingerly onto a stool and watching her grandmother cook the way she had as a child. Her grandmother had passed along her love of cooking to Amelia. Most of her childhood they lived apart, but she had looked forward to summers spent with her grandparents and visits at Christmas. It was her favorite time of year.
Elizabeth restarted the cocoa, stirring it with a spoon before going into the pantry. She came out a moment later with peanut butter, cornflakes and Karo Syrup, making Amelia’s eyes light up with delight.
“Cornflake cookies?”
Her grandmother smiled. “Of course, baby. Now, what is this I hear from your father about you
getting married to that little boy you used to run around with?”
Amelia took a deep breath and started at the beginning. She told about the elopement in Vegas, the pregnancy and the whirlwind romance that followed. She ended the tale with its new, sad conclusion. “And now he’s gone, and once I’m out of this house, it will be like none of it ever happened.”
Her grandmother placed a steaming mug of cocoa and a plate of still warm and gooey cornflake cookies on the counter in front of her. “I doubt that,” she said. “From the sound of things, nothing is ever going to be the way it was before.” She pushed up her sleeves and started scrubbing the pans in the sink.
“Just leave those, Grandma. We have a lady for that.”
Elizabeth scoffed at the suggestion. “I think better when I’m working in the kitchen. So what are you going to do now? Move back to your apartment?”
“Yes,” Amelia answered. “Until my lease is up. Then I think I might buy a townhouse, something with a little more space, although not as much as we have here.”
“And what about you and Tyler?”
Amelia shrugged and shoved a cornflake cookie in her mouth to avoid the question awhile longer. “I’m hoping we can still be friends. Obviously we’re not meant to be together romantically. I knew from the beginning he wasn’t my big love. I was just hoping I was wrong.”
“Big love?” her grandmother said with a frown drawing her wrinkled brow together. “What kind of nonsense is that?”
“The big, grand love. The kind of romance that you and Grandpa have. The kind that moves mountains and lifts spirits and makes you certain that you can weather anything with that person at your side. The love that makes you happy to wake up to that person every day. I should’ve known I couldn’t achieve that in thirty days. I mean...how long did you and Grandpa date before you got married?”
Elizabeth considered the question for longer than Amelia expected her to. Her lips twisted together in thought before she finally planted her palms on the counter. “A week.”
Amelia sat bolt upright in her chair. “What?”
“Now, don’t you go running around telling people that. No one knows. Your granddaddy and I met when I was working at the university bookstore. He was there studying to be a lawyer. I thought he was so handsome, but I was too shy to speak to him. One day, he asked if I would join him for the football game on Saturday. We went for ice cream. We went out for breakfast,” she said with a naughty smile, “and the following Friday, we ditched classes to elope at the courthouse.”
This was not the story Amelia had been told all her life. “What about the big church wedding? I’ve seen the pictures!”
“That happened a year later. We kept our marriage a secret and told our families and friends we were dating. Months down the road, we announced that he had proposed, and we set the wedding day for our first anniversary. No one but your grandpa and I ever knew the truth until now.”
Amelia didn’t even know what to say. How was it even possible? “But you and Grandpa have the perfect love! The great romance I’ve always strived for. How could you have possibly known he was the right man for you, your soul mate, in just a week?”
Elizabeth sighed and made her way around the counter to sit at a bar stool beside her. “There is no such thing as a perfect love, Amelia, just like there is no such thing as a perfect person. Your grandpa and I had to work very hard on our relationship. Maybe even harder than other people, because we wed so quickly. There were times I wanted to hit him with a frying pan because he kept leaving his slippers where I could trip over them. There were times I’m certain your grandpa wished he’d taken me on a couple more dates before he proposed. But we made our decisions and we made the best of it.”
The cornflake cookies felt like lead in her stomach. It was as if she’d just been told the truth about the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny and Santa all over again.
“In the end, yes, marrying your grandfather was one of the best decisions I ever made. I acted on instinct, on passion, and I was right. If I had overthought it, we probably never would’ve married. We had ups and downs like any couple, but I don’t regret a minute of the time we’ve spent together.”
Tyler’s words popped into her mind. We might end up being totally incompatible, and if we are, we end it and you can go back to your quest for the White Buffalo. The White Buffalo. Magical. Rare. A fantasy. She’d spent the past ten years of her life chasing a myth and she was the last to realize it.
“I think part of this is my fault,” Elizabeth admitted. “When you were little, I filled your head with romantic stories, treating our marriage like one of your fairy-tale books. When you were older, I never thought to go back and tell you differently. I guess I imagined you’d grow up and shelve those fantasies with Cinderella and her glass slipper.”
“No,” Amelia spoke at last. “No, it isn’t your fault. You were right, you were telling a little girl stories. When I grew up, I should’ve realized that there’s no such thing as perfection. When I think about all the men I’ve driven out of my life because they weren’t just so... I feel awful.”
“Honey, it’s possible that none of those men would’ve been right for you anyway. But I wonder about this last one. It sounds to me as if he loves you very much.”
Amelia perked up in her seat. “What makes you say that?”