Bells on the Bay by Elizabeth Bromke

Author:Elizabeth Bromke [Bromke, Elizabeth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Elizabeth Bromke

Chapter 35—Amelia

“That clears nothing up,” Amelia jumped in. “What do you mean she called the school? Did she ask for you?”

Judith pressed her hands together. “No, I’m sorry. What I mean is that I was there that day, in the front office, when the phone rang. Our secretary must have been busy or out or something, so I picked up the receiver, and it was Nora, searching for Wendell.”

“I mean,” Megan started, “did you make small talk? Catch up? Did she cut right to the chase?”

Judith shook her head blankly, her eyes searching her hands as they shifted to the knees of her jeans. “I don’t remember.” A deep divot formed between her eyebrows. “I’m sure we must have caught up a little. It would have been incredibly awkward. After so long and based on our shared history if you could call it shared. And anyway, when I read about the missing man in the newspaper, it never dawned on me that he could be the same as the one who came to the school. I was behind the times, of course, and that didn’t help things. I was just… going through the motions of my life back then, you see. Teaching and serving both consumed me and turned me inside out—hollow. It’s something I hate to say, because I do love the church. I do.” Her eyes turned wet, and she swallowed slowly before meeting Amelia’s stare. “I sort of ‘came to’ in the ensuing year or so. I began to reconsider how I wanted to live, and I thought about marriage and all of the things I’d sacrificed…” Her voice trailed off.

“It wasn’t worth it? Taking your vows wasn’t worth it?” Kate asked. Amelia caught her eye, and they shared a moment. They were hammering down toward something. It was happening. Amelia squeezed Michael’s knee beside her.

“No, it was worth it. But… I suppose I outgrew the calling. When Nora re-entered my life, I sort of re-awakened to the world. Birch Harbor was no longer this looming threat, one entrenched in me since I was just a child. I pushed against the boundaries of my choices. My life.”

“Did you and our mother reconnect?” Clara asked.

“No, no,” Judith answered. “Not at all. I did, though, hear her panic, and I remembered what it was like for us as girls—being those throwaways. I didn’t wish it on anyone—to suffer that all over again, and I knew she needed to hear that her secret remained safe. So, I told her it did. I told her it was safe.”

“But why marry Gene, of all people?” Michael broke in, his deep voice cutting across Judith’s emerging breakdown. “And why all of the… spite?”

Blanching, Judith opened her mouth then closed it. She looked down and then tried again, “I’m sorry for that. For what I’ve done. I just—”

“And another thing,” Megan pointed out, “If you were taught to hate Birch Harbor, then why would you pretend to care so much about it? Remember, Judith? That’s why you turned me down for a permit earlier this year.

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