After All This Time by C.L. Mannarino

Author:C.L. Mannarino [Mannarino, C.L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: young adult romance, teen romance, teen love, teen drama, young adult love, young adult drama, teen historical, young adult historical, young adult coming of age, teen coming of age
Publisher: C.L. Mannarino
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

7

After a month, Clarence does write, but only a little. We send letters back and forth about our lives, and things seem to smooth out again. They feel hopeful, even though he writes of the sudden death in his family—his mother taking ill, and requiring him back in Boston in time for her to pass.

But then, the letters stop. And every time Emma arrives, she says, “find another love. If he’s really gone, it may be that he’s going to stay that way for a long time, especially given the work he’s meant to do.” Mama and Papa both echo these sentiments, if reluctantly. They’ve fallen for Clarence, too. The house is filled with palpable disappointment.

At the end of that year, Emma gets married. It’s a lovely affair, but filled with people I don’t know. One man, about our age, stumbles out of the crowd and helps me navigate the party. He tells me he’s a banker, and the name of his profession almost makes me cry—for a moment, I mistake him for saying he’s a Baker, and I almost jump to ask if he knows Clarence, and how the doctor is doing. I have to gasp for breath, but I don’t explain it to him. If he believes the town gossip, he doesn’t say anything.

Instead, he invites me to a Christmas celebration. We plan to carol around town together. Just before we do, I get a card from Clarence wishing us well. I keep it in the book with my pressed flowers, and leave the treasures in my parents’ home. None of it holds a sure enough promise to linger on.

The banker is nice enough man. Bland. He’s old enough by a few years, having already lost a wife and child in labor. But his eyes are kind, and true. He glows every time he sees me. He desperately wants to be a father. I’m not opposed, but I’m not in love.

We court for a few months, and then he proposes. I see Emma’s hand in the engagement—wildflowers and pastel colors. She and the banker are cousins, after all. She keeps saying I deserve love, so I accept his hand, determined to feel for him as he does for me. She has to hold her enormous belly up to say this, though. She’s due any minute now.

Mama and Papa welcome us, but not with nearly the gusto they had for Clarence. I can sense their sense of my disappointment. It’s to be an Easter wedding.

When I tell Clarence this—about the engagement, about Emma, and about my best friend’s child—he writes the shortest letter yet. It’s congratulatory, it’s kind-hearted, and it’s exactly Clarence…except it stings. It wishes me well, tells me I’ll make the most fantastic wife to anyone whom I deem worthy, and even includes the offer of using his name to receive the ceremonial flowers for free, if we visit this certain shop.

It makes me sick to my stomach. I wonder why he isn’t fighting for me, the way I imagined he might in my daydreams of him.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.