Chapter 3: Epilogue

The sounds of almost thirty teenage boys and girls washed over me as I tended the barbecue, flipping burgers. Music blared out from a portable iPhone speaker system. Laughter and loud talking surrounded me. Girls were texting furiously for some reason. When I asked Chantal about their strange behavior, she laughed, telling me they were texting each other about the boys. Why, I wondered, couldn’t they just talk to each other? Had the art of whispering been lost?

I watched Chantal while she set up the table. She passed by a laughing Bella and hugged her before moving on. Chantal was very touchy-feely today. She was full of soft smiles and glowing. Maybe it was because her daughter was turning sweet sixteen.

I automatically smiled when I spotted Bella. In the last two years she’d hardly changed, yet the lady she was becoming was shining through, elegance emerging, self assured, and hints of refinement. Now as tall as her mother, she was still very slender. Part of it was due to her genes. The other due to her physical activity. She jogged with me every morning. She swam, waterskied, and loved to take Penny for long walks.

Her blonde hair was still cut short at the back of her neck, progressively longer towards the front where it fell to her shoulders. And she still dressed carefully, loving colorful short skirts with matching tops, unless it was like today. Today she wore a cotton top and shorts, a red baseball hat on backwards, and high top sneakers. I checked. Yup. The left one’s laces were untied.

I liked watching the boys approach her and try to engage her. I knew with absolute certainty she wasn’t interested in them the way they hoped. It amused me.

Throughout the party, Bella had come over to chat. It wasn’t to talk to me. She needed to touch me - a hand on my back while looking around me at the barbecue, a touch on my forearm - and then she’d leave. We’d never been caught. There had been a few close calls when boating, but never caught.

Chantal came over and hugged me. “Isn’t she beautiful?” she asked, not for the first time.

“The most beautiful girl here,” I assured her.

With a kiss on my cheek, Chantal left to bring more soft drinks out. Bella caught my eye and smiled broadly, her pretty blue eyes twinkling.

To the outside world, Chantal and I were living in sin. Little did they know.

When the party wound down and the last of her guests left, after the cleanup, and feeling tired from an active day, the three of us relaxed on the back veranda. Bella chatted away giving her mother all the latest gossip. Chantal kept touching Bella; a caress of her hair, a touch on her arm; unusually affectionate.

I muttered, “Quidnunc.”

Bella paused. “I’m not a quidnuc!”

“You are,” I assured her.

Penny raised her head. She looked at me with her intelligent brown eyes and chuffed.

“Thanks for reminding me,” I told her.

I left Bella and Chantal gossiping, smiling to myself with amusement. Returning to the veranda, I passed a small wrapped box to Bella. “Happy birthday.” Bending, I brushed my lips across hers, and returned to my seat, picking up the glass of white wine and sipped.

Bella smiled at me, pleased, looked at the small gift, and unwrapped it. Tears welled in her eyes despite her smile. One dripped down her cheek as she took out the charm bracelet I’d kept locked away.

“You kept it,” she whispered.

I nodded. “Of course I did. It’s the most precious thing I own.”

It no longer surprised me when Bella fingered the charms, telling her mother what some represented. What did surprise me was seeing Chantal cry, too.

“I’d like us to finish filling the bracelet with memories,” I told Bella, adding, “If you’ll let me.”

Bella put the charm bracelet on her left wrist to join the aged, braided leather bangle. She stood and came to me, sitting in my lap sideways. Tears still welling, she smiled again.

“That’s almost exactly what you told me the first time. How could you remember after so long?” she asked softly.

“How could I forget? Here,” I said, handing her a two-inch envelope.

Bella opened it and emptied it into her palm. A small gold high top sneaker fell out, its shoe laces undone. She let out a short laugh, then kissed me gently, a kiss full of love and affection. When it ended, she glanced at her mother.

“What’s with you, Mom? You’ve been acting weird all day.”

Chantal wiped her cheeks. “Sorry. I think it’s the hormones.”

Bella’s mouth dropped open. “No!” she exclaimed breathlessly. “Seriously?”

When Chantal nodded and smiled, Bella squealed, jumped off my lap, ran over and hugged her mother.

What the heck was up with them now?