“You really changed a flat tire for them?”
“I did. And I’m quite proud of myself, too.”
Eve released a long sigh. “Listen, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, Audrey—”
“So have I,” she interrupted. “And before you say anything else, you need to know that I want you to keep my name.”
“What?”
“No one ever needs to know the truth. You can be Audrey Barrett and live in this house and keep your country-club membership and all the rest. I don’t want any of it.” Saying the words out loud brought Audrey enormous relief. And enormous fear. The summer sun felt hot in the shadeless yard.
“Are you serious?”
“Very serious.”
“Why would you do that?”
“For selfish reasons, really. Robert didn’t want this life and neither do I. The weight of people’s expectations is too heavy here. The war freed me from that burden and I don’t ever want to carry it again.”
“That’s very generous of you, Audrey, but as it happens, I don’t want to be you anymore. I’m going to tell everyone the truth.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s wrong to keep living a lie. I want to be myself and make my own decisions and run barefoot through the woods whenever I feel like it, and maybe . . . just maybe, fall in love again.”
“Then let’s both be ourselves,” Audrey said. “The women we became during the war. We were brave and unselfish and determined—and we were best friends. I don’t know what happened to those women, but we need to find them again.”
“You’re right. Listen, this is too big to talk about out here,” Eve said, linking arms with Audrey. “Let’s change our clothes and wash up. There’s someplace I need to take you before you make any more decisions.”
Audrey’s heart plummeted when Eve drove the car through the gates of a cemetery a short time later. Insects buzzed and droned in the summer heat. Sweat pasted Audrey’s skin to the car’s upholstery. She didn’t want to move.
“Mommy, can I go see the angel statues?” Robbie asked.
“Yes, you may,” Eve replied. She got out of the car and opened the rear door for the boys.
Robbie started across the grass, then turned to Bobby. “Wanna see them, too? Come on.” Audrey was surprised when Bobby followed him. She pried herself from the car.
“I’ve noticed your son has an American accent,” she told Eve.
“It’s dreadful, isn’t it?” Eve linked arms with her again. “Are you ready for this?” Audrey could only nod, her tears already starting. Eve halted beside a dark granite marker with Robert’s name engraved on it. Audrey fell to her knees. Her tears flowed the moment her forehead touched the gravestone. The words of Robert’s favorite poem echoed through her heart:
I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.
Eve sat on the grass beside her, rubbing her back as Audrey wept. When she finally lifted her head and wiped her eyes, she saw that Eve was crying, too. She handed a basket of strawberries to Audrey. “Here. I think we need these.”
Audrey managed a smile as she ate one. “Robert and I had so many plans for our life together.”
“And I’m guessing it wasn’t the life I’ve been living in your place.”
“No. He didn’t want our son to grow up the way he did, pressured into joining the country club and the family’s law firm.”
“What did Robert hope for you, Audrey?” she asked softly.
She exhaled. “That I would learn to be myself, not bowing to anyone’s pressure. . . . I wanted to become a nurse after the war. Robert said we could find a nursing school here where I could study. He encouraged me to . . .” She couldn’t finish.
“You can still pursue that plan. You have a house and a car and enough money to live on and go to nursing school. Dream big, Audrey.”
The boys came running back before she could reply. “What’s wrong, Mummy?” Bobby asked when he saw Audrey’s tears.
She pulled him close, holding him tightly for a moment. “Remember the picture of your father that I showed you? This is where he’s buried. I’m crying because I miss him. But only his body is here. Your father is in heaven with the Savior he loved.”
“Is he an angel?”
“No, but he’s with the angels.” She handed him a strawberry. “Here. These are the best medicine for tears.”