“How has he been lately? How has he been acting?”
“He’s been a little off ever since he gave away Daisy. I thought it was because he missed her.” I didn’t mention the moments when he’d seemed clingy; it felt too personal, somehow.
She scanned the water again, so blue today it almost hurt the eyes. “I don’t think this has to do with Daisy,” she concluded. Before I could dwell on what she’d just said, she put her hands on the wheels of her chair, clearly about to depart. “I just wanted to see if he’d mentioned anything to you, so thanks for talking to me. I’d better get home. Richard and Robert were doing some sort of science experiment and Lord only knows what might happen.”
“Of course,” I said.
She turned the wheelchair around, then stopped to face me again. “When is the baby due?”
“May ninth.”
“Will you come to the house to say goodbye?”
“Maybe. I’m kind of trying to keep a low profile. But I want to thank all of you for being so kind and welcoming to me.”
She nodded as though she’d expected the answer, but her expression remained troubled.
“Do you want me to try to talk to him?” I called out as she wheeled toward the van.
She merely waved and answered over her shoulder, “I have the sense that he’s going to be talking to you.”
*
I was still sitting on the steps when Aunt Linda returned from the shop an hour later. I watched her pull up, saw her studying me before finally getting out of the car.
“Are you okay?” she asked, coming to a stop before me.
When I shook my head, she helped me stand up. Back inside, she led me to the kitchen table and sat across from me. In time, she reached for my hand.
“Do you want to tell me what happened?”
Taking a deep breath, I went through it all, and when I finished, her expression was soft.
“I could tell she was concerned about Bryce when I saw her earlier.”
“What should I say to him? Should I talk to him? Should I tell him that he has to go to West Point? Or at least tell him to speak to his parents about what he’s thinking?”
“Are you supposed to know any of it?”
I shook my head. Then, “I don’t know what’s going on with him.”
“I think you probably do.”
You, she meant. “But he knows I’m leaving,” I protested. “He’s known all along. We’ve talked about it lots of times.”
She seemed to consider her response. “Maybe,” she said, her voice soft, “he didn’t like what you said.”
*
I didn’t sleep well that night and on Sunday, I found myself wishing I could have done the twelve-hour church-marathon thing as a distraction from the churn of my thoughts. When Gwen came over to check on me, I could barely concentrate, and after she left, I felt even worse. No matter where I went in the house, my concerns followed, raising one question after another. Even the occasional Braxton Hicks contraction didn’t divert me for long, as inured as I was becoming to the spasms. I was exhausted with worry.
It was April 21. The baby was due in eighteen days.
*
When Bryce came to the house on Monday morning, he said little about his weekend. I asked him about it in a conversational way and he mentioned that they’d had to go farther offshore than they’d originally planned, but the season for yellowfin tuna had heated up, and on both days, they’d had a decent haul. He said nothing about his reasons for vanishing the previous two weekends, nor about his college plans, and unsure whether to go on, I let the topic pass.
Instead, it was business as usual, almost like nothing was amiss. More studying, even more photography. By then, I understood the camera like the back of my hand and could make adjustments blindfolded; I’d practically memorized the technical aspects of every photo in the file box and understood the mistakes I’d made when taking my own photos. When my aunt got home, she asked if Bryce had a few minutes to help her install more shelves for the book section of the shop. He willingly agreed, though I stayed behind.
“How did it go?” I asked when she returned alone.
“He’s like his father. He can do anything,” she marveled.
“How was he?”
“No strange questions or comments, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“He seemed okay with me today, too.”
“That’s good, right?”
“I guess.”
“I forgot to mention it earlier, but I spoke to the headmaster and your parents today about school.”