“Are you kidding me? I’d rather get sick!” Rebecca said, showing me the letter she received. “I couldn’t put an eel chip in my mouth for a million dollars.”
“I would,” Sami said.
“I hate eel! Despise it! Loathe it! Eel’s the nastiest thing in the whole blooming ocean!”
“Tell us how you really feel, Mom,” Sami said.
“Yeah, well, you can’t hardly kill the nasty buggers. My daddy’s fishing buddy caught one once and cut it up in chunks. Two days later it was still pulsing. You think that’s not gross?”
“That’s gross,” I said.
I had just turned on the dishwasher when the phone rang. It was Byron.
“Miss Abigail, oh, my God, I can’t get Huey on his cell phone!”
“Byron? What’s happened?”
“It’s Miss Olivia! I went out to the terrace to take her a tray of lunch and she was in her chair sleeping. ’Cept she wasn’t sleeping, Miss Abigail…” He began to cry so hard, like he was a baby. I wished I could’ve reached through the phone and put my arms around him. My whole body went limp and I dropped into a kitchen chair. I already knew the terrible news he was struggling to tell me.
“I’ll be right there, Byron. Just hang on.”
I hung up the phone and looked at the earnest dread in Rebecca’s and Samantha’s faces.
“She’s gone,” I said. “Oh, dear God.”
Sami turned in to Rebecca’s arms and whimpered.
“I have to go over there right away. Please, stay here, okay?” I scribbled Julian’s and Huey’s cell phone numbers on a piece of paper and handed it to Rebecca. “Keep calling them until you get them, okay?”
I grabbed my bag and drove over to Huey’s as fast as I possibly could. When I got there, I didn’t even remember the drive. All I could do was think about how devastated Huey was going to be, and he would be completely devastated.
Byron was standing in the driveway, and I jumped out of my car. He was almost hysterical. I went right up to him and hugged him as hard as I could.
“It’s okay, Byron. It’s okay. Go call Daphne and tell her I need her help.”
“I didn’t know what to do, Miss Abigail! I knew she was dead, but I couldn’t tell EMS to come get her and let Huey find his momma in a morgue! That ain’t right! And it wouldn’t do no good to call the doctor! She’s already dead!”
“Where is she?”
“On the terrace. Right where I found her! Oh, Lord!”
“Get Daphne over here as fast as you can.”
I ran to the place where Miss Olivia was gently slumped in her chair. A little breeze swirled crisp leaves around her feet, as though her spirit was riding on the little currents of air, swirling here and there, having a look at everything. Her eyes were closed and you could believe that she was just napping, except for the absence of her breath. Only her left hand was hanging from her side. I placed her arm across her lap. It was cold. I pulled a chair up to her side and decided to just wait with her body until Daphne arrived.
“She’ll be here in two minutes,” Byron said as he came toward me from the house.
“Did she have a local physician?”
“Doctor? Oh, Lord! Mostly she went down to Charleston, but she did get some medicine for bronchitis last year.”
“Go see if the medicine bottle is still in her bathroom cabinet and call the doctor on the label. Or call Huey’s doctor. Tell them it’s a matter of life and death and to hurry.”
“What if they tell me to go to the emergency room?”
“No, wait.” I took a deep breath and felt my eyes burning. “Tell them Miss Olivia Valentine of Evergreen Plantation has passed away and it would not be possible…Oh, Byron, if that happens, call me to the phone.”
I tried to figure out what had happened to Miss Olivia. She was sitting on her terrace, reading a magazine, watching the Waccamaw, which was the place she loved most in all the world. I picked up the magazine from the ground and saw she had folded its pages back to the horoscopes. God bless her, Miss Olivia had gone to the heaven reading Town & Country.
I heard the crunch on the gravel and knew Daphne had arrived. Her car door slammed, and in a matter of seconds she was at my side.
“Oh, no! What a terrible shock! When Byron called me I didn’t know what to do first so I just came straight here! Oh, Lord! I said, oh, Lord, not Miss Olivia! It’s gonna kill Mr. Huey! So many other bad people to take before her! Lord knows, dead people scare me, but not Miss Olivia. No, not her. But why her? Why now?”
I put my arm around her skinny shoulder and said, “I guess God wanted to take her home, Daphne. Listen, I don’t want Huey to come home and find her like this, so I want you and Byron to help me move her to her bed. We can prop her up under the covers and wait for the doctor and Huey to arrive.”
“Yeah, it would be terrible for Huey to see her like this. I’ll go get him,” she said.
It was a bit of a struggle, but they managed to carry Miss Olivia to her own bed. Daphne turned down the covers and I removed her shoes. All together, we slipped her tiny body between the sheets. She couldn’t have weighed more than one hundred pounds.
“Did you get the doctor, Byron?”
“I spoke to the nurse. He’s calling us back.”
We straightened her out and pulled the covers up over her waist, folding her hands over her stomach. She looked peaceful and beautiful in the rose-hued afternoon light that streamed through her windows, washing her bed in a warm glow. I felt so incredibly sad. The world had lost a great woman when Miss Olivia closed her eyes.
It was two o’clock then, and another hour passed before the doctor called to say he was on his way.
And finally, Rebecca called.
“Julian just called and I told him, Abigail. I hope it was all right to do that. He’s almost back at the dock anyway. Do you need me to get anything? I’m leaving to come over right now.”
“No, thanks. I’m going outside to wait for Huey. I’ll see you soon.” I hung up and looked over to Byron. “Maybe we should make a pot of coffee or something. Do you have any cookies or a coffee cake? There will be people coming and going for a while.”
“I’ll take care of it,” he said. “Don’t worry.”
Byron had moved from near hysterics to a somber mood. I knew he was feeling like I was—sorry to lose someone as wonderful as Miss Olivia, somewhat afraid of shouldering Huey’s pain and trying to think through the logistics of wake and funeral and how life would stop until they were over. And that when they were over, there would be a huge gaping hole in all of our hearts for a long time to come. Huey would feel it for the rest of his days.
I went outside and down to the river, and sure enough, I could just make out Julian’s boat in the distance. When they finally docked, I took Evan’s hand and helped him off the boat. They were quiet. I could see that Evan and Huey had been crying and that Julian was upset as well. He had not known Miss Olivia long but he loved her like we all did.
I hugged Huey hard and said, “Oh, Huey, I’m so sorry.”
Huey said, “Thanks. Me too.”
Byron came outside and ran to Huey. Huey threw himself into Byron’s arms and began to bawl. Huey’s racking sobs unnerved Byron; then Byron lost it and just wailed along with him.
I saw the doctor walking across the lawn at the same time Julian did. Rebecca and Sami were right behind him. Daphne was leaving.
“I’ll go greet him,” Julian said.
“Miss Olivia is in her bedroom,” I said. “Let me say good-bye to Daphne.”
Evan ran for Rebecca and Sami and I was left with the inconsolable Huey and Byron.
“I’ll be right back,” I said. “Daphne! Wait!” I caught up with her and said, “Listen, thanks for coming and helping me today. I realize that it was above and beyond the call of duty. And to be honest, I didn’t have anyone else to call.”
“No big deal. I’m glad I could help.” She looked all around at the vast property, and then sh
e said, “This is some gorgeous place, isn’t it? My stupid brother sure stepped in it, didn’t he?”
“Uh, well, it isn’t so bad to work in an oceanfront house on Pawleys, is it?” I was just teasing her.
She shook her head and looked at the ground. Then she looked up at me with the strangest expression that I couldn’t read.
“Well, this has been some day, huh? What a shock!”
“Ain’t over yet,” she said and turned to walk away. “See you tomorrow!”
“No, you’re right. It’s going to be a long afternoon and night. See you tomorrow!” I wondered what she had meant and decided it meant nothing. “Thanks again!” I said and went back toward Huey and Byron.
Byron had his hand on Huey’s shoulder, consoling him. Poor Huey, I thought. His heart’s broken.
“I have to go in there,” he said and broke down again.
Huey wanted to see his mother and he wanted to be alone when he did. Finally, he went in her house and to her bedroom.
“I’ll be right outside the door, Huey,” I said.
“Thanks,” he said.
Julian and Byron waited with me. We didn’t know what to say to each other. What could anyone say? That she was elderly and had enjoyed a good, long and happy life? Or that at least she wasn’t sick and had to suffer a long illness? All those things were obvious and useless to those people she had left without so much as a good-bye. Finally Byron spoke.
“I’m going to go start dinner,” he said. “We have to eat, don’t we?”
There were some issues about how we would put Miss Olivia to rest. First, she had long ago dropped a formal religious affiliation with any congregation. She said she didn’t need a minister to help her talk to God. She had said on many occasions that she talked to God all the time and that she felt very good about her Christian soul. But it seemed wrong not to have some kind of a religious service for her, because we needed it even if she had felt she would not.
The children, uncomfortable with the notion of Miss Olivia’s dead body in the next room and very sad they had lost someone they had only recently attached themselves to, sat together on the sofa in the living room with Rebecca for a while. Miss Olivia’s death had shocked them, and they cried.
Huey finally came out of the room. The doctor, a kind fellow whose name I think was Dr. Harper, called the funeral home, and they were on the way to collect Miss Olivia’s body. He waited until the funeral home arrived and left, and then he shook hands with everyone, offered his condolences and said, “If I can do anything, just call me. I’ll be at home tonight.”
“Thank you very much,” Huey said. “This is a very, very sad day for me. I appreciate you coming. I know you only treated Mother a few times. It was very kind of you.”
“Mr. Valentine, you probably don’t remember me, but many years ago your mother took me, my wife and my children all around the Flagg house. She told us stories of her grandmother and great-grandmother hiding from the Yankees. And how they hid their silver and jewelry in barrels and buried them near the riverbanks. She brought the entire Civil War to life for them. My children were enthralled with every word she spoke. My son went on to become a history professor—he teaches at the College of Charleston—and anyway, it all began with your mother. She was quite a lady. I know you’ll miss her.” Dr. Harper removed his glasses and wiped them with his handkerchief. He put them back on and said, “This may sound a little strange, but I am honored to be with you today.”
You could almost see Huey’s plumage rise and spread like a peacock’s. I saw then that Huey needed to hear stories about his mother, about good things she had done, and those words would get him through the coming weeks.
Walking back to the house, I said to him, “You know, Huey. I can’t stand to think of you out here all alone with just Byron. I mean, it won’t be good for you. Would you like to come and stay with me on Pawleys for a few days?”
“All alone? Whatever do you mean? Are you all alone on Pawleys with just Julian? Let’s have cocktails, shall we?”
Did Huey mean what I thought he meant?
He went to the kitchen and when he came back out he said, “Byron will bring drinks right away. I think Mother would want to be toasted, don’t you?”
“Absolutely!” Julian said. “Why don’t I bring in glasses and open a bottle of wine? You know, make myself useful?”
“Normally, I would say let Byron do it, but I think we should get going here. I don’t know about you, but I can’t remember a single occasion when I have had a higher need for a bourbon. So yes, thank you, Julian.”
“I’ll help too,” Evan said and followed Julian.
“Me too,” Sami said. “I’d like a Coke in a bottle.”
“That’s my girl!” Huey said and turned to me and Rebecca. “Mother’s instructions were very explicit. She did not want a wake or a funeral. She wanted to be cremated and have her ashes spread on this land, in particular around the terrace area, so she wouldn’t miss sunset cocktails. She wanted a party.”
“Well then, let’s give a party in her honor,” I said. “Do you want to have some religious or spiritual segment in there? I mean, just someone to lead the group in a prayer for her?”
“I don’t know,” Huey said. “It would seem terribly odd to everyone if we didn’t, wouldn’t it?”
“I think so,” Rebecca said. “I mean, it wouldn’t have to be maudlin or orthodox either.”
Julian came in with four wineglasses and an open bottle of red wine. Byron was behind him with a tumbler of bourbon, a small bowl of ice and a plate of cheese and crackers.
“We’re talking about Miss Olivia’s celebration of life party she wanted,” I said, adding, “Thanks, sweetheart.” I took the glass from Julian.
I turned to see that Byron made no movement from the room. He was having a drink. He was no longer dressed in his service jacket. He was wearing a nice shirt. This was unusual.
Huey raised his glass.
“To mother! Miss Olivia Valentine! Mother? Wherever you are, I hope you can hear me and know that I think you are the finest woman I have ever had the privilege to know. I hope you are with Daddy and that you know we all love you and will miss you for the rest of our lives!”
“To Miss Olivia!” Byron said, and we all touched the edges of our glasses.
Everyone began talking at the same time.
“She was absolutely wonderful,” I said.
“Yes,” Rebecca said. “Extraordinary.”
“I’m going to get dinner on the table,” Byron said.
“I want to be like Miss Olivia when I get old,” Sami said.
“We should all try and be like her starting this very minute!” Rebecca said.
“Dinner is ready!” Byron called.
Huey took Rebecca’s arm to lead her to the dining room, saying, “How in the world will I—I mean how will the world be without Miss Olivia?”
We gathered in the dining room around the table, which was set for seven people. We were just six. I didn’t have the heart to correct Byron or to point it out to Huey. It was a good thing I had the sense to keep my tongue in my head because it was Byron whom Huey seated in his mother’s place. Finally, the obvious dawned on me. Huey was not alone. His discretion had probably, no most definitely, been for his mother’s sake.
I hid the fact that I was slightly aghast and then chastised myself for being aghast when I saw how seriously Byron took the occasion. He knew it was a serious statement and was not the least bit flippant that evening or ever again. It was Huey who provided the stand-up routine from that moment forward. Byron was all propriety.
Julian and I went back to our house, thanking Byron for another excellent meal and offering Huey our shoulder or our heart if the mood struck at any hour.
In the car I said to Julian, “Did you know that Huey and Byron were a couple?”
“Sure, I did.”
“Well, I surely did not! I never even considered it!”
“Does it bot
her you?”
“No, of course not. But the deception does. I mean, I’ve been everywhere with Huey and never saw an inkling of anything between them!”
We pulled in my driveway and got out.
“People see what they want, Abigail. Come on, let’s get us a glass of wine and go look at the stars. Maybe we can see Miss Olivia shooting across the sky. By the way, I met a fellow down in Charleston who’s looking for a good lawyer. His wife ran off with his best friend and…”
“Shhh! We can talk about that tomorrow.”
The moon, almost full, hung over the Atlantic, causing it to sparkle like millions of crystals, glittering, floating on the water, all there for anyone to behold. You could almost scoop them by the handful, put them in your pocket, string them tomorrow, make a necklace or a bracelet with mystical powers that made you invincible.
“Where do you think she is, Julian? Miss Olivia, I mean.”
“Right here in our hearts, sweetheart. Just like you’ve always been since I met you years ago. Love never dies. People do, but love doesn’t.”
Hearing those words and being there with Julian was enough for me. Pawleys had transformed me, like it did for most people who went there.
This island was a place where you figured things out, made sense of your life and learned to live with yourself, forgive yourself, all the while humbled by its astonishing power and beauty. You didn’t need jewelry with mystical powers to have that. You just needed some time on Pawleys to find the truth of your own heart and to be grateful again for life.
Dorothea Benton Frank was born and raised on Sullivan’s Island, South Carolina. She is a nationally recognized volunteer fund-raiser for the arts and education, and an advocate of literacy programs and women’s issues. She resides in the New York area with her husband and two children. Visit her website at www.dotfrank.com.