At Last (The Idle Point, Maine Stories)(47)

"I don't care what came before. All I know is that you're drunk and—"

She should have seen it coming. He telegraphed his movements every step of the way but she was out of her head with rage and pain and couldn't see beyond the red mist swirling around her head.

The room fell silent. The crack of Ben's hand against her face seemed to echo in her head, driving out all thought. They were staring at her, the churchwomen, dockworkers, the crowd from Patsy's and the Gazette. Oh God, her friends from high school were knotted together, faces pale and wondering. This never happened before... I swear it. Don't look at me like that!

Next to her Noah sprang to life. He grabbed Ben by the lapels and lifted him off his feet and Gracie feared he was going to kill the man.

"He's not worth it," she said in a voice so cool and controlled she barely recognized it as her own. "Let him go. He's nothing but an old drunk."

She turned and started walking away with as much dignity as she could muster, given the circumstances. Her exit line would have been more effective if she hadn't broken down into tears on the last word but she made her point. She hurried across the grass, past the mausoleums and the office, across the parking lot toward her car with Noah close behind.

"Gracie!" He grabbed her before she reached the Mustang. "Are you hurt?"

She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and laughed. "He couldn't hurt me if he tried. There's nothing he could do that could possibly hurt me."

"Let me see your face."

She pulled away. "I'm fine."

"Your cheek is red."

"It's nothing."

"He knows about us, Gracie. That's what this was all about."

"Don't be ridiculous."

"They all know." He told her about the confrontation with his father.

"I don't understand any of this. Why does your father hate me?" she demanded of Noah. "What did we ever do to any of them?" Bits and pieces of memory floated just out of reach.

"Why does your father hate me?" Noah asked "None of it makes any sense."

"I asked Gramma Del at least a dozen times and she refused to answer."

"All I know is that our parents used to be friends and—"

"What?" She felt like somebody had turned her world upside down. "Say that again! What are you talking about?" Their parents, friends? Impossible.

"They were friends. They all hung out in the same crowd. Your mother dated my father," he said, "way back in high school."

"That's ridiculous."

"No, it's not. I started thinking there had to be a connection. They all grew up here. They're all the same age. There's only one high school." He'd slipped into Simon's library while his father was napping and dug up the Idle Point High School yearbook . "Your mother and my father. Simon Chase and Mona Webb, king and queen of the senior prom." He paused for a moment as if he couldn't believe it either. "The couple most likely to say 'I do.'"

Gracie tried to imagine her beautiful young mother with dour old Simon Chase. The image made her shiver. "What happened?" she asked. "Why didn't they get married? Who broke it off?"

"I don't know," Noah said.

"Maybe my mother jilted your father. That could explain why he hates my family so much." Gracie's parents married three months before Noah's parents did.

"It wouldn't explain why your father hates my family."

"My father's a drunk. Don't expect anything he does to make sense." She leaned her head against Noah's shoulder and closed her eyes. Her mother and Simon Chase. She tried to wrap her brain around the concept but it was impossible. The world seemed dark and puzzling to her, with secrets hidden everywhere like landmines. They were talking about events from over forty years ago. Why should old grudges and jealousies determine what happened to her and Noah? It didn't make any sense.

"We should have kept driving," she whispered. "We should have run away when we had the chance."

"It's not too late, Gracie. All you have to do is say yes."

She opened her eyes and looked at him. He was the love of her life. He had been since they were five years old. He would still be the love of her life when she breathed her last. I wanted to tell you, Gramma Del. I know you would have understood once you met Noah again. School would always be there but a chance for this kind of happiness came only once, if you were lucky. He was, after all, her only true family.