The Hideaway

“Then maybe you can tell me a little of what I missed,” he said. “Again, if I’m not asking too much. I know she must have had a full life after I left—she has a granddaughter, after all.” He smiled. “So life must have treated her well. I don’t want to pry, but I’ve always been so curious . . .”

“It’s okay. She lived here until the very end. She was always surrounded by friends. The ones who live here now lived with her for years. The house made her happy. I think she had a good life.”

Despite the fact that you left her heartbroken and pregnant.

I couldn’t argue the facts, but this gentle man didn’t seem like the kind of person who would have done that. I wanted answers but I didn’t know how to venture into those waters. Turns out I didn’t have to. William dove right in.

“I came back a year or two after I moved out.” He took his cap off and placed it in his lap. “I saw her sitting at the table where I first spoke to her—a fussy little wrought-iron table Mrs. DeBerry left behind—and she was laughing. A man was swinging a little girl around in a circle in the grass. When he put her down, she ran and threw her arms around Maggie’s neck.”

William paused. “I knew it had to be her husband, and the little girl was theirs. I couldn’t bring myself to barge in. Especially not when I saw the girl. I suppose that was your mom?”

I nodded even though he didn’t have the story right. “Why did you leave?” The question tumbled out before I had a chance to censor myself. “The first time, I mean. Where did you go?”

He shifted in his chair and recrossed his legs.

“I’m sorry. Maybe I shouldn’t have asked that.”

“Yes, you should have. I knew coming here that if I wanted answers about Maggie, I’d likely have to answer for what I did.” He slid his hands up and down the arms of the rocking chair. “Maggie’s father showed up at The Hideaway soon after she took over the house. I was looking for her when I overheard them on the back porch. Her dad was scolding her about staying here instead of being back home with her husband.” He stopped and looked at me. “Forgive me. I don’t know how much you know, and I don’t want to be the one to—Well, I don’t want to change your view of your grandmother.”

“It’s all right. I know about you and Mags. Some of it, at least. I need to know the rest.”

He nodded. “We fell for each other quickly. I knew what we were doing—all I had planned for us—was wrong, but I couldn’t help myself. That is, until I heard her talking to her father. I realized then that he was right.”

“And you just gave up? If you really loved each other, couldn’t you have made it work somehow?”

“Not then, we couldn’t. I saw exactly what I was up against. Who was I to be carrying on with another man’s wife and trying to plan a future with her? Aside from the fact that what we were doing was wrong, I was nobody—I couldn’t pay to put gas in my truck half the time, and her husband was a wealthy socialite with a steady job. Maggie was used to nice things, even if she had turned her back on her old life. I wasn’t sure she’d really thought of what it would mean to stick with me and turn down a life of money and ease. I knew I had to get myself together and make a real plan before expecting her to stick with me.”

I thought of Mags sitting on her bench crying to Dot, missing William. I shook my head. “Knowing Mags and who she turned out to be, she probably wouldn’t have cared about the money.”

“You have no idea how many nights I’ve laid awake thinking that same thing. I made a mistake leaving like I did, but I always planned to come back for her. I thought I’d spend some time away, make a decent amount of money, and then return to whisk her away like a knight in shining armor.” He chuckled.

“What happened?”

“I came back a few weeks after I left. I’d wanted to give her time to settle things with her parents and her husband, but it was so hard for me to stay away. I stopped at Grimmerson’s first to pick up some flowers. I’d made some furniture for Tom, and he knew Maggie and I were—well, together. He sold me the flowers but advised against taking them to her. He told me her husband had moved in. I didn’t go see her that day, but I was just young and headstrong enough not to give up.” He shook his head.

“I did stay away for a while then. I worked hard, made some money, and I came back again, but I guess I waited too long. When I saw them in the backyard, I didn’t have the nerve to wreck what she’d built with Robert and their little girl.”

My heart caved inside of me. I closed my eyes and worked the tension out of my forehead with my fingers. I wanted to tell him the truth about that little girl, my mother, but I couldn’t. Not yet.

“I didn’t see any mention of Robert in her obituary,” he continued. “Did he . . . did they stay together?”

“He died of a heart attack when Mom was just a few years old. But I don’t think . . .” I paused, unsure of how much to explain. “I think their situation was complicated.”

“I see,” he said quietly.

“You don’t seem surprised.”

He shrugged. “I just worried about her, is all. He’d already left her once.”

“Seems a lot of people left her. The only ones who stuck by her are the ones who still live here.”

“So she never remarried?”

“There was never anyone else.”

We rocked in silence for a few moments. “What about you?” I asked. “Did you ever get married?”

He nodded. “Twice.”

I raised my eyebrows.

“I tried to forget her, but no one could ever measure up. In their defense, they were good women. Both times, it was my fault it didn’t work out. I compared everyone to Maggie. I was twenty-eight when she arrived here with a red coat draped over her arm. She was stunning. I’ve been in love with her ever since.”

In the photo of Mags at the funeral, and the other one I’d found in the desk, she’d had such a radiant smile. Her hair was messy and free, and even the sand and sky around her seemed ripe with life. William had been the man to make her so happy. He’d been her heart and soul. Regardless of how he and Mags had ended, I felt a sudden closeness to him, an appreciation that he’d drawn so much life and joy out of her, even if I never got to see that side of her.

“I’ve taken up enough of your time.” He straightened in his chair. “I appreciate you talking to me.”

“I’m glad you came.” I wanted to say more, but it was still a little strange to be sitting next to my grandfather—one, he wasn’t named Robert, and two, he wasn’t dead. But despite the oddity of the situation, we had an undeniable connection and I wanted to know more about him.

He rose from his chair and began the walk back to his car.

I stood and walked to the top of the steps. “Would you mind if I called you? Maybe we could meet again.”

He smiled. “I’d like that.”

I put a hand on the door behind me. “I’m going to get some paper and a pen. Don’t go anywhere.”

He chuckled and stopped on the bottom porch step. “Don’t worry. I’ll stick around this time.”

I sat in the rocker watching the taillights on William’s car disappear in the trees. Not a minute later, the front door opened and Dot’s gray head popped out. “Is your friend gone?”