Part 38 (2/2)
Sean turned. ”She was up for just a bit, but she's resting now. She's very tired.”
”You must be too.” Mary put her hand on his shoulder, and he patted it. ”Thank you, Sean. I'll take over now.”
”You don't have to thank me. She's my granddaughter too.”
”You've been a terrific grandfather.”
”I'm surprised myself. I'm a better grandfather than I was a father. I regret not having spent more time with my sons.” Sean looked at Mary for a moment. ”You look lovely, Mary.”
Mary smiled. ”For an older woman.”
Sean raised his brows. ”If you're old, what does that make me?”
”Unfortunately, it's still a man's world. I suppose they would label you distinguished. Women are just old.”
”I'm feeling old these days.”
Mary searched his eyes with her own. ”Is anything wrong, Sean?”
Sean sighed. ”Katherine wants a divorce.”
”But you've been married for such a long time.” Mary shook her head. ”It seems silly to get a divorce at our age. At this point in our lives, most people settle into their situation. They either resolve it or at least learn to live with their differences.”
”I'm entirely at fault. First of all, she loved me but I married her for all the wrong reasons. I didn't love her the way she wanted to be loved. In the beginning, I was proud of her and the status she brought me. I loved her for that and for giving me two sons. Maybe I never really loved her. When she found out I had two daughters by two different women, one of them her sister, it too much for Katherine. I can't say I blame her.”
”I'm sorry Sean.”
”Don't be. It was twenty years late in coming.”
”Still, I'm sorry.”
They were silent for a while.
Sean asked suddenly, ”What about you? I haven't seen much of Mark through this ordeal. Have all these revelations affected your relations.h.i.+p?”
Mary hesitated.
Before she could answer, Sean leaned back in his chair. ”Mary, are you happy with Mark or have you, as you put it, just settled in and resolved your differences?”
Mary walked over to the window that looked out onto the courtyard. ”I don't know what happiness is. I've grown accustomed to our relations.h.i.+p. My marriage is like an old shoe I've worn for many years. It may not be wonderful, but it serves its purpose.”
”Didn't you ever want more than that?”
”Of course.” Mary turned to face him. ”I once thought it was possible to have a marriage where pa.s.sion never died.”
”I think we all did.” Sean stood. ”We had pa.s.sion together, even if it was only for a night.” He searched her eyes. ”I've never forgotten our night together. We've never talked about it, but I want you to know it was special for me. Not just a one night stand.”
Mary flushed. ”Thank you for telling me. I thought we had magic together.”
Sean took her chin in his hand and lifted her face to him. ”You're still as beautiful as you were then. Nothing's changed.”
Mary bit her lip. ”And you're handsomer than ever.” She looked down. ”I still have the music box.”
Sean kissed her then, a gentle, yearning kiss. When Mary stepped back he said, ”If I offended you, I'm sorry.”
”No,” she shook her head. ”It was an innocent kiss. It made me think of how we were once young and full of hope. Everything was possible then.”
Sean released her. ”When we were young, we still had our dreams.”
”Dreams of love.”
”Dreams of pa.s.sion,” Sean continued.
”What happened to all those dreams?” Mary asked.
Sean shrugged. ”We grew up.”
”That's the pity of it,” Mary replied.
Epilogue.
Hawaii 1995.
Mary sat on the sandy beach and watched the surf break on the coral reef a hundred feet back from the sh.o.r.eline. It was an idyllic Sunday on Kahala Beach. The kind of warm, sunny day that made her feel good about the world and at peace with herself and mankind. People strolled on the beach. They smiled as children busied themselves with seash.e.l.ls, sand crabs, fish, and other fanciful creations they created out of the wet sand. Watching the children at play made her think about how much she adored her grandchildren. She discovered being a grandmother was somehow different. The tension of being a parent and having to do everything right no longer existed. A grandparent could relax and enjoy their grandchildren without worrying about ruining them for life because of something they did or didn't do.
This generation was obsessed with doing everything perfectly lest they traumatize their children and ruin their chances of becoming successful. They were too worried about building self-esteem. They kept their precious charges relentlessly over-scheduled so they could become well-rounded individuals who wouldn't fall behind their peers intellectually, athletically, or emotionally. Not everything had to be a learning experience, Mary thought. Life had a way of making you learn through experience-whether you liked it or not.
As she enjoyed the sun, she reflected on her life and how much things had changed in Hawaii. It was ironic the j.a.panese bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941 in order to take over the islands and succeeded in taking over the island economy in 1985.
The j.a.panese came in droves and snapped up prime real estate all over the islands, driving prices to dizzying heights. Prices of prestigious properties in Diamond Head and Kahala tripled and quadrupled in less than a year. It got so crazy a tear down in interior Kahala on a 10,000 square foot lot sold for over a million dollars. People sold their properties, retired, and moved to the mainland with their newfound wealth. Kahala Avenue, the crown jewel of Hawaiian real estate, once the exclusive enclave of haoles, was now heavily populated by j.a.panese nationals.
Then came the sobering nineties when real estate prices crashed and Hawaii went into an extended recession.
The invasion of the j.a.panese prompted thoughts of Mitsuo. She thought her heart would break in two when he married Sadako. Looking around at her surroundings, it seemed as if it had happened in another life, another time.
Funny, she ran into Mitsuo a few years ago and he gave her such an odd look. Although he had aged terribly, his dark, sparkling eyes were still the same. Sadder, older, wearier, but still unmistakably Mitsuo. They looked at each other from across the years and Mary thought of all their unfulfilled promises. She once thought he was the great love of her life, and in that moment, frozen in time forever, she realized she had been his. A year later, she read his obituary in the paper, and cried over all those unrealized promises. If she and Mitsuo had been braver and less dutiful and demanded their happiness, how different her life would have turned out. But it wasn't meant to be.
She wondered, no, prayed, Mark was happy. George had died of lung cancer soon after Ashley's operation. Surprisingly, he left a small fortune to his younger brother and money to his sisters. It enraged Sarah and her children, but they ultimately decided fighting the will would be too expensive. In any case, they inherited a huge fortune of their own.
The money changed everything. Mary gave Mark the divorce he wanted and he married a beautiful thirty-year old Korean bar girl and went to live in Vegas. At first, Mary resisted the idea. It seemed foolish to get a divorce after so many years of marriage. But, it turned out to be an easy divorce; Mary took the restaurant and gave Mark everything else. Every now and then she heard about him through their children. But he, too, seemed like a distant memory.
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