Is It Any Wonder (Nantucket Love Story #2) - Courtney Walsh Page 0,113

pants, shirt, and tie, and his face looked weary.

Louisa stood.

He met her eyes, and his face fell. “I’m sorry, Louisa.”

“No.” She heard the word in her own voice, but it sounded muffled and quiet, like she was underwater again.

“I think she was just ready to go home,” the doctor said.

Then she was underwater again, the waves knocking her over, stealing her breath. She tumbled upside down as her knees buckled. Cody was at her side in a flash, catching her, righting her, saving her.

No. No. No. No. Not today. Not Maggie.

Her mind spun. Her heart broke. The old woman was her touchstone—God couldn’t have needed her more than Louisa did.

Cody’s face was buried in her hair as he pulled her to his chest. The rest of the room went silent as she struggled, once again, for air. The doctor was still talking, but his voice faded as if he were an image on the television with the volume turned down. And then he walked away.

Cody led her to a chair, away from the others. They’d all gone. They’d all had lives somewhere else. Louisa had Nantucket, and that meant she had Maggie. In all her loneliness, she’d always had Maggie.

And now she didn’t. Now she had no one.

She covered her face with her hands and wiped her cheeks dry, aware that Cody’s body was so close to hers she could sink into him if she let herself. Instead, she tensed. She dug down deep and forced herself to be strong, the way Maggie taught her to be.

“Will you listen to her now?” she asked out loud to the entire room. She scanned their faces and found confusion on every one. “She told us to forgive. It was the last thing she said to us. Are any of you willing to listen? Is anyone willing to admit they were wrong? Is anyone able to say they’re sorry?”

Nobody spoke. Eyes collectively fell to the floor. Cody reached for her hand, but she tore it away.

“I’ll go first,” she said through tears. “I’m sorry for being stupid enough to think that if we were all together again, you would remember what it was like when we were family.”

“It wasn’t stupid, Lou,” Cody said quietly.

“It was,” she said sadly, her voice quivering. She looked at Marissa. “I’m sorry for what I did to Cody all those years ago. I’m sorry for everything that happened that night. If I could change it, I would—you don’t know how many times I’ve wished for that. How many letters I’ve written and not sent. How many prayers I’ve prayed.”

“Louisa.” Cody’s tone warned, but she couldn’t stop. She knew she was likely ruining any chance at absolving herself, but she had to continue.

She looked at her mom. “I’m sorry I accused you of having an affair with Daniel.”

Marissa’s eyes shot to JoEllen.

“I know it wasn’t true, and I shouldn’t have said the things I said to you.” She looked at Cody. “And I’m sorry for ever breaking your heart.”

“Lou, it’s fine. We’re past this.”

“But we aren’t.” She waved a hand around the room. “Look at us. Look how broken we still are.” She choked on a sob. “I wanted us all back together because somehow I thought that meant I didn’t have anything to be sorry for. Somehow if you would just be friends again, if we could all put things back to the way we were, that made all of my choices okay. Maggie wanted us put back together too, but she wanted it for the right reasons. See, she had a secret. She never held a grudge. She forgave quickly and completely. She said she didn’t want bitterness taking up space in her heart when she had so much love to give.” Louisa scoffed softly. “I was so naive.”

There was a long pause—a heart-wrenching silence in which nobody said a word, nobody shifted in their seat, nobody even seemed to breathe.

Louisa wished she could take it all back. It was futile—every attempt she’d made so far to repair what was broken had ended in disaster. Why would Maggie’s death change that?

She stood. “I need to get some air.” She was walking toward the door, anxious to be alone with her thoughts, when she heard her father clear his throat from behind her.

“Louisa.” His tone was commanding—always—but now it seemed filled with something other than control. It was filled with regret.

Was this when Warren Chambers finally came clean? Was this where he confessed to an affair with his