At Last (The Idle Point, Maine Stories) - By Barbara Bretton Page 0,23

which meant when he wasn't drinking, he was off getting married. She'd lost count after the fourth wife and eighth fiancée. Sometimes she wanted to haul off and hit him in the head with one of the two-by-fours leaning up against the tool shed, anything to get him to notice she was alive, but she knew it was a lost cause. He was never cruel to her, not in any overt way. He didn't beat her like Mary Ann's father did, or touch her in the night like Sarah's father. Sometimes she thought that what he did hurt her more than any physical beating ever could: he looked right through her like she was nothing but smoke and mirrors. Like she wasn't his flesh and blood at all.

"Gramma." She tapped on the door and inched it open. "Are you awake?" It was more a formality than anything else, a way to preserve what remained of Del's independence.

"Wheel of Fortune's about to start," Gramma Del said. "Don't think you can start any conversations with me until I see what Vanna's wearing tonight."

"I brought over some supper." Gracie lifted the lid on the casserole she carried. "Mac and cheese. I thought I'd make you a little salad and—"

A commercial for an auto repair shop flickered on and Del tore her eyes from the television set. "You going to eat with me?"

Gracie shook her head. "I grabbed a lobstah roll around four o'clock."

"Who made the macaroni?"

"I did." She bit back a laugh at the look on her grandmother's face. "I used your recipe."

"Well, then," said Del as Vanna floated onto the screen, "maybe I'll try just a little."

Gracie took the casserole into the kitchen where she fixed a tray for her grandmother then poured herself a glass of iced tea. She carried everything back into the tiny living room and helped Gramma Del sit up straighter in her recliner. Once her grandmother started eating, Gracie sprawled on the floor next to her and offered up a running commentary on Vanna's hair and gown and shoes that soon had Gramma Del laughing despite herself.

When the show ended, Del switched off the power and turned to Gracie. "Spit it out, missy."

Gracie leaned on her elbows and looked up at her grandmother. "What makes you think there's something to spit out?"

"You learn something about human nature in eighty-two years of living, Graciela, and I can see you're about ready to pop."

Gracie had never been able to keep anything from her grandmother. "Noah Chase is back in town."

Gramma Del's smile thinned until her mouth was nothing more than a thin line of Maine granite. "Passing through, no doubt, same as every year."

"I don't think so," Gracie said slowly. "I think they're all staying in town this year on account of Mr. Chase's heart attack."

"None of our business," Del said. "They live their lives, we live ours."

Gracie swallowed. "He came into Doctor Jim's to pick up Mrs. Chase's new dog."

Gramma Del was paying close attention to her now.

"He's not for you, Graciela." Kindness softened the stern warning. "Better you know that now."

"I don't know what you're talking about, Gramma. I was just passing on some town gossip."

"Look at me, missy. Let me see your face."

"Don't be silly." Gracie pushed her grandmother's hand away.

"Graciela."

"Okay, okay." She forced a laugh, trying to make a joke of Gramma Del's demand. "Here's my face." Gracie turned toward her and crossed her eyes. "Are you satisfied now?"

Gramma Del caught her face between her hands. To Gracie's horror, she realized her grandmother's eyes were filled with tears. "There isn't a man on this planet worth your dreams, Graciela."

"Gramma!"

"Listen to me!" Gramma Del's hands trembled as they held her face captive between them. "You can be anything you want to be if you hold tight to your dreams."

"Gramma, I haven't had a date in months. I'm working around the clock with Doctor Jim. I get up, go to work, come home again, all because I'm focused on a dream. If you think I'm going to let anything come between me and my future, then you don't know your granddaughter."

It was the first time Gracie ever lied to her grandmother, but it wouldn't be the last.

Chapter Five

He's an old man, Noah realized as his father paced the book-lined study the next morning. When he'd gone off to school in September, his father had been tall and strong, a man in the latter years of his prime. Now, nine months and two heart attacks later, everything had