At the apparel shop her sister confronts her. "I am worried about you, Emily." Melissa said while separating the different fabrics and placing them in different compartments on the wall. "You go out to that cove way too much."
Emily give Melissa a strange look. "You do not need to worry about me. I am not doing anything wrong. You need to worry about your own family and your little one that is about to be born next month."
"Is he still giving you gifts?"
"Yes." she quietly replied back.
"EMILY! You need to stop this! It isn't fair to him or to you. If he cares about you so much then why hasn't he met you? If he cared for you that much he would come forward and declare his feelings for you publically and not hidden in some dumb old cove." she snapped back.
"You don't understand. We feel something for each other. I can't explain it. It is like a magnetic force trying to pull us together."
Melissa puts down the fabric and moves closer to Emily putting her hand on her shoulder. "I don't understand why he won't let you communicate with him or why he has to remain anonymous. You don't know that much about him. He could be married or a serial killer. I know you are getting older but I don't want you to settle for a fantasy of what may or may not be. It is not how proper things are done."
Emily takes a step back away from her sister. "I do not know why he remains to be a secret. I am sure he has his reasons. You just never mind what is going on in my life. It doesn't concern you!" With that final word Emily heads off into the back of the apparel shop to start organizing the new shipment of dresses that came in from France.
For the rest of the week Emily tried to avoid her sister as much as possible. She didn't want to see the condescending look coming from Melissa's eyes on her decision to continue to go out to the cove. The words that Melissa left for Emily still replayed in her head. Why didn't he want to visually meet me? If he cared and loved me so much why hasn't he stepped forward so we could be together? Why won't he let me contact him? These thoughts kept burning in her brain for the remainder of the week until she started to become angry with him.
Saturday finally arrived and Emily found herself pacing around her cabin trying not to head out to the cove. Louder and louder her sister's words echoed in her head. She finally had enough. With her heart full of hurt and anger she boxed up everything he had given to her. Emily had to move on with her life and find someone who will not be afraid to love her openly back. She set sail for the cove rowing with determined strokes with the oars. She arrived into the cove and tied up her boat. She looked around. Nothing. It was just the sounds of nature and herself. The same as always. This time the birds sounded as if they were laughing as if to mock her. The trees swayed in the wind like they were rocking back and forth like she was the punch line of some humorous joke. The more she looked around the madder and madder she became.
She went to the boat and pulled out a few boxes of the things that Thomas had given her. She rubbed her hands over the boxes remembering the wonderful feelings she got when she seen a package waiting for her along with a note that seemed like it was penned from his heart. Lies! She told herself. This was all lies! The anger started to erupt from her mouth. "DO YOU HEAR ME, THOMAS!" she screamed out to the wind. She opened up the box of items and called out, "THESE ARE ALL EMPTY LIES THAT YOU TOLD TO ME! LIES!" Tears began to swell up in her eyes as her heart felt like it was being crumpled up.
"SHOW ME YOU CARE BY COMING TO ME! SHOW ME YOU LOVE ME BY REVEALING YOUR SELF TO ME!" she bellowed. She looked around being very silent trying to hear him coming for her but all she didn't hear any sounds. "I WOULD RATHER HAVE YOU THAN ALL THESE ITEMS!" With that final word she started throwing everything in the box across the cove as hard as she could. "I DON'T WANT ANY OF IT!" she would yell as she tossed her hardest with each item. Finally Emily threw the empty box and she fell down to the sand and cried. Thomas never came. She was left there alone.
A few days later back at the apparel shop Melissa could tell something was bothering her sister. She knew it had to be Thomas but she didn't want to pry anymore into the situation. She would watch her sister mope around the store, all happiness drained from her face. She wished there was something she could do but there was nothing. Melissa decided to keep her sister busy with work so Emily didn't have time to think about whatever it was that was bothering her.
That afternoon a delivery boy came into the apparel shop for telegram for Melissa and Emily. It was from their mother back over in Ireland. She writes often but telegrams were reserved for something special or urgent. Since it wasn't around either birthday or a holiday they girls knew it had to be an urgent message. They put their hardships aside and gathered in the backroom to read the telegram.
My darling girls, Your father has fallen off
the ladder while trying to work on the roof
of the barn. He is seriously injured. He may not
make it very long. Melissa, I know you are with
child and close to being due so you probably
won't be able to make the trip. Emily, I really need
you back at the farm and I pray you make it in time
before your father passes away. Come as soon as you can.
Love and prayers,
Ma
The girls sat and cried at the sad news they just received. The Uncle understood the seriousness of the issue and closed up shop for the day. He helped Emily pack her belongings and helped her find a ship to send her back to Ireland. Melissa gave her some gifts to give to their mother.
"If you are able to see pa before he goes tell him I love him." Melissa said to Emily with tears in her eyes.
"I will, dear sister." They engage in a tight hug. "I am going to miss you." Emily broke up the embrace and headed to the plank that will take her aboard to the ship that will take her back to Ireland.
Emily had stayed in Ireland to help her mother run the farm. She could not take her mind off of Thomas and the way she left the cove. She knew it is impossible to ever see him again. She eventually married and had children but she never let her heart be as free as it was when she was in the cove with thoughts of Thomas.
Many years had passed. Her children are now grown and her husband had passed away. Thoughts about Thomas kept entering her mind. It was as if the cove was calling her back. Against her children's wishes she set sail back across to America and found her way back to the cove. It became developed real estate along the entrance to the cove. Her beautiful weeping willows were now gone. There was just a small wooded area that was left to remain in nature's grasp. It was the area where she once used to go to pick the berries.
Her old feeble legs still carried her body towards the woods. As she walked along the over grown path something caught her eyes. It looked like a rock in an odd shape. As she got closer she realized it was a headstone. She looked down at the inscription on the stone. Thomas McLaughin. b. 1881 d. 1964 He was 84, she said to herself. The stone was very plain and basic. She noticed small lettering partially covered by tall grass. She pulled the tall grass revealing the words, "Emily, The lady of the cove, I will always love thee."
She gasped for breath when she read that. Even after all those years he still loved her. She knelt down at his graveside and began to sob. Now she will never be able to be with him. Her hands ran over the grass that covered his body. Through her tears and heartbreak frustration she clawed at part of the dirt upset that she didn't hold onto him longer when she was younger. How different her life would have been. Then her hand came across something hard. Frightened a little bit she pulls her hand back and takes a look at the ground to see what her hand felt near the topsoil. She was able to find enough nerve to reach out a hand and pull more of the ground back. There was a metal square container buried just beneath the surface.
Emily looks around to see if anyone is watching her. The tears stop flowing from her eyes and something new has her attention now. She digs the container out from the ground and places it in her lap. She opens it up and finds a stack of letters written to her from Thomas. She looks at the date he wrote the letters and realize they were written after she left for Ireland. She quickly picks up the top letter. It says:
My sweet Emily of the cove, I pray that you find my letters and allow me to explain my actions although they are probably too late. I was young and shy and afraid that you would reject me. I knew you loved me and that warmed my heart but I was afraid that if you had seen me you would push me away. When I was a baby my home caught on fire. My mother was out in the garden and I was napping. My mother didn't realize the house was on fire until it was almost too late. She was able to save me however serious damage had already been done to my skin. Heavy scars still linger on my face and body. I didn't want you to have to carry my burden of me being disfigured. I love you too much to do that to you. I heard you screaming that Saturday afternoon for me to come forward but I couldn't. My heart was breaking along side your heart. I wanted you to go and find a handsome man to marry and to have children with. I didn't want you to hang your head down in shame of being with me or for our children to be scared of my appearance. That is not how I wanted you to live. I wanted you to enjoy life and be apart of its beauty. I love you too much to suffer along side with me. After you left I came out and collected all those gifts I had given to you. I gave you those so you can have a piece of me with you since physically I could not. I saved those items and they are placed in a hole in the tree where I carved our name into years ago. My lawyer helped me finish off my dying wish of putting these papers in a box to be buried near the top of my grave. I wanted you to find me again even after I was gone. My sweet Emily. You have always been in my heart and I never forgot you. With my last dying breath I want to speak your name and pray that you come to me. You are forever my love, Your darling, Thomas.
Tears trickled down her face onto the paper she was holding. She had to read the words over and over. "I would have loved you regardless." she whispered through her tears. She slowly stood up and looked around. A few trees over she seen their names surrounded by a heart being stretched out by the tree's growth. Near the base of the trunk the tree made an odd formation that created a rather large opening. She reaches in and feels another metal container. She pulls it out and unlocks the latches. Inside she discovered jewelry he had given to her, her bonnet, gloves, figurines and other trinkets. She unravels the cloak and wraps it around her shoulders. She smelled the cloak upon her shoulders. It still had a light aroma of his scent. She put on her jewelry and donned on her bonnet. She walks back over to his graveside and lays down on his grassy spot. She places her head over to where Thomas' heart would be located and closes her eyes for the last time.
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