On Thursday, the week anniversary of my receiving the telegram, the doctors released George from the hospital. It was almost impossible for me to believe that only a week had passed. It felt like a lifetime. We brought George home in Mother and Father's carriage. He had a wonderful smile on his face throughout the ride. "It is so good to be out of that hospital." He said.
Dr. MacNeill had left as unexpectedly as he had had come, and no one mentioned him after we had discovered his note explaining that he had to return to Cutter Gap. But I continued to think about him, even though I knew that I had to forget him. Miss Alice and David were to leave on the Friday morning train for El Pano, and my heart ached with the thought of it. I had not realized how much I had depended on them for help and support. I feared that with their going, all hopes of my returning to Cutter Gap disappeared with them.
George had always been athletic, and on his crutches, he was nimble and quick. I smiled with pride as I saw him standing on our front lawn. He was much taller than I remembered. He had grown in my absence, I supposed. This was the first time I had seen him standing since I had come home. I thanked God that he was okay. I think that if he had been taken from me too, I would not have been able to continue. But as I watched him standing there with joy in his expression, I swelled with pride. What a great human being he was. He still found joy even after what had happened to him. For a moment, all was right with the world. A familiar sense of peace and home filled my heart. Perhaps everything would be okay after all. I was proud that he was my brother. I knew Mother and Father would have been proud too. I wondered if I had been in his place, would I have been standing in the grass smiling.
We had an elegant dinner that night to celebrate George's homecoming. Tall thin candles provided light for the meal, and Aunt Polly had prepared roast duck in orange sauce. She had delicate portions of scalloped potatoes and asparagus positioned artistically on my mother's china. And I laughed when I compared it to Ruby Mae's opossum surprise.
"What are you giggling about Christy Huddleston?" David asked, his eyes smiling back at me.
"I was just wishing for some opossum surprise."
David and Miss Alice laughed with me. Aunt Polly, Uncle John, their two young girls--Grace and Charlotte, and George just watched with interest.
"You eat opossum in Cutter Gap?" Grace, the oldest Burton girl, asked. The horror on her face and the wrinkle of her nose made me giggle even more. There had been a time when I would have worn the same expression. But I was a different person now. Different because of Cutter Gap. I smiled reflecting on how much I had changed since I had left Asheville.
After dinner we sat in the parlor and talked. It was nice to have George home. He teased Charlotte and Grace. Both girls had a secret crush on him, and they blushed when he paid them the slightest attention.
"Your girls are charming," David said to John and Polly.
He watched them so intently, and his interest brought a vision to my mind of David as a father. He would make such a wonderful father. He would teach his daughter to dance like my father had done. I could see him clearly in my mind with a little girl's hands in his, laughing at her watching his feet.
This thought made me sad; for, if I should ever marry, my father would not be there to dance with me at my wedding. I had always had daydreams of my standing on his toes again. We would have danced to "Wild Irish Rose." But now he would not be there. No matter how hard I wished for it, he would not be there. And he would not be there to walk me down the isle or to take his grandchildren fishing. But why was I thinking about a wedding? I was never going to marry.
George retired early. And when the Burton's left for home, I helped David and Miss Alice gather their things. When they had packed, Miss Alice hugged me. "Good night, Child." She said. She went into the guestroom across from my room and closed the door. David lingered downstairs in the parlor. I went down to see if he needed anything before going to bed myself.
"Christy," he said after I had come down the stairs. "If you want me to stay, you know that I will."
"Oh David that is so kind of you," I said. "But you have to get back. You have responsibilities to the cove. Besides, I am counting on you to take care of those children. I need you to write letters and let me know what's going on there." I felt that I was going to cry. I could not bare the thought that I may never see the children of Cutter Gap again.
"You're coming back to us Christy--aren't you?" He looked worried. "I can't make it there without you."
"Of course you can make it without me. You made it without me before I came."
"I was miserable," he said and shook his head. "I thought about leaving so many times until you came."
I recalled the storming night when I had first set foot on the mission porch. I had fallen into David's arms, and he had carried me to bed. I wish that I could go back to that first morning in Cutter Gap. Things were so uncomplicated then. I had felt so free and alive. I could still feel the cool, dew filled grass on the palms of my hands after I had done those cartwheels.
David hugged me, and while I was still in his arms, he said, "Oh Christy, here I am talking about how I feel and not even thinking of you." He pulled away and looked directly into my eyes. "You have been through so much. I only wish that I could take it all away for you."
"David, you do make me feel better."
"I will go back to Cutter Gap and write you everyday--you will know when an acorn falls, Miss Huddleston."
I smiled. "Thank you David."
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And that next morning, after their train had departed the station and I had waved good-bye with all my might, I felt truly alone.