The Widow's Walk Page 15

  “So tell me,” he said quietly, “what do you think about this newfangled form of transportation called the automobile?”

  “How marvelous!” she said. “And so fast too! I am actually beginning to think that living in the here and now might not be such a bad thing!”

  Garrett laughed a little.

  “Well,” he said, “I’m glad to hear you say that, because there’s so much more for you to see and learn.”

  Constance regarded Dartmouth Mall with interest.

  “So this is what a mall looks like,” she mused. “I have seen them on television, but I did not realize they were so big. Why did you bring us here?”

  Garrett looked around again to make sure there was no one nearby. He was starting to get the hang of this, he hoped.

  “I need to fulfill my promise to you,” he answered.

  “What promise?” she asked.

  “I said that I would buy you some new clothes, remember?” he answered. “And I also promised to buy you a new bed and dresser, so that you could begin sleeping in the house full-time.”

  “Thank you, Garrett,” she said, “but you needn’t do this. I am getting along all right, just as things are now.”

  Garrett shook his head.

  “That’s not good enough,” he said. “No offense, but I’m tired of seeing you in those same clothes all the time! Plus the weather is turning colder, and you can’t sleep in that damned barn forever.”

  Then he laughed a little again.

  “Besides,” he added, “because you gave me all of that exquisite furniture in the barn cellar, this seems the least I can do. Now get out of the Jeep and let’s get going. I can’t honestly say that mall shopping has ever been one of my favorite experiences, but with you along, who knows?”

  When they entered the mall, Constance became even more thunderstruck. Today was Sunday and the place was mobbed. Hordes of young people were texting relentlessly on their cell phones, and Garrett thought for the hundredth time that if this was what they called socializing, they could have just as well stayed home. Given the many glittering stores lined up one after another, Constance was at first overwhelmed.

  No sooner had they gotten inside than Constance stopped walking. When she turned and looked at Garrett she wore a concerned expression on her face.

  “We must be careful about this,” she whispered.

  “What do you mean?” he whispered back.

  “The way that we walk together,” Constance answered. “If we are not cautious, we will raise suspicion.”

  “How so?”

  “It is only logical,” Constance answered. “You must always remember that no one can see me but you. So if I walk ahead of you, the chances are good that someone will walk into us. That is probably also true if I walk alongside you.”

  “So what do you suggest?” he asked.

  “I will walk behind you,” she answered. “And I will stay close. I am not familiar with this place, so when you see a store that you think is appropriate, go inside and I will follow you. And if I say something to you, for heaven’s sake do not turn around and reply.”

  Garrett suddenly realized that this would be more complicated than he had first thought. Constance left his side and went to stand behind him.

  “Ready?” she asked.

  “Yes,” he answered.

  Constance laughed a little.

  “You failed your first test,” she said.

  “Huh?”

  “You answered me,” she said. “You are not supposed to do that, remember?”

  Garrett began leading her deeper into the mall. He tried his best to avoid other people, but the going was tricky. After a couple of minutes he felt the need to ask Constance whether she was still behind him but knew that he shouldn’t. He would just have to trust her. A bit later he entered a fashionable women’s clothing store, where he came to a stop and waited for her to speak to him.

  “Do not worry,” she said. “I am still with you. There are fewer people here, so I think it is probably all right now for us to walk together.”

  She came up alongside him and gave him a smile.

  “Hello, handsome,” she said.

  Although this time Garrett didn’t answer her, he couldn’t help but laugh out loud. When he did, a couple of women shoppers turned and looked at him oddly.

  “Do you see?” Constance asked. “Like I said, we must be careful. Now then, I suppose the best thing for me to do is to walk around this place and point at the things I need. If it is something you don’t like or do not wish to purchase for me, shake your head. Otherwise, I suppose that you will have to pick up my choices and carry them in your arms.”

  Garrett nodded slightly.

  “Very well, then,” Constance said. “Let us go.”

  As Constance strolled through the store, she was amazed by the vast variety of clothing available to her. In her previous life there had only been a few stores in New Bedford and the selections were very limited, but here there were literally mountains of clothing from which to choose. The sizes were different from what she remembered, so when she found something, she whispered to Garrett to find a medium, and Garrett gathered it up into his arms.

  “Am I taking too much?” Constance asked tentatively.

  After looking around, Garrett shook his head.

  “Then I am finished,” she said, “and I will never know how to thank you.”

  Constance followed Garrett to the register, where she watched with rapt fascination as he used some sort of a plastic playing card to pay for everything. She could hardly believe that no cash had traded hands.

  With that, they left the store and began walking through the mall again. Garrett next entered a ladies’ shoe store, where he sought out and found the cowboy boots. Stopping before them, he nodded slightly. Although genteel women never wore such things during Constance’s previous life, she liked them.

  “So you think I should have a pair of those?” she asked.

  Again, Garrett nodded slightly. While examining the selection, Constance stopped before a pair of shiny black leather boots with fancy tooling and she pointed at them.

  Garrett looked down at her worn-out sneakers and did his best to ascertain her shoe size. On finding the appropriate boot box, he picked it up and the two of them walked farther into the store. After Constance also picked out a pair of Nike sneakers and a sensible pair of women’s shoes, Garrett paid for the items and they left the store. Because there was so much to carry, Garrett got a shopping cart before he and Constance continued their explorations. But Garrett soon found himself blushing slightly, and the sudden change in his expression was not lost on Constance.

  “Is something amiss?” she asked.

  Garrett shook his head. Not being able to talk to her was maddening, but in this particular instance he didn’t mind. He knew that there were some other things that she probably needed, but had been ladylike enough to not discuss. He rightly suspected that she needed some new “unmentionables,” and he soon decided that the best way to get the point across would be to simply visit an appropriate store.

  A few minutes later, they found themselves standing before a Victoria’s Secret store. As Constance stood looking at the giant advertisements of scantily dressed women, her jaw literally dropped. During her previous life, such things were scandalous beyond all reason and would have probably landed their creators in jail. As it was, she simply stood there, fascinated by the garish displays. She soon gave Garrett an incredulous look.

  “You are not suggesting that we enter there, are you?” she asked tentatively.

  Garrett nodded.

  “But it is so outrageous!” she protested.

  Smiling, this time Garrett couldn’t help but to answer her verbally.

  “It’s not outrageous, Constance,” he answered softly. “It’s commerce.”

  Without giving her another chance to protest, Garrett strode inside the store and Constance had no choice but to follow him. All the items
for sale immediately entranced her, and Garrett shadowed her as she wandered from table to table, pointing to the things that she needed. Garrett couldn’t help blushing all over again, and when the time came to check out, he felt a bit foolish standing in line with his arms full of ladies’ unmentionables. When at last he reached the register, the young female associate gave him a crafty smile.

  “Planning on a big night, are we?” she asked mischievously.

  It was all Garrett could do to resist turning and looking at Constance, but he managed.

  “Well . . .” he answered. “Not really, I guess.”

  The salesgirl smiled again.

  “That’s a pity,” she said. “Because whoever is getting all this is a very lucky girl.”

  While trying his best to remain unflustered, Garrett paid quickly, and they were soon out of the store and back into the hubbub.

  “We should leave now, Garrett,” Constance said. “I have already squandered too much money, but I thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

  Eager to be free of the mall so that he could talk to her once again, Garrett pushed the shopping cart out through the front doors and they returned to the Jeep, where he placed all of the packages into the back. Still no one had parked nearby, it seemed. After the two of them got into the Jeep, Garrett again looked around warily. At last he could speak openly to her.

  “I really like the things you picked out,” he said. “For a girl from the past, you’ve got great taste in this day and age.”

  As Constance laughed again, he found himself doubting that during the entire time of her imprisonment at Seaside she had ever been this happy.

  “Thank you,” she said. “And thank you again for all the nice clothes. I am eager to go home and try them all on!”

  Garrett smiled and shook his head.

  “Nope,” he answered. “Before we go home, we have to get you a new bed, remember?”

  It was clear by the look on Constance’s face that she was starting to feel guilty about all this. He had done so much for her already that she wasn’t at all sure about letting him buy her a bed as well.

  “Are you certain?” she asked. “It would be nice to sleep in the house, but—”

  “No more ‘buts,’ ” Garrett said as he fired up the Jeep. “You’re going to be sleeping inside the house from now on, and that’s the end of it.”

  With that, Garrett promptly drove to a furniture store with which he had previously done business. After parking the Jeep, he and Constance went inside. They strolled for a while among the various beds, and at last Garrett chose a large four-post affair and a matching armoire. They then wandered over to where the mattress and box springs were displayed, and while they stood there looking at them, a saleslady walked up.

  “Can I be of help?” she asked. She was a tall redhead whose name badge read CLAIRE.

  “We—uh—I mean I’m looking for a new bed,” Garrett said. “I’ve already picked out the frame, so now I need a mattress to go with it.”

  “Do you know what size?” Claire asked.

  “A king,” he answered.

  As he looked to his right for approval from Constance, he was aghast to find that she was nowhere to be seen. Despite that Claire was standing right next to him he began blatantly gawking all about the store, trying to find her.

  “Is there something wrong?” Claire asked.

  “No . . . no,” Garrett answered. “I was just looking around at the other mattresses.”

  Then he saw something that truly took him aback. A little way down the aisle of mattresses, Constance was lying atop one, and he desperately hoped that Claire would not notice the depressions that she was making in the plush pillow top. Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath. Then Claire gave Garrett another curious look.

  “Are you quite sure that you’re all right, sir?” she asked. “I’d be happy to go and get you a glass of water, or—”

  Garrett shook his head.

  “No, no . . . thank you all the same,” he said. “But I am in a bit of a hurry, so could we write these up now?”

  Realizing that she had just made an easy sale, Claire smiled broadly.

  “Certainly,” she said. “Please come this way.”

  Forty-five minutes later, Garrett and Constance were once more ensconced in his Jeep. Laughing broadly, Garrett turned the ignition key, and the trusty vehicle roared to life.

  “So tell me,” he said. “Did you have fun testing out the mattress?”

  Constance immediately blushed.

  “That was so unlike me!” she answered. “I suppose that I am so overly glad to be here with you I could not help myself!”

  Garrett smiled broadly at her. This was more like the real Constance, he supposed. He also knew that even if she had been a woman of this time, she would still be the most beautiful and vivacious one he had ever known. And he had meant every word of what he had said to her back at Seaside. He loved her with all of his heart, and no matter what obstacles might lay ahead of them, his love for her would never fade.

  While Constance settled into her seat, Garrett pointed the Jeep homeward, toward Seaside.

  Chapter 19

  Garrett poured a glass of red wine then leaned back luxuriously against his new sofa. He’d purchased it—and a cocktail table—from Claire, and paid handsomely to have them delivered immediately. Although he had first considered bringing some of the antique stuff into the house, he wasn’t ready to explain that to Jay and the workmen. Constance was upstairs, trying on her new clothes, and had eagerly promised to model some of them for him.

  After taking another sip, Garrett put his wineglass down on the cocktail table. He had built a fire in the dining room fireplace, its heat spreading nicely throughout the room. Although this was only a small taste of the comfort he hoped to eventually savor here at Seaside, it was a welcome respite just the same. After a time he lit a cigar, letting its pungent smoke drift across his palette.

  He had deeply enjoyed his time with Constance today, and she had shown him a childlike quality that he suspected hadn’t surfaced for many years. For a few precious hours they were able to escape their awful predicament. But now that Garrett was back at Seaside, his worries about their future and his growing feelings for Constance began to crowd in on him again. He must begin trying to unravel this mystery, if for no other reason than that the pull he felt toward Constance was undeniable, and impossible to fight.

  Perhaps he should have never bought this old house, but what was done was done. Either way, he and Constance were now involved in a riddle they might never solve. He loved Constance, and he wanted her here with him forever. But at the same time he remained unsure of her feelings for him. Her undying love for her late husband, Adam, never seemed to wane, and Garrett knew that until it did, his desperate love for her might remain unrequited.

  After taking another sip of wine, he carefully tapped the ash from his cigar into an old ashtray he had found in the house. For a precise architect who worshiped organization, his life had certainly become quite the mess.

  Clearly, this predicament had something to do with the concept of time. In the beginning he had considered Constance to be a total prisoner of time, but in some ways he had been wrong. She was only partly time’s captive because she moved along with it. Yet she also seemed to defy time in that she never aged. It was as if time were somehow both her friend and her enemy. The concept of time also played a huge part in their flashbacks. Each one had been firmly rooted in the past, the most perplexing aspect perhaps being that the experiences had felt so real, rather than dreamlike.

  Sighing deeply, Garrett put down his cigar and scrubbed his face with both hands. This was all so maddening. Even worse, he had no clue about how to proceed. And that notion discouraged him, largely due to the sheer incomprehensibility of the problem. To his mind, whatever forces drove all this seemed far beyond human understanding or a mere mortal’s power to change them.

  And what would be the outcome, he wondered
, if he and Constance never found the answer? What would it be like living here with her decade after decade while he grew older, and she remained the same young and beautiful widow that she was now? Given how much he loved her, would that be such an awful life? Or would the nature of it eventually tear their relationship to shreds, and cause him to leave Seaside forever? If so, then what would it be like without Constance in his life, now that she meant so much to him?

  So many questions, he thought, and not a single answer in sight.

  Just then Constance walked into the room. She was wearing a white shirt with a pink pullover sweater, a pair of navy clam diggers, and her new sneakers. She looked freshly scrubbed, her hair was down, and as she neared he could smell the Chanel No. 5 she had chosen earlier today. As she sat down beside him, he told her how lovely she looked.

  “Thank you,” she said quietly. “You have been so good to me that I do not know how I will ever repay you.”

  Although Garrett could never be sure whether Constance might eat or drink something, he poured her a glass of red wine anyway. She tasted it approvingly then set it back down on the table.

  Garrett smiled at her.

  “Not thirsty?” he asked.

  Just then he saw a look of worry overtake her face. It was slight, but noticeable. As if she had just read his mind, she walked across the dining room and stood, staring into the hearth. Concerned, he put down his wineglass and went to her. She was gripping the fireplace mantel with both hands, her head slightly bowed as she stared into the mesmerizing flames.

  “What is it?” he asked her. “I haven’t known you for very long, but I can tell when you’re upset.”

  When she turned around to face him there were tears in her eyes, some of which had begun streaming down her cheeks. When he tried to wipe them away, she surprised him by backing off a little.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked again. “Please tell me. I can’t bear seeing you this way.”