Sarah Allen - The Girl Who Chased the Moon

Morgan cleared his throat. “I’d feel more comfortable if you sat down, Vance.”

Vance didn’t give an inch. “No one is ever comfortable around me. You, of all people, should know how that feels.”

“I want her to stay away from my son.”

“I’ve been watching your son in the woods behind my house for a while now. Emily staying away from him isn’t the problem,” Vance said pointedly.

Morgan shot an angry look at Win.

“You can’t make me stay away from her,” Win said.

“Did you learn nothing from your uncle?” Morgan asked him.

“Yes, I did. I learned from him that it takes courage to love someone your family doesn’t approve of.”

“You don’t seriously love this girl,” Morgan said with clear disbelief.

Emily couldn’t take her eyes off him. He loved her? But Win simply stared at his father, a power struggle going on.

“My brother committed suicide because of her family,” Morgan told Win. “Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”

“It was his decision,” Win said, and she was amazed by how composed he was. Morgan Coffey was a force to be reckoned with, but so was Win. She wondered if Morgan knew that, if he understood. So much that was incredible about Win seemed to be because of his father. “But I think ignoring what he sacrificed is stupid. He gave us an opportunity to live normal lives here.”

“ My life has not been normal since it happened! Your mother has never forgiven me for not telling her.”

“And you want the same for me? I wanted to show her. I didn’t want it to be a secret. And the world didn’t end. She didn’t reject me, Dad. This isn’t you and Mom. This isn’t Dulcie and Logan. This is me and Emily. It’s an entirely different story.”

In the silence that followed, Vance said, “Let them live their lives without our baggage, Morgan.”

But Morgan wasn’t going to let it go. He pointed to Emily. “Your daughter lured my brother into that park that night! She tricked him! She ruined everything.”

“Lower your hand, Morgan,” Vance said. “I’ll say this only once more. My granddaughter is not Dulcie, and I will not tolerate you blaming her for her mother’s sins.”

“And what are you going to do about it?”

Vance took a single step toward him. “I’m going to tell the truth. You’ve made Logan and your family out to be the victims, and I let it happen because Dulcie wanted it that way. She left knowing she would be vilified. She left to make things easier on you, which was the first selfless thing she’d ever done.”

Emily, who had been staring at Win all this time, suddenly turned her head sharply. “What are you talking about, Grandpa Vance?”

“Let’s go, Win,” Morgan said quickly.

“No, I want to hear this.”

“Logan was troubled long before Dulcie came into his life,” Vance said. “He’d tried to commit suicide several times, something no one but his family knew. But Logan told Dulcie. He and your mother were in love. At least, your mother was in love with him. I’d never seen her like that before. All over town, she carved their initials onto every wooden surface she could find.”

“Wait, Mom carved those initials?” Emily asked. “Not Logan?”

He nodded. “She was smitten. She was usually such a forceful girl, always getting her way, but she was very deferential to Logan. He was very shy in public, but he could control her like no one else in private. Knowing how angry it would make her, he told Dulcie that they couldn’t be together because his family didn’t approve of her. He said his family had too many secrets and wouldn’t let him marry just anyone. But there was a solution, he told her. So Dulcie went along with inviting everyone in town to a so-called performance by her, aware that it was a ruse, an opportunity for Logan to come out at night in front of the whole town. But she thought it was simply going to be his symbolic declaration of love for her. Dulcie had no idea that the reason the Coffeys didn’t come out at night was because they glowed. She thought, as we all did, it was just one more thing they did to keep themselves elite, to keep themselves separate from the middle-class masses in town. In fact, I can still remember when several of the more important families in town wouldn’t come out at night just because the Coffeys didn’t.”

“She didn’t trick him?” Emily asked.

“If anything, he tricked her. Dulcie was as stunned as the rest of us. Logan reached out to her after it happened, but she didn’t want to talk to him. I don’t know if it was his plan all along to commit suicide after he exposed his family’s secret, or if he was just overcome with remorse afterward, possibly fueled by Dulcie’s rejection. Only his family knows that. I do know he wanted to reveal himself. He wanted people to know.”

Emily couldn’t help but think of the parallel to Win. His family had obviously been trying for acceptance for who they really were for generations.

Morgan’s face had raspberry-red splotches on it now. “No one is going to believe you. They’ll never believe Dulcie was an innocent party. And I will always maintain that she could have stopped him. She could have stopped him from stepping out onto that bandstand. She could have stopped him from killing himself. He did love her. He gave her that family heirloom.” He pointed to Emily’s wrist, to the charm bracelet. Emily automatically put her hand over it. “Our mother gave it to him to give to the woman he married, like it had been given to her on her wedding night. That he gave it to Dulcie had to mean something But if he had fallen for someone less selfish, and more sympathetic, he might be alive today. Our secret might still be a secret. The way it was always meant to be.”

“Emily knows the truth now,” Grandpa Vance said calmly. “That’s all that matters. I have no intention of telling anyone else.”

She didn’t know why it was so important for Morgan to have people believe his brother was tricked. Maybe it made dealing with the death of his brother easier. Or maybe it helped his family, knowing the town didn’t think Logan was troubled or manipulative. It could only help, she thought, that there wasn’t a stigma like that attached to their glowing. It probably made it easier for the town to accept what they’d seen, to sympathize. Emily realized that her mother had known this. That’s why she’d taken the blame. And it had been her first step into the life of someone different. “I won’t tell anyone, either,” she said.

Morgan turned to Win. “I’ll think about it,” Win said.

“You’ll think about it at home. You’re grounded.”

Morgan turned and walked to the front door. He held the screen door open for Win. But Win walked over to Vance. “I’d like to take your granddaughter on a date when my punishment is over, if I have your permission.” Win held out his hand.

“Win!” Morgan said.

Vance seemed as surprised as Morgan, but he slowly held out his hand and shook Win’s.

“Win! Now!”

Win turned, but not before he looked up at Emily, who was still on the staircase, and said, “I’ll see you soon?”

She nodded. He gave her a reassuring smile, then turned and left.

Morgan let the screen slap shut loudly behind them.

Emily and Vance didn’t move for a few moments, both of them staring at the door. Emily finally turned to her grandfather. “Why didn’t you tell me the truth from the beginning?”

“She made me swear not to tell anyone.” He looked tired. He walked to the staircase and sat on the stairs, sinking like an anchor. She was still standing, but he was so large that he was taller than she was, even when he sat. “Lily had a cousin who lived in San Diego. I arranged for Dulcie to live with her. To go to school there. I gave her a large chunk of cash, and she left the day before Logan’s funeral. She tried to make it work, but I don’t think she knew where she fit in after what happened. She quit school after a few months. A few months later she ran away. I got postcards for a couple of years. Then nothing.”