The telephone earpiece tremored against my cheek as I waited in my parents’ kitchen for the line to connect to the Blake residence in Alberta. My voice was primed to fail me the way it had at my third-grade spelling bee competition. The word I had been given was ‘sanguine’. I knew it, but I froze when I made the mistake of looking at the audience, which consisted of pretty near every resident of Mayne Island. Chidori sat in the front row, and when my eyes met hers, she nodded encouragement to remind me I knew it. I took a deep breath, squeezed my legs together so I wouldn’t wet my pants, and spelled the word.
I needed her to nod at me to get through the telephone call.
‘Hello.’ It was an older gentleman’s voice.
I cleared my throat. ‘Uh, hello, sir.’
There was a long silence. ‘How may I help you?’
‘Um.’ I wiped the sweat from my brow with my sleeve and switched the receiver to the other ear. ‘I’m calling to speak to Chidori Setoguchi, if that is possible. I’m not sure if I have the correct number.’
‘It is the correct number. She’s not here right now.’
‘Oh, okay.’ I paced a few steps in each direction, then leaned on the edge of the sink to support my weight.
‘She’s in town picking up some items for the wedding. If you’re calling to respond to the invitation, I can pass the message along.’
‘Wedding?’ My knees gave out, and I had to reach for the stool to prevent myself from falling to the floor. ‘No. No. I’m not calling about … wedding? No.’
‘Is there a message you’d wish me to pass along to her?’
‘No, sir. No message. Thank you.’ I hung up and stared at the wall.
A chair scraped across the wood planks behind me. Pop cleared his throat and said, ‘Lethbridge is only a one-day train journey from Vancouver.’
I slowly turned on the stool until I faced him. ‘She’s getting married.’
He sat at the table and unfolded the newspaper. ‘She’s not married yet, is she?’
‘You think I should stop the wedding? What if she doesn’t want me to?’
‘You won’t ever know unless you go see her. She might rather marry you instead.’
‘But she can’t live here.’
He nodded, completely aware of what that meant. He slid his glasses down his nose to peer over them at me. ‘Were you dreaming all those years about coming home to Mayne Island or Chidori?’
My mouth stretched into a smile as the answer settled in. I leaned over and slapped his back. ‘I guess I’ve got a wedding to interrupt.’
Pop chuckled.
I stood, but paused. ‘Wait, what about Ma?’
‘You should do whatever will make you happy,’ Ma said from the living-room doorway behind me. ‘Just be happy, darling.’ She wiped her tears with a hankie as I crossed the room to hug her.
The steamer was scheduled to leave Mayne Island at ten o’clock. I packed, said my goodbyes to my family, and rushed so I would have time to stop by the Setoguchis’ old house. Marguerite was wearing knicker trousers, a newsboy cap, and an argyle sweater vest that matched her argyle socks. She spun around wildly on a swing she’d twisted into a tight corkscrew. When she came to a rest, she took in my dress clothes, clean-shaven face, and fedora. She flashed me a toothy smile. ‘The Hayden from the journals is back.’
I nodded. ‘I’m back. That’s why I’m leaving. I came over to pick up the rest of the journals and to say goodbye to you.’
‘Hold on.’ She leapt off the swing and sprinted to the house. While she was gone, an entire tree full of songbirds simultaneously lifted into flight, singing as they rose. Marguerite returned with the stack of Chidori’s journals, a silver locket that held a picture of Chidori’s grandparents, and a silk Japanese fan. ‘These are the most beautiful things she left behind. I’m sure she’ll want them back.’ She tucked them into my canvas bag for me and hugged me around the waist. ‘I’ll miss you, but I think it’s the bees-knees that you’re going to see her.’
‘Here.’ I placed Rose’s hair clip in her palm. ‘I want you to have this.’
‘Oh my goodness.’ She removed the newsboy cap and reached behind her head to loop her hair up with the clip. ‘Thank you.’
‘No, thank you. Even though I acted as if I didn’t want to hear what you had to say, I’m glad you said it. All of it. Your words helped me a lot, and I think maybe there are some more folks who’d also be glad to hear what you have to say.’
Her shoulders dropped and she stared at her feet. ‘I can’t talk to anyone but you.’
‘Hey.’ I lifted her chin with my finger so she’d look at me. ‘Maybe it’s time for both of us to be more like the people we used to be before all the wicked things happened. That’s how we win. All right?’
She nodded with tears in her eyes and a smile on her face.
‘I have to get going or I’ll miss the ship. But I’ll send you a postcard and let you know how it goes.’
She flung her arms around my waist to give me another hug, then stepped back and pointed in a cautionary manner. ‘Chidori is going to write about your homecoming in her journal, so make it brilliant.’
I chuckled. ‘I’ll try. See ya, Margie.’