Cross the Ocean Read Online Free PDF Page B

the talk was staying right there. I miss Aunt Mavis. There’s not been a day since her death I don’t think of her.”
    Elizabeth kissed Melinda’s forehead. “Nothing you say will leave this room.”
    Melinda stood gracefully. Her full skirt barely moved as she walked to the window. Her hands were neatly interlaced at her waist. Gert remembered the shame and anger in her own voice the day she finally broke down to Aunt Mavis. But clearer still, Gert relived the lifting and release of emotions that had weighed her down and plagued her thoughts.
    “Your mother left your father,” Gert said.
    Melinda whirled around. “She should have years...” She bowed her head.
    Elizabeth glanced at her and back to Melinda. “Well, your father doesn’t seem to be an easy person to love. A little stiff, I think,” Gert said.
    “He’s my father. I love him but….” Melinda faltered and looked at Gertrude beseechingly.
    “Of course you love him,” Elizabeth said.
    Melinda whirled in a bustle of skirts and Gert and Elizabeth sat back in their chairs. “I hate him too. I hate him. I’m angry with mother, as well. Why didn’t she stop him?”
    “Stop him from what?” Gert asked.
    And then the words came in torrents, unleashed and bald. Melinda hissed Helena’s name and swayed from unabashed love to unbridled anger for her parents. Self-doubt emerged as she questioned any part she may have played. Confusion in her now shaking world. Deep shame to reveal to anyone their family’s situation and embarrassment for her own shallowness. And the hopelessness she felt when her mother stood her ground to William and refused to come home. Melinda wilted in to Elizabeth’s arms for a long cry.
    When the hiccoughs ceased, Gert leaned forward and asked, “Do you feel any better?”
    “A little,” Melinda said.
    “Good,” Gert said resolutely. “The matter at hand now is to understand that none of this is your problem.”
    Melinda looked up from Elizabeth’s neck. “Of course it’s my problem.”
    Gert shook her head. “No. It’s not. Your parents are adults. You can be angry and unhappy but it doesn’t change a thing. They’ve made their own decisions.”
    “There will be such gossip and my come-out is this spring,” Melinda whispered.
    “Do you believe a child of a murderer should be hung next to their parents?” Gert asked. Melinda shook her head. “Or that the mother of an outlaw should be jailed? Of course you don’t. We, each of us, are responsible for our own actions. Have you done anything to be ashamed of?” Gert asked. Melinda sat up and shook her head again. “Then to hell with the gossips, Melinda. They’re not worth your time.”
    Melinda covered her mouth and looked at Elizabeth. “I never heard a women swear.” Then she giggled.
    Melinda sobered as the other women laughed. “It won’t be easy to not care about what they say.”
    Elizabeth held Melinda’s hands. “No, it won’t. Life isn’t always easy.”
    Gert smiled. “But look around you, Melinda. You live lavishly in lovely clothes. With plenty of food on your table. And you’re beautiful. Getting ready to meet a handsome prince to sweep you off your feet.
    How lucky you are.”
    Elizabeth laughed with Melinda. “Cousin, how romantic. I would have never guessed you had such a tender streak.”
    Gert laughed but not heartily. How silly notions came to her head sometimes. A longing unfulfilled left her hollow. Melinda’s announcement awoke her from her own pining.
    “Come to dinner tonight, Miss Finch. With Elizabeth and Anthony. I want you to meet my brothers,”
    Melinda said.
    “Your father doesn’t think much of me. I think I’ll make him uncomfortable,” Gert replied.
    Melinda smiled shyly. “Did you do anything to be ashamed of?” She watched Gert shake her head with a knowing smile. “Then to Hades with my father.”
    “Apparently I’ve been beaten with my own words,” Gert replied with a smile.
    So Ann Sanders grew a