The Tapestry in the Attic Read Online Free PDF Page B

unconsciously placed one hand over her heart, blinked back a few tears, and uttered aloud, “Oh.” It was a story about loss and misunderstanding, but also the ultimate triumph of love and forgiveness. It touched Annie. She could only imagine the effect it would have in a darkened theater before an audience.
    Jacob had crafted characters that spoke to basic human concerns—choosing the right person to marry, “forsaking all others”; what it means to make a life and a home together; the loss of parents. Annie understood that loss; it wasn’t that many years ago that her own parents had passed away
    Then her mind turned to the Fortescues. How hard it must be to lose a child, even one that is grown up. That’s not the way it’s “supposed” to be. Annie tried not to think of her own daughter, LeeAnn, and how it would feel to lose her, but she couldn’t help it. She was thankful for the present good health of her family, but she knew from experience how quickly life could change. Wayne’s heart attack had happened without warning. He was gone in an instant. But losing a spouse is something different than losing a son or a daughter. A husband and wife know on some level, especially as the years go by, that inevitably, one of them will meet death first. That knowledge doesn’t lessen the pain of loss for the one left behind, but it is an underlying understanding of the nature of life.
    In the play, the king confronted his grief at the death of his mother, but also his guilt at not always having followed her wise advice. The Bible didn’t reveal the fate of King Lemuel, whether he listened to his mother or not, but Annie remembered reading about the problems that King Solomon had because of his many wives who led him to stray from God’s path. Even the very wise can fail.
    The “treasure” of King Lemuel in Jacob’s play was ultimately the wife he chose; after a few false starts, he came to realize that the value of the woman he would come to love was not in “deceptive charms” or “fleeting beauty,” but in her character as seen through her actions. This was Jacob Martin’s homage to his wife, Ophelia. She must have been someone very special for him to have written such a beautifully moving script.
    Stella had hinted at problems between Jacob and his in-laws. Though Annie didn’t know what the source of the trouble was between them, she wondered what effect the play would have on the Fortescues. They had agreed to be in the play. Annie wondered if they had read it beforehand. There was certainly nothing in the play to prevent them from being in it—for actors, Annie thought, these would be wonderful roles. Perhaps, besides being a tribute to his wife, this was Jacob’s way of reaching out to her parents.
    Annie closed the pages that had been lying open on her lap as she ran through her thoughts about the play. She began to wonder what the experience of working on the production of the play was going to be like. Would the death of Ophelia Fortescue-Martin overshadow them all, or would her life buoy them up?
    It was still morning, and having read through the play much more quickly than she had expected, Annie decided to give Alice a call to come over for dinner that evening. She didn’t answer her cellphone, so Annie had to leave a message, but Alice soon called back.
    “I’m out delivering product this morning,” said Alice, “and I have a party this afternoon, but I’ll be finished by five, I’m sure. Dinner would be great—can I bring anything?”
    “No, just bring yourself,” replied Annie. “It’s not going to be anything fancy—I’m just going to make a pot of vegetable soup.”
    “Sounds perfect,” said Alice. “I’ll be there about five-thirty, quarter-to-six, then.”
    Annie's first order of business was to open the second-floor door to the narrow set of stairs that led to the attic and turn on the attic lights in hopes the space would warm a bit before the others arrived. She put