A/N: This was originally going to be the last chapter, but I ultimately decided to do an epilogue to wrap some things up. While I would love to have made this longer and explore more things, I decided to end it here. Today is officially my last day of summer (I never count the weekends haha), and this past week I found out that I was selected for the job of my dreams (!), so if I had let this story go on it probably would've ended up abandoned. Like I did with The Light at the End, I tried to leave this story in a spot where I could explore different plotlines further. I have more ideas for multi-chaptered fics in my head, but the only thing working against me is time, so it will most likely be a while until I post something again. Since next week will be pretty light in terms of my school load, I'll definitely try to have the epilogue up soon! Also, this chapter was intended to be a shock (I know some of you have had ideas on how this would end, so I'm curious to see if this was expected!).
-o-o-o-
On Halloween of 1936, Libby had begged for permission to go to a party that her friends were hosting in the next neighborhood. Louise was honestly surprised that her usually timid niece actually wanted to go to a social event, and secretly hoped her mother would give in. Edith, at first, was completely against the idea but when Louise rolled her eyes and said: "really, Edie, what would it hurt?" Edith reluctantly gave in. Joyfully, Libby rushed through supper and spent most of the evening getting ready. Once she nearly flew out the door (quickly kissing both Edie and Louise on the cheek before she departed), Edie sighed, complained of a headache and went to her room.
Louise spent the rest of the night in the parlor, flipping through one of the paperback novels Edie had left on the coffee table. Once that no longer interested her, she looked around for other reading materials to occupy her time with. She had decided that she wasn't going to retire to her room until Libby got home and she knew her niece was safe. As it approached nearly eleven o'clock, Louise found herself worrying. She paced back and forth in the parlor and was nearly scared to death when her niece entered the house at nearly quarter past eleven. "I'm sorry," Libby said, sounding tired. Besides that, she looked completely fine.
"It's alright," Louise said, forcing a smile. "Did you have fun?"
"I did," Libby responded, smiling. "Is nanny asleep?"
"She went up a while ago, and I haven't heard a peep from her since."
"Are you goin' to bed?"
"In a few minutes." Louise responded as Libby kissed her cheek and descended up the stairs. She looked around the empty parlor for a moment and sunk back into the sofa. A few moments had passed when the phone began to ring. Confused, Louise picked up the receiver.
"Incoming call from Maycomb." The operator said before switching over the line.
"Atticus?" Louise asked.
"I just realized how late it was." He said tiredly.
"Is everything alright?" She felt herself beginning to worry again.
"Everything is fine now." Atticus said, sighing. "But the children were attacked earlier this evening."
Her stomach dropped as she inhaled sharply. "Attacked?" She said, nearly stuttering. "Who would, who would do that?"
"Bob Ewell." He said grimly making Louise scowl.
"What happened?" She asked softly, covering her mouth with her hand.
"He told me he would get me if it was the last thing he did and I underestimated him." Atticus said grimly. "Scout had her Halloween pageant tonight Jem went with her. While they were walkin' home Bob Ewell was waitin' for them with a knife."
"Dear God."
"Scout had forgotten her clothes and was walking home in this large ham costume, so when he tried to get at her, the costume helped stop him. I think Jem was tryin' to fend Bob off of Scout and he's got a swollen eye and a broken arm. He was knocked unconscious, but Dr. Reynolds reckons he'll be alright. I'm going to sit with him for the rest of the night to make sure."
"How'd you find them?" Louise asked as she began to feel sick. She wondered, in whatever afterlife she was in, if Jean was watching over her children.
"Our neighbor," Atticus chuckled softly. "Arthur Radley saved them."
Jean smiled to herself when she remembered the silly game Scout and Jem would play about their neighbor. At that moment she decided that Jean had been watching her children. "Did they arrest Bob?"
"He's dead."
"Jesus."
"They said he fell on his knife."
"He deserved it." She said bitterly as Atticus sighed again. "Are you alright?"
"I reckon so."
"Do…" She began, about to ask him if he would mind if she came back to Maycomb for a while, when she began hearing voice from upstairs. "Hold on a minute."
"Mm hmm." He responded as she removed the receiver from her face. Curiously, she listened to hear what was going on.
"Nanny, where are you goin'?" Libby asked groggily from the hallway.
"I need to prepare that lane cake for Eugenia." Edie responded firmly. What? "It needs to be ready for when she comes."
"Do you mean Aunt Jeannie?" Libby asked. "Nanny she—"
"Harriet I don't know what you're trying to play at but it's not funny." Her mother was now coming down the stairs.
"Atticus," she started as Edie made her way to her daughter. Edie was fully dressed and made up, as if it was the morning.
"Is everything alright?" He asked.
"Hold on again, sorry." She said. "Edie what on Earth—"
"Is that Eugenia you're talkin' to?" Her mother demanded.
"Libby, get down here please." Louise called nervously. Quickly, her niece obeyed, looking just as apprehensive. "Edie I'm talkin' to Atticus."
"Did I wake her? I'm awfully sorry." She heard Atticus say.
"Ask him if Eugenia's there, I need to talk to her about tomorrow."
"Mama, Jean's been dead for seven years." Louise said slowly, staring at her mother as if she was crazy.
"What is going on?" Atticus asked, sounding more alert.
"Don't be foolish, Louise. She's comin' over tomorrow and I need to get started on that lane cake." With that, Edie had made her way into the kitchen. Quickly, Louise motioned for Libby to follow her.
"Don't let her touch anything, I'll be there in a minute." Louise whispered before Libby quickly went into the kitchen, calling after Edie.
"Atticus," she said again, even more confused than before.
"Is everything alright over there?"
"Edie came down, fully dressed saying that she needed to start that lane cake for Jean for tomorrow." Louise said. "She called Libby Harriet."
On the other end Atticus was silent. "It's after midnight," he said slowly. "Maybe she's sleepwalkin' or over-tired or something?"
"Maybe." She said furrowing her brow. "It's just odd."
"Do you think something's wrong?" He asked seriously.
"I don't know." She said. "I have no clue what's happening. I'm awfully sorry."
"Don't apologize."
"Are the kids alright?"
"They're fine."
"What about you?"
"I'm fine."
She sighed, nervous by the lack of noise coming from the kitchen. "I'll call you tomorrow afternoon." She said. "To check up on everything. In a few days I'll come back to Maycomb to see y'all."
"I think after all of this, Jem and Scout would enjoy that very much." He told her. "I'll talk to you tomorrow."
"Try to get some sleep." She said before hanging up the receiver. Perplexed, she looked around the room before scurrying into the kitchen. She was greeted by the sight of Libby blocking the cabinets with her body while Edie was looking angry. Help Libby mouthed to Louise.
"Mama, what are you doin'?" She asked, genuinely concerned.
"I need to start makin' the lane cake for when Eugenia comes and Harriet is acting like a fool." Edie said bitterly.
"Mama, Jean's dead." Louise said again. Edie turned swiftly to face her daughter, looking downright appalled.
"That is a terrible thing to say about your sister." She said. "She's comin' tomorrow."
Resigned, Louise sighed. "Well, it's late." She protested. "I'll wake you up early tomorrow so the cake will be ready for Jean when she gets here."
Louise honestly didn't think that her playing along would work. Even when she wasn't sleepwalking (or whatever this was) Edie was a stubborn woman who always did what she wanted. Louise was nearly tempted to allow her mother to proceed on and make the lane cake, but feared that Edie would fall asleep in the process and burn the house down or something. She hadn't realized how tired her mother looked until she said: "I suppose that's alright. I'll go take a nap."
Louise and Libby looked at one another in confusion. What time did Edie think it was? "Alright, you do that." Louise said, still looking at Libby. Once Edith had left the kitchen, Libby allowed her mouth to gape open.
"What…" Libby started.
"I honestly haven't a clue." Louise said slowly.
"Who called?" Libby asked, leaning against the counter and yawning.
"Your Uncle Atticus," She swallowed. "Jem and Scout were attacked tonight."
"What?"
"He says they're fine." Louise said, rubbing her eyes. "I don't even know what's gotten to the world right now. I'm goin' to bed."
-o-o-o-
The next morning when Louise awoke, Edith was still asleep. While it was very unlike her mother to sleep in past quarter past five, Louise figured that her mother was simply tired being up and active all of the time. She paid no mind to it and went about her day. She ate breakfast with Libby before going to visit with Hattie and Aunt Addie for a large part of the afternoon. She reminisced on the events of the night prior and told her sister and her aunt both about what happened to Jean's children and Edie's strange behavior.
"It must've been a full moon last night," Hattie had said. "With that dastardly man and mama actin' so funny."
"I suppose it was." Louise said.
She hadn't arrived back home until it was nearly two in the afternoon. Her first matter of business was going to be calling Atticus to check in on how the children were doing. She supposed that in the next day or two she would make a trip to Maycomb to spend time with the children and to see if Atticus needed anything. Picking up the receiver, she said: "Maycomb, please." As she waited for the second operator to pick up, Libby came downstairs looking worried. "What's wrong?" She asked, pulling the receiver away from her mouth.
"Nanny's still sleepin'."
"What?"
Libby shrugged and Louise pushed the receiver towards her niece. "Ask for your Uncle Atticus, tell him I'll be there in a minute. I'm goin' to check on Edie."
As she nearly ran up the stairs, she heard Libby pleasantly ask: "Atticus Finch, please." Shortly after, she said: "Oh, Miss Alexandra how pleasant it is to hear your voice! Aunt Louise was callin' to check up on everything, but she needed to tend to nanny real quickly so I figured I would check in on everything. How are Jem and Scout?"
Libby's voice began to fade as Louise got closer to Edie's room. Firmly, she knocked on the closed door. "Edie?" She asked, pushing it open.
Her mother was still clothed in the dress she was wearing that night when she was convinced that Jean was coming to visit. She was barely under her duvet and was entirely too still. Louise's breath got caught in her throat as she went closer to her mother's bed. "Shit," she said softly, running a hand through her hair. "Shit, shit—Edie, Edie can you hear me?" She asked louder. Her mother didn't move.
"Shit!" She hissed as she frantically looked around her mother's bedroom, as if something in there could help her. "Edie!" She said, nearly yelling.
She pushed her mother's shoulder and her mother remained still. "For Christ's sake," she said, a hint of desperation in her voice. "Mama!" Now she was screaming. She didn't know what to do. Frantically, she pushed her hands on her mother's chest to see if she could feel her heartbeat, but she couldn't even tell. "Mama!" She shouted again, though she knew she wasn't going to get an answer.
"Libby!" She started hollering. "Libby hang up and call a doctor!"
At that point, Libby had already heard her aunt's previous screaming and had ran up to the hallway. "What's happening?" She asked frantically. Louise quickly left the room and shut the door behind her, not letting Libby in. She was breathing heavily and couldn't look at her niece.
"Something's wrong." She said before hurrying back to the phone.
-o-o-o-
When the doctor came, after having Louise explain to him what happened almost five times (much to her annoyance), he looked her over, checked for a pulse and shook his head. "She's got a pulse, but barely. I'm suspectin' she must've had a stroke or somethin'." He said grimly. "There isn't much for me to do here, we need to take her to the hospital."
The first thing she did was call Harriet, tasking her with the responsibility of calling the aunts and meeting her at the hospital. Then, everything else came as a blur for her. In hindsight, she barely remembered her, Libby and Edie arriving to the hospital. She only could recall that her mother didn't quiet look like herself and that the doctor there told Louise that Edie would most likely not last the week. He explained to her what had happened, but she was in too much shock to listen. Edie was supposed to outlive everyone.
She requested a cot be placed in Edie's room. Even though the doctor told her that Edie won't wake up, Louise wanted to be there anyway. The old, musty cot reminded her of the one that she and Jean would sleep in while they waited for their grandfather to die many years ago. This time, she insisted she lay on it alone.
It wasn't until it was nearly seven o'clock when Louise realized that she was supposed to call Atticus. With heavy eyes she looked around her mother's hospital room, told Harriet she had something to tend to, and slowly walked down the hall. Once she reached the nurse's station, she asked if they had a phone. When they informed her it was in the doctor's lounge and they usually didn't let patients use it, tears stung the back of her eyes. "I need to call my brother," she said, swallowing. "My mother's dying."
It was then Louise, who usually never cried, learned that if you cried at the right person you could get what you want. A kind old nurse, probably only a few years younger than Edie, gingerly took her arm and led her to the phone. "You take your time, honey." She said before looking at Louise solemnly and patting her arm.
Louise picked up the receiver, inhaled sharply and demanded: "Maycomb, Alabama." When the next operator picked up, she shakily asked for Atticus.
The phone rang. And rang. And rang. They were terrible at picking up the phone, she thought to herself.
"Finch residence." Alexandra finally said coolly after what seemed to be an eternity.
She let out a shaky breath. "A-Alexandra?" She asked in a low voice.
"Louise?" She asked, sounding alert. "Louise what was happening earlier?"
She stood there in silence for a moment or two, her hands shaking. "Um," she said, sniffing.
"Honey are you alright?" Alexandra asked, sounding concerned. A few moments later she heard Alexandra testily say: "Atticus, give me a minute please."
"Edie's dyin'." Louise croaked. Still clutching the receiver to her face, she let herself slide to the floor and cried.
"Honey, honey," Alexandra said, seemingly not knowing what else to say. "What happened honey?"
"I don't know," Louise sobbed. "I don't know but they told me but I wasn't listenin' but all they said was somethin' happened in her brain and she won't wake up." Breathing heavily, she realized just how stupid she sounded.
"Honey," Alexandra said slowly. "Honey… we'll come to you."
She sobbed again. "The kids." Was all she could manage to say.
"They're fine." Alexandra said firmly. "I assure you they're fine."
Louise heard Atticus' voice, he must have been standing next to Alexandra. Quickly, she heard Alexandra tell him to be quiet for just a minute. "We'll come to you." She said again.
Louise sniffed. She heard Alexandra exhale on the other end. "Atticus wants to speak with you." She said gently, before handing the receiver to her brother.
"Louise?" He asked, sounding concerned. "Louise, what's going on over there?"
"Edie's dyin'," She cried again, covering her face with her free hand. "She's dyin' and I didn't even know it."
He was silent for a few minutes. "I'm sorry," he said delicately while she continued to cry on the other end. He cleared his throat. "Louise," he said, his voice a little firmer. "I'll collect the children and some belongings and we'll leave tonight."
"B-But Jem's arm and Bob Ewell," she sniffed, finding herself unable to come up with a coherent thought, let alone sentence.
"His arm's fractured, but he's fine." Atticus told her. "He was up and alert all day today, he's already getting restless in fact."
"They're probably exhausted."
"They're fine. Edith is not."
She sniffed again. "Damn it," she whispered. "I don't know what to do."
"Just stay with your mother, it won't take us long to get to Montgomery."
"I don't know if Aunt Sarah told Maudie," she thought aloud.
"I can tell Maudie." He said. "I can even bring her."
"You should at least wait until the morning, so you can rest."
"If Jean were alive, I wouldn't be on the phone right now, we'd already be on our way." He told her seriously. "Just because she isn't here doesn't make anything different. I'll be there as soon as I can."
"Atticus?"
"Yes, Lou?"
"Thank you."
"There's nothing to thank me for. I'll be there as quick as I can." Sniffing, she stood up, hung up the receiver and collected herself before going back to Edie's room, where she found Aunt Addie and Sarah sitting by their sister's bedside, both looking beside themselves.
"I forgot how awful this feels," Sarah said. "It seems like Bea died so long ago."
Addie shot her younger sister a look. "Be quiet." She said sharply. "No one wants or needs to hear that."
"Where's Hattie and the girls?" Louise asked, her head feeling heavy as she leaned against the doorframe of the room.
Addie gave her niece a sympathetic look and beckoned for Louise to sit down. "She took Clara and Libby back to her place to get some sleep, she'll be back in a few minutes." In the rush of everything, the family nearly forgot to call Clara to inform her of Edith's sudden illness. Luckily, once Hattie remembered, Clara had been able to get herself to Montgomery as quickly as possible.
"Atticus is comin'." Louise informed them.
"When? Tomorrow?" Addie asked.
"Tonight."
"He doesn't need to do that," Addie said thoughtfully. "Why he probably already has a lot on his mind with what happened to the children."
"I told him that, he said that if Jean were here they would already be on their way by now." She said mournfully. "He said nothin's changed even though she's not here."
"He's always been quite the gentleman." Addie thought aloud, Sarah and Louise simply nodded.
Finally, Louise sunk into the chair next to her Aunt Sarah. "I told her I wouldn't cry when she died when I was eight." She said, looking towards her mother's still body on the bed.
"You were a child, you didn't mean it." Addie said.
"I did back then."
"Obviously you don't anymore."
"I wish she knew that."
"Honey, she knows."
-o-o-o-
Because they arrived to Montgomery so late, Atticus, Alexandra, Maudie and the children were unable to go to the hospital to see Edie when they first arrived, but Louise and Harriet wouldn't see them until the morning anyway. It took a great deal of pleading and tears on behalf of both sisters to be able to get a cot placed next to Edie's bed for them to sleep on for the night. Usually, the hospital would make families leave at eight-thirty, but the nurses bent the rules after seeing how desperate the sisters were. That night, they laid in the cot together, unable to sleep. It reminded her of when she and Jean would sleep in that cot next to their grandfather, back when Louise had only been eighteen, and it made her cry harder.
"Remember when daddy died?" Hattie asked quietly, out of nowhere.
"Yes'm."
"I barely do."
"You were little."
"Remember when Simon died?"
Louise shuddered. "Of course I do."
"I always thought it ironic that his neck snapped and Charlotte's nearly did when she died."
Louise sniffed. "I thought that, too."
"I bet Charlotte was glad she died."
"She probably was."
"I wonder if Jean knew what was comin'." Hattie said softly. "I wonder if that day she woke up, thought this is the day I'm goin' to die and just…died."
"I feel like if she knew she would've gone to the doctors or somethin'." Louise said. "She's not one to accept something like that."
"You know," Hattie said as she turned to lay on her back. "I don't know what heaven or afterlife or whatever is but I think that Charlotte and Jean are sittin' together in some place that makes 'em happy, watchin' us and talkin' about how we're being babies."
Louise forced herself to chuckle. "And daddy's not too far away talkin' about how all four of us have been crazy and he just wanted to shake us all so many times and Aunt Bea is makin' sweet tea or something and Simon's runnin' around playing."
Hattie laughed and sobbed at the same time. "And Edie's comin' up to them, tellin' them all to stop sittin' around and to do something productive."
Instead of sleeping, the sisters cried together.
-o-o-o-
Edie died four days after she had been brought to the hospital. The entire time, Louise knew it was going to happen, but there was still a part of her that hoped and wished that her mother would wake up. She had grown so delirious that she had even thought that she saw her mother breathing at one point. On the day Edie died, she called Jack.
"Finch," was all he had said when he answered the phone.
"Edie died." She said bluntly, rubbing at her nose.
"I knew that." He responded. "Atticus told me. D'you want me to come?"
"No."
"Then why did you call me?"
"Edie died." She said again, sighing.
"If you're just going to say the same thing over and over I'm goin' to hang up on you until you come back to your senses." He told her.
"I lied to you."
"About what?"
"I want you to come."
"I knew that, I already got my ticket for tomorrow."
"Are you teasing me?"
"I swear I'm not. I went and got the ticket soon as Atticus called me."
"Then why did you ask if I wanted you to come?"
"'Cause I already knew the answer."
"You're awful."
"Why do you sound so sad?" He asked, almost distastefully.
She opened her mouth, almost repeating what she had said before. Instead, she remained silent. "Girl," he said, clicking his tongue. "Do you know what your mother would say to you right now?"
"What?"
"Quit your sulkin' and go do somethin'."
She inhaled sharply. "You are completely useless."
"You sound like a mess."
"If you're tryin' to make me feel worse, it's workin'."
"Now I'm not tryin' to do that," He said, his voice softening a little. "I'm tryin' to bring you to reality. It's what I'm here for."
She remained silent on the other end. He sighed. "Honey," he said. "If it's any consolation, I'm sorry."
"It's fine."
"Do you want me to bring Rose to cheer you up?" He asked, and she imagined him sitting in his apartment smirking.
"Hell no."
"There's my gal." He said. "Honey, you of all people should know that we all have our time to leave this Earth."
"That doesn't make this any easier."
"I never said it was easy."
After she called him, she roamed around Edie's house for a while. Her and Hattie had begun to clean it out in preparation for putting it on the market, and it all seemed a little too empty for her. The pictures were removed from the walls (Louise had found the postcards she sent her mother while she was traveling hanging in the kitchen, and she took them and hid them for herself), and most of Edie's possessions were packed away. The only rooms that weren't touched were Clara and Libby's, Edie's, and Charlotte and Jean's. Silently, while Atticus and Alexandra helped Hattie and the aunts pack up the living room, Louise went to sit in Jean's room one last time. There, she found Jem and Scout sitting on their mother's old bed.
It was alarming to Louise how much older Scout and Jem had looked to her. It couldn't have been more than two months since she had last seen them, yet they looked old. It was as though the trial, Bob Ewell and the death of their grandmother had changed them. For a few minutes she stood silently in the doorway, observing them as they sat with their backs facing her. Inhaling slowly, she finally said: "Your mama would be awfully proud of the two of you."
Both children jumped, and turned to see her standing in the doorway. They had been crying. She wondered if Jem had ever told his sister about the day their mama died. "Why?" Scout asked innocently.
"For everything." Louise responded, sitting on Charlotte's bed across from them. "She would be proud of every single thing you have done."
"Aunt Louise?" Jem asked, his eyes glazed from crying, his casted arm laying on his lap. "You aren't goin' to go runnin' again, are you?"
Alarmed, she looked at her nephew. "What do you mean, sweet?"
"After mama and Uncle Phil died you went to Europe for two years," He said, making her feel a pang of guilt. Jack was right, everyone knew she'd been running away. "I just don't want you to do that again."
"Can you stay in Maycomb, Aunt Lou?" Scout asked. "I'm sure Aunty will behave herself."
She let out a shuddering breath. "I ain't goin' anywhere."
-o-o-o-
Louise had thought that the longest funeral she had ever attended was Jean's. She hadn't slept the night before and had spent the entire service trying not to cry (she failed in those efforts once Jem began crying). However, seven years later she found that Edie's funeral had gone by entirely too slowly. She had spent so much time before the funeral crying that by the time the actual funeral came, she found she couldn't cry. She sat there, in between Hattie and Jack, just staring straight ahead of her the entire time.
After the funeral was over, she and Hattie remained where Edie had been buried. She wasn't the first of their family to be buried there, and she certainly wouldn't be the last. She watched as Scout looked at the gravestones on their family plot. There was Charlotte and Simon, a spot for Phil, Edie and Rowan (Louise's father), Bea and then Jean. There was copious space near Jean's grave, indicating that one day Atticus and the children and their families would be buried there, too. Louise wondered if Alexandra put up a fight when it came to where Jean was going to be buried. It wasn't like that was going to matter though, anyway. Edie was adamant that her family be buried together.
"Eugenia Graham Finch," Scout read aloud. She turned her head to look at her aunts. "Is that mama?"
"It is," Atticus said, making Louise and Hattie jump. They hadn't noticed him standing behind them.
Scout turned again to look at her mother's grave. "Are you gonna be buried here, Atticus?" She asked him, not turning around.
"I am, baby." He replied.
"And you two?" Scout asked her aunts.
"Mm hmm, me and your Uncle Scott will be buried here." Hattie replied, sounding as though her throat was raw.
"I'll be right next to your Uncle Phil." Louise responded.
"Am I goin' to be buried here?"
"Yes." Said Atticus.
"And Jem?"
"Him too." Her father informed her.
"Then it'd be like all of mama's family is together again," Scout said as she turned to smile at her aunts. Louise felt her throat tighten.
"You're very right, Jean Louise." Louise said, smiling back at her niece. While her niece's eyes lit up, she also gave Louise a perplexed look—it had been the first time Louise called Scout by her proper name since she had been born. Scout turned back around and sat by her mother's grave.
"I'm gonna sit with mama for a little while." She said, again observing what was engraved on the tomb stone.
"Mind if we sit with you?" Hattie asked, wringing her hands.
"I think mama would like that."
"I do too, baby." Louise said as she and Hattie sat with Scout. Looking behind her shoulder, she observed Atticus. He was standing with his hands in his pockets, watching them. When he noticed Louise looking at him, he gave her a small smile and mouthed: "I'll be back," before he walked away.
It was the first time in seven years she had been to her sister's grave.
-o-o-o-
After the service, family and friends gathered at Aunt Addie's house to remember Edie. For a moment Louise had forgotten that this was Edie's funeral, and had gone off looking for something to do before her mother caught her being "useless." When she realized her mother wouldn't chastise her for not doing anything, she found herself feeling too restless to stand still and still wanted to find something to do. Almost naturally, she decided to serve guests their drinks.
Edie usually made the punch they served at these memorial things, but considering the fact that she was no longer alive to do so, Sarah had done it. Louise couldn't help but to think that it looked different. However, the last time she had done this was nearly twelve years ago when Charlotte died and she couldn't remember that day too clearly. Solemnly, she poured punch into glasses and stiffly nodded her head while people clasped her hands and told her how sorry they were. She encountered Emmett, girls she had gone to school with, Edie's old friends and people she couldn't even recognize. Despite the fact that these people were genuinely being kind, she refused to listen to them.
After a few moments of observing her, Alexandra approached Louise. Louise smiled weakly and offered her a glass, which she had denied. Instead, Alexandra stood beside her and began to help. "I think Jean was under the impression I didn't like her." Alexandra then said, out of nowhere.
"Um," Louise said, swallowing.
"It's not that I didn't," Alexandra continued, as if this was completely normal. "I really did. I never thought I would ever see anyone make my brother as happy as she made him. We were just so different and I guess I didn't know how to approach her."
"Why are you sayin' this?" Louise asked, confused. Alexandra looked at her, and although she was smiling her eyes looked sad.
"I never told her that I loved her, which I did," Alexandra said slowly. "I never let her know that I truly did care about her."
"I'm sure she had an inkling or something." Louise said, trying to reassure her.
"I didn't want to make that mistake again," Alexandra informed her as she carefully poured punch into empty glasses. "Despite the fact that we are two entirely different people, I care about you."
Louise's eyes widened. "Alexandra," she started before the other woman interrupted her.
"I mean it." She said firmly. "You're important to my family, and I care about you."
"I meant it when I said I was sorry for yellin' at you." Louise said, still not quite sure if this was real or merely a hallucination. "You're a nice lady and I do like you."
Alexandra gave her another sad smile and pulled her into an awkward hug. Not knowing what to do, Louise patted Alexandra's arm before she let go of her. Once Alexandra had finished hugging Louise, she noticed Jack standing by the table, looking wildly amused.
"Ha! Am I interrupting something?" He chuckled. The smile that had once been on Alexandra's face disappeared.
"Don't you dare start." His sister warned as he just shook his head at her, her face flushed.
"Kid, stop pouring that punch and come outside with me." He said to Louise. Obligingly, she followed him to the back porch.
"Are you done yet?" He asked her impatiently.
"Done what?"
"Bein' so stupid."
She inhaled sharply and glared at him. "How in the hell am I bein' stupid?"
"You're huggin' my sister and listein' to what I tell you to do, first of all." He informed her. "When the old you would've thought that Alexandra was crazy and would've told me to go to hell for tellin' you what to do."
"There is no old me," she informed him. "I am as I always have been."
"Maybe if you keep sayin' that people will actually believe you."
"What do you want?" She asked impatiently, crossing her arms. "My mother's dead—"
"Mine is too and you don't see me getting' soft."
"I'm not soft—"
"You have been ever since Jean died. Admit it."
"I'm sorry if the death of my sister and my best friend changed—"
"That didn't change you. You changed yourself, you let yourself get soft. Whatever happened to the girl who punched me in the face in Atticus' living room one Christmas because I annoyed you?"
"She's right here."
"I think you left her in Europe." Jack said firmly. "Actually, I think you left her in Jean's grave."
"What the hell do you want from me?"
"I just want you to admit you're soft."
Feeling insulted, she scoffed. "Fine, I'm soft." She said, hoping it would shut him up.
"I want you to actually acknowledge it."
She sighed. "You're downright mean."
"Mean? Mean? The old you—"before he could finish, she winded up and attempted to punch him in the chest as hard as she could. She wasn't sure if she had hurt her hand or his chest more, but once she saw him rubbing at his chest, she knew she at least made some damage.
"The old me would've what?" She asked bitterly. Addie, who had gone to the kitchen to fetch more napkins, had seen the entire thing through the window and came rushing outside.
"What is goin' on?" She asked, almost angrily. Louise felt her face flush hot.
"Nothin'," She said hastily. "We're just havin' ourselves a little conversation."
"Everything's fine, ma'am." Jack said, still rubbing at his chest. Looking concerned, Addie glanced at both of them before retreating back into the house.
"You gonna leave again?" Jack asked.
"Why do you care?"
"You probably will, you're infamous for running from your problems."
"Why are you bein' so awful?"
"Listen," he said firmly. "In some twisted way you're my best friend, and I'm just tryna make sure you don't go tryna self-destruct again. You spend so much time harpin' on the fact that your older sisters, your husband and your mama are all dead you forget you're alive. You just run off and hide from everything. That ain't a way to live."
Her throat tightened, and for some inexplicable reason tears began to form in her eyes. Rubbing at them, she tried to turn away from Jack but he stopped her. "Why're you cryin'?" He asked her.
Looking down at her feet, she whispered: "'Cause you're right."
"Aha!" Jack nearly shouted, making her jump. "Say it louder."
She sniffed and glared at him. "Jack, really—"
"Just say it once and say it loud." He grinned. Sometimes she really wanted to hate him.
"Because you're right." She said, crossing her arms. A few tears fell from her eyes, but she didn't bother to wipe them.
"So you admit you ran away?"
"I already said it twice, ain't that enough for you?"
"Ha, I suppose it is."
"I'm going back inside."
"Wait," he said, still holding onto her shoulder.
"What?"
"I can retire in a year," he said, almost proudly. "I can buy a nice little two-bedroom in Maycomb and you can live with me and Rose. I was already goin' to move down there to be closer to the family, and Atticus was plannin' on asking you to live with him, but I figured you might want some other options. Especially considerin' you and Zandra may kill each other if forced to cohabitate for too long."
Confused, she simply looked at him. "Unless you want to go back to Europe or something." He said, shrugging. "If I can bring Rose, I guess it'll be fine with me."
"What the hell are you doin'?" She asked, her voice rising. "If you're tryna—"
"I'm not tryna marry you or anything!" He said, almost sounding appalled. "God knows I wouldn't survive it. All I'm sayin' is that even though we ain't meant to be with anyone doesn't mean we're supposed to be alone. I figured this might make you feel better. You don't need to say yes—"
"Alright." She said coolly.
"Maycomb or France?" He asked, an impish grin growing on his face.
"Maycomb. I told the kids I wouldn't leave."
"Thank God, because if you said France I'd have to take back my offer."
"You're the devil."
"It'll be great, you'll be the spinster you always wanted to be and I can still live in eternal bachelorhood."
"That damn cat can't come near me."
"You'll need to be much nicer to her if you expect to live under her roof." Jack teased.
Quickly, Louise wiped at her eyes before turning around. "I'm goin' back inside."
-o-o-o-
After the guests had left and all of the casseroles and other food stuffs had been organized and put away, an eerie silence settled over the house. Clara and Libby, who were now staying with Hattie, had gone to their new home to sleep. Alexandra and Jack had gone back to Sarah's house with Maudie while Louise, Atticus, Jem and Scout had gone to Addie's. Immediately after getting home, Addie had gone up to her room. Once the children were in the pajamas, Atticus had tucked them in and went to sit on the porch. Louise, still in her funeral clothes, paced about the house. It wasn't until Addie had stuck her head out of the crack in her bedroom door and told her to stop her fidgeting that she decided to join her brother-in-law on the porch. He was sitting on a wicker chair, observing the neighborhood around him. Slowly, she crossed the porch and sat in the chair next to him. Smiling, he looked at her.
"I'm surprised you aren't asleep." He pointed out.
"Not tired," Louise lied.
"Jack told me that the two of you will be living in Rose Aylmer's house once he retires," Atticus said, chuckling a little. This time, she smiled at him. "It'll be good to have you in Maycomb permanently."
"It'll be nice to be there." She said.
"I always thought it was bizarre how everything just goes on like normal once someone dies." He said quietly, looking away from her. "It's like your entire world is collapsing around you, yet people keep on livin'."
"I guess that's life."
"So it is."
They both went silent again. While Atticus observed his surroundings once more, Louise began to pick at the chipping paint on the arm of her chair. After a few moments, Atticus cleared his throat. Still picking at the paint, Louise looked at him. "I wonder if Edith saw her," he said thoughtfully.
"Saw who?"
"Jean," he said slowly. Probably noticing the look of confusion on Louise's face, he added: "she said she was getting ready for Jean to visit, didn't she?"
Louise sat up. "She did."
"I usually don't believe these things, but maybe your mother wasn't losin' it, but Jean came to let her know that Edie's time was comin'."
"Maybe she did." Louise responded contemplatively.
Atticus smiled again and looked away from his sister-in-law. "When it's my time, I hope she comes for me, too."
Louise smiled and looked at the neighborhood she had grown up in. "If your children taught me anything, it's that she's with us every day," she responded. "But I do think she'll come for you."
Atticus' smile grew slightly bigger as he let out a soft chuckle. Louise smiled back, and for the first time in a long time she felt at peace.