I look forward to getting your return letter. Or, even better, you could invest in a cell phone and then we could FaceTime! Video calls, Dad, can you believe it? It’s like we’re living in the future!
All my love, always, forever,
Emily Jane xx
She read the letter again, hoping Roy would appreciate her slightly cheeky tone and not be offended by it, then folded it up and put it in an envelope.
Just then, Emily heard a knock on the door. She turned to see Chantelle poking her head around.
“What’s wrong, Mommy?” she asked. “You’ve been up here for ages.”
Emily gestured for her to enter and the little girl walked inside, padding across the rug with soft footsteps. When she reached Emily she folded into her open arms.
“Nothing’s wrong,” Emily told the little girl. “I just wanted to write a letter to Papa Roy to tell him about the baby.” She held up the now sealed envelope. “Would you like to come and mail this with me?”
Chantelle nodded her agreement. Emily handed her the envelope, which she clutched in her hand, then they left Emily’s room together. They went downstairs and out the front door, then headed along the lane slowly toward the mailbox, hand in hand. Emily noticed that Chantelle was awfully quiet as they went. Usually the child never stopped talking, but she hadn’t uttered a word since they’d left the B&B.
“Are you okay, love?” Emily asked, giving her hand a little squeeze.
Chantelle looked up at her sadly, her other hand tightly clutching the envelope. “I miss Papa Roy,” she said.
“I do too,” Emily replied wistfully.
“Doesn’t Papa Roy have a phone we can call him on?” Chantelle asked. “We could do a FaceTime call?”
Emily laughed and tapped the envelope. “I asked him the very same thing in that letter,” she said. But despite her attempt to lighten the mood, she couldn’t help but share in Chantelle’s disappointment. Getting a cell phone was the last thing she could imagine her father doing.
“He did say he might get a phone,” Chantelle said. “Remember?”
Emily did. Just before they’d left for Martha’s Vineyard. She’d been wishing him goodbye, something she hadn’t had the chance to do since the age of fifteen, and he’d joked that he might get a phone to keep in better contact. At the time she’d felt filled with hope. Not that he’d get a phone but that he would remain in regular contact. Sadly, it didn’t seem to be panning out that way. If he couldn’t stay in letter touch, what chance was there of him breaking with the habit of a lifetime and getting a phone!