The moment Piper pulled into the driveway of Rose Cottage, she turned off the engine and slumped back in her seat. Every inch of her body ached with a weariness unlike anything she had ever experienced. She had not been back to Maine since she was a girl. Back when summers meant freedom. When her grandmother was alive and well and provided endless watermelon and ice cream on the deck overlooking the ocean. Rose Cottage had been in the family since the 1930’s. Her grandmother was born in the front room, delivered by a local midwife.
She closed her eyes for a moment as reality sank in. She was still in shock that after 25 years of what she thought had been a happy marriage, her husband had found someone new. And now he wanted a divorce. Divorce! The very thought chilled her to the bone and left her feeling hollow inside. She had dreamed of forever just like her parents and her grandparents. It turned out her forever had an expiration date.
She opened her eyes and stared at the cottage, her vision blurred from the tears threatening to fall. Rose Cottage looked ominous with the gray skies that had not yet been colored by the waking sun. The overgrown rose bushes looked alive and unruly, like a monster ready to snatch a small child walking by. Was she a coward for running away? Instead of acting like an adult and staying to see if her marriage could be salvaged, she had just packed up her favorite belongings and driven all night to the one place she knew she could find solace.
As the sun began to raise her head, stretching her arms slowly across the sky, Piper noticed the rose bushes were actually in full bloom, spraying the front of the cottage in an overabundance of pink. She smiled. Maybe this summer at Rose Cottage would bring her a new kind of freedom.
Painting by Della Taylor