Forget Green Gables

A Solemn Vow

Leo's bonfire is almost five feet high and can be seen from the driveway. He has a table full of marshmallows, Hershey bars and graham crackers set out. "Ladies...welcome back!" he says as we emerge from the house after Kathleen feeds us chicken soup.

"Thank you," Jessie, Jamie, and I state in unison, each hugging Leo Pittman in turn. It feels good, it feels right, to be here.

"Friends fight," he continues as we began to poke marshmallows with sticks to roast them. "The important thing is coming back together when it's all over. God doesn't expect us to never fight; He expects us to forgive each other. Most importantly, He expects us to forgive ourselves." Leo squeezes Jamie again. She tears up, which makes Rebecca hug her more tightly.

"Come on," Jessie says, handing Jamie a stick with a couple of marshmallows on the end. "You know you want to stick this right in the flames and burn the crap out of that marshmallow."

Jamie smiles and sticks the stick straight into the fire. "I wish I could do this to Carl," she says once Leo had returned to his shop.

"I wish you could too" I say.

"I think it's time I told you both," Jamie says, looking Jessie and Rebecca in the eye as she tells her story. She refrains from using as many details as she used when she told me, but by the end, all of us are wiping away tears.

"So, what do we do now?" Jessie asks.

Jamie holds her head up high. "Now...we eat s'mores." Jamie takes a bite of the s'more she assembled. "I don't want just to be his victim," she says, stuffing the rest of the s'more into her mouth.

I put my arm around Jamie's shoulder and give her a squeeze. "Proud of you, Jamie."

Jamie leans into my embrace as she has countless moments before. "I can't change it," she whispers, once she swallows the sticky mess of chocolate, graham cracker and marshmallow.

"Nope," Rebecca agrees, sticking another marshmallow directly into the fire. "There's no going backward."

"I don't know if I can overcome this," Jamie says.

"You can," Jessie answers, sipping on her bottle of water.

"I can't do it alone," Jamie says, a tear sliding down her face.

"What makes you think for even a split second you are alone?" Rebecca asks, moving to sit on Jamie's other side. Between us, we hold her as tightly as possible.

"None of us are ever alone as long as we've got each other," I say, squeezing Rebecca's arm with the hand around Jamie. If freshman year has taught me anything, it is this.

Jessie sums it up best: "even if sometimes I sit and think I was normal until I met the psycho women I call my best friends, I wouldn't trade you guys for anything."


~The End~