A Vindication Of Miss Everlee

Chapter 22

Dear Midge,

You will be pleased to know I have made several friends already. I needed to for protection against all the horrid older boys, but I like them very much as well. Yesterday one of the fourth years caught me on my own down the corridor and told me to go sit on the toilet seat until it had warmed up enough for him to go. Name- Henry Beauchamp. Please underline that because one day, no doubt, he will be an MP. There is a pretence of such gentlemanliness outside the school, but it's so coarse and can be violent. Fortunately I have a tendency to be quiet meaning so far I have managed to slide right by. You would never fare well here!

I miss you everyday. Papa writes all the time and he checks that I'm still writing to you. Think that he is still a little upset over how he had to dismiss you so abruptly, but I doubt you mind at all now that you are wed! How was the wedding? Sorry to have missed it as the way you described Jewish weddings made them sound rather interesting, but I was thinking of you last week nonetheless and I prayed for you in chapel on Sunday. Is that allowed? Hope it is.

During the October half term, papa said that I could come to yours for Yom Kippur. Thank you very much for the invitation. Jolly well hope my mama doesn't find out or she might try to have me removed from the house as well, though papa surely won't let that happen. Anyway, she still hasn't written to me since the first letter so I don't think she has much interest over my whereabouts. Perhaps we could go to the Holy Land for Yom Kippur then?

Must apologise for the shortness and rushed nature of this letter but I have two gruesome hours of prep now and one mustn't be late or they cane your hands in front of everyone. Shall write soon and wishing you all the best in the meantime.

Love, Daniel.

—-

Midge would write back later. For now she just smiled at what he said, relieved that he had survived so far but still wishing to take him from there and put him back in Calogan with his father, where he belonged. She understood the need to be home.

Folding up the letter, she glanced out the window and saw several figures sitting on the front lawn. The sun had fallen and Shabbat had just ended, so those she had shared it with were enjoying the last moments of light despite the freezing cold.

Simon was wrapped up in a thousand blankets as he used one gloved hand to raise a cup to his lips and the other to read by a lamp he had piled up beside him. He sat at Ruth's feet, but was not distracted by her conversation with Mrs Milevetz. From the other side of the window Midge could not catch everything that was being said. They were both smiling.

Opposite them was Gideon. He was waiting for her to come back outside but was equally engaged with the others. When she put the letter aside and shut the door behind her, a smile instantly broke out on his face. It reached his eyes as though the sun had risen behind them.

"Walk with me?" she asked when she reached him. She held out her hand for him to take, which he did obligingly. All either of them wanted was to be with the other. Perhaps soon they would grow out of their excitement of touching and laughing and exploring, but their affection seemed inexhaustible. With marriage they had formed a deeper understanding of each other in relation to the now.

To her, Gideon was warm and vulnerable, the latter because he always wanted to please her. She hoped she seemed the same to him. There was never any panic or misunderstanding at how he might behave. He was attentive and funny in every aspect of their life and whenever he said something that made her laugh, causing him to glow in appreciation, she would remember how beautiful he was.

That same remembrance dawned on her as the walked outside the city. His pulled her arm around him when they reached the old bridge that looped over the river. The water was segmented into a thousand pieces due to the orange sheen which shattered it. Just over the horizon, looming at the end of the river- was it falling off the edge of the earth?- was the sunset. She could see it with such clarity. No hills, or staggeringly tall buildings or bright lights from the lower rooms obstructed it.

Resting her head on his shoulder as the air became filled with a sweeping twilight, the unburdened knowledge that she was home settled in her heart. She was home with him and with her faith; this made her love them both more than she thought possible. Consequently she knew that they would always be more than enough for her because they had changed her perspective for the better in a thousand different ways, beyond what had ever seemed conceivable.