Love Made Over

Love Made Over

Part 5

Cast of Characters:

Wendell Davis Anders

Gwendolyn Rene Jacobs

Marylinn (fellow waitress at the diner where Gwen works)

Katy (new waitress at the diner)

Anabell Wendy Larson (daughter of Gwendolyn Jacobs)

Randal (Randy) Wilson (second bully)

Life is full of twists and unexpected turns of events. Often, they are not welcomed or even wanted, but sometimes they are truly amazing... Such are second chances... An opportunity to set wrongs right, to make amends and to experience happiness and joy.

Wendell was alone, sitting cross-legged by her headstone. His head was hung, and he was having trouble seeing. Everything on the page was blurry... a drop falling and hitting the page of the open diary caused him to realize that he was in fact crying, again. With a muffled sigh, he gently closed the book and held it to his chest dearly as he looked up once again at her marker. "Here lies Gwendolyn Jacobs Anderson, gone too soon, but never to be forgotten" He couldn't read the pertinent dates chiseled into the stone marking her birth and... death. His eyes again clouded and blurred as he openly wept for the one and only true love of his life. His best friend, his lover, his wife.

The news from the biopsy results had been bad. Worse, the cancer had been so far advanced that Gwen was already in stage four when it was discovered. Initially the doctors had given her maybe three months to live and had pushed hard for the latest treatments and chemo therapies. But in the end, Gwen had decried it all useless. She didn't want to spend the last moments of time on this earth sick from chemicals and weak and weary only to prolong the inevitable. She would much rather spend her time with her husband and making arrangements for the future. One that she would not be part of.

Part of those arrangements had been to detail as much as she possibly could of her life right up to the very end, in her diary. The diary for her one and only child that she had never known or was ever able to tell how much she had loved her and hated having to give her up for adoption so long ago. In her diary she also spoke often and kindly of Wendell and his family, but especially about her friend and lover and eventually her husband. How he had always been so kind and considerate and loving. How her life, at least the last year especially had been a dream come true.

Of course, there were darker passages as well about how she regretted ever straying from her one true friend in order to find what she thought was the happiness she longed for in the acceptance of others who couldn't care less about her. How she had been raped and degraded and thrown away. How she and her mother had struggled for so many years as her mother got weaker and weaker and finally passed away. The loneliness and longing of living by herself and simply working day in and day out in a dreary sad fog... that is, until the day that Wendell walked back into her life.

The final pages in the diary were supposed to be a letter of sorts to her daughter should that day ever come that the girl, young woman now, ever came looking for her. Gwen had told Wendell that he could of course read it if he so desired, but she would really like it to be left only for her daughter to read and understand. Wendell had promised that he wouldn't read the final pages, unless her daughter asked him to. But he wanted to read the rest of the book up to that point. Each day, since Gwen took her final breath, Wendell had read a few pages every day. Sometimes he would laugh out loud, sometimes he would become very thoughtful, sometimes, like today, he would be overwhelmed and end up crying.

Sighing deeply once more and smiling, if sadly, Wendell reached out and placed a hand on that cold stone marker and closed his eyes briefly and wished his sweet Gwen farewell, again. Until his next visit. Wendell stood slowly and set the bouquet of daisies he had brought for her on the top of the stone and then turned and walked away towards his jeep parked nearby. The birds were singing, the wind was whispering through the spring leaves and the sun felt warm on his back as he walked, but he was not aware of any of it. God, he missed her.

Day after day, night after night, the time seemed to blur. The house was again, just a house. A place to sleep and bathe, sometimes to do office work, but it was definitely no longer a home. The warmth had gone out of it when Gwen had breathed her last. Like the house, Wendell's heart was also cold and empty. Oh, sure, it still beat and moved his blood about, but the joy and life had gone out that day. Comfort from friends and family only went so far. He did appreciate their efforts to console him, but it just didn't reach that empty void to even make a dent in it. So, time passed, day by day, night by lonely night.

From time to time, often on days that work ended early at the base, Wendell would still stop by the diner to have a meal or sometimes just some coffee. This place, too, was no longer as welcoming or had that feel of home anymore, but there were still friendly faces there when he could bear the pitying looks and concern for his well being from those like Marylinn. It was this day, like so many before, that found him sitting alone in a booth near the door sipping coffee and going over a new set of specs for a project he had been contracted for at the base.

"Wendell Anders! You need to eat something. I know our coffee is pretty good, but it's not food, and you look like you could use a good meal." Marylinn said as she stood next to the table pouring coffee into his half empty cup with her left hand and rubbing the back of his shoulder with her free right hand.

Wendell smiled, half-heartedly, glancing up into her face and shrugged. He shrugged and set his pen and papers aside for a moment and ran his hands over his face and through his hair to the back of his neck.

"Thanks Marylinn, I just don't have much of an appetite. But I'll try. How about some meatloaf with mashed potatoes and green beans?" Wendell said, not needing a menu as he had just about memorized it by wrote having been here so many times.

"That's better. I'll get right on it, sugar. Say... how are you holding up? If you ever need someone to talk to or just listen, you know I would be happy to lend an ear." Marylinn said a little more softly, only for him to hear.

Wendell shrugged again and gave her that same tired sad smile and nodded his head before glancing back to the pile of paperwork in front of him. Marylinn sighed and patted his back once more before moving to the next table to top up another cup of coffee. She put in his order for meatloaf then went around the end of the counter into the back room out of sight, she wiped away a few tears. She was heartbroken to see Wendell so sad. She remembered how vibrant and happy he had made Gwen and how happy he had been with her. So, now... it was just heartbreaking. Pulling herself together once more she returned to work, putting on her best smile.

That same day, later in the evening after Wendell had gone on home to his empty house, the bell above the door jangled. Marylinn had her head down as she caught up with some accounting of the day's receipts after the dinner rush had ebbed. She liked subtotaling prior to the end of her shift so that she had an easier and quicker time closing out her register before clocking out and going home. The oncoming shift waitress, a new girl was covering the counter for her as she did her figuring. Katy was newly graduated from high school and still training with an older waitress who would be arriving for her shift shortly.

Katy greeted the new arrival at the counter a few paces from Marylinn and asked what she could get her. The gal who had come into the diner looked to be a little tired, perhaps from traveling, or maybe from worry, Katy couldn't be sure of either but was determined to be cordial and friendly all the same. The young lady had a binder with pictures and lists of names and addresses and dates and other notes that she referred to as she sipped at a cup of coffee with her free hand. She rested her weary looking face on the palm of one hand, her elbow propped on the counter beside the binder.

Marylinn had just finished up her tallying and was sorting out the receipts and order tickets in their appropriate drawers by the cash register. She glanced up at the clock and then over the counter to look out into the parking lot in search of her relief. It was then that she happened to get a glimpse out of the corner of her eye at the young lady at the counter sipping coffee and looking rather dejected as she flipped through her binder.

Katy grew worried when she saw Marylinn freeze and go pale as if she had seen a ghost. She rushed to Marylinn's side and asked her if she were alright. Marylinn seemed to snap out of her surprised and shocked moment when Katy's hand rested on her arm with concern. The older waitress stole a glance at Katy and nodded her head absentmindedly but turned back to look at the young lady at the counter again, more closely. The young lady was... a living ghost as far as Marylinn could discern.

Shaking off the shock and surprise, curiosity and wonder took over and had Marylinn moving closer down the back of the counter to the young woman on the other side, to get a better and closer look. Some premonition or feeling of being scrutinized caused the young woman to look up and see Marylinn across the counter studying her with an amazed and puzzled expression. Somewhat alarmed and now a little anxious, the young woman sat up straighter and looked behind her to see if she was indeed what the older waitress was looking at so closely.

"What... is it? Is something wrong?" She asked Marylinn in a leery voice.

"Oh! I'm sorry... it's just... forgive me, but you look so very much like someone I know... I'm so sorry." Marylinn gushed, shaking herself out of her surprise and shock a bit more, but the curiosity she just couldn't shake.

"I do? Who?" the young lady asked warily, half turning her head and tilting it just a bit as if trying to get a grasp of what Marylinn had just said.

"Um... I mean... sorry... I'm just a little, well... shaken. You do look so much like her, almost exactly like her in fact, well, younger maybe. Forgive me for my lack of manners." Marylinn finally smiled a little sheepishly and stepped closer and extended her hand in greeting before continuing.

"I'm Marylinn, by the way. The woman I saw when I saw you used to work with me here in the diner as a matter of fact. For years and years. I think she started waiting here when she was... well... about your age actually."

Relaxing a little now, the young woman shook Marylinn's hand briefly and went back to her cup of coffee to have something to do with her hands maybe. She dipped her head a bit as if to silently prod Marylinn to further expound on what she had said about looking like her coworker.

"I'm sorry, I'm not from around here, well, recently anyway. Does this woman still work here by any chance?" She asked before sipping at her coffee.

"Sadly, no." Marylinn said quietly and hung her head briefly as the sadness crossed her face before looking back up and smiling again.

"Her name was Gwen. A lovely woman, as nice a person as you'd ever want to meet really. She worked here before I was ever hired actually. I just moved to town about ten years ago and found work here." Marylinn told the young lady.

"You say I look like a younger version of her, is she still working here or has she perhaps retired?" she asked, cocking her head slightly to one side awaiting a response.

"No, unfortunately. She passed away not too long ago. Poor girl had cancer, and they didn't find it soon enough. It was so sad. She had just recently gotten married to her high school sweetheart. It was like a fairy tale come true for her, being alone and single and so sad for many years. They found each other after all those years and fell in love and got married. Only for her to fall ill and die from cancer. It's... it's just not fair." Marylinn expounded. "In fact, her husband... was in just earlier this evening. He often stops in for coffee or a meal."

The young woman had he cup halfway to her lips to take another sip when she froze. Her eyes got a little larger as if a light bulb had just turned on over her head. She set the coffee cup down quickly and flipped a few pages back to the front of the binder in front of her and then looked back up at Marylinn.

"You said her name was... Gwen? As in Gwendolyn? Gwendolyn Jacobs maybe?" She asked in almost a hushed voice, her eyes big and eagerly watching Marylinn's face.

"Y...yes... it was Gwendolyn, but she insisted on everyone calling her Gwen. And her last name was Jacobs, at least until she got married.... Why?" Marylinn asked hesitantly, her mind trying to make sense of the questions and specifics. How did this girl know Gwen's full name?

"Oh my god..." the younger lady almost whispered, then her eyes brightened yet some more, filling with tentative excitement...almost hope.

"My mother's... my... birth mother's name was Gwendolyn Jacobs... I wonder if she could be the same woman?" she added somewhat reverently as if afraid to find out otherwise.

Marylinn just looked at the younger lady, now even more closely and openly studying her features intently. Imagining with her best recollection of memory a younger Gwen. She felt weak in the knees and her heart started beating faster as a cold chill ran up her spine. It wasn't fear, really, it was more like hope and a touch of ironic sadness. Marylinn swallowed to clear her suddenly dry mouth to speak again.

Marylinn turned to Katy and asked her to grab another cup and a couple of pieces of pie, she was going to have a seat in one of the booths. She looked back at the young lady and asked her what kind of pie she liked, and not to worry, it was on the house. Then she came around the counter and led her to an empty booth near the corner where they could be seated and have a deeper conversation. Once seated in the booth across the table from one another, the young lady introduced herself formally.

"My name is Anabell Wendy Larson." She said, this time extending her own hand to shake Marylinn's briefly. Or it would have been briefly except that Marylinn held on to her hand as if reaching out to someone she truly loved and admired and missed so very dearly.

For some reason the younger woman wasn't put off in the least by this lingering touch, in fact it seemed to fill her with a sense of hope. She could see the light and hope in the older woman's eyes as well as what she was feeling in herself.

"As I was saying, my birth mother's name was Gwendolyn Jacobs. She gave me up for adoption right after giving birth to me 24 years ago. According to what records I've been able to uncover after finding out that I was adopted when I turned 18, I was born at the hospital here in town. My mom and dad, my adoptive parents, lived in Illinois, near Chicago actually. I grew up there. They told me after my sixteenth birthday that I was adopted as an infant because they couldn't have children but so desperately wanted them all the same. My mom' sister... my adoptive mom's sister was a nurse at the hospital here and knew of the young woman who was putting her newborn child up for adoption because she couldn't take care of it... of me." Wendy spoke as if reciting from a history book, but with a touch of hopeful emotion.

"Gwen had told me about her having to give up her baby girl when she was very young. It nearly killed her to do so, you must understand that. She didn't throw you away, she wanted only the best chances for you. I don't think she ever quite got over it, giving up her baby." Marylinn professed with shining eyes and a sad smile.

"What was she like?" Wendy asked softly, a lump growing in her own throat.

At that moment, Katy stopped at their booth and set two pieces of lemon meringue pie before them and topped up both Wendy's coffee cup and the one she brought for Marylinn. Sensing that this was a private moment, she smiled and told them to give a shout if they needed anything else, then returned to tending to the other customers. Marylinn smiled at Katy, then back to Wendy with a softer if sadder smile as well.

"Honey, I could spend days telling you about Gwen, but it wouldn't be enough to give you the whole picture of who and what she was like. I can tell you this though, she was beautiful inside and out. All you have to do is look in a mirror and you can see what she looked like. My god, it's uncanny how much you look like her. I don't mean to keep harping on it or scare you, but It's just amazing. You could be her twin, I'm not exaggerating." Marylinn said with a touch of awe still in her voice.

"It's all I can do not to just wrap you up in my arms and hug you tight. I miss her... so very much..." Marylinn's eyes suddenly got huge with wonder and a bit of surprise. She just thought of how someone else might be so profoundly shaken and surprised by how Wendy looked, let alone who she was.

"Oh My God... I know someone else... who could tell you even more about Gwen... your mom." Marylinn whispered in astonishment and awe, covering her mouth with one hand and looking into Wendy's eyes to judge her temperament perhaps.

"Oh? According to the records I was able to find, Gwendolyn Jacobs didn't have any living relatives, her mom passed away almost twenty years ago. Oh wait, you said she had been married recently."

"Yes, her husband, her high school sweetheart, her best friend from childhood, they were very close before he left for the Army after high school. Wendell Anders." Marylinn told her.

Marylinn went on to tell Wendy what Gwen had told her about meeting Wendell in middle school so long ago. He was new to the school having just transferred in after his father was posted to the base. His father, being in the army and being posted all over the world meant that Wendell had moved around a lot prior to moving to town. He had an older brother and sister who were already in college when he started school here.

On his first day of school, he stopped two bullies from picking on Gwen and Gwen confessed to Marylinn that she thought she fell in love with him that very day. She had been a bit of a loner up to that point, having a single mother who could barely make ends meet and keep them both sheltered and fed, Gwen always felt like an outsider. Wendell treated her with respect and kindness and was the best friend she ever had. His family welcomed her and her mother almost as family really. It was this reason she never told Wendell that she thought she loved him, other than as a friend. She was so afraid to lose his friendship.

Apparently as puberty caused her to blossom in high school and other kids took notice of her, especially boys, she let it go to her head. Having never been popular before, she was easily swayed and flattered by boys with less than good intentions. Most girls were still catty towards her and gave her the cold shoulder when not just being polite. Something happened in their senior year, and they grew distant. It may have been partly why Wendell went off to the Army, or it may have been because his father was a soldier, and he felt he needed to follow in his footsteps. Marylinn didn't know enough about any of that to say one way or another, but they did grow apart and they lost touch with each other.

"If you really want to know more about your... about Gwen... you should meet and talk with her husband, Wendell." Marylinn concluded, almost holding her breath.

While she thought it would be helpful for the girl, Wendy, Marylinn was concerned that Wendell might be in for a very serious shock, just as she had been upon seeing Wendy for the first time. Wendy asked where she might find Wendell and when it would be best. Marylinn pulled out her phone and scrolled through her contacts to find Wendell's name. She pulled a pen from her apron and flipped over the back of an order pad and wrote the address on it. Pulling it off she folded it carefully and handed it to Wendy... holding her hand with both hands as she passed the address to her.