Mother Mary Margaret had rented two stretch airporter vans for the day of Alex’s graduation. All of the nuns were going and they were very excited as they climbed into the vans, with Sister Tommy driving one, and one of the older nuns the other. They had their tickets, and would occupy a full row in the auditorium. Alex was dressing in the dorm, and they wouldn’t see her until the procession. They were so proud of her. It was one of the most thrilling days of Alex’s life, and the Buchanans were coming too. Elena was still working for a family in New York, and her contact with Alex had dwindled to a Christmas card every year to stay in touch. Alex hadn’t seen her in many years. When she had tried to see her the summer she worked in New York, Elena was in Martha’s Vineyard with her employers, which was disappointing.
It was a beautiful day as the family and friends of the graduates took their seats in the Robsham Theater at the College of Arts and Sciences. The nuns could hardly sit still as they chatted, waiting for the procession to start. And then they saw her coming down the long aisle, with her classmates, in pairs, to take their seats and claim their diplomas. The nuns cheered even louder than they had at her high school graduation, and the graduates let out a whoop and a roar as they threw their mortarboards in the air after the ceremony. It was a very special day.
The Buchanans invited all of them to the Chart House, with harbor views in the city’s oldest dock building, for lunch afterward. Alex was beaming, and each of the nuns hugged her and had a photograph taken with her. In the end, she had grown up with twenty-six mothers instead of one, and it had served her well. She was a happy, balanced person, and even though she still missed her father, she had been loved and well taken care of for more than seven years. She was twenty-two years old, and Bill congratulated her and was stunned by how much she was paid for the advance for her last books. It was a major achievement, and added to what her father had left her, she would be safe for a long time.
Alex had invited Bert to come to the ceremony too, but he said he didn’t want to put on a suit, and would drink a glass of wine, or possibly rum, to her health and future success at the appointed time. She would have liked to have him there, but he said ceremonies made him uncomfortable.
By the time they got back to the convent late that afternoon after lunch, Alex was exhausted. She had thanked the Buchanans for everything, kissed and hugged all the nuns, returned her rented gown, kept the tassel from her hat as a souvenir, and set her diploma in its leather case down on her desk. It was a landmark in her life. She had graduated. And her dream now was to travel around Europe, in France and Italy. The nuns were nervous about it, but Mother MaryMeg had discussed it at length with Sister Tommy, who had convinced her to let Alex go. She had to try her wings. And she wasn’t short of money, so she could stay in decent hotels in good neighborhoods. Both women thought she could take care of herself and would be safe. She was sensible and not given to high-risk behavior. She was leaving for Rome in a week, and she could hardly wait.
She was lying on her bed, thinking about the day, when there was a soft knock on the door, and Sister Regina slipped into the room. She had been looking better lately. She’d gained back a little weight and seemed more serene. She came and sat down on the foot of Alex’s bed and smiled at her.
“We were so proud of you today.” They always were, and Alex smiled back at her.
“It was great.” It had been everything she had always dreamed of and more. And the only one missing was her father.
“There’s something I have to tell you,” Sister Regina began cautiously. Mother Mary Margaret had asked her to wait to tell Alex, so it wouldn’t distract her from graduation. She didn’t want anything to spoil it for her, in case Alex was upset by the news. But this time, Alex guessed before she said it.
“You’re leaving?” Her longtime friend nodded, with tears in her eyes, but they were tears of emotion, and not regret. She had taken years to decide and mull it over, and she knew she was doing the right thing. Alex wasn’t surprised and knew how hard the decision had been for her.
“I have to. If I don’t, I’ll always regret it, and life will pass me by. Mother MaryMeg says I can come back if I want to. I’m not being banished or anything, or excommunicated. I just need to try life outside for a while, and see if it’s for me. Maybe I’ll come back with my tail between my legs, but if I don’t do it, I’ll feel cheated forever. It’s as if you had never tried to write a book. You need that to be who you are, and I want to try to have a regular life with a husband and kids, if God decides that’s what I should have.” It made sense to Alex, and she thought it was the best decision, and she hoped Regina found what she was looking for out in the world. If she wanted kids, she should have them.
“Where will you live?”
“I got an apartment, with a roommate, it’s very small. And I have a job, teaching at a public school in South Boston. I start at the end of August. I’ll stay here till July, and then I’ll move out and get settled.” Regina felt like this was her last chance to have the life she had dreamed of.
“Do the others know?”
“Not yet. You’re the first one I’ve told. We decided a month ago. Mother has been very kind.” And then she looked at Alex sadly. “Will you stay in touch?” They had been friends for seven and a half years, and Regina had watched Alex grow up from a young teenager to a woman, and had seen her develop her talent. Regina wanted to write a book too, a novel, about a nun leaving the convent, although she knew she didn’t have Alex’s gift, but she had a story to tell, even if she only wrote one book. “But hopefully no one gets murdered in mine.”
They both laughed and hugged each other, and Alex promised she’d write to her from Europe.
“How long will you be gone?”
“I don’t know,” Alex said. “I have nothing to rush back for. I want to travel for a couple of months. I’ll be back in the fall. I want to start a new book then. But I can write while I’m away too.”
“Well, come and see me when you get back.”
Both of them were excited when they talked about their respective plans that afternoon, and sat on Alex’s bed until dinnertime.