Marissa Duell
February 10, 2021 6:21 PM
One thank-you note out of several. by Marissa Duell
Marissa was given to dwelling, worrying in loops about uncontrollable and doubts – it was a constitutional flaw of hers. When one had a house and a husband and a child (or two), however, there was precious little time for such ruminations and usually even less use for them, which had led her more practical leanings to conclude that she must find something to help her break it off when necessary. Or, preferably, several somethings, distinct ones for different occasions plus backups in case a usually effective thing for some reason, in some circumstance, failed to work properly.Movement was one of the things she had landed on, and one of her most frequent go-tos. Therefore, assured somewhat by her visit with Valentine but still deeply concerned and plagued by ‘what-ifs’, she threw herself into practical actions.
Much of that action involved Val more or less directly – making and mailing her some of the favorite treats, assessing the house for any other comfort objects she thought her daughter might like, buying her some easy-reading books and games that could be played in bed, to while away the hours of convalescence both in and out of the hospital wing. That done, and packed up with a new stuffed animal because she couldn’t help herself, she had then gotten on to the writing tasks before her. Two thank-you notes had gone out to members of the staff: one thanking Professor Skies yet again for being so accommodating and helpful, and the second to Healer Willow, for taking good care of her girl. Then she had sent another note off to the increasingly familiar Professor Xavier, a carefully and politely worded please to please keep an eye on Val and to let Marissa know if she started to seem something less than fine – she left unspoken her worry that Val might try to misrepresent the situation to keep Marissa from worrying about her, but she suspected that she didn’t need to speak it for the message to get across.
Then came the more personal communications. She generally made time to write to Giselle at least once a week, and though she had already thanked her sister-in-law and asked her to come home one weekend so Marissa could further thank her with pancakes and anything else she might like, she reiterated it all in the next missive. Once that was done, she came to Bonabelle Row.
She could not, of course, prove that Bonabelle had saved Val’s life – that things wouldn’t have worked out somehow without the other girl’s intervention at that time – but she couldn’t see that it mattered, and furthermore, her gut still told her that Bonabelle had done exactly that. There was no way Marissa could repay her for that; all she could do was express gratitude as well as she could. Therefore, she contacted the same florist she’d used for the past two years to send Val flowers on her birthday, this time to send Bonabelle a bouquet. At the same time, from her own house, she sent a basket of the kinds of cookies they’d all baked together when Bonabelle had visited over the summer along with a third thank-you note.
Bonabelle,
‘Thank you’ is hardly enough to say – Mr. Duell and I are forever grateful to you for helping Val after her accident, and for being such a good friend to her these past two years. If there is anything we can ever do for you, please never hesitate to ask.
Thank you,
Marissa Duell
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Marissa Duell
One thank-you note out of several.
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