The Pocket Watch
The Pocket Watch Chronicles
By
Ceci Giltenan
This is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents and dialogues in this book are of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is completely coincidental.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
The unauthorized reproduction, sharing, or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to five years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.
Copyright 2015 by Ceci Giltenan
www.duncurra.com
ISBN: 978-1-942623-16-8
Produced in the USA
Dedications
To my husband, as always, I can only do this because of you.
To Barbara, thanks for all you do for the authors in this genre—you are the best.
For that reason, the modern setting for this story is your neck of the woods.
I love Florida, but I do miss my favorite diner.
To Kathryn Lynn Davis, my editor, friend and sister through the ages,
I wish it hadn’t taken so long to find you this time.
“Does destiny which may seize upon our existence, and for its own purposes bear us far into the future, never carry us back into the past?”
- Edward Page Mitchell
Chapter 1
The wedding was exactly as Maggie Mitchell had dreamed it would be ever since the moment in high school when she realized she loved Elliott Danvers. It was a breathtakingly beautiful June afternoon. Frothy peonies in varying shades of pink adorned the church. A classical guitarist played Pachelbel’s Canon in D as the wedding party processed.
The flower girl, clearly awed that all eyes were on her, made her way down the aisle with a shy smile on her face. She actually remembered to drop a few petals along the way. The bridesmaid’s dresses, simple and chic, were the most beautiful shade of periwinkle imaginable, somewhere between lavender and blue.
The wedding gown was perfection.
When the last bridesmaid reached the altar, the guitarist switched to Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring. Elliott turned and looked down the aisle. He was devastatingly handsome in his tux. Tall, slender, with thick blond hair and twinkling blue eyes, he appeared awestruck, but only for a moment. As soon as he recovered, his face split into a wide grin and he winked.
Yes, this was exactly the wedding Maggie had always imagined, with one exception. In all of her dreams, she was the bride and that wink was for her.
Elliott was a year older than her and they had known each other forever. He lived across the street and, growing up, they spent practically every waking minute together. As children, Elliott had been her best friend. When they grew older, after she let him steal the first kiss, he was her boyfriend. Her first kiss, her first dance, her first real date, were all with Elliott. By the time they were in high school together, they were inseparable. Maggie’s younger sister Paige even referred to Elliott as “Maggie’s husband”.
Elliott graduated from high school a year before Maggie. He went to Georgetown University to study computer science but assured her they wouldn’t be apart long.
“You apply for early action to the nursing department. Your grades and test scores are great. You won’t have any problem getting in.”
Just as he had predicted, the early action letter came in December. She remembered wanting to tell him in person but she had been so excited, it took every bit of will power she possessed to keep from texting him the news. The day he was due home for winter break, she stayed glued to the window all evening, watching for his car. When she saw it, she ran down the stairs and out the door almost before he had turned the engine off.
“I’m in, I’m in!” she squealed, waving the letter at him.
He lifted her into his arms and spun her around. “That’s brilliant, sweetheart, I knew you’d get in. It’ll be great.”
And it would have been, but Maggie didn’t go to Georgetown that fall. Eventually Elliott fell in love with another girl and his new love, Amanda, was the beautiful bride now.
What on earth had possessed Maggie to subject herself to this torture?
Well the answer to that was easy.
Elliott.
When the invitation came, she had managed to ignore it for quite a while. After all, it had been addressed to Dr. Edward Mitchell and family so she figured her dad should be the one to decline. Maggie had acidulously avoided all of the Danvers. When she did happen to see one of them in passing, she smiled, waved and called some version of “I’m running late. I’ll see you later.” But one evening she had been unable to elude Elliott. He must have been lying in wait for her to come home from work, because as soon as she got out of the car, he was there.
“Hey Mags, it’s good to see you. You haven’t been around much recently.”
“I guess I haven’t been. I’ve been taking a few extra shifts.”
“That explains the dark circles under your eyes. You drive yourself too hard, Maggie. You always have.”
She forced a smile. “Maybe. Look Elliott, I’m tired and it’s been a long day so…I’ll see you later, okay?”
“Yeah, you should get some rest. But, I was just wondering…Mom said she hasn’t gotten an RSVP from you all yet.”
“Oh.” God what could she say? She definitely couldn’t say what was on the tip of her tongue, I have no intention of watching the man I love marry someone else. She settled for “Uh…Dad must have misplaced the invitation. You know how scattered he can be. I’ll ask him to let her know…the next time I see him.”
“But you all will be coming, right?”
“Um…Dad’s really busy at work. He has been going into the lab Saturdays and even most Sundays. And Paige has a job in Salisbury for the summer, so she isn’t coming home.”
“But you’ll come?”
Hell no. “I don’t know, Elliott. The schedule at work hasn’t been posted yet. I may not be able to get off.”
That was a lie. She was off. The schedule was posted quarterly and had been up weeks ago. If it hadn’t been, she would have made a request to work on the day of the wedding, ensuring she would have an excuse to decline the invitation.
“Come on Mags,” he wheedled, “even if you are scheduled, you can get someone to trade shifts with you. Everyone loves you. Please say you’ll come to the wedding. You’ve been my best friend forever. You have to be there. Tell me you will.”
“I…well…um,” she looked into the handsome face of the golden boy she had always loved and couldn’t form the word, no. “Well, I guess so.”
His face lit with the megawatt smile that made her weak in the knees. “Great. I’ll let Mom and Amanda know. See you later Mags. Get some rest.” He turned away and jogged back across the street to his parent’s home as easily as he had left her nearly two years ago.
So, here on this fine June day, she sat in utter agony—still heartbroken.
She went through the motions of Mass, focusing all of her energy on trying not to burst into tears. When it was over, she plastered a smile on her face as the happy couple came down the aisle. She steeled herself to get through the receiving line gracefully and finally made it to the solitude of her car.
This had been a colossal mistake and she would not compound it by going to the reception. She’d make up some e
xcuse later but for now, she needed to be alone. She started the car, intending to head home but she hadn’t even left the parking lot when she realized the only thing worse than going to the reception would be going home. She didn’t want to face the gloom that lingered there. She could take a quick drive to the shore, but it was really too late in the afternoon. Then it came to her. There was a beautiful sculpture garden a few miles away where she could escape for a while.
She had arrived, paid the entrance fee and was wandering the grounds in minutes. It had been ages since she had been here. She had forgotten what a lovely place it was, and it was a perfectly beautiful day for this.
A perfectly beautiful day.
Another searing pain sliced through her as she remembered other perfect days. Her mother loved the sculpture gardens and while it wasn’t exactly the most exciting place for kids to go, her mom had always made it fun.
Maggie realized there were ghosts everywhere and now she was fairly sure she wouldn’t be able to keep the tears at bay. Perhaps it was best to find a quiet spot and have a good cry. She made her way to a little elevated pavilion overlooking the lily pond. Thankfully the pavilion was empty. She sat on one of the benches, put her head in her hands and gave in to her tears.
She wasn’t sure how long she had been there, but she was slowly regaining control when a very elderly woman climbed the stairs.
“Do ye mind if I sit with ye lass?” She had a lovely voice with the hint of a Scottish burr.
Maggie swiped at the tears on her cheeks. “No, of course not. Please, sit down.”
“Tis a beautiful place and a perfect day.”
Maggie swallowed hard. “Yes, it is.”
The old woman pinned her with a look. “Then why are ye sobbing as if yer heart will never mend?”
Maggie gave her a sad half-smile. “Because I’m not sure it ever will.”
“Ye’re barely more than a child. Why would ye say that?
“It’s a very long story and I don’t want to ruin anyone else’s day.”
“Well now, lass, I have nothing but time and you look like ye could use a sympathetic ear. Tell me what’s botherin’ ye.”
“You don’t want to hear my problems.”
“I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t want to hear what’s in yer heart.”
Actually, Maggie was tempted by the idea of unburdening herself to a stranger. Someone who she would never see again. “If you’re sure you don’t mind, I think…I think I would feel better if I could talk about it.”
“I’m certain ye would and as I said, I have nothing but time.”
Maggie launched into the story about loving Elliott forever and their plans for college until she reached the point where she was accepted at Georgetown.
“So, lass, it sounds like everything was heading just the direction ye wanted it to. What happened?”
“The spring before I graduated from high school, my mother became ill. She had advanced ovarian cancer and had to start treatments.”
“Och, sweetling, I am so sorry. That must have been hard on the whole family.”
Maggie nodded. “It was. I tried to do everything I could to help. I cooked and did the laundry. I made sure my little sister Paige was staying on top of her school work. I drove her to school and to her activities.”
“That is a lot of responsibility for a girl of, what, seventeen?”
“Eighteen.”
“Where was yer da?”
Maggie sighed heavily. “My dad is…well he’s brilliant. He’s a theoretical physicist and a professor in the physics department at Princeton University. But he has never been good at handling a crisis, or for that matter even the mildly unexpected. He immediately slipped into a state of denial, burying himself in his work.”
“So he allowed his child to manage things?” The old woman looked askance. “Did ye have no help? Other family members? Friends?”
“I don’t have any other family, but Elliott was my salvation. He came home every other weekend and did whatever he could. His mother helped a lot too. She’d make us dinner and drive Mom to appointments when I was at school.”
The old woman nodded approvingly.
“But by May, Mom’s condition worsened. The treatments were hard on her. She had to be hospitalized several times because of infections and to make matters worse, she wasn’t responding to the chemo.”
“Ah, poor lass. I expect I know what happened next. Ye decided not to go away to university.”
Maggie nodded. “I postponed it for a while. I knew I wasn’t going to have much time left with her.”
“And yer dream of being a nurse?”
“I enrolled at the local community college. I only took a few courses that fall. I didn’t want to over extend myself with my mom so ill.”
“And yer young man? Did he still come home to help ye?”
“Some, but not as much. He said his course load was heavier and I’m sure it was.”
The old woman’s eyes narrowed. “I suppose.”
“He came home at Christmas of course and was still here when my mother passed away that January. Paige was distraught. Dad was…was…adrift. I couldn’t have gotten through it without Elliott. I guess I was so caught up in my own grief I didn’t notice the change in him.”
“I’m so sorry, lass.”
Maggie nodded again, swallowing against the lump rising in her throat. She had cried enough for one day. When she regained her control she continued. “With mom gone, I poured myself into school. It was a welcome distraction. I guess in that I was a bit like my dad.”
“And Elliott?”
“He came home at spring break. I had the vague sense that something was amiss but I didn’t try to figure it out. When summer came, Elliott finally told me he had fallen in love with someone else and had been dating her since the fall.”
The old woman’s brows drew together and she pursed her lips in obvious disapproval.
Maggie gave her a wry smile. “I know, right? He hadn’t wanted to tell me when things were so bad with Mom.” She shook her head, “He said, ‘Mags, you know I’ll always love you, it’s just different with Amanda. But you’ll always be my best friend.’”
“Och, lass…”
Maggie shrugged, “I didn’t understand how he could believe that. I still don’t.”
“Sweetling, it was the way he kept himself from feeling like the total arse he was.”
Maggie smiled at the old woman. “No one has ever said that. I have heard everything from, ‘high school crushes seldom last’ to ‘well it’s good you can stay friends.’”
“Bah—ye’ve been talking to the wrong people. I expect yer mama would have called an arse an arse.”
Tears welled in Maggie’s eyes. “You know, I’ve never thought about it, but you’re right—she would have.”
“So did you finally go to university in the fall?”
“No. Dad and Paige still needed me. She was only a junior in high school and he remained buried in multiverse theory. But I finished the nursing program at the community college. In Paige’s senior year I took a job at a local hospital. Then when I took Paige on college visits, I found a great program at Villanova for registered nurses who want to get a bachelor’s degree. It’s not so far away, so I would have been around some for Dad. They don’t take many students but I got into it.”
“Well done. And was Paige going to Villanova too?”
Maggie chuckled. “No. She went to Salisbury University in Maryland last fall. She said she was tired of Catholic schools. But the truth is, she was totally committed to going there as soon as she learned she could take glass blowing.” Maggie rolled her eyes.
“Glass blowing? Ye aren’t serious.”
Maggie laughed. “She is a bit of a brat and just to goad Dad, she kept telling him she wanted to major in art.”
“Oh my.”
“Some kids rebel by drinking or staying out late but not my sister. Art is her vice. Frankly I think Dad could have h
andled underage drinking much better. But in the end she admitted that she wanted to major in finance…and perhaps art too.” Maggie grinned.
“So she went to Salisbury and you went to Villanova?”
Maggie sobered. “No.”
“Och, not again. What happened?”
Maggie sighed. “One evening in April I found Dad sitting at the picnic table in the back yard, crying.”
The old woman frowned. “Why?”
“There wasn’t enough money. Money had never been an issue before. We had always been very comfortable but apparently when Mom had been ill things got bad. She no longer had an income and most of their savings went to pay medical bills. He said he didn’t have enough money to send both of us. He had apparently been trying to get loans but was denied. Mom had always handled the finances and Dad hadn’t been particularly good at paying the bills on time after she died. His credit rating tanked.”
“Oh dear.”
“I told him I might be able to manage without his help. I had been saving my wages and I figured I could stay working and get student loans.” Maggie looked away for a moment before continuing. “But as it turns out, our finances were even worse than he had let on. When he said he didn’t have the money to send both of us, what he meant was he didn’t have the money to send either of us.”
“Ah, I see. Ye gave up on yer dream so Paige could go to university and ye could help yer da financially.”
“I didn’t exactly give up on my dream…”
“But ye helped Paige go to university.”
“It seemed like the right thing to do. I am already a nurse and I’ll get my bachelor’s degree someday. I remembered how excited I had been about going away to college before Mom got sick and I wanted Paige to have that. I wanted things to feel normal for her.”
The old woman took Maggie’s hand in hers patting it. “Ye’re a good lass.”
They sat in silence for a moment before the old woman said. “Now ye’ve told me the story. But it seems all of this happened some time ago. Something happened to open the wounds again. Why were ye crying today?”
The Pocket Watch Page 1