by Geeta Kakade
Christy picked up the third journal. “The is our grandmother Brianna’s who tells how angry Grandpa Stephen was when my Dad married mother especially as she wouldn’t come back here. Then later when their youngest son Brian fell in love with a dancer from Reno that was the last straw. Grandpa had wanted him to marry a rich landowner’s daughter from Miner’s Rock. When Uncle Brian married Aunt Lucy Grandpa Stephen went on a rampage. Then after the final meeting with Uncle Brian when he refused to leave Aunt Lucy, Grandpa threw out all his clothes and started burning all the photographs with him or Jacob in them saying he had no sons. Then he started burning all the other photographs in the house saying there was no one to carry on the line and it didn’t matter what they kept. He said he was going to sell all the family jewelry too so that they never got any of it. Grandma Brianna was so afraid she hid whatever she could in this box and put it in the secret cubby hole hoping Stephen would not remember the place. She says she packed everything valuable in the house away. When Grandpa Stephen asked her about her jewelry she said she had given all her things to their daughters Agnes and Victoria who were both in Canada with their army husbands. Grandpa forbade Grandma to talk about Jake or Brian to him and said they were dead as far as he was concerned.
He died six months later at the end of 1991 from a heart attack and Grandma passed away a year later. Her last entry before her death was she hoped the boys would come home and reclaim their inheritance. Agnes our grand aunt, she said, had been sent a letter with all the details about the things her mother had hidden.”
“For some reason the letter was lost,” Bridget continued when Laurel paused for breath. “Grand Aunt Agnes and Grand Aunt Victoria and their husbands had decided to retire in Canada and the house and Cupid Lodge was closed up till Uncle Jake returned in 1993. No one ever touched the box again.”
“Any other bricks out of place?” asked Mark with a smile. “Andrew and I could retire early on the stuff we find here. Got to go over this house with a fine tooth comb.”
“Maybe the garden has some buried treasure,” suggested Andrew.
“With the amount of digging Toby and the dogs do, any treasure buried outside would have shown up by now,” Bridget retorted. “You both can’t give up your day jobs yet. Christy has plans for the stuff.”
They went through the photographs next. Christy had wanted to wait till Mark and Andrew got back before going through the packets.
She picked up one from the bottom of the pile and got a surprise.
It had Phillip and Agnes 1850 printed neatly on the back.
Turning it over she stared at it before handing it to Bridget.
Christy was so excited she could barely get her words out. “I’ve always wanted to find a picture of them and now I have.”
“She looks like you,” said Mark surprised when it was his turn to look at the picture. “She has a different hair style of course but her features are the same. I wouldn’t be surprised if she was a blue eyed blonde dynamo too who wouldn’t let her husband retire.”
They all laughed.
Christy picked up the second photograph from the bottom and stared at it. It showed a young girl in an Indian dress with a bead headband standing next to an old woman also in traditional attire. Agnes Cupid stood between the two women.
“White Feather!” Christy and Bridget said in unison.
Turning it over they looked at the caption on the back. Laughing Water, the woman who helped deliver Jacob safely in 1851 and her granddaughter White Feather. The date was 1866. Jacob took this picture with the camera his grandfather sent him.
“That’s the year before Jacob left Silver Lake,” Bridget noted the date on her iPhone.
“We have to give this to Jacob,” Christy slipped it into one of the plastic sleeves carefully.
“Have you spoken to him since you found the missing half of the pendant?” asked Andrew.
Bridget shook her head. “His car was gone when we came back from our walk yesterday. Christy and I had dinner up here and this afternoon Laurel said he was working in his study and she took a tray to him.”
Christy looked at Mark worriedly. “It must be so hard for him to accept what happened all those years ago. Bridget and I have no idea what to say to him to make him feel better. We’re glad you’re back and can come up with something brilliant to tell him that will let him know we are terribly sorry for what happened.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Mark put an arm around her shoulders. “Andrew and I will talk to him. Jacob’s one of the most level headed people we know and he’ll counsel himself through this. And us for that matter. You’ll see.”
“The six of us are having dinner here tonight,” Christy told them. “The Kemps are going to Miner’s Rock to a mystery dinner and magic show and Moira said Holt had convinced her to go too. Frank’s sleeping over at a friend’s so they can work on their social studies project together. The group from Texas said they were heading to the casinos and wouldn’t be back till late.”
“Let’s get back to the photographs or we won’t be done by dinner time,” Andrew reminded them, “and I can’t wait to see them all.”
Every generation that followed had faithfully taken a wedding photograph so there were pictures of aunts and uncles with so many greats in front of their names that everyone got confused.
“I’ll do a collage on the computer, like a family tree but with photographs and the dates on them instead and then we’ll have a visual and not have to remember everything,” Andrew offered.
“Thanks,” Christy said. “That will be a big help.”
Luckily people had put names on the back of all the photographs meticulously. On some the writing was small and faint and Mark got a magnifying glass to read them.
The next photograph that surprised them was of a young man and a boy about ten years old standing together by the fireplace. Jake 18 and Brian 8 said the inscription on the back.
Christy and Bridget stared at it, tears in both their eyes.
The former knew exactly whom Jacob’s intent look reminded her of. It was her father Jake. He had the same exact way of looking at people.
“You keep it,” Christy offered with her customary generosity.
“I can’t take it,” protested Bridget. “It’s the only picture you have of your father at that age.”
“We’ll make a copy of it,” Andrew told them both. “There are stores that have these machines that make good digital copies and that way we don’t have to let the photograph out of our sight. If that doesn’t come out good I’ll get the photo software Laurel’s been mentioning and scan it using that. It’s known to produce great reproductions.”
“Good idea,” said Mark. “Then you can each have a copy.”
They went through the rest of the pictures. Christy hoped they would find another one of Bridget’s Dad but there were none. She finished putting the pictures back in the tin box and looked up to see why everyone was so quiet.
Mark looked up from the brooch he was examining to see Christy motion with her head. He turned to see Andrew and Bridget looking at each other intently. He nodded and he and Christy stepped out of the room to give them some time together.
Christy and Mark went up to the attic and he held his arms out as soon as the door was closed.
She flew into them and as he dropped a kiss on the top of her head he said, “It’s amazing the things you keep finding in this house isn’t it?”
Christy nodded. “I wish you and Andrew had been here yesterday when Laurel found the cubby hole. It’s surreal; almost as if someone wants the things to be found at a particular time and then we discover them.”
“A guardian angel perhaps?” Mark teased.
A shutter banged suddenly making them both jump.
“I think so,” Christy sounded serious.
“I’ve missed you,” Mark looked at her. She looked really tired.
“Same here,” Christy held him close. “ I want you to promise me something.”
“What?” asked Mark.
“When we have children we will never forget we love them no matter whom they choose to marry. It might be very hard but we’ve got to hold on to our love for them even if their choices are different from what we want from them.”
“You’re thinking of the first Jacob and White Feather.”
“And Bridget’s parents,” added Christy. “Both Brian and Jacob suffered because of their father’s rigid way of dealing with the fact they didn’t approve of whom they fell in love with. Promise me you won’t be like that.”
He searched her face. “Agreed but I didn’t know we were thinking of having children just yet.”
“Not just yet,” Christy rested her head on his chest, “but soon.”
He hugged her.
“Practice makes perfect”, he said solemnly.
“And no one gets in as much practice as you do,” Christy retorted smiling up at him, secure in his love.
Jacob and Laurel arrived punctually at six for dinner. Laurel had the first journal with her and another book that looked like an old Bible.
“That color suits you,” Bridget admired the yellow sweater Laurel had on with the embroidered collar.
“Thanks,” Laurel felt Jacob’s gaze on her. He had come out of the study as she finished emptying the contents of the box her aunt had sent her, to shower and change but he still seemed awfully quiet.
“I have something to show you all too,” Laurel said after they were all seated in the living room, drinks in hand. If the others were surprised by the conversational lead she took they didn’t show it.
“My Aunt Grace sent me a box of my things amongst which was this Bible.” She took it out of the bag she’d brought it over in. “It’s dated 1868 and belonged to Martha Cupid who married Jacob Cupid when he graduated from medical school.”
“Martha was Jacob’s second wife,” said Bridget. “It says so in the first journal.”
“Yes it does,” confirmed Christy. “Jacob and Martha only visited Cupid Lodge once every year in the summer after they were married. It was their son James who returned to live here.”
“Ever since Martha married the first Jacob,” continued Laurel, “every wedding in the family, every birth and death has been recorded meticulously in this Bible. Aunt Grace thought it was time I had it and in it she’s put in some old photographs she found. She said they were all with my parent’s things and she’s been going through the stuff again now that Uncle Theo’s in the nursing home. “ She opened the Bible to the first page where people usually recorded family events like birth, marriage and deaths.
“James married Victoria in 1909. They enlarged Cupid Lodge and had seven children. Their oldest son Matthew had two sons and two daughters. Stephen, your grandfather, was the older son who remained at Cupid Lodge. The younger son Eric joined the Army, married and settled in Greene County. He was my great grandfather.”
“We’re second cousins,” Christy clapped. “Welcome to the family.”
“I’m so glad your Aunt Grace found the Bible,” Bridget’s smile was huge. “It’s a miracle.”
They turned to Jacob and an expectant silence fell as they waited for him to say something about the discovery of the missing half of his pendant.
He cleared his throat. “My grandmother’s known about my relationship to the family for quite some time. It’s a story that’s been passed down with every detail through the ages. She told me the story again when she found out I would be here for a while now.”
“You never said anything about your family originally being from these parts.” Mark said.
“What was the point of it?” Jacob asked. “Even this new discovery is all part of history now. We aren’t born to address past grievances only learn from them and make the world a better place to live in.”
“You are part of this family now and we are so glad,” Christy’s statement was followed by a murmur of assent from the others.
“I acknowledge our connection but want nothing but the friendship I already have from all of you.”
“So the pendant didn’t really make a big difference to you?” Andrew asked.
“No except it is final proof that Jacob and White Feather loved each other and I am their descendant. My grandmother was tremendously excited and she would love to visit Cupid Lodge one day and see the woods where Jacob and White Feather met every day for a year.” He turned to Laurel. “She asked why I hadn’t brought you and I said you would come next time.”
“Is she better?” asked Laurel.
“Yes.”
“Cupid Lodge is as much your inheritance as it is Bridget’s and mine,” Christy said. “Please tell your grandmother she is welcome to come and spend as much time as she wants to with us.”
“She will love that,” Jacob took a big sip of his Scotch.
Laurel was so proud of him that she felt all choked up inside. From the look on Christy and Bridget’s faces she knew they had worried about his reaction and were overjoyed. Trust Jacob to reduce everything to a sensible conclusion.
“Ama really is a grand lady,” Laurel told them, “and she has this uncanny knack for seeing into one’s mind.”
“I have something she might like,” Christy went over to the mantelpiece and came back with the photograph of Agnes Cupid with White Feather and her grandmother and placed it in Jacob’s hands. Laurel went and stood by his chair to look at it over his shoulder.
“Let me take a closer look,” she requested and Jacob handed it to her.
She looked at it under the bright light of the floor lamp close by and then at them.
“White Feather’s grandmother is the spitting image of Jacob’s grandmother,” she said finally. “ Christy you take after Agnes Cupid. This is amazing.”
Her voice shook and Jacob looked at her sharply. Andrew interpreted that look correctly, “It’s just been an amazing day. Bridget found a photo of her father when he was ten and Christy’s Dad was eighteen. Laurel traced her roots through the family Bible her aunt sent her and Jacob has reassured us all that he’s not angry over what happened in the past. One fact is clear. We are all related now. The second fact is I don’t know about you all but all these discoveries have made me ravenous. Can we please eat now and talk later?”
Everyone laughed and the women headed to the kitchen saying everything was ready and it would just take five minutes to get the food on the table.
After dinner while the men washed the dishes, Christy looked at Laurel and said, “Is Jacob really not upset?”
Laurel shook her head and said, “I thought he was when he left suddenly like that yesterday afternoon and he’s been in his study all day but I should have known he can reduce even the most complex situations into ordinary ones with his special slant on life.”
“Tell us something more about his grandmother,” asked Christy.
“Ama’s very down to earth. I think Jacob’s picked up on her way of looking at life and combining harmony of mind and spirit for ultimate well being.”
“He’s very Zen,” agreed Bridget. “Andrew said he’d helped him with a problem once and in an hour Jacob’s thought process had reduced Andrew’s load of guilt over his joining up against his Aunt and Uncle’s wishes to nothing.”
“He has this knack for discovering people’s problems and when he first got attached to Mark and Andrew’s battalion, he helped Mark understand his Mother’s behavior after his father died. Mark started talking with his mother for the first time in years,” Christy told Laurel as Bridget went to the pantry to get the dessert. The men had disappeared into the garage. “We met her last year in Chicago and she and Mark spent a great deal of time together. I’m glad they’re friends again.”
They followed Bridget into the kitchen.
“What’s that?” asked Christy when she saw what Bridget was carrying in. “It’s not one of the Christmas cakes is it?”
Bridget nodded guiltily but with a smile. “I just can’t wait to try a piece
and it’s only a few weeks early. Moira won’t mind as she isn’t here.”
Christy went to get some dessert plates and forks from the hutch in the dining room saying good cake deserved nothing but the best plates and Bridget said, “Mrs. Kemp and Moira made these last month following a recipe for wedding cakes in one of the cookbooks and wrapped them in rum soaked muslin and then in waxed paper. I don’t know if you like fruitcakes but this is the best. I had it for my wedding cake and we’ve saved a piece for our first anniversary.”
Laurel kept quiet and Bridget said, “I’m sorry. That was tactless of me.”
Laurel looked at her surprised, “Oh no! Don’t mind me. It doesn’t matter that I can’t remember if I liked fruitcake. We’ll soon find out won’t we?”
She laughed and Christy asked what they were laughing about as she walked in.
They told her as they put the plates on the counter and served generous pieces on everyone’s plates but Laurel’s. She picked up a fork and tried a bit and her taste buds were overwhelmed by a flood of gastronomic richness laced with the hint of rum.
Laurel closed her eyes. “Mmmm. I think I like this cake very much. A piece of this every night and I won’t need my sleeping medicine.”
“I think an affinity to this cake runs in our genes,” Christy picked up the coffee pot and a plate of cake. “I’m so grateful to Grandma Christabel for writing all the family recipes down in a cookbook and that Bridget’s got her genes for turning out amazing cakes.”
Bridget followed with three more plates on a tray and Laurel brought up the rear with another tray with two plates and the rest of the cake on it and some cream and sugar.
“I’m going to bed if you’ll excuse me,” Laurel said a little later.
Jacob looked at her as the men got to their feet. “Tired?” he asked.
“A little,” she said unwilling for him to read the real reason she wanted to get back. “I’m going to read for a bit.”