by Cege Smith
“Kevin,” she said urgently to the softly snoring figure on the other couch. Kevin didn’t stir.
“Kevin!” she said a bit louder.
Kevin shifted and turned toward her. “Ellie?” he said. His voice was thick with sleep. “What’s the matter?”
“Did you find anything in that box that said Joseph and Lillian had family here?” she asked.
“What are you talking about, Ellie?” he asked, wiping the sleep from his eyes.
“I had that strange dream again. It wasn’t the same dream, but it was the same people,” she said. She quickly went over the highlights of her dream.
Kevin’s look told her that he thought she might have drunk too much wine.
“I’m not crazy, and I swear this doesn’t feel like a projection of my grief or any other psychobabble like that,” she said.
“Aren’t you the one who was telling me earlier that you don’t believe in this kind of stuff?’ Kevin asked.
“Yes,” Ellie said reluctantly. “Maybe I am just dreaming all of it. But Kevin, it just felt so real. I can’t explain it. But I have this feeling in my gut that whatever happened to the Bradfords, this Emma was part of it.”
“So you are seeing ghosts and reliving memories in your dreams?”
Ellie could tell that he didn’t believe her. “Let’s just go with the hypothesis for now that I am getting information somehow in a way that isn’t immediately explainable, and see what we can find out,” she said.
“How do you suggest we do that?” Kevin asked.
Ellie paused. “That newspaper article came from the paper. We can start there. Dig up some old newspapers and see what we can find. If Lillian did have a pregnant sister and she gave birth here, then there would be a birth notice or something, right?”
“I would guess so,” Kevin said reluctantly.
“We might find some other articles on what actually happened to the Bradfords too,” Ellie said.
“Going all Nancy Drew after all, huh?” Kevin said with a wry smile.
“Hey, you’re the one who said that I should find something to distract me from what’s been happening,” Ellie said.
“I just didn’t know that would mean your attention would be focused on something you’re literally dreaming up,” Kevin replied.
“Beggars can’t be choosers,” she argued. “I didn’t mean to wake you, by the way. I just couldn't wait to tell you about this.”
“That’s okay. Crazy lady.” he winked at her.
“Let’s get some sleep. I’m going to keep the coffee shop closed for the next few days,” she said. “Out of respect for Jake.”
“I wonder if this makes me a Hardy boy,” Kevin joked.
Ellie lay back down and closed her eyes. She wondered if her dreams would take her back to that time long ago. Thankfully, they did not.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
The next morning found Ellie and Kevin at the downtown branch of the Hennepin County Library.
“How does this work again?” Ellie asked Kevin for the third time.
Kevin rolled his eyes. “Ellie, I don’t know how you’ve managed all this time without figuring out how to use modern technology.”
Ellie shrugged. “I have told you that I prefer the regular old forms of communication.”
“Here, let me do it,” Kevin sighed.
Ellie switched chairs with him so that he was facing the computer terminal instead. Kevin pulled up a search engine and typed “Joseph Bradford.” Instantly there were several hits, and they scrolled through them.
“These all look like they have to do with his business dealings,” Ellie commented.
“Nothing newer than the early 1900s it looks like,” Kevin added. “These are all historical references to the companies that ran the iron mines up north.”
“Wait, go back,” Ellie said, catching a glimpse of a word that got her excited. “What’s that one?”
Kevin clicked on the link, and it took them to a genealogy page. A family tree ran down the page, and ended with Joseph Bradford.
“Looks like the agent was right that kids didn’t happen in that relationship,” Kevin commented. “You see how Lillian’s name is underlined?” He pointed to Lillian’s name.
“Yes,” Ellie said.
“That means we can click on that and there is more information,” Kevin said.
Ellie felt like Kevin was talking to a four-year-old by his tone. “So what does that show?” she said, ignoring it. It wasn’t her fault that she had never had any use for the Internet before.
Kevin clicked on the link, and it pulled up another family tree. “Lillian’s maiden name was Kellogg. Okay, this is weird.”
Ellie saw what he was looking at. Another branch led from Lillian’s name to another name: Emma Decatur.
“She did have a sister named Emma.” Ellie felt vindicated.
“Ellie, you are seriously creeping me out,” Kevin said.
“Emma’s name is underlined too. Can you click on that?” Ellie asked.
Kevin did as she asked.
“She was married to Henry Decatur. That’s odd.” She frowned.
“What?” Kevin asked.
“I don’t see any children. In my dream, Emma was definitely pregnant, and quite far along.”
“That really may have been a dream,” Kevin offered.
“Why would the rest of it have been true, but that wouldn’t be?” Ellie asked.
“I don’t know, Ellie. Maybe it could be the fact that you were dreaming about seeing people who lived a hundred years ago?” Kevin said as he crossed his arms.
Ellie drummed her fingers on the desk. “Do a search on Henry Decatur,” she said after a few moments.
Kevin sighed, but typed the name into the search engine. A few seconds later they found a reference to a page that was obviously done by someone who had an interest in the Decatur family.
“The Decatur family was a well-to-do family from the South. The family’s fortunes went downhill in the early 1900s when they lost all their money in some bad business investments,” Kevin summarized after a quick scan.
“That would make sense,” Ellie said. “It seemed like the Bradfords were helping Henry and Emma out financially. If they were expecting a baby, I would guess that they were looking for all the help they could get.”
“The family heir, Henry, disappeared a few years later. Nothing here says what happened to him. And the plot thickens,” Kevin said slowly.
“What?” Ellie asked, craning to read the words on the screen.
“It says that Henry and his wife had originally relocated to try to get back on their feet, but it doesn’t say where. Then they basically disappeared.”
“So the Bradfords and the Decaturs were both here. Joseph was in some kind of trouble and asked Henry for help. Then within what, weeks of each other, all four of them disappeared?” Ellie said, looking at Kevin.
“I think that we have indulged your morbid curiosity enough for one day,” Kevin said.
Ellie didn’t answer.
“Do you even know when the funeral is?” Kevin asked.
“What?” Ellie was still deep in thought. The images of Emma and Henry from her dream filled her head.
“Jake’s funeral,” he repeated. “Do you even know when it is?”
“No,” she said. “I’m not calling Jenny either.”
“The Internet to the rescue again,” Kevin said. He pulled up the Star Tribune webpage and typed in Jake’s name. Immediately a link was pulled up under the obituary section.
“I can’t look,” Ellie said, turning her face away.
Kevin read the short story quickly. “It’s tomorrow at the Hillwood Funeral Home in Apple Valley.”
“I can’t go to that,” Ellie said.
“Ellie, you said yourself that it would look weird if you didn’t. Don’t you kind of owe it to Jake? Especially considering how you left things? You said you guys had a reconciliation of sorts, right?” Kevin pushed.<
br />
“Yes,” Ellie admitted.
“Then why wouldn’t you want to go?” he said.
“Because I feel responsible for what happened and Jenny Marks hates me,” she said, looking down at her hands.
“Maybe she does, but there’s really no love lost there, is there?”
“I did like her once. But after what happened with Jake, there was no way I would have continued being friends with her.”
“Let me ask you this then.” Kevin turned in his chair and swung her chair so that it was facing him. She was forced to look at his face. “Would you be able to live with yourself if you didn’t go, despite how the new queen bee feels about you?”
Ellie knew the answer to the question, and knew that Kevin knew it as well. “Will you go with me?” she asked.
“Anything you need, Ellie.” He squeezed her knee. “But maybe you should ask David. I will definitely go with you if he can’t make it, but I need to start paying attention to my boyfriend soon. He’s going to start thinking that I went straight on him at this rate.”
Ellie smiled. “That’s a good idea. Thanks, Kevin. I don’t know what I’d do without you.” She gave him a quick hug.
“Duh, you’d be sinking into a hole of despair,” he said, flipping her hair out of her face.
“No doubt,” Ellie agreed.
“Shhhh,” a woman at the next computer terminal said with a finger to her mouth looking at them.
Kevin flung his arm around her shoulders. “Let’s get out of here.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
The next morning, in David’s car on the way to the funeral, Ellie questioned her decision.
“I really appreciate you taking me to this funeral, David, but I don’t know if this is a good idea,” she fretted. She realized if she kept pulling at a thread on the sleeve of her sweater she’d probably unravel it.
“Nothing is going to happen at a funeral, Ellie,” he reasoned. “If there is one place that people are on their best behavior, it’s at a funeral.”
Ellie had to admit that his logic made sense.
They arrived at the funeral home, and David placed his hand against the small of her back and led her into the foyer. A large placard indicated that the Coulter funeral was to the left. Ellie could hear the distraught weeping from all the way down the hall.
Jenny stood outside the door next to a table that held a sign-in book. She was openly crying, and was being comforted by a woman that Ellie knew all too well: Jake’s mother, Kathryn. Kathryn saw her, and the frown tightened on her face. Both women were enveloped in a deep shade of purple.
Kathryn had never fully approved of Ellie, especially her foster care background. Ellie had always felt like Kathryn had tolerated her for Jake’s sake, but once the decision to divorce was final, she had made it clear that she had no interest in further contact.
Ellie saw Kathryn whisper something in Jenny’s ear, and Jenny’s sobs instantly stopped. They both turned and silently watched Ellie and David approach.
“Kathryn, Jenny,” Ellie said.
“I’m surprised to see you here, Elizabeth,” Kathryn said. She was the only one to ever call Ellie by her formal name.
“Just because Jake and I got divorced doesn’t mean that I didn’t still care what happened to him,” Ellie said defensively. “I feel awful about what happened.”
“Yes. I understand that he was on his way back from having gone to see you,” Kathryn said. “Although in talking with Jenny, we have no idea what about.”
She kept her arm protectively around Jenny, who sniffled and glowered at Ellie, but said nothing.
“He had a few things that came up that he wanted to run past me,” Ellie said. She had no desire to try explaining Jake’s revelations to these two women who were obviously distraught.
“Like what?” Jenny chimed in. “He didn’t tell me where he was going. That seems pretty suspicious.”
“I have no idea why he didn’t tell you,” Ellie lied. “It wasn’t a big deal, but it was really between Jake and me.”
Ellie watched Jenny square her shoulders. Even in her distressed state, she was still lovely. Her heart ached for the baby that was going to grow up never knowing his father.
“Hi, I’m David Mitchell. We met the other day,” David interrupted and drew the women’s attention. “I’m so sorry for your loss.”
He shook both women’s hands, and Ellie watched in amazement as they both started talking over each other in response.
“Dr. Mitchell, it was so good of you to come,” Jenny said breathlessly.
“You were so good to take care of our Jenny the other day in her time of need,” Kathryn said right on her heels.
David nodded and smiled. “It really was no problem. It’s my job. Is this where we sign in?” He pointed at the sign-in book. “We’ll just go ahead and do that and head inside. We don’t want to take you away from your other friends and family.”
Ellie could see that Jenny was going to say more, but then a few more people arrived behind them, and the two women had no choice but to greet the newcomers. As soon as Ellie was inside she felt like she could breathe again.
“See, that wasn’t so bad,” David whispered in her ear as they settled into a pew.
“You apparently have the ability to charm rattlesnakes,” Ellie whispered back. “I’ll have to remember that.”
David flashed her a knowing grin and rested his hand on her knee. She relaxed instantly.
She looked to the front of the room. The casket was closed. It was surrounded by several bouquets of flowers. There were about twenty people already in the room, some sitting, some kneeling and deep in prayer. Ellie recognized some of Jake’s high school and college buddies, but others she could only assume were friends of the family that she had never met. She and David sat in silence and waited for the ceremony to begin.
Ellie knew that she couldn’t put if off any longer. She motioned to David to stay put and then she got up and walked up to the front of the room. She stood in front of the casket and wondered what she was thinking coming here. She saw a flicker of movement out of the corner of her eye and turned her head. There was no one there. Strange.
She finally made the sign of the cross because it seemed the appropriate thing to do and nodded to the casket, and then she turned to walk back to her seat. A somber man in a gray suit passed her and gave her a tight smile. It was Barry James, Jake’s best friend. Barry had always been nice to her, even when things with Jake had gotten nasty. She wondered if it was because he knew about all of Jake’s transgressions and had felt guilty about knowing.
She settled back into her seat next to David, who searched her face to see if she was okay. She patted his arm and then closed her eyes for a few minutes, taking a few deep breaths. She just had to make it through the ceremony now.
A few minutes later, Kathryn and Jenny walked down the center aisle and took their seats at the front of the room. The ceremony was brief. Barry got up and said a few words, and most of the people in the room broke down in tears. Jenny was sobbing again, and Kathryn did her best to comfort her. Ellie felt a tinge of anger that she had never been shown that kind of empathy, even when all of the awful things came out about what Jake had been doing behind her back.
As if he sensed her distress, David moved his arm behind her and she was able to slide closer to him. She had moved on, and she needed to focus on her future. Finally it was over, and she and David slipped out the door while everyone gathered up front around Kathryn and Jenny.
“There, now you can say that you did the right thing.” David squeezed her shoulders as they walked out the front door into the cool November air.
“I guess so,” Ellie said. “Now I just have to work on moving forward and putting this all behind me.”
“I am ready, willing, and able to help with that,” David said. He opened her car door for her and pecked her cheek as she got in.
Her cell phone chirped just as they pulled out of the parki
ng lot.
“Hey, gorgeous. Hope everything was okay today.” Kevin’s voice echoed in the interior of the small car. “You think you’re going to be okay on your own tonight?”
“I think the worst is over, Kevin. I’ll be all right,” she said, glancing sideways at David.
“Everything going okay with you and David?” he asked.
“Just fine,” she replied, blushing furiously.
David looked over at her and grinned. She knew he could hear every word.
“How much longer are you going to keep the shop closed? I heard Melanie is just throwing fits about losing her favorite writing haunt,” Kevin said.
“I think we should be back in business next week,” Ellie said. “That will give me time to get inventory done again, and maybe get the hang of this whole computer thing.”
“Do you think it would be okay then if Eric and I took a little break? Get away for the weekend? We’ve had this little outing planned for the last couple of months, but if you need me, I’ll stay.” The words tumbled out of Kevin’s mouth, and Ellie realized that he had been looking for the right opening to bring it up.
“Of course you should go,” she said. “You and Eric deserve the break. Really, I’ll be okay.”
“Okay, thanks, Ellie. You are a stellar boss,” he said.
They chatted for a few more minutes about things around the store, and then Ellie hung up. “Sorry about that,” she said.
“No problem,” David replied. “I think it’s great to let Kevin have some time off. I’m happy to take his place this weekend. I’ll try to rearrange my schedule so I have the evenings free.”
Ellie’s stomach did a little flip-flop. She could have David all to herself for the weekend? Things were looking up.
“I don’t want to be any trouble,” she murmured.
She felt a finger on her cheek and she looked into David’s eyes.