An Island Between Us

by K'Anne Meinel

  “I never thought I’d see the day our children would be grown and gone,” Marion said as they watched Brenda drive off in the car they had been able to scrounge up for her. It was a VW Bug that she adored. She was headed off to school. The boys were already at college, having left the previous day in the dilapidated fixer-upper they had bought together.

  “Maybe it’s time we think about retiring,” Barbara admitted as she looked about Franklin. The cobblestone street was still there, but so much had changed over the years. Their pier had to be rebuilt after a nor’easter took it out one year, but theirs wasn’t the only one. Keeping up on the island might someday prove impractical, and they admitted they might want to stop renting out the cabins eventually. They’d already had a couple offers to sell both islands but had refused as they continued to upgrade and refurbish them.

  “Let’s revisit that idea in about twenty years,” Marion said as they packed up the boat. They parked their newer Ford truck in the parking spaces now. The trailer was long gone as they had no use for it anymore.

  Barbara smiled. They were still young enough to keep up and enjoy their islands together, and they had no outstanding bills to worry about. They’d repaid the G.I. loan that had caused them so much anxiety years ago. Her in-laws saw the children regularly since Richard and Brian had decided to go to school in Boston. Brenda had followed, choosing the University of Southern Maine in Portland, so she could come home more often. She worried about her mother and her aunt being alone on the island by themselves.

  Marion and Barbara watched a couple of hippies smoking something on one of the boats as they made their way carefully among the other boats, swinging wide from the ferry and out of the harbor. Times had sure changed. Their guests reflected that, but they also had some guests who had been coming for the past ten years and had reservations for next summer too. Some were of this sixties craze that had come in and didn’t look like it was going to change anytime soon. They might not understand it, but it amused them to see the outfits that were slowly trickling into this part of Maine. Barbara’s brother, Brent had joined the army, done his tour, been honorably discharged, and had finally settled in Boston. He wrote about how weird kids had become these days.

  As they rounded Fir Island and headed due east towards Whimsical Island, they both breathed a sigh of relief to see the familiar shape of their rocky island, the trees that grew all over the island making it look almost rounded as the tall firs completed it. The protected cove they drove into was theirs, all theirs.

  ~THE END~

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  If you have enjoyed AN ISLAND BETWEEN US, I hope you will enjoy this excerpt from

  THE JOURNEY HOME

  In the midst of the Great Depression, Cassandra (Cass) Scheimer is trying to keep the family farm afloat in the Big Woods of Wisconsin...alone. As a local midwife and struggling backwoods doctor, she certainly doesn't need more mouths to feed.

  Stephanie Evans is a widow enceinte with her third child. She accepts a kind stranger’s offer of marriage in exchange for keeping house for him...but he never shows up to claim her. While dealing with unrequited guilt and the desperation of impoverished motherhood, falling in love with Cass is the least of her worries.

  For Cass, having been in love with a woman once before, she feels it couldn’t possibly happen twice. When it does, Cass is convinced the love cannot be returned. Can she and Stephanie keep it hidden from the prying eyes of children and the meddling neighbors in this small rural community?

  Can Cass deal with the guilt she feels over her brother’s injury, an injury that prevents him from doing his duty for their country? Joining the Nursing Corps may put too much stress on her newfound relationship with Stephanie. The woman who returns from the war and the woman left behind on the farm are not the same people who once fell in love. Can they return to being lovers after years spent apart? Destiny put them in each other’s path, but World War II has them tearing apart.

  CHAPTER ONE

  She glanced over at the train as it pulled into the station. She never bothered checking her well-trained horses as she unloaded flats of eggs and jars of honey from her wagon. She took large loads up the steps of the store across from the train platform and deposited them at the end of the counter that Mr. Schmidt had indicated. Mrs. Schmidt smiled at the richness and purity of the golden honey.

  Cass found it much more convenient to come into town to trade. It was closer to her farm in Merrill, but she did occasionally make the longer trip to Wausau. The traders there were always thrilled to trade her cash money or goods for her rich honey and perfect eggs. Her flats contained normal hen eggs but also, she had duck eggs and huge goose eggs. Some of the shoppers who were lucky enough to obtain these delicacies would be delighted since they made for a richer and more delicious batter when baking or cooking. The goose eggs alone would be worth their price since one goose egg was the size of two hen eggs. This trip Cass also had pelts from fox, muskrat, mink, deer, and rabbit to trade. She left the store richer than she had entered it but also with a bushel bag of flour, one of sugar, a smaller bag of salt, and a few other staples that were cheaper here in the larger town. She packed all this neatly in her wagon behind the seat. She noticed a woman sitting with two small children who must have gotten off the train and was now trying to keep the toddler and older child entertained. They were on the bench before the depot door, obviously waiting for someone.

  She got up behind her two horses on the wagon seat and having never set the brake, just spoke to them to get them going. Their ears twitched at her voice and their feet started walking as she expertly turned them around in the wide street before the depot. She backed her wagon up to the loading dock and speaking to the horses again, she wrapped the lines around the unused brake and hopped down. She saw the woman and her children still waiting, but now the older of the two children was crouching down and peering into the crates stacked neatly on the edge of the platform. She smiled indulgently; she could imagine his fascination at what the crates contained. They were why she was here. She went into the depot office nodding with a smile at the woman who watched her son as he delightedly and gently poked his fingers through the slats of the crates.

  “I’m Cass Shiemer, I believe those crates outside are mine?” she greeted the depot clerk, her thumb pointing backwards at the stack outside.

  “Yes ma’am, I have your paperwork here if you’ll just step up and sign. Do you have your letter from the company?”

  Cass produced her paperwork showing she was to receive these crates, and their business was soon concluded. She signed for her delivery.

  “Can I help you load them, ma’am?” the clerk asked helpfully.

  “I’d appreciate it,” Cass answered, knowing that she didn’t need the help, but one never knew and refusing it would only create a problem.

  As she walked out, she was surprised to see one of the railroad men about to kick in the side of one of her crates. The little boy who had been admiring the pups was now cowering against his equally frightened mother on the bench.

  “Hold on there, what are you doing?” she asked, alarmed at seeing him intent on harming the crate conta
ining her hard-earned pups.

  “That little begger in there bit me!” he said angrily. “I’ll teach it some manners.” He drew his leg back again.

  Cass was faster and ran to pull the leg up. The man lost balance and fell heavily. Everyone heard and felt the crash on the platform. The other crates sent up a squawking and the puppies’ startled yipes

  “What the hell?” the man yelled outraged.

  “Those are my animals, and you hurt them. I’m going to hurt you,” Cass said angrily.

  “Who the hell do you think you are?” he said ominously as he got up off his backside.

  Cass didn’t back down as he expected although he towered over her. Instead, she took a step closer and got right into his face looking up belligerently and saying, “I’m Cass Scheimer, and these are my animals you were intent on damaging. Who the heck do you think you are?”

  The man raised his hand as though to strike her, and she faintly heard the clerk yelling, “Now, now, she’s a lady!”

  He looked down at her dressed in men’s pants and a flannel shirt covered in a man’s dusty coat and matching dilapidated hat. He laughed at the word “lady” and proceeded to raise his hand. It never fell. Quicker than he could blink Cass had a knife pressed to the train officer suit he was wearing. To make her point, she neatly sliced off a button. It bounced and rolled onto the platform.

  “Touch me and I’ll gut you like a fish,” she said pleasantly, never taking her eyes off his as she used her peripheral vision to watch his hands.

  Looking deeply into her eyes, he tried to intimidate her but knew with a sickening feeling she was deadly serious. He knew that as a woman, in a court of trial, she would be acquitted on any wrong and he would be found guilty. He reluctantly backed down. Letting out a snort of disgust he said, “A lady,” and turned away, shaking his head as he got back into the baggage car of the train.

  Cass watched him until he was inside the car and put her knife back in the sheath along her belt. She could see the woman and children cowering out of the corner of her eye.

  “Let me help you with those crates Miss Scheimer?” the clerk began warily.

  “Who was that?” she asked him, nodding her head towards the empty door of the baggage car. They picked up the crates and placed them gently into the back of her wagon.

  “He’s new on this line. I don’t know where he came from, but he’s nothing but trouble,” the clerk whispered as they struggled with the awkward crates one by one.

  Cass paused after her second load and reached in her pocket for a slip of paper and a pencil. “What’s his name?”

  The clerk reluctantly gave it to her and saw as she wrote both his and the offensive man’s name on the paper. He wondered if he was going to lose his job over this incident. The last crate containing puppies she effortlessly put in the back of the wagon before putting up the tailgate and carefully latching it on both ends. She thanked the clerk for his help and saw the boy watching her again and looking longingly at the crate containing her pups. She grinned knowing how much children loved puppies.

  “Cute puppies, aren’t they?” she asked him, and he nodded as he took another step towards her wagon to get a better view. His hair had a rooster tail, and it waved energetically in his enthusiasm.

  “He was gonna hurt them,” he said, glancing at the doorway of the train car the man had disappeared into.

  Cass nodded, wondering what the boy was thinking. His mother came to stand behind him, and Cass saw that she was obviously pregnant.

  “I wish I could have puppies, someday,” he said wistfully. Cass smiled, knowing every little boy’s wish.

  “Someday, Timmy, someday. Perhaps Mr. Lancaster will let you have one,” the woman said softly.

  Cass looked up at the name and asked, “Vince Lancaster?”

  The woman nodded and smiled. It changed her whole face and made it nearly beautiful. She was small, blonde, and the pregnancy was making her very round. Cass expertly guessed her to be about in her fifth month.

  “Do you know Mr. Lancaster?” she asked eagerly.

  Cass nodded, wondering what in the world this woman wanted with Vince. “Yeah, I know Vince.” Her tone betrayed nothing of how she felt towards the man.

  “Have you seen him?” the woman asked tiredly. “He was to meet the train, but business must have held him up.”

  “Business?” Cass repeated.

  “Yes, he must have been held up. I’m sorry, how rude of me. I’m Stephanie Evans, Mr. Lancaster’s fiancée.” She held out her hand for Cass to shake.

  Cass shook it. “You’re engaged to Vince Lancaster?”

  Stephanie’s mouth tightened at the incredulous note in Cass’s voice. “Yes, Mr. Lancaster and I’ve corresponded for some time. In fact, he generously sent the tickets for us to come here to live with him. We were to be married today.”

  “He know you’re pregnant?” Cass asked bluntly.

  Stephanie flushed. It was a word that polite company did not use. Most people would have said “in the family way,” but not this woman who wore men’s clothes and used a knife against a man twice her size. She nodded, “Of course Mr. Lancaster knows I’m with child. I wrote him and told him.”

  “He get a sight of you?” Cass asked.

  “I sent a picture if that’s what you’re asking.” The smaller woman was getting annoyed at this line of questioning.

  “Ma’am, I hate to be the one to tell you, but I don’t think Vince Lancaster is the marrying kind.”

  “Why? What do you mean? His letters were most gentlemanly and gallant. He knew of my situation after my husband’s demise and offered his comfort, support, and home to my family and me. I sold my home to come here and be his wife,” she said almost desperately.

  Cass’s heart went out to petite, blonde Stephanie, but she knew of Vince Lancaster, even up in Merrill. His reputation was repulsive. If he had been writing this woman, and she was surprised to hear he could write, it was for no good reason.

  “You knew Vince before your husband’s death?”

  Stephanie shook her head, and her embarrassment made her cheeks turn an unflattering shade of pink. “I answered an ad that Mr. Lancaster placed in the paper looking for a wife. When he heard of my situation, we began a correspondence.”

  Cass didn’t know what to do. Most likely Vince had gotten someone else to write those letters, laughing at the unknowing woman who had answered the ad. How he had come up with the funds to have her travel here, she didn’t know. He never had enough money to drink, much less extra to send train fare.

  “Ma’am,” she began, and then gulped and began again. “Mrs. Evans, let me take you to where I think Vince might be, and you can make up your mind then.”

  Stephanie considered for a moment. She couldn’t just sit here indefinitely. Timmy and the baby were exhausted, and she realized how tired she also felt. She had to do something. She didn’t have a lot of money left after everything had been sold and their bills all paid, but what she did have was precious. She had grasped at the idea of becoming another man’s wife, even if that other man was a stranger. Vince Lancaster’s letters had been a godsend when she found herself pregnant after Howard’s death. A heart attack at 42 was not unheard of, but she never imagined it would happen to her husband. When it did, she was alone, with no one to take care of her. Vince’s letters had offered her hope and assured her he would take good care of her and her children. In exchange, she would take care of him and his home.

  She agreed to Cass’s offer to take her to Vince. If nothing else, it would get her closer to him and get the children settled.

  Cass effortlessly lifted her trunk into the back of the wagon, proving that she hadn’t needed the clerks help with the crates after all.

  “We going with her, Mommy?” Timmy looked up at the blonde woman.

  She nodded and Cass smiled. “You can sit next to the puppies and keep them quiet,” Cass told him. She saw his face light up at the thought. She settled him in the
back by the crate with the two puppies inside. She noted their water dish was empty, but the food dish still held some kibbles.

  Cass looked at the baby on Stephanie’s hip, expertly held by his mother. “Can he be trusted to ride with his brother?” she asked Stephanie. Stephanie looked at the toddler who gazed intently at the puppies with the same rapt fascination as his brother.

  “I think Tommy will be fine with his brother,” she smiled as he nodded insistently, understanding fully what they were saying.

  Cass swung him to sit next to the other little boy and said, “Now I want you two to pet these puppies and keep them calm. This is their first wagon ride, and they are probably a little scared. Think you can do that?” she asked them gently.

  Stephanie smiled at how nice Cass was being to her two little boys. They both nodded solemnly. Cass picked up their carryon bags and put them behind the boys for them to lean on. She helped Stephanie up over the wheel before climbing into the front of the wagon to settle herself on the seat.

  “Could you hand me that canteen?” Cass asked Stephanie, pointing under the seat. Stephanie moved awkwardly with her girth but managed to reach between her legs and under her skirt for the container.

  Stephanie handed Cass the canteen before Cass, in turn, handed it to Timmy and said, “Could you make sure each of the bowls has a little water in it? Don’t fill it full because the wagon will spill it, but each of the crates needs a little.” She smiled as he nearly nodded his head off in his eagerness to help. “If you’re thirsty, you and your brother have a little too, okay?