I Remember (Remembrance Series)

by Cynthia P. O'Neill

  “What on earth?” The papers had been sitting in some water drops that had splashed on the counter and, as the water seeped into the paper, the writing changed before my eyes

  I took in a sharp breath.

  “Is everything okay in there?” Gregory questioned.

  Were my eyes deceiving me? I picked the fortunes back up and noticed the wording was entirely different than we had previously seen.

  Could these be another set of fortunes from a different meal?

  Mine now read, “Love is a journey of hope and discovery to both past and present.” His now read, “Your destiny, your love, is right before your eyes with both you can conquer anything.”

  I took care of the food and the plates before returning to the living area with the new fortunes.

  “Why are you bringing those horrid things back out here?”

  “I know this is going to sound strange, but take a look at them, again, and tell me what you see.”

  He reached for them hesitantly; then looked at me in shock. “Where did our original fortunes go?”

  “These are the original fortunes. I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t seeing things.” I shook my head, trying to understand it myself, before explaining what had happened in the kitchen.

  Gregory’s arms drew me close to his side, as he landed the most intense hug I had ever felt. “I don’t understand what we’re involved in or why, but we need to figure out this mess quickly and put an end to it.”

  I nodded in agreement and reached over to my satchel, pulling out the information I’d printed at the library. We split the information in half and began to quickly try and figure out if there was any connection to either one of our families.

  “Both of my parents’ families were from the Richmond, Virginia area,” he stated with some hope.

  I replied. “I will check with Mom to see if she knows anything about our extended family. Maybe that is the connection to Daniel and Angeline, that we are their descendents?”

  My phone began to ring and as I reached for it, the contents of my purse spilled out onto the paperwork on the floor, along with the white feather I found in my door.

  I answered the phone and mouthed, “It’s my mom.”

  He continued to peruse the papers he had, as I let mom know I would be on the road within the hour.

  As I was putting my phone away and picking up the contents of my purse, he reached over and grabbed the feather. “Where did you get this?” His face had a puzzled look about it.

  I began to explain my strange encounter, suddenly realizing that Ramiel was the one who had sent us the package to his parent’s house. I explained how I somehow blocked the first couple of meetings from my mind, but suddenly remembered him today and found the feather after our talk.

  He leaned over to the side of the chair, pulling a box from beside it. “I received this before heading home from work, today. It was addressed from Davis, but was delivered by a guy named Ray.”

  My mouth fell open at the statement. I listened intently as he described Ray’s features, in detail. When he finished, I had to admit that he had described Ramiel to a T.

  “When I opened the box, I found instructions on how to collect and label the DNA samples of hair, along with this feather.” He held up a matching long, white feather.

  In one sense, I was relieved to know that Ray had visited others, and not just me; but in another, I was scared at what this meant.

  I leaned back over to collect the rest of my items, among them the magnifying glass Ray had given me. When I reached for it, I noticed it was resting atop a printed photo. All of the subjects had glowing auras of white or yellow, except one; that had hints of red. I quickly grabbed the key code and realized that red meant danger.

  Gregory leaned over me. “Whose picture is that?”

  “Are you seeing what I am through the magnifying glass?”

  He had a questionable look on his face, so I rephrased the question. “What do you see?”

  He picked up the photo and the magnifying glass, examining both carefully. “The photo appears to be of Daniel’s family, The Whitfield’s. The magnifying glass just seems to enlarge the detail about each member and…” He stopped suddenly, and then continued. “These people look a lot like my family.”

  He angled the picture so I could see. Upon closer inspection, the mother, father and grandfather looked almost identical to his family. He pointed out that Daniel had one extra brother, but showed me the two that looked like Phillip and Jonathan. “The one that looks like Jonathan is married to someone I don’t recognize, here. However, the one that looks like Phillip is married to someone named Cornelia, and she looks very similar to my sister in-law, Gwen.”

  We both decided the coincidence could be that the families are related and the genes would have been passed down from one generation to the next.

  “Ray gave me the magnifying glass. I didn’t remember at first, but there is a code that goes along with it. He said it would help me until my power came in?”

  “Are you seeing something different, Jordan?”

  “This is going to sound crazy, but all of these people, with exception of one, have a glow around them of either purity or goodness. However, the sister in-law, that looks like Gwen, has a red aura around her, indicating danger.” I offered him the code so he could see what I meant.

  “I don’t know what this person was like, but Gwen is something else. I can’t understand what my brother sees in her.” He paused for a moment before elaborating. “She brings gloom and doom to a whole new level, always acting superior and quelling everyone’s happiness.”

  “She couldn’t possibly be that bad.”

  “Let’s not talk about her right now.” He directed us back to our initial observations. “Are there any pictures of Angeline’s family?”

  “No pictures, yet; however, there is information about how her father worked with Daniel’s dad at the same bank. Apparently, Mr. Whitfield was the Vice President of the bank, while Mr. Carlson was the Executive Manager. I am guessing that is how they both met.”

  I glanced up at the clock, “Given the time, we should probably divide this up and see what we can come up with. I would like to pursue the avenue of your family being related and maybe still having relatives in Richmond. If we could get a hold of them and ask some questions, we might be able to figure out what happened.”

  “I agree. Let’s take a look at Davis’s package and get all the samples handled so we can get you safely back on the road to your mom’s.”

  We took out each of the four plastic vials and labeled them with each of our names. Gregory found a sample of Daniel’s hair in the lining of the hat. I was able to pull a strand of hair from Angeline’s brush. Then we procured a hair from each of our heads and put them in their respective vials.

  “I will run this by Davis’ laboratory on the way into work, tomorrow. Hopefully this will tell us what we already suspect, that we are related somehow.”

  I gathered the items I had left in his bathroom and bedroom and Gregory took my luggage to the car.

  I went ahead and placed my purse on the seat and started to get in when I felt his hands clasp around my waist and start to turn me the other direction.

  “I wish you didn’t have to go. I feel lost without you, already.”

  His words were making my heart ache, even more so when he pulled me closer to him and landed the most intense kiss of the night, more urgent and feverish than earlier. My hands found their way around his neck and I truly didn’t want to let go.

  When I finally came up for air, I whispered, “I need to go.”

  He kept kissing me with great passion, only breaking slightly. “I don’t want you to. Stay with me, just let me hold you close.”

  “While the thought is appealing, I really do need to go. My mother is expecting me home, soon.”

  We kept holding each other so close I could feel his heart racing against my chest, knowing my own was beating just as fast. I
didn’t want to surrender his lips, as each kiss felt right. He was my life raft in a sea of uncertainty.

  He was the one to finally break away.

  “Call me when you get back to your mom’s house, so I know you got their safely. Also, keep me closer in your dreams, tonight.”

  “I guess I could do that, as long as you keep me in yours.”

  “You should know by now that you have always been in my dreams and in my heart. Why do you think I am happy all the time?” He leaned toward me to kiss me, again.

  The kiss was so powerful, I forgot to breathe for a moment and felt dizzy.

  “Ok, let’s get you on the road. I don’t want your mother mad at me for keeping you out too late. Call me as soon as you get home. I love you!”

  “I love you, too!”

  He stole another quick kiss and then closed my car door.

  I pulled away from the driveway, feeling as though I was leaving my heart with him. I could see his eyes, illuminated in the headlights, echoing my feelings.

  After several miles, I was on the Interstate and I called mom to let her know where I was. To my surprise, Gregory had already called her and let her know I was in route and apologized for keeping me out a little later than intended.

  As soon as I pulled into the garage, mom met me at my door. “So, how were his parents? Did you like them? What did you do over the weekend? Let me see the ring.” Mom’s curiosity was definitely piqued and she was full of questions.

  “It was both wonderful and magical, Mom!”

  “Gregory’s parents’ house is absolutely beautiful. They are amazing people. Very friendly and loving. We spent most of Saturday swimming and jet skiing and we went shopping on Sunday. I think all of you will get along, wonderfully.”

  “So you had a lot of fun? How romantic was his proposal?”

  “The weekend could not have been more perfect. The food was unbelievably delicious and the proposal took my breath away.”

  “You enjoyed yourself then?”

  “Most definitely!” I smiled.

  She took my hand, examining the ring closely, turning my hand this way and that way in order to catch the light on the diamond.

  “The ring looks perfect on your hand. Your father would be so proud, I know I am. I’m glad you had a wonderful time. But, it is late and you look exhausted, so why don’t you go ahead and get ready for bed and then give Gregory a call to let him know you got home safely. We can talk more in the morning.”

  “Ok, Mom, sounds good. I love you.”

  I changed clothes quickly in the bathroom. Before I could even reach the bed, the phone rang and I rushed to get it.

  “Hello?”

  A huge sigh of relief could be heard from the other end of the phone. “When did you get home? Why haven’t you called? You had me worried!”

  “Hi Gregory, I got back here about fifteen minutes ago. Mom bombarded me with questions as soon as I walked through the door. Then I decided to change into something more comfortable. I was about to call you, but you beat me to it.”

  “Sorry if I am overreacting a bit, you have no idea how much I care about you, how long I have been searching for you.”

  “No need to worry, I’m home safe; though must admit, I am more exhausted from today than I realized. I must apologize to you.”

  “Why do you need to do that? You’ve done nothing wrong.”

  “I forgot to tell you thank you for a marvelous weekend. It was fabulous. I still feel like I’m dreaming and floating on air.”

  “I’m just glad you enjoyed yourself. My parents truly adore you and can’t wait to meet your mom. But, the best part of the weekend for me was when you agreed to marry me!”

  “You’re going to make me blush.”

  “I miss you already!”

  “I miss you, too.” My heart ached for him and my mind began to wander.

  “Are you still there, Jordan?”

  “Sorry, just thinking for a moment.”

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing’s wrong. I was just thinking how I feel that I left half of my heart with you.”

  “I feel the same way. I am empty without you.”

  He went on to ask, “Do you think you mother would mind if we got together for a little while tomorrow after work? I could even drive up to Deland and pick you up or meet you somewhere.”

  “That sounds nice, but not sure I can. It all depends on work and whether or not my mom wants to spend some time, together. Why don’t I give you a call as soon as I know something, tomorrow, and we can play it by ear?” I really hated giving a vague response, but I knew that Mom would definitely want to talk, tomorrow.

  “Ok, sounds good. Good night, Jordan; my fiancé. Remember to hold me close in your dreams tonight, as I will you. I love you!”

  “I will and I love you, too!”

  Then the phone was silent.

  I slid into bed, turned the light off and allowed myself to drift into unconscious slumber, hoping my dreams would lead to jubilant thoughts of Gregory.

  It was hard to believe that over a week had flown by since Gregory and I had submitted the DNA results. Every day that passed had us pensive about the results; wondering if any secrets would be unlocked to help us solve the mystery of what happened to Daniel and Angeline.

  We decided to go ahead and let everyone know that we were engaged, though our hand was sort of forced when Gregory’s mother, Lorraine, insisted on listing the engagement in the paper.

  To our surprise, many of our friends and family offered congratulatory wishes, asking us to keep them apprised of the upcoming nuptials. Our main opposition was a couple of my co-workers, namely Pamela and her crew. “You have no idea who he is. How could you possibly be in love with him? You’ll never make it to the alter; and if you do it, it won’t last.” The same faux-concern went on several times each day.

  The other opposing force was no surprise to Gregory; his sister in-law, Gwen. She had done the same thing when Jonathan had proposed to Robin. Her reasoning was that I was trying to take Gregory for all his money and use the family for what it was worth. At least we had a good laugh at her comments.

  While we waited for the lab results, we spent every spare moment either on the computer or at the library, researching every possible lead we could find on Daniel and Angeline.

  As it turned out, we were able to tie Daniel’s lineage back through Gregory’s family and to a couple of cousins he hadn’t seen or talked with in some time, but who still lived in Richmond, Virginia.

  Angeline was a little harder to locate. When I logged onto the library’s computer system from home, the original information I had found at the library, appeared to no longer exist. I decided to Google Angeline, and was surprised to get several hits, one of which was a nationally known genealogy website.

  I went to all of the Internet’s sources and was finally able to locate a picture of Angeline’s family. It took my breath away to see my father’s and mother’s images reflected back at me.

  The additional articles did nothing more than repeat most of what we had discovered, already. But, I bookmarked them; so I could easily pull them up for Gregory to review. However, upon returning to the sites that I had already reviewed, I continually got error messages “Webpage Not Found.”

  I decided to make a quick run to the library during my lunch hour one day, to see if I would be able to pull up any information from their computer system, directly. On my way out, I was met in the hallway by Pamela, acting overly friendly and curious as to where I was headed. I don’t know what possessed me to state, “the library”, but no sooner than the words were out of my mouth, she was trying to come up with any attempt to keep me in the office.

  “You can’t go to lunch for that length of time! I am going to need to have the latest marketing strategies analyzed to see if our efforts to pull in new physician referrals are climbing. I have a meeting this afternoon and need that information ASAP.” Pamela was very adamant, nearly yelling
.

  Thankfully, Caroline came to my rescue. “Pamela, stop accosting staff in our hallway. You’re making a spectacle of yourself; besides, that’s a job for your marketing assistant. I told Jordan to take a long lunch to run some errands.” She paused for a moment, readjusting her stance to one of authority and looking Pamela squarely in the eyes. “Are there any objections?”

  I was happy to see Pamela slink back to her office. I don’t know what was going on with her. The fluctuations in her personality had been continual, especially since my father’s death. One minute she would act as though she hated my very presence, the next was spent trying to lure me into her little clique. I knew she was still up to something, but right now I had more important subjects to deal with.

  The library was a waste of my time, yielding the same results as I’d found online at home. With my efforts deflated, I had just left from the computer terminal and decided to return back to work, when an assistant to the genealogy department commented, “You look frustrated, Dear. Is there any information I can help you look up?”

  The lady appeared to be genuine and my inner voice told me, “Let her take a look.”

  I explained what I had been looking for and showed her what I had found to date, but shared that was having trouble relocating the records. She quickly typed the information into the computer system. “We have been having some issues ourselves, ever since a computer technician stopped by, out of the blue, to update our system.”

  I was surprised when the elder lady not only found the same information I did, but found a list of several books, within the library, containing information about Angeline. She quickly printed the list for me and guided me to the location of the first one.

  My spirits lifted in the hopes of finally putting the pieces of Angeline’s life together. Unfortunately, the books were either missing or damaged in the places that Angeline’s information was supposed to be.

  I was about to leave when I noticed a book shoved behind several others. As I grabbed hold of the cover, my hand began to feel like it was on fire.

  I dropped the book onto the nearest desk and began turning the pages until a strong wave of heat was coursing through my fingers. I quickly scanned them. The main article had been darkened out, but looked like whomever did it ran out of ink toward the end. I was able to make out a few of the words. “Her cousin reported her being in a verbal altercation with her soon to be…”