I Remember (Remembrance Series)

by Cynthia P. O'Neill

  As I was leaving the library, I removed the silence mode on my cell phone and noticed I had three missed calls from Gregory, along with a text message that read, “Call me ASAP!!! I <3 U!”

  After climbing into my car, I returned his call. He picked up on the first ring. “Is everything okay?”

  He took a deep breath in. “I’m fine. I just got a strange feeling you were in some form of danger. When I couldn’t reach you on your cell, I called the office and was told you had left to run an errand.”

  “Sorry, I took a quick trip to the library to see why all the information on Angeline seems to disappear right after I read it. Apparently someone or something is blocking my attempts at finding out any information.”

  I went into detail explaining how the librarian was able to pull up all sorts of information; however, we discovered the referenced books in disarray or missing, yielding only one brief tidbit of information.

  He was silent for a moment, processing my words. “Do you think you can get out of there early, tonight? I need to discuss a problem Davis had with the DNA samples.”

  My curiosity was piqued. “I think so. Where do you want to meet?”

  “Call me when you are leaving the office and I can meet you at The Grille, near the Sanford Mall.”

  I could tell something was seriously wrong. “Can you just tell me over the phone to put my mind at ease? You have me anxious.”

  “Don’t worry, Babe, I just need time to explain what he found out and right now, although I hate to do this to you, I need to go into a meeting for the rest of the afternoon. Just know that I love you and seriously need to hold you tight in my arms, tonight.”

  I smiled at his attempt to lighten the mood. “In that case, how can I resist such an offer?”

  “Wonderful! I have to go. Love you and don’t forget to call me,” he said with enthusiasm.

  “I love you, too! Bye.”

  The rest of the afternoon seemed to drag. Pamela came into my office an hour before quitting time, with a devilish smile upon her face. “Can you create an analysis report using the cards that we have the patient’s fill out? I need data for the past several months compiling the overall responses to the questions regarding each physician. I would ask my assistant, Tiffany, but I have her working on another project.”

  “Sure. When did you need it by?” I knew I was in trouble as soon as I said it.

  “I’m sorry this will keep you here late tonight, but I need it by tomorrow morning.”

  I was not at all surprised by her last minute request. “Sure, no problem.”

  Fortunately, some of our staff had the foresight to have the check-out desk enter the responses into the computer as part of the check-out procedure. That way we could go back and run a program that would generate a report, complete with spreadsheets, and graphics, to analyze every possible topic one could think of.

  I quickly pulled up the program and set up several parameters and started the report generating. In the meantime, I walked into Caroline’s office and let her know of the ridiculous last minute request; but assured her that I would get the last laugh, as the report was currently processing.

  Caroline smiled and laughed a bit. “I don’t know what has gotten into her lately, but I love that she can’t get you on this. When the report is done, let me have it and I will take the finalized copy to Pamela, while you can go on home for the evening.”

  The query for the report took almost forty minutes but only ten minutes to compile into an easy-to-read printout. I made sure the titles were present, along with any legends needed to decipher the bar and pie graphs. I tried to anticipate any additional topics Pamela might request.

  Caroline gave the report a once over and was very happy with the results. She insisted I go ahead and sneak out of the office before Pamela could come up with more work to dump on me.

  As soon as I was in my car and on the Interstate, I called Gregory. “Despite efforts to keep me at the office, I am en route to you.” I did my best to explain Pamela’s continual interference with things today.

  He laughed at my sarcastic tone. “That Pamela is a real piece of work. I know you have to associate with her, but watch yourself. It feels like she has a hidden agenda against you.”

  I could hear him shutting down his computer. “I will see you in a few minutes, Jordan.”

  “Okay, see you there.”

  Gregory was already at the restaurant, leaning up against his car, when I drove up and parked next to him. As soon as I cut my engine, he was opening my door and grabbing me tightly in his arms, literally lifting me out of the seat.

  “I needed to feel you in my arms all day, today. I’ve been on edge, ever since talking with Davis.” His hands moved to each side of my face, holding me tightly as his lips pressed firmly, urgently, onto mine.

  I was nearly out of breath when he finally came up for air. As soon as our eyes met, I was filled with a sense of dread. “What’s wrong, Gregory? What did Davis tell you?”

  He looked at me nervously, struggling with his words. “Why don’t we go inside, first?”

  “No. Something has you spooked and I need to know, now!” I didn’t like having to be so tenacious, but he had my every last nerve on edge.

  He grabbed hold of one of my hands and looked deeply into my eyes. “Davis called with questions, today. He wanted to know what kind of game we were playing.”

  I was perplexed. “What do you mean, ‘game’?”

  “Have you ever wondered why our dreams of them are so intense, as if we’ve lived their life?” I nodded in agreement, sensing he was about to drop a bomb on me. “We are more than just related to them, Jordan…WE ARE THEM!”

  I shook my head in confusion, trying to gather my words of protest. “How?”

  “Davis thought we were playing some kind of prank on him, or had mixed up the samples, because the DNA results came back as mine being identical to Daniel’s and yours was identical to Angeline’s. The only exception was that our sample was dating back to a week ago, while theirs dated back to 1884.”

  In my heart I knew this information was truth, but the rational side of me argued. “There must be some kind of mistake. Have him rerun the test.”

  His eyes were filled with concern. “He already did the tests twice and had his colleagues check it, too. I know this is doesn’t make sense, but I think our next step is to go to Virginia, to see if we can get the final clues to this puzzle.”

  I was in shock at the revelations and unable to respond to his comment.

  “Let’s discuss this further, over some dinner.” He held his hand out to me and led me inside to the restaurant, keeping me close to his side.

  Over the course of the meal, Gregory called his grandfather to use the company jet, which thankfully, was available. Next, we called our respective managers to ask if we could have the following day off, citing a family emergency. To our parents, we explained that we wanted to go meet more of the family on an impromptu trip to Virginia, which they all seemed to approve of.

  We spent the next couple of hours making reservations at a bed and breakfast in the heart of Richmond, which was a close location to two of Daniel’s cousins, who also happened to be Gregory’s distant cousins.

  As we were saying our goodbyes in the parking lot, he held me a little tighter than usual. “We’ll figure this out, Jordan.

  There were so many questions I wanted to ask, but still found myself speechless. How we were going to figure out everything, when we didn’t even know what we were looking for?

  I woke up, Friday morning, feeling restless. Every time I tried to close my eyes to sleep, I felt a dark presence getting closer to me and began wondering if this is how Angeline felt before she disappeared. Images of her and Daniel in the river kept floating back into my mind, making me speculate if that was their final moments or if they had met a worse fate.

  I tried to analyze how happy they were prior to their disappearance. I know the book suggested they had run off t
o elope, but that would only make sense to someone whose marriage was forbidden, not someone happily planning a wedding.

  I was dressed and packed by the time Gregory arrived to pick me up. I quickly gave Mom a hug and told her I would call her when we got to Virginia.

  Gregory told my mother that he had cousins there and we would be visiting with them to get some ideas of how to incorporate the ancestral history into our wedding, given that both sides of the family had, at one point, come from Virginia.

  Mom bought the whole romantic line and I was thankful that I didn’t have to explain anything in great detail. Plus, I had to admit, the idea was appealing, from a bride-to-be standpoint.

  We would be flying out of Daytona Beach International Airport because it was cheaper to house the jet in Daytona than in Orlando. The private, luxury jet, was more like a flying office, capable of seating twelve staff members at workstations.

  We were told our flight would only take about two hours. As the pilot, and co-pilot, went through their pre-flight checklist, Gregory offered me some iced tea and some crackers from the fridge. Then we fastened our seatbelts, held hands and began taxiing to the runway for take-off.

  Normally, I would have been in awe over all the luxury being bestowed on me. But, between the information we had uncovered and the nightmares I had been having; the fear of what we would find, frightened me.

  Once we were in the air, I settled up against his shoulder, lulled to sleep by the sound of the engines. It felt as though I had just closed my eyes, when I heard, “Jordan, Honey, we just landed in Richmond. There’s a car waiting to take us to the hotel.”

  “Aren’t we going to drive?”

  “Normally, I would insist on it, but given our limited time here and not knowing the area, I felt it best to have someone escort us.”

  Gregory grabbed our luggage and guided me into the back seat of the awaiting Town Car. He helped buckle my seat belt then pulled me toward him, his shoulder becoming my pillow.

  “Where to, Mr. Riley?” Our driver asked.

  “Please take us to 159 Franklin Way,” Gregory responded.

  I was curious to find out who our driver was. I leaned forward and asked, “May I have your name, please?”

  The driver’s eyes met mine through the rearview mirror and he smiled, replying, “The name is Anderson. A pleasure to meet you, ma’am, sir.” He nodded.

  The city was abuzz with excitement. There were boats on the Potomac, cars milling about and the occasional train running along the lines. As we passed over one of the Memorial bridges in the colonial part of town, I suddenly had a vision of a train wreck, the cars hanging precariously over the edge, threatening to drop into the cold rushing water, below.

  The thought made me shudder. “Are you okay, Jordan?” Gregory’s arm held me close to him and rubbed his hands up and down my arms to try and create some warmth.

  I nodded and smiled, though my mind began to wander through my dreams trying to recall information regarding a train.

  The car edged deeper into the heart of Richmond. The buildings were awe-inspiring and wonderfully preserved.

  Before long, we pulled up alongside a quaint three story wooden home, painted white with dark green shutters. The house seemed oddly familiar, but the wrong color. If it had white shutters with light yellow paint…

  Anderson opened the car door and offered his hand to assist me. As soon as our hands met, an overwhelming sense of calm consumed me. The only time I had ever felt this before was when I accidently touched Ramiel.

  I quickly looked at Anderson and leaned in, asking, in a hushed voice, “Did Ray send you?”

  He smiled and gave me a slight nod. I warmed to him instantly, feeling that our journey would not be in vain and we would leave with the answers we were looking for.

  Gregory came up behind me, slipping his hand in mine and leading me up the stairs, to the front door of the house. As soon as my hand touched the railing, my mind reached back into the past.

  “I’ve been here before.”

  Gregory turned my direction. “How?”

  “My cousin and best friend, Charlotte Smithfield, lived here. This is the Smithfield house.”

  His eyes widened as I gave him a full description of the parlor. It has an elaborate emerald green sofa with golden thread running through the back, in an intricate fleur de lis pattern. I told him that it had lion’s paw front legs and the entire sofa was made of cherry wood, matching the intricately carved mantel. Above the mantel was a painting of a young maiden with golden hair and dressed in a light blue dress with detailed lace cuffs on the sleeves.

  As we walked through the door and took in the interior, he pulled me closer to his side, knowing that our journey of discovery had already begun.

  The woman who helped us check in confirmed that Charlotte Smithfield, her great-great grandmother, had grown up and later reared her own family in the house. She asked if we were related. “My great-great grandmother was friends with her.” It seemed like a sensible answer.

  When we opened our room, it was no surprise that I recognized Charlotte’s bedroom. The only exception was the modernized in-suite bathroom.

  I sat on the bed and closed my eyes, recalling all the fun times and conversations we had, especially her supportive nature right before the wedding.

  “Don’t cry, Angeline. She is not worth the tears that you shed. Does Daniel know of her latest attempts to prevent your marriage?”

  “Jordan?” Gregory sat on the bed beside me as the visions kept coming, one right after another, recalling almost all of Angeline’s life in perfect detail.

  He finally shook my shoulders to dispel the trance. “What did you remember?”

  “Is it that obvious?”

  He held me tightly to him, “Your eyes glaze over and start moving at a very fast, like you are reading through pages or images.”

  “I’m sorry about that. Everything keeps flooding back. I remembered talking to Charlotte about someone causing problems prior to Angeline’s wedding. The only person who had an issue with their marriage was Cornelia, Daniel’s sister in-law.”

  He shook his head, “But I recall Daniel talking with her and she was forced to keep her tongue.”

  I didn’t want to argue with him, so I changed the subject. “So, who do we talk to first?”

  “We are going to grab some lunch and meet with my cousin David, this afternoon. He is Daniel’s, long descended nephew and related to my mother through her side of the family.”

  We had lunch at an old-style colonial tavern. The menu was eclectic, but the décor continued to bring back memories to both of us. Once we were done, Anderson drove us over to a different part of town; to a modern, one-story brick home, where David Livingston lived.

  David and Gregory hugged and Gregory introduced me. They talked a little about the family and then got down to the questions about Daniel. Gregory didn’t go into detail about why we wanted to know about Daniel, only that we were doing genealogy charts as part of a wedding gift to one another—which was the truth; however, we left out the part about how we were them in another life.

  I thought the visit would be a waste of time, but David happened to be the one person who held onto all the historical references for his mother’s side of the family.

  He pulled out several containers of newspaper articles, hand-written letters, and journals. We dug through all of them and managed to discover that Daniel had also received a note, the night before he was to be wed to Angeline, and took off into the night, never to be seen or heard from again.

  I secretly wondered if they had sent the notes to one another, citing that would probably be the only reason to leave their homes and see each other the night before the wedding. I could tell Gregory was pondering the same thought.

  We spent a good portion of the afternoon and evening at David’s house, going through the rest of the containers to see if there were any other clues. Luckily, we had been able to trace Lorraine all the way back t
o Daniel’s brother, who had a daughter that became Lorraine’s great grandmother.

  We had almost given up hope of finding anything else, when I stumbled on an elaborate decorative box. I tried in vain to open the lid, but it would not budge.

  Gregory took the box from my hands, turned it over in his palms a few times and then a look of realization crossed his face. I watched as he moved the lower corner of one side, shifted a piece of wood along the back and then pushed in a decorative piece on the front and box opened.

  “How did you know to do that?” David asked, in amazement.

  “I had a box very similar to this, when I was younger.” Though I suspected it was from his childhood as Daniel.

  Inside were several love letters from Angeline and a note dated, December 2, 1884; that read:

  Gregory held the note so I could read it. The wording and handwriting was questionable. I wanted a closer look, but as soon as my hand touched the paper, it felt like it was on fire.

  Concern was etched on his face as he leaned in and whispered, “Something is wrong with the note isn’t it?”

  I nodded and whispered back, “I am positive Angeline didn’t write this. I don’t know why, but when I tried to touch it, my hand felt like it was on fire. Plus, a black haze surrounds the paper.” I suddenly realized I was beginning to see auras without to the use of Ray’s magnifying glass.

  “Perhaps it is the darkness?”

  David asked if we wanted to go through everything a second time, but Gregory declined, citing we had already had a long day. I took the cue and began to yawn, giving us opportunity to get us out of there. David was generous to allow us to hold onto and make copies of the things we had found. We promised to have Anderson return them in a few days.

  Gregory decided we should grab a light dinner on the way back to the B & B and turn in early, since we had a long day ahead of us. Our new goal was to dig up some local research, through the city’s archives, and talk with one other cousin, one of Daniel’s great-grand nieces.