by Tifani Clark
*****
The afternoon had faded quickly with all the excitement. Those of us who were living were famished. We made dinner with the groceries we’d picked up and devoured it. Peter and Camille went home, promising to start packing.
Nick, Sophia, and I worked together to get the trunk upstairs to my room. Considering its age, it was in surprisingly good shape. I thought it would look nice at the foot of my antique bed. Someday I would finish going through its contents—if Jeremiah and Elsa didn’t decide to come back for their remaining possessions. We made sure to put Dad’s den back in order and then returned to the living room. By that time it was dark outside, but I was far from feeling tired.
I spotted the candlesticks and serving platter that we’d pulled from the trunk earlier in the day still sitting on my coffee table. Deciding that then was as good as any time to polish them, I took them to the kitchen and went to work removing years of tarnish. Sophia and Nick watched me work, impressed that I knew so much about antiques.
“My mother owned a silver hair comb. You know, the kind that women leave in their hair as decoration?” Nick reminisced. “I took it with me when I left home and went to work for Jeremiah. I only carried a few things, but since it had been my mother’s prized possession, I couldn’t part with it. I would love to know where it is now. I also had my father’s pocket watch. It didn’t work anymore, but it was the only thing of his that I had. He carried it with him all through the Civil War. I have no idea what the crew did with all my stuff after Jeremiah killed me. I hope some of it made its way to a museum somewhere, but more than likely they tossed my entire trunk over the side of the ship along with my body.”
It was astounding how much the past still meant to them, even though they’d been living as ghosts for far longer than their short mortal lives. I hoped that I could help them find closure soon.
I slept soundly that night. I trusted Nick and Sophia to keep watch all night and they faithfully reported the next morning that there had been no ghostly activity—other than themselves—around my house all night. I hoped that meant Jeremiah and Elsa were gone for good.
I expected Dad to be home by lunch. Sophia was so sure that he was going to let me go that she’d gone ahead and booked airline tickets for Peter, Camille, and I to fly to Newport News, Virginia, the next day. She and Nick planned to drive to Philadelphia in her car and meet up with us on a connecting flight there. We hoped our plan would throw any unwanted followers off our trail. It would be hard for the Goodwins to follow Nick and Sophia on a six-hour car ride without them noticing. Camille called around eleven to tell me excitedly that she’d gotten permission from her parents to go on the trip. That was a good sign for me. Dad would be more willing to let me go knowing Camille would be along for the journey, too.
Precisely at noon I heard the sound of the garage door being raised. I looked out the living room window and saw him pull into the driveway. I quickly shooed Nick and Sophia away. I wanted to talk to my dad without them there—at least not in their human form. Besides, Dad would have no idea who Nick was or why he was in our house.
“Dad. You’re back,” I shouted, a little too loudly. I was a really bad actress.
He looked surprised. “I am. You seem pretty happy to see me. Is everything okay?”
“Everything’s great. How was Chicago?” My voice was still loud.
“About the same as it always is.”
It wasn’t my Dad’s favorite place to visit and he found himself having to go there for work-related reasons a lot. He walked into the kitchen and parked his luggage at the bottom of the stairs. I saw him look around at everything expectantly. He knew something was up. I’m sure he thought I’d ruined something and was trying to butter him up before I broke the bad news.
“What have you been up to?” he finally asked.
“Oh, you know, the usual. Hanging out with Camille. And Sophia.”
“And Peter?”
“A little.” I blushed.
“He seems like a nice young man.”
I took that to mean that Dad was giving his blessing for me to pursue my relationship with Peter. I didn’t know yet if anything would even become of our relationship. So far all of our more intimate moments had been in the rush of panic or when we had made some great find. I didn’t know if “we” would happen in the normal world. I’d have to see after Sophia and Nick were gone.
“Dad?”
“Yes, Jamie?”
“I know you’ve been gone for a few days, and you just got home, but . . . I was kind of hoping I could go on a trip. Sophia invited me to her family’s estate in Virginia for a few days and I would love to go. Oh, and Cam’s already got permission to go, too.” I had to throw that last part in.
“Virginia?”
“Yep. That’s where she’s from.”
“I don’t know, honey. Sophia is nice enough, but I’ve never even met her parents. That’s a long way to go, isn’t it?”
“It is, but it would be a good experience for me. And it would be nice to have something to do that’s exciting for a few days.”
Dad sighed. “How would you get there? Are her parents driving?”
“No, actually, we would all fly.”
“When are they leaving?”
I was beginning to sweat—he wasn’t giving in very easily. “Uhh . . . tomorrow morning. I really want to go, Dad. Mom’s met Rita—I mean Sophia’s mom.” I hated playing that card. Dad tried so hard to be a good parent and I hated making him feel like Mom had done something more than him.
“She has?”
“Yeah. When Mom was here the other day, Sophia’s mom stopped by.”
“Oh.”
“Sooo . . .?”
“Invite her family over for dinner tonight and I will discuss the trip with them. If they’re decent people and can assure me that your going won’t be a problem for them, then I guess you can go.”
“Yes. I love you, Dad. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.” I threw my arms around him and gave him a kiss on his cheek. It totally wasn’t like me, but it made him smile and he hugged me back.
I ran up to my room and barged through the door. Sophia sat on my window seat watching the street below while Nick lay on my bed, making himself at home amongst my blankets and pillows. Dad would have freaked out if he knew they were up there. I locked my door behind me.
“Well?” Sophia stood up and crossed the fingers of both her hands.
“If Dad can have dinner with Jack and Rita tonight, and they pass his ‘decent people’ test, I can go.”
“Yay,” she squealed.
“Shhhh.”
“Right. Sorry,” Sophia whispered.
Nick threw a pillow at me and I picked it up and threw it back. Before I knew it the three of us were in a silent pillow fight, trying to smother our giggles. It was nice to feel that at ease again.
Jack, Rita, and Sophia arrived promptly at six. It was a good thing, too, because promptness was one thing that Dad firmly believed defined one’s character. Rita wore a retro blue cocktail dress and open-toed pink pumps. It was like a blast from the past. I imagined her in the same outfit at her diner a half century before. I wished I could pull off her look. Sophia looked stunning as always in a gray skirt with a sea foam green blouse. Jack was in a suit, just like I’d seen him the other day, only he was going without a tie that night and the top button of his cream-colored dress shirt was unbuttoned. The three of them made a gorgeous fake family. All they needed was the handsome Nicholas Trenton to be on the arm of Sophia and the picture would be complete.
After introductions were made all around, Rita wandered through the downstairs complementing Dad on all his choices in antiques. He loved it. The funny thing was that Rita had probably lived when some of the items she pointed out were new. He didn’t need to know that, though. We soon retreated to the patio where Dad had hors d’oeuvres—little crab cakes—waiting. It was a good thing he could entertain on the fly since we’d only had a coupl
e of hours to prepare. He wanted to make sure we served something nice, but I knew the food would all taste the same to our ghostly guests. At least Rita would appreciate the effort in food choice. Sophia and I whispered at the table while we dined on roast turkey, mashed potatoes, and steamed asparagus—courtesy of a local deli.
“Do you think it’s working?”
“I think so. Dad seems impressed by them so far. I just hope he doesn’t want to have them over again. It might be kind of awkward to explain where you went when your time comes to go.”
Sophia frowned. I felt like our adventure was almost over and I knew she did, too. At first it felt like we were just playing some kind of a game, but the day before, when the Goodwins had held us at gunpoint, the reality of what was eventually going to happen had finally sunk in for all of us. I would seriously miss the girl who had become a sister to me.
When dinner ended and we all pushed back from the table, Rita finally broached the subject. “We really do hope you’ll let Jamie come with us tomorrow. She’s been so sweet and welcoming to Sophia this summer and we hope we can show her the same hospitality at our home in Virginia. We’re right near the water and it should be a lot of fun for the three girls to hang out there for the week. We just need to check on the home and Jack needs to meet with a couple of clients before we come back here.”
“I don’t see any reason why she can’t go. I think it would be a good experience for her.” Dad smiled at me.
“Really? Thank you, Dad. I will be on my best behavior, I promise.”
Dad laughed. “You’re a good kid, Jamie. I’m not worried about you.”
I felt a little guilty that every person sitting at that table knew exactly what was actually going to happen in Virginia except for my dad. Oh well, what he didn’t know couldn’t hurt him. Right?