Chapter 28

28

AUGUST 31, 1927 MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA

I didn't want to go to sleep in Boston Harbor. I didn't want to leave Marcus and know that tomorrow, when I woke up there, it would probably be the last time I would ever see him. But I couldn't stay there forever. Even if I had stayed up the whole night, as soon as I fell asleep, I would wake up here, to live this day. So, I had fallen asleep in Marcus's arms, though I knew he would be leaving to take his watch with Edward.

The day was hot and humid as I went through the motions. My birthday was only two days away, and then I would be twenty-one. Would I lose 1727? I just wanted this day to be over so I could be with Marcus.

But even then, what would be the point? If he was taken prisoner by Governor Dummer, I couldn't be with him. He would insist that Hawk take me to Salem. It was the reason we'd gone to Massachusetts.

"Are you ready?" Irene asked as she entered the foyer, putting her wide-brimmed hat onto her head. "Lewis just arrived."

I nodded, though my heart didn't want to go to the state fair. The only benefit would be to take my mind off 1727 for a few hours, but the reality would rush back the moment I remembered.

Lewis bounded up the front steps and knocked on the door. Irene answered it as I lifted my hat off the coat-tree. Father and Mother were out for the afternoon, so the house was quiet except for the sound of Ingrid in the kitchen.

"Good afternoon," Lewis said with a big smile. "Are you ladies ready for some fun?"

It was too hot to go to the fair. The thermometer read almost ninety degrees, and it wasn't even the hottest part of the day. But we had agreed to this outing last week, and I couldn't back out now. Irene would be heading to Iowa in two days.

"Our first stop will be the lemonade stand," Lewis promised as he smiled at Irene. But when his glance fell on me, his smile disappeared. "What's wrong, Carrie?"

I couldn't tell him what was happening with Marcus while Irene was around, so I forced myself to smile and stepped out onto the porch. "Everything is fine."

The heat was almost unbearable with the humidity so high. It felt like I was breathing in warm water.

"Is this about the newspaper?" Lewis asked. "Because people have already moved on to talk about other things. Your father's tent meetings were so popular, they are still dominating the news. No one cares about what happened before."

"I care," I said a little too sharply.

He grew stiff at my response, but didn't comment.

Irene watched the two of us closely. She'd weathered the scandal with our family and had been a bright spot on difficult days. Her companionship had come at the perfect time.

Irene got into the front seat with Lewis, and I got into the back. Irene was chatty as we drove toward the state fairgrounds on Snelling Avenue. She had never attended it before and was excited to take a ride on Ye Old Mill and visit the carousel. She also wanted to look at the butter sculptures and then see the baby incubators. Since babies were rarely born in hospitals and hospitals saw no use in purchasing incubators, doctors and nurses traveled across the country with their machines to save lives for free. They paid for the machines with the ticket money and had saved thousands of babies. It was an exhibit I enjoyed seeing each year, especially because it was saving lives. Our last stop for the evening, before the fireworks, would be the performance of John Philip Sousa, the famous composer and conductor, who would premier the new march he had composed for the University of Minnesota.

The traffic on Snelling Avenue was thick as we approached the fair gates.

"I'll drop you off," Lewis told us, "and meet you by the lemonade stand after I park."

We happily agreed and got out of his Chevy near the fairground entrance.

"The lemonade stand is over there," I told Irene as I pointed to a tent on the right.

It was hard to find shade as we waited for Lewis. Irene was anxious to see everything, so I told her to start in the agricultural building and we'd catch up with her once we had the lemonade.

She waved at me as she walked away.

"I was wondering when I might get you alone," a woman said from behind me.

I turned, shocked to find Annie. She was wearing the same dress she'd had on at the Castle Royal, but today she was wearing a hat with a wide brim.

"I thought you left," I said. "I didn't think I'd ever see you again."

She shrugged and then took my arm and led me out of the thoroughfare to a more private area behind the tents. "We did leave," she told me. "But we had some unfinished business, so we came back."

It was strange to see her again, to know that this was the woman who held a key to my past—a key she didn't know how to use. "How did you know I'd be here?"

Again, she shrugged. "It's not that hard to find someone when you really want to." She smiled. "You found me, didn't you?"

It was my turn to smile—yet, there wasn't much to smile about. "I just arrived in Boston in 1727," I told her, sparing her the details about Marcus's plans to turn himself and Edward into the authorities. It hurt too much to think about. "I'm going to Salem tomorrow to look for Rachel's family."

She nodded and glanced around before she leaned in and said, "There's another reason I wanted to come back, Caroline. A couple, really. First, there is a woman you need to look for in Salem. Her name is Hope Abbott. She's Rachel's cousin. I don't know much about her, except that she was in the Salem gaol with Rachel when she gave birth to me. She was there when Rachel died."

I frowned. "How do you know?"

"I went to Salem," she confessed, "before I died in 1713. I learned a little about Rachel, but I also learned the truth about my father, too—your grandfather. After what I discovered, I decided to stop asking questions."

"You didn't approach Hope Abbott?"

"No." She shook her head. "Honestly, I didn't want to learn anything else. What I knew was hard enough. I didn't think it mattered. Maybe it still doesn't."

"Knowledge always matters."

"Not when it hurts."

"Even when it hurts." I thought of the knowledge my parents had about my siblings and me. Now that they knew what was happening with Andrew and Ruth, they were able to help. And because they knew about Thomas and Alice, I no longer had to keep it a secret. The truth had taken so much pressure off me. It also helped that they knew about my strange existence because now I could speak freely about it. And because I knew who Annie was, I could talk to her, too. "What did you learn in Salem that troubled you?"

Sweat beaded on her brow, and she wiped it away with a handkerchief before she said, "I learned that Rachel was not Josias Reed's wife. She was his mistress. His wife stayed in England with their only son, and he came to Massachusetts as a merchant. He met Rachel Howlett, who was a Quaker, living near the town of Sandwich. She left her family and moved in with him, and that's when she became pregnant with me. When someone learned about her, she was put in the gaol and accused of being a witch. That's where she died, giving birth to me."

I couldn't believe my grandfather had done such a thing. He lived by a moral code that I couldn't even live up to. Had he really kept a mistress while married to another woman? "What happened to his wife and child?"

"They died on the crossing. Apparently, he took me to South Carolina to start over. And he never told me anything except her name."

" Grandfather ?" I asked. "I can hardly believe it."

"I couldn't, either." She slipped her handkerchief into her pocket. "I didn't want to know anything else. I should have spoken to Hope, but I was afraid I'd only be more disappointed in my father and mother. Or worse, I'd be rejected by Hope and my family. I couldn't bear it."

"You and I have similar stories," I told her.

"That's the other reason I came back. I need to tell you something." She put her hands on my shoulders, her brown eyes meeting mine. "Don't repeat my sins, Caroline. Don't follow an unworthy man to destruction. Decide what you want, and go get it. I learned about your parents here—the Baldwins—and I'm so happy for you. You have the chance to really make something of your life. I wasn't so lucky. But that's not an excuse. Don't worry about 1727. Even if you lose it, you still have this life. Hold on tight."

I didn't want to tell her I'd fallen in love with a pirate in 1727.

"I can't stay long," I told her. "I have friends looking for me."

"Lloyd will be looking for me."

"Thank you," I said. "For coming back. I'm still going to Salem to see if I can speak to Hope Abbott."

"Good." She smiled. "Drop me a note if you learn anything helpful."

"Where do I send it?"

"My mother's house in Dallas, Texas. She keeps all my mail, and I stop in there from time to time. It's not a perfect system, but it works." She told me her mother's name and address.

As Annie started to walk away, I put out my hand to stop her.

"Yeah?" she asked.

"Do you ever think about what you're doing?"

She put her hand on my cheek and nodded. "Every day—but I'm in too deep to stop now."

I placed my hand over hers. "You're never in too deep. Please think about stopping—for me."

Something passed over her face, and she offered a smile. "I'll do that, kid."

And then Annie walked out of my life again.

It took me a couple of minutes to compose myself after she left. When I was finally ready to meet Lewis, I walked over to the lemonade stand.

He was waiting, squinting into the crowd, no doubt looking for me and Irene.

When he saw me, he smiled. "Did you talk to Annie?"

My lips parted. "How did you know?"

"She got word to me through the Green Lantern that she was in town and wanted to see you. So I told her we'd be here today."

Warmth filled my chest. "Thank you, Lewis."

"Anything for my friend's little sister," he teased with a wink.

Irene appeared in the crowd as she moved toward us.

Lewis's gaze shifted toward my cousin, and I saw something there that I'd suspected for the past couple of weeks.

He was falling for her.

"She's a sweetheart," I said to him.

He grinned but didn't take his eyes off her. "It's her fiery side I like the best."

"She'd be lucky to have you."

He looked back at me, searching my gaze for permission to move on.

I smiled and nodded.

He reached out and drew me into an embrace.

I hugged him back, thankful I still had his friendship even though I hadn't been able to give him my heart.

I prayed that he would find what he was looking for with Irene.