CHAPTER NINETEEN

“Dunston and Millie have been buried, or at least a marker was placed in the cemetery. They’ve been able to find their way home,” said Matthew.

“Pops, when can we speak to Mama?” asked Miller.

“She’s resting. We’ll speak to all of you soon enough. Just finish what you started and let us gather our strength.” He turned, leaving the men staring at him.

“I’ve never seen him like this,” said Gaspar. “I’m really starting to worry.”

“Me, too,” said Marie, standing with Dex. “Claudette won’t talk to me either. She said she’s not allowed to say anything.”

“Well, if anyone knows how to keep a secret, it’s our sister, Claudette,” frowned Antoine. “We’ve always trusted them. No reason to stop now.”

“Who’s next?” asked Lauren. “I mean, I know we’re working on them all at the same time, but which one seems most likely to solve next?”

“I’m going to guess that it will be Lilliana,” said Ghost. “We’ve been able to find a good deal of information on Count Tiestemone. His ships did carry slaves, for a while anyway. He stopped carrying them around the same time that Lilliana was killed.”

“Doesn’t that seem odd?” asked Grace. “I mean, we all know that those men made a great deal of money by carrying human cargo. Why would he stop at the height of that trade?”

“I’m not sure,” said Ghost. “All I know is that a man in New Orleans wrote a book about him. In the book, he made a statement: ‘much of the Count’s success was due to the tremendous sadness and heartbreak he carried with him until his death.’ That has to mean something.”

“Only one way to find out,” said Gaspar, “but it’s late. Let’s enjoy our evening meal and see where this takes us.”

As with most of their summer meals, if it wasn’t sweltering, they took it in the grove. Laughter filled the air, and it appeared that their new residents were starting to feel more comfortable.

Tahlako was telling a story with animated hand movements to Ham, Patrick, and Christopher’s triplets. The children were mesmerized and completely unphased by the ghost.

“Are you seeing this?” asked Luc, nudging Gabriel. He nodded toward Genevieve, then back toward Tahlako. “Is this a budding romance?”

“Shit, I don’t know. What happens if they somehow hook up?”

“Hook up?” frowned Luc.

“Yes, hook up. We have other ghosts who have done it. Like Nathan and Martha, they’re over a hundred years apart. What happens?”

“I don’t know,” said Luc. “I’m not sure I want to know. I guess we just let nature take its course.”

Archie was walking slowly, speaking with George and Teddy. For whatever reason, he seemed to connect with the two older men the most. Although, in actuality, he was the older man.

“I’ve awakened to a world I no longer understand, one that doesn’t look familiar,” he smiled. “I’m not sure that I dislike it. I find it refreshing that your women are so active and involved in everyone’s life. I find the men to be solid, honest, and intelligent. I suspect they were excellent soldiers and sailors.”

“They were the best,” nodded George. “I’ve been with them a long time now. Watched many of them grow from boys to men. It’s been my honor.”

“May I ask how old you are?” Archie stared at the man, then looked at Teddy.

“You can ask,” laughed George, “but not sure I remember. I’m old. Older than you were when your life was cut short. That’s for sure.”

“I said to the other men, this is such a strange and magical place. It’s as if you all have this glow about you that tells me you are good. I’ve yet to see anyone with a darkness to their soul.”

“Can you see such things?” asked Teddy.

“Oh, yes,” said Archie, nodding his head. “Those two men whom I argued with on Miss Robicheaux’s porch, they had dark souls. You could see it. I could feel it, smell it. It was suffocating.”

“Maybe you’re a young man with gifts all your own,” said Teddy. “Everyone has something. Yours was obviously getting others to agree to something very difficult.”

Archie nodded, looking around the grove, then back down at George and Teddy. It occurred to him that what they’d been trying to do had succeeded.

“This is what we wanted, you know? White men, black men, red men, all living together. Treating one another as equals.”

“Don’t get ahead of yourself, boy,” smirked George. “We do that here, but out there, in the world. Not everyone is so filled with grace. We fight it every day, Archie. Hatred. For no reason at all, folks hate. They hate because of the color of a man’s skin, the church he walks into, the food he eats, the way in which he lives. We find new ways every day to hate our fellow man.

“It ends in wars, famine, genocide, and so much more. We wipe out people only to have others come for us for other reasons. We attempt to talk sense into folks, only to realize they got no sense to begin with. I’m not sure we’re much better than what you left, Archie. What I am sure of is that we’re trying, and these men and women around you are at the center of it.”

“That makes me sad,” he whispered. “Maybe I was na?ve, but I thought if we could rebuild together, find a way to put down our weapons, and just talk like men, we would come together as a nation.”

“Don’t misunderstand, Archie. We have done that on many occasions. Others have attacked us. In World War I, we fought together. All of us. In World War II, we did it again. Korea. Vietnam. Afghanistan. Iraq.”

“So many strange places,” whispered the young man. “Why were we fighting there?”

“It’s a question that I’m not sure I can answer,” said Teddy. “I know that when the call came, I answered. So did George and Matthew and all of these men. And women.”

“Confusing. I remember saying something to those men at dinner. Something that obviously didn’t sit well with them since they confronted me on the porch. They were poking at me, trying to get me angry.”

“What did you say?” asked George.

“I said, ‘I am rather inclined to silence, and whether that be wise or not, it is at least more unusual nowadays to find a man who can hold his tongue than to find one who cannot.’ Abraham Lincoln. It was one of my favorite quotes of his. One that I heard myself in Pittsburgh when he spoke.”

“It’s a good quote,” smirked Teddy. “One that men should heed more often. I suspect you were attempting to keep silent, and they knew how to anger you.”

“I guess they did,” said Archie. “I guess they did.”