Chapter 25

The garden partyhad been cancelled, so we’d spent the day on the beach with Thomas yesterday. We’d swam. We picnicked. We napped. It was such a fun day.

Before Lucas awakened for the day, Dean had left to go back to his cottage, and is expected back shortly for breakfast, along with Thomas.

Hearing rustling at the back door, I turn in time to watch Thomas walk in with another bunch of flowers.

“For a beautiful woman.” Thomas holds out a lovely bunch of carnations.

I take the flowers from him. “They’re lovely. You’re already in my heart, you know, and I’ll still feed you, even if you run out of flowers.”

He winks. “I’ll never run out of flowers for you.”

“Are you trying to steal my woman again?” Dean asks as he enters the kitchen, going straight over to me laughing. He plants a possessive kiss on my lips, then asked, “Where’s Lucas?”

“Living room.”

Dean disappears, no doubt to play a game with Lucas for a short while.

I start to stack the pancakes, leaving Thomas to get lost in thoughts of his own.

“After breakfast, do you think we could talk? I need to tell you what happened that night.”

Thomas has taken me by surprise. I’d hoped that he would talk to me about the night Rose died, but I hadn’t been expecting him to be ready yet.

“Thank you, Thomas. I know after all this time that it still isn’t easy for you to talk about.”

Thomas nods his head in acknowledgment as he takes his seat at the table.

With apprehension settling in the pit of my stomach about what I will discover later, I shout for Dean and Lucas to come into the kitchen for breakfast.

Once everyone has washed up, we sit to eat the feast I’ve made.

I turn to Dean. “Would you mind keeping an eye on Lucas while I talk to Thomas after breakfast?”

Dean grins across to Lucas. “That won’t be a problem.”

“Why do you need to talk to Thomas?” Lucas asks, reaching for a slice of bacon.

“You know about the diary I’ve been reading?” I question, knowing that he’s discovered what I’ve been hiding.

“You mean the one you are hiding from me.” Lucas grins. “Yes, I know about that.”

I chuckle. “Well, it was written by Thomas’s sister, Rose, and Thomas is going to tell me more about her.”

Lucas is thoughtful and then nods. “Okay. Can you pass me the syrup please?”

I blink at his rapid change of subject and pass him the syrup. “You’ll have fun with Dean.”

* * *

“Dean.”

“Yes, Lucas.” Dean wondered what was on his young mind.

“Are you going to marry Auntie Mack? Because that will make you, my uncle.”

Dean didn’t really know how to answer. “Would it bother you if I did?”

“No. I like you and wouldn’t mind having an uncle. Thomas has already said he will be my other granddad.”

He laughed. “It doesn’t always work like that Lucas, but I’ll tell you a secret.” Lucas moved closer to Dean as he whispered into Lucas’s ear. “I love your Auntie Mack, and I hope to be around her a very, very long time. Will that do for now?”

“As long as you remember it’s my birthday soon, and there’s a new Mario Brothers game coming out, so if you are my uncle, you have to buy me a present.”

He ruffled Lucas’s hair. “I’ll remember that. Now, are you going to let me win this one?”

“No way!”

Halfway through the first game, Dean realized that Lucas excelled at not only the game, but at the coordination needed for it, and the way his young mind worked to get himself free of the dungeon surprised him. He knew that games could teach as well as distract, after all it had been an online program that had gotten him through math’s while at college. Just the thought of the dreaded subject made him shudder. To this day he had no clue why he even chose it as a minor.

* * *

When we arriveat Thomas’s cottage, I look across at him, noticing that he looks really frail, and for maybe the first time, he looks his age.

“Thomas, are you sure you’re okay doing this? You look awfully pale,” I ask, concerned.

“I’m fine, Mack. Collecting my thoughts so they don’t come out all jumbled.”

We enter through the porch, and I notice how neat and tidy everywhere is. Nothing like my apartment in Boston.

“Let’s go to the living room, Mack. It’s comfortable in there.”

“Lead the way.”

I take a seat in the living room and look around, spotting all the photographs on the sideboard. Thomas notices me looking. “Those are pictures of my wife and various friends over the years.”

I stand and walk over to take a closer look at the photographs of Thomas’s life. I pick up the photograph of Rose and Jacob, which he has already framed and placed in the center of the pictures. There is a photograph of Thomas on his wedding day with his beautiful bride.

He notices the photograph that has sparked my interest. “That’s Janet and me on our wedding day in 1958. She was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. Couldn’t believe it when she showed interest in me.” He laughs. “After our first date, we were pretty much inseparable and married three months later.”

“These are amazing, Thomas. Oh, is that you?” I pick up a photograph of what looks to be a younger Thomas in uniform.

“That’s me. I joined the army as soon as I was old enough. Against my father’s wishes, I might add. He never spoke to me again after I became a soldier.”

I felt angry on Thomas’s behalf. “I wish he was here now so I could give him a piece of my mind.”

“Don’t worry, Mack. It was a long time ago. In fact, that picture was taken before I shipped out to Korea in 1953.”

“Wow.”

“Come sit next to me, Mack. Let me tell you a story.”

“I’m all yours, Thomas.”

“It might disappoint you some as my reluctance to talk is more about guilt, than anything else.”

“Thomas don’t worry. Tell me anything that you can remember.”

“I remember that last night as though it happened yesterday… It was after ten thirty when I woke up, having heard my bedroom door shut. Turning over, I heard a thump, so I climbed out of my bed and turned on the lamp in my room. I discovered the Our Gang, April 1st edition on the floor. I realized it must have been Rose who had been in my room.”

He sighs. “I then put the comic down on my bed and put on my slippers and a sweater before creeping downstairs. Spotting a light in the kitchen, I slipped inside quietly, and saw her going out the door with her purse.”

He takes a sip of water. “I knew she was going to meet, Jacob, but I had no idea she had planned to run away with him. At least not then. It must have been about five minutes later, when Richard came banging on the back door. He had seen Rose sneak out and wanted to know where she was going. I told him I had no idea. He frightened me. I ended up blurting out that I thought she’d snuck out to meet Jacob and she would probably take the cliff path toward town.”

We have tears in our eyes, when I ask Thomas, “Are you sure you’re okay to continue?”

“I haven’t spoken about that night before now. I need to tell you.” He nods, trying to convince himself.

“All right, go on.”

“Richard seemed to go wild when I explained. He said, ‘I will find her and bring her back where she belongs, and that is as my wife.’ I have never forgotten those words. Richard then took off toward the cliffs and that was the last I saw of him, until he returned over an hour later, when Mother and Father were home, and told them he saw her go over the cliffs. I remember Richard looking really upset and as he was telling us, he crumpled, breaking down sobbing.”

“Oh, Thomas.” I kneel at his feet, taking his hands into mine. “Did you believe Richard when he said she’d fallen off the cliff, or did you consider Richard might have pushed her off?”

“I don’t know, Mack. That was a possibility, and I guess that night Richard looked wild enough to do anything, but he never, in all the years before that night or following, showed any sign of being dangerous. Plus, I think he really did love her. He seemed a gentle kind of guy. At least, that’s what I thought.”

I sit upright. “Thomas, is Richard still alive?”

“He is, Mack. He lives in a nursing home in Portland now that he needs round-the-clock care.”

“Do you think they would let me talk to him?”

“He has a daughter, Sally. She works in town at the market on Ocean House Road. You could go see her and maybe she could help you.”

“Over the years, have you ever asked Richard what happened that night?” I asked him tentatively.

“I tried, when I was older, maybe ten years later. He said that he’d lost the only woman he’d ever loved that night and didn’t want to remember. Then he walked away from me.”

“I don’t know what to say. But I do know more happened that night than what you were told, I’m sure of it. I’m going to find out what. Perhaps now that Richard isn’t doing so well, he may be more open to talking about what happened that night, providing he remembers.”

Thomas pulls himself together and looks across to me. “Thank you. I feel as though a weight has been lifted from my shoulders. I’ve always blamed myself, you see, for not telling my father. If I had, he probably would have done his best to split them up but, at least, she would’ve lived. It was my fault Richard went after her on the cliff path.”

“You don’t know that. Please don’t blame yourself anymore. It wasn’t your fault. I’m glad you told me, and I’ll let you know how my visit to see Richard goes,” I explain.

“Take Dean with you when you go, Mack. He might need round-the-clock care, but I don’t want you alone with him.”

I glance at Thomas. “I will do… Do you want to come back with me for some lunch?”

“No, thank you. I think I need some peace for a short time. I’ll see you for dinner though.”

When I leave Thomas, I realize that I still have many unanswered questions.