by Janie Brians
After the reporter signed off, Lizzie flipped the t..v. off.
"So much for the life and times of Malcolm McAllistair." She tried to sound casual but her voice cracked a little. "He'd become somebody else. Somebody I never knew. He'd forgotten what he told me so many years ago, that pieces of history were important in themselves, that they should stand on their own merits because of what they teach us, not because of any supposed dollar value. He lost his focus...he forgot the really important things...and in the end...it killed him."
She wondered if his heart had changed because of the rejection of that girl he'd loved so many years ago. That girl had also had similar priorities of wealth and status. Had it been to cover his broken heart that he'd worn such a deadly disguise?
Anne went over to her sister and hugged her again. Together, in their hearts, they said good-bye to Uncle Malcolm.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
ON THE THIRD day of his stay in the hospital, Liam was well enough to be released. His shoulder was healing well, the doctor said, but his arm was still in the sling in order not to pull out any of the stitches. His color had returned and he said he felt almost as good as new.
By this time Anne was nearly bursting to get to the cave. She had promised Lizzie, who'd spent nearly every waking moment with Liam, that no one would do any searching without them.
"After all," she'd told her sister, "if there is anything there, it's waited three hundred years so a few more days won't matter."
Lizzie picked up Liam that morning and together they drove to Williamstown Beach to meet with the rest of the group. It had been only a few days since the girls had endured the nightmarish scene there with Malcom. Returning so soon brought everything back too clearly. Neither girl wanted to go down to the beach so they decided just to head into the woods to the area where they knew the cave to be located. Jason, Liam, Ed and Darlene followed as the two sisters led the way. Finding the exact location wasn't as easy as they had thought it would be. Several times they thought they had found it only to be disappointed. A small bush or a low cabbage-palm covered in the ever-present moss and vines had the same appearance as the vine-covered cave. They finally decided to split up and cover a larger area. They continued their search for over an hour and still had no success. It was another sweltering day and being blocked off from the ocean breeze so far back in the woods as they were, they were all beginning to feel drained. Lizzie called them all together. Liam definitely needed a break and everyone else was glad to take a break and head over to the Silverpointe Hotel for lunch.
The delicious food and great quantity of refreshing iced-tea was just what they needed to renew their determination. Back in the woods, they once again split ranks. Pushing their way through the thick brush, this time they left no stone unturned. Finally, after about forty-five minutes they heard a shout from Darlene. "It's over here everybody!"
She kept calling to them until everyone appeared. Breathlessly, as much from excitement as from the heat, they all watched as Ed uncovered the cave. A thick mass of vines clung to it so Jason joined in the pulling and tugging until the little cave was fully uncovered. Anne touched the smooth round space on its face where the medallion had rested for so many years. Her heart was beating rapidly and she could see the excitement sparkling in her sister's eyes.
They had brought a small gardening spade with them. They knew from Edwin's diary that he hadn't had anything but his hands or a stone to dig with so he could not have hid his possessions very deeply. Ed took the spade and started digging close to the entrance of the cave. After a few minutes it became obvious that nothing was there.
"Go farther back. He probably put it as far back as he could to protect it from the weather," Anne suggested.
Jason offered to take over the digging. He began with gusto and broke out in song. Everyone laughed as he began singing, "yo-ho yo-ho a pirates life for me!" Soon though, they were disappointed again. Nothing was there.
There was one more chance.
Anne took the spade, went as far back into the cave as she could go, and began digging. She had not been digging for long when the spade hit something. Her heart jumped into her throat as she dropped the spade and pushed the sand away with her hands. Lizzie crawled in beside her and helped while the other four were crouched down peering at the two girls. Then Anne felt it.
A cloth.
She looked at her sister .
"Lizzie!" was the only thing she could get out.
Lizzie began pushing the remaining sand away and there, lying faded and torn was a piece of cloth that despite its incredible age could still be recognized as tapestry. Reverently, they pulled it open. At their touch, parts of it seemed simply to disintegrate so that the trim was all that still held together. Gently they moved it aside and were rewarded with a beautiful sight.
Gold glimmered in the afternoon light that streamed into the cave. Emeralds and rubies that had not seen the light of day for three-hundred years, glittered and winked back it the girls as if glad to be finally released from their dark tomb.
It was like the treasures from their childhood dreams.
"It's incredible!" Lizzie exclaimed, "We've found the rest of the Scottish Crown lewels! It's a dream come true!"
"They're beautiful!" was Anne's comment.
"Start handing them out to us," Darlene suggested excitedly.
One by one the girls pulled out the things that Edwin had buried there so long ago. They were indeed beautiful. A crown of gold was the first item. It had rubies and emeralds set in it and where the crown went to a point in the center, there was a huge diamond. The gem sparkled brilliantly, its fiery points of light delighted the onlookers.
Next, the girls brought out a ring. A woman's gold ring set with an emerald stone in the shape of a heart. Darlene could not resist trying it on.
"Well, what do you know," she said with a laugh, "Mary Queen of Scots had the same ring size as I do."
The next ring was also gold.
"Her signet ring," said Liam as he pointed to the thistle and crown symbol that was carved on the face of it.
Next to come out was a small box that, because of its badly tarnished surface, they knew it must be made of silver.
"You don't think this could be..." Lizzie did not finish as she reached for it. Gently, she opened it and there inside, curled and yellowed with age, lay three handwritten letters.
"They are! I'll bet anything! Oh Liam, can you believe it!" Carefully, they took the three envelopes from the box.
"It looks like French to me. What do you say, Jason?" Liam asked as he handed then to him to have a look.
"It is...and judging from the seal, they were written by Mary. This one is addressed to Lord Bothwell."
"Looks like you've got some more translating to do," Anne said with a smile. "We both do. If I'm not mistaken we make a pretty great translating team," Jason replied.
Back in the cave and underneath the silver letter box were two gold candelabra of very ornate carved work. Anne handed them to her dad.
“Beautiful!" he said, holding one in each hand. "We could use these in the dining room, right , D?" he joked with his wife.
Beneath the candelabra was a simple non-descript wooden box about the size of a man's shoe box. It had had bands of iron around it but they were badly rusted through now as is the padlock that fell to pieces when Anne tried to open it. As she pulled the lid off of all six people gasped in unison.
"Gold bullion!" Ed exclaimed.
The plain little box was filled with the shining booty. Everyone had to reach in and pull t a handful of those three-hundred-year-old gold coins.
"Pretty hefty bank account for those two young lads, I'd say," Liam said as he examined the ones he held in his hand.
"A bank account they never lived long enough to enjoy," Lizzie said a little sadly.
"And one I know they'd have gladly given up if it would have bought them their freedom," Anne said, thinking of Edwin's diary.
Th
us was the contents of the sack that Edwin had been able to salvage from the wreck of the Lady Brittania. Perhaps not as much as compared to some of the past treasures found in the waters of the Bahamas, but to Anne and Lizzie it was the most exciting. The letters were indeed written by Mary Stuart. One written to each son and one to her husband, Lord Bothwell. They were very touching to read, once Jason had completed their translation. She expressed her deep love for Edwin, Linus and Bothwell, but if those were the letters that had been used as evidence against her in the trial for Darnley's murder someone must have added to them to deliberately incriminate her. For nothing in the original letters ever suggested that either she or Bothwell had had a hand in it. They were simply letters of love from a mother to her sons and a wife to her dearly loved husband.
Liam called a friend of his living in Edinburg whose uncle was the Director for that city's oldest museum. Of course they were very interested in all of Edwin's possessions, especially the crown and rings. A representative was immediately dispatched to Freeport to identify and catalogue the items. He informed Anne and Lizzie that, on handing these very important items over to the museum, they were then eligible for a very sizable reward from the British government. The girls were sad to say good-bye to their treasure but they knew that Edwin's belongings should be with the rest of the family possessions in their rightful place in Scotland. Edwin's diary was also returned to the museum in Edinburg Castle but a duplicate was made to be put on display at Fort Charlotte. Many excerpts from the original have since been made available to the public. Edwin and Linus live again in history books and museums around the world. Finally they have been given their places text to their parents, a place they had never been able to occupy during their lifetime. The medallion is also on display at the castle and so, once again, just as Edwin wrote so long go, it has become the shining symbol of his mother and father. Now, however, it also shines for Edwin and Linus of the house of Stuart.
Two years after Edwin's diary was first publicized, Anne received a telephone call from very elderly woman living in Cherbourg, France. She introduced herself as Madame Knot Brionne. She had read of the fascinating story of Edwin's diary and it had sparked a childhood memory. As a young girl she had been told a story that had been passed down from generation to generation in her family. It told of a great aunt of hers from five generations before that had, as a young child herself, been kidnapped by pirates but had later been rescued and returned to her grandparents, since her own parents had been killed by the pirates. Mrs. Brionne's ancestor was named Genevieve and so must have been the Genny that Edwin wrote of in his diary and who had captured the heart of poor Linus. The family story was that Genevieve was returned to her grandparents who lived in a small town near Cherbourg and for all of her life she tried to speak to officials to convince them that the two young men that had befriended her on the pirate ship had also been unjustly imprisoned for piracy. Unfortunately, most of her friends and family just thought that she was mentally affected by her horrible ordeal. No one ever took her seriously. Interestingly, Genevieve never married. As she grow older and more feeble, many times she could be overheard speaking to herself as if others were in the room with her. “I promised you,” she’d say with a smile, “I will return for you.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
"AUNTIE ANNE! COME see my sand castle!" little three-year old Edwin calls out, bringing Anne out of her reverie.
"What a terrific castle! Good job Eddie!"
He returns to play happily in the sand. Three years old and very precocious, "Just like is mom," Anne thinks to herself with a smile.
Lizzie and Liam were married four years ago. Just ten months ago they welcomed their second son, whom they named Linus. The McFallens are living at McFallen House in Crief, except when they're visiting Ed and Darlene in Nassau. With Lizzie's portion of the reward money for the jewels as well as a sizable reward from Maddy Thomas for finding her precious things, they were able to continue the restoration of that magnificent building. Liam's book was published and was quite a hit, coming on the heels of all the news of Mary and her sons. It is now being used in many universities both in England and Scotland. The funds from that allowed them to finish restoring their home. Anne has seen from the pictures Lizzie has sent what an impressive project it has been. It has truly become a beautiful estate.
“I can't wait to see it in person," she thinks to herself. However, for now Anne is what Jason teasingly calls 'grounded'. In less than a month Anne too will be a mother, for the first time. Everyone has gathered at Montague Cottage for the big event. Today, she and Jason learned their baby will be a girl. Anne wants to name her Katherine Darlene.
About ten months after Lizzie and Liam did, Jason and Anne were married. It was a small ceremony at her folks' place in Nassau. Only family and some of their closest friends were there. A perfect ceremony on a gorgeous spring day with the beach and ocean in the background.
Anne and Jason have a lovely home in Toronto on Lake Ontario. Jason received a promotion in the publishing firm but as much as he loves his work, he makes time every year to take Anne to Nassau. She loves Toronto, always has, but she needs to return to the islands from time to time and she definitely wants her daughter to have the experience of island life.
Neither Anne or Lizzie have returned to Freeport since they left it. They both say that one day they will return...for a visit. One day they'll even walk down Williamstown Beach and the memory of Malcolm McAllistair holding a gun at them will have faded and they'll only think of Uncle... chasing them into the water, sharing his food with them and telling them exciting stories of knavish pirates and their sparkling booty.
THE END
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