“Yes, and that same James Melbourne’s brother is the father of my godson back in North Carolina. So, how do you explain that one?” Benji asked with pride. “What kind of uncle is he to ye: yer great-great however so many times over, or just a plain uncle?”
Benji shook his head, dismissing the concept, then returned to his original subject. “Dinna fash; that’s not what we’re tryin’ to show ye with the yarn. So, here we have Jenny, aye?”
“I know Jenny; she’s real, huh?” Bibby asked, looking to Benji for validation. She knew her mother believed that she had a special connection with her—that she was real—but her father still believed Jenny was her imaginary friend.
“Aye, Jenny’s real all right. And,” Benji picked up the thread he had set aside as Wee Ian, “Jenny marrit Wee Ian. At least, that’s what Wee James Melbourne told me.”
Benji saw the curiosity in Big James’s face and continued with a big grin. “Grandpa Jody called him Wee James because he was only six foot tall. That’s as tall as yer Grannie, rather yer Nana as ye call her,” he said as an aside to Bibby.
“Weel, Wee James traveled from this time back to 1781 to save a life. His wife, Leah, came with him because she loved him so much. It turns out it was the life of Wee Ian who was his great-great HSM times,” Benji looked over at Jane and said, “that’s short for However So Many,” and then looked over at Jim, “grandsire’s life. Ye see, if someone hadna saved Wee Ian, Wee James would have never been born. The story of the fairy that came and saved the elder Ian was in the Cherokee—that’s Native American Indian—legend. But, the story should have been about the fairy that saved Wee Ian—or Scout, as Jenny called him.”
Benji picked up the Wee Ian yarn from Elly Kincaid’s side and joined it with the Jenny Pomeroy-Hart strand from Wallace and Jody Pomeroy’s side. “And these two wound up being the HSM great-grandparents of my good friend James Melbourne. It’s a bit of a Möbius strip. He had to be there—or at least he was there—so he could be born two hundred years later.”
“Hmph,” Big Jim snorted, suddenly ashamed that he had believed any of the tale, even for a moment. “Fairies, time travelin’… Weel, I guess if that’s yer family’s legacy, I’ll not be one to dash it.”
“So, where does yer family start? It may jest be coincidence that yer name is the same as my cousin’s husband. Where did yer James Melbourne—the one who went to the penal colony in Australia—come from?”
Big Jim shut his eyes and sighed in resignation. He really didn’t want to be a part of this discussion, but he was the host to his sister’s newly found family members. “He was an American colonist, from North Carolina, who was arrested for—well, that part’s fuzzy—in London in 1787. Rather than hang him, they let him go with Captain Arthur Phillip on the prisoner transport ship Alexander to New South Wales. He had skills. He had been a farmer and also knew how to read and do his numbers. The Captain petitioned to take him along. Word had it that his wife and three small children followed later and caught up with him in Parramatta in the early 1790s.” Jim shrugged his shoulders and said, “That’s the short story of my family’s heritage, at least on the Melbourne side.”
“Shit!” Benji exclaimed, then looked at Jane who appeared to be just as upset as he was.
Big Jim was taken aback by the harsh remark. He hadn’t expected that. He looked over at his wife to see her reaction to her brother’s cursing in front of their young daughter. What he saw was an expression twin to her brother’s. He turned to his in-laws and saw that they were nearly as devastated as his wife. “Did I miss somethin’?” he asked, truly confused.
“Benji, there’s nothing we can do. And, even if we could, you couldn’t go back and warn him…” Becky said, then stopped in her explanation.
Her father picked up the thought. “Because if ye did, then Big Jim and my grandchildren wouldna, well, they wouldna be. It’s already happened.”
“Well, first off, I think you all know that I don’t believe in predestination,” Mona said firmly, rising to take on the moderator’s role with her hands on hips, power woman stance. “And, I’m sorry if Wee James had to go through those trials and tribulations or whatever, but Leah did find him, right? I mean, didn’t you just say that your great-grandmother Leah Melbourne followed him to Australia?” she asked Jim.
“Aye, but what does that have to do with anythin’? Yer not making any sense, any of ye,” Big Jim replied with huff, trying to keep his rage in check.
“We were with James, Leah, and young Bibb Elizabeth Melbourne jest two months ago. They were alive and well in 1782 North Carolina. Leah had jest found out that she was with child again. Ye may not accept it, but we’ve all seen it. My wife, yer wife, and I were all born in the 18th century. I dinna ken how we can prove it, but it is true. And I ken the first of the James Melbournes. He is, was, a fine person and a more honorable man, I’ve never met.”
“Ho kay. I think I’ll go outside and make sure the gates are closed or the chickens are in or, or, excuse me; I need a moment,” Jim said, and dashed out the door.
Now two more people in his life believed in that time traveling nonsense. It was a good thing he loved his wife so much. He’d tolerate her and her family’s madness, even if they ate nothing but potato chips and dressed in purple polka dotted pajamas. It could be worse: at least they were all discreet with their insanity, and no one knew about it but the immediate family. After all, it wasn’t as if he didn’t have skeletons in his closet.
Ж
“I have to know, Benji: how did you handle the pain?” Mona asked when she was sure her son-in-law was out of earshot.
“Weel, I’d like to be the romantic and tell ye that I’d do anythin’ fer my wife—and I would—but there was no pain. Not really, jest a queasy stomach. Wallace’s wife, yer sister-in-law Evie, was sent through a different type of portal. She came back here fer jest a day after bein’ shot with a musket. She got the needed surgery to fix her up, then went back to yer brother Wallace and their family the next day. And, then there was James and some maps and a smartphone and, and… Weel, there’s enough to write a book about what has happened in the last year or two. But, before Big Jim comes back, I’ll jest tell ye quickly that Janie and I came back through The Trees, Wallace is fine and verra happy with his big family, and Grannie and Grandpa are a bit younger than they should be, and that’s why ye have two baby brothers. And I believe with all my heart that Becky’s husband is from the same Melbourne line as Wee James and Leah. I jest dinna ken how to convince him.”
“I know!” popped up Bibby. “He can look at The Letters! And can I see the movie with Great-Grandpa and Great-Grannie in it, please, please, puh-lease!”
“Geez, girl; I forgot you were even in the room. And what letters and what movie?” Becky asked.
“The letters that are in the leather briefcase with J.I.M. on it, and the movie that Grandpa Jody accidentally made. Did you bring it, Uncle Benji?” Bibby asked, although she already knew he had.
Benji went to the screen door and looked out. Big Jim was walking away from the house. Maybe they would have a few minutes together without him. The video might convince him, but it was such a personal item, he didn’t want a non-believer to dismiss it, or even mildly scoff at it in front of his parents and sister. He looked back and saw all eyes were on him. He looked at Bibby. “Ye ken I have it,” he teased. “Come gather around, everyone. This is jest for us right now. This video was taken with Wallace’s wife’s smartphone. Grandpa Jody accidentally pushed the record button. Evie was still pregnant with triplets at the time, and ye dinna get to see Wallace, but, weel, here…”
Benji sat down in the big chair with Bibby on one leg and Becky on the other, each one laying her head on a broad shoulder. Gregg, Mona, and Jane leaned over the back of the chair and watched the little video from behind him. When Jody’s face came into view, Mona whispered harshly, “Stop it; I mean pause it!” Benji did as he was told and held the phone up to her so she could get a closer
look. “Oh my God, Benji, you do look like him. I thought so when I first saw you today, but, but… Here, take it back and let it finish.”
When the mini-movie was done, Benji shut it off and Gregg spoke. “I’d like to make a copy of that. I mean, can I see it for a minute?”
“Here, Dad. Billy—that is Billy Melbourne, the cop in North Carolina who has become like a brother to me,” Benji shrugged his shoulder at the word brother; he had always wanted one, “made about six different types of copies of it. Do ye think we should show it to Big Jim?”
Gregg had his smartphone in hand, took Benji’s, and bumped them, instantaneously transferring the video file to his, and then gave the phone back to Benji.
“Hmph!” Gregg snorted. “I ken he’s a sharp man, but he’s also a bit close-minded. I dinna think he’d believe it. I mean, I’d have to watch it a few more times, but I canna think of anythin' in this that couldna been done on a movie set. Sorry. My vote is to keep it jest fer us who believe.”
“I believe, I believe,” Bibby squealed as she jumped off of her uncle’s lap and started her own version of a victory dance. “I believe because I know!”
“Yes, dear, you know, but sometimes I wish your father could at least suspect that all of this is true. Hey, what about those letters and that briefcase—when are they going to show up?” Becky asked, suddenly remembering her little psychic’s hint of things to come.
“Um, in a day, maybe sooner, I think. The bag used to belong to your friend James, who’s my HSM great-great grandfather James Melbourne!” she bragged, and started jumping up and down again.
“I have twin brothers and Wallace had triplets? What’s with all these multiple births?” Mona asked, as she walked up next to Benji and held his arm close to her, hugging him without being intrusive. “And you sure got tall.”
“I ate my greens,” he joked, then addressed her first remark. “Grandpa had been wounded and almost died from blood loss. James and Leah helped save his life. Actually, they searched the family out because Leah’s mother is Wallace’s wife, Evie.”
Gregg and Ramona’s eye’s widened in disbelief at the remark. Mona started to interrupt, but Gregg cleared his throat and laid his hand gently on the back of her elbow, tactily telling her to hold back and let him finish.
“I guess there was a little tonic involved, or in the case of Evie, a lot of tonic. It caused age reversal and evidently enhanced fertility. Grannie had twin sons the day that young Jim was born, give or take a couple of hundred years,” he laughed, then continued. “Grannie said they looked jest like I did when I was a bairn, all the way down to the red hair and attitude.”
“I think she said smile, not attitude,” Jane corrected. “They sure are beautiful. They look so much like Mac, you’d think they were related,” she added with a chagrined smirk. She wouldn’t tell her in-laws that they had another grandchild, but she had seen the look on their faces when little Bibby had mentioned Benji’s godson: they knew. “Would you like to see his picture?” she asked demurely.
Benji gulped and started to say ‘no, they dinna need to see him,’ but realized that any godfather would and should be proud to show off his charge. “He’s a brawly lad,” he remarked, and pulled out his wallet to retrieve the snapshot. He held up the small bi-fold hemp folder and turned it over a couple of times. “Nae so good as a sporran, but I get enough stares as it is; a wallet is more discreet. Here, this is my godson, Billy Burke Melbourne, Jr.”
Mona and Gregg looked at the snapshot of the little red haired boy, grinning broadly, showing off his two new bottom teeth. Their heads bobbed back up in tandem to stare at Benji, then nodded back down again to recheck their suspicions: the child looked just like Benji as a baby.
Benji volunteered an explanation to their obvious deduction, “His mother had red hair. And, since his name is such a mouthful, his parents honored me, his godfather, by callin’ him Mac.” He shrugged his shoulders, rolled his eyes once, and then looked at his parents sheepishly. He dropped the attitude and forced smile.
“I couldna love him any more if he were my own,” he said. “His mother died jest after he was born, but he has wonderful parents now, and a dotin’ grandmother who lives with them. We all live in the same, big house when we’re there. It’s our home, too.”
Becky looked around her mother’s elbow at the picture of Mac and smiled at the beautiful child. Now her children had a cousin, sort of. “If everyone will excuse me for a moment, Jim and I are going outside to look for his father. I don’t want him to feel left out. I’m sure he’d like to see your godson, the other six-month-old Melbourne child, and besides, dinner’s almost ready.”
50 A History Lesson
B ig Jim needed to get away from his wife and in-laws for a few minutes: the emotional atmosphere around them was choking him. Checking the gate was a lame excuse, but now that he thought about it, it was probably open. He walked out past the yard and saw that, yes, the gate hadn’t been shut. Right, he had forgotten to close it with all the excitement about Benji's arrival. Benji, his wife’s brother who was supposed to be dead, shows up more than 20 years after his supposed incineration—and with a new bride.
Yes, Bibby had been right about his brother-in-law's wife and what she looked like. Who would have guessed that she'd be so tall and so black? Jane was very polite, even if she was quite reserved. And that smile: yes, he could see how Benji was smitten with her. But, she was probably a simpleton, easily led astray, willing to accept whatever they suggested just to fit in. She hadn't said a word when everyone was going on about Grandpa Jody and Grannie and going back in time, and actually looked like she believed it, too.
Hmph! Fairies! More like fools. It had been easy enough to disregard Becky's insistence that time travel was real. But, now that they had two children, he was going to have to put a lid on the casual remarks that came out of her and her parent’s mouths when his daughter and son were around. Bibby having an imaginary friend was normal, but he didn’t want her fantasy to be fed.
It had all started innocently enough years ago. They were at his place and had just watched the ‘Star Trek’ movie that came out a few years earlier, the J.J. Abrams version. It was that one-worded casual remark, "rubbish," he had uttered that got the conversation rolling.
"Really," she replied in agreement. "There's no way that Spock could be in two places at one time."
"Yeah, well, that, too. There's no way he could travel back in time, anyhow. A time rift: yeah, right."
"You don't know that. I mean, we don't know much about lots of stuff: outer space, time travel. Anything is possible," she suggested, then bit her bottom lip in that enchanting way that meant she wanted more, but wanted him to make the next move. But this time, it was to engage him in more conversation, not to start snuggling or, hopefully later, necking.
"What? Aye, space travel is possible. I mean, they put a man on the moon and have sent out probes to other planets. Sendin’ satellites into space is pretty common now. Yer right, space travel is a reality," he said, then bent in to kiss her neck. That move always got her wound up, and he was starting to feel frisky.
"Not space travel, the other thing: time travel." She inched away, telling him 'no, not now,' with her body. "I believe it's real. It's a part of me and my heritage," she said decisively, then sat up straight, pulling away from him and the comfy couch.
"Ye werena smokin’ anythin’ funny, were ye?" She had admitted months earlier that she had tried marijuana once in college, but that she wasn't a 'user.' Her eyes were fine, and she didn’t smell of smoke, but she did seem a little distant all of a sudden.
“No! I told you it was only once and I didn’t inhale!” She turned away and stood up to compose herself, then spun back and glared at him. “So, what do you want from me?” she demanded, her hands on her hips, her eyes narrowed in annoyance.
“What do ye mean?” he asked, at a loss on how to answer. “I’m sorry about the smokin’ joke. It’s jest that yer talkin’ crazy.
I mean, we’re jest sittin’ here, watchin’ a movie, and all of a sudden yer all touchy about time travel and ‘Star Trek.’”
“What I mean is, I need to know where we’re going with this relationship,” she said coldly to clarify her question, “and I don’t care a flip about the ‘Star Trek’ movie.”
“Uh, um,” he fumbled, then looked up at her, lording over him with a scowl. He got up from the couch and stood in front of her to answer. He knew it was awkward; he was so much taller than she was. She had to crane her neck back to look up at his face, but just the fact that she was doing it was the answer he needed. Yes, she was a bit loopy at times, but he couldn’t imagine not having her in his life. He’d ask her tonight.
“Will ye marrit me?” he asked sincerely, then bent down on one knee as he realized that he hadn’t assumed the traditional matrimonial beseeching position. “I mean, that’s where I’m goin’ with this,” he said, stumbling on his words as he fumbled with his body to get down on his other knee. “I mean, I’m getting’ old and gray and need someone who’s young and healthy and skilled to take care of me…” he continued in jest, making an exaggerated frown as he looked up at her with sad puppy dog eyes.
“Oh, Jim, I’d love to tell you yes,” she answered, the tears welling up from both happiness and fear. “But, we really need to talk…” Becky sighed heavily then pulled his head into her chest. She clutched him to her so hard that his nose was smashed into her bosom.
“I really like where I am right now, but I canna breathe,” he puffed through her shirt and breast. She released her grip and let him get to his feet. “Now yer scarin’ me,” he said as he held her hand and led her back to the couch. He patted the cushion as an invitation for her to sit next to him. “Tell me. I dinna care how big or bad or ugly or scary it is. I’m a big man and can handle it,” he said with a mixture of seriousness and levity.
The Great Big Fairy (The Fairies Saga Book 4) Page 42
