“No way is that real,” I said without even thinking. Sybil laughed and told me that indeed it was. I gently picked up the plastic covering, aware that Willa had once held this note in her hands. She had to have carried it with her on the wagon. I could only imagine how she had treasured it then.
“How do you have all these things?” I asked, gazing up at Sybil, who looked every bit a proud parent at that moment.
“Just passed down from generation to generation,” she told me. “My grandmother kept all these things, and when she passed away, they were given to me. It always seemed important to me, to preserve the family history.”
“Well, you’ve certainly done that,” I stated. She took the plastic sheets and tucked them safely away in her binder, and then asked me if I would like some tea. We spent a few minutes talking about what I had just read before she pulled out the photo albums.
“Would you like to see Elizabeth?” she asked.
“Absolutely!” I exclaimed. “First, let me put this tea far away from me. Sometimes I’m an accident waiting to happen.” She laughed as I carried my tea glass to the kitchen, and then I came back and peered at the book she had open.
“This is her,” she said, pointing to an elderly woman. “The baby she is holding is her granddaughter, Anna.”
“Wow, that is remarkable,” I breathed. She flipped the page and pointed at another elderly woman.
“This is Anna, the baby from the last picture,” she told me. “I always liked how much she looked like Elizabeth. There is no doubt they were blood related.”
“Who is the baby she is holding, then? And who are the others in the picture?”
“The man there behind her is William, her son, along with his wife Camille. The baby is their daughter, Wilhelmina.”
“Oh my goodness,” I exhaled, placing my hand over my mouth. “That’s my grandmother.”
“Wilhelmina? Then you will recognize this one, too.” She turned the page and pointed to a couple on their wedding day, and I saw my grandma, young and vivacious and beautiful. Looking at my grandpa, I could almost see my own father’s face. They looked so happy together.
“Beautiful lady, your grandmother,” Sybil remarked. “You must have taken after your mother’s side, because I don’t see the resemblance. Not that you aren’t beautiful, too, but you have a fairer complexion.”
“Yes, unfortunately,” I quipped, smiling over at her.
“I should have one more picture of Elizabeth in here, too,” she stated, flipping through the pages and eventually locating the one she wanted. “There. This is with her half-siblings and her step-siblings. She’s right there, in the middle, and next to her is Alexander. On the other side are Charles, Nathaniel, and finally Miriam. Daniel and Rebecca had passed away a couple of years before, I believe.”
“So that’s Elizabeth and Alexander?” I clarified, remembering that Liz had said her ancestor was Alexander.
“Yes, Alexander, her step-brother,” Sybil agreed.
I sat there for a couple of hours as she showed me picture after picture. Eventually she took her things back into the other room and brought out a CD, telling me that she had copies of her records on there, and I was welcome to keep it. I assured her that she would get full credit for everything I learned today, which seemed to make her very happy. Right before I left, she pulled out her copy of my last book, placing it in front of me sheepishly.
“I don’t suppose you would autograph it?” she asked. “Those girls aren’t likely to believe me anyway, but maybe if I get it in writing…”
Autograph it? Oh, Sybil, of all the things you could ask me, why that?
“Yeah, okay,” I found myself relenting. How could I tell her no, after everything she had done for me? She handed me the book, and I flipped open the front cover, pulling my pen from my laptop bag and hesitantly placing it on the page.
To Sybil,
The honor of my very first autograph.
Thank you for the beautiful history lesson.
Your grateful cousin Camdyn
A.k.a. C.W. Oliver
I held it out to her with a hopeful grin and asked what she thought. She beamed from ear to ear and assured me it was perfect. As I left, she told me to come back anytime, and I assured her I would send her a copy of my book on Wilhelmina, once it was finished. As I pulled out of her driveway, I was all but certain that I could now finish this book by my deadline, and it was going to rock.
-§-
I went back to my hotel room and began writing furiously, the words just pouring forth. Now that I knew why Willa had left Virginia, everything fell beautifully into place. I scrolled through what I had already written, inserting the extra information I now possessed. I sat in one place tapping on my laptop keys for so long that my back started to hurt and my eyes were getting fuzzy. When my phone started buzzing, I looked up to see that it was a little after seven. I wasn’t going to answer it, but when I saw that it was Cole, I picked it up right away.
“Hello?” I said cheerily.
“Hello? Aunt Cammie?”
What in the world? Aunt Cammie?
“Who is this?” I asked, slightly confused.
“It’s your fairy princess, Char-lot-a.”
“Charlotte?” I repeated, very surprised. “Honey, does Uncle Cole know that you have his phone?”
“Nope. He left it on the table.” I tried not to laugh at her attempt at sounding like an adult.
“Where is Uncle Cole?”
“Outside with Pappy. When is the next tea party?”
“Oh, I don’t know, sweetheart. Do you want to have another tea party?”
“Yes, but does the bat have to come?”
“You don’t like Batman at your tea party?” I asked, trying not to giggle.
“He was okay, it’s just not right. A fairy is a fairy, not a bat.”
“Okay, I will remember that,” I told her.
“Charlotte, what are you doing?” I heard Rachel ask in the background. “Do you have somebody’s phone?”
“Yeah, Unca Cole’s.”
“What are you doing with Uncle Cole’s phone?” Rachel wanted to know.
“Talking to Aunt Cammie.”
“Oh, that is just too adorable,” Rachel sighed. “Mom, did you hear that? Charlotte just called Camdyn ‘Aunt Cammie.’ Charlotte, Uncle Cole probably doesn’t want you playing with his phone.”
“I’m not playing, I’m talking to Aunt Cammie,” Charlotte stated defiantly. I must admit I was having fun listening to their conversation.
“Cole, you left your phone lying around and Charlotte’s playing with it!” Rachel yelled.
“What are you and Camdyn talking about, Charlotte?” Liz asked sweetly.
“Having a tea party without bats,” she stated matter-of-factly while I stifled a giggle.
“Hand me that phone, Charlotte, you’re getting your sticky fingers all over it,” Rachel stated.
“Okay, Aunt Cammie, I gotta go now,” Charlotte sighed.
“Goodbye, Charlotte,” I told her.
“Seriously, Charlotte, did you have to pick up the phone while you were eating candy?” I heard Rachel say, then heard a rustling noise and assumed she was cleaning the phone. “I should leave it like that to teach your Uncle Cole a lesson. Maybe then he would… Oh, no, hello?”
“Hello?” I stated reluctantly, and heard Rachel gasp.
“Camdyn? Is that you?”
“Yes.” I couldn’t hold it in any longer, so I started laughing quietly.
“Oh, no, I am so sorry. Charlotte, how did you call Camdyn?”
“I saw her picture and pushed the button,” I heard Charlotte explain.
“Don’t do that!” Rachel scolded her. “Camdyn, I had no idea you were really on the phone.”
“That’s okay. I needed a break, and we were having a tantalizing discussion about tea parties without bats.”
“Oh my goodness!”
“I’m glad to be talking to you, anyway. Tell your mom th
at I saw a picture today of Elizabeth and Alexander standing next to each other.”
“Mom, Camdyn saw a picture of Elizabeth and Alexander?” Rachel relayed. “Does that mean anything to you?”
“My word!” I heard Liz exclaim, taking the phone from Rachel. “You actually saw their picture?”
“Yes, it was really something.”
“That is certainly exciting. I can’t wait to see it myself!”
“I have it with me right now, along with a lot of other great things.” I flipped the CD over in my hand and marveled again at all the information I received that day.
“I hope to see all of it soon, then,” she told me. “Oh, Cole, there you are. Camdyn is on the phone.” I didn’t hear anything for about thirty seconds, and then I finally heard his voice.
“Camdyn?”
“Hi, Cole.”
“Sorry they answered my phone. I didn’t know you called.”
“Oh, I didn’t. Charlotte called me.”
“Charlotte?”
“Yes, Charlotte,” I said with a laugh.
“That will teach me to leave my phone sitting around, I guess.”
“It’s okay, we had a great time talking about tea parties,” I joked. “You made it home in one piece, I assume.”
“Yeah, something like that.” He seemed a little hesitant, but I pretended not to notice.
“Oh, guess what? I signed my first autograph today.”
“No kidding?” he asked lightly.
“Yeah, wasn’t that brave of me? And don’t answer, I know that’s pathetic.”
“No, I’m really proud of you.” I bit my lip as I wondered what to say, and then looked down to inspect my fingernails. Cole wasn’t talking either, and even though there were a million things I wanted to say to him, none of them seemed appropriate.
“What are you doing?” he finally broke the silence.
“Writing.”
“And tomorrow?”
“Writing.”
“And Thursday?”
“Writing, and writing, and writing. My deadline is Friday.”
“So you’ll be back Friday night?” he asked with a pleading tone. “Please say yes?”
“I don’t know yet, but hopefully, yes.”
“You know, you could write here.”
“I could try, yes, but there are a lot of distractions.” Speaking of distractions, I was trying to picture his smile in my mind at that very moment.
“Am I a distraction?”
“You are the biggest distraction, but in the best way.”
“Point taken,” he laughed. “I will get off here and leave you alone, then.”
“Okay, Cole, good night. I wish I could tell you in person.”
“Yeah, me too. Good night, Camdyn.”
As he hung up the phone, I quickly typed out a text message: The night we met, what did you text Rachel? I hit send and waited for his reply for nearly two minutes before it popped up on my screen.
That was private, he wrote. I smiled, and tried again.
Please? If you tell me, I will write faster. All night if I have to.
He didn’t answer right away, so I started looking at the room service menu to try to figure out my dinner situation. I was about to pick up the telephone and order when I finally saw his reply.
I just met the girl of my dreams. I smiled and thought about doing a happy dance right there in my hotel room.
Do you still think that?
His reply popped up right away: When you come back, I will tell you. Good night, Camdyn.
“Good night, Cole,” I sighed. I ordered some chicken to be sent up and then went back to writing, absolutely determined to keep going as long as my brain could function.
Chapter Twenty-One
There was no trouble writing anymore – the minute I woke up Wednesday morning I was back at it, really enjoying diving into that tremendous love story. I won’t lie – when I described Robert Clark in the novel, it was hard for me not to picture Cole. Maybe it was because I knew he was a direct descendant, or perhaps because Willa had described Robert as having a smile that could melt a girl’s heart… Or, it could have simply been the fact that I couldn’t stop thinking about Cole Parker, no matter how hard I tried.
Going downstairs and working out seemed pointless at the moment, so I focused instead on detailing those first meetings between Robert and Willa. (Oh, and the friend that Willa was sneaking out to meet that morning? I named her Ollie, after the librarian who had given me Sybil’s name. Promise kept!) I fought tears when I wrote about how Willa felt, knowing Robert was waiting for her to meet him. Those pages of the book were so heartbreaking and difficult to put into words, thinking about Willa trapped in her home knowing Robert was leaving.
I skipped breakfast, imagining instead how Willa would have felt on her wedding day. Did Adlai know that he wasn’t the one she loved, or did she manage to hide her true feelings? His blood ran through my veins too, and I couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. I didn’t have any life experiences to draw on, but I imagined how I would have felt if I had been forced to marry Peter, or Trey, or one of the others. Night after night, she must have wondered what could have been if things turned out differently.
I probably would have kept writing right through lunch if my stomach hadn’t started growling like crazy, but I decided I needed to eat to keep my energy going. Downstairs in the hotel restaurant, I sat there for a few minutes waiting for my food before I decided to call Trina. The phone rang twice before she answered.
“Hey, sis,” I said. “What’s going on?”
“Camdyn, I’m sure you’re angry with me, and I’m really sorry,” she apologized, sounding upset.
“What are you talking about? Why would I be angry with you?”
“Because of what Charlie said to you the other day on the phone.”
“Oh, who cares what Charlie said?” I laughed, relieved to hear that was her concern. “Cole wasn’t mad at me, so I don’t know what his problem was anyway.”
“No, he wasn’t mad. He was very nice.” I let her words hang in the air for a minute.
“What did he do, anyway, when he was there?” I wanted to know.
“Oh, gosh, he took us out to dinner, and then he and Charlie watched the baseball game. After that I don’t know because I went to bed, but the next morning he fixed that spot in our fence. Oh, and he unclogged the dishwasher, helped me hang shelves in peanut’s room, and then finished putting up the trim in our closet.”
“So you totally took advantage of him?” I laughed.
“No, he volunteered to do those things,” she protested. I imagined her folding her arms in mock anger, as she always did. “Okay, I did ask him to help me with the trim, obviously, since he wouldn’t have seen the inside of my closet otherwise. While he was in there, I showed him a bunch of our college pictures.”
“Oh, Trina…”
“He found a picture of you and Blake, but all he said was, ‘This was the guy who proposed in Chinese history, huh?’”
“I cannot believe you showed him those pictures.”
“He also wanted to see my wedding video.”
“Please tell me you didn’t…”
“Yeah, but it was fine. He thought it was hilarious.”
“I officially want to crawl under a rock.”
“He didn’t care about either of those guys,” Trina laughed. “The only one he brought up was Trey. He asked me four or five questions about him. It was like he was full-out jealous or something, especially after I mentioned that Trey had been over here looking for you too.”
“Can’t be happening…” I wished out loud, knowing full well that it was too late and had already happened.
“Don’t worry, he really wasn’t here very long. He left around noon to take Charlie to lunch, and then he went back to Tennessee.”
“I can’t believe how uncomfortable I am about all of this.”
Really, why am I so uncomfortable anyway?
“Well, you shouldn’t be,” Trina stated. “I think we made an okay impression on him, and Charlie and I both thought he was terrific.”
“You did?” I asked hopefully.
“Cammie, don’t let that one get away,” she told me as the waitress set my plate down on the table.
“Trust me, I know,” I said. “Listen, my lunch is here, so I have to go.”
“Okay, you call me soon, okay?”
“Of course. Bye, sis.”
I hung up the phone and began to eat my salad, absently thinking about Cole hanging out with Charlie and Trina. Why was I always so worried about things that were completely out of my control? Trina was my best friend and Charlie was my brother, so why couldn’t I just let go and trust them? I knew they wouldn’t do anything to purposefully hurt me. I wanted total control all the time, though, didn’t I? Had to be the master of my own fate – that’s why I always bolted when the situation got tough. Things weren’t working out the way I wanted? Pull up stakes and find a new spot to pitch the tent, in a place where I looked perfect from the outside and no one knew the truth. That feeling that everything was dissolving into chaos, though – it was always right there lingering just underneath the façade I created.
And perfect - why was that the standard I needed to attain now? Nothing in my life had ever been flawless. Having my dad taken out of this world when I was young? Definitely not ideal. No one would have ever described my life as picture-perfect when my mom abandoned us for the other side of the globe, either. Aside from my grandma’s presence bringing a little bit of normal into my life, my entire childhood was a lesson in persevering in an uncontrolled world. I had done it too, hadn’t I? I had made it through and done well for myself.
You mean you’ve done well for C.W. Oliver.
What was C.W. Oliver but a reflection of me, though? A reflection that I could control, sure, but still part of me. Nothing happened to C.W. unless it was carefully calculated and well-planned, and that was my doing. I had crafted that persona, and C.W. was perfect, for all anyone knew. There were no lingering mother issues to be dealt with there. No one would find any ill-advised proposals at C.W.’s feet. She wouldn’t burn food in the kitchen, or carelessly walk into things, and she certainly wouldn’t get lost on a gravel road in the middle of nowhere.
A Reason to Run (The Camdyn Series Book 1) Page 30
