by Mary May
“What are you saying, Eli?”
He holds my chin to keep me still as he lowers his head. Minutes later he pulls away, placing his forehead against mine. “I love you, Shelby Scott. I want to marry you someday. Not today, but after you are out of school. I want forever like Jesse and Martha. I want kids and grandkids. I want someone to stand by our markers one day and see that we lived a lifetime together. Say you will marry me.”
I can’t speak, I can barely think, but I manage to nod my head enough that he understands. Kissing me deeply once more, we turn to leave the cemetery when we notice an elderly woman stepping out of a car with a bouquet of flowers in her arms. The road the car is on is another new addition. I can’t wait to see what else has changed, hopefully for the better. She smiles at us as she passes by. I turn to see where she is going. At Martha and Jesse’s marker she stops, placing the flowers in a concrete vase.
“Eli, look! I bet she is related to Jesse and Martha! Let’s find out who she is!” We walk back over to where she is kneeling, pulling a few stray weeds from around the markers.
“Hello, ma’am. Excuse us for intruding.”
She stands to her feet, giving us another smile. “Oh, no bother, no bother at all. How can I help you?”
I point to the markers. “We are just wondering if you knew Jesse and Martha?”
A smile breaks out across her face once more. “Oh my, yes, dear. They were my great-great grandparents. Of course, they were gone by the time I was born. But I was told they were wonderful people.” She gazes around the now much fuller cemetery. “All of my family are buried here.”
I feel my eyes widen as I realize just who I am speaking with!
“I must say I’m surprised to see young people your age out here. Mostly it’s just me and a few other old timers with family buried here that come out to visit. Can’t imagine what will happen when I pass on. I just hate to think of them being left out here all forgotten.”
I reach for her hand. “Ma’am, I promise that Jesse and Martha and the others will not be forgotten. At least not as long as I am alive.”
She chuckles. “Why honey, what are they to you? They were dead and gone long before you were ever born.”
I shake my head. “That doesn’t matter. They were wonderful and deserve to be remembered.”
A soft look crosses the woman’s face. “What’s your name, dear?”
“My name is Shelby and this is my fiancé Eli.”
The lady takes a step back, looking at us closely. Then she smiles once more. “What a coincidence! Shelby is my name! Shelby Anna Barrows Gandy. It’s so nice to meet you. Now I must be running along. A woman of nearly one hundred years in age doesn’t have the stamina that she used to have.” She lifts her hand and waves at a young man who is sitting in the car. He gets out and I know he has to be Jesse’s great-great-great-grandson. I think! He has the same dark hair and eyes. Plus, he has Jesse’s tank-like build.
“Nana, are you ready to go home now? It’s too cold for you to be out here for too long.” He smiles politely at us.
“Yes, let me introduce my friends. This is Shelby and Eli. This is my grandson Garrett. People say he looks just like my granddaddy Jesse.”
“Oh, he does!” I blurt out before I can stop myself. Eli covers for me, saying that we have been doing a school project and have seen pictures. Garrett smiles at us once more, saying it is nice to meet us before taking his grandmother’s arm. They get into the car and drive away. I look up at Eli, stunned.
“Wow…just wow!”
He laughs. “Yup, that pretty much sums it up. Did you happen to notice that we are wearing our own clothes again?” I look down and he is right! I’m back in my sweater and jeans!
“How?”
He just shakes his head. “I’m not even going there…who knows? Just happy to be back in our own time.”
We walk away from the cemetery once more. I am in a hurry to see my family and my horse! Suddenly, I feel a chill go down my spine. The wind picks up just slightly and I can almost hear a whisper. I glance back over my shoulder to see a faint green glow just beyond the tree line behind the markers. I stop then turn around.
“Eli! Look!” I whisper as I point to where the glow is starting to form shapes. One by one we can make out Jesse then Martha, Robert then Anna. They are all smiling and waving. They don’t speak…sometimes words are not needed. Then just as slowly as they appeared they disappear until nothing is left. I know they are happy and together. I look up at Eli and smile; then we turn and walk back toward the house.
I have no idea what changes to expect. One thought does cross my mind that makes me stop dead in my tracks. “Noble,” I whisper.
Looking down at me in concern, Eli asks what is wrong.
“It’s Noble. He won’t be there. How can he be? The only way I was able to afford him was from selling the jewelry that Jesse gave me.” My heart is broken at the thought that my beautiful dream horse isn’t going to be waiting for me. But I decide that is a small price to pay to know that my friends got to live out their lives together. There will be other horses, I console myself.
As we crest the hill, I see my house and it’s beautiful! The paint is back to the deep brick red I remember, but it’s all fresh and there are black shutters by every window that weren’t there before. The addition on the back where I slept in the past is still there as well. I see Josie’s dead tree complete with the “hanging” branch. My heart feels such a relief to know that no one has died on that tree. My barn is there and as I expected, my horse is not. I see a face peeking out of the window.
“Well, here we go,” Eli whispers. “We are about to find out the answer to our much-asked question about how things were while we were gone.”
Josie comes outside munching on an apple. I’m so happy to see her that I run the rest of the way, grabbing her up in a tight hug. “Oh, Lulu, I have missed you so much!” I make her squeal with laughter as I rain kisses all over her little face.
“What’s all of this for? You were only gone for a few hours! Did you see the storm that just blew in? Gosh, it was bad.”
I rub her head as I pull her close to my side. “Yeah, kiddo, I did. Where is Mom?” Jerking her thumb back toward the house, she answers without saying anything. Eli and I walk in the back door and surprisingly the interior of the house looks pretty much the way we left it.
My mom is standing at the sink washing up some dishes. She turns around with a smile. “Hey, you two! I was wondering where you got off to. Supper is nearly ready. Eli, why don’t you go get your dad? He is out front.” Eli smiles at me as he walks off. I pull out a chair and just watch my mom as she finishes up supper. I love her and Josie so much! I was really afraid that I would never see them again. Pushing back from the table I walk up to her and wrap my arms around her, inhaling deeply the smell of her Red Door perfume. Tears prickle as I try to keep from blubbering all over her. “Shelby? Are you all right, sweetheart?” I nod but I don’t let go. I can’t. Maybe I will never let her go. After a couple of minutes, she pulls my arms from around her neck, leaning back so she can see my face. “Shelby?”
I smile as I wipe away the tears. “I’m fine, Mom. I guess I just missed you. I love you, Mom.”
Pulling me close, she kisses my check. “Oh, I love you, too, sweetheart. Don’t you ever forget that.”
After dinner that night Eli and I walk out to the barn. It feels especially empty. No Jesse, no Martha, no Noble. I find myself once more mourning the loss of not only my horse, but my friends. I am really going to miss my Caspers.
“Hey, I know you will miss them, but at least we know they are together now. They lived out their lives the way it was meant to be.”
Nodding my head, I look at the empty stall, the old water trough that is once again needing a good scrubbing. I walk over to the corner where I found Jesse’s body. Oddly enough, it still looks sunk in like something is buried there. I scuff the toe of my boot over the area, digging in a few inches
. I look up in surprise when my toe hits something hard.
“Oh, no way am I going through digging up another body! You look this time, Eli.”
Smiling at me, he comes closer. “I doubt it’s a body. We know where everyone is buried now.” He drops to his knees, pulling and prying until he pulls up an old metal box.
“What on earth is that?” I ask. He opens the box, pulling out a piece of paper that is yellow and fragile with age. Carefully unfolding, he reads the first few lines before stopping and smiling at me. Then he hands me the paper.
Dearest Shelby and Eli,
I sincerely hope that this letter finds you in your time and finds you both well. Jesse and I will never be able to say thank you enough for everything you did for us and our family. There are simply not enough words so I will simply say Thank you! We thought you would like to know that we did indeed have a healthy baby boy and we named him Jackson Eli Barrows. Shelby, we never had a daughter (five boys!) so we weren’t able to name a baby after you. But we have hopes that perhaps a granddaughter will come along some day that we can pass the name on to. Robert and Anna have had four children and they are very much in love and as far as we can tell the curse truly was broken. You can rest at ease, dear Shelby. I know you worried about Anna and her future with Robert, but he was wrapped around her fingers in very little time and they have a very happy life together. Bruce never did marry, but he lives his life the way he wants and seems content, but I’m not giving up hope that some pretty lady will finally catch his eye (and his heart) and make him settle down.
I hope that you and Eli have as wonderful a life together as my Jesse and I have had. I know that you were falling in love when you were here with us and pray that hasn’t changed since returning to your time. I feel deep in my heart that you two share the same strong bond and love that we do. Please know that you are missed and we think of you often. Robert and Anna wished to convey their best wishes and said to tell you thank you for them as well. Until we meet again on the other side, please know that we will be waiting for you. Live a long and happy life!
Your dearest friends,
Jesse and Martha
P.S.
Eli had mentioned that you probably would lose your beloved Noble because of helping us. We couldn’t let that happen, so we left a few things for you that we hope will help you get him back!
P.P.S
There are also a couple of other things that we pray you can find a good use for!
I look at Eli through blurry eyes as I finish reading the letter. “You knew? You knew that he wouldn’t be here?” I laugh before he has a chance to answer. “Of course you did, you are Eli…You think of everything!”
Eli gets to his feet, wiping the tears from my face with his warm fingers. “I couldn’t figure a way to have him here when you returned, but I thought maybe with a little help from the past we could go get him.” He held out the box and inside I found several pieces of jewelry and numerous old coins. Reaching inside, I pick up two golden wedding bands.
I look up at Eli. “You don’t think that these belonged to Jesse and Martha, do you?”
“Yes, I think they did and I think they left them for us to use. What do you say? I can’t think of two other people that I would rather honor by using their wedding rings.”
All I can do is nod my head in agreement as we leave the barn. I can’t wait to go get my horse. I know he is waiting for me. But even more than that, I can’t wait to use the wedding bands in my future that were sent to us from the past…
THE END
