Freeing Lost Souls (The Family Tree Series Book 1)

by Tracy Kincaid

  Devil’s Den is littered with huge boulders. This will be a fun one to draw, although it was a horrible place during the war. The Confederate army hid behind the boulders to shoot at the Union soldiers on their way to Little Round Top. Photos that were taken during the war, before many of the bodies were buried, reveal gruesome images of the mangled bodies of fallen soldiers. Those photos remind us of the terror and loss our country suffered.

  It doesn’t take me long to complete my drawing of Devil’s Den. Some sites require hours of work while others take no time at all. Since I’ve finished early, I think I’ll deliver it to the Historical Society. As I drive into town, I think about how much I’ve changed over the past year. I’ve never wanted to stay in one place, and now I can’t wait to get started on the bed and breakfast. Benny told Bruce that he will finish his work on the house this week, and he and Sally offered to help us move out of the loft and into our new home.

  Bruce and I have already started to talk through the process of what needs to be done to get the house ready for the bed and breakfast. If things go well, we will hire a small staff, to clean and cook while we work our regular jobs. Between the two of our savings accounts and our jobs it should be an easy transition. It turns out that Bruce inherited some money when his parents died, so he’s able to pay basic expense from the money he earns on tours, as well as from helping Benny when he needs him. Since I’m staying in Gettysburg, Daniel and Roger Bennet have worked out a great deal for me. Once I finish the battlefields, they want me to create drawings of the monuments.

  Considering the number of them, I will be busy for quite a long time.

  Daniel is in his office when I arrive. “Hello, Sarah. I wasn’t expecting to see you today. What can I do for you?”

  “I just finished Devil’s Den and thought I would bring my drawing over for you.”

  “Well, let’s have a look.”

  I put the piece on the counter and prop it up against the wall. “Well?”

  “It’s great. I love the detail in the boulders. So how many more do you have left?”

  “Just the Wheatfield now. Bruce will go with me when I work on it. Has Teresa had a read off of Edward or Elizabeth lately?”

  “Not at all.”

  “Hum, I hope that means they have found each other and have moved on.”

  “We hope the same thing.”

  “I should get going.”

  “Thank you for stopping by. I hear that you will be moving into Bruce’s farmhouse soon. Are you excited?”

  “Yes, we’re very excited. It’s been a long time since I’ve lived in a house, and this one is special. Living in a historical landmark carries an element of responsibility with it.”

  “Actually, you have been living in a city that is a historical landmark.”

  I giggle. “I guess you’re right.”

  “See you soon.”

  I return to my Jeep, where Buc is waiting for me. I ruffle his head as I get in. “Shall we go home, buddy?”

  On my drive home, Bruce calls my cell. “Hello.”

  “Hey, I was wondering if you can meet me at the overlook.”

  “Sure, is everything all right?”

  “Yea, I thought we could watch the sunset before dinner.”

  “When do you want me there?”

  “I’ll meet you there in twenty minutes.”

  “Fine, I’ll see you then. Love you.”

  “I love you, too. See you soon.” He hangs up.

  I wonder what that is all about. I drop Buc off with Sally and meet Bruce at the lookout point. He’s sitting on our bench when I walk up. “Hey,” I say.

  He stands and turns to me, holding a bouquet of wild flowers, similar to the ones he gave me when he picked me up for our first date. “What are these for?”

  “Can’t I give my girl flowers?”

  “I guess you can. Thank you.” I smile.

  He takes my hand, leads me over to the bench, and we sit. “This was the first place we came to on our first date.” I smell the flowers. “These are the same wildflowers you gave me that same day. Did I forget an anniversary?”

  He beams. “No, you didn’t forget anything.”

  We enjoy the quiet and the sunset. I lay my head on Bruce’s shoulder as the sky darkens and the sun descends behind the hills. He shifts his shoulder, and I sit up. He stands up and paces.

  “Is something wrong?” I scowl.

  “No.” He paces back and forth a few more times before stopping, taking my hands, and kneeling in front of me. “You know I love you, right?”

  “Yes.” God, I hope there’s nothing wrong. “What is it, Bruce? You’re scaring me.”

  “It’s not bad. I love you with all of my heart. I had a talk with your dad when he was here, and I requested something from him.”

  “All right.”

  “I requested your hand in marriage.”

  “Oh.”

  “Sarah Elizabeth Finny, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”

  I stare at him for a moment, before I can find my voice to answer him. “Yes,” I respond as tears fill my eyes.

  He stands up, pulls me to him, and kisses me. This is what I want. I didn’t know it was possible to love someone as much as I do Bruce.

  As we pull apart, I question because I’m curious, “What did my dad say when you asked him?”

  “He asked me if I would take care of you forever. I said of course, that that’s what I want to do. Then he gave me permission to ask you to marry me, saying, ‘But if you hurt my baby, you will have to answer to me’.”

  I grin. “That’s exactly what I thought he would say.” I wipe away my tears. “I love you so much, Bruce.”

  “I love you, too. Oh, I almost forgot.” He digs in his pocket and pulls out a small box. It looks like the same box that we found in the cabin where Elizabeth left with her note. He hands the box to me, and I open it.

  Inside is a gold ring set with round sapphires surrounding a large diamond in the middle. “It’s beautiful,” I whisper.

  “It was the one Edward gave to Elizabeth. I thought it was fitting to give it to you. If you don’t like it, we can pick out another.”

  “I love it. It’s perfect for our situation. Thank you.” I kiss him.

  “I’m glad you said yes because I have another surprise for you,” he adds with a lopsided grin.

  “What? I don’t need anything else.”

  “Trust me?”

  “Of course.”

  He takes my hand, places the ring on my finger, then he takes my hand and leads me away from our spot. I stop him and run back for my flowers. He takes me to my Jeep. I now notice that his truck is nowhere to be seen. “Where is your truck?”

  “I had Benny drop me off.” He closes my door, then heads over to his.

  “Where are we going?”

  “I can’t tell you. It wouldn’t be a surprise then.”

  He takes off from the Visitor Center parking lot and hits the road. I’m not sure where we are going until he pulls into the driveway of what will be our new home. It looks as if everything is back in place on the porch and in the gardens. It looks beautiful, like it must have looked when it was brand new. “It’s finished,” I whisper.

  “It is.” He parks, opens the door, pulls me from the Jeep, and kisses me again. “Welcome home.”

  “I can’t believe it’s done. Benny did a great job.”

  Out of nowhere Benny comments, “Of course I did.” He can be cocky sometimes.

  “Couldn’t wait, could you?” Bruce asks.

  “Nope.” He grins “Come check out the inside. We are completely done,” he answers Bruce as we make our way inside.

  He must have every light in the house on. The house smells of fresh air and everything is bright and cheery. Benny leads us through each of the rooms on the first floor, then takes us upstairs. We inspect each room and stroll along the hallways, admiring Benny’s work and the old photos hanging at the head of the stairs. I s
top when I recognize some of the people. “Is that Edward?” I ask to anyone who will answer.

  Bruce comes to stand next to me. “It is. Teresa thought we might like some of the photos she’d found. She had some of them framed for us, a house warming gift from her and Daniel. There are some of Edward and some with just Elizabeth, along with photographs of the two of them together. The pictures are protected by museum glass so they won’t fade.”

  “What a perfect gift.” We wander back downstairs, where we run into Sally as she brings a vase into the entryway from the kitchen.

  “Hey, what do you think? Didn’t Benny and his crew do a great job?” she gushes. She’s got it bad for Benny. It’s rather sweet.

  “I’m so happy it’s all done. I can’t wait to move in,” I exclaim.

  “We moved you in. I hope you don’t mind,” Sally announces as she looks between Bruce and me.

  “What do you mean?” Bruce asks.

  Benny walks back into the room and stands with us. “I knew you would be out for a bit today, so while you guys were gone, Sally, the crew, and I went to your place and moved everything from the loft over here. I’m sure you will want to rearrange some of it, but it’s all here.”

  “You’re kidding,” I say as I look around for my art supplies. I hate it when people touch them. Where are they?

  Sally must notice my distress. “I put your art supplies in the closet upstairs. I know you don’t like anyone touching them. I promise I was extra careful.” She smiles at me.

  “I’m sure you were very careful with them,” I reply as I walk over to give her a hug. “Thank you.” When I pull away from her she sees my ring.

  “Wow, would you look at that!” she exclaims as she snatches my hand to get a closer look. “What aren’t you telling us?”

  “Bruce proposed, and I said yes.” She squeals and hugs me again.

  I see Benny put his hand out to Bruce. “Congrats.” They shake, then Benny pulls Bruce in for a hug. “I’m happy for you, man.”

  “Thanks, Benny,” Bruce says as they break apart.

  “Well, I think this calls for a celebration. I hope you don’t mind. Follow me.” Benny leads, and we follow him out through the kitchen to the back door. “We planned this as a house warming party, but now it can be an engagement party as well.” Benny opens the door and the backyard is decorated with white twinkle lights. A table loaded with food and drinks sits off to one side. The same size table sits on the opposite side, with place settings for about twenty people. Looking around, I see Daniel and Teresa, the guys in Benny’s crew, my parents, and some staff people from the Historical Society.

  “Surprise!” they all yell.

  “Wow!” I shout, as I run down to greet my parents. “When did you get here?” I ask them.

  “Benny called and asked if we wanted to come for the house warming. How could we turn that guy down?” We chuckle, as Bruce joins us. “Congratulations, Bruce. The house turned out perfect.” My dad shakes his hand.

  Bruce looks at me. “Do you want to tell them?” I nod with excitement.

  I hold my hand out to my parents and explain, “Bruce asked me to marry him.”

  My mom squeals with excitement and pulls me in for a dance. “Oh, honey, I’m so happy for you. You too, Bruce, I’m happy for both of you.” She pulls away from me and then pulls Bruce in.

  “I knew I liked this guy,” Dad adds as he pulls me in to whisper, “Are you happy?”

  “I am, Dad, very happy.” He pulls away as Bruce comes to stand next to me.

  “You make my daughter very happy, and I can tell that she does the same for you. Take care of her. Congratulations!” Dad pulls Bruce into a hug. “Welcome to the family.”

  “Thank you, Randy, and you too, DiAnne. I love Sarah very much, and I’ll do everything I can to make sure she’s always happy.”

  Bruce and I make our rounds to greet all of the people who came to celebrate with us. Sally has brought Buc out now that everyone is sitting, so he can have fun at the party, too. The night couldn’t be any more perfect than it is right now. This is my family, every single one of them. And now they will be our family.

  Chapter 27

  My parents are able to stay with us at the new house for a few days. I like having people around here. It makes the house feel warm. Bruce and I have been talking, and we can’t wait to start welcoming guests to stay at our bed and breakfast.

  We are all sitting around the table playing cards when my mom asks, “So when and where do you want to get married?”

  “I haven’t really thought about it yet. Have you?” I ask Bruce.

  “Since the house is done we could have the wedding here if you like. God knows we have the space for one. I won’t have a very long guest list since my family is all gone now,” he announces.

  “I don’t think I want a very big wedding, and I would love to have the wedding here. I wouldn’t even mind having an old-fashioned wedding, maybe Civil War style,” I suggest.

  “Now, that would be fun, and all of the guests could come dressed in similar fashion. Would make finding the right tux much easier.” Dad chuckles.

  “I like the idea of a small wedding in costume. I’ll ask Benny to be my best man, given that he has been my best friend since we were in kindergarten.”

  “I’ll ask Sally to be my maid of honor. When do you think we should have the wedding?”

  “Do you want to wait, or do you want it soon? I mean, your parents are already here,” Bruce suggests.

  “You don’t think that is too soon?” I question. I feel as if we might be rushing it a bit.

  “Why don’t we let you two talk this out? Your mom and I will go to bed, and we’ll hear what you’ve planned in the morning.” My dad gets up from the table and gives me a kiss on the head before heading to their room.

  “Have a good night, you two. We’ll see you in the morning. Love you,” Mom says as she kisses me good night.

  “Good night,” Bruce and I say in unison.

  I put away the cards while Bruce clears our drinks off the table and deposits the glasses in the sink. “Do you want to sit out on the porch?”

  “Sure.” We finish our chores before I collect my sweater and we move to the porch swing. Buc follows close behind and curls up next to us.

  “What’s wrong?” Bruce asks when we are settled.

  “Don’t you think we are moving too fast with the wedding? I mean, we just got engaged. What will people think?” I’m not sure what to add.

  “It was just a suggestion. I love you. I figured right now was as good as any to get married. Everyone who I would invite is already here, and your parents are here. Unless you want to invite anyone else who is not in town, why not do it now?”

  “You don’t think it’s too fast?”

  “Look, I know that I want to marry you. We have talked about having kids, and neither of us is getting any younger. I don’t want us to get into a situation like Edward and Elizabeth did, not being able to get married because of something stupid. I know I won’t go off to war or anything like that. I just don’t want to take any risks. I love you, and I want to start our life together.”

  I think about it a few minutes before I decide, “What the hell, let’s do it.”

  “Really?” he asks excitedly.

  “Yes, really. Like you said, everyone is here. It’s the most cost effective way to do it. Do you think Mary at the costume shop will have outfits for all of us to wear? And what about everything else?”

  “Well, first things first. We need to ask Benny and Sally if they are available and you should tell your parents what we have decided before they go to sleep.”

  “They will wake up, if they really went to sleep, but I’d guess they are still watching TV, hoping we’ll provide the news they want to hear.”

  “All right, while you go talk to them, I’ll call Benny.” He pulls his phone out. “Hey.”

  I turn to look at him. “Yea?”

  “Are you sure yo
u’re all right with this?”

  “I am, if you are.”

  “I am. I love you. What day shall we do this?”

  I walk back and lean over to kiss him. “I love you, too. Why don’t we get married on Sunday, if we can get everything together by then?”

  “Sunday is good. Let me see what we can do.”

  I walk into the house as Bruce dials the phone. I knock on my parents’ door, and I hear my mom say, “Come in.” Just as I’d expected they are watching TV in bed. “So, what did you decide?”

  “How did you know we’d decided anything?”

  “Because you’re my daughter, and I know you can’t just leave things. So what’s the plan?”

  “We’ve decided that since you’re already here we will have the wedding on Sunday. He’s calling Benny right now to ask him to be his best man. I’ll call Sally in a bit to ask her to be my maid of honor. Are you guys really okay with your only daughter getting married Civil War style and so quickly?”

  “I think it all sounds great and it will be fun. And it’s really not that fast. You have known each other for a while and you love him, right?”

  “Yes, of course I love him.”

  “Then that’s all that matters. What can we do to help?” my mom asks.

  “I’m not sure yet. We’ll sit down with everyone in the morning.”

  “Congratulations. I know you’ll both be happy,” Mom says.

  “Thanks, Mom. Dad, you all right with all of this? You guys don’t think we are rushing into this, really?”

  “I can tell that you both love each other. Of course we are fine with it. How often does your kid get married in Gettysburg, of all places. I’m proud of you. You are a successful artist, and I think you have chosen wisely with Bruce.”

  “Thank you. I’ll let you guys get some rest. We’ll talk about everything in the morning. I love you.”