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In front of the old parsonage house, the hedges and flowers along the horseshoe drive were taken care of and trimmed, a far cry from the way Franck first saw them that fateful day three weeks earlier. As they rang the bell, Dawn noticed that something was wrong.
"Franck, where's your hat?" she asked.
Franck scrambled through his hair with his hand. "I – I don't know. I guess I must have left it at home. Oh well, no big deal." The door opened.
“Come in, come in!” chimed Robert and Rosa, both welcoming them at the door. “Come into the living room, sit down,” said Robert.
Franck said, “Can we go into your study for a moment, Mr McIver? I have something I need to show you.”
“Of course. What is it?”
They sat down in the study, and Franck placed on the desk a black book bag, and slowly and carefully pulled out the newspaper, and then the box.
“I know these things,” said Robert. “Where did you get them?”
“I’m sorry. Many things have happened here, but I hope we can set them right,” said Franck. “I found these in the attic. If you don’t mind, don’t ask me to explain this minute. I can tell the story another time, if that’s okay with you. I was in the house twice. The first time you know about. The second time I was drawn here and wanted to know more. I found these in the attic. You need to see this.”
Robert pored over the newspaper article hungrily, as Franck unlocked the box.
Robert lifted his head, and took careful hold of the box. He opened it, and gasped. He took out the book and opened its pages. When he saw the dedication, he rubbed it gently with his fingers, to touch the place that others before him had touched.
As he began reading the letters, Franck left the room, and joined Rosa and Dawn in the kitchen. They were cooking and chatting. Rosa said that Robert had an announcement to make about the house.
Then Robert walked in, heavily, his eyes red. His voice didn’t work at first, so he cleared his throat.
“Thank you,” he said quietly. “I remember that box. I saw it as a child crawling in the attic once, and even tried to pick the lock but gave up, and forgot about it all these years. I don’t know whose it was or who stored it there.
“I never saw that newspaper, though. I wonder where it had been hidden. Where did you find it?”
“They were together, the newspaper on top of the box,” said Franck.
“How strange,” said Robert, frowning. “If I didn’t put them together, who did? My mother? My father? It would have been after I saw the box myself because they were not together then.”
“You might have noticed the ripped pages. The key to the box was in an old envelope stuck to a page in the newspaper.”
“So they did belong together, and someone knew that. It’s good to see that article, although I knew most of that information. I knew Josiah went off to be a missionary.”
“We were talking about that the other day. Whatever happened to Josiah in Asia? Did he come back? Did he stay?”
“He stayed. He was killed. It’s not easy to change people’s lives who don’t think their lives need changing, even if you think you’re doing it for a higher cause. He was killed a few months after he left. He had no time to write home.”
Rosa, Dawn and Franck turned back to peeling potatoes, washing vegetables, and making stuffing. No one spoke for a time.
The doorbell soon rang, and the rest of the party arrived. Gary shook Robert’s hand firmly and warmly. “It is an honor to meet you, sir,” said Bob’s father. “I think we share quite a bit of history.”
“Yes, we do. We do,” Robert laughed, “Come in, sit down, make yourselves comfortable. Our house is becoming a home again!”
Rosa and Molly gave each other the biggest of hugs and smiles, and set about the task of checking on the turkey and making pie. Lucy joined them for a while before going out to be with Bob and the others in the living room.
Again the bell rang. Rosa answered the door. Nancy Caswell's microburst of energy entered the house. “Thanks so much for the invite, Rosa,” she said. “It’s feeling like the old home again!” She marvelled at the clean floors and dusted furniture. “I love the flowers out there. Good to see things looking lived-in again!”
Nancy gave Robert a hug, and they stepped into the study to talk.
When it was nearly time for dinner, the bell rang yet again, and nobody could think of who could possibly be missing. There was Robert and Rosa, Gary and Molly, Bob and Lucy, Franck and Dawn, all looking at each other, puzzled. But Nancy Caswell jumped up. “I’ll get it!” she shouted brightly.
She brought a young man in with close cropped hair, wearing a suit.
“I just had to invite this delightful young man to join us. His name is Zeke. He’s been so helpful to me. Shall we make the announcement, Robert?”
Zeke hovered at the edge of the room, smiling at Franck and Dawn, who were completely baffled but stayed seated to hear the announcement.
“Friends,” said Robert. “I am so grateful to you for being here for our aptly named Thanksgiving dinner. We have a great deal to be thankful for. First I just want to thank you for keeping me company at my first Thanksgiving without Catherine. I know how, when she was well, and her mind was free of medications, she loved this house, and I know she would never have approved my letting it go as I did by bringing her down to Rosa’s this summer. But we are making things right.
“As you know, this house is in foreclosure, and this gentleman, Zeke had something to do with that over at the bank.”
Zeke looked down and leaned against the wall.
“But Zeke, I’m glad you’re here.”
Zeke looked up and smiled stiffly.
“Nancy Caswell, my dear friend and neighbor, is taking out a large loan against her house, to help me redeem this property. Yes, we’re near the end of the redemption period following the foreclosure judgment against this property, and that means we have one last chance to pay off the mortgage and own this house outright. One chance left to stave off the vultures who have been circling, waiting for us to drop dead. Plans have already been made to tear down this house and Nancy’s house and build condos with a street in between.”
Everyone gasped at hearing this news.
“But thanks to Zeke here, the bank just put through Nancy’s new loan. Redemption! The house is still ours. I can’t thank Nancy enough for her generosity and her energy in helping me with this. This is above and beyond, Nancy. A toast to Nancy Caswell!”
“Hear! Hear!” cried the gathering.
“What are you going to do? How will you pay back this money?” asked Bob.
“I just spoke to my department. I’m going back to my old job.” He sighed heavily, and it wasn’t clear he was going to say anything more. Then he quietly spoke, his voice cracking. “Catherine was going down so fast that we decided to pull her out of the hospital and keep her at home. I had to look after her. I was running out of the money I got from mortgaging the house, and I was spending, spending, spending on doctors and drugs and hospitals and insurance and mortgage payments and on top of that I had to stop working, stop my income, in order to look after her. Rosa offered to help me and invited us down to her home, so we went.” He stopped. Everyone remained silent. "My department is being gracious. They’re letting me pick up where I left off.”
“What department is it, Robert?” asked Franck.
“I’m a professor of history, Franck. At the Port Haven campus of New England University. My specialty is American history, particularly abolition times. Including the Underground Railroad.”
“A toast to the Underground Railway!” shouted Franck.
“And a toast to this young man,” said Robert, tipping his glass toward Franck. “Without his wild ride and crazy curiosity…”
“…and chutzpah!” broke in Lucy.
“Yes, and chutzpah!” said Robert. “Without him, I would still be with Rosa in North Carolina and I might well have let everything here go – house, job, everything.”
Franck broke in. “In a weird way, I have Zeke to thank for my going there.”
Zeke took a sharp breath. “I'm sorry, Franck. The whole thing's been a nightmare. It's over now, for me anyway, and I think, for everyone.”
“Franck," said Bob, “Did you see you got a letter from Fondler?”
“Yes. I saw him at the restaurant. He got sorted out, after a fashion. I didn't feel like opening that letter for another day or two. Not until after the holiday. It can't be good,” said Franck.
Zeke said, “He is in a tailspin just now, I hear. Sometimes that makes him more dangerous. He's well connected. I just don't think he's going to get much traction this time.”
“Somehow I'm not worried about him as much,” said Franck. “At least, I don't feel like I'm in it alone any more.” Dawn nodded. She eyed him intently, then turned to watch Zeke for a moment. Zeke was calm, his head down. He looked up at Dawn from under his eyebrows. This is going to work, she thought. As if a quartet of screeching, dissonant instruments suddenly found their voices in a passage of harmony. Murmurs grew among the couples at the table.
Robert's sonorous voice instantly hushed them all. “That Fondler has no say over this property, and never will. Franck, if that thug gives you, or anyone else here, any trouble, you come see me first. I know a few things about him. Come, let's eat!”
They began passing the dishes, which seemed endless and bountiful, and plates were filled until they could hold no more. Everyone dug into the feast, and before long, Molly popped up to take some dishes into the kitchen.
“Molly, you just sit right there,” said Rosa. “You've done your fair share, and more than that, I'd say. In a way, you are the guest of honor.”
“Me?” said Molly. “Oh gosh, no.”
“Oh, yes,” said Franck. “I feel funny getting thanked for anything here. If there's any thanks due, it really goes to Bob's mother.”
“In a way, that’s true,” said Bob. “It was my Mom who found Rosa, and without her arranging with Rosa for Franck to make his visit, nothing good could have come of all this. Thanks, Mom!”
“Well, I know Gary wasn’t so happy with me, but I love keeping family together. Oh, I wish your brother Eric could have come up, Bob. Rosa, I am so happy to be with you today!” said Molly.
“Okay, I was more than unhappy about it,” said Bob’s father. “But you know, I was trained from the day I was born into my family to be afraid of that strange other side of the family we kept hearing hints about. This whole thing has turned out in a way I never dreamed could happen in my lifetime. I hate toasts, to be honest, but I have to do one. A toast to the McIver clan!”
All raised their glasses and drank the sparkling wine with sparkling wet eyes.
“Robert honey,” said Rosa to Robert. “You’re right. If all this didn’t happen, you might have stayed down in North Carolina with me. But you’re still with me, you know, even up here in Port Haven. I wouldn't even mind staying up here for longer, if I get invited."
Robert smiled at her.
Rosa continued, "You know, we're all talking about mortgages. Well, mine is paid for, and maybe sometime soon, I'll just leave that house to you, Lucy, and you can stay on as long as you like. Maybe Bob could visit you…or even stay with you there.” She smiled at Bob and Lucy.
“Mama, you know I’d be lost without you,” said Lucy.
“Oh, you’re just playing with me,” said Rosa, blushing.
“Actually, Lucy’s thinking of staying here with me,” said Bob.
“I like it here, Mama. I like especially a certain person who happens to be my sixth cousin, I think it is!”
They all laughed.
“We can help you sell the house in North Carolina, Rosa,” said Bob.
“Yes! And that money can come right back here to help pay Nancy back,” said Lucy.
"Well, none of this can happen right away," said Rosa. She sighed. "I didn't want to dampen the festivities," she said slowly, "but I had a call yesterday from the nursing home, and my mother is throwing all her food off her tray. She's refusing to eat. And today, they called again and said she's starting to do the same with her pills. I'm going down tomorrow to be with her and see what we can do. But … I'm not sure I can do anything if she's made up her mind."
Lucy squeezed her ring so hard it hurt her fingers. Bob laid a warm hand on her shoulder.
“Well don't you worry about that money, now. I can handle it for a while!” said Nancy. “And I’m happy to say Robert’s letting me buy that back field for my horses. That’s going to be a nice chunk you won’t have to pay me back for.”
“Well, since we’re all talking about giving you money, Robert,” said Franck. “Dawn and I were wondering if you might some day consider renting out the guest house, the old horse barn?”
“I would be delighted, Franck!” said Robert. “That barn is never used. Just full of junk for years now. And it did used to be a guest house many years ago. It’s fix-up-able, I’d say!” Robert said with a broad smile.
“You know, Professor McIver, I was thinking maybe of applying to the New England University, Port Haven campus. Graduate department in history. I’d like to really learn about the Underground Railroad. I’d need an advisor, you know.”
“I’ll be waiting for you,” said Robert McIver.
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