As she dressed she smiled to herself, Tabor Island was really hers. Still smiling she gazed out toward the boathouse. It was famous for its summer balls back in the 1930s and 1940s. The balls were always held the first Saturday after the first day of summer. The women wore white while the men wore white tuxedo jackets with black trousers. All the eighteen-year-old girls were presented at that time. Escorted by their proud fathers, the young girls wore long white gowns glittering with crystals and pearls, and gloves up to their elbows.
Champagne flowed in crystal glasses, while elegantly prepared food was displayed on long tables with extraordinary floral arrangements of peonies, roses and candles. At midnight, the guests would go out on the walkway, or down on the pier, to watch the fireworks display over the lake.
Can you imagine watching the sunset while listening to the most beautiful music you’ve ever heard, and then watching the fireworks over the lake at midnight? How romantic! She fantasized.
LeAnn wished she had lived during that time instead of just imagining it. She could almost hear and see the magical balls. Her father, who loved history as much as she did, had told her stories of the balls. They had both loved the lake more than her mother and brother.
She had always wanted to live in the Tabor House. She knew there were stories about the boathouse being haunted, but she really didn’t pay attention to that kind of stuff. All she cared about was that she wanted to live on Tabor Island.
Now, the island really belonged to her. But LeAnn had never expected the fulfillment of her dreams would come at the cost of her parents’ lives. William and Marsha Klein had gone on one of their many trips with their good friends Mark and Stacy Ryan two years ago. The Ryan’s owned a small plane which they took everywhere and, most always, they included LeAnn’s parents on their trips. One of their many trips to Las Vegas didn’t end up so lucky. As they flew over the Rocky Mountains, unexpected turbulence knocked the small six seat plane off course and into the mountains. The bodies were recovered after a two-day rescue search.
LeAnn and Adam had been in Boulder, at LeAnn’s home, when they received the call that the bodies had been found.
William Klein, a successful banker and financial planner, had planned well for his retirement and for his children’s inheritance. Of course, LeAnn and her brother would have rather had their parents than the money, but due to the misfortune of their parents, the two siblings would be taken care the rest of their lives. So LeAnn was able to make her dream of owning Tabor Island and the Tabor House.
She felt there was a big mystery or secret to this island. She couldn’t explain why she loved it so much or why she was so drawn to it. It really had been an obsession with her. All she knew was that from the time she was a little girl of ten, she couldn’t think of any place in the world she would rather live than Tabor Island. Over the years, she had dreams about the island and its two ominous buildings. It was as if the island was calling to her. Maybe it was the stories that she heard about the island—stories about rich people building the beautiful house, making the top level of the boathouse into a ballroom, and having wonderful parties. Then, the house and island were abandoned. Why? Why did it stay empty for so long? What happened to the family that had the incredible balls? She knew that someone in the family was still alive because an attorney represented this person at the signing of the purchase documents. Maybe she would go into Cable to the library and try to find out what had happened and who this person was.
Anyway, she was about to start living her dream. She owned Tabor Island and was living in the Tabor house.
It wasn’t easy getting around when you lived on an island. Transportation was her fishing boat. She would take a three-to-five minute boat ride across to the Ridgewood Resort, park the boat at the slip then walk to her waiting car in the parking lot. Luckily, Ridgewood Resort had been able to rent her a slip for her boat. The owners, who had known the Klein family for years, did not want her to pay for the parking space but she insisted so they agreed on fifty dollars a month. After all, LeAnn didn’t leave the island much, only to go into town, so she felt it was only fair to pay for a space no other patrons would be able to use.
The end of November the lake would start to freeze and she would not be able to use her boat. Thank goodness she had the boathouse to store it in. She was going to have to go into town and buy a snowmobile for getting around in the winter.
How in the word did the Tabors get groceries out here? She wondered. She didn’t know if there were snowmobiles back then. Maybe they used sleds and had to drag them, she thought. She had skis but she didn’t want to drag a sled behind her with groceries. Great exercise but too hard on the back.
A large smile crossed LeAnn’s face as she remembered the fun she and her family had snowmobiling here on the lake. A tear started to roll down her cheek.
There may be a few inconveniences to living on an island but she was too excited to worry about them now.
“If the Tabors could do it, so can I,” she said out loud wiping away the tear.