America, 2000
Maddie was comfortably settled on the plane. In a few hours, she would be in New York and embarking on her next adventure. I’m a grandmother, she thought. I’m going into a third generation! I suppose that I’ll have to see old Count Antonelli again, after all these years. Egad, we have a grandchild in common now!
“Grandmother. Gran. Grandma,” she whispered the words to herself, testing them on her tongue. “Nana. Grandma Maddie. Meemaw … oh, ugh!”
She yawned and fumbled through her small carry-on bag, seeking the sleeping mask that she often used on evening flights. Instead, she encountered the three printed pages that Kate had faxed to her earlier that day as a proposed new ending to their book, and touched them with a reverent finger.
“Oh, Katie,” whispered Maddie, wiping away an unwanted tear. “If only it could be like this. If only …”
Pulaski County, Virginia, 1814
Rebecca Cobham was seated on her chair near Samuel’s grave. The summer day had been very warm, but the evening was pleasant and a breeze discouraged the ever-present mosquitoes. She pulled her birthday shawl about her shoulders and leaned back in her chair. She could hear young Juba nearby, humming to herself as she searched for berries in the thicket by the stream. Rebecca could smell the stream still, redolent of both life and decay, and remembered when they were traveling from Maryland and she would always be the first to know when they were approaching a river.
A man was walking through the shafts of sunlight and turned toward her. He wore strange clothes—long trousers in the new style and a jacket of curious form. He was blonde and handsome, with oddly short hair, and for a moment she squinted with her aged eyes, trying to get him into clearer focus.
“Ben?” she called. The man approached her. “Benjamin, have you come back?”
“No, I’m not Ben,” he said. “I’m Geoffrey.”
“I don’t know any Geoffrey,” she said suspiciously.
“I’m your grandson—many years from now,” he replied, gazing about the farm and looking a bit confused. “It is so beautiful here,” he added.
“Many years?” she asked.
“Yes. You wouldn’t understand. I’m one of Benjamin’s grandsons …”
She nodded. “Poor Ben. Lost his wife. She was a smart woman.”
Rebecca paused. “So, what can I do for you, grandson? Have you had your supper? You all got a place to stay around here?”
He shook his head. “No, Grandmother. I’ve no place here. I think that I was sent to get you. We’re going somewhere together.”
She gestured for him to move closer, and looked him up and down.
“You’re a fine-looking fellow, Geoffrey. You do the family proud. She paused. “Maybe I do understand, grandson.”
She extended a gnarled hand. “Help me stand up. I wanted to see Sam. Instead, I see you, a stranger, from a time that isn’t yet …”
“I don’t understand it either, Grandmother. But Maddie would—”
“Who is Maddie?” asked Rebecca sharply, leaning on his arm.
“My sister. Madeleine. She’s beautiful. She’s like you. She and my other sister, Katherine, wrote all about you and Grandfather Samuel and the rest of the family.”
Rebecca considered this in silence for a moment. “My granddaughters are writers,” she chuckled. “We didn’t all become savages and drunks.”
“No, Grandmother. Kate and Maddie are tough, beautiful, smart women. You can be proud of them—and their daughters.”
She looked around the familiar, peaceful scene and pursed her lips tightly for a moment. Then she took a ragged breath and turned back to Geoffrey. She leaned against him and trembled.
“Well, grandson, where are we going?” she asked, as they turned from the graveyard and began to walk down toward the creek. “Are you going to sing ‘Come Away, Come Away, My Darling’? Whole family sings that damned song.”
He paused. “No, Grandmother, I don’t know that song.”
“There are so many folks that I want to see again,” she whispered. “Are we going to meet them?”
“Grandmother, I’m as confused as you are right now, but I am sure of one thing. We are going into memories, Grandmother—into memories.”
THE END
Edited version finished 2017