I Remember (Remembrance Series) (35 page)

I followed Gregory down the stairs, taking great care with our mystery box. As soon as we reached the living room, I handed it over to Lorraine for her expert insight.

She pulled out the items, examining both of them closely with a magnifying glass. “They are definitely authentic and from the Victorian era. I would estimate the time frame to be around 1884 to 1886. These are in pristine condition and would definitely appeal to a collector who enjoys history.”

She looked to her son with a revelation in her eyes. “These would look remarkable in your upstairs guest room, Gregory.” We both nodded in agreement.

We exchanged a few more pleasantries, hugs, and well wishes, as I thanked them all for a wonderful weekend. Lorraine made me promise to take time out for a quick lunch with her next week, stating she would be in the downtown area to help with a new display at the Historical Center.

All of them were so wonderful, insisting that I come back to visit, soon and asked me to consider their place “My home away from home.” Gregory’s family made sure I knew I was now considered a part of theirs.

I intertwined my hand with Gregory’s as soon as we climbed into his Aston Martin and took off. The lull of the car’s engine played with my senses and lulled me to sleep in no time.

“Jordan?” I heard his voice gently whisper in my ear, as he softly nudged my shoulder.

I tried to respond, but my body was too tired to cooperate. Suddenly, I was lifted from the car and carried into the house. As soon as he tried to lay me down on the bed, I grabbed hold of his neck in surprise, scared that the darkness had returned.

Gregory pulled me close to him, rocking me back and forth, “It’s okay, Darling. I was just putting you in bed, so you could finish your nap. I know you didn’t sleep well last night.”

I breathed a big sigh of relief. “I was afraid you were the darkness.”

He sat me back down on the edge of the bed, where I turned to let my feet dangle. “Let me help you with the luggage and bags.”

“Why don’t you just relax? I can take care of everything, Honey.” He reassured me.

I got up anyway. “I need to keep my mind occupied.”

His mouth drew into a thin line and finally relented. “Okay. I could use some help with the bags. You may want to hang your purchases up so they don’t get wrinkled.”

“I wish you and your mother had not insisted on getting me so many things. I feel that I now owe both of you so much.” My voice cracked with emotion on the last words. Then a sudden thought occurred to me. “How am I going to explain all this high end clothing to the girls at work?”

His arms snaked around me and pulled me close to him, kissing me gently on the lips. “Don’t over think things, Jordan. If your co-workers ask any questions, tell them your new family took you shopping and found some really amazing deals.”

I shook my head and smiled in amazement. The man of my dreams had an answer for everything.

We quickly unloaded the car and then changed for bed. “I’m sorry, but I promised my dad I would glance over a PowerPoint presentation he will be sending out to the department heads, tomorrow.”

Fear etched across my face at the thought of having to fall asleep alone.

“I can either work on the presentation here, in the living room, or I can come to bed and work on it there. Which would make you more comfortable?”

I hated to feel so dependent upon him, but opted for him to work in the bed, while I tried to relax and go back to sleep.

He followed me into his bedroom, where he propped some of the pillows up against the headboard and climbed into bed, placing his laptop on his lap and calling up his work.

I eased in beside him, turning to my side and scooting over until our skin touched. He provided me with such an overwhelming sense of comfort.

His hand ran up and down the length of my back. “You can go to sleep, Honey. I have the clocks set and will be done with this presentation, shortly. I will leave the light in the corner on so we can ward away any darkness that tries to come around.”

The noise from the laptop helped calm my nerves and I slipped into unconsciousness, dreaming about our future together. I saw both Lorraine and my mother helping me shop for a wedding dress and planning all the important little details that go into a wedding.

The further my mind traveled toward our future, the more I felt my spirit being pulled to the past. My vision morphed into Angeline, surrounded by her mother and cousins, being fitted for a wedding dress.

I watched as her cousin, Charlotte, entered the room and handed her a note. Angeline asked, “Who delivered the note?”

“I have never seen him before.”

I watched her read the mysterious note and hold it close to her chest, a broad smile quickly spreading across her face.

The vision morphed, again, to Angeline, dressed in heavy traveling clothes, creeping out her second story bedroom window and shimming down the trellis at night. The air was chilled, causing frosted breath to escape her lips, as she dashed off into the darkness.

Shadows began to swirl heavily around me, causing me to shake in fear. I felt a warm pressure on my shoulders and muffled cries. “Jordan…Honey, wake up.”

I bolted upright in bed. His arms reached out for me as he placed a gentle kiss to my cheek. “It’s okay, Sweetheart. I’m here.”

I collapsed into his chest, letting the tears flow freely. “How did you know?”

“Know what?”

“How did you know I was having another nightmare?”

His hands caressed my arms, attempting to comfort me. “You went from having a peaceful expression on your face, to one of fear. Then, you started rubbing your hands over your arms and shaking, as though you were cold. Right after that, your breathing became quite shallow and frosted breath escaped your lips.” He paused for a moment. “Was it Angeline or the darkness?”

“It was both.”

He closed his eyes and then pulled me closer to his chest. “I’m done with my work. Why don’t we try going back to sleep and dream only of our future as husband and wife?”

His arms circled round me, pulling me as close as possible to him. “I don’t understand why we are going through all of this, Jordan. But, whatever it is, we will get through it, together.”

To my surprise, I was able to fall back asleep; but I was restless until Gregory found me in my dreams. Our dreams were content wrapped up in each others arms, watching a beautiful sunset and fantasizing about our upcoming nuptials.

The next morning I slept through my alarm, waking only when Gregory’s erupted, thirty minutes after mine. I was able to get dressed and on my way, but would have to stop by to pick up my things, before heading back to Mom’s.

Caroline loaded everyone up with new assignments and deadlines that were due by the end of the week. One of my projects required me to go to the library and pick up some literature for her. She had them pull books on the aspects of merging various therapy and sports medicine offerings. She was considering adding some new services to our already diverse mix of medical specialties.

I gave the library a couple of hours before heading out to pick up the information. Rush hour traffic had already lightened considerably, allowing me an easy commute to the library’s parking garage.

I had only been to the library a few times, but it never ceased to amaze me how large the place was-- a full block of literature. I made my way to the information desk and asked if the order was ready.

“I’m sorry ma’am; we are still trying to locate two of the books she is looking for. We should have everything ready in about thirty minutes. Do you mind waiting?”

I called Caroline and, to my surprise, she asked me to wait and told me to enjoy a break from the office. As I wandered back inside, I noticed a sign pointing to the Genealogy Department and decided to take a look.

The department was empty, but contained a large amount of books and a nice set of computers. A sign read, “Out Sick Today;” however, there was a detailed set of instructions on looking up family history.

At first I was apprehensive, but it was a great opportunity to see if Angeline and Daniel were real or imagined. It would put both mine and Gregory’s minds at ease.

The computer was already turned on and awaiting the input of a name. My hands began to shake as I typed Angeline Olivia Carlson and then hit enter.

The computer began to search its files for the name. I feared that she didn’t really exist, rationalizing that the dreams were just that—a figment of my imagination.

It took so long that I was about walk away when the screen refreshed with a hotlink: Angeline Olivia Carlson, Richmond, Virginia, Born 1865.”

I clicked on the link to open up more information about Angeline. It was a newspaper clipping announcing her upcoming nuptials. It read,

“Miss Carlson, the only daughter of Charles and Virginia Carlson, is set to wed Mr. Daniel Anthony Whitfield on Saturday, December 3, 1884, at the Valley of Hills Lutheran Church.”

I quickly printed out the article and scanned the other hyperlinks located below it. One article title caught my attention, “
”

The article read, “Mr. and Mrs. Charles Carlson, along with Mr. and Mrs. William Whitfield, are asking the community for any assistance in locating their children. Miss Angeline Carlson disappeared, along with Mr. Daniel Whitfield, the night before their intended nuptials. The couple has not been heard from in two months. The parents are looking for any information or clues that might help them locate their children and reunite their families.”

I glanced down at my watch, realizing thirty minutes had already passed and I should be checking on Caroline’s book order. I quickly hit the print button, again, grabbed the papers off the printer and headed back to the information desk.

I was pretty much in shock, having a hard time coming to grips with the fact that these people really did exist, let alone had gone missing! I needed to talk with Gregory, but knew he would be tied up in meetings all morning. Not wanting to wait to share this with him, I texted him. “Call me, ASAP, need to talk. <3 you lots!”

The morning went by quickly. Caroline had me pulling financial data and creating a statistical analysis, relating to her project.

Lunchtime came and went without any word from Gregory. I was beginning to worry when suddenly, Karen, from reception, buzzed me. “Ms. Carlisle, you have a Mr. Riley on line 2.”

I thanked her and picked up the line. “Gregory?”

His voice was filled with panic. “Are you okay, Jordan?”

“I’m fine.” I could hear a deep sigh of relief come across the phone line.

“You didn’t answer your cell phone, so I called the office. Sorry I didn’t get back to you sooner but my phone was on silent and the meeting ran longer than expected. Your message said you needed to speak ASAP?”

“This must be my lucky day. Caroline needed me to pick up some books for a research project at the library and, since they weren’t ready when I got there, I went to the Genealogy department and looked up some things on their computer.” My voice began to get shaky.

“And?”

“I didn’t have time to do a full search, but Angeline and Daniel do or did exist and they were set to be married.” I took a deep breath in before continuing, “They went missing the night before their wedding. So we didn’t dream them up. I wasn’t able to continue looking because I needed to get back to the office, but I printed out what I could and signed up at the front desk to get access to the files on my home computer, with a login and password.”

His breath caught at the revelation. “Well, I was going to talk with you tonight about this, but I have a friend, Davis Marshall, who works for a genetics laboratory. I called him earlier today, and asked if it would be possible to determine if people are related by just a hair sample. Since both the hat and the hairbrush have traces of hair still on them, I thought we could see if we were related to Angeline and Daniel.”

My mind was overflowing with all the possibilities and scenarios that could be revealed.

“Davis said he could put a rush on things, but would need us to provide him a sample of our hair to compare the DNA to that of Daniel and Angeline.”