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of pneumonia and was
buried next to his wife in the local cemetery. Noah tried to stop by
regularly to leave some flowers; occasionally he left a note. And
every night without fail he took a moment to say a prayer for the man
who�d taught him everything that mattered.
AFTER REELING in the line, he put the gear away and went back
to the house. His neighbour, Martha Shaw, was there to thank him,
bringing three loaves of homemade bread in appreciation for what
he�d done. Her husband had been killed in the war, leaving her with
three children and a shack to raise them in. Winter was coming, and
he�d spent a few days at her place last week repairing her roof,
replacing broken windows and sealing the others, and fixing her wood
stove. He hoped it would be enough to get them through.
Once she�d left, he got into his battered Dodge truck and went to see
Gus. He always stopped there when he was going to the store,
because Gus�s family didn�t have a car. One of the daughters hopped
up and rode with him, and they did their shopping at Capers General
Store.
When he got home he didn�t unpack the groceries right away.
Instead he showered, found a Budweiser and a book by Dylan
Thomas, and went to sit on the porch.
SHE STILL had trouble believing it, even as she held the proof in
her hands. It had been in the newspaper at her parents� house three
Sundays ago. She had gone to the kitchen to get a cup of coffee, and
when she�d returned to the table her father had smiled and pointed at a
small picture. �Remember this?�
He handed her the paper and, after an uninterested first glance,
something in the picture caught her eye and she took a closer look. �It
can�t be,� she whispered, and when her father looked at her curiously
she ignored him, sat down and read the article without speaking. She
vaguely remembered her mother coming to the table and sitting
opposite her, and when she finally put aside the paper her mother was
staring at her. �Are you okay?� she asked over her coffee cup. �You
look a little pale.�
Allie didn�t answer right away, she couldn�t, and it was then that
she�d noticed her hands were shaking. That had been when it started.
�And here it will end, one way or the other,� she whispered again.
She refolded the scrap of paper and put it back, remembering that she
had left her parents� home later that day with the paper so she could
cut out the article. She read it again before she went to bed that night,
trying to fathom the coincidence, and read it again the next morning
as if to make sure the whole thing wasn�t a dream. And now, after
three weeks of long walks alone, after three weeks of distraction, it
was the reason she�d come.
When asked, she said her erratic behaviour was due to stress. It
was the perfect excuse; everyone understood, including Lon, and
that�s why he hadn�t argued when she�d wanted to get away for a
couple of days. The wedding plans were stressful to everyone
involved. Almost five hundred people were invited, including the
governor, one senator and the ambassador to Peru. It was too much, in
her opinion, but their engagement was news and had dominated the
social pages since they had announced their plans six months ago.
She took a deep breath and stood again. �It�s now or never,� she
whispered, then picked up her things and went to the door. She went
downstairs and the manager smiled as she walked by. She could feel
his eyes on her as she went out to her car. She slipped behind the
wheel, started the engine and turned right onto Front Street.
She still knew her way around the small town, even though she
hadn�t been here in years. After crossing the Trent River on an oldfashioned
drawbridge, she turned onto a gravel road that wound its
way between antebellum farms, and she knew that, for some of the
farmers, life hadn�t changed since before their grandparents were
born. The constancy of the place brought back a flood of memories as
she recognized landmarks she�d long ago forgotten.
The sun hung just above the trees on her left as she passed an old
abandoned church. She had explored it that summer, looking for
souvenirs of the War between the States, and, as she passed, the
memories of that day became stronger, as if they�d happened
yesterday.
A majestic oak tree on the riverbank came into view next, and the
memories became more intense. It looked the same as it had back
then, branches low and thick, stretching horizontally along the ground
with moss draped over the limbs like a veil. She remembered sitting
beneath the tree on a hot July day with someone who looked at her
with a longing that took everything else away. And it had been at that
moment that she�d first fallen in love.
He was two years older than she was, and as she drove along this
roadway-in-time, he slowly came into focus once again.