A Blue Mountain Memory

LXVII

Seven years later, that day remained nothing but a distant memory, even as Cora stood in the cemetery with William by her side.

They had been there for hours, quietly contemplating and offering prayers for the dead. Cora's mind had wandered back to the grave she had been staring at, the one she paid the most attention to. It was the grave of the man she continued mourning everyday... the one whom William had reminded her of.

It was not Henry's grave. No, his sat just a few plots away where William had been kneeling for most of the afternoon. It was not Lee's either, but his sat next to this one, placed just to the left. On the right side was Lorna's, Cora's mother who had sacrificed so much for her children. No, Cora stood before her father's grave.

Her eyes skimmed over his name many times. 'Baxter Davis', the man who had never abandoned her until his untimely death. The man who supported her through everything. The man who would never have let her experience so much grief he had stayed alive. But fate was funny like that, taking those who did not deserve to go, and leaving those who were unworthy of life's joys.

With one last sigh, Cora blinked the dryness from her eyes and turned to face William. He was eighteen now. Tall and handsome like his father, but full of life like his grandfather. He went with Cora every Sunday to visit the cemetery.

After Henry's death, and Cora's subsequent inheritance of the Carlyle fortune, she had her parents' graves moved to New York so they could rest beside Henry and Lee. She liked to have her family all together. Even Edith was there, resting peacefully beside her dear nephew.

That was not all Cora did with the money.

A portion of the inheritance had gone to Teresa. Teresa had been so convincing at portraying Cora as a helpless, grief-stricken woman, that the police did not even bother to question her. Instead, they ruled the deaths as the result of a fight between the men alone. Cora evaded any suspicion from the authorities and was described in the papers as a beautiful, charitable, young widow. Teresa took the money and moved to Vermont with her father and daughter. She and Cora wrote to each other often, and even tried to meet twice a year.

Cora had even sent money to young Stanley Bones, over in London, England. She hired a man to track down the Bones family and was pleased to learn that Johnnie had remarried and fathered four more children. Cora wrote to them, enclosing a check for a substantial amount of money, certainly enough to get Stanley through university and the rest of his young adulthood. At the end of the letter, she simply signed, 'An old friend'.

Once her affairs had been settled, Cora grew tired of living in her home– the one she had shared with Henry. She had never really warmed to it and its emptiness. So, a year ago, she purchased Edith's home, the one Lee had bought many years before.

William preferred the new house. He found that the lighting was better for his artwork. He often missed his father and uncle, but more often he wondered about their deaths. He had only asked his mother once what happened, but the despair that fell over her face had frightened him, and he vowed never to ask her again. Instead, he had looked through old newspapers. He did not find a lot of information, just that there had been a great conflict between his father and a mill tycoon from Boston. The papers assumed it was simply a financial disagreement that became too heated.

William did not remember much of the man who killed his father, but he did remember the time he had walked in on Mr. Elinwood rifling through his father's desk. Mr. Elinwood had spotted William then knelt to his level.

"Hey there Willie, whatcha up to?" Elinwood asked in a playful voice.

William could not remember how he had responded, probably something childish.

"Well, let's just keep this between the two of us... you know what a secret is, right Willie?" William had nodded.

He understood, but he felt uneasy by the look in Mr. Elinwood's cold, grey eyes.

"Good. Now, take this," Elinwood said, handing William a small piece of colorfully wrapped candy, "and don't tell your Mama, okay?"

Of course, William had agreed at the time. A piece of candy to buy a child's silence certainly sufficed. Besides, William had not viewed the situation as odd until years later when he realized that Mr. Elinwood had likely been searching for financial documents.

Many instances in that time of William's life stood out as odd, really. His father and uncle had died, then a strange woman had appeared one night to take care of him and a small girl. He struggled to remember the girl's name, but he did know how well they got along. Once a year he would see the strange woman wandering around the city. One time, he had even seen her with his mother, but he dared not to ask any questions.

After a long period of grieving, his mother now seemed at peace, and William did not want to do anything to spoil that. Sure, he was a curious boy, but his empathy took precedent.

He stared at her now as she stood before her father's grave. Her face was calm, and her cheeks dry of tears. William squeezed her hand and she seemed to escape her trance. She turned to him with a smile and the pair made their way back to the house.