Someday We'll Be Together

Chapter 23- The Cliff and The Farmhouse

"This is the farmhouse where Marla lived," Lena said to Tyler. The mayor and Max were tying the horses to the fence in front of the house. "This is what it looked like 125 years ago."
Max, followed by Lena and Tyler, followed the mayor into the farmhouse. Inside, it smelled of dust and old books.
As Tyler looked around, he bumped into something, and a sword fell next to his foot. As Tyler recoiled in fear, the man picked up the fallen sword and put it back in its place.
"Was that a real sword?" Tyler asked Lena in a whisper.
Hearing this, the man answered Tyler's question. "Of course. I brought it back from the war 20 years ago."
"I almost got shot too," Max said proudly.
"He's talking about the American Civil War," Lena confirmed.
"Wow, did you see Abraham Lincoln?" Max asked upon hearing this.
"I saw him once," the man nodded. "He said that a grandson of one of the Irishmen might be sitting in his chair one day. That doesn't seem very believable to me."
"He's right," Max jumped in. "John F. Kennedy was of Irish descent—"
Lena cut Max off. "Yes, quite a far-sighted prediction."
At that moment, they heard a woman's voice. "Arthur, who are these people?"
The man turned to the children. "This is my wife, Martha."
"She must be Marla's great-great-grandmother," Lena whispered. The man turned to his wife. "Martha, these are..."
"Lena."
"Max."
"Timothy. My name is Timothy," Tyler jumped in.
The woman looked at Tyler as if she recognized him. "Timothy... Could you be related to Timothy Westin?"
"Ah, well..." Tyler looked at Lena and Max. "He's... my distant cousin."
"I see, you look very much alike," the woman said.
"Well, Lena, Max, and Timothy saved me when my carriage was dragged to the cliff," the man said, changing the subject.
"Great heavens!" the woman put her hand on her heart. "Horseman Bill tricked you again, didn't he?"
"People do really say 'Great Heavens!' in the 19th century." whispered Max. Lena rolled her eyes at him.
"It wasn't Horseman Bill's fault."
"He's the one who greased the carriage."
"I'm sure it was a minor mishap. But thanks to Lena, Max, and Timothy, I'm still here."
The woman turned to the children. "I owe you a great deal for saving my husband. Please stay for dinner."
Lena, Tyler, and Max, who were awkwardly standing, followed the woman.

"What kind of meat is this exactly?" Tyler asked. The meat he was chewing didn't resemble anything he'd tasted before.
"A wild rabbit that Arthur hunted yesterday," the woman replied. "You're lucky. Finding meat every day is quite difficult," said the man sitting next to his wife.
Lena and Max looked at each other and stopped chewing.
"I guess this isn't as bad as Mrs. Lincoln milking her cat," Tyler whispered to Max and Lena beside him.
Max was examining the brownish water in his glass.
"Lena, if you get home late, won't your husband be worried?" the woman suddenly asked.
Lena's face turned pale upon hearing this.
"Ah, actually... I don't think so," she said, trying to smile. "What could a young lady like you be doing at this hour instead of taking care of her children at home?"
Tyler and Max could see that Lena was getting angry. "First of all, even if I had a husband, I wouldn't have to live dependent on him—"
"I'm her husband," Tyler cut Lena off. Lena stopped talking and, like everyone else, looked at Tyler. "And we don't have children." Tyler looked at Lena sitting next to him. "Yet."
Max was glaring at Tyler.
"Oh, I see," the woman said. "You must have married recently. You're late, but it's alright."
Tyler continued his lie. "After getting married, we set out to settle in San Francisco, but—"
"Our horse broke down," Max finished the sentence, then winked at Tyler. This time, his tone indicated that he was on Tyler's side rather than making his life harder.
Tyler smiled at Max.
"So, I suppose you don't have a place to stay tonight."
"Actually, we don't," Lena said, having calmed down after Tyler saved the situation.
"You can stay here. It wouldn't be a problem for us. Right?" Mr. Davis looked at his wife.
"Of course. Whatever my husband says."
Hearing this, Tyler, Max, and Lena felt a sense of relief at finding a place to stay.
As the woman went upstairs to show them their rooms, Lena, Max, and Tyler followed her. The woman turned to Tyler. "Mr. Timothy. I'm giving you my son's old room so you can stay with your wife."
Tyler turned to Lena, who was looking at him. "And I'm giving you another room where you can have some peace and quiet," the woman said to Max. The smile on Max's face disappeared.
"So now they get to sleep in the same room?" Tyler asked, pointing at Lena.
"They should enjoy being a newly married couple," the woman said with a smile. Then she became serious. "Breakfast is at 6 AM. After that, I expect you to help with some farm chores."
Max and Tyler's faces fell. "Of course, Mrs. Davis," Lena tried to smile. "Good night." After wishing them good night, the woman went downstairs.
Max immediately turned to Tyler. "Okay, there's no way you're sleeping in the same room as my sister."
"Not this again. I thought we had an agreement," Tyler protested.
"I didn't say anything because you were trying to save the situation. What did you think?" Max said, glaring at Tyler.
"Why don't you let Lena decide?"
"Do you think Lena doesn't think like I do?"
"Of course she doesn't think like you, right, Lena?" Tyler and Max looked at Lena, expecting an answer.
"I'll do you a favor," Lena said with a grin. "How about you two share a room so you can get along better?"
"You can't be serious," Max said, staring blankly at Lena.
"When you get along, then you can sleep in separate rooms." Lena opened the door to the room given to Max and turned to them again. "Good night."
Before Tyler and Max could say anything, Lena had closed the door. "If you hadn't objected, this wouldn't have happened," Tyler said in frustration.
"Do you think I'm thrilled to spend the night in the same room as you?" Max said as he walked in.
"Why would you object otherwise?" Tyler closed the door after walking in.
"Because I don't want you getting that close to my sister." Tyler sat on the edge of the bed, looking away.
"Why do you never see me good enough for being with Lena?"
"Because I don't want Lena to get hurt, obviously."
Tyler looked at Max. "Max, I would never hurt your sister."
"How can I be sure of that? How can I trust you?"
"You're the one who bullied me since 5th grade. If I can trust you, you can trust me."
"I never liked you because I saw you teasing Lena."
"I didn't tease Lena. If you want to know the truth, I liked her. I was trying to get her attention, but I'm terrible at talking to girls. It was all a misunderstanding."
"It didn't seem like that to me."
"After you started picking on me, I realized I would never win her over. So... I wanted to hurt you."
"By picking on my sister?"
"I got to talk to her and annoyed you at the same time," Tyler said, shrugging.
Max was silent for a while. Then he looked at Tyler. "You acted like a complete jerk."
"I know. I'm an idiot. But because we had to spend so much time together, we had the chance to get to know each other."
"Are you going to ask me to give you another chance?" Max asked.
"You can be sure I won't ask for more than that. Besides, we both want Lena to be happy, right?" Max thought for a while.
"Does Lena feel the same way about you?"
"She does. I know she does."
"She didn't even know who you were—"
"Max, didn't you see how she looked at me?"
"Alright," Max said, not letting Tyler speak further. He didn't want to explain how Lena didn't even know him a day ago. "Okay, I'm not going to stop your feelings for each other. Especially since you care about Lena this much."
"You're doing the right thing," Tyler said with a smile. "You really care about her."
Hearing this, Max couldn't help but smile. "Course I do. She's my sister. If she were yours, you'd understand."