The Four Sisters

Chapter 12

  It was gloomy as they headed across town the the old town cemetery which was right across the street from the new one. The old one was still behind a tall, slightly crumbling stone wall and an iron gate. The new cemetery was well-manicured and with shiny, new tombstones while the old one was unkempt, and some of the older graves had fallen over. It clearly didn't get as much attention as the new one.

  They walked in with Henry holding a black umbrella over Spencer and Rose as Parker hurried ahead with her own rainbow umbrella. Charlotte and Victoria shared the older sister's dark blue umbrella as they walked down a steep hill past the small, rounded tombstones that were so old they couldn't be read. The whole place was strangely beautiful, and Spencer kind of wished her Mom was there too with her family. 

  "The map said he was somewhere around here," Rose said as she pointed at a section. "Your grandparent's headstone is shaped like a heart, and he's next to them so look for a heart. I doubt there are many headstones like that."

  "Huh," Charlotte said as she stopped at a whole row of tiny graves with the same last names. "Babies? Aw, all of them died at like... six, eight months old. That is so sad! It's almost worst than stillborn, you know? I can't imagine. Six of them! I wonder if they all had the same parents."

  "It makes you grateful for vaccines and hospitals right?" Parker said. "Bring some of those anti-vax nutters out here!"

 "This place is depressing," Victoria said with a chatter of her teeth as she looked as if she'd rather be anywhere else.

  "Well, it's filled with dead people so it figures," Parker said as she strolled down the rows of graves. "Did you expect an uplifting experience?"

  "Death freaks me out," Victoria said with a sigh. "I hate this."

 "It freaks everyone out," Parker said and rolled her eyes.

    Spencer and Henry decided to ditch their group, and they headed towards the left while everyone else went right. She almost slipped in the wet grass, but he caught her in time. They were laughing, and his arm went around her and stayed there as they looked at all the graves. Spencer half-forgetting that they were looking for her uncle as they pronounced the odd names, marveled at the young age of some of the people, and seeing which of them could find the oldest grave.

  "Died 1632," Henry said with triumph.

"That's an eight!" Spencer argued as the two stood under the umbrella; his arm around her waist. She was glad that Charlotte was over the hill and couldn't see them. Spencer tried to ignore the bubble of guilt in her stomach. And the guilt that she was really enjoying herself with him. In a cemetery.

  "It could be seven!" Henry argued back. "It's hard to tell with the weird, fancy script."

  "It's an eight!" Spencer disagreed. "I'm still winning with 1647."

  "Dammit," Henry said as they walked along the old graves; their bodies impossibly close together underneath the umbrella. "Wouldn't this spot be great for a Halloween get together?"

  She groaned. "Please stop with that."

  "Okay, how about a Halloween date?" Henry asked; eyes brightening at the idea. "We could spread out a blanket, bring some wine and watch bats together. It'd be so romantic and spooky at the same time. Me in my cape, and you in your witch hat."

  "Just the witch hat?" She mocked.

  He raised his eyebrows. "Okay, now I have a new weird, but incredibly erotic fantasy. Thank you, Spencer."

  They were laughing again as suddenly they heard Rose yelling. They'd found William! Henry looked almost disappointed as they headed back up the big hill; Henry guiding her up the slippery slope. 

  The others were now far away; all of them standing and staring at a small grave next to a huge piece of granite in the shape of a heart. As Spencer and Henry approached them; Henry's arm left Spencer's waist, and she felt strangely bereft. 

  Rose was taking tons of pictures of the small tombstone that simply read William with the year he died and the date. There was nothing else. There wasn't even a last name. It was him though. 

  "It's so simple," Spencer said with dismay. "Look at the gigantic heart my Grandma got for herself and Grandpa, but they couldn't even put his last name!"

  "Yeah," Charlotte said, and she looked upset too. "I thought it'd be different too."

  "It's so weird," Victoria said quietly as she stood very still; her long blond hair hanging in her face and a bit wet from the rain. "Like we're standing above the body of a kid that was murdered. Our Mom's brother, no less. I can't imagine if something happened to you guys."

  Spencer felt a lump in her throat at the emotion in Victoria's voice.

  "It's okay," Parker said simply and put her arm around her older sister. "He's at peace now, Vic."

  Spencer was still looking at the tiny grave. She barely glanced at the huge one with her grandparents names, birthdays and the day they died. There were even tiny pictures of them both above their names. It somehow made Spencer even angrier at her Grandma. 

  How selfish, she thought. She gave herself a proper headstone, but she couldn't do the same for her murdered eleven year old son? With the money the family clearly had? The money she hadn't used to help her grandchildren until she died. Why had she left it to them? She clearly hadn't cared about anyone but herself. She hadn't cared about her children at all, it seemed.

  "You okay?" Henry asked; bumping his shoulder against her own as the rest of them headed back to the car. "They're leaving."

  "Oh, yeah – let's go," Spencer said; giving herself a shake.

 She wondered if they'd called him Will, Bill or just William. It was a throwaway thought before she turned around and let Henry guide her back to the car.

  "You know, I was going to wait until after Christmas to call Martha, but I can't wait," Rose said once they were all back home.

   They were warming up around the fire as they all ate pie. Henry left after giving Spencer a big hug and making her promise to hang out again soon. She promised, and she was still thinking about it as she sat with the girls around the fire.

  "Really?" Victoria looked unsure.

  "Yeah," Rose said with certainty. "Why not? She can only say no and tell me to get lost. Who knows though! We might find out some things. Like what is up with that tiny grave? All the other graves of your relatives are pretty big and impressive including your uncle's headstone."

  "Well, his wife bought that one," Victoria said fairly. "Mom said she was from a rich family from Connecticut. She remarried, like, six months after he died."

  "Do you remember her name?" Rose was fascinated. "She might know something!"

  "Gloria, and her maiden name was something Italian," Victoria said; scrunching her eyebrows as she tried to remember. "I know that she has a brother named Greg who was a real heartthrob in high school. Mom used to say Martha was crazy about him, and she started dating him not long after John started dating Gloria."

  "Hey, I saw Martha and Greg's names together on that old dresser I took for my room," Spencer said with a surprised laugh. "So Martha and John dated siblings."

   "That's kind of weird," Parker said. 

  "So that's another person I could ask about William," Rose said as she quickly wrote their names down. "I can look at old yearbooks at the library so I'll look them both up. Ooh, this is getting exciting. I feel like I actually have leads now. I know the cemetery actually didn't solve anything, but I have hope again. There are still people around that might know more about what happened to William. I'll start with Martha."