Chapter Seven

    April shuffled through the papers on the coffee table.
    "I think this is a good offer, Mom.  They are pre-approved and ready to buy.  You'll close before another round of association fees hits."
    "You don't think I should hold out for more," Carol asked as she brought a couple of glasses of iced tea from the kitchen.
    "Is a few thousand more worth the hassle of dealing with the Owners' Association any longer?"
    "When you put it that way, I guess not."
    "Your realtor has everything in order, Mom.  It's highly unlikely that anything will fall through."
    "You're right, but I can't help being cautious."
    " I know it's hard to let go of Grandma's home, but there's no reason to keep a second property you won't use."
    Carol just sighed into the rim of her tea glass.  April put her arm around her mother and gave her a comforting hug.  She knew all too well that Grandma Irene's passing was still a little too recent for the mundane of the living. 
    After a moment, April got up again.  The smell of the manicotti baking in the oven was starting to waft from the kitchen.  She wanted to check on it's progress and start tossing the salad.  Just as she pulled open the oven, the door bell rang.
    "I'll get it," Carol called as she crossed the living room.
    "Good evening, Mrs. Roberts," Patrick smiled.
    "Hello, Patrick.  Come on in."
    "MMmmmm something is starting to smell good in here," he called to the kitchen.
    April took her head out of the fridge and responded, "It will be ready in about 20 minutes.  I'll have the salad in just a moment."
    Not fully paying attention to all the items in her hands, April let the bottle of salad dressing slip from her fingers and crash on the tile floor.
    "What was that," both Carol and Patrick exclaimed.
    Remembering to censor herself, April growled, "I just dropped a brand new bottle of Italian dressing all over the floor."
    "Do you need some help in there," Patrick offered as he came to the archway leading into the kitchen.
    "No, no, I got it.  There's not enough room in here for more than one person, and now the floor is very slick."
    No sooner had she said it than she slipped and fell on the kitchen floor.  Patrick raced to catch her, but almost slipped himself.  Carol had started to approach the kitchen when the bell rang again.
    "I'll get it," she responded absentmindedly.
    Patrick carefully found sure footing and then offered a hand up to April.  They could hear Carol greeting Mark and Sandy at the door. 
    "We picked up some fresh garlic bread from the bakery on the way here.  It's still warm," Sandy babbled as she crossed to the kitchen.
    Patrick had just gotten April back on her feet when, with her shoes covered in oily dressing, she began to slip again.  Patrick succeeded in catching her just as Sandy came to the doorway.
    A huge grin spread across Sandy's face when she saw Patrick cradling April in his arms.  "Well, hello, you two," she giggled.
    Sandy wished she had a camera in her hands instead of that stupid loaf of bread.  The scene was picture perfect.  April in a cute little back dress, looking adorable, was completely comfortable with the close physical contact with Patrick.  And Patrick looked like a hero out of Robin Hood in his earthy green button down shirt, holding April with the most genuine concern across his face.  She'd married Mark, but she sure the hell wasn't dead or blind.  Patrick looked good enough to eat.  He was never overly fashionable, more of a classic kind of guy.  But he spent his money well and the clothes testified to that.  That green raw silk clung to his torso in all the right places, and flexing his muscles to hold April up off the floor didn't hurt anything either.
    April got her feet back under herself and pushed Patrick away.  "I had a major oil spill," she said, trying to explain.
    "Sure," Sandy winked at Patrick.
    "Oh, stop it, will you," April snapped.
    Patrick was about to comment when Carol intervened.  "Patrick will you come help me clear the table and get it set for dinner?"
    Happy to be given a way out of the awkward situation, Patrick squeezed passed Sandy and made his way to the dining table.
    April kicked off her shoes and proceeded to clean up her mess. 
    Sandy put the bread she was still carrying on the counter top and got out April's broom and dust pan.  "I thought you said there was absolutely nothing going on between you two," she whispered as she swept up the broken glass.
    "There's not," April insisted.  "He was just trying to help me and I fell."  As if to prove her point she slipped a little on a patch of dressing she'd missed with the mop.
    "I can see that.  You've got an oil slick on your skirt.  Why don't you go change your dress and I'll finish this up for you."
    April took a deep breath and gingerly crossed the kitchen floor.
    "Since I've tossed myself instead of the salad, I think I'll go clean up," she announced as she passed through the living room to her bedroom.
    Sandy and Carol finished setting out dinner while Patrick poured out a bottle of merlot he had brought for the occasion.  Soon April reappeared wearing a fresh cocktail dress, this one in a deep peacock blue.  Sandy nudged and winked at Mark when she noticed Patrick's reaction to April's entrance.  He was smiling and followed her with his eyes all the way to the table.
    Dinner was already sitting out, so everyone sat down and started talking.  The conversation started as chit-chat and catching up.  Carol answered lots of questions about the sale of Irene's house.  Patrick entertained them with the latest sparring match with Masters.  To Patrick's surprise, Mark revealed that he had trained with Masters once upon a time, but quickly discovered he had a greater aptitude for diving than swordplay, so the training was very short lived.  That led into Mark and Patrick discussing a dive trip that Mark was planning. By then Sandy had satisfied herself with all the manicotti she could eat and changed the course of the conversation.
    "I've come across some exciting discoveries at work recently," she announced.
    The rest of the table just looked at her.
    "What, you weren't going to ask me about my day?"
    Most everybody chuckled in response, except for Mark.  The poor guy had heard about nothing but letters and that old chest for weeks.  He was enjoying talking about something else for a change.  But he sat quietly, knowing that the rest of the table would want to hear the latest.
    "Sure, Sandy, I want to hear all about your recent work," Carol said as she patted Sandy's hand.  The joke had been lost on her.
    Without missing a beat, Sandy continued.  "I think we've finally discovered the original owner of Grandma Irene's little chest, and there seems to be quite a story to go along with it.  Dr. Clayborne had dated the markings and craftsmanship of the chest itself back to early colonial Carolina.  The letters that were at the bottom certainly confirm that."
    "Do you have some specific dates now," Patrick asked.
    "Most of the letters we found were dated between 1714 and 1718."
    A collective "aaaahhhhh" arose from the dinner table.
    "What's unusual," Sandy continued, "is that we seem to have both sides of correspondence between a Mrs. Rachel Bellemy and her sister Mary Anne.  Very very unusual to find both sets of letters in one place."
    "Yes, but we also found the reason for that," April interjected.  "There was also a note from an Elena Salizar explaining that Mary Anne had died and that she was sending all of her property back to her sister.  That would have included the letters Mary Anne had received and kept in the chest."
    "Oh, but the story of these two is very interesting beyond that," Sandy couldn't help herself.  "From what we've read so far, Mary Anne left home alone before her sister's upcoming wedding.  Keep in mind the time period.  Women did not go anywhere alone, especially women who are from well connected families.  Bellemy was the big ship builder at the time in Charles Towne.  If Rachel married into that family, she and Mary Anne must have been from a high born family themselves.  Which then begs the question, what was Mary Anne doing away from her family and traveling alone?"
    Picking up from there, April continued the story.  "Neither Rachel or Mary Anne specifically mention what happened before their separation.  They do discuss Rachel's engagement to John Bellemy and Mary Anne's desire to find a man named Thomas.  Personally, I think that's the key to the whole thing.  There was something going on in connection to Mary Anne's desire to find her 'dear Thomas.' 
    "The majority of the letters, though, are a record of Mary Anne's travels.  It looks as though, with some help from Rachel, Mary Anne traveled over land by coach to Boston.  While there, she hired passage on a ship to the Bahamas.  She spent some time in New Providence trying to find any news of Thomas.  But, she eventually decided to go to Cuba and look there.  By then her money started running out and she began to get desperate.  Her only option was to find a way to get to Cayo Hueso to where she had sent letters to Thomas.  It took a little researching, but I found out that Cayo Hueso is what we now call Key West.  According to her letters, Mary Anne had to bribe some fishermen in Havana with the last of her money to take her to Cayo Hueso."
    "That's where Elena Salizar must have come into the picture," Sandy carried on.  "Mary Anne had explained to Rachel that Thomas always told her to send her replies to his letters to Hector Salizar at the Spanish Garrison at Cayo Hueso.  When she met Hector and explained her story, whatever that was, he took her in.  It seems the Salizar's practically adopted her.  Oddly enough there were fewer letters from Mary Anne after that.  She wrote once to wish Rachel and her family a Merry Christmas and one other confirming that there had not yet been any word from Thomas.  There are several more letters that Mary Anne obviously received from Rachel, but did not answer."
    "The letter from Elena seems to be the best explanation for that.  The traveling and change in climate and lifestyle must have taken a serious toll on Mary Anne's health," April explained.  "Eventually, according to Elena's letter, Mary Anne took a fever that she could not recover from.  She died in Cayo Hueso having never found Thomas."
    April paused a moment for reactions from Carol and Patrick and then continued.  "There are a few clues to who Thomas was.  Obviously, Mary Anne was very much in love with him.  There were a couple of letters from him telling Mary Anne about places in the Caribbean he'd been and how much he thought of his crew.  So he must have been the captain of some kind of ship.  But there's no real indication whether he was a part of the navy or a merchant captain.  It almost seems like he was trying to keep some details from her.  There was also a letter from him explaining that he would be returning to Cayo Hueso soon for her, but I think that it might not have arrived in time.  She may very well have died never knowing that he was coming back for her."
    "The more you find out, the more questions you have," Patrick commented.
    "So it would seem," April replied.  "Some of the letters mentioned a new journal that Rachel sent Mary Anne.  So we can assume that Mary Anne probably wrote more about what happened to her.  But there were no journals in the chest.  Maybe at some point somebody took the journals out to make room for other mementos.  Who knows?  I think I've got enough information to do some more research on the family history, but it would be nice to talk to someone who knows."
    "Maybe some of Mother's family still in Charleston could point you in the right direction," Carol commented.
    "That's what I was thinking.  It might be time to make contact with them."
    "Honey, I don't know if any of the addresses and information I have is current, but I guess it will have to be a good starting place."
    "Well, I think it's time you did more than send e-mails and make phone calls.  You need to go to Charleston and do some digging," Sandy declared.
    "Don't think I haven't thought of that myself.  I am working on getting some more vacation time to do just that."   
    "You're not planning on going to Charleston alone," Carol asked.
    "Well, yes, but I'm going to visit family, Mom.  I won't be alone once I get there."
    "But it's just not wise for a young woman to travel alone these days.  There are all kinds of crazies out there just looking for an opportunity."
    "Well, it's not like I'm going to give any 'crazies' the time of day, Mom."
    "No, April, she does have a point.  Plus it's not really that much fun to go on a vacation by yourself," Patrick pointed out.  "What if you get all the information they have in one afternoon over tea?  What if you find out that you don't really get along too well with these unknown family members?  Then you're stuck there all by yourself, tracking down whatever leads are left."
    Carol looked at April as though Patrick had just helped her win her point.
    "I've got some vacation time that I'm going to loose if I don't use it soon.  What if I went along as your research assistant," Patrick grinned.
    "You aren't an assistant anything," April quipped.
    "Yeah, but two brains tracking down clues would be better than one," Sandy commented, hoping April would consider his offer.
    "I'm not hopping a plane for South Carolina tomorrow morning, you guys.  How about I make contact with the family and see what happens first?"
    "The offer will be open anytime you decide to go," said Patrick.
    "Duly noted.  Now, who wants dessert?"