Rose and Jacob Read online

  They took a sip of their drinks.

  “Were you their only child?” Mack asked, completely fascinated.

  Thomas appeared lost in thought. “No. I had an older brother named Charlie. He died toward the end of the Second World War, and a sister . . . she died a few years later. My mother died of a heart condition in 1951, and my father in 1964. I hadn’t spoken to my father for years when he died. He left everything to me. That’s when I changed the name of the cottage.” He sighed heavily, and Mack could tell that he’d had enough for one night.

  “Thank you for telling me about your family. You have a very good memory for dates.”

  “I've always been good with figures,” he replied.

  Not long after, Mack announced that it was time for Lucas to have a bath before bed. Lucas moaned and groaned all the way up the stairs. Mack promised him that Thomas would be there in the morning and it was all he needed to hear. After that, Lucas practically flew to the bathroom.

  Chapter 2

  “Auntie Mack, Auntie Mack, it’s time to get up!” Lucas shouted as he ran into Mack’s bedroom and dived onto the bed. “Come on, Auntie. You have to wake up. The birds told me it’s time for breakfast.” He paused for breath. “They want pancakes and ketchup!”

  Mack slowly opened her eyes and moved the duvet away from her face. She took one look at her very excited nephew and slowly registered hearing pancakes and ketchup in the same sentence.

  “Lucas, you don’t eat pancakes and ketchup together. That’s just, well, not done.” She glanced toward the clock on the side table and rubbed her eyes. She really needed glasses because she was sure the clock read not much past five. She rubbed her eyes again. “Oh my God, Lucas, it’s only ten past five in the morning! Nobody gets up at this time.” She dropped her head back down on the pillow, took hold of Lucas, and helped get him under the covers with her. “Now, go back to sleep . . . please?”

  “What time can I get up?” Lucas asked, already half-asleep.

  “I’ll wake you up in a couple of hours.” She turned her head to look at him, only to find that he was already fast asleep.

  Mack finally woke up at eight in the morning to the sun streaming through the curtains. Lucas was still asleep, curled into her side. She just lay there, listening to the peace and quiet that would only last as long as Lucas slept.

  Sliding gently out of bed, so as not to wake him, she collected her clothes on the way to the bathroom. She placed them on the chair in the corner while she showered. Once finished, she headed back into the bedroom just in time to watch Lucas wake up.

  “Is it time to get up now?”

  “Yes, it is. Come on, let’s get you washed and dressed, then I’ll make you pancakes with syrup.” Mack grinned, as she caught a leaping Lucas in her arms. She swung him around before carrying him through to his room and the bathroom.

  “Are you really, really sure I can’t have ketchup with my pancakes?” Lucas had a rather angelic look on his face.

  “Lucas, you do not put ketchup on pancakes. It was made to go on fries, which is why they made syrup to go on pancakes.”

  While she had a glaring match with him, Mack placed the syrup to the side of his plate, along with a glass of chocolate milk.

  “Wow, chocolate milk! Okay, syrup is good.”

  She had to turn away so Lucas wouldn’t see her smiling.

  Finally, taking her own seat, she found herself waking up as she drank her first, delicious coffee of the day.

  After breakfast, she followed Lucas into the living room and switched the Wii on for him to play for a while. She glanced at the books that were on the cottage’s stocked bookshelves. While there were quite a few gems on the shelf, she didn’t see any of her usual books. A blush warmed her cheeks as she thought about the sort of books that she enjoyed reading. Mack wasn’t sure what Daniel had been thinking when he mentioned it to her sister, unless he’d spotted one of the erotic novels she’d just bought. It had been sticking out of her purse a few weeks before when she was visiting.

  Mack heard a brief knock on the door and was just about to answer it when Thomas walked in. “Morning, Miss Mackenzie. Hope you had a good night’s rest.”

  “I did, thank you.” She’d just finished speaking when Lucas ran in from the living room, straight to Thomas, who bent down and gave him a big hug.

  “I was wondering if I could take the kid for a couple of hours?” Thomas asked and pulled a chair out at the table before sitting down.

  “Would you like coffee?” she asked.

  He nodded, removing his cap.

  Mack poured a cup of coffee for them both and joined him at the table. “What do you have planned today?”

  “I was thinking that I have a lot of those comics, like we were reading yesterday, in a box in the garage. I thought maybe Lucas could help bring them into the house so we can have a look through them together.”

  “What a lovely idea. Thank you for asking him, Thomas. By the look of things, Lucas would love that.” She burst out laughing due to Lucas’s rather exuberant reaction.

  “I’ll just go wash up again. Be back in a minute.” Lucas bounded upstairs to the bathroom.

  After watching Lucas’s retreat, she turned back toward Thomas. “Thank you for telling me about your family last night. I really enjoyed listening. I just hope you didn’t think I was being nosy.”

  “It’s okay. I haven’t really spoken about them before, to be honest, and I quite enjoyed sitting here and drinking coffee while I talked about them with you.”

  “I’m glad. I was slightly worried after you left, in case talking about them had upset you.”

  He shook his head. “It was a long time ago. I was fine.”

  “Okay then, now, about Lucas. Are you sure you don’t mind having him? He can be a handful.” Mack frowned. She was a lot younger than Thomas was, and Lucas could probably tire an elephant out with the amount of energy he seemed to have. Heaven knew the number of times he’d tired her out.

  “Don’t worry yourself. If there’s a problem, I have your cell number, and I only live five minutes down the footpath.”

  When Lucas reappeared, Thomas stood up from the table and took hold of his hand. “Bye, Auntie Mack.”

  Mack smiled. “Bye, Lucas. You behave yourself if you want any chance of being invited back.”

  Lucas grinned. “I will.”

  “See you, Thomas. And thank you again.” She watched them walk off down the footpath hand in hand. They looked good together. She really wished she had her camera nearby so she could capture the image.

  “Mr. Degan,” Lucas asked. “How old are these comics? There’s a lot of dust.” He started sneezing.

  Thomas couldn’t help but laugh and cough at the same time. “I’ve had these since I was a youngster. I started buying them with my allowance in 1942 and bought them for about five years, I think.” He frowned. “Call me Thomas, okay?”

  Thomas didn’t understand why parents insisted on children calling adults Mr. and Mrs. It drove him crazy and always had. As a child, he would push his mother’s buttons and call one of her friends by their Christian name, and then act shocked, as though it was a slip of the tongue. It used to embarrass his mother something wicked. She eventually stopped taking him with her, which of course, had been what he’d intended.

  “Okay. Can I have a look inside this one, please?” Lucas asked, waving around a rather gruesome covered comic.

  “That’s the Halloween edition. Take a seat, and I’ll bring you some milk and cookies.”

  “Yummy.” Then he remembered his manners. “Thank you.”

  Thomas headed into the kitchen, trying to remember the last time he’d had so much fun. Sadly, he couldn’t. His wife, Janet, had died when they were both fifty-six. That was twenty-four years ago. They hadn’t been blessed with children of their own. Janet had been an only child, and both of Thomas’s siblings had died years before, so he had no nieces or nephews, just children of friends, who he’d be
come an honorary uncle to over the years.

  It had really been too long since a child had visited inside his house.

  Mack was back downstairs after she’d finished emptying the boxes of clothes and books. She hadn’t realized just how many of her books she’d brought with her. They were now in neat piles on the top shelf of the closet, in the hope that Lucas couldn’t reach them.

  With the boxes dismantled, she decided to store them up on top of the kitchen cabinets. Dragging a chair over to the kitchen counter, she climbed up, hoping there were no spiders and carefully reached up to place the flattened boxes on top. A thump and the boxes not sliding into place stopped her and she noticed what looked to be a book on top of the cabinet.

  As Mack reached for the book, she silently thanked God when no spiders accompanied it.

  Her feet were planted firmly back on the kitchen floor when she grabbed a cloth to wipe the thick covering of dust from the book.

  Due to her love of all things historic, her skin tingled as she held the long forgotten tome. This one looked really old, especially with all the dust. It must have been up there a long time. Mack stroked the front of the soft, leather-bound book before peeling it open to the first page . . .

  This is the diary of a Rose

  March 4, 1947

  “Oh, my.” Mack lowered herself onto a kitchen chair. Stunned. The diary was . . . sixty-eight years old, and who was Rose? Why was her diary on top of the kitchen cabinets? Mack could hardly contain her curiosity.

  “Auntie Mack, I’m home!” Lucas ran into the kitchen.

  Mack tried to calm herself. Her heart was beating like a freight train with excitement at her discovery. She certainly didn’t want Lucas getting wind of what she had; otherwise, he would be searching high and low for it, so he could read himself.

  Thomas walked into the kitchen, took one look at her, noticed the book in her hand, and looked shocked, as if he recognized the object in her hands.

  “Do you know anything about this book, Thomas? It says ‘this is the diary of a Rose,’ and it’s dated 1947.” Mack waited for his response. “Thomas, are you feeling all right?” she asked, going over to him.

  “Yes, yes, fine. I need to get home.” He started to move toward the door.

  “But isn’t this yours? After all, it’s your family’s cottage.”

  Thomas turned back around to look at her. “It’s okay, you found it so read it first, and then pass it on to me to read. Have a good evening.”

  Then he was gone, just like that.

  Later, after she checked on Lucas to make sure he was asleep, Mack headed downstairs to make a cup of hot chocolate. She’d already showered and changed into her pajamas, but her mind wasn’t ready for sleep yet.

  After an exhausting dinner, and an amusing evening spent entertaining Lucas, all she wanted to do was climb into bed and read the diary she’d found.

  Sipping the hot chocolate, she headed back upstairs to the bedroom and switched on the lamp. She kept her door slightly ajar to listen for Lucas as she settled into her bed. Then she picked up the diary and turned it to the first page.

  Chapter 3

  This is the diary of a Rose!

  March 4, 1947

  My name is Rose and I am 19 years old.

  This is my first diary. After the events of yesterday, I have decided I must keep one.

  Yesterday was a very exciting day in Cape Elizabeth, and in my life, because I met the most handsome man . . .

  I worked in the town library, and today I was in the history section dusting the shelves and the books. It really was the worst job Mr. Young, my boss, could give anyone, and for some reason he seemed to like giving it to me.

  At the nine mark, my brother JT nearly knocked me off my ladder as he came running around the corner. He was so out of breath that I started to panic. “JT, what is it? Is everyone all right?” I asked.

  “Sis, will you take me to watch the rescue at sea?”

  “What are you talking about?” JT had been known to spin a yarn now and again.

  “Walt said a collier ship has gone aground just past the Cape because of the storm. Please, will you take me?”

  I could tell Mr. Young a little white lie, it wasn’t as though I was busy, and the dust would still be there tomorrow. That decided, I took JT by the hand and briefly left him with Emma while I went in search of Mr. Young to tell him I was sick with a ‘female’ problem.

  Not long after, I walked out of his office and couldn’t help but smile; he’d reacted as I thought he would. First, he’d turned bright red like a strawberry and then he’d plopped down in his chair. He probably hoped I wasn’t about to divulge any further details.

  We walked alongside each other as we, like most of the town, headed toward the cliffs.

  As we approached, we could hear everyone cheering. It sounded more like a party rather than a rescue.

  Sarah, a friend from school, was standing not too far away with her older sister, so we walked over to them, which was getting rather difficult with JT trying to pull me in a different direction.

  “Sis, I want to go over there to Walt and Levi,” JT said, tugging on my hand for the umpteenth time.

  “Let me go and talk to Sarah first to find out what’s going on. Then I’ll take you over there, okay?”

  I ignored JT while he moaned and grumbled about why he always had to do what the grown-ups told him to do.

  “Sarah, what’s happening here?” I asked after we finished hugging. Sarah was the friendliest of people and always ‘hugged.’ She used to make me feel uncomfortable but, after a while, I enjoyed the familiarity.

  “They’re rescuing crew members at the moment, and whenever they bring them safely to shore, everyone cheers.”

  “I wonder if they need help with anything,” I said, only to have Sarah’s sister scowl at me. Miss Prim-and-Proper Matilda.

  Finally, after about ten minutes of making polite conversation, I let JT steer me toward Levi and Walt, his two best friends and, on more than one occasion, partners in crime.

  There was still a bit of a chill in the air, so I kept moving around to keep the chill at bay while trying to keep my eye on JT. There was enough commotion without JT and his friends causing any more trouble.

  When I looked around, not too far away, in the distance, was a really tall handsome man, who was looking straight at me. I couldn’t move; he had me hypnotized. Wow! I had never felt anything like that before. I was frozen to the spot. When he started to walk toward me, my heart started to flutter madly in my chest.

  As he stood before me, all tall, dark, and mysterious, he reminded me of the actor Gregory Peck, but with a more muscular build, I thought.

  “Hello. I haven’t seen you before,” he said to me.

  I was still trying to get my mouth to work and just about managed to croak out, “I’ve been sick.” What an idiot. I had the most handsome man I’d ever seen standing in front of me and all that came out of my mouth was ‘I’ve been sick’!

  I came back to my senses and held my hand out to him. “I’m Rose.”

  He took hold of my hand and I felt as though I’d been struck by lightning. If the widening of his eyes was anything to go by, he’d felt it, too.

  He cleared his throat. “Jacob Evans. I only moved to Cape Elizabeth about a month ago. Do you live around here?” His eyes stayed on mine.

  “Not too far away, near the beach. I work in town at the library.”

  He was still holding my hand when JT came running over. “Sis?” He looked back and forth between the two of us. “What’s going on? Why are you talking to him?” he asked, pointing at Jacob. “You’re supposed to be marrying Richard, you can’t talk to him.”

  I blushed at JT’s impetuous remark. He was a teenager, and I really wished I could shut him up. I really hated him right now, especially mentioning Richard. Ugh. Brothers!

  I quickly glanced up at Jacob. He looked sad as he released my hand and took a step back from me.
r />   “Rose, come on,” JT said, whose impatience was really starting to irritate me.

  “I better go with him. I hope to see you again,” I said, as JT finally succeeded in dragging me away.

  “I hope so.” The last words he spoke to me at the time would come true. I was a very determined young woman so I would make sure to see him again.

  Before I lost sight of him completely, I glanced back to look at Jacob, only to find him watching me walk away. My heart had yet to stop its rapid beating. Such a feeling was entirely new to me.

  “Sis, you shouldn’t be talking to strange men when you’re marrying Richard.”

  “JT, I am not marrying Richard now, or ever, and one day Mother and Father will realize that.”

  After dinner, my best friend Jayne called at the house. I dragged her around the side to sit in the garden. I didn’t want anyone overhearing what I had to tell her but, by the end of the evening, I wish I’d kept it to myself, as she told me I was being stupid. That no one could be infatuated with someone they had only just met!

  March 8, 1947

  Richard came calling today…

  It has been four days since I’d seen Jacob. Every time I walked through town, I found myself looking for him. Why didn’t I ask him where he worked? I told him I worked at the library but, perhaps, he didn’t want to see me, which distressed me more than it ought.

  While I’d been spending my time dreaming about Jacob, my mother had been filling my mind with all things Richard. Richard was the only child of Bernard and Evelyn, who just so happened to own the local newspaper, a hotel in Boston, and a few other local businesses. So, of course, he was a great catch. Mother didn’t seem to understand. I wanted to marry for love, not money.