Page 16 of One More Weekend

She was right. Tyler wasn’t shying away from the gory details, the horrible treatment of these immigrants upon their arrival, the immediate distrust. But they’d all come here with one thing in common, a belief in a future they couldn’t see anywhere else.

Looking up at the glass windows touring above us, Jenna sighed. “Did I ever tell you that my family came through here too?”

“I think so.” I smiled. Of course I knew, she’d told me a few times and I’d loved to hear the story. It was the entire reason I’d brought her here, and there was so much left to show her.

Cutting us off, Tyler guided us deeper into the museum and upstairs.

At the top of the stairs, my jaw dropped. I hadn’t seen this room since I was a kid on a school field trip but seeing it now, it was somehow more grand than I remembered.

“Welcome to the Registry Room.”

A massive hall, not unlike Grand Central, sprawled out before us. Bright red bricks lined the floor. Columns rose from the brick, a beige line drawing my eyes up to the balcony overhead and the glass, multi-paned windows that formed perfect arches just below the tiled roof.

“Wow.” Jenna’s feet were glued to the ground.

“Right? The architecture is amazing.” I nodded as the weight of the area set in. Here, immigrants would face their fate, which sat in the hands of fickle officers with their own prejudices.

Tyler explained in detail, dreams came true here but so did worst nightmares.

We stood together in silence as Jenna led us from plaque to plaque, image to image.

“It’s hard to imagine. I wonder if my great-grandmother had to change her name or something. I wonder if she remembered it at all.” Jenna bit the inside of her cheek as she rested her chin in her palm.

Once the tour started to move, I leaned into Jen’s ear and lowered my voice. “Do you want to choose our own adventure a little bit?”

Wrinkling her eyebrows, Jenna looked around the Registry Room. “What do you mean?”

“I have another surprise if you’re ready to peel off from the group.”

“Is that allowed? How do we get back to Manhattan?” Always thinking about the details, Jen couldn’t stop herself from worrying about getting left behind.

I met her gaze. “The ferries leave at set times, you don’t have to leave with your tour group so we can stay as long as we want.”

“Then yes, lead the way.” Satiated, Jenna nodded enthusiastically.

12

JENNA

Hand in hand,I trusted Sy to guide me through the winding museum. I had no idea what else she could have had in mind.

But it wasn’t long before she slowed her pace outside of a quiet, dimly lit area. There were a few desks with computer monitors and desk chairs, each with a partition between them and the neighboring screen.

It was still early enough in the day that the whole place was quiet.

Above the entrance was a sign that read:American Family Immigration History Center Record Search.

Just as my eyebrows furrowed, Sy dropped my hand and headed inside toward a check-in desk. “Hi, I’m Sy Robbins, we have a desktop booked.”

The friendly librarian behind the counter smiled at us and nodded as she typed. “Wonderful. And whose family are we researching today?”

“My lovely friend's great-grandmother.”

My head whipped around to look at Sy, who only offered a wink before we got our login information and were sent to our desk.

“Sylvia. I do not know anything about my Nana to do this.”

A sly smile took over Sy’s face as she shrugged. “I guess it’s a good thing I asked your mom to send me some family details that you may not have known.”

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