Page 29 of In Just a Year
“It’s just an ornament, like a few extra swirls on a jewel,” he’d told her once. But she knew his skill as a jeweler was only surpassed by his musicality.
“When you play, it’s a masterpiece. When I play, it’s just an approximation.” Esther pulled out Beethoven’sHammerklavierSonata with Raphi’s added left hand. “It just sounds busy when I play this.” Esther had worked on this piece ever since Ben had left, and she still hadn’t quite mastered it.
“Play,” he said in a big-brother voice that revealed he considered himself above her rather than her friend.
She knew the sentiment for she had plenty of younger siblings. They weren’t her friends, since friendship required a certain degree of laissez-faire. In the case of siblings, especially younger ones, it was crucial to pass on the values she’d learned from her father and mother. Lenny, her younger brother, barely remembered their mother and if she and her old sisters didn’t share memories and lessons, the younger ones would forget her. That wasn’t an option, it hurt too much.
But it also hurt to be on the receiving end of the Klonimus elder brother tone. If she was to become their sister-in-law someday, would she only be their little sister? She wanted to earn recognition as an adult among the Klonimuses if not among her own family.
She put her hands on the keys, curled just right as if a dewdrop were about to roll off the back of her hands and over her fingers onto the keys, and a gust of wind blew the pages over.
“Oh no!” Esther jumped from the piano bench and tried to catch the flying papers.
Raphi sprinted to the window and shut it. “What a windy October we have this year.” But his words barely reached Esther’s ears for her eyes had found something else.
“What’s this?” She held up a wrinkled piece of paper that had been created in a familiar way; Ben had a telltale method of folding a letter in thirds so the red wax with the curly K for Klonimus was on the bottom of the sealed letter. Although the Klonimuses typically sent letters in envelopes via courier in Town, these ones came from far away and were merely folded with the unwritten side facing outward and sealed.
Raphi turned back from the window. “Oh, I must have put Ben’s sketch in the wrong folder.” He shook his head and collected the sheet music from the floor. “He sent that over two months ago but I haven’t found an answer for him yet.
Esther eyed the letter, if it could be called that, for there was little writing besides a question and a large sketch of a circle with an abstract drawing. “Is this a coin?” She turned the paper sideways, hoping to reveal something less abstract.
“I don’t think so.” Raphi nudged the paper right side up. “Look, he labeled it here and here, so it goes this way.”
Esther read Ben’s scribbles, which were merely the Hebrew letters in alphabetical order with question marks between two of them. He obviously wrote her letters with greater care because his handwriting in this missive to Raphi appeared rushed and erratic. Her insides folded like an umbrella in the wind—he’d been nervous when he wrote this. She checked the date—it was sent after the last letter she’d received. Could he have been in danger and sent this sketch as a cry for help? If so, two months had passed and … oh she didn’t dare complete the thought.
“What does this mean?” She blinked at Raphi who took the letter and folded it up. He searched the room as if he’d rather look at anything else than her. “Raphi? Please, tell me.”
“I don’t want to worry you, Esther. I don’t know for sure what it means.”
“Humor me and speculate.”
“Esther—”
“Don’t do that, Raphi! Please! You know I love him. If something is amiss, you must tell me.”
He sighed and finally met her gaze. “I spoke to Gideon, Fave, and Arnold, but we don’t know what this means. I sent a copy to Aaron in Edinburgh, and he’s researching it with Peter and Liora. Ben sent it to him, too.”
“So Aaron can tell Ben what it means? And where it leads? Can Ben come home soon?” The hope in her voice dwindled as Raphi sucked his bottom lip in. Ben did the same when he didn’t know what to say. Knowing the Klonimus brothers so well, they couldn’t hide their feelings from her.
“We haven’t sent Ben an answer yet. I fear he needs to understand this piece of the puzzle—what it means and which order it belongs in—before he can find the treasure and come home.”
Esther collapsed onto the piano bench. Ben was the only treasure she cared about. She didn’t care about anything else if only she could ensure his safe return. She’d grown up without riches, without many of the luxuries she had now. When Hannah married Arnold, she and her family moved closer to St. James. It was only a short walk from her home to the Pearlers. And even though she came to the Klonimus house often, 35 Regent Street seemed a world away from where her heart was. She’d freely given Ben a piece of her and he’d taken it with him. She was no longer complete without him. Her life was like a sprout that had shrugged off the husk of its seed waiting for two leaves to spring apart in the sunlight, except Ben’s kiss and his gorgeous green eyes were her sunlight and she couldn’t quite stretch out without knowing he’d be back soon.
“Ben needs this in order to come home?”
“No, Esther. Ben can always come home. He needs this to find the treasure.”
“So, when will he come home?”
Raphi grimaced and flared his cheeks in defeat. “He won’t come home until he finds it. I can tell he’s eager to bring it home.”
This was exactly what Esther didn’t want to hear. “B-but what about me? He said he’d be back in a year. In just a year.” She heaved and tried not to cry but it didn’t work. Tears trickled down her cheeks and she wiped them off with her hands. Raphi had a way of unlocking her feelings, even without music, and she felt safe confiding in him.
“Esther, don’t you see? He made you a promise but he’s so young, he still needs to prove himself. I know my little brother, he won’t return empty-handed. He loves you so much.”
She sniffled. “Then why doesn’t he come back to me already? Why would he rather search for some old treasure if—”
“Because of you, Esther.”
