Page 17 of My Heart Will Find You

“He’s going to change careers?”

“No.” She smiled. “I had the most extraordinary dream last night.”

“Do you remember any of it?”

“I remember every minute. Even how bad the cowboys smelled.”

“Please tell me. I do love stories.”

She took a deep breath, then let go. “Well... I got married but he thinks I’m too old to, you know, be a real wife, so I’m to take care of his sister who looks just like my sister and run his household. I guess that means cooking and cleaning. I told him I should get a mop and a bucket as a wedding present, but he gave me twenty acres and said that if I last a year he’ll build me a house. I said I wanted one just like yours, but I guess I won’t get it because I’m here now. With my lace shrug. I always wanted to wear lace at my wedding.” She stopped talking.

Henry was looking at her with a combination of interest and confusion.

He set aside his little nest of books, papers, and pens. “How about if I cook us breakfast? Since I don’t cook at warp speed, you’ll have time to tell me every word of this dream. Where was it? And when? It sounds almost historical.”

“It was. It was just after the North and South War. In Garrett, Kansas.”

“Never heard of it.” He went to his shelves, pulled out a thick book,Ghost Towns of Kansas, and flipped through it. It seemed that there were many small towns that no longer existed. “Oh yes. It’s here. Garrett, Kansas. Short-lived town. It died when the train line went to Wichita. Happened to a lot of towns.”

“What else does it say?”

“Just dates. And a photo.”

Etta nearly grabbed the book from his hands. The picture showed a flat piece of land with tall grasses. No church, no saloons, nothing.

She handed the book back to him. “I must have read the name somewhere. You ever hear of a man named John Kecklin? He tried to buy Kansas.”

“So did a lot of people, but I haven’t heard of him specifically.”

Etta shook her head as though to clear it. “It was just a dream, but I can’t seem to get rid of it. My father and sister were there, and Freddy, and Sophie from next door. I barely know them.”

“Was I there?” Henry asked.

“No. Sorry. But Martha was. She—”

Henry’s face drained of color, and he looked like he was going to pass out. She led him to a chair. “I’m sorry. I should keep my mouth shut.”

He was breathing slowly, but color was returning to him. “That Martha was there without me isn’t something I want to imagine.”

“No,” Etta said softly. “Martha wasn’t a happy person. She’d lost her husband and son in the war. That’s when I found out that it was the Civil War.”

“Ah,” Henry said. “So Ben and I were dead.”

“No! Her husband’s name was Theodore. I don’t know the son’s name.”

Henry’s eyes widened. “When I met Martha, she was a widow. Her husband’s name was Theodore. How did you know that?”

Etta took a step back. “I don’t know. Why is my lace shrug in Ben’s trunk?”

Henry was staring at her. “It’s wrapped up in old paper?”

She nodded.

“We bought that trunk the same time we got the desk. They were from an old house that had been in the same family for over a hundred years. The woman selling it all said the trunk had belonged to her late husband’s great-great-grandmother. Her name was Amelia. No. It was Alice something.”

Etta leaned against the bookcase. “Alice, Alicia. My sister. His sister. And maybe someone’s great-great-grandmother. This is all very strange.”

When Henry started to stand up, Etta went to help him, but he waved her away. “I’m all right. I just need some good Kansas beef and I’ll be fine. How about a breakfast of steak and eggs? And you can tell me why you move like you’re in pain. Did you sleepwalk straight into the walls?”

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