A Rocky Path (10 page)

“No, Patrick. I don’t believe that. I know
you are a good man and would never hurt me. What could you possibly
tell me that would frighten me into flight? I would stick by you if
you would just tell me the truth.”

“I’m sorry, Emily. I just don’t think you can
handle the truth.”

Emily had big tears running down her face
now. Patrick looked at her and his face softened as if he was sorry
for causing her pain.

“Please don’t cry, Emily. I can’t bear to see
you hurting like this.”

He reached out and wiped her tears away with
his fingertips. Then he brushed his lips gently across her cheeks
as if to kiss her pain away. Her stomach fluttered.

“Patrick,” she whispered. She reached up and
put her arms around his neck. Then she gently kissed him, half
expecting him to pull back. He returned her kiss for a minute, then
pulled away enough to look at her. His eyes were dark with desire
and she knew he wanted her. But instead of kissing her again, he
pulled her against his chest and held her tightly.

“Emily, my love, you don’t know how hard it
is to try to protect my heart from you. I could just let myself go
and drown in your love. It would be so easy to do. But I can’t let
that happen. You would only be hurt in the long run and I couldn’t
bear to be the cause of your pain.”

“You are the cause of my pain right now,” she
protested. “How can it be worse than this?”

“Let me ask you a question, Emily. How did
you know I was part of the McCulloch family?”

She pulled away from him. “Why are you
changing the subject?”

“I’m not, really. It’s all part of the same
problem. Tell me.”

Emily looked at him with hurt in her eyes. “I
found a picture, a self portrait. The man in the picture looks
exactly like you! You have to be a descendant.”

“Where did you find it?”

“In some old things that were left in the
house.”

“And did you find that silver ring with those
things, too?”

Emily frowned. “Yes. What does that have to
do with anything? How did you know?”

“I know about all those things. I know about
this house.”

“Did you and the rest of your family have a
falling out or something? What could have made you lie to me? And
what could be so bad that you can’t even allow yourself to love
someone?”

“Emily, I am not going to talk about this
anymore. I told you that you couldn’t handle the truth. I meant
that.”

“I guess there’s nothing I can say or do to
change your mind, is there?”

“I’m afraid not. I truly would love to let
myself feel the way you want me to. I would love to let you love me
the way you want to. But I am protecting you. Always remember that.
I’m not being selfish…I’m being sensible. I want you to be happy
and there’s no way you can be happy with me. I promise you
that.”

“I need to go. I need to think. I’ll see you
down here tomorrow evening.”

“No, Emily, I won’t be here.”

Her heart sank and she had a sick feeling in
her stomach.

“Patrick, don’t do this to me. Please let me
at least see you. I won’t ask anything else of you, just your
company. It’s enough.”

“No, you know it’s not enough. It will never
be enough. The only way for you to get over your feelings for me is
for me to stay away. I’m not coming back.”

“I can’t change your mind, can I?”

“No, love, you can’t. You have touched me, I
can assure you of that. I will never forget you and how you made me
feel alive again. But we can’t see each other again. Goodbye,
Emily.”

With tears streaming down her face, she
turned and ran across the rocks and up the steps as fast as she
could. When she got into the house, she ran, sobbing, up the stairs
and into her room. She wept uncontrollably until she was exhausted.
She fell asleep on top of the covers, fully clothed and didn’t wake
up until late the next morning.

Chapter Fifteen

Emily opened her eyes and realized that the
light coming through the window wasn’t quite right. Suddenly she
sat up in bed. It was nine o’clock! She had never slept this late.
She scrambled for her clothes, not bothering with a shower and ran
straight up to the office.

Rebecca was sitting at her desk working on a
novel. She looked up as Emily came through the door.

“You look terrible! Go back downstairs and do
something about it.”

“I’m so sorry I’m late! I didn’t take time to
clean up.”

Rebecca laughed. “I can see that. You’re
going to feel awful the rest of the day if you don’t go take a
shower and put some makeup on. I can spare you for a little
while.”

“I’ll work later this evening.”

“That’s not necessary. We aren’t on a strict
time table. If you need extra time, just ask.”

“Oh, today is the day I’m going to go see Mr.
Connelly. The long lunch, remember?”

“Yes, I remember. Just go get cleaned up and
come back and work a couple of hours. Then you can go see him. Do
you need to take the rest of the day off? There’s not really that
much that I need you for today. Why don’t you just work until lunch
time, then take the rest of the day off. That way you won’t feel
rushed if you and Jarrod really get into some interesting
history.”

“Thanks, Rebecca. I really appreciate that. I
can’t wait to talk to him.”

Emily took a quick shower and worked until
11:30. Then she borrowed one of Rebecca’s cars and went into town
for her lunch appointment with Jarrod Connelly. They were supposed
to meet in a little café in the middle of town.

She walked into the Waterfront Cafe and
looked around. She spotted Jarrod Connelly at a table by a window.
She went over to him and he stood up as she approached.

“Hello, Mr. Connelly. I’m so glad you could
meet me today,” she said, shaking hands with him.

“Please, call me Jarrod. I was so happy that
you called. I don’t get to talk about history as much as I used to.
People don’t seem to be as interested in the past as they once
were.”

“I’m very interested in the history of the
McCulloch house. I hope you will have some things to tell me.”

Jarrod smiled. “I definitely have some
information. But first, let’s eat. Then we can discuss our
business.”

“That sounds like a good idea. I woke up late
this morning and didn’t have any breakfast. So I’m starving!”

“They have a great Swiss and bacon quiche
here. And no, it’s not true that real men don’t eat quiche!” he
said.

Emily laughed. This man was a lot of fun;
this was going to prove to be an interesting day.

After they finished their quiche, Jarrod
pulled out some papers from his briefcase.

“I have all the information on the house in
these papers. However, I would like to discuss everything with you,
then let you read the papers on your own when you get home.”

“Ok, that sounds good. So what can you tell
me about the McCullochs and the house they lived in for two
centuries?”

“Well, to start with, the first McCulloch to
live there was Gregor McCulloch. He came over here from Scotland in
1801 with his family and built the house. For the next 200 years or
so, McCullochs have always lived in that house. Rebecca Winslow was
the first person to own the house who wasn’t part of the
family.”

“That house is really old, isn’t it? It held
up well.”

Jarrod smiled. “Those old stone houses last
forever. The inside is all that’s really changed.”

“I’m interested in some things that may have
happened about 150 years ago. Anything about forbidden
relationships or tragedies. I have these letters and journals that
I found and I’m really intrigued by them. I was hoping I could find
out some things about these people. I don’t know who they are.
Also, I have found some paintings. There are a lot of landscapes,
but also there is a picture of a woman and another picture of a
man. The woman is wearing this ring that I have on my finger. The
painting of the man says that it’s a self portrait.”

Jarrod looked at the ring on her finger.
“That ring is a love ring. That type of ring was common in this
part of the country during that time period. Just around this part
of Maine. Usually it meant a betrothal, or at least a profession of
undying love.”

“I thought it might be something like that. I
think maybe the man and woman in the paintings were lovers.”

“Let me see those letters and the
journal.”

She handed them over and he looked through a
sampling of the letters and flipped through the journal.

Emily pointed out the last entry in the
journal and the letter with the latest date. “Look at this.
Something bad must have happened. Not only is it obvious by the
contents of the writing, but also, it’s odd that there are no more
entries after that.”

“Well, I think I may be able to shed a little
bit of light onto this mystery. In 1850 there was a scandal
concerning the family. There was a McCulloch that was engaged to a
young lady whose family and the McCullochs were friends. She was
staying at the house at the time. The young lady started acting
strangely and her fiancée started wondering what was wrong with
her. She was jumpy all the time, and pale….”

“Wait a minute. How can you know all
this?”

“There are a lot of journals and legal
documents from that time. People kept journals a lot back then, so
the stories can be pieced together from other people living in the
town. Also, there was an inquiry into the events…wait, let’s not
get ahead of ourselves.”

“I’m sorry. Go on with your story.”

“Anyway, this young lady was acting strange.
Then, in late October of that year, the tragedy struck. The young
man was found dead upon the rocks right down below the house. I
think there is a stone path that leads down there from the
garden.”

Emily’s face went pale at the mention of the
path that she had walked on so many times. “Go on.”

“There was some kind of head injury, but the
official cause of death was drowning. It was thought that he must
have hit his head and was knocked unconscious. Then he fell into
the water and drowned without regaining consciousness.”

“Was it an accident?”

“That’s what the inquiry was about. The young
lady was seen with him the evening before, walking down the path
from the garden. However, no proof was found that she had anything
to do with his death, and she swore he was alive when she saw him
last.”

“Do you have any idea what their names
were?”

“Let’s see, the names are here in these
papers. Ah, here it is. The young lady was Bridgett MacKenzie and
the young man was, let’s see…yes, Patrick. Patrick McCulloch.”

Emily thought the floor was going to drop out
from under her. The room started spinning and she saw spots before
her eyes. The next thing she knew, she was on the floor and there
was a cool cloth pressed to her forehead. Jarrod Connelly was
hovering over her, a worried expression on his face.

“Are you alright, Emily?” asked Jarrod.

“Yes, I think so. What happened?”

“You fainted. You gave me quite a fright, I
must admit.”

Then everything came back to her. The story
that Jarrod told her was what triggered her fainting spell. She
felt her stomach tie up in knots and found it hard to catch her
breath.

“Emily, you’re turning pale again. What’s
wrong?”

“Jarrod…I can’t tell you right now. You would
think I was crazy.”

“Young lady, I have lived on this earth for
over 75 years. I don’t think there is anything you could tell me
that would shock me.”

“Oh, I think this might.”

“Why don’t you give it a try? What harm could
it possibly do to talk to me about this?”

“Well, you might just have me committed to
the psychiatric ward of the hospital.”

Jarrod frowned. “Why don’t we go back to my
house? You can relax there and maybe you will feel like telling me
what is going on. If not, at least you may start feeling a little
better.”

Emily agreed to accompany Jarrod to his home.
They rode together in his restored 1957 light blue Chevrolet. The
car just seemed to suit him.

They arrived at a modest but pleasant looking
one-story house about 2 miles from the café where they had eaten.
He led her through the foyer and into a cozy room with a fireplace
and two big comfortable chairs. He made sure she was settled into
one of the chairs, then he made a pot of Earl Grey tea.

Emily took a sip of the hot tea and felt the
warmth seep through her body. She had seemed to pick up a chill,
and she didn’t know whether it was the October weather or the shock
she had gotten in the café. In any case, she was grateful for the
tea and the kindness of Jarrod Connelly.

“Alright, young lady, suppose you tell me
what’s going on. Why did you faint in the restaurant? And why do
you believe that I will think you’re crazy?”

“Oh, Jarrod, it’s the craziest thing! And it
may be a complete coincidence, the name being the same. But it all
seems to add up now.”

“What, my dear? Don’t be afraid to talk to
me.”

Emily felt a weight lift off of her as she
began to tell the older gentleman about Patrick, and the events
surrounding the two of them. And what she now felt like was the
real truth.

“Jarrod, it all makes sense. I always felt
like he had feelings for me, but then he would suddenly do a
complete about face. Then he told me later that there were reasons
we couldn’t be together and how he was protecting me. He said I
wouldn’t be able to handle the truth. And the way he just seemed to
appear out of nowhere. I thought that he was just good at sneaking
up on me. Because I was daydreaming a lot when I was at the rocks.
But now I see that maybe he was just…I don’t
know…
materializing
.”

“Emily, are you trying to tell me that you
think this Patrick you have met is the same Patrick that lived 150
years ago?”