Chapter 2
“I will hear you out.” Til held out the bottle to Serena. “Without interrupting.”
The young woman waved a hand. “Keep it for now.”
Til tightened her hold on the bottle. “Tell me.”
“In your hands, you hold something very special—a youth elixir. If you drink it, you will be young again. You will have the chance to live your life again, with all the knowledge and wisdom you have gleaned over the past nine decades.”
A youth elixir? It took everything in Til not to laugh aloud. She glanced around, expecting to see a kid videoing this as part of some social media prank. “Who put you up to this?”
“It’s not what you think.” Serena spoke in the same matter-of-fact tone. “You need to understand that your aged body will die. You will lose access to your current worldly possessions and will start over completely on your own. You can choose a new name, and you will be given a new identity with a new background and papers to prove who you are. What you choose to do with this new life will be entirely up to you.”
Til knew her hearing wasn’t what it once was, but she had been paying attention. She searched Serena’s face. “Are you serious?”
“Very.” A light glimmered in Serena’s eyes. “You have spent your life caring for others, Matilda. This is a reward, a chance for you to, well, begin again.”
“I don’t know what to say.” Til brought a trembling hand to her head to brush back a strand of hair that had gone cloud-white decades earlier.
When she’d been young, her hair had been the color of walnut, shiny and dark.
“It’s rare for someone to be given this opportunity.” Serena’s violet eyes searched her face. “You’re a special woman, Matilda Beemis.”
There it was, that sense of déjà vu, as if she knew Serena, or had known her at one time. That fact, accompanied by the feeling that she could trust her, had Til’s gaze dropping to the bottle she held.
What if Serena spoke the truth? GraceTown was certainly known for unexplainable happenings. Til had actually witnessed a couple of those events herself.
Could this be one of them? Her pulse quickened. What would it be like to be young again? To be free to do all the things she’d never had the opportunity to do? To travel and dance, to date like other young women and perhaps even fall in love?
Then she remembered the downside.
“You’re saying drinking this will kill me.” Til found herself surprised at how calm she sounded.
“The shell that is currently your body will die.” Serena gestured with one hand toward her youthful frame. “That body will be replaced by a young one, like mine.”
Til thought of the family and friends who’d passed through her life, people she loved, people she’d grieved. She had no family left. Now, at ninety-two, all her friends were younger. How many more years did she have left anyway?
That fact had been brought home this afternoon as she’d listened to her friends talk about their futures. She hadn’t said much, knowing she had, at most, a handful of years left.
Her gaze dropped to the bottle.
“You mentioned I’ll only have the clothes on my back.” Ever the pragmatist, Til considered the profound difficulty of starting over with absolutely nothing. “That will make it nearly impossible for me to function and survive.”
Serena’s lips curved up in a slight smile. “I believe you know in your heart where to find what you need.”
Well, that was hardly helpful.
“What name would you like?” Serena asked.
Til blinked. “Name?”
“You can no longer be Matilda Beemis,” Serena gently reminded her. “I need a new name for the papers.”
Another reminder that Matilda Beemis would cease to exist. Perhaps twenty years ago, maybe even ten, Til might have hesitated. But she’d come to grips with the fact that she was near the end of her life and had released any lingering dreams out into the ether.
Right now, it was time to focus on practicalities. “What papers will you be giving me?”
“Driver’s license, Social Security card, passport, birth certificate, résumé.” Serena rattled the items off without hesitation. “What you do with what you’re given will be up to you.”
Til thought back to Serena’s cryptic comment. “You believe I’ll know how to survive.”
“I believe you’ll know where to find whatever you need.”
Til might have found Serena’s confidence touching if she hadn’t been so perplexed. While she knew everything didn’t always need to make sense, it didn’t stop the questions. “How did you find me in this park when I didn’t even plan to come here?”
Serena smiled. “You love to come to the park on beautiful days.”
True enough, Til supposed. “Why you?”
Serena’s eyes widened. She appeared startled by the question. “What do you mean?”
Til shifted, hoping to find a more comfortable spot on the bench. She didn’t have much meat on her bones, and for some reason, the bench seemed more unforgiving than usual this afternoon. “Why are you the one offering me this? Is that what you do? Go around dispensing do-overs?”
Serena shook her head. “Awarding this type of gift is rare. I’m here because you’re special.”
Til nearly snorted out a laugh, something her father would have dubbed very unladylike. An ache lanced her heart. Even after all these years, she missed her papa. He’d been such a good man, such an amazing father.
“I’m not—special, I mean.” Til thought back over her life. Her mother dying when she was nine. Papa stepping up to be both father and mother. Working side by side with him at the hotel he owned. Caring for him when he became ill. Going to college, working and volunteering. “I didn’t have a family, so I had the time to help others.”
Serena leaned forward, her expression earnest. “You might think that, but we all have choices in how we live our life. You have built a remarkable legacy that will be remembered long after you’re gone.”
“That’s kind of you to say?—”
“Not just kind, true. This can be your chance, your time, to explore and experience all the world has to offer. The world will be your oyster.” Serena offered a supportive smile. “I believe there is nothing you can’t conquer if you put your mind to it and aim high.”
The words struck a chord in her memory, as if she’d heard them sometime before. The remembrance hovered just out of reach, but she didn’t push too hard to find it. Right now, the focus was on looking ahead, not behind.
For a second, it seemed as if the world around her held its collective breath, awaiting her decision. The squirrel ceased chattering, the bee froze on the hollyhock flower, and the slight breeze stilled.
Til’s heart began an erratic rhythm, speeding up like a runaway locomotive, then slowing so severely she wondered if it beat at all.
She thought about her friends, how it would be to interact with them as her new self. This wouldn’t really be a loss for them. It’d be like what they’d all been talking about—a new start.
One that she’d never be able to experience without this opportunity.
Decision made, Til lifted the bottle and would have drunk the liquid right then, but Serena put a restraining hand on her arm.
“What?” Til asked. “Did you change your mind?”
Til was no stranger to getting to the trough and not being allowed to drink. It had been that way with Vince. She’d been so close to being his bride when everything had fallen apart.
“I need your new name, the one you will be using from now on.” A twinkle filled Serena’s violet eyes. “Choose carefully. This will be your identity for the rest of your life. Once you decide, there is no changing it.”
Til had spent nearly a century as Matilda Beemis. She liked her name, but it seemed fitting to start this second chapter in her life with a new one.
Unlike many she knew, Til had never been great at coming up with pithy comments or smart retorts on the fly. She wished she had a day or two to consider what name to choose. Then again, the more time she had to consider Serena’s proposition, the more likely she’d get cold feet.
But she didn’t have forty-eight hours. Serena needed her answer now.
Bringing a finger to her lips, Til thought of the Daniel Grace novel she’d finished last night. Emily had been an admirable female protagonist, while Curtis had been a main character who’d grown by leaps and bounds during the course of the book. By the end, she’d found herself rooting for the guy. As she found it difficult to think of any other names at this moment, she met Serena’s gaze. “My name will be Emily Curtis.”
“A fine choice.” Serena smiled and handed her a manila envelope. “Your papers are in there. Oh, and don’t forget your violin.”
Serena lifted the case from where it sat at her feet and placed it beside Til.
“I don’t play the violin,” Til protested.
“Matilda Beemis didn’t,” Serena gently corrected. “Emily Curtis is a concert violinist.”
Til blinked. “What am I now?”
“Whatever you want to be.” Serena smiled. “Once you drink the elixir.”
With fingers that trembled only slightly, Til lifted the ornate bottle, amazed by the way the elixir shimmered in the soft afternoon light.
Her gaze shifted to Serena, who sat watching her with an intense expression. She’d offered her this do-over, but wouldn’t push.
Til downed the liquid in one gulp.
The taste reminded her of the mulberries that had once grown wild in the backyard when she’d been a child.
That was her last thought before everything went black.