Chapter 6 #2
Arthur grinned at her in response. He didn’t resemble either of his parents all that much except in coloring, and in fact, reminded Seth more of photos he’d seen of his father when Henry was that age.
“I bet it does.” He paused there, the grin fading.
“A lot has changed since you were here last fall.”
Ah, so that was how long it had been. Nearly a year. “Changed how?” Seth asked.
Arthur’s expression grew downright somber. “Well, Mom passed away last month. She’d been sick for a long time, but it was still hard, you know? And Ruby was married just a few months before then — to Patrick McAllister, from Payson. He’s a cousin, but you wouldn’t have met him, of course.”
Abigail was dead. Seth did his best to process that information, to try to determine how he even felt about the news of her passing.
She’d never been particularly warm to him — well, at least not after she realized he wouldn’t be her consort — and she’d been even less friendly to Devynn.
But she’d still been family, and even though he’d known she would die young and pass the prima mantle to Ruby when her heir was still in her early twenties, it was still something of a blow to come face to face with that reality.
“I’m sorry to hear about your mother,” he said quietly.
Arthur nodded, his friendly features very solemn.
“It was peaceful at the end. And honestly, I think she was ready. She’d been in pain for my whole life, really.
” He brightened a little as he added, “But Ruby getting married has been great for everyone. Patrick fits right in, and they’re very happy.
She’s really come into her own as prima. ”
Seth couldn’t quite hold back a surge of curiosity after hearing that comment.
He’d always wondered what Ruby would be like as prima — the stories about her in the McAllister clan made her sound almost legendary — and now it seemed he might have a chance to find out. “Do you think she’d want to see us?”
“Are you kidding?” Arthur chuckled. “Ruby’s been hoping you’d come back ever since you left. She said she had a feeling your story wasn’t over yet.”
That sounded like something Ruby would say. Seth found himself looking forward to seeing her again, to discovering what kind of leader she’d become.
“And your father?” Seth asked, knowing it would sound odd not to inquire after his brother. The Goddess only knew that Charles’s relationship with Abigail had been complicated at best, but losing the person you’d been with for several decades still had to be difficult. “How is Charles?”
Arthur’s expression became more strained.
“He’s managing, I suppose. Mother’s death hit him hard, even though everyone knew it was coming.
He’s been spending more time down in Cottonwood, working with some of our cousins who moved there after it became obvious that the mines weren’t going to stay open forever.
I think being here in Jerome reminds him too much of everything he’s lost.”
Seth nodded. Charles had lost his wife, his brother had disappeared mysteriously, and his hometown had almost died around him. No wonder he might want to escape to a place that held fewer painful memories.
“But we live in the apartment over the store — Ruby got the prima house up on Paradise Lane, of course — and he still spends a lot of time here,” Arthur continued.
“Some of the cousins help out while I’m in school, but I try to be at the store as much as I can.
It’s good experience for me, since Father said I’ll officially inherit the place when I turn twenty-one. ”
“You’re doing a fine job,” Seth said, although he reflected that it seemed as if Charles expected a lot of a boy who was barely fourteen.
Then again, Charles and Seth had worked in the store from the time they were twelve.
Not full-time, of course, but they were there after school and on the weekends, and longer than that during the summer.
Child labor laws had been very different in the past from what they were in the twenty-first century.
“Thanks, Uncle Seth. That means a lot coming from you.” Arthur paused, then asked, “How long are you planning to stay this time?”
“We’re not sure yet,” Devynn answered. “It depends on a few things.”
“Well, I hope it’s long enough for everyone to see you.” Arthur moved toward the door. “Actually, why don’t I walk you up to Paradise Lane? I was planning to close for lunch anyway, and I know Ruby would want to see you as soon as possible.”
Seth exchanged a glance with Devynn, who nodded. “That would be wonderful,” he said.
Arthur flipped the sign on the door to “Closed” and then held it open so his unexpected visitors could step outside.
Even during the brief time they’d been inside the store, the temperature had risen by several degrees, and off in the distance, the familiar shapes of thunderheads had begun to build up above the Mogollon Rim to the east. Summer, then, and probably late summer, from the general feel of the air and the angle of the sunlight.
“Come on, then,” Arthur said. “Let’s go surprise the prima. ”
As they walked, Seth looked around them with interest. The houses appeared much the same as they had in 1947, but a few more had begun to show signs of neglect — peeling paint and overgrown gardens, giving the general impression of a community that had seen better days.
Still, there were signs of life…people watering their flowerbeds or hanging the wash from clotheslines in their backyards…
and he was glad to see that not everyone had abandoned Jerome yet.
The Victorian house where Abigail had lived didn’t look at all different.
It was the same white with green trim that it had always been — and always would be, since it sported that same color scheme in the twenty-first century, even though the interior had been updated quite a bit.
The roses in the front yard appeared especially exuberant, though, each bush so studded with blooms that it was hard to see the greenery beneath.
And their scent hung in the warm, slightly humid air, lush and pure at the same time.
“Ruby’s got quite the green thumb,” Arthur said, appearing to notice the admiring way Seth and Devynn looked at the garden as they made their way up the front walk. “I don’t think growing things was her original talent, but you’d never know that from looking at her roses.”
As their little group approached the front door, Seth could hear voices drifting through the open windows — what sounded like an animated conversation punctuated by occasional laughter.
It was a startling contrast to the subdued, almost funereal atmosphere that had pervaded the house during Abigail’s time as prima.
Arthur knocked, and the voices inside paused.
A moment later, the door opened to reveal Ruby McAllister.
She seemed even more vibrantly beautiful than he remembered, her strawberry blonde hair now a bit longer but still styled in the soft curls she’d sported in 1947, and she wore a simple blue summer dress and a pair of sandals, showing off bright red toenails.
“Arthur!” she exclaimed. “I wasn’t expecting to see you today.” But immediately her gaze moved to Seth and Devynn, and her expression shifted to one of delighted recognition. “Oh, my stars. Look what the wind blew in!”
“Hello, Ruby,” Seth said, finding himself smiling in response to the sudden flash of her red-lipped grin. There was something about Ruby McAllister that made everyone around her instantly more cheerful.
“Seth McAllister, you haven’t aged a day,” Ruby said, stepping forward to embrace him. “And Devynn, you look wonderful. Come in, come in! Patrick will be so excited to meet you.”
She ushered them into the front sitting room, which had been completely transformed from Abigail’s time.
Where once there had been heavy, dark furniture, somber portraits, and a few fussy parlor palms, now there were bright rugs, comfortable chairs, and plants of all shapes and sizes displayed on stands and shelves and on the fireplace mantel, and Seth found himself relaxing as he took a look around.
Yes, this was definitely Ruby’s house now.
“Patrick!” Ruby called out. “Come see who’s here!”
A man entered from the central hall that split the bottom floor of the house.
He was tall and broad-shouldered, with the kind of tanned skin that indicated he spent a good deal of time outdoors.
His hair was a brown a few shades darker than Seth’s, and his eyes were a warm hazel, a shade that wasn’t terribly common in their clan.
Of course they would never have met before this, not when Patrick hailed from Payson and apparently hadn’t been anywhere near Jerome when Seth and Devynn were here during those terrible days last year after Ruby was kidnapped by Jasper Wilcox.
However, it seemed Patrick must have still heard all about them, because he immediately grinned, his face lighting up with sudden recognition.
“Seth McAllister and Devynn Rowe,” he said, and stepped forward to shake Seth’s hand, his grip firm. “Ruby told me about your adventures and said you might come back someday, but I still wasn’t sure I believed in all that time travel business until now.”
“It’s good to meet you, Patrick,” Seth said, while Devynn murmured similar words. “And congratulations to both of you.”
Patrick continued to smile as he looked over his wife. “I definitely said a few extra prayers to Brigid, thanking her for allowing me to be the lucky one who got to be Ruby’s consort.”
“We’re both lucky,” Ruby said, her tone firm, then went over to stand next to her husband, their fingers twining in a movement so smooth, so simple, it was obvious that such easy affection was already instinctual to them, despite only being married for a few months.
“Arthur was just telling us about what’s been happening here in Jerome,” Devynn put in. “I’m sorry about Abigail.”