Eternal Melody

Dedication

To
the memory of

my
beloved
father, Victor, who taught me to

love classical music.

This is a work of fiction.  The names, characters, places, and events depicted in this book are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.  Any similarity to actual people, either living or deceased, is purely coincidental.

Chapter One

Grand Rapids, Michigan

Summer of
1900

Li
ke a prisoner in the frenzy of escape
,
she
h
aphazardly tossed her few possessions
into
the
faded beige
suitcase
. 
Clothes
, shoes, and undergarments flew
like kites in a tornado
across her bed chamber
.  Channeling
all the strength containe
d in her slim frame, the
fiery
redhead
pushed desperately on the
lid
in a furious attempt to
button
it shut.  When
the suitcase
would not close, she bounced on top of it, squashing it with her derriere to flatten
out the contents.  Finally, the latch snapped shut
,
and
she
immediately lunged for her brown satchel, cramming it with the remainder of her modest
w
ardrobe.  The battle ignited again
as she
determinedly
shoved in more dresses, corsets
, and her only parasol
.

Teeth gritted,
she aggressively pressed a winter
coat into the
overloaded
satchel
.  At that moment,
the
walnut
grandfather clock in the living room chimed
to usher in
the eleven o’clock hour. 
The young woman
jumped, her breath and heartbeat suspended as the ringing threatened to deafen her.  But it would not defeat her.  Suddenly
, a knock sounded at her c
hamber door
.  She braced herself, sucking in her breath so tigh
t
ly that her stomach was painfully concave.

A
harsh whisper
sounded
.  “Becky!  It’s
Ryan.  Open the door
now
!”

Relieved to hear the sound of her brother’
s voice, Rebecca
Meadow
swung the door open
and admitted him entrance.  “Get inside, and don’t make any noise!” She
hissed
back.

Ryan crept inside hi
s younger sister’s room, abandoning
his own luggage outside the door.
“Haven’t you finished packing yet?  We must leave
now
if we want to make the midnight train!” Ryan said urgently, surveying the disenfranchised state of her belongings.

Flustered that the clock was ticking
mercilessly
, Rebecca gathered her waist-length
scarlet
hair and pinned it into a messy chignon.  With her hair out of the way, she wiped a bead of nervous sweat from her brow and continued to heave her clothes into the
luggage
while Ryan stood there impatiently, tapping his toes on the floor.

“Stop that!” She reprimanded with flashing blue eyes, pointing accusingly at his feet
.  “We cannot make a sound or we
will wake the whole house.”

Rebecca and Ryan had been planning their
overseas
journey for too many months to let a careless maneuver ruin it. 
As a little girl, Rebecca had fantasized about performing at the grandest opera
houses in Europe
. 
And now that dream might actually come true.

Snapping the satchel shut, she wondered what her parents would say if they were alive to witness this moment. 
As she surveyed her childhood bedroom one last time, she was suddenly a five year old girl again, receiving the incomprehensible news that mommy and daddy had died in a drowning accident.

“Becky, you look sad all of a sudden.  Are you certain you want to do this?” Ryan asked, perceiving the darkness in his sister’s countenance.

Reflexively, she replied, “I am absolutely certain that I want to do this.  I was just having a moment of nostalgia.”

In
fact, Rebecca could not wait to get out of Grand Rapids
, away from her eldest brother,
Gregory, and his spoiled wife, Ethel.
Tone deaf Gregory worked in Michigan’s thriving steel industry
.
A croaking frog sounded like a polished tenor compared to Gregory,
Rebecca thought with a smirk.
  I
f Gregory knew that sh
e and Ryan were going to
Vienna
to pursue careers in music,
he would stop at nothing to
hinder them
.

Rebecca searched under a sofa cushion for the epistle she
had hidden there
. 
Wistfully,
she
sealed the envelope and
and slipped it under her
grandmother’s
chamber door. 
In the letter, Rebecca had tried to explain as compassionately as possible her reasons for departing Michigan.

“I’m ready to go.”
Rebecca announced resolutely.

Tall, lanky Ryan
Meadow
,
his
boyish face sprinkled with
tawny
freckles, smiled and gathered the luggage into his arms. 
H
e picked up his violin case and slung the strap over his already burdened right shoulder. 
The siblings tip-toed over to the front door, holding their breath as the rest of the family slumbered
unwittingly
in their respective chambers.

In the darkness, Ryan tripped clumsily over the couch, slamming his knee
into the hard edge
and biting his lips to keep from making a sound.  Rebecca looked cautiously behind her to make sure that the brief commotion had not awakened anyone.  Confident that their pending departure was still undetected, Rebecca slowly opened the front door and shuffled out with Ryan trailing closely behind.

Outside, the summer wind whipped Rebecca’s riotous hair right out of its pins, as she fum
bled to reassemble them.  At that
late hour, a chill was hovering over Grand Rapids, causing Rebecca to shiver inside her simple green muslin dress that made her
blue eyes appe
ar as a
kaleidoscope
of dazzling hues
. 
Fortunately, the train station was a short walk from their
hilltop house near Lake Michigan.

“I hope I didn’t forget anything.” Rebecca commented, tossing a look over her shoulder at the house that appeared almost haunted in the dark.  She usually did not get the opportunity to venture outdoors after twilight and was startled by the ominous glow the
old house emanated in the metallic
moonlight.

“It’s too late to worry about that now, Becky.  Besides, what else could you have taken with you?” He gestured comically towards
her overloaded bags
.  “All you left in your chamber was the very furniture and walls!”

Rebec
ca giggled, grateful for her brother’s
presence.  Initi
ally, she had hoped to take the
trip in solitude
.  But she
knew that it was too risky for a young woman to make a transatlantic sail without a male chaperone.  Those ships were notorious for harboring
rough, dangerous
fellows
, and she was grateful for the protection of her older brother.

“Granted, I brought my whole lot of possessions, but we don’t know how long we’ll be gone.  Just the sail itself will take weeks.  Once we get to England, we’ll have to board a smaller boat into the Netherlands
and then
sail the Rhine River. 
When
we
finally
arrive
in Vienna and
audition for the International Philharmonic Orchestra,
I just know we will get hired!
  Then there’s no telling how long
our
trip will las
t.”

Rebecca refrained from mentioning
how she hoped the trip would last a lifetime.  As they walked onto the platform of the rail station
and stared straight ahead
, she had no intention of ever coming back to Michigan.

*****

The train departed precisely at midnight and sped out of the
city
.
  T
he moment the train
set into motion on the tracks,
Rebecca
was
breathless with exhilaration. 
S
he
peered out the tiny window of her sleeping cart and watched the familiar landscape of Michigan fade away.  She shut her eyes, envisioning how it would feel to ride on a train in Vienna and watch the Austrian Alps
whirl by.  It was not long before Rebecca fell into a deep sleep, lulled by the motion of the train.  In an adjoining sleeping car, Ryan also slept, equally excited about their destination---and destiny.

A few hours later, Rebecca awoke when the train ride became bumpy and
the caboose
nearly jump
ed
the tracks.  Disoriented, she rubbed her eyes and looked out into the blackness, unable to identify anything.  She had no idea where they were, but knew that when
dawn
came, the train would be rolling into the station in New York City.

Though she tried, Rebecca had trouble falling back asleep.  She sat upright in her seat, propping her head up on one elbow and staring out the window, her eyes now adjusting to the darkness.

They were passing through
a farm town
with sparse landmarks
including
a small
white
church with a steeple.  The whole town seemed to sleep as Rebecca remained wide awake
.
It was
as though
not a soul
lived in the area, and it was a
veritable
ghost town.  Even the train was gravely quiet, and Rebecca
wondered if
she was the only one conscious.