The Secret of the Stone House (15 page)

“Me scaring her!” Emily muttered to herself, but then she caught sight of the glare in her mom’s eyes. She apologized contritely.

One of the other ladies, Eunice Henderson, guided Agnes Barkley back to the front of the house.

“I’ll get to the bottom of this,” Kate warned Emily.

Aunt Liz interrupted. “I wouldn’t worry about it too much,” she said. “Agnes will get over it. You know how she’s always reading things into situations that aren’t really there.”

“I suppose,” answered Kate. “Guess we’d better get back and see how things are going.”

Emily followed the others back into the main yard. The crowd had thinned considerably and the auctioneers had moved their gear to the row of implements. The women mostly sat around the front step, sipping cool lemonade as they waited for their husbands to bid on the farm equipment. The yard was almost empty now that all the smaller goods had sold. Some people had paid for their purchases and left, while others would come back later or even the next day to haul the bigger stuff away.

Mrs. Barkley sat in the shade on the veranda, fanning herself, her eyes closed. Emily crept past her and sauntered into the kitchen, which was cluttered with empty plastic bins, bowls, pans, and utensils. Empty cardboard boxes and garbage bags full of used paper plates and glasses littered the floor. Emily groaned when she saw the sink heaped with dishes.

Searching around in the fridge, she found a leftover chunk of cheese, and munched on it as she watched the scene through the window. The community women cleaned off the tables and cleared out the veranda, trotting back and forth into the house. Emily knew there was no point in touching the fireplace until everyone had gone. She sat down at the table and glanced at the local newspaper, paging through it absent-mindedly.

Mrs. Henderson offered her a plate of leftover sandwiches and goodies, but Emily declined. She accepted a tall glass of lemonade, though, thinking about the wedding she’d just attended. They’d been drinking some kind of sparkly raspberry punch. Then she remembered the wedding photo. She had the original in her room.

Dashing up the stairs two at a time, Emily got to her room and rummaged around in the trunk until she located the group photo. The sepia-toned print clearly showed the smiling newlyweds and their many family members and friends, just as Emily had seen them not long before. She flipped over the print and looked at the writing on the back –
Alexander and Susannah Elliott, 1900.
The date wasn’t right. She’d been back in the past attending the wedding in 1903. She looked closer and noticed the last digit was faint and it was really a three. Satisfied, Emily wrote the date darker, before she returned the print to the trunk.

What seemed like hours later, they finally had the house back to themselves, and Emily made her way to the kitchen. Aunt Liz sank into a chair at the table. She waved away a cup of coffee that Kate offered her.

“I’ve had enough today to sink a battleship, as they say!”

“I think it’s ‘float’ a battleship,” Kate said.

Aunt Liz poked at her. “Whatever.” She sighed.

Emily laughed as she sat down beside her, sipping a bottle of water.

“Everything went well!” Kate said, pulling out another chair.

“I’m amazed at what some people pay for junk!” Aunt Liz remarked.

“At least, we got rid of it all.” Kate smiled.

“I’m bushed,” said Aunt Liz. “How about we just have some poached eggs and toast for supper?”

“Sounds great. I couldn’t face another sandwich or hot dog,” Kate sighed.

After they’d eaten and talked over the day, Emily sidled out of the kitchen. Moments later, she stood in front of the fireplace, studying the configuration of the stones. Remembering what she’d seen in the past, she wiggled several until the large stone at the base clicked. She dropped on her hands and knees, and wrenched the stone free.

“Mom, Aunt Liz! Come here!”

“What on earth?” her mom, exclaimed, from the doorway.

Aunt Liz swept by Kate and they both joined Emily, staring at the gaping hole at the bottom of the fireplace.

“How did you figure it out?” her mom asked.

“She obviously has more patience than we do!” Aunt Liz said. “Well, go ahead, see what’s inside.”

Emily felt inside the dark crevice. Her fingers touched something heavy and square. The secret box, she thought, reaching in to pull it out. But when she had the object in the light, she found instead a large, black, leather-bound book.

“The family Bible!” Aunt Liz took it from Emily. “I wondered why we never found one.”

“Is there anything else?” Kate asked.

Emily peered inside and felt around some more, but all she came out with was mortar dust.

“I’ll get a flashlight,” Aunt Liz handed the Bible to Kate and rose to her feet.

Moments later, they were all trying to peer inside.

“Nope, it’s empty,” Emily declared, deflated. “Then where’s the box?”

“Maybe it doesn’t exist anymore,” her mom said, giving her a little hug.

Emily shook her head. “I don’t believe that!” Perhaps she could learn more if she went back to the past one more time.

“This is pretty exciting anyway,” Aunt Liz said, indicating the Bible.

They returned to the well-lit kitchen and gently turned the pages. They found the family information on pages in the centre of the book. The entire Elliott family was listed, even farther back than Emily had expected.

“Do you know how valuable this is?” Kate asked.

“Priceless,” Aunt Liz answered with a hint of a smile.

“We can trace our family back to the late 1700s.” Emily was thrilled.

She could draw up a family history chart and maybe even connect some of the old photographs to the people named. Even more reason for wanting to keep her grandmother’s stone house. There was just too much history embedded in it, right from the land and the building of the house, to the family living in it so many years, and all the memories it held in its walls and in Emily’s heart.

“We just have to keep this house,” Emily spoke determinedly. “There’s too much of us here!”

“I agree that it will be hard to leave it, Emily,” her mom said, “but you know the reasons why we have to let it go.”

The phone ringing made them all jump. Her mom hurried to answer it. Obviously, she didn’t want to talk about the house anymore. Emily listened for a few seconds, hoping it might be her dad, but she could tell it wasn’t by the gentle way her mom spoke. Aunt Liz poured another cup of coffee and headed outside. Her mom finished the call and drifted out after her.

“That was Donald,” she heard her mom say, “He was wondering if we needed a hand tomorrow. We just have to call him, if we do.”

Aunt Liz laughed, “Someone has an admirer!”

“I don’t think that’s it,” Kate responded. “He’s just at loose ends right now.”

“Well, we’ll see if you’re right.”

Emily returned to the living room to examine the fireplace some more. As she got down on her knees on the floor, and pulled the stone out, she heard an odd scrabbling knock.

“Mom? Aunt Liz?”

She went into the hallway, but she could still hear them chattering outside. She returned to the fireplace to replace the stone. Something sounded again, but this time she heard definite knocking. She rose and entered the hallway again. Then she realized it was coming from the back door.

She walked to the door and put her ear against it. She jumped suddenly when the knocking came again. Were her mom and aunt playing tricks on her? She flung open the door.

“Geordie!” she gasped.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Emily stood there with her mouth hanging open.
“Aren’t you going to invite me in, lass?” Geordie said with a smile that lit up his freckled face.

“How did you get here?” Emily stepped back for him to enter.

“I didn’t exactly do it on purpose,” he answered, looking about in bewilderment as he joined her in the hallway. He held out her hair elastic. “I found this on the ground in the yard.”

Emily chuckled softly. “At least we know you can visit me, now.”

“Now that I am here, will you give me a tour?” Geordie asked, looking curiously towards the kitchen.

Emily glanced furtively down the hall.

“My mom and aunt are outside, so we’ll have to watch for them,” she warned.

Geordie nodded, staring into each of the rooms as they came to them.

“It’s the same, but so different,” he said in awe, standing beside her in the dining room. “We never had a table like this.”

“You will,” said Emily. “My grandmother said her parents had it shipped over from Scotland.”

Geordie shook his head. “I can’t believe what the house is like now.”

They moved into the small room that served as an office space and which held her grandmother’s desk. Emily knew it was a bedroom in Geordie’s home. Emily flipped on the light switch so he could see it better.

Startled, Geordie grunted in astonishment. “How did you do that?”

“It’s electricity. There are wires running throughout the house. They bring power for lights and other things,” she tried to explain.

“Where does this power come from?” His eyes were wide with wonder.

As Emily struggled to make him understand, she peeked out the window and saw her mom and aunt strolling across the yard away from the house. They were almost to the barn.

“Everything runs on power. Come, I’ll show you.”

Emily led him into the kitchen where she gave him a tour of all the kitchen appliances. Opening the fridge freezer, she had him stick his hand inside.

“It’s like an icebox!”

“And this,” she said turning on a burner, “is the stove. But don’t touch it!”

She whirled through the kitchen demonstrating the toaster, the microwave and the coffee grinder. A clamour of noise erupted as everything popped, dinged, and ground. Geordie put his hands over his ears in fright.

Suddenly, the door burst open.

“What are you doing, Emily!” shouted her mom above the din. Aunt Liz followed behind her, staring about in astonishment.

Emily dashed around the kitchen turning everything off. “Just checking to make sure everything is working.”

“I’d say it is!” Aunt Liz exclaimed.

Emily came to a standstill by the fridge in the abrupt silence. Geordie had backed himself between it and the door, and was edging himself behind it. He bumped into the broom hanging from the wall. Suddenly, it and the dustpan fell over with a clatter, and everyone jumped. Aunt Liz and her mom looked spooked.

“What caused that?” Kate looked suspiciously over at Emily.

She shrugged her shoulders.

“Now the place is haunted!” said Aunt Liz with a tense laugh

Emily heard Geordie stifle a giggle. She couldn’t help smiling.

“Possessed is more like it!” Kate said with a touch of annoyance.

Geordie extracted himself from the mess and headed down the hallway, while Emily wondered how she could explain the situation to them. They obviously couldn’t see Geordie, which was a good thing. She’d never be able to explain his presence.

All of a sudden, the light in the living room went on and off in rapid succession. Aunt Liz went to inspect, but Emily beat her there. She caught Geordie’s hand as he was about to flip the switch again. She shook her head at him and pretended to be examining the connection.

“Just loose, I think,” she said.

Nervously, Aunt Liz agreed.

“There certainly are a lot of peculiar things going on around here,” Kate looked cautiously about.

“You know what these old places are like.” Emily shrugged with as much innocence as she could muster.

“A good reason for us not to bother with it anymore,” Kate declared.

“Aw, Mom, just because a few things are a little unusual doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to keep the place.”

Geordie listened anxiously, obviously wanting to speak to Emily. She flicked the light off and left the room, hoping her mom and aunt would follow. They did.

“Guess I’ll go up now to read,” Emily said casually.