Touchstones

By Patricia Josefchak

The Rideau Lakes mystery continues with Aggie, Drake, Keith and Matt, her girlfriends and neighbours – courageous immigrants all – amidst the harsh wilderness and the industrial landscape of 1850s Province of Canada.

Winter sets upon the land, and neighbours safely harbour Aggie and Drake. The icy froth of rushing spring waters

• Language: English
• Publisher: Burnstown Publishing House
• Release date: Nov 1, 2017
• ISBN: 9781772571684

Book preview

CHAPTER 1:

A Conditional Yes

STILL IN HIS loving embrace, Aggie looked up and said, Though I’ve said ‘yes,’ I want a long engagement so that there can be no doubt.

Whatever you wish, Aggie, he said with a smile, planting a gentle kiss on her forehead. You’re mine, now, and I’ll not be letting you go. I see nothing that will stand in our way.

Aggie wasn’t so sure. She loved him. But there were secrets still between them, and she didn’t like to think that their relationship, their marriage, or any marriage could survive untold truths or secrets. She was following her heart, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t be heartbroken.

There was still much she didn’t know about Keith; he was the keystone to Drake’s heritage. Now she knew that he had discovered Drake’s and her identity at the same time. Which one prompted him to marry her? How strong was his promise to his dead sister? And he knew Drake’s father; what did that really mean? And there was much that he didn’t know about her. Perhaps she had been pricked by a silver thorn that: She had inherited the ways of her mum and mums before that; she was a healer and a hag, by all accounts; and her unique senses were suggesting caution.

Shall you come closer now to Perth and stay perhaps at some inn or residence nearby? he asked.

No, Keith—I shall stay where I am in my cottage with Drake.

But I can provide for you in a much better situation if you’ll permit me, he offered with concern in his voice.

And I shan’t permit you … not just yet, Aggie said. Drake and I have come this far on our own; it’s important that we continue to grow into our new life. If for some reason there is an impasse, then I need to be able to stand on my own … I do not want our futures pulled out from under us. We shall stay where we are and as we are for now. And Drake needs to carry on as before as my son with no discernible heritage.

I think I understand, Aggie, Keith said. But I’m sure we will face this engagement together without trial or discourse.

Then it’s true, Jen said, catching her breath as she slid into the hallway with Donnah in tow.

Keith and Aggie were still in an embrace sharing quiet words and a calm moment.

Is there nothing that you and Donnah don’t know? Aggie asked with a wide smile. What is it you think is true? she teased. Did Victoria provide the hint?

Look at you, lass, Donnah said, puffing and fanning her face. You’re in his arms—and unless he’s just saved you from a terrible slip on a wet floor, I’d say that you are betrothed.

Ach, no fooling you girls, Keith said with a grin. Yes, I asked Aggie to be my wife, and she has accepted.

Ohhh, Jen swooned. Aggie, your face is alight … You look so happy …

And I am, truly, she replied, but it will be a year till we are man and wife. ’Tis my condition.

A year! Donnah exclaimed. That’s forever—

And so it shall be, Aggie said. And will you both be my sisters and stand with me on that day?

Both Jen and Donnah swooped in for their sisterly embrace.

So it seems that my sisters approve, Keith, Aggie said with a smile.

We will set the date for this time next year—a winter solstice wedding, Keith suggested with some finality.

Yes, Aggie said. It couldn’t be more appropriate, she thought: An engagement and marriage on the winter solstice—the celebration of rebirth and reversal; shortest to longer days and longest to shorter nights; hag to manor wife; servitude to master. She would follow her heart but she’d also let the tale, her mum’s tale, guide her. She’d heard the tale over and over as a child, and it was easy to recall …

… you shall cross the sea

on a ship with me.

The moon shall rise and the moon shall fall,

but the spring and winter moons foretell all …

A secret swirl shall precede,

this noble man with strength of creed.

Bonds there are though distance far,

and tied you shall be across the sea.

Secrets swirl all about saving dark from light

and truth from might.

Heed stones of hearth for secrets deep

and search for stone of truths to keep.

Of silver and thorns you are made,

with truth and love all are saved.

Let’s toast the event, Keith suggested to Aggie, eager to share their news with the solstice revellers. Certainly Victoria will be thrilled to know—though I’m supposing she has already figured it out. But no matter, an official toast would be appropriate.

Aggie was happy in the moment and let the moment carry her away to celebrate.

CHAPTER 2:

Sleigh Bells

WINTER WAS UPON them with ferocity. The snows seemed to come daily, piling higher; and the winds whipped drifts to the top of the cottage roof. She didn’t know that there was a cold below freezing, and yet here the temperature was reading well below the freezing mark. There was no let-up; nature’s path was set, and Aggie needed to keep up.

She had heard tales of settlers freezing to death in their sleep when the fires had gone out; the cold had crept in quickly, sending them into a permanent slumber. And others died for not managing their chimney flues, filling their slumber with smoke rather than air.

Aggie couldn’t imagine that winter could get much worse; but it was only mid-January, and spring was still a long way off. They did their best to keep the cottage snug, and to maintain the path—and sometimes tunnel—through the snow clear to the outhouse. They didn’t need a path to the barn because Silver had gone back to Matt’s for the winter and she had sold her chickens. There was just no way to keep poultry through the long, cold winters. And with only Aggie and Drake left to manage, Silver was an extra they couldn’t care for. They didn’t have a sleigh, so packing down a trail to the lane was left to Warren or Keith, and sometimes Matt, when they were in the area with their sleighs. On occasion, Aggie and Drake had strapped on snowshoes in an effort to make some way out to the main road, but it was hard work and was quickly undone by more snow and winds.

Her friendship with Matt had been strained with the announcement of her engagement to Keith, although he maintained his stance as a good and dependable neighbour. Aggie wondered if she had unintentionally suggested that she would be true to him. His inability to trust her with the reason for his injury and with the knowledge of his connection to the Underground Railroad had closed her heart to him; and yet she wondered at the same time how this charming gentleman lecher, Keith, had stolen her heart over her better judgment. Did she trust him? She thought so, but she hadn’t yet told him about her miscarriage, so she wasn’t sure. No one would suspect that Keith had been the father; everyone presumed that they had been introduced by Victoria early last summer. They didn’t speak of the May Day festivities of the previous year. And Aggie had never told Donnah or Jen …

There was no reprieve from the day-to-day survival. She and Drake couldn’t take a trip to town to visit with Donnah or Jen, if only because they didn’t want to return to a frozen home. The effort to maintain their comfort was daunting. Some days it was just too cold and the snows too deep to let Drake trudge through the snow to school.

THE WIND HOWLED outside, and Drake was curled up under his fur blanket. Aggie sat in her rocker with her fur blanket wrapped around her. It creaked on the plank floor as she rocked. She had her mum’s recipe book on her lap and had just leafed through the fabric pages. Without the tales her mum had told her, the sketches and drawings could mean just about anything. Swirls and stick figures, ships and moon cycles, double knots, thorny rose stems … what more could they possibly tell her? What did she see?

The thought made her sit upright: There was more. The tale had gotten her here, and she had let it guide her. Would she have been moved to cross the ocean without it? Would she have been as mindful of her situation without its foretelling tales?

She looked at Drake asleep and wondered at her foolishness in rejecting Keith’s invitation to provide for them some better situation, perhaps in Perth. She hadn’t realized it would be so difficult. Perhaps if Jen and Donnah had been here … but without a second adult, it was left to Aggie to do all the work; there was shovelling, and the wood for the fireplace and wood stove, and all-around maintenance of the hearth and flue, over and above the cooking and cleanup and numerous other tasks. They could both have been warm, comfortable, and in good company had she accepted Keith’s offer. Was she being selfish? But he had not pressured her to change her situation. She wondered if he really had any true sense of how difficult the homestead life could be … if perhaps his manor-born roots elevated him above any understanding of the hardship.

Aggie heard harness bells. Sometimes they came and went along the main road, bypassing her laneway. The sound travelled far without the canopy of leaves and underbrush. This time they appeared to be getting closer, rousing a drowsy Drake from beneath his fur blanket.

All the bells had a certain distinction.

That sounds like Matt’s sleigh, Mum, Drake offered groggily.

Aggie knew he had keen hearing and had no reason to doubt his conclusion.

Well, regardless of who it is, it sounds like we have company, she said. Aggie looked at the hearth and saw it was well-stoked with wood and burning well and clean. She knew that once she opened the door some smoke might draw in, but it would quickly dissipate.

Aggie watched as the sleigh pulled round to the porch as close as could be managed so that its passengers could avoid stepping down into deep snows.

It was Tilley and Sam. She had heard that Matt was healing well and more able to manage so she was surprised that it was Tilley and Sam. This was unusual company.

Aggie had the door open as they stomped the snow off their boots on the porch. They quickly entered, and Aggie closed the door behind them. A rush of cold air swirled through the room.

Brrrr! Drake said with a shiver. It’s so cold …

That it is, said Sam, blowing warm breath into his hands. Hello, Aggie, he said. Not sure that my blood ever will get used to this!

Hello, Tilley, Sam, she said, giving them both hugs. It’s so nice that you’ve come to check on us. I don’t think we ever imagined winter to be so brutal.

More than brutal is our thoughts, Tilley said. "This is not a normal winter. There is more snow and cold than even I’ve seen in all my years here. I’ve survived some nasty times, but no telling how much worse this will get." Tilley paused.

I’d rather be like a bear and sleep until spring is here, Sam said. Who would’ve thought that an animal could sleep and not freeze to death … Sam shook his head in awe of hibernation.

Yes, I suppose they have the better deal when it comes to winter, Aggie said with a smile.

We’ve come to take you and Drake back with us. I’m worried, Gary’s worried, Sam is worried, and … Matt is fretting, he is so worried. No matter if you’re betrothed to Keith—you can’t stay here or you’ll end up like other folks who’ve been found frozen in their beds and then you’ll be marrying no one and everyone will be upset.

Yes, Aggie, Sam interjected. We need to bring you back with us or we just won’t be able to stop worrying about you. You should hear Matt go on … You are here by yourself with no one else to help, and, if something goes wrong, with no way to send for help.

And that just doesn’t need to be the case. This is as much for us as for you. We’ll feel better knowing you’re with us, Tilley added. Matt would have come himself but he is still minding his leg. He says it aches so with the cold.

Yes, and so it would, Aggie said. I’ve heard that all manner of aches and pains get worse with cold.

It’s on days like today that I’d trade this for the worst summer swarms of mosquitos and blackflies, Tilley chuckled. So does that mean you’ll come back with us? Please?

Please, Aggie, Sam added.

Aggie looked over at Drake still wrapped in his fur blanket. He hadn’t been to school for many days now and likely wouldn’t for days to come. He was getting melancholy and unable to find anything to tempt him out from under the furs. Even she had to admit that the isolation was as tormenting as the cold seeping in through the walls. She was doing her best, but Tilley and Sam were right—if anything happened, there was no way to get help. It was time for her to be mindful of the dangers and accepting of alternatives, if not for her, for Drake.

All right, we’ll come with you.

That’s wonderful, Aggie, Tilley said, reaching out to give her a hug.

Aggie knew her concern was genuine, and Sam was simply unable to lie.

I’d like to prepare properly, though, and make sure that we leave the cottage safe and sound and a place that I can come back to in better days ahead.

Of course, Aggie. Sam and I will see that the hearth gets cold and close off the flue to keep out the birds and other small critters from falling in, and that the wood stove is starved. In the meantime, you can look after packing whatever you want to bring with you, including your fur blankets; don’t go leaving those behind. Even our place can get cold drafts. If you haven’t any carpet bags, we’ve brought some with us.

I haven’t anything to pack in but a small trunk, and it’s not so easy to manage, Aggie replied. But I’ll pack it first and see if I’ll need a carpet bag.

Sam, would you get the carpet bags for Aggie just in case we need them? Check on Molly, too.

With a smile, Sam quickly pulled on his boots, opened the door, then quickly exited, closing the door to the porch behind him. They could hear him thumping across the porch, then down the steps, and then the bone-chilling squeak of the snow underfoot.

Agh, that sound always makes me shiver, Aggie said, rubbing her arms to rid herself of goosebumps.

Tilley nodded in sympathy.

And if you’re not sure what to bring, we can always come back to check on the cottage and get things you might have forgotten, Tilley offered.

Thank you, Tilley, Aggie said with a sigh. I’m truly grateful for your concern … all of you. And I’d be stupid to not accept your kindness. I’ve no mind to know just how frightful this winter weather can become and must rely on you and others to provide the cautions. Aggie could feel tiredness enter her body and her shoulders slump, as though she had been carrying the burden of her situation until just this moment.

No need to be thanking us, Aggie, Tilley began. You’ve done more for us, and Matt, than can ever be repaid. Tilley sighed, and the smile vanished from her face.

Aggie noticed. Is there something else, Tilley? Something I should know?

I kept secrets from you once, Aggie, and I promised that would never happen again. But I have my concerns and I will share them with you so that I can say to myself that I have tried to warn you. I have no right to go meddling with folks in love, and betrothed, but I’ve reasons to worry …

Will you tell me now? Aggie asked.

Tilley looked at Aggie then glanced to Drake who was listening to their conversation with interest. Aggie understood.

Yes, of course—let’s chat when we are settled later in front of your fireplace with some hot cocoa, Aggie suggested with a smile of understanding, hoping to distract Drake from their chatter. As with the weather, I will heed your concerns, Tilley.

Aggie went slowly around the room and reached for items that she thought they’d want or things that she didn’t want to leave behind. She reached for her mum’s recipe book and her journal and opened the hatch to the cellar to grab her healing bag, some herbal tea leaves, and a couple of bottles of wild grape wine that she had made a few months earlier. The latter was still young but perhaps it would be palatable with a hearty stew.

She looked around the cellar and wondered what and how much would spoil without proper care. She decided she would ask Tilley to bring her back to get some preserves, dried fruit, and potatoes and carrots to share rather than let them spoil. Other things would survive until she returned in warmer days to come, but some produce needed to be consumed. It might be one way to repay the kindness and care she and Drake would be privileged to receive at Matt’s homestead. With her arms full and the healing bag draped over her shoulder, Aggie climbed back up the short ladder to the main floor.

Tilley, Aggie began, can we make a trip some other day to gather up some preserves and such so that I might share with you and the others? They’ll just spoil, or maybe even freeze if I don’t—

I’d be happy to do that! With Matt’s injury this past fall, I wasn’t able to devote as much time to my jams and preserves and such … We’d certainly enjoy more flavours than I have managed to put away. How about we make this trip to get you settled and wait for a sunny day when the snows have had a couple of days of packing? Then we can make a short trip and short work, with Sam’s help.

Ah, that would be fine, Aggie replied with a smile. Will it be so cold that the root cellar will freeze?

I would usually say ‘no’ but I’m not certain this year. If you were to stay here and keep the hearth and wood stove stoked, then it would be fine. It should be fine regardless, being so deep, but I just don’t know about this winter …

Aggie continued her walk around the room collecting things that she and Drake might need. Aggie reached for her other flannel day dress and her knitted shawl and fingerless mitts and collected some fresh undergarments from her small bedside drawer. The knitted shawl was a heather-grey wool that was light as air on her shoulders. She knitted it herself to keep away drafts and all other sorts of ailments and aches that come with the cold. She put Drake’s trousers in the trunk with his flannel shirts, wool overshirts, heavy wool socks, and every other item that might help to keep him warm. She reached for his new whittling knife and his unfinished slingshot, his latest work in progress. With a last look about the room, Aggie was satisfied that what they needed was in the trunk, and anything forgotten could be had on the next trip.

At the last minute, she reached for her walking stick with its compartment of knitting needles and decided on a couple of skeins of yarn, which she stuffed into the trunk. She had no project in mind, but perhaps she would start something while at Matt’s.

Aggie looked toward the hearth. The tin box was safely hidden in the stonework and it contained no money, just her papers.

Aggie was drawn to the hearth and she laid her hand on the warmth of the fireplace stones and closed her eyes. It was like she was leaving an old friend to suffer alone. Its warmth made it feel like it had life; and she could feel her own pulse beat back in her palm. In her mind, she saw the presence of a large man smiling at her. It was just an apparition, perhaps a personification of the large stone fireplace; not anyone who was familiar. But she let the image hold her for a few more moments so her mind could draw it in her memory.

Was this what her mum meant when she said she could see things? That her touch would sometimes reveal moments out of place or faces out of time? She didn’t know but she let the heat of the fireplace seep into her like a warm bath; she felt strength and determination join in a collective deep breath and straighten her slumping shoulders. She wasn’t sure that it was the stones but she said a silent thank you.

Aggie, Tilley said, pulling Aggie from her reverie. We need to be away soon. It’s around three o’clock, and it will be dusk in another hour. The roads have deep banks and we need to drive in daylight to be safe.

Yes, of course, Tilley, Aggie replied. We are ready to go.

Drake? Aggie called.

He’s already outside with Sam getting snug under the sleigh rugs … everything is safe and sound. Sam, Tilley called, Aggie’s trunk is ready.

Quickly, Aggie reached for a pencil and paper. "You can find us at Matt Thorne’s homestead … Aggie." She didn’t want Keith to worry if he arrived to find a cold, empty cottage. She decided that she would send word to him later when she had a chance to post a letter. With a small nail, she tacked the paper to the outside of the door close to the door’s handle where it would be protected from the wind.

Sam came in this time without removing his boots or closing the door behind him. It was such a strange thing, as she had been ever so careful to keep out the cold. Of course, she thought, there was no reason now to do either. The cottage would be hibernating soon and waking up in the warmer days to come … just like the bears.

CHAPTER 3:

Voices Adrift

AGGIE WAS WELCOMED with open arms and hugs and relief that she had accepted the invitation to wait out the worst of the winter under the Thorne roof.

Drake, too, was happier; he rode to school on Silver accompanied by Sam or Gary, depending on who was able to free himself from chores. It was a different school, and there were new classmates, but he quickly made new friends and rekindled friendships with others he had met at the Thanksgiving feast last fall. Drake fell right into the new surroundings as if it were his own home.

Aggie marvelled at the simplicity of the lives of young children. They played and they shared or they fought and scrapped. It was rare that children were simply impartial unless they were trying to avoid answering an adult’s question; then I don’t know was the standard reply. They functioned on the knowledge of the simplest concepts, and sometimes none at all if they had no schooling; one, two, threes and a, b, c’s …

Aggie was in the room she had stayed in on other occasions. She felt that at one time it had belonged to Matt’s late wife but she had never asked, and the information had never been offered. But she knew from the hairpins that had been left on the dressing table and the exceptionally pretty view of the garden from the window. There was also a small bottle of perfume, and though she longed to open it to savour the fragrance, she never did, for fear it would waft through the house. Scents had a power that could stir deep memories, and she wasn’t sure which memories would be stirred.

She decided after a couple of days that indeed their stay might be longer than she expected. Winter was brutal still, and the temperatures seemed to find ways to plummet even further. She never imagined that anything could survive this. And, as she had been warned, the Canadian winter needed to be experienced. No words truly did it justice.

Aggie had already taken Drake’s things from the trunk and put them neatly into his bedside table or hung them on hooks on the wall. His room was simply furnished with a bed, a washstand, and a small chest of drawers by the bed that also had on it an oil lamp and a candle. But it was a snug room and a room of his own rather than his bed close to the hearth at the cottage. Cast-iron grates in the floor allowed the heat from the main floor to draw into the upper bedrooms.

She hadn’t brought much for herself; she hung her other flannel day dress on a hook and draped her shawl over it. Then she tucked her undergarments, nightgown, and other things such as her yarn, journal, and Mum’s recipe book into a drawer by the bed. She didn’t expect anyone to be nosing through her things, but if they did it made no matter; the recipe book was at best childish drawings and scrawls, and her journal would interest no one. She leaned her walking stick by the dressing table and left her hairbrush and comb on the tabletop.

She knocked the dressing table as she struggled to slide the trunk under the bed. The walking stick fell and its handle landed hard on the lid and rolled away under the bed. Aggie groaned with the noise that must have echoed through the house.

Are you all right, Aggie? Tilley hollered up the stairs, as she had expected.

Yes, I’m fine. I just dropped my walking stick … Sorry for all the noise, she hollered back.

Will you be down soon? I’ve got a pot of tea steeping, Tilley called out.

Yes, of course, in a couple of minutes, Aggie replied. I’m just putting away my trunk now that it’s empty.

She and Tilley had a new friendship since the events surrounding Matt’s injury. Respect had been earned and truth deserved; they agreed to have no secrets even if the boys chose to be selective.

Aggie reached for the walking stick under the bed, using her hands to feel for it. It had somehow found a way to roll beyond her reach. She knelt down on the floor and looked under the bed. There was her walking stick, and there also something in the mattress straps. She reached for her stick and gently put it down beside her. Then she pulled something out from the mattress webbing; it had a fabric wrapper. She felt like she knew it had been there all along … like it was hers … like her arms and hands were simply there to retrieve it. She knew that she was meant to find it.

Aggie hadn’t the time to open the fabric wrapper. Tilley was waiting for her. She put it under her pillow and quickly made her way downstairs.