Chapter 1
Noel Peters opened the creaky, cabin door as an icy cold autumn wind tugged at the black, funeral dress she was wearing. Usually Noel loved the cold autumn winds that howled through the mountain that surrounded her land and home—but not on that particular day. Noel had returned from a very sad funeral that left her heart feeling shattered, empty and very much...lost. Stepping into the dimly lit front room that still smelled of delicious Thanksgiving foods, Noel paused before closing the front door, closed a pair of sharp blue eyes, and finally let a single tear fall. “You went to Heaven the day after Thanksgiving...you died peacefully in your sleep at the age of ninety-five. The doctor said your heart stopped while you were sleeping and you felt no pain. You made me promise to cry no tears...but now that I'm alone...”
Yes. Now that Noel was alone, she allowed more tears to leave her broken heart, one by one. The tears slipped from her eyes and dropped down onto an old, hardwood floor. Noel allowed her tears to fall because she knew if she didn't, her heart would scream out in misery. “You lived a long, good life, Granny. Jesus took you home in the way you wanted...now you're home.”
If anyone had been standing in the living room of the cabin—a large, spacious living room that was surprisingly filled with very rich furnishings and priceless antiques—they would have witnessed a beautiful forty-two-year-old, black-haired woman standing alone crying; a woman who could have been the twin sister of Betty Lynn. But no concerned eyes were watching Noel. She grieved alone, and that's what she preferred. Why? Because as beautiful and delicate as Noel appeared on the outside, on the inside she was a hardworking, no-nonsense, tough, North Carolina farm woman who tended to three hundred acres of lush, mountain farmland every day...alone. Noel took care of her milk cows, horses, chickens, crops, fences, and repairs on her farming equipment. You name it and Noel took care of it. She was a loner who lived only with her granny. Noel's granny was a very wealthy woman, but Noel never accepted a penny from her. No. Noel made her living off the crops she grew and sold, and even paid her own land taxes, which was always a very pretty penny to pay.
It wasn't that Noel wanted to be alone. Noel believed in love and even prayed for love. It was just that she could never find a fella that her heart could settle on. Most of the men in the county Noel lived in only wanted her land or her granny's money. Noel's friend, Brent, a man who worked with the county, always made sure the county respected Noel's land and never stepped one foot out of bounds. Noel had other friends who watched her back, but everyone knew Noel wasn't the type to attend a social function or even pick up a telephone. No. Noel kept to herself and only appeared in town when it was time to sell her crops. The four grocery stores in Noel's town always bought up her crops and then whatever was left over were always picked up by locals attending the annual “Autumn Farmers Market.” When the weather turned cold and the snow arrived, Noel hunkered down with her granny and no one heard a peep from her until spring.
During the late autumn and hard winter months Noel focused on her piano and art. Her granny had taught Noel how to play the piano at a very young age. She had fallen in love with the piano and proved to be a natural. Later on in life, at the age of sixteen, Noel discovered she had a talent for painting and fell in love with painting mostly scenic pieces. Oh, how Noel loved to venture out into the mountains on a cold, snowy day and find the perfect scene for a painting. She would pack a thermos of warm soup and coffee, kiss her granny bye, and out the door she would go with everything needed to capture her passion on a wonderful canvas. When the weather was too cold to venture outside, Noel would remain inside next to a warm fire and play the piano−a time her granny truly enjoyed.
“Who will listen to the piano now, Granny? Will you listen from Heaven? I reckon you will...” Noel wiped at her falling tears and then decided to get a warm fire going. The cabin she called home was a large two-story cabin. Noel's granny had insisted she be allowed to pay for central heating and air to be installed. After much fuss, Noel agreed−the one time she let her granny pay for anything. After a while, Noel had come to like having warm air in the cabin instead of always having to fuss with a fire. Still, she loved to always have a fire going in the large, stone fireplace situated in the living room.
Getting a nice, warm fire going came as easy as breathing to Noel. She had a fire going in no time and then changed into a work dress. The chicken's eggs needed to be collected and the milk cow needed to be milked. It hurt a milk cow if it wasn't milked at least twice a day. On top of that, Noel had to fix the entrance gate at the east driveway. Chores needed to be done. “I have some chores to tend to, Granny. I won't be long. I'll fix a nice beef stew for supper when I get through fixing the gate. I just need to replace the old post and put some new hinges on. I should be back before the wood I put on the fire burns down.”
Keeping busy was one way to avoid crying again. Noel didn't want to cry anymore. She had allowed the tears her granny would approve of to fall. If she shed any more tears, Noel knew her granny would frown on them. So out the front door Noel went and tended to her chores. Forty minutes later she returned with a pail of milk and a basket full of eggs just as a cold sun began to set over a lonely mountain filled with shadows. “Fixed the gate, Granny...didn't take me but twenty minutes. I already put the new post and hinges out by the fence four days ago...”
Talking out loud made Noel feel as if her granny was sitting in the living room on a fancy, green couch knitting socks or a pair of gloves. “I got the chicken’s eggs...Ethel didn't lay any eggs today. I only collected nineteen eggs. Ethel is being lazy on me.” Noel stood silent for a few seconds holding a metal pail full of fresh milk in one hand and a basket full of eggs in her other hand. She tried her best not to look at her granny's couch, but failed. The couch sat empty. “I...buried you under the large, oak tree in Green Fern Pass just like you wanted...right next to the river. Preacher Botkin gave you a mighty pretty sermon...spoke from the Book of Revelation. Granny...someday we'll be picking blackberries up in Heaven the way we used to when I was a little girl.”
Tears threatened to fall again. Noel hurried away into the warm, safe kitchen that was rustic but somehow fancy in the same tone. Noel liked the rustic look and her granny favored the fancy look. Sometimes Noel wondered why her granny even wanted to live way up in the mountains when she could have lived in a fancy high-rise apartment in Boston. Noel's mother was from Boston. When Noel was just eight months old, her mother had died and she was never told how she died. Noel was told that her grandfather died shortly before her mother did, but no specifics were ever added. Noel inquired about her dad a time or two, but was strictly told the man was dead. “You never told me much about my parents or my grandfather, Granny...I wonder why?” Noel whispered as she fixed her mind on making a pot of beef stew.
At the age of two, Noel's granny had abruptly left Boston with her granddaughter and bought the mountain land Noel now called home, had the cabin built, and settled down. The kind woman raised her granddaughter with love, patience, compassion, and care. When Noel turned twenty-one—after much debate—her granny allowed her to start buying the mountain land from her for the crops she raised and sold. Noel was determined to be independent; something her granny respected and admired. By the age of thirty-five Noel had the mountain land paid off. By that time, she had become a plain, old, North Carolina farm woman. Whatever life she had lived in Boston during her first years of living were a void. North Carolina was home. Still...Noel always wondered about her family and now that her granny was in Heaven, she began to wonder even more.
“I don't have any more family, Granny. You didn't have any brothers or sisters,” Noel spoke in the warm kitchen she was standing in as her hands worked to cut up a piece of delicious meat for the beef stew. “Today, at your funeral, I began thinking about my mother again...wondering about her...wondering about my dad...and about Grandpa. Who were they? Why did you spend so many years protecting me from them? And why...during our last Thanksgiving meal...did you all of a sudden mention them to me?”Granny did mention my mother, father, and grandpa to me during our last Thanksgiving meal. But all Granny said was that she was sorry that she didn't tell me the truth. When I asked her what she meant...Granny just insisted we change the subject. She was so weak, and I didn't want to upset her...but I wish I knew what Granny meant. I wish Granny were here with me now. The cabin feels so empty. I feel so empty.
Yes. The cabin felt empty. Noel felt empty. She stopped talking and worked on preparing supper as the cold autumn wind howled around the kitchen window. After getting the stew going in the large cooking pot, Noel whipped up some sweet cornbread and tossed it into a glowing red oven and then made her way back into the living room. “Fire needs more wood.” Noel tended to the fire and then sat down in a chair that was situated beside the fireplace. For a few minutes she sat staring across the living room at the white, baby grand piano sitting on a beautiful green and white rug that belonged in a King's palace. Noel's granny called that corner of the living room theConservatory. “Oh, Granny...I can't even play the piano tonight and all of this silence is killing me. I'm used to playing the piano and then listening to our records before supper. After supper we always would sit and talk until you got ready for bed.”
I can't cry. I let my tears fall earlier. I made a promise to Granny to cry only once...what a foolish promise. I feel like I could cry a river of tears. I...have to get up and move around.Noel stood up and looked around. Maybe something needed cleaning before supper finished cooking. No. The cabin was squeaky clean. “I—” The telephone sitting on the lamp table next to the green couch rang. Noel usually hated talking on the telephone, but she quickly hurried to answer the call...anything to break the silence. “Hello?”
“Noel, it's Brent. I'm just calling to see how you're doing,” his concerned voice said. “Jennifer was wanting to bring you some food, but I told her you wanted to be left alone…but if you want my wife—”
“I have supper cooking,” Noel informed him in a kind tone. “Tell Jennifer thanks, but you don't need to make the drive.”
“Yeah...I figured as much. Well, if you need anything, you know where you can find me,” he said.
“Ok...I just fixed the post on the gate and milked the cow...trying to keep busy...” Noel bit down on her lower lip. “Brent?” she asked.
“Yes?”
“Granny liked you and Jennifer,” Noel spoke in a low voice as a hard wind brushed up against the front door. “Granny also liked Beth...she thought the world of Beth.”
“Well,” Brent managed to laugh a little, “my daughter is sixteen now and quite a handful. Jennifer tells me that Beth is going to run us into an early grave. At times I believe it.”
Noel closed her eyes.Brent has a lovely wife and daughter. His house is full of laughter, family, friends...what is my house...my cabin...full of? Emptiness. Why? Why did Granny stay so tight-lipped over my family all these years? Who is my mother...who is my father...who is my grandfather? Granny wanted to talk to me during Thanksgiving, but she...just couldn't. I think her heart was breaking too much.“Thanks for checking on me, Brent.”
“Hey, we've been friends since we were kids...you were there when I married Jennifer, too.” Brent checked the time. “Call me if you need anything.”
“I will. Bye.” Noel ended the call. She knew Brent was being a caring friend—but at the moment, Noel needed her granny back. Tears began falling from her eyes again. “Oh...I'm sorry, Granny. I can't help the tears. I feel so alone and lost without you. I know Brent and Jennifer care...but it's you I need, not them...I also need answers. I want to know who my family is, but you took your secrets to Heaven with you. Why?”
Noel walked over to the fireplace, bowed her head, and let her tears fall in silence. When the pain subsided enough to allow her tears to whimper away, Noel focused on fixing her supper—a lonely supper that she didn't have much appetite for. After supper, she wandered into her granny's bedroom and sat down on an old rocking chair. “I'll pray our nightly prayers, Granny, and then go to bed.”
As Noel began reading from the Bible, she felt her eyes latch onto an old, wooden chest sitting at the end of a large bed. The chest held all of her granny'ssecret papersthat were off-limits to everyone, even Noel.Granny's chest...oh, I didn't even think about Granny's chest. What am I to do with it?Noel continued to read as her eyes returned to the old chest every few seconds. “Oh my soul, why are you so downcast?”
What Noel didn't know was that God was with her and preparing a new journey for her heart to take.
Chapter 2
Creak.
