She stared at me, a confused frown on her brow.
“Our aunt, Pricilla Baker, came to visit and told me about you.”
Recognition dawned, though she looked skeptical. “And how are we related?”
“Through my mother.” I paused, uncertain if I could trust her with my mother’s name.
“Tacy?” she asked.
I nodded.
“I wondered about you. They told me you have a twin sister.”
“Grace.”
“Is she here?”
“She’s at the Putnam wedding.”
Rachel’s pretty blue eyes filled with a longing I couldn’t identify. “Mister Reed is at that wedding.”
“That’s what I heard.”
She took a deep breath as she resecured the shawl over her shoulders. It was much too hot for such a large, thick shawl, but perhaps she was still recovering from her illness. “Is there a reason you’ve come?”
“I wanted to meet you. To tell you that you have cousins in Salem Village. My father owns the ordinary.”
“Are you also a time-crosser?” she asked, her voice low, almost angry.
I glanced behind me, but Isaac was looking away. When I returned my focus to Rachel, I nodded. “My other path was 1912, but I recently died there, so this is all I have left. ’Tis one of the reasons I wanted to find family.”
She dipped her chin and looked down at the shawl. “My other path is 1882.” She shook her head. “’Tis a grand life there. Nothing like this one. There, I have servants. Here, I am one.”
“Hope?” Isaac called to me. “We should return.”
“If there is anything you ever need,” I told Rachel, feeling a kinship with her that went beyond family ties. She understood what it was to be a time-crosser. “Or if you want to talk, send word, and I’ll find a way to come.”
She let out a weary sigh and shook her head. “I don’t receive visitors.”
It was all she said, and I wondered if it was because of her illness.
“Fare well, Rachel.”
She simply nodded and then stepped back into the house and closed the door.
I slowly returned to Isaac, glancing back at the house, both curious and sad.
“Was it a good meeting?” he asked.
“I’m not certain.”
There was a lot I didn’t understand—about myself, about Salem, and about my family. The only thing that made sense was the one thing I couldn’t have.
1912.
20
GRACE
