Joseph’s pulse picked up speed.
“Carolina, I know I don’t have a right to ask you to stay,” he pleaded. “Your presence saved this house from rotting away for so many years. It also helped to save me.”
Joseph’s heart continued to race as her silhouette glowed a little brighter.
“I have to go,” she said, her dark eyes shining up at him.
Joseph nodded. He hadn’t really accepted it yet; that the very heart and soul of the home that he had come to love was going to leave. The woman from long ago that shouldn’t be in his life but was, just the same, would disappear from his life just as quickly as she had breezed in. Yet, he knew that if she wanted to move on that he could never stand in her way.
“Just... before you leave, can I show you one thing?”
Carolina sucked in a deep breath and cast her eyes down to their intertwined hands again. She wasn’t letting go, and neither was he. She nodded.
“Do you trust me?”
“Of course I do,” she said. “What’s this all about?”
With her hand still firmly clasped in his, Joseph led Carolina out of the sitting room toward the front door.
“I found something on the property,” he said. “Something that I think you might need to see.”
***
The Braun family cemeterywas located on a small brick-paved path a tenth of a mile from the main property in the acreage surrounding Jacaranda Manor. Though the manor had originally sat on over one hundred acres of citrus grove property, Joseph now only owned ten acres of land along with the sprawling estate. On one of those acres, under the shade of a still bountiful grapefruit tree, was a small plot of headstones dating back to the 1800s.
“Boomer was the one that found it,” he said, leading Carolina through the recently cleared brush. “He ran off into the back chasing after some squirrel. River found him and the headstones and brought back an armful of grapefruit to the house.”
Carolina froze as she gazed upon the family cemetery.
“Why did you bring me here, Joseph?” she asked, her eyes wide and shining.
Joseph’s blood ran cold. For a moment, he worried that he had made a mistake. He hadn’t considered that taking her to see her own grave site might be distressing.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t think. This is probably disturbing to you,” he said, turning around. “We can go back...”
“The last time I was here there were only two headstones—Grandfather and Grandmother Braun.”
Carolina moved slowly toward the five markers that he and River had carefully tidied up. Time had half-buried the small cemetery in leaves and vines, concealing headstones and the identities of who was laid to rest there. Joseph knew that everyone that Carolina had known and loved in life was gone. Now as she began to study the names on the headstones, it occurred to him that it might terrify her to see the evidence with her own eyes.
“Wait,” she said. “Are those... hibiscus bushes?”
Joseph blinked and breathed a sigh of relief as Carolina marched forward to investigate her own gravesite. She raised a hand to her mouth as she took in the small cemetery and read aloud each headstone, one by one. Eudora Calhoun Braun 1866-1920; Theodore Braun 1860-1921. Finally, Carolina Braun, “Baby” 1896-1919. A single bouquet of jacaranda blooms had been laid at the foot of her marker.
“River and I got in the habit of bringing you flowers,” Joseph said to her back. “He was having a hard time coming to terms with the fact that you were... you know. Gone.”
Carolina nodded. Joseph sucked in another breath, not sure of what to say next.
“I don’t want you to leave, but I wanted you to know that we’re going to be here to care for your home. River and I will help to carry on your family legacy,” he said, clearing his throat. “I would feel bad if you were still hanging around because you thought that everything would be forgotten. I promise you that it won’t.”
“Oh, Joseph,” she sobbed, her shoulders slumped.
Joseph instinctively wrapped an arm around her shoulder, and was surprised to find real tears at the corners of her eyes. It was impossible now to think that the woman sobbing into his chest had once lived long ago. She felt warm and alive in his arms. So real.
“Joseph,” she sniffed, looking up at him. “There’s something I have to tell you.”
He looked down into her dark, lovely eyes, their shared New Years kiss still fresh in his memory. Her friendship hadn’t helped him to completely forget all of the pain he had felt over the last year, but it certainly dulled the edges. Her kiss—herlight—had given him hope that things were going to be better. Even if he didn’t feel any want or need to connect with anyone new in the land of the living, here on Jacaranda Manor, he had Carolina’s spirit to keep him company. It meant more to him than he could ever express in words.
“I’m afraid to tell you,” she said, her arms winding around his back into a circle. “I’m afraid I’ll break this spell.”
