Richard and Elaine looked up when they heard the kitchen door open.
“Mr. Dawson? Can I talk to you?”
Elaine immediately got up and headed up the stairs. “You’re on your own, Rich. I have some…housecleaning to do and laundry to fold. She winked at Hannah.
Hannah smiled gratefully, then sat down at the table, across from Dr. Dawson. “Has Mrs. Dawson talked to you? I mean, about Jack? And me?”
“Yes, she has, Hannah. And I can certainly see why you’re so uncomfortable.”
“Eli’s sure I should let this happen, Mr. Dawson, but I think it’s … not right.”
“I understand, Hannah. And it’s your choice. But might I ask you why you think so? I can’t help but think there is more to this than what you’ve told Eli’s Mama; something else entirely.”
“You’re right, Mr. Dawson. And I think it’s the most important reason of all.” She waited until he rinsed and refilled her fairy cup. “You knew Jack had a crush on Eli, didn’t you? And for a long time?”
“Yes, I did, Hannah; for a year or so at least. And, as she’s probably already told you, I had a long talk with her about it to undo the damage Oskar’s jealousy had done.”
She rested her elbows on the table and put her chin in her hands. “I look just like Eli, Mr. Dawson. And you and Mrs. Dawson tell me all the time how much alike we are. Do you think that maybe…” she hesitated, unsure of how she could say what she was thinking without making Jack seem foolish – which was the last thing she wanted to do.
“That Jack likes you now, and will think he loves you later, because you’re like the Eli he could never have?”
“Exactly!” She breathed a sigh of relief. He understands!
“No. It’s simply not possible. Jack is definitely not the type to waste time regretting something he could do nothing about back when it really mattered to him; especially after Oskar became his best friend. But you miss the point, Hannah. Why did he like Eli so much back then, and for a time afterwards, even after he had voluntarily given up any hope for an even closer relationship with her? Do you know?”
“Because she was pretty, mysterious, and fun to play with?”
He laughed, “No Hannah. He liked her because she was strong-willed, unafraid, and quite sure of herself. At the same time, she was kind, generous, unassuming, and in spite of her terrible past, eager to trust. And quite smart. Does that remind you of anyone else in this room?”
She quickly looked over her shoulder, then grinned at him. “You mean me, don’t you? But I’m not…”
“You most assuredly are, Hannah. You two are so much alike it’s, as you yourself like to put it, ‘magical.’ Jack has never been one to pick style over substance. Did you expect him to make a conscious decision to not like these characteristics in you just because you happen to look like Eli? You’re being unfair to him if you do.”
“Do you think so?”
“I do. And remember, you and Eli are exactly alike, genetically. It stands to reason that there would be similarities in your brain structures and quit probably your personality traits, even though the scientific jury is still out on many of these issues. What is different about you two is Eli’s long, terrible, lonely past, compared to your short love-filled one. It may mean that you are an even more-perfect version of Eli.” His eyes twinkled. “How could Jack possibly resist the adult version of you?”
“No, I’m not! She’s so much more than…You’re pulling my leg again, aren’t you?”
“Sometimes I just can’t resist, Hannah.” He smiled at her.
“But, how can I be sure?! It just feels wrong to me, still.”
“It’s because of your handicap, Hannah. Your ability to see your future handicaps you.”
“What do you mean?”
“If you couldn’t see the future, it would all unfold naturally, without being hampered by the futile efforts of your 14-year-old mind trying to interpret properly the thoughts of your 24-year-old self. Have faith, Hannah, that you will remain as sensible and true to yourself as you have always been and trust yourself to make the right decisions when the time comes.”
“That…that actually makes sense to me, Mr. Dawson.” She sighed with relief. Maybe…”
There was a light knock on the screen door. “May I come in?” Jack poked his head in, grinning.
“Jack!” Hannah turned bright red. “Mr. Dawson…”
“Come in Jack! Hannah and I were just discussing…one of her many talents.”
“Oh? Which one?” He slid sideways into his chair, hands behind his back. He was clearly concealing something. Hannah craned her neck to get a better look, to no avail. At the same time, the smell of Lavender filled the kitchen.
“Her ability to see into the future, along with all its obvious benefits and not-so-obvious liabilities.”
Hannah gasped. Mr. Dawson! Please don’t…
Jack raised his eyebrows. “It sounds serious. I won’t stay, then. I just wanted to drop by for a minute to give Hannah a peace offering, and ask for her forgiveness.” With a flourish, he handed her a huge bouquet of English Lavender.
She hesitated a moment, smiled at him, took them gingerly and pressed them up against her chest. There were so many that she literally disappeared in a violet sea of flowers. “Jack! Where did you get these? They don’t grow here, and…and…”
“I raided Jonathan’s greenhouse. Don’t tell him or I could be in big trouble,” he whispered.
“You did not! You wouldn’t do such a thing!”
“And yet, here we are, surrounded by the beautiful fragrance of freshly-picked English Lavender. Do you like them?” he grinned at her.
“I simply love them! Thank you, Jack.”
“Am I forgiven, then?”
“You didn’t do anything wrong Jack. Really!”
“But do you forgive me?” he insisted.
“I forgive you, Jack. I really do!” Mr. Dawson, he’s just so sweet.
Remember what I told you. Sometimes you just have to trust the future to take care of itself.
I think I’ll do that, then! She smiled at him.
“Why don’t you put them in a vase before they wilt, Hannah?” Dr. Dawson nodded toward the hutch. Hannah gingerly took down Elaine’s largest crystal vase off the top shelf, filled it half-full of water, carefully placed the huge bouquet in it, primped it a bit, then placed it in the center of the table. The vase, as large as it was, was almost invisible beneath the explosion of Lavender blossoms. She impulsively stepped up behind Jack, put her arms around his neck and kissed him on the cheek.
“Thank you Jack. I just love them!” she hugged him again. “Thank you,” she whispered.
§
“What do you see now, Hannah?!” Eli couldn’t contain herself. “Is your house still next to ours?”
“I’m not looking, Eli. In fact, I’m never going to look again. It could spoil everything.” She hesitated, “And I don’t want to keep any more from Jack than I already have to. It simply isn’t fair.”
“I’d tell you to read an advice book or something, Hannah.” Eli grinned at her. “But I would guess there aren’t any books written about this particular subject are there? You’re the first person in the whole world with this problem! I guess you’ll have to write the book yourself. Afterwards.”
“Look, Eli!” Hannah jumped off her bicycle and examined the damp sand carefully. “Einstein! Sit!”
Einstein looked over his shoulder as though to say, “Who, me?” then sat down obediently on the warm sand, resisting the urge to run into the surf and turn over a few stones along the way. He was just itching for another battle with one of the big crabs that hung out near the rocky shoreline where water runoff had worn away the smooth sand, exposing myriads of odd-shaped, weather-worn boulders—perfect hiding places for the especially large ones.
“Footprints! Bare footprints.” She put her own foot next to a particularly well-defined print. “And they’re about my size! I thought this part of the island was still off-limits to the kids in the village.”
“It is, Hannah. But Jonathan’s rules certainly wouldn’t have stopped me from exploring around here. After all, the little cave we found in your valley is old news by now. And those prints look like they’re going in that direction.” Eli hopped off her bicycle and followed the footprints toward the valley. Hannah was right behind her.
“Come on, Einstein. But don’t mess up the footprints! Heel!” After one last glance toward the surf, he obediently trotted up to her side and stayed close as they slowly worked their way through the valley entrance.
“Looks like you’re right. They’re heading straight toward the cave.” Hannah and Einstein trotted ahead of her and pulled the bushes aside, revealing the secret cave entrance. “And whoever it was went inside!” She could see two sandy footprints on the smooth rock floor of the entrance, but no more.
“Wait, Hannah. Are there any footprints coming out?” Eli whispered.
Hannah examined the area around the entrance carefully. “Yep! They go in that direction.” She pointed up towards the far end of the valley, where the narrow, gravelly, rock-strewn strip of the valley floor made it impossible to follow the tracks more than a few feet from the entrance. They walked slowly away from the cave until the beautiful green grass once again covered the valley meadow from edge to edge, but couldn’t find any further trace. Reluctantly, they retraced their steps back to the beach.
“The footprints look like they came straight out of the ocean,” Hannah observed. “And I don’t see any others. Where did they come from?” she scratched her head.
“It’s high tide, Hannah. Whoever it was probably walked along the beach at low tide and turned in here. They probably climbed out at the far end of the valley and went home.”
“But whoever it was, was alone, Eli. Would you have come alone?”
Eli smiled at her. “You’re asking the wrong person, Hannah. I was quite used to being alone for a very long time.”
“Oh. Right. “ she grinned at her. “But not for 14 years, Eli. And you’re not alone now,” she said smugly.
She examined a footprint more closely. “Eli, this looks like your footprint! Oskar told me how your footprints are different from most kids. Your toes are all straight, because you didn’t often wear shoes as a kid.”
Eli slipped off her shoe and made a footprint next to it. Hannah did the same. “You’re right Hannah. I guess if we wanted to figure out who it was, all we’d have to do is look at everyone’s wet footprints when they come swimming. Everyone’s been at the pool at one time or another. They’d be easy to spot I’m sure. And we have all the time in the world.”
“A mystery to be solved! I think we should do it. I want to see the look on her face when we catch her.”
“Her?” Eli raised her eyebrows.
“It’s got to be a girl, Eli. That is definitely not a boy’s footprint!”
“How can you tell?”
“It’s too…dainty.”
“Dainty? Are you saying I have a dainty footprint?” Eli frowned at her.
“I’m not commenting about yours, Eli.” She grinned at her. “Mine on the other hand, is definitely dainty.” She wiggled her toes at her. “Even though I’ve always worn shoes.”
“We should probably look for more clues in the cave then, Hannah. Maybe ‘she’ left something girlie behind; a doll or a doily or something,” she said, voice dripping with sarcasm. She sprinted back up the valley, with Einstein right behind her.
§
“The cave was empty?” Oskar asked.
“Yep! Completely empty. No doilies.” Eli grinned at Hannah.
“It was a girl, Eli. I’m sure of it!”
“Hannah is never wrong about these things, Eli. Remember?” Oskar scolded.
“Thanks, Oskar. I…Jack!” Hannah quickly sat down in her chair and patted the seat next to her. “Sit here, Jack! What’s this meeting all about anyway?”
He smiled at her, poured himself a cup of tea and sat down next to her. “Dr. Dawson and Jonathan wanted to fill us in on the latest news, Hannah. And it’s all good for a change.” He glanced at his watch: 8:00PM.
As if on cue, the porch door opened and the rest of them all filed in and, after helping themselves to Eli’s still-warm plate of peanut butter cookies and pouring themselves some tea, took their usual seats around the table. Jason, Janet, and Ryan sat down across from Eli, Oskar, and Hannah. “Why were you two on your bikes this morning rather than just flying along the north shore, Eli?” Janice asked.
“We wanted to give Einstein a bit of exercise, Janet. How did you know?”
“Ryan and I like to study out on the apartment deck, Eli. We do it almost every day, so we usually notice the coming and goings down in the Mansions.” Janice said, a twinkle in her eye.
Oskar was about to complain about her using the word ‘Mansions,’ when he suddenly realized they could likely have seen Eli and him skinny-dipping the day before. He blushed. His reaction wasn’t lost on Eli, who grinned ear-to-ear.
He recovered quickly. “They’re not Mansions, Janice. They’re just houses.”
“We know, Oskar. Ryan just wanted me to see your reaction to my using the term. He knew you didn’t like it when it’s used to describe your homes by the villagers.” She smiled at him, just a bit too sweetly and innocently, he thought.
Oskar blushed again, but said nothing. Eli, they saw us!
So what, Oskar? Do you have something to hide?
What are you two talking about? Hannah interjected.
Nothing! Oskar kicked Eli lightly on the shin.
Never mind, Oskar. You know you’ll tell me later. One way or another. Hannah glared at him.
Dr. Dawson waited until everyone had settled in, then “I think we’re going to have a meeting at least once a month from now on, just to fill everyone in on the latest news. This will be our first, and the news is all good.”
“For a change!” Elaine smiled at them all.
“First, the new plane will be delivered…next Saturday.” Everyone looked up, but not a word was spoken. “It will be flown in by our new pilot, so I expect you all to give him a warm welcome and make him feel at home, because he will definitely be staying for a long time.” He paused for effect. “His name is Ethan. He’s Jeff’s younger brother.”
“Jeff has a brother? Why didn’t he tell us?!” Eli exclaimed.
“He would have told you soon enough, Eli. Ethan was already making plans to join Jeff here on the island as our backup pilot. It sort of runs in the family.”
“So soon? It must be awful for him!” Livia squeezed Nils’ hand. She couldn’t imagine what it would be like to lose a brother so suddenly and violently.
“I thought so too, Livia, but he insisted. I got the feeling that he would be willing to take on anything just to keep his mind off…things.” Elaine shook her head sadly. “In fact, he’s already supervising the completion of the second plane, which Jeff had already commissioned.
“But what can we possibly say to him, Dad? We can’t talk about Jeff. But we can’t not talk about him either.” Oskar whispered.
“Just be yourself, Oskar. Anything you say will be appreciated, I’m sure. Ethan knew how Jeff felt about you all and was looking forward to meeting you. And I know it will be impossible for any of you to offend him in any way.”
Hannah was already making a list of things she was going to tell him.
“Next on the list, the Builderbriars.” Jonathan had their rapt attention immediately. “Cooler heads have prevailed, and Adrian’s partner in crime, Dr. Franklin, has been…handled. His lab has been shut down, and all samples destroyed.”
“As far as we know,” Sava grumbled.
Richard sighed, “It was your man that filled us in, Sava. Don’t you trust your own man?”
“I don’t trust them to keep their word…or tell their own people everything.”
Richard threw up his arms, exasperated. “It’s the best we can do Sava. Unless you want to try raiding another vault.”
“I’ve considered it. And it’s most certainly on my to-do list for the future,” he said sarcastically.
“At any rate, they’ve taken our threats seriously since we made the Kennedy tapes public. They’re still trying to recover from that one and have no desire whatsoever to provoke us further. We’ve won. At least for the foreseeable future .”
§§
“There’s a full moon tonight, Oskar.” Eli lay on her back, arms stretched out over her head, feeling more relaxed than she had for a very, very long time.
He smiled at her. “I noticed, Eli.” He got out of bed, walked over to her round window and looked across the gap toward the identical window in Hannah’s room. Hannah’s smiling face suddenly appeared, and she waved at him. I felt you coming, Oskar!
Come over, Hannah!
But it’s after midnight Oskar! I don’t think Mom would…
Don’t tell her then! Oskar was restless. It had gotten worse and worse the last couple of weeks, and he finally had to admit to himself that things were actually getting almost boring now that everything was going so smoothly. Even school was becoming routine, and the excitement, and even the danger, that had filled their lives for so very long, seemed a distant memory now. He had complained to Dad about it and had received no sympathy whatsoever. “You’re bored because our lives are no longer constantly in danger? Oskar, you never cease to amaze me. You’re all very bright children. Find something exciting to do with your time. It’s a big island.”
Dad had misunderstood him, of course. Oskar sensed that his happiness now that Eli was finally at peace with herself was, counter-intuitively, the root cause of his restlessness, but being aware of it wasn’t enough to change it. He was restless still. He was restless much the way he would be if he had learned to drive for the first time and couldn’t take the car out for a drive whenever he wanted. He wanted to do exciting things with his new Eli by his side; his unburdened Eli. Anything! Anywhere! Any time!
He paced back and forth. Come on, Hannah! Let’s all go flying. And we’ll sneak out without telling anyone. It’ll be a great adventure! He waved a bottle of Ejuice at her.
She grinned at him and disappeared for a second, only to reappear waving her black swimsuit and pants. I’ll be over in a second!
“Eli! Put your suit on! We’re going flying! He had his pajamas off before he reached his room, threw them on the bed and struggled to get his swimsuit and his own black pants on. He almost ran into Hannah on his way back across the hall. “That was fast!”
She giggled. “My pajamas are on the stairs. I’d probably better pick them up so Mr. Dawson doesn’t find them on his way down for his 2:00AM cup of tea.
Oskar stood in the middle of Eli’s room, hands on his hips. “If it wasn’t for all your lily-white skin we’d look like real ninja warriors,” he groused. “As it is we’ll stand out like sore thumbs, especially in the light of the full moon.”
Eli snapped the band on his swimsuit. “Look who’s talking!” You’re showing more skin than both of us combined. Maybe we should paint you black or something! And dye that blond hair black too.”
Oskar stuck his tongue out at them and pulled his black wool cap down over his ears. He drank down the last of his Ejuice, turned out the lights, cinched up his small backpack, and slipped out the door. Eli and Hannah were right behind him.