chuckle. The drive to our destination isn’t long, and when we get there, there are no cars anywhere around.
Charlie gets out of the car, and looks around. “Where are we?”
“Come on, I want to show you something.”
Charlie walks over, and takes my hand in his. “This isn’t where I meet my maker is it? Because I’m not quite prepared for that.”
I laugh out loud. “You’re silly.” I lean in and give him a kiss on the cheek, surprising not only him, but myself too. “I just kissed you on the cheek.”
“I noticed.” He smiles broadly.
“And I did it easily.”
“You sure as hell did.”
Maybe I’m changing for the better. I like that, a lot. “Anyway, down here, my aunt would meet with a boy she loved.” There’s a line of tall trees, with a man-made pathway where people have walked and worn away the grass. “Hope River has ocean on one side, as you already know, but on this side, there’s a river that leads to a lagoon. Legend has it, that the lagoon was the landing site of a meteorite many thousands of years ago. But that’s just what the townspeople say about it; I don’t know if it’s true. Down past the lagoon is a river that flows into and past Mulberry Point. In a drought there’s very little water in it, and in a period of heavy rain, it overflows.”
“Wow, a lagoon that flows out into a river. Now, that’s cool,” he says, looking around. “It’s really secluded here.”
“I think because the ocean is only a few miles that way.” I point to my right. “People would rather go there then come here.” We keep walking through the trail until we find ourselves on the bank of the river screened off from the path by a row of birch trees. “Aunt May told me that among these birch trees, there’s one magnolia tree that Henry planted for the two of them.”
“Henry? As in from Old Roger’s house?”
I turn to look at Charlie, slowly shaking my head. “Yep.”
“May was dating Henry? Wow, was she the one the emeralds were intended for? He was killed when he was young. Um…” He taps his lip trying to remember. “He was twenty-one I think, and it was a freak accident. Didn’t he stumble on train tracks when he was drunk?”
“Yep.”
“Aww, how sad for May.”
“She told me they’d meet here often. And he planted a tree for them. So, I was hoping we could find that tree and have a picnic under it and then go swimming in the lagoon.”
“You brought a picnic?”
I nod. “It’s in the car.”
“Can I have the keys? I’ll go get it.” I give Charlie the keys, and he runs back up the trail toward the car. As I’m looking out over the water, I’m surprised by how clear it is for a river. Usually the water is murky and brown, but this is so clear so you can see the fish swimming along the bottom. It’s weird to me having such a clear river.
I hear rustling behind me, and when I turn, Charlie’s walking back with the picnic basket I’ve prepared. “Let’s find this magnolia tree.” He takes my hand and we walk down the bank. “The water’s really clear.”
“I was just thinking the same thing.”
“Is this a place you come often?” he asks as we slowly stroll near the edge of the river beneath the large trees.
“You know, I’ve been coming to Aunt May’s ever since I can remember. Whenever my parents said I was causing them trouble, they’d ship me off to Aunt May’s. I hated it at first, but I quickly learned that Aunt May isn’t like other people. Nothing like my mom—her sister. Aunt May is tough, yet fair. She’s dependable, and no matter how much I pushed her, she was always there.” I find myself going off tangent of what he asked. “Sorry, you didn’t ask about that. No, in all the years I’ve been coming to Hope River, I think I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve been here.”
“That’s a shame, because it’s perfect.”
“It is.” We walk a few more feet and I see it. “There it is,” I gasp with excitement. We continue ahead to the now massive magnolia tree. “Wow, Henry planted this for him and Aunt May. How pretty.” Charlie and I stand beneath the tree, and look up at its spectacular green foliage. “Wow. Look how big it is.”
“And to think, other than May,