Before sitting, Reno found a glass, then held it out for the Englishman to fill. “Saul tells me you’ve made arrangements for them to live with your sister.”
“Yes. Considering the circumstances, I thought it was for the best. Matilda has always wanted children. After ten years, she and her husband have not conceived.” He lifted his hand to indicate their surroundings. “This cabin is spacious, but with five extra people, it’s bursting at the seams.” Gentry eyed Reno. “I know your plan is to build a cabin for yourself.”
“Not anymore.” Reno spoke up, his eyes focused on the flames of the fire. “If possible, I’ll be leaving again.”
Gentry sighed loudly, draining his glass. “I figured you’d say that.”
“I have to go, Gentry. I love my wife and she’s carrying my child. I want to be with my family.”
“I’m not arguing with you. I just hate to see the kids mourn a second time.”
“I’ll talk to them.” He snared Gentry’s gaze with a hard look. “I knew you’d made this decision and it is a good one. They have a happy life. Your sister is good to them. She makes sure they’re educated. Saul grows up to be a lawyer. Huck is a dentist. Emory is a writer and Tess is a schoolteacher. She and her husband will live in Knoxville. Journey and I took a trip to Tennessee and I found Sojourner’s grave. Imagine my surprise when I found a Stanton cemetery on the land. Tess’s family lived on the same property. They built the cemetery around my mother’s grave. I saw Tess’s tombstone. She lives to the ripe old age of sixty-five.”
“Do you know how spooky that sounds?”
“I’m aware. It’s still the truth.”
“What happens to me? Any clue on my future?”
Taking a sip of whiskey, Reno thought a moment, then decided to be truthful. “Journey looked you up. Your future is a mystery. She told me your dukedom is listed as extinct.”
This brought a laugh from Gentry’s lips. “Interesting.”
“I wish I could tell you more.” He glanced toward the hall door that led to the children’s room. “Could we delay their move for a few weeks? I won’t be leaving until the next full moon.” If then.
“Matilda will be disappointed.” Gentry seemed to ponder the idea. “I’ll talk to her.”
“Another thing, I need Saul’s journal. I want to store something in it. He said it would be all right. He mentioned you’d put it in a trunk with some things your sister bought for them.”
“Sorry, friend.” Gentry leaned forward to stir the waning fire with the poker. “Those trunks are already on their way to Boston.”
Reno sat up straighter. “Gentry, I need that journal. Can you get your sister to send it back?”
“It’ll take weeks, Reno.” He poured himself another shot of whiskey. “Why can’t you use something else?”
He stood up, then sat back down. “I promised to send Journey a letter. I told her to look for it in the journal.”
Gentry eyed him with an incredulous expression. “I’ll admit our mail service is slow, but that’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.”
“It could work. You wouldn’t believe how many documents and photos were preserved. Journey’s family, Saul’s family, kept boxes of things. So, did King’s family. I saw them myself.”
“I’m familiar with the concept, Black. England is choked by the past. But to use the process of preserving history as a way to communicate is crazy. Do you know how many hands that journal will pass through in the next one hundred-fifty years?”
“I have to try.”
“All right.” Gentry sat his half-empty glass on the hearth. “I tell you what we’ll do. I’ll send a telegram to my sister and have her ship it by train to the lawyer’s office in Washington. Hopefully, it will get there by the time we will.”
Reno hated to think of Journey looking for the letter each day and not finding it, but there didn’t seem to be a better solution. “That will work. Thank you.” He stood to drink the last of his whiskey holding out his hand to take Gentry’s empty glass. “I’ll put these in the dishpan. We don’t want to create work for Fancy.”
“No, we don’t. She has her hands full.”
Before leaving, Reno checked his pocket watch, his finger rubbing over the engraving. The time was 9:55 p.m. “I’ll take my leave, Sir Nelson. I have a prior engagement with my wife.”
“Do I want to know?” Gentry asked with an amused expression on