she’d carried around ever since Ben Roland had handed it to her. Virgil wanted a handful of marbles and Dewey a magazine called Robert Merry’s Museum. When John Paul said he was going to bring the big red wagon, Oliver gave a gasp.
“You can’t let him do that, Mama.”
“I won’t,” she replied. She explained to John Paul that the wagon was far too big to carry on the train. “You’re very good at playing the harmonica. Why not pick that instead?”
He hesitated a moment, then grinned and gave a nod.
“Thank you, Mama,” Oliver whispered. Like Ben Roland, he said there was nothing he wanted to bring home with him.
In that last week, Eliza often found herself thinking of Sarah Alice Bligh and wondering if she’d been right in believing the house cursed. Perhaps it was. Perhaps Sarah had left her heartache behind for others to inherit.
On the eve of the day they were to leave, Eliza decided to change the destiny of the house. She wrote a long letter and addressed it “To all those who come to live here.” She told of the happy times they’d had as the children explored the attic and basement and discovered the wealth of treasures awaiting them. She spoke of fragrant summer breezes, the wisteria bushes that edged the backyard, and a fireplace that kept the parlor toasty even in the dead of winter. She told of the church in the square and described the shops, then she closed by saying that she, like the previous owner, was returning to the happiness of her childhood home. She folded the letter, left it in the desk drawer, and said a prayer that the walls of this house would no longer whisper of the tragedy that had taken place.
That night Eliza tucked Sarah’s diary and the letters into her suitcase. They would go with her to West Virginia. In time, when she had the courage and with Caldonia beside her, she would strike a match to them and watch the last of Sarah Bligh’s heartache disappear in a curl of smoke, just as the pennyroyal tea had.
Return to Coal Creek
THE TRAIN RIDE BACK TO West Virginia was long and sad. There was none of the happy chatter or eager anticipation that had accompanied them on their trip to Pennsylvania. There was no wondering what awaited them in Coal Creek. They knew.
Eliza reminded the children of things like seeing their friends again and Caldonia’s cookies, but nothing cheered them. Looking from one child to another, she saw mouths turned down and shoulders slumped. Gone was the lightheartedness and spirit of adventure that sparkled in them for the past two years.
“I wish we could have stayed in Barrettsville forever,” Margaret Rose said glumly. “We’re never gonna have another house nice as that one.”
Louella nodded. “It was fun to have a girls’ room.”
Each of the children had their own reason for wanting to stay in Barrettsville. Despite the treasures they carried back, they could find little joy in returning to Coal Creek.
Eliza said little as she sat and gazed absently out the window. She knew they had no alternative but to return to the old house, yet it did not have to be that way forever—at least not for the children. For now, they were together, a family. She would treasure this moment, however brief it might be, and deal with the future when the time came.
Caldonia and Jeb were waiting at the station when the train arrived. Eliza’s letter had indicated only that Martin had disappeared again, and they’d be coming home. Caldonia hugged each child as Jeb tossed the suitcases into the back of the wagon. She then turned to Eliza and folded her into an embrace.
“I know you’ve been through a lot,” she whispered, “but you’re home now, and when you’re ready to talk I’ll be here.”
As the wagon bounced up the rutted dirt road, Eliza thought of Barrettsville with its shiny green trolley and cobblestone streets. She thought of the girls twirling around in their dresses with lace pinafores and the confectioner’s shop where for a dime each child could have a peppermint stick or horehound candy. That was the life she wanted for the children. Living up here in the hollow had been her life, but it was not going to be theirs.
Several weeks passed before Eliza found courage enough to tell Caldonia of all that had happened. By then her stomach had grown round and her breasts were pressed tight against the