Love Lasts Forever (2 page)

Thor released a grunt. That was as close to a laugh that he could get. When their father was in action, there was no stopping Bo Magnusen. Yeah, Thor believed their father’s threat. “I’m sure he didn’t mean anything by it,” he said, noticing the tightening of Cal’s jaw. “He’ll let you in on whatever he’s doing when he has a mind to.”

“I’m not worried about that.” Cal waved his hand in the air in a dismissive gesture.

“So stop bitching,” Thor gibed. Even in his present dejected state, picking on his brother was a pastime that was too enjoyable to pass up.

“I’m not. Where do you get off calling Gramps’ stuff ‘a heap of junk?’ Do you realize the value of what’s in that trunk?”

“I hadn’t thought about it. I guess some of it has to be worth a pretty penny.”

“You
are
a knucklehead!” Cal reached out and thumped Thor’s forehead again. “Hollow, just as I suspected. They must have hit you harder than I thought. Boy, I wasn’t talking about monetary value, I’m talking about the value of our family’s lifeblood. You remember the stories that Gramps told us about these woods and this cabin? What happened during the Trail of Tears, the War Between the States and everything since then…why, this place could be a landmark!”

“Quick, somebody notify the historical society,” Thor quipped, dryly.

“You just don’t get it. I guess they did knock all the sense out of you on that football field. I always thought you were smarter than that.”

“Now hold on a minute!” Thor stood so abruptly the rocking chair skidded back a foot, and its sharp edges scraped against the house. “This place is important to me. Just because I don’t revere it like you do doesn’t mean that I don’t understand what happened here. I heard Gramps’ stories and may even have a few of them memorized, but what does that prove? That stuff is in the past. Get over it already, Cal.”

“That football game is in the past, too,” Cal commented quietly. “I don’t see you getting over that anytime soon.”

A sour taste settled in Thor’s mouth and overrode the caustic retort that lay on the tip of his tongue. Shoving his hands into the front pockets of his jeans, he brushed past his brother and stormed off the porch. A few seconds passed and Cal’s heavy footsteps retreated. The accusing slam of the screen door followed, echoing like cannonball fire in the otherwise still woods.

Grudgingly, Thor admitted maybe Cal had a point…a small one. His dreams of quarterback stardom were dead. The realization hurt, but moving beyond the pain proved too difficult to fathom. The dream had been his whole life; he hadn’t wanted anything else.
What am I supposed to do with my life now?

Like Cal, he enjoyed reading about history, but not enough to teach it. Coaching football to a bunch of snot-nosed kids as his father suggested was the last thing on his list. Has-beens became coaches. He wasn’t ready to walk down that road—yet.

The screen door creaked open behind him again. His father’s warm voice called out, “Thor, come back here, boy. I wanna show you something.”

He joined his father on the steps and nodded toward the palm-sized treasure in the older man’s hand. “What is it? Did it belong to Gramps?”

“Yeah, in a way.” Bo’s large, lined hands ran over the object he held. An earnest expression settled on his face. “Your Gramps isn’t the sole owner of what I have here. It belongs to us, the Magnusen men before us, and those to follow after we’re long gone. This is our legacy, son. This tells us the story of who we are and what we aspire to be. It doesn’t come from cheering crowds on Super Bowl Sunday, but from inside of us.”

Bo and Cal sounded like broken records. “I know that, Pop, but you don’t understand—”

“I understand, and empathize with your situation, but what
you
don’t understand is that you’re not the first man to have his dreams taken from him, and you won’t be the last. It happens. It happened to your great-great-grandpa Anders, and that’s how we came to be in Georgia in the first place. His goal wasn’t to settle here, he came looking for gold but didn’t find any.”

“So why didn’t he just leave?”

“Eva, your great-great-grandma, was pregnant again. Since the first one was stillborn, he didn’t want to risk that happening twice,” Bo explained. “So, he stayed put and made a life here.”

“He could have left after the baby was born; they didn’t have to stay here.”

“Anders didn’t see it that way. I guess a part of him still believed that he’d find gold in these woods someday, he just had to keep looking.”

His father’s point soared over his head. “And?”

“The knucklehead doesn’t get it, Pop,” Cal informed them from behind the screen door. The door screeched open. He moved onto the porch and sat behind them on the rocking chair. “Gold prospecting doesn’t compare with a Super Bowl ring.”

“Shut up,” Thor bit out.

“Both of you cut it out.” Bo inhaled a sharp breath. “Later, Anders found something else that replaced his earlier dream of being a gold miner. Here.” He placed an old timepiece into Thor’s hands.

Light spilled from the cabin onto the watch. “Is this gold? It must be worth a fortune.”

“I’ve never seen that before.” Cal leaned in to get a closer look. “Where did you get it?”

“From the old trunk.” Bo gave Thor a long, hard look. “You’re right. It’s gold, and it is valuable, but that can’t be judged by dollar signs.”

“Pop, you kept a family heirloom like that tucked away here at the cabin?” Cal questioned. “Why? It could have been stolen!”

“It wasn’t.”

Thor unfastened the latch. Bold black Arabic numbers from one to twelve encircled the white face of the timepiece. Both hands of the watch pointed straight up. In the bottom center was a small circle of numbers beginning with zero and ending in sixty, which should have counted off the seconds, but its tiny hand was motionless.

“It doesn’t even work.” Thor moved to hand the pocket watch back to his father.

“No, you keep it and think on this—like the Good Book says, there is a time and a season for all things. Anders realized that when he found that old timekeeper in the woods and it changed his life. If you let it, it just may change yours, too.” Bo smiled and patted Thor’s shoulder as he rose from the porch. Taking a deep breath, he looked at his two sons before glancing at the surrounding woods. “Smells like rain. There’s always good fishing when the rain is coming down. I’ll see you in the morning.”

The door closed behind Bo, and in an instant, Cal was beside his brother, reaching for the timepiece. “Let me see that.”

“No.” Thor kept a firm grasp on the pocket watch and rose from the step. “He told me to keep it. You can look at it later.”

Cal’s eyes widened in surprise. “Well, looky here. Does this mean you’re learning how to listen to your elders?”

“It’s possible, but only to the smart ones.”

“Knucklehead,” Cal murmured in an affectionate tone. “Going fishing with us tomorrow?”

“Maybe.” He eyed the watch thoughtfully. The old timekeeper captivated him. Funny thing was, he didn’t understand why. “I wanna play around with this a little before I turn in. I may not wake up in time. If I don’t, go on without me.”

“Sure.” Cal called over his shoulder as he went inside the house, “Goodnight.”

“Yeah, you too.”

Caught in a haze of pondering his father’s mysterious advice, Thor stood alone for several minutes. The watch resembled most pocket timepieces. The round metal fit snug in the palm of his hand. The lettering on the outside was hard to make out in the dim light, but the shiny gold finish gleamed brilliantly in the moonlight.

He popped the latch again. The little door swung open with a soft groan. A faint smile crossed his face. He understood the old watch’s aches and pains.

The hands of the clock still stood at midnight. The tiny hand to count off the seconds refused to budge, too. He held the watch up to his ear and shook. The clock didn’t tick, but something rattled inside. He decided to have a closer look.

Leaving behind the humid fall night, he wandered inside the cabin. His footsteps carried him through the living room, floorboards creaking under his weight. The familiar sound comforted him. Everything about the cabin represented the truest aspects of home. His father and Aunt Greta were born in the back bedroom. Cal accused Thor of not honoring his family’s history, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Clutching the watch in one hand, his other hand trailed across a pale blue and gray quilt draped over an antique rocking chair. His grandmother made the quilt, and his great-great grandmother rocked her firstborn daughter in the chair. He paused for a moment on the threshold between the living room and the dining area. His thoughts wandered to the Magnusen family that first drew breath in that cabin.
Who were they? Where did they draw their courage? How did they survive during the conflicts of their times?
The questions became too much. He released a long sigh and realized that he’d never find the answers to those questions.

He glanced down the darkened hallway to his left. Beyond the living room, dining room and kitchen, his brother and father lay fast asleep in two of the cabin’s three bedrooms. Careful not to disturb them, he moved through the open dining area to the kitchen behind it. On habit, he flipped the switch near the backdoor before grabbing a handful of tools from the drawer underneath the sink and heading to the square, wooden table in the center of the room. Light reflected off the few modern appliances that contradicted the cabin’s timelessness. The dazzling fluorescent glow aided him in his investigation of the broken watch.

Deep in thought, he hunched over the table as he examined the timekeeper. A heart within a heart adorned the front cover. The marking had been done with care, and Thor traced the image with his forefinger. Energy surged through him, and he came close to tossing the watch. Curiosity got the better of him. With his thumb, he turned the watch over. A sentence was engraved on the back.

Whispering, he read, “Love lasts forever.”

The three words seemed simple enough, but their effect on Thor was not. Warmth filled his chest, and his heart began to race. He swallowed hard and tried to ignore the odd sensations. Sure, the heirloom was strange, but that was because he had never seen nor heard of it before, that’s all. It certainly wasn’t worth him freaking out. Having convinced himself, Thor shrugged off the moment and disassembled the timepiece.

His nimble fingers slowly spread the tiny parts of the watch onto the table. Ever since he was a boy, he always wanted to know how things worked. He often took his toys apart and put them back together again. While Cal was a thinker, Thor had always been more prone to take the hands on approach.

As he worked with the family heirloom, Bo’s words came back to him. The time for glory had passed him, and he was in the season of transition. Twenty-eight was far too young to pack it all in, but the road before him remained hazy and confused. What path should he take, and would it be the right one? Offers for a better future weren’t knocking at his door, yet he wasn’t without choices. No matter how dismal the future looked, everyone always had a choice. What was his? Even as he fitted the watch’s innards back together, the question rattled in his mind.

Morning came with the cry of a distant rooster, jolting him from his thoughts. He rubbed his eyes as he stood and stretched. A healthy dose of caffeine seemed the best solution for a sleepless night. He started a pot of coffee. Minutes later, the rich aroma began to fill the room. His father and his brother entered the kitchen, looking refreshed from a good night’s rest and decked out in fishing gear. Thor smiled in greeting and grabbed the watch from the table. Resting his backside against the counter, he polished the watch with the edge of his blue denim shirt.

“You pulled an all-nighter?” Cal asked. “That must be some watch.”

“It’s not so bad once you get it working.”

“Did you?” his father asked.

“I think so. I haven’t set it, yet. I left my watch at home, and the clock above the stove needs a new battery.”

Cal glanced at his wristwatch. “It’s half past six. Are you going to bed now?”

Thor turned the dials on the watch to set it. He held the watch to his ear and frowned. The ticking sounded distant and not as strong as it should have been.

“Nah, I’m not tired.”

“Well, if you’re coming with us, get your gear,” his brother advised while he poured the fresh coffee into a thermos. “We’re ready to head out.”

Thor shook the watch. “I’m not going fishing. I’ll take a shower instead, and then go for a walk. Whereabouts are you and Pop fishing? Once I get this thing fixed, maybe I’ll head out that way.”

“North end of the lake,” Bo answered. “We’ll take your gear in case you show up.”

“Thanks.”

A quick shower refreshed him. With the pocket watch held firmly in his hand, he began his slow hike through the woods.

Rain bypassed them during the night and took the heavy humidity with it. The air was light and refreshing. Rays of sunlight beamed down from the cloudless sky and brought warmth to the fall morning. The scent of maple blended in with the woodsy smells of pine and oak. Thor soaked everything in as his feet followed an old trail that led to the small creek, which had once been the source of water for his family’s cabin.