Waiting for Dusk (23 page)

The next stop was the piece of land that
jutted out just a little further than the rest in front of El
Tovar. It was where she and Drew had stood to first view the canyon
and she knew the exact spot. She stood with Lindsey and retold the
story of her first date with Drew. They turned around and headed
back to El Tovar. Katie ran up the stairs and sat on the front
porch. She remembered thinking she’d be in trouble for eating her
lunch there with Drew. It seemed like such a distant memory.

Finally they headed down to Yavapai station.
For some reason, they were the only ones there. A bus pulled away
with a group of tourists.

Katie looked at Lindsey. “Don’t think I’m
crazy but there is something I just have to do.” She walked up to
the edge, took a deep breath and in her loudest voice yelled out,
“Drew!” It felt really good so she did it again.

Then Lindsey joined in. Together they yelled
his name out into that beautiful, magical canyon over and over
again. They didn’t notice another bus pulling up and people getting
off. Katie looked at Lindsey and they burst out laughing. They ran
all the way back to the village, and threw themselves down on the
grass in front of El Tovar.

Lindsey took out her phone. “I just got a
text from Brandon. They’re on their way to the parking lot. Let’s
go meet them. I’m starving.”

* * * *

The four teens found a great place to eat and
then hung out for the rest of the day. It was getting close to dusk
when Brandon suggested they head for home. They piled into the jeep
and drove home in silence, a good silence. Katie made sure she sat
in front with Brandon again so Charlie and Lindsey could be alone
in the back. For some reason, Katie knew that Charlie was the one
for Lindsey. She wondered if Lindsey knew it too. It was just like
Anna and Daniel—meant to be.

When they got home, the front door flew open
and Megan came running out. “Mommy says you’re my cousin.” She
hugged Katie tightly.

“Really?”

“Come on. We have something to show you!”
Megan pulled Katie into the house and everyone followed.

Aunt Sue sat at the kitchen table with Anna.
They had a poster size paper mounted on the wall so everyone could
see. At the top of the paper were Lucinda and Anna’s names.

“Did you kids have fun?” Aunt Sue had a big
smile on her face. “Sit down and I’ll get you all something to
drink. Megan, Grandma J and I have been at this for awhile. Katie,
I can’t believe we didn’t figure this out sooner!”

She had her head in the refrigerator as she
was talking and came back to the table with sodas and bottles of
water.

“Mommy, can we start now?” Megan clapped her
hands and her face was flush with excitement.

“Sure, you do our family.” Aunt Sue gave her
the go ahead.

“First, I want to say that Grandma J was a
big help to us,” Megan said. “Grandma J, also known as Anna,
married Grandpa J or Daniel Jenkins. Then Anna and Daniel had
Daniel Jr.” She pointed to the family tree as she spoke.

“Grandpa Dan or Daniel Jr. married Amy
Hasting. That’s where you come in, Katie,” She turned to Katie
smiling, “Amy is your cousin.” Megan then pointed back to the
chart. “Dan and Amy had four kids, my mom Sue, Lindsey’s mom Beth,
and the twins Scott and Steve. So we’re all related! That’s the
family history.” Megan took a bow.

Lindsey and Katie clapped, looking at each
other as only best friends with their own secrets can. Katie
noticed Lindsey was holding Charlie’s hand under the table. She
gave her another knowing look.

Aunt Sue stepped in. “Today Katie asked me
about Lucinda and their family ranch. I couldn’t believe she knew
Lucinda, my grandmother, let alone was related to her. It’s such a
small world. We had to put it all down on paper for it to make
sense to us. Our heads are spinning! Grandma J was determined for
us to get it right and insisted on making the two family trees.
Luckily she was there for all of this. She lived it.”

Sue touched Anna lovingly on the shoulder.
Katie locked eyes with Anna, hoping she could read the love in
them. She wanted to cry, sing, scream—she didn’t know which one she
was so excited. Katie didn’t have that big of a family. Her dad had
no living relatives. They did have her mom’s side of the family
back in Ohio and the Hastings but now they could add all of these
people to Joanna’s family tree.

Sue continued. “Lucinda married Henry Hasting
and they had three daughters, Henrietta, Lucy and Amy. My Aunts
Retta and Lucy still live at the ranch.” She looked at Katie. “And
by the way they can’t believe you’re here and are friends with
Lindsey. They want us to come over for a quick visit tomorrow
morning.” She then pointed back to the family tree. “Now this is
where the two families connect.” There was a line drawn from Amy to
Dan’s name. “Katie, you finish the rest.” Sue handed Katie a
marker.

Katie stood up and went over to the poster
board. They left room on Lucinda’s tree so Katie could fill in the
rest. She uncapped the marker and wrote in Loretta’s name,
connecting it to Lucinda since they were sisters. She continued on
with the rest of her family, working from Loretta’s name until
present day—Loretta’s two children, Richard and Sandra, then
Richard’s son and Sandra’s children, Will, Michael, and her mother.
Finally she wrote her name under her mom’s. Her name looked so
lonely at the bottom of the tree. She wanted to write Drew’s name
in a new column and connect it to hers. “So as you can see, we are
all cousins.” Katie sat down.

Everyone talked at once, trying to figure out
how they were connected. Katie took it all in. It felt so good to
get some of the secrets out and share them with others. Only Anna
knew all her secrets. Well, almost all of them. Katie didn’t tell
her she tried to stop Lucinda from marrying Henry. If she had
succeeded, most of the people in this room would not exist. Tears
filled her eyes as she gazed around at everyone. She hated herself
for trying to play some type of god.

“Are you alright, Kathryn?” Anna stood over
her now. “Would you like to come back to my sitting room and have
some quiet time? I think I need a little rest.”

“Yes, I would like that.” Katie got up and
walked with Anna down the hallway. Anna did pretty well for someone
about to turn one hundred-years-old. She used a cane for support
but was still able to keep up with Katie. They sat together on the
loveseat.

Katie decided she had to tell Anna the truth.
“I need to tell you something. You’re going to hate me after I do.
It’s fine with me if you decide to never speak to me again. I
deserve it.”

“I doubt that, but go ahead, child.” Anna
took her hand.

“On the night of the wedding rehearsal, I was
determined to stop Lucinda’s wedding. I felt she didn’t love Henry
and would be in a loveless marriage. I wanted her to think about it
before it was too late. And if I got through to her?” Katie covered
her face with her hands and whispered, “There would be no Jenkins
family tree.” When she was done, she couldn’t look at Anna. Katie
realized they were still holding hands.

Anna brushed a piece of hair away from
Katie’s face. “Is that what’s been bothering you? Kathryn, you were
only thinking of your aunt and her happiness. You couldn’t see into
the future. What a loving and kind thing you tried to do. You cared
so much about Lucinda that you wanted her to be happy, as happy as
you and Drew are. There is nothing wrong with wishing someone
happiness.”

Katie looked at Anna. “How can you say that?
How can you forgive me so easily?”

“There is nothing to forgive.” Anna patted
Katie’s hand. “Now go and have fun with your young friends. Stop
living in the past.”

“There’s a part of the past I never want to
stop living.”

“I know. I know, but you need to live your
life in the here and...” Anna faded off to sleep, resting her head
back on the loveseat. Katie sat with the sleeping woman for awhile.
Sleeping Beauty, Katie thought. She’s waiting for her Prince to
come.

Anna did get her prince, Daniel. Her
fairytale did come true, and so would Katie’s. She was determined
and felt better than she had all weekend. Katie was ready to join
the family and see what could happen next in Arizona.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

It was a gorgeous
Sunday morning. Aunt Sue drove Katie and Lindsey to the Hasting
ranch. Katie looked up at the sky through the SUV’s sunroof. The
sun shone brightly and it was the kind of day Lucinda wanted for
her wedding—bright blue skies and white puffy clouds. It was the
perfect day to head for the ranch.

When they arrived, Katie noticed a circle
with an ‘H’ in it. The ‘H’ almost looked like a Roman numeral.
Lindsey’s family ranch also had a circle with a ‘J’ inside. The
font for the ‘J’ was a beautiful script. She wondered if there was
some meaning behind the naming of the ranches.

The description of the house from Katie’s
dream was so exact that Lindsey gave Katie a ‘how did you know’
look when they arrived. Katie shrugged and jumped out of the car.
There, on the ‘be right down’ balcony, were two older women,
possibly in their late seventies. They were smiling and waving.

“Be right down,” one of them said. Katie
couldn’t help but smile.

The door opened and Katie entered the
familiar house. The Persian rugs were gone but in their place were
beautiful rugs with modern designs, again matching perfectly with
each of the rooms. As they entered the foyer there was a hallway to
the right and one to the left of it which Katie knew connected to
other living quarters. She wanted to run down the long center
hallway and exit the backdoor to the garden, but knew better.

“Oh, Katie, we’ve only seen you in school
pictures that your mom puts in the yearly Christmas card. It’s so
good to finally see you in person. You look so much like family,
especially Aunt Rett.” one of the women said as she hugged her.
“I’m your cousin, Lucy, and this is Henrietta or Retta.” She
pointed to the other woman standing next to her. Katie hugged her
too.

After everyone said their hellos and were
introduced, the two women escorted them to the back porch which now
was partially enclosed and turned into a sunroom. There was a tea
service on the table and some scones.

“Please sit and let’s have some tea,” Retta
said kindly.

Katie’s heart pounded as she walked through
the back door. The garden was still there and so was the gazebo. To
the right of the garden was a pathway to a large deck and in ground
pool. That was definitely new. It was all still so beautiful,
making it hard for Katie to stay in the here and now. She wanted to
daydream about the wedding and the night Drew spent in her
bedroom.

“So, Katie? What do you think?” Lucy poured
her some tea.

“Beautiful, just beautiful. I can see why you
never want to leave.”

“We like to leave, trust me!” Lucy laughed.
“That was my mother who didn’t like to leave the ranch. It became
part of her.”

“Could you tell me about the circle with the
H in it?” Katie thought she should be polite and ask some questions
about the ranch.

“That stands for the Circle H ranch, just
like the Circle J ranch.” Retta told the story. Pointing to Sue she
continued. “Our grandfathers, Noah Jenkins and Henry Hasting Sr.,
came out to Arizona together. Well, Sue, I guess they both were
your great-grandfathers,” Henrietta laughed. “It’s hard to keep it
all straight. Well, anyway, their dream was to buy land, build
ranches and get rich. They did pretty well. They came up with the
idea together how to name their ranches. They both chose circles
with their initials in them, forever connecting them.”

So the Hasting and Jenkins families always
had a tie to each other. That made sense to Katie. “And,” she
pointed to the gazebo. “That’s where your parents got married.”

“How did you know that?” Retta seemed
surprised. Lindsey shot Katie another look.

“I found a picture in our attic of your
mother’s wedding, and my mom told me all about it.” Katie was quick
with a white lie.

“Yes, she was right. Don’t think it strange
of us but we found our mother’s wedding dress and decided to put it
on display in their bedroom. We can’t really bring ourselves to use
their room. So I guess we turned it into some sort of museum, not a
shrine as Kirsten calls it!”

“Kirsten?” Katie was thrown by a new name
with so many to remember.

“She’s our cousin. Our Uncle Clifford married
a Swedish girl, Frieda, who used to work on this very ranch. She
missed her homeland so much that they moved back there. They had a
daughter, Kirsten, who lives in Sweden but comes to visit quite
often. We love to go there, too.”

“In the picture, there was another man that
my mom said was Gilbert. What happened with him and Arlene?” Oops,
I did it again. Katie would act like her mom told her about them if
they questioned it.

“Uncle Gilbert and Arlene never had children.
During the Depression a young boy, Trevor, of about nine or ten
came looking for work here. Gil gave him a job but mostly let us
all play together. One night, he found Trevor sleeping in the barn
and questioned him about why he hadn’t gone home. That’s when we
found out he didn’t have a home. He was an orphan. So Gil and
Arlene adopted him and he moved into the ranch. He learned all
sides of the business and became our ranch manager.

Sadly Arlene passed away at a young age. Gil
was devastated and never married again. We were so thankful he had
Trevor. When Trevor married, my parents had him move into their old
wing of the house because by then they were living in the main
house. Trevor and Mary still live here. Their son is now the ranch
manager and he lives in Gil’s side of the house which he swears is
haunted, in a good way, by Gil.