The Last Cottage Chapter 26

 

   

Below is another excerpt from The Last Cottage, this time about when Maggie and Hamilton start to explore the run-down cottage they come across in the forest outside of the small town of Pine Grove. I hope you will enjoy it and perhaps will want to find out more about this strange and mysterious cottage in the woods and all about the woman who lived there many years ago.  You can find the whole story here: https://www.amazon.com/Last-Cottage-Patty-Seitz-ebook/dp/B0BY7K2VDC?ref 

“It looks like the sun has barely been up, but I don’t think I can sleep another wink,” Maggie said as she turned over and noticed Hamilton was looking out the window. “I have a feeling you slept about as badly as I did, although I don’t feel as tired as I thought I would.” 

“I did wake up a lot, but I did manage to fall back to sleep until about 20 or 30 minutes ago. I don’t think I can sleep any longer either, but it is a little too early to head on out. Might as well get up, shower, and get dressed. I would like to have breakfast here, too, if that’s okay with you. I know if we go into town, no one will know what we are up to, but still, better to stay out of town, at least for today,” Hamilton suggested. 

“Sounds like a good idea,” Maggie agreed. “I'll put on the coffee while you get ready. Then if you would start the eggs and bacon, I'll get ready. We can relax for a while, or try to relax if we can sit still that long,” she chuckled.  “I'm so excited about today, but definitely feeling anxious about it too, and I'm not sure why. I don’t feel afraid or feel anything negative at all.  It’s more almost as if we are going to trespass into someone’s home without their permission, know what I mean?” 

“That’s the perfect way to describe it, Honey,” Hamilton replied. “It’s a good feeling knowing Hannah trusts two strangers just wandering into town and wanting to explore something that does not belong to us. At the same time, I feel a little guilty that we are going to go through with this. I'm willing to bet Merry is going to let us know how to proceed.” 

“Then let’s enjoy our breakfast and hang out here for a few hours and then see where this day takes us. It was so hard not to tell the kids what we are doing. I'm sure Sarah June would have worried and the kids would have wanted to know all the details, so it’s best we are keeping this quiet. It’s too hard to explain it over a phone call anyway.  If nothing else happens today, we still have a pretty exciting story to share when we get back home.” 

“You know, this trip has turned out to be so much more than I would have expected,” Hamilton mused. “I knew we would have a wonderful time together. I don’t think we have ever had a bad trip over the years, other than the occasional flat tire or bad meal. But on this trip, we have made new friends; more shopping than I would have anticipated, especially from me; just about perfect weather. Then to add this cottage thing to the mix. My gosh, it almost does not seem real. To top it off, we’ve only been gone a little over two weeks. I'm glad you have been journaling this trip, as I'm not so sure I would remember it all,” he laughed. 

“I still have more to write about, too,” Maggie chimed in. “I did not get into a great deal of detail the other night because I was tired and also needed to process it all. No matter what happens today, I wonder what future family members will think when they read about all of this. If we go today and nothing at all happens other than just looking around for a little while will not take anything away from Hannah’s telling of that cottage and Merry’s life.  It’s a fascinating story, but sad, too. It’s so hard to imagine what that must have been like to lose your husband in a war and be left behind with no family to speak of. It’s so lovely that the people of Pine Grove allowed Merry to stay on and live out her life here.  Really speaks a lot to the character of this town, that’s for sure!” 

“Absolutely,” Hamilton agreed.  “Since both of us did not sleep all that great last night, let’s have another cup of coffee, and by the time we finish up and clean the breakfast dishes, it should be a good time to go. I checked the weather, and it’s to be pretty cold today, something about a cold front coming in from the north. I want to make sure we are out of there by the afternoon at the latest. Obviously it won't have any heating or electricity, so it’s probably going to be pretty cold inside. That is, if we get inside.” 

It was a little past 9:30 when the excited couple grabbed their coats to have in case it would get colder than predicted and headed out to find Long Way. They were glad to see the sign had not been taken down yet, so the road was easy to find. They didn’t feel it was their place to take the sign down, but they did manage to turn it around enough so that you could not see what it was other than an old pole sticking out of the ground. The road itself was covered enough with weeds and branches that made it hard to notice it was a drivable road, and they felt confident no one else would see it was an actual path you could take a car through. 

Hamilton was tempted to speed down the battered road to get to the cottage, but he took his time. Both of them felt this area was almost sacred, considering the families who lived here during a horrible time in our country’s history.  It was important to both of them to take this seriously, even though they felt like kids in a candy store, they were so excited for this unexpected turn of events on their trip.  After what seemed like a long time, the cottage finally came into view. 

“Well, here we are,” Maggie said in almost a whisper. 

“Ah, Master of the Obvious,” Hamilton quipped. 

Maggie laughed as she said, “Okay, Mr. Wise Guy. Don’t tell me you are not as anxious as I am about this. Forgive me if I say stupid things throughout this day. I feel like my heart is going to burst out of my chest. And before you say anything—yes, stupid comment number two. Promise me you won't keep track.” 

“I make no such promise,” Hamilton replied. “Anyway, I do understand what you are feeling, Honey. At least you didn’t say literally burst. It always tickles me how people don’t get what that means. Well, I suppose they do but say it so often for emphasis or to be dramatic. For whatever reason, it does tickle me. I always picture the heart really bursting or the person actually falling out of their chair, when they say things like that. Maybe someday I'll literally witness a real event.” 

“I can't believe we are sitting here making ridiculous chit chat,” Maggie interjected. “We must be more nervous than we realize. How about we walk around outside the house to get our bearings and our courage up to try the front door. We could try moving some of that old fencing to see if Merry tries to stop us. That shouldn't deter us from trying the door, but it would be interesting to see what happens, if anything,” she suggested. 

Just as they got out of the car, a cold gust of wind blew by them, so they put on their coats, happy they had remembered to bring them along. “Hi Merry. Hope you don’t mind we stopped by unannounced,” Hamilton expressed. 

“Do you think….?” Maggie wondered.  Hamilton gave her a look like you never know! 

The gust blew by quickly, but there was still a strong chill in the air. Hamilton had checked on the weather earlier, and it was to be only in the low 50s for the day. Even though it was still late September, it felt more like late October. Since it was also pretty cloudy, Hamilton took the flashlight and put it in his coat pocket.  He figured it would be pretty dark inside the house with the clouds and also the windows were dirty and would not be letting in much light. 

As they walked into the front yard, Hamilton noticed the old fence with ivy wrapped around it and remembered when Hannah had said that the workers could not move the fence or get the ivy off.  He picked up a small piece of the fence and was able to wipe off the ivy without any problem. It would have been easy to throw the fence off out of the way, but he laid it back down on the ground right where he found it.  They spent a short amount of time kicking aside leaves and branches, but they didn’t see anything else of interest other than the broken-down fencing. They headed to the back of the cottage before trying the front door. Maggie was curious if she would be able to hear that humming again, since that is where she heard it before, if indeed it was Merry humming. 

Again, they pushed aside leaves and debris, especially focusing on what looked like the garden area.  A few rusted garden tools were found, and up against the house Maggie found a watering can they had not noticed before.  “I'm surprised we did not see this flowering can when we were here before,” Maggie said. 

“I love that you call that a flowering can,” Hamilton teased. “Ever since you made that mistake a long time ago, I have never wanted you to call it anything else. I find it a very sweet term,” he went on. 

“It’s gotten to a point where it’s automatic to say it that way,” she replied. “Anyway, it’s a fun find, but we should leave it alone, don’t you think? I have to admit I would love to keep it as a memento, but it doesn’t seem right to take anything. I'll take a picture instead and add it to the picture book when we get home. Looks like it had a flower pattern on the front, but it is pretty beat up. I sure can picture Merry out here watering her garden with that can.” 

They spent about another ten minutes in the back and then headed for the front door. It was exciting but nerve-racking at the same time. If the door would not open, they knew they had their answer. They would drive away disappointed, but determined to respect Merry’s wishes.  Hamilton took off his gloves to get a better grip on the door handle.  The knob was mounted on a rectangular plate that was tarnished green from the weather, as was the knob itself. Hamilton felt it was probably brass in origin. There was a flower pattern at the top and bottom of the plate and small raised dots running down both sides. The knob had swirls around the perimeter with a sun in the middle.  Hamilton wondered if it was original to the house or something Merry added at a later time, since it did seem ornate for what was supposed to be a temporary home. 

“That doorknob is absolutely beautiful,” Maggie exclaimed. Hamilton mentioned how he wondered about its origin. 

He slowly turned the knob and found it to be a little stuck. He tried again, twisting a little harder. The knob started to turn more easily, and Hamilton gave a look at Maggie that told her everything was about to get very out of the ordinary. 

 

The Last Cottage - Chapter 1

    

I like to include a few chapters here and there from my books and had not realized I never posted any chapters from The Last Cottage.  Chapter 1 is below and in a week or so I'll add another chapter further into the story to give you a  hint on what Maggie and Hamilton happen upon on what becomes a very unusual and unexpected first trip after Hamilton’s retirement! I hope you will enjoy this chapter and perhaps entice you to read the rest of their story. You can find their full tale here: https://www.amazon.com/Last-Cottage-Patty-Seitz-ebook/dp/B0BY7K2VDC?ref 

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 “Where did the time go? Didn’t we just move into the family house a few years ago? I’m not sure I’m ready for this! Are you ready for this?” 

Maggie saw that look in Hamilton’s eyes that told her he was going to ask that same question he always asked when she got ahead of herself. “Which question do you want me to answer first?” he queried with his usual big grin, arms crossed in front of him. 

“Oh you! You know what I mean.” 

Maggie and Hamilton Foster had been married for 40 years and were every bit as much in love today as they were when they first met in college in 1970. It was very close to love at first sight. They had met during the second semester of their Freshman year in college at the University of Akron. 

Both were taking a speech class as an elective. Hamilton had taken it just for the fun. He loved performing and had already signed up for the next play at the university theatre, remembering how much fun it was to have been in several plays when he was in high school. He had a special love for making people laugh and discovered that, when he forgot the words to a solo song he was to sing in the senior musicale. Instead of panicking as the intro played for the third time, he had said, “Don’t worry—I’ll think of something!”  When the audience burst into laughter, the words came flooding back, and he got a standing ovation when it was over. 

Maggie took the class because she wanted to work on her shyness. She had gone to an all-girl Catholic high school. Most of her girlfriends did have boyfriends, but it never happened for Maggie. Everyone always seemed to like her well enough, but the boys did not ask her out. She couldn’t wait to get out of high school and onto the college campus. She knew it wasn’t  going to be easy, but she was determined to be more outgoing. It’s not that she felt she needed a boyfriend to be happy or fulfilled. It was more a social thing. She didn’t want to go out to parties or football games and be the only one alone. 

The class assignment was going to be a difficult one for Maggie. In 300 to 500 words, the students had to describe which athlete they would love to be, living or dead. It had to be a short description because everyone would be expected to read their choice in front of the class. Maggie had chosen Peggy Fleming, the 1968 Olympic ice skating champion in women’s singles and three-time world champion. Maggie hadn’t been ice skating since her grade school days, but she always loved it, even though she often spent more time sitting on the ice than skating on it.  She had described how she viewed Miss Fleming as a ballerina on ice, which was in such sharp contrast to her clumsiness. It felt pretty good when the class had laughed at her comparison. The teacher commented how well she felt Maggie had described the two skaters—one so eloquent, the other quite the opposite and not being afraid to poke a little fun at herself. 

Hamilton’s choice was quite unexpected, but one in which the entire class, including the teacher, erupted in applause and giggles. He chose Triple Crown winner in 1973, Secretariat. His reasoning was flawless. What other athlete could run a little less than four miles total in three races, retire, and spend your retirement days out to pasture as a stud?  It had never occurred to the teacher to not only state an athlete living or dead, but also human! 

“You don’t strike me as someone who would be clumsy on skates, but it was good to hear I’m not the only one,” Hamilton quipped as he came up to Maggie before she headed out the door. He had wanted to speak to her before but didn’t know what to say or how to say it. Even though he had girlfriends in high school and was pretty outgoing, he always felt a little awkward around girls, at least when first meeting. He had noticed Maggie from the first day of class.  He loved that her huge brown eyes perfectly matched her long straight hair.  It seemed to him by her demeanor that she was somewhat shy and wondered why she would take a speech class if that was truly the case. He hoped he would find out. 

Maggie was startled that he came up to her out of the blue, but it made her feel good. She hadn’t noticed until that moment how green his eyes were. He was a few inches taller than her and very lean with light brown very curly hair. She wondered if he was a runner. She laughed to herself that she was finding she was so curious about this boy when she hadn’t really noticed him before this particular day. Don’t just stand there staring at him, Maggie. Say something for crying out loud. I hope he doesn’t read minds!  “I didn’t make that up. I was always falling down and never got the knack for it, even though I enjoyed it so much. I was a tomboy when I was a kid. Climbing trees or playing kickball. Loved freeze tag.” Good grief, Maggie. First you say nothing, and now you can’t shut up. SHUT. UP! 

“I’m Hamilton Foster,” he grinned as he put out his hand to her in introduction. “You’re Maggie Hamilton, right? I guess if we get married, I’ll have to take your name,” he joked. 

“Oh, I don’t know about that,” Maggie laughed. “People might think you are just trying to be funny when you have to give your full name.” 

“Yeah, never thought of that. Hey, do you have a class right now? Would love to buy you a soda or cup of coffee. Nothing else, though. If you’re a tea drinker, we’ll have to end things right here and now.” 

“No more classes until 3 for me, and to be honest, I never liked tea all that much. I can drink it, but it’s coffee for me—black and strong. By the way, Hamilton is kind of an unusual first name. Is it a family name?” 

“Oh, I get that question so often, I should print out a pamphlet to hand out to people,” he sighed. “It’s a funny story and shows what quirky parents I have. You see, my mom had a big celebrity crush on George Hamilton. So much so, that it became a big joke when my parents were dating. Dad would often get Mom a gift, like a sweatshirt with George Hamilton’s picture on it, a framed autographed picture, a golf ball marker with his famous face. She has quite the collection. So when they married and had me, it only seemed natural to name me Hamilton. And before you ask, they both felt George would never work because there would be no funny tale with such a common name like George.  Of course, they never considered I would have to tell the story over and over again as I grew up.” 

“I think I’m in love with your parents,” Maggie said with a big smile. “I guess it’s a good thing your mom’s crush was not on Arnold Schwarzenegger.”   

“Oh man, I never thought of that,” Hamilton chuckled. “How about you? Is Maggie short for  Margaret or something?” 

“No. My parents liked the name Maggie. My middle name is June for my mom’s mom. She passed away about three years before I was born, and they were very close. I wish I could have known her. I feel blessed that I do love my name. Except when Mom would be angry at me and yell Maggie June!  I always knew I was in major trouble when she used my full name. I don’t suppose your middle name is George?” Maggie asked. 

“You would think, but I actually don’t have a middle name. Mom and Dad felt Hamilton Foster was a mouthful and left that part of my birth certificate blank. Even that had turned into a humorous incident. I was filling out an application at the bank when I opened up a savings account. Instead of leaving the middle name blank, I put capital N, capital A, without any slash mark, not even thinking about it. The clerk looked at that and said ‘Hamilton Na Foster?’  I replied back ‘No. Hamilton Not Applicable Foster’ with what I think was an utterly stunned look on my face that she didn’t understand the notation.  Then I felt bad because she looked so embarrassed, but I apologized right way for not putting the slash mark. She started to giggle and admitted she couldn’t believe she didn’t catch what that was. We both got to laughing, and the other clerks were looking at us like we were drunk.” 

“WOW! You have gotten a lot of laughs out of your name, it would seem,” Maggie expressed. “Good thing you have inherited your mom and dad’s sense of humor.  I do have one quirky thing about my family, though, not related to names at all.” 

Hamilton was very intrigued and also couldn't believe how much fun he was having with Maggie, even though they had only known each other for all of about 20 minutes.  Is this a love-at-first-sight thing?  he wondered to himself.  He definitely knew he did not want this afternoon to end. “Something stranger than my family? I have got to hear this!” he grinned. 

“Well, most people don’t believe this when I tell them, but not only is my birthday May 10th, but my mom, her mom, her mom’s mom, and the mom before that were all born on May 10th.  I was a C-section, or I probably would not have been born on the 10th, but it was a necessary C-section, not that Mom just insisted I be born on that day. So when she had the choice, she just couldn't resist. We did also know that my great grandmother was born about three weeks early, so that one was kind of a freaky accident. We always laughed that she knew the 10th was the day you had to be born or suffer the consequences. It seems some were kind of accidents, but it really puts the pressure on me to have a daughter on the 10th of May, I guess.” 

“Well, I'm not sure which of our stories is quirkier,” Hamilton laughed. “Going to have to give that some thought.” 

Maggie almost missed her 3-o’clock class that day, as they had talked about everything from their childhood to high school experiences. Maggie felt so at ease with Hamilton. It was as if her shyness completely melted away. They were practically inseparable after that, and over 40 years later, they were still just as happy and often silly with each other as that very first quirky day. 

“Yes, my love, I know what you mean,” Hamilton teased as he gave Maggie a hug. “Now you know my actual last day is not for a few months yet.  We do have some decisions to make, though.” 

“I know. It’s kind of overwhelming what we need to do to get ready for the big day and after that,” Maggie agreed. 

“Oh Honey, it’s not going to be such a big day. Remember we planned to go out to dinner on my last day and then just have a few friends and family over the next day for a BBQ. You promised there would be no surprise parties, so you better stick to that. A promise is a promise.” 

Maggie wasn’t planning any surprises, as she had promised.   She explained that it wasn’t a true feeling of being overwhelmed but just a little anxious about adjusting to this new chapter in their lives.  She had been used to being home alone during the day with their pup, an 8-year-old Lab named Remy they had rescued from a friend of a friend who could no longer take care of her, as he was moving to Europe for a job.  About a year ago, they had lost their sweet puppy girl, Bailey, to lung cancer, and Maggie was still heartbroken over the loss. When Hamilton and Maggie went to meet this new potential family member, Remy passed everyone and ran right up to Maggie, practically knocking her over to give her a big slurp on the face. It was as if Remy immediately knew she had to fix Maggie’s heart. 

“No, I'm thinking more of feeling a little anxious at having you home all day,” Maggie grinned.  “Remy is going to love it, but I'm not sure I'm ready to play tug with you or throw the ball for you and Remy to chase.” 

“No doubt, it’s going to take some getting used to for both of us. I do have a feeling Remy won't have any problems adjusting,” Hamilton chuckled.  “But one thing, or I should say two things, we do have to work on before the big day,” Hamilton said with air quotes, “is that we have to decide where our destination is going to be for our first trip PR, and are we going to stay in this house when we get back or make our move and let the kids take over.” 

“Well, now I have two things I need to ask about that work,” Maggie replied, looking a little serious. “What is PR and what do you mean are we going to stay here?” 

Maggie was never big on change, although she always handled it well when she had to. But she knew the one thing she was not ready for, and possibly would never truly be ready for, was leaving the home she grew up in, fell in love in, marriage, children, her entire life all in this house. She sat down on the kitchen chair a little quicker than she intended, looking out the window with tears in her eyes.