The Traveller

Adam undid his jacket and reaching inside his t-shirt, he pulled out a chain and dangling from it was an identical coin. 'This was around my neck when I was found, I have always presumed that my mother left it there when she abandoned me. There is a name inscribed on the back of it, that's how I got my name, the hospital presumed that was what my mother had called me.'

The room was silent except for the gasp that escaped Annie's lips.

It was as though she was whispering as she finally broke the silence. 'I only learnt this just before my mother passed away. It was never spoken of and I never knew until the very end and by then, she suffered from dementia.'

'It appeared that my mother had an older sister, her name was Sarah and unbeknownst to anyone, Sarah was in love with a young man, his name was Adam...... Adam Thomas Newton.

My father was not best pleased when things began to develop between Adam and me, he was only a gardener and I was born to so much more. It was my mother who protected him, I used to catch her watching him wistfully.

'Towards the end, she was asking about Adam one day, I thought she meant my Adam, which in a way she was, but it turned out she also had an older brother. Her maiden name, by the way, had been Newton.'

Everyone looked at Adam.

'I just thought my mother was confused until she tried to explain, some of it not making sense.

'Adam, her brother, had gone off to war and before he went, he had bought each of them a pendant, one for himself, one for my mum and one for Sarah, their names engraved on the rear of each.

'Unfortunately, on the first of January 1915, Adam was killed.'

'My Mum said Adam had returned to her and that he was working in the gardens. I just put it down to her dementia, but she made me promise something, that if I ever had another daughter or granddaughter, she was to be called Sarah, and this pendant was to go to her.'

As she finished, she unfastened the chain from around her neck and turning to her granddaughter she handed it to her. 'This belongs to you my darling.'

'My mother told me aunt Sarah never got over Adams death, they found her one morning up in the woods, one hand hanging listlessly into that pool up there, she had taken poison, it was my mum who erected the headstone.'

The room was silent for many minutes, so quiet, you could hear a pin drop as they all digested what they had each learnt.

'So, if all you say is true,' Sarah said, 'Then in two years he is going to disappear on me as well.' She was fighting for control, her eyes full of tears.'

Her grandmother looked at her with great affection, 'I don't think he will disappear again, not unless you want him to, I think Adam has finally found his Sarah.' From her handbag, she produced an old, faded photograph and held it out.

'I found this when I was sorting through my mother's possessions.'

Annie had been the only one who had ever seen it and there were gasps as it passed from hand to hand until it was Sarah's turn. The photo was of a young couple, the man standing to attention and looking smart in his military uniform. Linking her arm through his was an extremely attractive young woman resplendent in a dress of the time. Looking closer Sarah could see that the young woman could be her identical twin and that the young man was Adam.

Adam and Sarah had stepped outside to be alone, Jean watching through the cottage window as they kissed. There was also someone else watching, Sam had snuck down from the farm and was stood just down the lane, partially out of sight. A brother and sister, that was what she had always wanted. 'Perfect,' she thought, clapping her hands together with glee, 'Absolutely perfect.' For a split second, her fingers appeared to shimmer.

Back inside the cottage, the conversation continued. 'He doesn't look a day older mum, and I still love him,' Jean said, 'I presume you have guessed by now; Adam is Sarah's father. Do I tell her?'

Her mother shook her head, 'Some secrets are best kept,' she said. 'Adams destiny wasn't with either of us, Adams destiny is with Sarah.'

What she did not disclose, was the fact that her aunt Sarah had been pregnant by her brother when she killed both herself and the baby, and that Adam was also Jean's father.

'I still don't understand how he could be away for years but still look the same,' Jean said, puzzled.

Annie laughed, 'I've had plenty of time to think about it, imagine for every three hours in this time, one year passed in ours. Young Samantha had not seen him for twelve hours, four years of our time.'

'So why couldn't he have stayed with us longer,' Jean asked sadly.

'Because my darling, his body wasn't working on our time. 'Imagine if he had stayed ten years, we would both have been nearly thirty and Adam would not even be a week older. I've no doubt he loved us both, that's why he asked us to go with him, but would he still have loved us when he was a young man, and we were old women.'

The other thing Annie did not disclose and which her mother had refused to speak of, was when she had asked her, 'So if he slept with one sister, did he sleep with the other?' Was it possible that Adam, whichever Adam he was, had fathered three generations of his own family in search of his beloved Sarah?

The cottage fell silent as both women became immersed in their memories, while up on the hill and in amongst the tree's the pool shimmered, the inscription on the headstone fading until it was illegible and then the light went out.