After dinner that night, the family gathered in the den. Henry said, “How can we go about trying to find out more about Celia? Even Mr. Farley doesn’t know — and he was her neighbor.”
“Well, in her letter to her father she said she was going to Bromley to stay with George’s parents. Maybe she’s still there,” Jessie said.
“But she got married. Her name wouldn’t be Roth,” Henry added.
Aunt Jane was thoughtful. “It doesn’t seem likely that she would still be in Bromley after all these years.”
“Wait a minute!” Jessie said. She ran over to the bookcase and took Celia’s diary from a shelf. She ruffled through it until she came to the page she was looking for. “Celia says here: I told Father last night that I was in love with George Collins. So Collins would have been her last name if she married George.”
“You could try asking information if there’s someone by the name of Celia or George Collins living in Bromley,” Grandfather suggested. “People in this part of the state often stay in the same town for a lifetime.”
Jessie went to the telephone and got information for Bromley. She asked, “Is there a listing for George Collins?”
The operator answered, “I’m sorry we have no one by that name.”
“What about the name Celia Collins?” Jessie asked.
There was silence and then the operator returned. “Yes, I have a listing for a Celia Collins. The number is 555-3111.”
“I can’t believe it,” Jessie said. “There is a Celia Collins in Bromley.”
“Well, why don’t you call her?” Benny asked.
Grandfather looked thoughtful. “We must all remember that Mrs. Collins is an old lady. You can’t just tell her about her letter on the phone. If you want to call her, Jessie, you have to be careful how you tell the story of what has happened.”
“I know, Grandfather,” Jessie said. “But I have to call her.”
Jessie went to the phone and dialed the number she had been given. She waited with her heart beating rapidly as the number rang. Then a voice answered and Jessie said, “I’d like to speak to Mrs. George Collins, please.”
A sweet, strong voice said clearly, “This is she.”
Jessie quickly told Celia about how they had become connected with the old Roth house. “Well,” Celia Collins said, “I lived there a long time ago.”
“We know,” Jessie said. “Mrs. Collins, could we come to see you? We have some things we found in the house that I think you would want. I’m sure that my grandfather would drive me and my sister and brothers over to see you. I know that Bromley is not too far from Greenfield. We wouldn’t stay too long.”
“What kind of things did you find?” Celia asked. Her voice sounded sad.
“I think we should bring them to you,” Jessie said.
Mrs. Collins hesitated. Then she said, “All right. Can you come at eleven tomorrow morning?”
The next morning at eleven on the dot the Aldens were seated in Celia Collins’s living room. Mrs. Collins was a beautiful woman with short white hair. Her eyes sparkled and her voice was firm.
“Now, you must tell me why you came here,” she said.
Violet held out the diary. “We found this in an old box of books.”
Mrs. Collins gasped. “My goodness! That diary goes back a long time. It was filled with all the thoughts of a seventeen-year-old. Some not very happy, I recall.”
Henry cleared his throat and said, “We found something else. We found this letter jammed in the back of a drawer in a big old desk. The envelope had never been opened because it had gotten stuck in the back of the desk drawer.”
Celia Collins’s eyes opened wide. “My father never found the letter. Is that what you mean?”
“That’s right,” Jessie said. “We opened the letter. I hope you don’t mind. So, you see, your father never knew where you went.”
Tears came to the old lady’s eyes. “I never heard from him, so I just thought he didn’t want to talk to me. That he was so angry that he was disowning me. It never occurred to me that he hadn’t read the letter. I waited and waited to hear from him. Then, after a number of months, I called him. But he had sold the house, and no one knew where he had gone. He was just lost to me.”
“You married your George, didn’t you?” Violet asked softly.
Celia Collins laughed. “Oh, yes. We married before he went overseas. When he came back, we settled here in Bromley and had three children. He died about ten years ago. My daughter lives just down the block, and I have a housekeeper who lives in this house with me. I was always sad about father, but George and I had a good life together.”
Benny said, “Now you know your father wasn’t mad at you. He just didn’t know where you were.”
“That makes me feel much better,” Mrs. Collins said. She smiled at the children. “You have made me very happy, and I am delighted to have my diary back.”
Grandfather stood up. “We have taken enough of your time. We should leave now.”
Mrs. Collins took Violet’s hand. “Will all you children come and visit and tell me more about the house?”
“If you’d like,” Jessie said. “Someday maybe Grandfather will bring you to your old home so you can see it again.”
“That would be my pleasure,” Grandfather said.
Mrs. Collins stood and walked to the door with the Aldens. “Someday I will call you, and my housekeeper can drive me to the old house. I would like to see it again and to meet your cousins.”
She kissed each of the children and shook Grandfather’s hand. “I can’t thank you enough for giving me back my father.”
The Aldens got into Grandfather’s car and rode in silence for a while. Then Jessie said, “I’m so glad we found Celia.”
One month later, on a warm Sunday afternoon, there was a party going on at the old Roth house. Joe and Alice were having a housewarming party. There were platters of food and cookies and cakes on the dining room table. The living room was filled with flowers, and the house was filled with people.
All the Aldens were there and Aunt Jane and Uncle Andy. Joe and Alice had also invited Mr. Farley, Ms. Evans, Thomas Yeats, and even the Carters. The Carters, who felt so sorry that they had tried to keep Joe and Alice from moving in, had become perfect neighbors. They were helpful and welcoming. But the person whom everyone was waiting for was Celia Roth Collins. She had been invited and had said that her housekeeper would drive her over.
The moment came, and Celia Collins walked into the house she had not been in for decades. Alice ran to the door to welcome her and led her into the living room. As Mrs. Collins looked around, tears came to her eyes. “The house looks beautiful,” she said to Alice.
Alice said, “Let me introduce you to everyone. You know the Aldens. And this is the children’s aunt and uncle.” Then she reached Mr. Farley. He looked at Celia and asked, “Do you remember me at all?”
Celia Collins stared at him. “Well, it’s been a long, long time but you do look a little like a boy who lived next door to me. He was a real imp. His name was Charlie Farley.”
Mr. Farley smiled broadly. “That was me! You know, Mrs. Collins, I had a real crush on you when I was a boy.”
Mrs. Collins smiled, too. “I knew that, Charlie.”
Mr. Farley looked thoughtful. “I think that was why I wanted to believe your ghost was still in the house. Just so I could pretend you were still here.”
Alice took Celia over to Mr. Yeats. “Mr. Yeats is painting a picture of the house,” she said.
“Yes, I wanted the house not to change so I could finish the painting. When the children started fixing the place up, I was so angry. I was afraid all my work would be wasted. I even asked Mr. Farley to keep an eye on the children for me — let me know what they were up to. He refused, and rightly so. Anyway, I did finish the painting.”
“Perhaps,” Mrs. Collins said, “you would sell it to me.”
Mr. Yeats bowed slightly. “Madam, it would be a pleasure if you would let me give the painting to you as a gift.”
“I would love that,” Mrs. Collins replied.
The last one Alice introduced Celia to was Terry Evans. “Ms. Evans is writing a history of Greenfield.”
“Yes,” Ms. Evans said, “and this house will have a chapter all to itself. I wanted it to become a landmark but Joe and Alice have fixed it up so beautifully. It is as well cared for as if it were a landmark.”
Everybody sat down and Celia Collins sighed. “Everything would be perfect if I just knew what happened to my father.”
Ms. Evans jumped up. “I know that. I have been doing research on the families that lived in this house.”
Mrs. Collins looked startled. “What happened to him?”
Ms. Evans walked over to Celia and sat down on the sofa next to her. “What I discovered is that he moved to Boston a few months after you disappeared. He tried in many ways to find you. He finally put an ad in a Boston paper, hoping you might see it. I wrote it out and brought a copy of it for you.”
Celia’s hand trembled as she reached for it. Then she dropped her hand and said to Ms. Evans, “I think you had better read it to me.”
Ms. Evans cleared her throat and read: “For Celia Roth, my daughter: I know that you must have married George Collins and that is why you left home. I was wrong to try to stop you from marrying George. He is a nice young man and you deserve to be happy with him. Please write to me at the box number below if you see this ad. If I don’t hear from you I will know you never read this paper. I know that you love me, as I love you, and would reply if you could. Your loving father, Robert Roth.”
There was a silence in the room after Ms. Evans stopped reading. Then Mr. Alden said, “So now you know, Mrs. Collins, that your father forgave you and knew that you loved him.”
“I am so glad,” Mrs. Collins said, wiping the tears from her eyes. “I will always be grateful to all of you,” she said, looking around the room.
“Can we eat now?” Benny asked.
Everyone laughed and Alice said, “There’s a lot of food in the dining room. Benny is right. It’s time to eat.”
Everyone walked into the dining room and filled their plates. Mrs. Collins’s housekeeper fixed a plate for the old woman, who remained seated in the living room. The housekeeper looked at the Alden children and said, “I don’t think you can know how happy you have made Mrs. Collins. Now she can stop worrying about what happened between her and her father.”
Back in the living room, they all ate the wonderful food Alice and Joe had prepared. Benny sat on the floor next to Mrs. Collins and said, “Would you come and visit us sometime? I’d like to show you our boxcar. You know we ran away once, too.”
Mrs. Collins smiled. “Benny, I would love to visit you and to hear about your adventures.”
“We’ve had lots of them,” Violet said. “But you know, I think this one was the best.” |