The Dreamers (13 page)

Slowly,
Seren began to look around. Jennifer had a good eye for composition. Each photo drew her eye towards the focus and allowed her to discover the rest from there. They had been set out like a tour around the village. Several had people in them.

Seren paused by a photograph
of a little white cottage with a blue door. Halfway down a steep hill, it stood alone. Its little side garden was pretty but dropped away right into the cliffs.
Bryn y Môr
was painted on a sign beside the door. It was a pretty house and she felt a strange pull towards it.

She straitened.
Bryn y Môr
, the name seemed familiar and she gazed at it until, suddenly, it struck her. It was the name of the house her ancestor, Hywell Jones, had inherited. It had been Arianwen Jones’s house and now, it belonged to Jennifer. Well, if all else failed, she could find it herself.

‘That house is haunted,’ said a cheery little voice.

Seren turned and saw the loud little girl. ‘Is it?’

‘Yep.
I’ve seen the ghost. She goes up the hill with her shopping basket. She used to live here, ages ago.’

‘Is she scary?’

The little girl shook her head. ‘No, just sad. I wouldn’t like to have to do the same things over and over again like that, especially not shopping!’

Seren laughed. ‘No, I know what you mean. You’d better go back to your mother now.’

The little girl skipped off to the weary looking woman on the other side of the room.

Seren
moved on. The next photograph was of the graveyard. Row after row of gravestones emerged from the grass. Back and back they went, until they disappeared into mist. It created an eerie atmosphere.

She glanced back at the
little girl who was jumping from tile to tile across the floor. Haunted? There were strange things in the world.

She turned back to the graveyard and her eyes widened. She managed not to gasp.
There was now a woman standing in the graveyard, staring out of the picture. She was dressed in a long Victorian skirt, blouse and shawl and the corset underneath her clothing pinched her waist in. Her long dark hair was just visible under her bonnet. Her eyes stared out at Seren, following her movements.

Seren’s first instinct was to step back, away from that hard
stare. Yet, after a moment, the gaze seemed to soften and became approving. Seren looked back at her, studying the face. It was familiar but she couldn’t think how.

Arianwen gazes at the girl. This strange young woman has Jennifer in her mind. She can see the feeling there, can sense the love which could bloom.

Here is life, Arianwen can feel it. Here is Jennifer’s future.

With this woman, Jennifer will not be abandoned or alone. She will not be sad.

She does not know what to do. They need to reach each other, make the connection Jennifer needs. Arianwen must lead this woman to her Jennifer.

Jennifer sleeps and Arianwen watches her. She is torn. She wishes to sta
y forever, to be with her cariad.

But
she is not supposed to stay. God wants her to have peace. She has had happiness. Maybe now she can find her peace.

Jennifer
sleeps peacefully, naked and with a happy smile on her face. Her breathing is deep and gentle. Arianwen leans over her, cups her face gently.

‘I love you,’ she whispers
, then kisses her on the mouth. ‘Come to my grave.’

Jen
nifer stirs but does not wake. Arianwen turns and walks away.

 
Jennifer woke alone. She turned in her bed and looked around the room. Arianwen was not there. She knew she wasn’t there. She could feel it. Arianwen had gone.

Sunlight was streaming in through the thin curtains. It was morning. They had spent the night together. There was something comforting about that.

She knew what to do now. Hurriedly dressing, Jennifer left the house and made her way up the steep slope which led from her house to the village. To her relief, it was still early and there was nobody about. Reaching the church, she made her way around the back to the churchyard.

Arianwen’s body was lying in one of those graves. One of those dismal grey headstones had Arianwen’s name on it.

Jennifer began to walk down the rows of graves. She read the names and dates as she passed, the people of this village going back through the decades as she moved back through the rows. At first, the writing was sharply engraved into black marble but as she moved back, the writing became more faded until it was barely readable, engraved into the surface of grainy stone.

Then, there it was. Arianwen’s grave. She breathed slowly and steadily as she looked down at the words.

Arianwen Jones

1823–1879

She was startled to see there were no other words on the old gravestone. Had there really been no one to care enough about Arianwen to write something on her grave? It didn’t seem right.

Jennifer sat down by the grave. ‘I know you’re gone now, Arianwen.
And I don’t think you’re coming back. But I want you to come back. I want you to stay with me.’ She sighed and picked at the grass. ‘Are you with God now? I never believed before but I can’t bear the thought of you being restless forever.’

She bit her lip. ‘I love you, Arianwen. I’ll always love you. I don’t even know if you can hear me.’ The gentle breeze through the churchyard was like a hand caressing her cheek. ‘I hope you’re at peace now.’

Arianwen watches Jennifer at the gravestone. She sits in the grass, beside the grave.

‘
I love you, Arianwen. I’ll always love you. I don’t even know if you can hear me.’

Arianwen can hear her. She reaches out and strokes her cheek. ‘I can hear you. I love you.’

Jennifer’s eyes are sad as she reads the words on Arianwen’s grave. Arianwen remembers being here before, remembers watching them put her body in its grave.
There had been nobody there but the minister and the ushers.

She gazes into Jennifer’s beautiful face and knows
she will be remembered. She looks up and sees the young woman, Jennifer’s future, approaching the gate of the graveyard. Arianwen smiles. They will be happy together.

She leans forward and
breathes a kiss onto Jennifer’s mouth Jennifer sighs softly.

‘I
will be at peace now,’ Arianwen whispers. ‘Goodbye.’

She rises and pulls back.
She hears music drifting across the air. She walks away, hymns playing in her head.

Jennifer felt emptiness surround her. She shivered and knew she was alone. She would always be alone now. Her love was gone.

She stirred and sat straight. Arianwen’s
gravestone looked so empty. It wasn’t right. Casting around, Jennifer found a stone with a sharp, pointed edge. She shuffled up beside the gravestone and began to scratch words into the pale stone.

Jennifer loved Arianwen here
.

‘Goodbye,’ she whispered, then stood. Her hand touched the corner of the cold stone before she turned and walked away.

As she walked, h
er gaze lifted to the gate of the churchyard. Standing there, in the shadow of a tree was a young woman with dark hair. Jennifer’s breath got stuck in her chest. It couldn’t be; she’d felt her go. She’d said goodbye.

But
it was not Arianwen. This woman’s hair was short, cropped pixie-style about her ears. Her eyes were bright and she smiled softly at Jennifer as she approached.

Jennifer stopped a foot away from her. The smile was like Arianwen’s and so was the curve of her jaw. Yet her eyes were different. They sparkled at Jennifer, and suddenly she knew who this was.

Jennifer smiled and held out her hand. ‘Seren, I’m Jennifer.’

Seren’s smile widened. ‘I know.’