The English Descendants

42

Eddie closes the diary. It is very late, or perhaps very early. No one else in the house is awake. She is the first to have read it, the first to finally put all the pieces of the puzzle together.

"Thomas? Please? Are you here?"

But he does not answer. It is the first time he hasn't come when she has called. She asks again and still, nothing.

He is there, though, watching, fearful of what she will think of him now that she knows everything. Soon they all will. He believes he will be very suddenly without any family at all. He chides himself for his cowardice not only now, but over a century ago when he did not flee Allerdale Hall with Edith the morning after they consummated their marriage. He returns to his grave, settling into the dirt for rest. There is no reason not to. No reasonable person would still want him around, knowing all that the diary contains. He closes his eyes, hoping to lose track of time.

In the morning, Eddie passes the book to Nellie, "You have to read this. All of it. It's...just...holy shit, man, Thomas had a fucked up life. I feel really really sorry for him. No wonder he needs us."

Nellie does not sleep that night. She passes it to Daisy, who then passes it to Maria, who lastly gives it to Rose. When they come back together after having all read it, Rose puts the book in the middle of the dining table and just stares at it.

"What the hell did I just read?"

"A lot of hurt, that's what," Daisy responds."

"He was screwing his sister. And had a baby. And killed three wives."

Nellie has Edith's other pages out and is flipping through Edith's own diary, "She says here that she was nearly the fourth wife killed in Allerdale Hall, and that Alan was stabbed as well. Thomas asked him how to do it so he would live, knowing that Lucille would kill Alan if she didn't think he did- and probably Thomas as well. Apparently it was punishment for the fact that he never killed any of the wives."

"So how did they escape? And how did she know about the other wives?" Rose asks.

Nellie consults the diary, "She says Enola led her to the answers. To wax cylinders, to the envelopes about each wife, to Thomas and Lucille in bed...apparently she was a very active ghost. She even held the ghostly baby for one apparition."

Daisy sighs, "Well, my great granddad meets the definition of a serial killer." She turns to Eddie, "What are you thinking?"

"Has anyone seen Thomas since we started getting into all this?" Heads shake around the table. "I called to him after I finished reading the diary. He didn't answer. No visit, nothing. I'm worried."

"Why?" asks Rose.

"Because I don't want to lose him, that's why. Look, he's been our house ghost for...for a long time. I think Grandma even knew him."

"She did. He sat with her when Rich died, and she once told me that he was there when she found out dad was dead. He sat with her when her baby brother, Harry, died, too. Whenever somebody kicks it in this family, Thomas is around."

"Look, he let his sister kill people. I'm not sure we should be trusting him," Rose adds.

"You've trusted him your whole life, daughter of mine. This is nothing he had not done already when you first met him- when I asked him to be your playmate, too. And when you asked if you could share him with your new cousin. He's still Thomas."

Daisy nods, "Nellie's right. Nothing's changed, has it? We just know more about who he was a century ago."

"More than that. He died one hundred five years ago," Eddie says, "And you all read the diary. He's told us time and time again that he hangs around because he's doing penance for a terrible life. Now we know why. I think, after all this guilt and torment, he's earned a rest."

Maria nods, "So how do we give it to him?"

"Well if he won't come to us, I guess we're going to have to go to him."

"Oh, Eddie, how the hell are we going to do that?"

"Easy, Rose. We're going to find out where he's buried. I'm going to England. Who wants to come with me?"