I Remember You

Chapter 16

The trip over to the church the following day was a silent one. There was something amiss between Jo and Tom, but Lily had no clue what it might be. Whatever it was, it was enough to make them both give everyone the silent treatment. Cindy was watching everyone closely as if she was waiting for something terrible to happen, Mudd kept staring at Lily and making her uncomfortable, and Finn was his usual remote self.

Lily stood and wandered over to stand next Otto, who was operating the boat, and she looked out over the water. It didn't take her out of Mudd's gaze, but at least it put her back towards him.

"You all are a reserved group this morning," he noted with a smile.

"We are, aren't we," Lily agreed. "How long have you been operating the ferry?" she asked. The question started an easy conversation between them, and she had learned a lot more about Otto before they docked at the church.

The church was a view that, even after a week, still awed her. It was a shell of a building, the roof was gone, and the walls were starting to crumble, the stone floor was almost covered over by moss an weeds and the large columns that would have supported a front portico now stood apart from the rest of the building as sentries guarding their domain.

Elias had told her that the land and the church had belonged to a childhood friend of his wife, Rhea and that it was a very special place for them, so he had bought the property to assure that it was never developed then he had then installed a dock so that it was easier for them to visit when the mood struck.

Lily had gotten the hand of embarking and disembarking the boat, and she was the last one off with a cheerful wave to Otto as she started up the steep path that led to the abandoned church.

The film company was using CGI to make the church whole again so that it could be Desmond's office and home, and the interior shots were being filmed on the set back in Savannah. However, while the church was beautiful, the area that always caught her attention was the small little graveyard at the back of the property. Some of the graves were close to two-hundred years old, a thought that was hard for Lily to wrap her head around. She headed that way, as everyone spread out, picking a spot to wait until filming started. The crew was already getting things ready for the days filming, having arrived a few hours earlier.

"You seem to have a morbid curiosity about these graves," Finn said as he joined her where she stood looking down at the grave of a child that had only lived to be two-years-old when she had died.

"Do I?" She turned to look at him "Does this mean you're talking to me again?"

"I was never not talking to you," he insisted.

Lily had spent the rest of the previous day thinking about her and Finn's conversation. He wanted her to be the one to give, he wanted to know she wouldn't break, she was going to have to be the one to take the first step if there was to be a friendship between them, and she wanted a friendship between them more than anything. The problem was that she was afraid to look too closely at the reason why.

"Perhaps I am curious, but I don't think it's necessarily morbid. It amazes me that all these people were alive at one point, were loved, and then forgotten. Doesn't that strike you as sad?"

"Not necessarily, I think it a rare person who gets to live a life of repute," he looked down at the child's graves. "I think that if you ask most people, they couldn't even tell you where their great-grandparents are buried. It's hard to appreciate someone you never met. They're always a stranger."

Lily digested what he had said knowing it was true, that she had no clue about her grandparents much less her great-grandparents, she had never met them, and they had never been talked about when she was a child.

"But these people that you talk about, the ones that live in repute, aren't they strangers to most of us?" She looked at him in earnest, it was an honest question, and she was afraid he would pull away without answering. She was enjoying the serious conversation and getting to know a little bit about him without having to share something personal.

"There is a couple, buried under the stone floor of the church. They were young lovers who were burned alive inside the church by the Union Army as they marched towards Savannah. They are remembered, not because of who they were necessarily, but because of how they died. Their story gets told over and over again, causing them to live forever. Mason will be remembered simply because of the movies he has made, Cassie for the songs that she had sung." Finn shrugged.

"You for the character of Desmond on television," she added.

"Hardly," he shook his head, looking around them at all the graves.

Lily wanted to let him know that if he took a leap and let people know about his leg, then he really would live a life of repute. She knew he would, but watching him as he looked around, she felt it best not to push because there was a good chance he would push back.

"What was it like to serve with my uncle?" she asked, changing the subject.

He smiled a true smile as he turned to look at her, and Lily had to catch her breath at the beauty of it. He was a handsome man, but when he smiled like that, he looked younger, and she couldn't stop staring at him.

"Your uncle is a surprisingly wise man," he said, and Lily couldn't help the laugh that escaped her. "Why surprisingly?" her heart picked up speed as his gaze fell to her lips as she smiled. Maybe her smile affected him as much as his affected her.

"Well, he doesn't say much, does he?"

Lily shook her head in agreement. "No, he doesn't."

She looked away and back at the little girl's grave. "You know, for the longest time, my entire childhood in fact, there was a rumor going around the small little town I grew up in that my uncle was actually my father. Sometimes I wished it was true even though I had never met him. I didn't meet Uncle Lee until I was about fifteen after my father died."

"All kids wish their parents weren't their parents, especially when they're getting in trouble," he said dismissively.

"Sure," she agreed if only to end the conversation. It was getting too personal, and it was proving harder than the thought to share. Something in her tone must have caught Finn's attention because his eyes narrowed at her comment, but before they could say anything more, Jo joined them.

"This looks like an amusing conversation, all smiles, and laughs," she said as she linked her arm through Finn's. Lily wondered if she would be as into Finn if she knew about his leg. Somehow, she didn't think she would. Jo struck Lily as someone who was very much into appearances. "You appear to have gotten over your stumbling nerves," she said cattily.

"Think about what I suggested yesterday, Finn." Lily ignored Jo. "Your repute would be so much greater if you decided it was a cause worth fighting for and representing." She gave Jo an insincere smile and then turned and left them.

There that should give Jo some food for thought and Finn as well.

Lily was halfway across the churchyard when Tom caught up with her. "Hey Lily, you and Finn seem to be hitting it off." He was digging.

"Why you want me to distract him so you will have a better chance with Jo?" she joked.

"That would be great, Lily!" he agreed before racing away, leaving Lily with her mouth hanging open.

Lily knew he was a married man, but that didn't seem to be deterring him from chasing another woman, but then why should it. It had never deterred her father.

Had he been as blatant with his affairs as Tom appeared to be?

If that was the case, it put an entirely different spin on her childhood