Family Secrets (Young Adult Edition) (Davenport Manor (Young Adult Edition)) (3 page)

Yeah, it’s official: I
never want to go home,
he thought to
himself.

They walked across the foyer into the
grand ballroom, which was adorned with chandeliers and great
archways. The entire building itself was an architect’s dream. The
intricate details that were sculpted into the walls weren’t
something you see now days.

“
This is the grand
ballroom,” Emma said with her arm dramatically spread and her voice
echoing in the empty space. “This room has held two centuries worth
of parties that have included politicians, the well-to-do, and
celebrities. Judy Garland once sang here, Gene Kelly has danced on
this very floor, and even Abraham Lincoln once stayed here for a
visit.

“
Along the walls you’ll
see paintings and photographs of the balls and parties that have
been held here over the past two centuries. This one here is from
the very first house-warming party they had,” she pointed at a
painting of people having a gay time. There were ladies in elegant
gowns and gentlemen in waistcoats; dancing and toasting the joyous
affair.

“
The Manor was founded by
William Davenport along with his wife Victoria and their three
children, Emma, Christopher, and Elizabeth. They originated in
Boston where William had made his riches in the shipping and trades
business. He decided to move his family west in the early 1800s to
the new Illinois Territory. He had the Manor built and owned much
of the surrounding land. As more settlers came to the area, he
allowed those to build upon his land for a fee, of course. Over the
years, the town grew with businesses and families and was always
known as Davenport. His son, Christopher invested in the railroads,
which really turned the community into a booming town at the
time.”

“
The driver that brought
me here told me about that,” Todd added.

“
About five years after
the Manor was built, William had iron gates erected around the
two-square miles of his personal property since the town was
growing. He wanted to maintain his privacy. He never completely
cleared the land of trees, so there has always been a forest
surrounding the entire perimeter of the property.”

As they made their way out of the
ballroom, they climbed the grand staircase, but instead of going
left towards the bedrooms, they went right. The hallway looked like
an art gallery. Along the walls were portraits of the Davenport
ancestors. The first and largest painting was of William Davenport,
looking forever regal. Next, was his wife Victoria, looking prim
and proper, yet with the soft look of a mother’s love. Along next
to them were the portraits of their three children, Christopher,
Elizabeth, and Todd stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the last
portrait

“
Emma Davenport,” he read
the plaque underneath the portrait aloud and looked back up at the
painted beauty. “My gosh, she looks identical to you! Were you
named after her?”

Emma looked longingly up at the lovely
girl staring back at them. “Yes,” she simply replied. After a pause
she added, “My parents always liked the name Emma and since I was
the oldest they decided to keep the tradition alive. We always
thought how remarkable it was that I look so much like her. Maybe
I’m her reincarnated or something!” she laughed.

After a few moments of gazing at the
picture, Todd turned to Emma and spoke softly, “She’s absolutely
stunning…just like you.”

Emma looked away and nervously cleared
her throat, “Uh, thank you, that’s very kind of you to say.” She
looked up at him and gave him a tight-lipped smile that barely
reached her eyes. “Shall we move on to the exterior? I think you’ll
find the surrounding grounds fascinating.”

She immediately started walking toward
the stairs before Todd could respond. He followed her down and out
the front door where the morning sunlight beamed on them. As they
walked across the circle drive made of gravel, the autumn leaves
and rocks crunched under their feet. They approached a pathway that
lead through a front yard and into a thick area of trees. As they
walked down the path, Todd pulled his jacket on a little tighter.
The air was brisk, but tolerable until there was a
breeze.

Todd examined Emma and said, “Aren’t
you cold, love? You’re not wearing a jacket, do you want
mine?”

She crossed her arms and lightly
rubbed them. She replied, “Oh no, I’m fine, thank you. I have been
doing so much this morning I’m actually too warm. This actually
feels good!”

He offered, “Well, if you get chilly
you just say the word.”

She hooked her arm around his and
remarked, “Whenever I am strolling with someone, whether it is a
friend, a lover, or family member, I always find it more enjoyable
if you’re connected with them. My mother used to always say
that.”

“
It’s sounds as if your
mother was a very wise woman. People just don’t take the time to
connect with one another these days – everything is always via
email or texting,” he replied with a flip flop in his stomach from
her bold move. “Where are we headed?”

As they came through the clearing of
the trees he saw a large field with stones. As they grew closer he
realized it wasn’t just a field…it was a graveyard. It was a huge
cemetery with perfectly trimmed gardens sprawling throughout the
premises.

“
We’re headed here…I hope
you’re not creeped out,” she hesitated.

“
No, I’m not creeped out,”
he replied. “Although, I don’t know if I’ll feel the same tonight
now that I know this is here,” he chuckled.

Emma let out a short laugh and patted
his arm, “Ah, no worries! The dead ones who are walking around
amongst the living are who you want to watch out for
anyway.”

He stopped and gave her an incredulous
look, clearly taken back by her odd choice of words. “Do you
believe in all that nonsense that’s been swirling around? The
zombie apocalypse, vampires, werewolves…”

Emma laughed, “Zombies, definitely no.
That’s just ridiculous. Werewolves, maybe. Vampires, I’m undecided.
Lately there have been so many people claiming to be vampires, they
even have the fangs.”

“Yeah, but I’ll bet they have those
retractable fangs you can buy on the internet. I don’t know, I
think it’s just a bunch of malarkey. They’re people who are
overzealous fans of all the vampire books, movies, and TV shows
that are out there. It’s just a fad.”

“Possibly…I hope you’re right!
Werewolves though, I don’t know if I can believe that a human can
turn into an animal.”

Todd agreed, “Yeah, that seems
completely impossible to me as well. But, I can’t even believe
vampires may exist, either. To me they’re just glorified
zombies--they’re dead, they eat humans, but still walk around like
they’re alive. It’s just…well…it’s bull,” he laughed.

She smiled with him,
“Glorified zombies, I never thought of it like that. Except
vampires aren’t rotting corpses and they don’t
eat
humans, they just drink their
blood.”

“Oh you’re right,
that’s all
,” Todd
laughed with some sarcasm.

“Well, now that we got all those
theories cleared up,” she chuckled, “here’s the Davenport family
cemetery. All of our ancestors are buried here. Our family has
always strived to stay together and know about our heritage and the
generations who came before us.”

Directly in front was a large, marble
family crypt, the only one that held multiple people in the vast
cemetery. The inscription “Davenport” was centered on the top with
names going down each side.

Emma (1790 - 1815), Victoria (1771 -
1830), William (1770 - 1823), Christopher (1791 - 1843), and
Elizabeth (1795 - 1815).

“
Wow, Emma and Elizabeth
died the same year…and so young. How sad for William and
Victoria.”

Emma solemnly nodded in agreement,
“Apparently Elizabeth and her husband, George were murdered. They
lived in a cottage in the wooded area of the property. The person
who did it was never caught. Emma died of pneumonia a few days
later.”

“One of history’s mysteries,
eh?”

Emma snickered, “Yeah, I guess it is!
William and Victoria were absolutely devastated losing both
daughters. The story says that they just told the people of the
town that she and her husband ran away together. They were right in
the middle of caring for Emma and already had enough to deal with.
William and Victoria weren’t thinking clearly as they knew that
Emma was on her deathbed.”

“Wow, that had to be quite a messed up
week for them.”

Emma nodded in agreement and gave an
uncomfortable chuckle.

As they walked through the cemetery
she pointed out who was who. Not all were Davenports, those with
different last names were the daughters who had married and taken
their husband’s names. They came upon the most recent occupants of
the cemetery. They were Emma and Daniel’s parents, John and Mary.
Todd felt a bit guilty and voyeuristic for knowing their story all
too well since it had been on every news channel and magazine six
years earlier. Of course, the media never failed to bring it up
from time to time when talking about Daniel’s career.

Todd lightly rubbed her back, “I’m
sorry about what happened to them.”

She smiled lovingly at the graves,
“Thank you. They were good people; they didn’t deserve what
happened to them.”

“How did you and Daniel cope with
that?” Todd sympathetically asked.

She shrugged, “I stayed strong for him
since he was just a kid. He began to spiral into a depression for a
time and Zachariah and I just tried to keep him from going too
deep. Slowly, he came out of it as he grieved, but he’ll never get
over it. What’s horrible is that our dad was just heading into town
to grab a few groceries, mom decided at the last minute to go
along. She was originally going to just stay home.”

“Wow…I’m so sorry.”

“I dwelled on it for a long time, but
there comes a time when you realize you can’t change the past, but
just continue to move forward,” she said, still staring at the
names engraved on the headstones.

Todd nodded in agreement and put his
arm around her. It just seemed like the natural thing to
do.

She shivered and rubbed the tops of
her arms, “So, I think I’m going to take you up on that offer. May
I borrow your jacket? It’s getting a bit chilly now!”

He happily shrugged it off and helped
her put it on. The arms were far too long and the sleeve openings
were way past her fingertips. She looked like a child playing
dress-up in an adult’s clothing. She rolled the sleeves up to her
wrists to free her hands.

“Come one, enough with the dead folks,
I have some other cool stuff to show you,” she said as she took his
arm once again.

They walked back into the woods along
the pathway that twisted and turned every now and then. They came
along an area where there were cottages placed in various
locations. Some looked rather new and refurbished, others looked
like a historian’s dream, and a few looked as if their only hope
would be if they were torn down. They had numbers on them like
make-shift addresses. Some of the newer ones had cars parked in
front of them.

“We use these for visitors that don’t
want to stay in the actual Manor, those who like a little bit of
privacy. Some of the cast and crew get their own if they request
it. Some of cottages need some work done on them, but I’m
definitely not the handy type and haven’t gotten around to
restoring them. “These few,” she pointed at three of them, “I’d
like to just tear down. Except for Number One—I just
can’t.”

Todd looked at the cottage labeled
“1”, which was the most dilapidated of them all. It looked as
though no one had set foot in there for centuries. The wood was
rotted and dilapidated and the structure itself looked as though it
would collapse if you sneezed on it.

“That was Elizabeth’s cottage with her
husband, the one she was murdered in front of.”

Todd was overwhelmed with a sense of
history right before his eyes. It was hard for him to wrap his mind
around the events that took place in this very cottage nearly two
hundred years ago. He looked at the decaying exterior and saw that
the windows were still intact.

“May I peek in the window? I’m just
fascinated with this,” he sheepishly asked.

“Of course, I don’t think anyone has
really touched it since the murders. I think all of the generations
of our family just respected that this was her home, these were her
things, and they just left them be,” she responded and they both
cupped their hands to get a better peek inside.

It was dark except for the bits of
sunlight that shone thrown the windows. He saw belongings; a quilt,
cooking items, a rocking chair, a chest, and other day-to-day items
that any person would need back then. Everything was covered in
dust and cobwebs the items where the sun shone on them were near
completely faded.

By now it was around noon and she
looked up at the sun. The trees still provided some shade as all
the leaves hadn’t completely fallen yet, so the chill from the
breeze was strong. Emma noticed Todd lightly shivering.