Family Secrets

On a crisp, beautiful fall day on 1945, Charlotte Levee was standing on her back porch admiring the new blanket of colors which seemed to have appeared overnight on the tree tops. There were rich hues of gold, crimson, and burnt sienna as far as the eye could see. The wonderful aroma of the crisp air filled her nose as she breathed in deeply to take in all of the splendor before her.

As she finished her morning cup of coffee, she began to think of all the things that needed to be done that morning, after all, she was going to marry the most handsome man in town in just three short days, Mr. Charles Clemson. Charles was a local business owner in the small town of Reese, about ten miles up the road from the farm which Charlotte herself had owned since her early teenage years. The Levee farm had been in operation for three generations and when her parents were tragically killed in a barn fire when she was only fourteen, everything was of course left to Charlotte at her father's wishes.

Charlotte had spent much careful time and effort rebuilding what had been damaged by the fire, as well as her own mental stability after losing both parents. The farm, which mainly consisted of wheat fields and some dairy cattle, was at it's peak, and Charlotte was the one responsible for the wonderful place it had become. Nobody thought she would be able to turn the farm around after the fire and at such a tender age, but somehow she managed to do just that. It was the most thriving farm for miles around.

One morning about nine months prior, Charlotte had been to town to gather some supplies for herself, when she bumped into a young, handsome fellow while on her way out of the local mercantile. As he helped her retrieve the items that she had dropped, they looked into each other's eyes and immediately fell in love. The town's people were always commenting on how it was literally love at first sight. Shortly after their meeting, they became very close friends and lovers. They had been inseparable ever since.

Between Charlotte's drive and determination and Charles' business savvy, they took the farm to a whole new level by reaching out to surrounding areas in hopes of finding ways to sell the wheat crop and milk to stores and businesses. Everything was going along smoothly. When Charlotte and Charles were about six months into their courtship, Charles proposed and of course, without hesitation, Charlotte accepted.

Now there were only three days left before the big day and there was still so much to so. Charlotte had decided to leave most of the farm work to her farmhands while she finished preparing for the wedding. Letting out a big sigh, she finally stood up and went into the house to take care of the finishing touches.

Inside the kitchen, there was food sprawled everywhere. Deserts were piling up as Helen, her main cook was speedily mixing up batter for the cake. There were cookies, tarts, pies and such covering every counter top. Charlotte tried to explain to her that she needn't make so many things, but Helen insisted on doing it. It settled her nerves. She was more excited and nervous about Charlotte getting married than she herself was. Charlotte had considered Helen her surrogate mother for many years.

With everything going so well in the kitchen, she decided to head for the living room where her two best friends, Elizabeth and Natalie were putting the finishing touches on the floral arrangements. There were white lillies and pink teacup roses everywhere along with sprigs of green fern and babies breath. Elizabeth was arranging the bouquets as Natalie tied everything with a beautiful white silk ribbon.

Beyond the living room, was another sitting room, one in which Charlotte's father had favored when he was alive. It was the room where he did all of his thinking and reading and just relaxing in general. Charlotte used to join him in this room when she was a little girl and he would read to her for hours upon hours while smoking his pipe. She could almost smell that sweet cherry tobacco smell as she entered the room. In was in this room that she kept her wedding dress. Charlotte wanted to be as close to her father as she possibly could for her upcoming special day, and this was the room to do it in. Still, to this day, she would come into this room every night, light a fire and read from the books he had read to her so many times as a child.

There it was, the most exquisite dress she had ever laid eyes on. Charlotte had insisted on something simple, but Charles insisted that she have only the best. An original, hand sewn white silk gown with every embellishment imaginable. There were sequins and beads, not just any beads, but pearls, sewn onto in it intricate patterns. Beautiful white lace trimmed the entire dress and the train, which was about 12 feet long, was covered in crystals.

Charlotte touched the dress as she was remembering fondly the moments spent in this room. She could almost hear her mother calling her for bed. Oh how she wished they could be here for such an important milestone in her life and to see the farm they had worked so hard and long for thrive like it hadn't in generations.

It suddenly dawned on her that she still needed something new, something borrowed and something blue. She concluded that she would simply buy something new and borrow something from each of her best friends, but she still needed something blue. Charlotte wondered if there was anything stored up in the attic that had belonged to her mother and decided to go ahead up and look through some of her old things.

As Charlotte entered the attic on the third floor, an eerie feeling came over her. Almost as though she were being watched, but that was ridiculous, who would be watching her. She walked over to an old cedar chest which belonged to her mother and opened it. The aroma of cedar mixed with her mother's perfume flowed all around her. Charlotte couldn't believe how strong the scent was after all of these years. After all, it had been nearly ten years since the accident had happened.

Bending down to start going through the chest, that same eerie feeling came over her. She looked around and of course decided that she was being a baby. When she was a little girl she was frightened of the attic, but only because it was a forbidden room to go into and that alone was enough to scare her from it. As she drew a hand carved jewelry box from the chest she heard a noise from the other side of the attic. "A mouse. It's only a mouse," she told herself.