Unsettled, I tug at the sleeves of my jacket. “You said you found something about the portrait?”
Jude removes a letter from his coat pocket and slides it across the table. I pick it up and read the date at the top—March 9, 1833, addressed to Amos Vandenberg’s wife, Ida. The mother of Ruth Vandenberg, who died in an animal attack.
I take a reverent breath and begin reading.
MyDearest Sister Ida,
Your last letter was both a comfort and a sorrow, for it assures me of your well-being, and yet, the news of dear Gabriel grieves me beyond expression. To have lost, in that single, dreadful attack, both his cherished twin and the young lady to whom his affections were so tenderly bound, oh, Ida! How much sorrow can one heart endure? Young love is a most violent affliction, and few recover from it unscathed.
But this new distress, his departure for Winchester! I can scarce comprehend it. That he would leave everything familiar, everything dear, to cross the sea in such a fragile state. What business could possibly require his presence in England now, in the midst of his grief? Pray tell it is not the painting that compels him.
Ezra’s portrait was lost in the fire, was it not? How strange for Gabriel to insist otherwise. Stranger still is his belief that Raphael the younger stole it. Does he truly insistAmos laid forth such a charge at the end of his days? I was ever under the impression that your husband and his cousin were of the best accord, despite the old quarrel between their fathers. Could Ezra’s madness have unsettled Amos’s mind, and now poor Gabriel’s as well?
I do hope I do not trouble you with such talk. Forgive me if I have been too bold in my musings. My concern for you and your son weighs heavy upon my heart, and I should very much like to hear from you soon. If you should hear from Gabriel, pray urge him to write as well. Until then, know that you are ever in my thoughts and prayers.
With steadfast love,
Your devoted sister
By the time I’m finished, Gemma has already come and gone with my pie.
I stare down at the loopingcursive on the page. I’ve studied Jude’s family tree enough by now to connect several dots.
Ezra was the father of Amos, and Amos was the father of Gabriel, whose twin sister, Ruth, starred in Episode 8,Cryptid Craze, along with a girl named Violet Underwagon. According to this letter, Violet was more than Ruth’s friend. She was the girl Gabriel fancied.
Raphael the younger would be Raphael II, Amos’s first cousin. Despite the feud between their fathers, they must have gotten along. So perhaps it wasn’t hatred all the way down, after all. But then something must have gone south between them, because Amos made accusations in his final days, and whatever he said was enough to convince his son, Gabriel, that Raphael II had stolen Ezra’s portrait before the fire.
After the vicious death of his sister and the girl he loved, Gabriel set sail for Winchester, England. Which is also on the family tree. Raphael married in Winchester. Raphael II was born in Winchester. He married there as well and had his three children.
It’s a lot to keep track of, and I make a mental note to write everything down when I get home. I unwrap my silverware and pick up my fork. “He must have gone to Winchester to get the portrait back, right?”
Jude hands me a second letter, this one hastily written and much shorter than the first. “I found them together.”
Dear Mother,
I write only with tidings of disappointment. My errand has come to nothing. Raphael II was nowhere to be found in Winchester, nor any account of the Vandenberg name. The journey has been fruitless and I shall return home at once.
Your loving son,
Gabriel
“No account of the Vandenberg name.” I look up. “What does that mean?”
Jude’s leg starts bouncing under the table. “I have no idea.”
“I wonder why he stole it,” I mutter, cutting off a bite of pie with my fork.
I read the letters again, frowning as I go. Struck anew by the tragedy of it all. The animosity between Raphael and Ezra is described like some sort of hereditary disease, an inevitable infection passed from father to son. But what caused the original rift between Ezra and Raphael to begin with? Could grief have been a trigger?
Ezra lost Molly, possibly by suicide.
Gabriel lost Violet and his twin sister in an animal attack.
After him, the misfortune only deepened.
Isaiah lost Helena Piesel, the girl he was privately courting, along with his entire family in a train crash.
Enoch lost his betrothed, his parents, and his left eye in a bank robbery.
