Journey’s heart went out to him. “I know exactly how you feel. The day I lost my parents, the main thought on my mind was that my Mom asked if I wanted to take a walk with her and I was too busy playing with my dolls.” She folded her arms around her waist. “I never played with my dolls again.”
Rising, Reno continued to scan the ground and the trees. “Funny, I thought I’d feel her presence. I don’t.”
“That doesn’t mean she isn’t with you.”
He didn’t respond, he just grabbed her hand and started walking down the winding path. When it split into two, he took the path to the left. “I buried her away from the river on a high hill.” Soon, he could spot water through the trees. “Oh, no. The quarry. What if they took her grave when the quarry was excavated?”
Journey hoped not, to have come all the way for such disappointment would be devastating for him. “Keep going. Have faith.”
A few dozen yards later, Reno’s steps slowed. He stared at a wooden sign with disbelieving eyes. Journey came alongside him, as mesmerized by the sign as Reno.
“Stanton Cemetery. How could this be?” He reverently stepped into the midst of weathered tombstones, searching the names.
Journey started looking too, her heartbeat accelerating. Finally, a name caught her eye. “Tess Stanton Morris. Reno, these graves belong to Tess’s family. She listened to your stories and came home. This land was as close to you as she could get.” Journey didn’t know how she knew, she just did.
Reno came to Tess’s grave, squatting to touch the faded carving of her name. “She only lived to be sixty-five, Journey.”
“A ripe old age for the time, remember.”
“She was the sweetest thing.” He stood and wiped his eyes. “I didn’t tell her I loved her enough.”
“You can tell her. When we go back, Tess will still be a little girl.”
“That’s right.” He smiled, lifting his head to keep searching.
Journey knew what he was looking for and she hoped to God he found it.
Hope battled fear as Reno moved farther into the little graveyard. How he wished he could have provided his mother with a stone. All he had left to mark her resting place was a cross he formed and engraved himself. He knew there was little chance the grave marker still stood today. But maybe it had stood long enough, long enough for Tess to come and find what remained.
As if drawn by a magnet, he moved toward the corner – and there it was. A marble marker engraved with the name SOJOURNER BLACK, BELOVED MOTHER. The dates of her birth and death were obscured if they’d ever been there to start with. Reno couldn’t remember if he’d ever told the children the dates or if he’d even carved them on the cross to begin with. “It doesn’t matter. Here you are and here I am.”
Journey cried as she watched the man who she loved more than life itself mourn for his long-dead mother. While he wept, the sky began to weep with him as a soft rain began to fall. Neither of them moved, a little downpour couldn’t dampen the importance of this reunion.
Once he’d prayed for God to keep her soul, he spoke to his mother in whispers. Reno told her all he’d been through, the mystery and the miracle of traveling through time, of finding Journey, and of his necessary return to save his brother, her son’s, life. He asked for her blessing and begged for her help. “I know your guiding hand will always be with me.”
By the time he was finished, the rain was gone, and the sun was peeping through the clouds. When he stood to his feet with hat in hand, he felt like a burden had been lifted. “I didn’t feel like she was here before, I do now.” With one last long look at her name carved in stone, he turned to face Journey. And when he did, the confirmation of his mother’s love was written across the sky. A beautiful rainbow arced across the clouds and once more, the band of many colors seemed to end right over Journey’s shoulder. “Give me your phone,” he held out his hand. “Quickly.”
“Sure.” She lifted it from her purse and handed it to him.
He fumbled for a moment, then lifted it to snap a photo. “I wanted you to see what I saw.” With a smile, he returned the cell. “Modern technology has its merits.”
When Journey looked down, she didn’t see just a photo, she recognized the rainbow for what it was and what it always would be – a sign of promise.
All would be well.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
They’d lingered at his homeplace, walking the trail between the cabin and the cemetery several times. He’d shown Journey where their garden used to be and where he and Clay would fish on the river. He even led her to the spot on the river where his mother loved to stroll in the evenings. “The waters would sing to her, telling their secrets. She always knew the end from the beginning. Yet, she chose to walk a crooked path to give life and love to me and Cole.”
“I wish I could’ve known her, and I’m honored to wear her name.”
“She would’ve loved you. I think she already did.”
This made Journey happy.
When it was time for them to go, she asked Reno what he wanted to do next.
“I just want to get back as soon as possible.” Visiting the place of his birth only made him
