Sophie whirled around to find the source of the voice. She knew it was Thomas, she recognized his voice the moment he spoke but he had frightened her nonetheless.
He didn't apologize when he realized he had startled her. She left the door open and he knew she had just seen him outside. She shouldn't be so shocked. She was a skittish little thing, he thought.
"He had this on him?" she asked after she had recovered.
"He always did," he took it from her and looked at the portrait more closely. He studied the likeness of it to her actual face. "I took it out of his pocket and put it here for him," he explained.
"Did you, did you find him?" she asked nervously.
"No," he said. The memories filled his mind. "Terrance actually found him, poor kid, that was a real fright for him. But he got me straight away. I was probably Jeremiah's closest friend you see. So we got the governor and the clerk and we all went out there to retrieve him."
Sophie swallowed hard and reached for the key around her neck. "That must have been awful," she whispered. "I'm so sorry."
He nodded but didn't speak. He handed her the portrait back. He thought she looked beautiful in the portrait but she was much more stunning in real life. He felt a pain for his friend. It was sad Jeremiah did not get to see her sweet face in person.
She looked at her portrait more closely.
"I never really saw the finished product," she said. "It was done nearly six months ago and I never knew why mother hired the painter to make it, especially when I never saw it." She shrugged. "I think my mother had this planned much longer then I anticipated."
None of this made any sense to Thomas. His eyebrows drew together in confusion.
"Was it not your choice to come here?" he asked.
"No, " she shook her head. "My father died unexpectedly," she explained. "I have no brother's so we lost our fortune to my cousin. He only gives my mother enough allowance for herself so she sent me here."
"Wow, he sounds like a real piece of work. Why didn't your mother come with you?" he wondered out loud. "That's a long way to send a girl who has never been on her own before." He knew she was grossly unprepared for life here but learning she hadn't even chosen it made it so much more worse for some reason.
"That is a really good question," she said. Why hadn't she thought of it? Her mother could have come with her. Wouldn't any mother truly concerned for her daughter's well being insist on coming?
"Well, no matter," she said trying to shake the thought. "I'm here now, no use rehashing the past. It is what it is."
He knew that she was putting off how much that realization affected her.
"If you were Jeremiah's very good friend why did I inherit all his belongings and not you?"
"They asked me for my opinion of course, but I agreed. I thought that he would want you to have them. I want to do right by him."
"Do you want to look through anything and see if there is anything you might want?"
"No," he said firmly. "It is all for you."
"That is very kind. He must have been a true friend."
"He was," Thomas sighed. He had come over to visit because he wanted to see her in his friend's house. He wanted to appreciate it for Jeremiah. He wanted to try and treasure the moments and honor them because his friend would never get them. He wished like hell he could bring his friend back and see him in his house with his new bride. He would be beaming with pride at this moment.
"I wish I could see his face right now," he admitted. "He would be so happy to have you in his home finally."
"Maybe he can see me," she offered lightly. "I don't know what happens when we die but I know I have felt my father many times." She was rolling the key between her fingers again. "Sometimes I think death isn't as far away as we think. So, I'm developing a theory and even if I am wrong, it makes me happy to think about it. I think those we lose stay close. I think they check on us and visit us. So, I choose to believe that Jerimiah can see me. And he can see you too and how kind you are to me. Because of that, I will do my very best to honor him just like you are doing."
Thomas was pretty skeptical of her theory but he had to admit he liked it of it.
"I would love it if that were true because I think he would be very happy seeing how kind and beautiful you really are," he said quietly. She smiled broadly.
"You think I'm beautiful?" she said with a goofy tease.
"You know you are," he said flatly. If his friend was watching, he wasn't going to make him watch Thomas flirt with her.
"Was he very kind and patient?"
Thomas nodded.
"Is there anyone else here that is as kind or patient as Jeremiah?" she asked
Thomas knew there was not. To be real truthful, Thomas was probably a close second in the kind and patient category, but far behind his friend Jeremiah.
"No," he said unapologetically.
"Well that is really is too bad," she said woefully. "Because as you have already observed, I am terribly unprepared for this new world. Everything that I was taught was important and every characteristic about myself that I was taught to improve upon is completely wrong for this place, and has only made me a burden. It sounds like Jeremiah would have put up with my deficiencies with grace," she said with a sigh.
"Yes, he would have gratefully." Thomas agreed.
"Well, I was almost very lucky," Sophie's shoulders slumped.
"If he is really watching over you as you think he is," Thomas speculated. "Then you have a mighty force working for you on the other side and I'm sure he will help you along the way."
"That is so sweet of you, Thomas, I like that thought. That will be my new mantra, with Jeremiah on the other side helping me, nothing is impossible," she beamed.
She looked so damn happy it nearly made Thomas smile. He hoped her little theory was correct.
"You said you think you have felt your father since he passed. What do you mean exactly?"
"I don't know," she said, putting the portrait back down. "I can sort of feel him, you know? Sometimes I think I can smell him. Or sometimes a thought comes into my mind that is exactly what my father would say, not me. So how could the thought get there? I think that must be it mostly. It's almost like he is whispering in my ear. 'Now think about that before you say it outload darlin,'" she said imitating her father. "Things like that. I can almost hear his voice. So, when it comes to feeling Jeremiah's presence that will be harder for me because I don't know his voice or how he spoke, but not impossible."
Thomas actually thought what she was saying made a lot of sense. It was the thought of Jeremiah that prompted him to walk over here tonight. He could practically hear his friend say, 'come on Tom that has to be overwhelming for the poor girl, go help her out.' And so he did. He obeyed the feeling.
"I actually think I understand what you are saying," he admitted. His brows furrowed. Wasn't that the same reason he helped her haul water too? It was, Jeremiah's voice that prompted him then too. It appeared, Jeremiah was turning Tom into his own personal errand boy. Jeremiah was always trying to enlist Tom into doing one good dead or another when he was living and Tom rarely folded. Why was he doing it now he wondered. Normally, that would piss Tom right off, but in this case, he didn't mind so much.