The next morning Robbie picked the blue T-shirt up off the floor. He folded it neatly and stowed it in the new duffel bag that would be their suitcase for the rest of the trip. Melissa cooked bacon and eggs wanting to send Robbie and Laura off on their trip with a good breakfast and her husband well fed for another day policing rural Maine.
Having said their good-byes and thank-yous, they got back in the Forrester. Robbie had his window open. Jake bent down to lean in the car and told them, "Now don't mind my brother, he's a bit rough around the edges." Jake's face turned solemn for a moment. "We may be twins but life has been more kind to me than him." He added a warning. "Whatever you do, don't call him 'Tommy'. He's strictly Thomas."
They headed southwest across the state of Maine seeing mostly pine trees and an occasional small town. They met very few cars until they turned right onto US Route 2. There the traffic picked up a bit but was not anything like what they were used to at home. It was difficult to find radio stations along the way and there were long stretches with dead air. Robbie filled the void by humming a football team fight song while Laura contributed with a ballad from her days as an undergraduate at Oxford.
They drove through Peru and West Peru, then stopped for a late lunch at a Thai restaurant in Mexico (there were no Mexican restaurants). Soon after they crossed the border into New Hampshire, greeted with the sign, 'Welcome to New Hampshire, Live Free or Die'.
Robbie shook his head, "That sounds a bit harsh."
Laura turned around to read the back side of sign, 'Welcome to Maine, America's Vacationland', with some regret. Maine would always be a special place for them. Almost immediately upon crossing the border, they saw the landscape change. Gone were the pine trees, replaced with rock, mostly granite. The car was not equipped with a GPS. Howard had told them that northerners didn't use them, that a good map and a sense of direction were all you needed.
Somehow their sense of direction took them on a little detour south and to the Kancamagus 'fearless one' Highway, the scenic route. Realizing they were off course the only thing to do was to take in the spectacle of the White Mountain National Forest, stopping to visit the Old Man of the Mountain. Laura stared at the naturally chiseled features of the stone man who loomed 1,200 feet above them on the side of a mountain. Secretly she observed that his profile resembled that of a certain inspector, perhaps with a bit of Abraham Lincoln thrown in. There was a small shop where Laura bought a polished piece of New Hampshire granite for Jack, another T-shirt for herself, and a hat for Robbie. The hat had the profile of the Old Man of Mountain and Laura paid the extra $2.00 and waited 45 seconds for Robbie's name to be embroidered underneath it.
Getting back on the right road took them through the town of Bethlehem and both agreed to tell James about their brief pilgrimage. Robbie asked if there was a Manchester in New Hampshire. Laura consulted Howard's map and located Manchester, too far south for them to visit on this trip. Lisbon and New London would also be missed. They headed north on Route 3, stopped at a roadside stand for some all-American hot dogs (Robbie was hungry again), then left civilization behind as they followed Jake's directions to his brother's house.
On the last road to Beaver Brook, a Police cruiser passed them. They followed it the rest of the way to the home of Lt. Thomas Wilder of the New Hampshire State Police. This Lt. Wilder, in a uniform of dark green shirt and khaki pants appeared to be a carbon copy of his brother. He leaned on his car as Robbie and Laura got out of theirs. Robbie walked over and extended a hand while they introduced themselves.
"I know who you are Inspector Lewis." He ignored the hand and nodded at Laura. "Dr. Hobson."
Upon closer inspection Robbie and Laura could see that this man, Thomas, the twin, while physically identical to Jake, had creases of worry and anxiety in his face rather than his brother's genial expression. When he removed the dark sunglasses instead of the sincere clear blue eyes they met in Maine, the dark blue eyes now staring at them were cold and joyless.
With as few words as possible, Thomas Wilder showed them to their accommodations for the night, a large camping trailer. He gave them a brief tour, it was really a shrunken version of a home, and explained how he had it hooked up to electricity and water taking them back outside to show Robbie how to switch the propane hot water tank. He gruffly wished them a good night and a safe journey the next day and walked down a gravel path to another trailer, a double wide manufactured home.
He disappeared so quickly that Robbie and Laura didn't even have time to protest that perhaps they were a burden and could go to a hotel, that is if one could be found. Thomas knew he had put them off and turned around, "I insist you stay here, professional courtesy." He kept on walking.
"Laura, are you okay with this?" Robbie waved his arm toward the camper. Darkness was settling in and they guessed the nearest motel was at least an hour away.
"It's okay. Jake said not to be put off by his brother." She watched Thomas Wilder enter his home. "Robbie, there's something not right with him. He's carrying a heavy burden."
"Yeah, life hasn't been kind to him."
As they unpacked the car a woman came out of the Wilder home and walked towards a van parked near them. Thinking she might be Mrs. Thomas Wilder (they had both noticed his wedding ring) they started to introduce themselves. It turned out that Ramona Garcia was a nurse, not Mrs. Wilder. Lt. Wilder had asked her to explain the situation to Robbie and Laura.
Another car pulled into the dooryard, what northerners call a driveway. A man exited the car, waved to Ramona Garcia and entered the house. "He's the night aide for Mrs. Wilder, Beverly. I'm one of the second shift nurses."
Ten years ago Beverly Wilder and her daughter Emma had gone on a shopping trip to Montreal. While crossing a busy street, using the crosswalk after getting a green light, they were the victims of a speeding hit and run driver. Emma was killed instantly while Beverly was left in a coma. Thomas Wilder insisted his wife be cared for at home. He sold his larger house down the road, keeping a small piece of land for the double wide. Every penny he had was spent on Beverly's care. With health insurance from his job covering some services and a legion of local volunteers, he had persevered in keeping her at home. Every night he read aloud to her from one of her favorite books, usually an English whodunit. Other than work, Thomas Wilder had no time for anything or anyone else.
Laura touched Robbie's shoulder and brought him out of his shock. They stood silently for a few minutes watching the tail lights of the nurse's van disappear down the road. Then Robbie put his hand on the small of Laura's back and guided her into their home for the night.
"Val wouldn't have wanted that."
Robbie and Laura were lying side by side on top of the bed in the camper, not having bothered to get undressed. Their sides touched lightly.
"Robbie, I wouldn't have wanted that for her, nor the life Thomas is living, for you." She stared at the ceiling blinking back tears.
"Yeah, and he lost his daughter too, his only child."
"Thank God Lyn wasn't with Val when she-"
They turned to hold each other and were still holding on tight when the sun rose the next morning in Northern New Hampshire.
Back in Maine, Jake Wilder told his wife that he hoped Lizzie was right, that his brother needed to meet Robbie and Laura.
A/N: Sadly, the five ledges of rock that comprised New Hampshire's 40 foot by 25 foot Old Man of the Mountain collapsed to the ground on May 3, 2003. Only in fiction will anyone get to see him in person again.