Crossed fates
Chapter 8
America, since 1899
Ulisse went with a heavy heart to the home of Peter, the husband of his sister Calipso, indeed the ex-husband, because Calipso had died only a few years earlier due to a fever that no one had been able to cure. His mother Deborah had been heartbroken and it was no longer her. The love of her father Buck and her 3 other children had failed to save her. She let herself die day after day and after about a year and a half she died of starvation. His father had been heartbroken. He had never recovered. The death of his beloved daughter had been a hard blow for him too, but seeing the wife he loved more than his own life, who had always been a strong and vital woman, die more every day had broken him. After Deborah's death he had simply given up on living. Their children were grown up and able to live independently and then they would have the support of friends Lou and Kid and their children.
Buck had acted like his wife and was gone in a few months. Ulisse, Nausicaa and Achille had suffered greatly from the triple loss but they knew that their father without his wife would no longer be able to live and perhaps it had been better this way. They were all buried close together in Sweetwater Cemetery.
Peter, Calipso's husband, moved to Rock Creek after a year to serve as marshall with Calipso's only daughter, Elizabeth. In Rock Creek he had met a woman of Italian descent, Maria, (many Italians were emigrating to America at that time) and a few years later he married her. Ulisse and his brothers went to visit them every now and then, to be close to their niece.
Peter had had a son and daughter from his second marriage, Isaac and Rosa (in honor of Maria's Italian origins). Ulisse was going to Peter precisely to celebrate Rosa's birth: it would have been an opportunity to also see his brothers who had remained in Sweetwater, while he had moved to Seneca with his family and ran a ranch. He had had a son, Noah, in honor of his father's and mother's friend.
He knocked on the door and Maria came to open it for him.
"Welcome Ulisse, it's nice to have you with us again, come in, your brothers and nephews have already arrived"
Nausicaa was married and had two daughters (Lucy and Abigail) and a son, Franklin, while Achille, also married, had a son (Tom) and twins (Rachel and Susan).
"Hello everyone", he greeted after entering. He hugged his family and they exchanged pleasantries. Ulisse immediately went to Rosa: she was a beautiful little girl, very sweet and quiet.
They all had lunch together and told each other their latest news.
Buck and Deborah's children had gladly accepted Peter's new family, who had always been respectful towards them, had fostered their relationship with Elizabeth and they knew that he had also remarried to give their granddaughter a new mother. , while always keeping the memory of Calipso alive. Maria had been very sweet to Elizabeth and never tried to take Calipso's place. They were a beautiful extended family.
After the celebrations for the birth of Rosa, Ulisse, Nausicaa and Achille decided to go to dinner together with their families to recall the old times.
"Remember when we lived in Sweetwater with Mom and Dad before the war? You Achille were not yet born and you Nausicaa were little, but you should have some memories ", suddenly burst out Ulisse.
"Yes, I remember playing with Emma and Jed and once a week we all got together for dinner with Grandpa Teaspoon, Aunt Rachel and the others, Cody, Jimmy and Noah, but it's all a bit hazy, I was so little!" exclaimed Nausicaa.
"Mom and Dad were very happy, I never heard them argue seriously. They were always cheerful and in love, they never missed an opportunity to pamper each other and show each other their affection. When dad was out for his runs, mum was always a little worried but as soon as she heard him return her eyes would light up. Their love was unique ".
"Tell me a little more about that ì period, Ulisse, you are the only one who has clear memories now that Calipso is gone", Achille asked.
"Mom was a teacher in town and on Saturday nights she sang with dad in the saloon. Even though they had 3 children, they didn't want to give up this passion. They didn't consider it a job, they had a lot of fun and at home they often sang the songs they performed with. They were in tune with that too. Then when the war broke out and we moved to Rock Creek they had to give up this passion. "
"I have a hard time imagining dad singing in public. He was so reserved ", Achille noted.
"Mom told me they sang together for the first time at Aunt Lou and Uncle Kid's wedding and the saloon owner noticed their skill and understanding and decided to hire them. In fact, dad was hesitant but mom gave him confidence and once I asked him exactly the same question as you, Achille, he replied that mom was his strength. When he sang with her it was like he was in a world of their own, where no one else existed. Too bad they then stopped ".
"I too remember the melodies that sometimes rang through the house", said Nausicaa.
"You know what I came up with, guys? I would like to collect all the letters and cards from mom and dad, the ones they exchanged during the war, the Christmas and birthday cards and after reading them carefully, bury them near their graves, as if they could accompany them to theirs travel together even in death ", said Ulisse.
"Do you know it's a nice thought? But I'd like to copy them first, to have a memory to reread every now and then, as if their love also protected our families and could be our guide ", Nausicaa argued.
"Oh well, sister, this is a job for you though", Achille joked.
"I do it willingly, especially since I live right in our old house".
"Then we agree, when you return home you will copy them and then we will all meet together, even with Elizabeth and her uncles, to put this thing into practice", said Ulisse.
"I thought it would be nice to contact Uncle Cody as well and tell Aunt Rachel and Grandpa Teaspoon as well. I think it will do him good to remember the old days and find his old friends, also because I do not think that ailments will spare him for much longer unfortunately, Aunt Rachel says that he gets weaker every day ", observed Achille.
"That would be cool, but I don't think Uncle Cody will be there, he's so busy with his show. Instead it's a great idea for Grandpa Teaspoon, he had to face the deaths of so many friends: Uncle Ike, Uncle Noah, Uncle Jimmy, Mom, Dad and Calipso. His heart must be torn apart", remarked Nausicaa.
Ulisse greeted the brothers with the promise that he would soon visit them with all his family.
When Nausicaa arrived home, she told her husband that she wanted to look for her parents' letters and cards right away and retired to her room to tidy them up.
It took her nearly three months to copy all of them and when the job was done she informed her brothers. Achille took charge of contacting everyone to organize the ceremony and the following month they found themselves at the graves of Buck and Deborah to remember them and bury with them the signs of their love. Everyone was present, including Peter and his new family. Only Cody was missing who had not been able to be present but had sent a note in which he said he remembered everyone with great affection.
Nausicaa wanted to read a few passages of the parents' letters to remember their strong bond and then they dug a small hole between their two graves and buried a box containing the couple's writings.
Teaspoon was deeply moved by it and in the evening he wanted to invite everyone to dinner with him and Rachel to remember the old days. He entertained all the guests by telling episodes and anecdotes of the pony express and the lives of his "boys", as he still called them, supported by Lou and Kid who loved to rethink their youth.
A few months later, Ulisse and Peter received the news of Teaspoon's death: old age had taken over even his strong skin. Everyone gathered again and this time Cody was also present, who had returned from Italy and told about the beauties of Deborah and Maria's country of origin.
Cody's stories aroused a lot of curiosity in Nausicaa and Maria who for some time had been planning to visit the Bel Paese one day and now became even more convinced that they wanted to tackle this journey.
Maria managed to convince Peter to go to Italy the following year: she wanted to spend time in her family's country of origin and Peter agreed.
They left in June of the following year, convinced to return after some time. Maria, however, did not want to return: she had discovered that she had relatives in Northern Italy and wanted to track them down and try to recover a relationship with them. Peter agreed, especially as he had only his in-laws left in Rock Creek and could easily find work in Italy.
So they moved there and went to live in Lombardy. Their children grew up and Rosa fell in love with an Italian boy whom she married after a few months and from their marriage two children were born: Luca and Piera.
Ulisse, Achille and Nausicaa were very saddened at not being able to see Elizabeth again and this convinced Nausicaa even more to undertake the long-awaited journey to Italy: she convinced her husband to join Peter and his family for a short time. Nausicaa wanted to visit all the places of her mother's childhood and fell in love with Italy so much that she returned there other times to visit, also accompanied by the brothers Ulisse and Achille with their families.
When Franklin, son of Nausicaa, got married, he decided to spend the first years of his marriage in Italy, in Milan, to reconnect with his cousin Elizabeth and Peter's other children, but when the war broke out, he returned with his wife in America and settled in Michigan with his family.
The years passed and little by little the bonds between the single families broke: the sons of Ulisse, Nausicaa, Achille and Peter took very different paths and no one was left in Sweetwater. Lou, Kid and Rachel, once dead, had been buried near their friends and the couple's children had also moved to different cities, some in California, some in Missouri, some in Virginia.
The homes of Deborah, Lou and Rachel were still there, abandoned but standing, filled with memories that someone would sooner or later bring back to life.