Chapter 12-Cleaning the House and a Family Talk

Alex watched as her father opened the door to his office. The scuffling stopped. She stood behind her father, looking past him to Jason and Mr. Locke.

Jason was staring at her father as if he'd seen a ghost, which he probably had. Alex still wondered how he could still be alive when everyone had said that he'd drowned when his ship went down.

But one question had been answered. Her father didn't like her nickname. His face had revealed that much when Polly used it.

"Mr. John," Jason said his spectacles halfway down his face.

"Jason," John said, surprising Alex as he smiled.

Jason moved his spectacles to his eyes as he looked at John, then Alex, and back to John. "Mr. John," he said.

"I reckon my absence has caused a bit of trouble," John said, putting his arm around Alex. It was also surprising he was being this affectionate with her already. Alex smelled the smell of cigars and bay rum as she stood this close to him. It wasn't an unpleasant smell. Alex liked it as she wrapped her arms around his waist.

"Just a bit, Sir, just a bit," Jason said in a laughing tone. Alex then noticed Mr. Locke behind Jason. This man was intruding as he had done since he had come into the house. Alex hoped her father would say if he was related to him or not.

Alex hoped there wasn't a relation between her father and Mr. Locke. Her father's face changed as he noticed Mr. Locke standing there.

"What in heaven's name are you doing in my home?" her father asked a steel-like quality in his voice.

"Mr. Shaw. I...I...I...they said that you-"Mr. Locke stuttered.

"I'm not. Fortunately I know how to swim," John said. Alex grinned as she looked up at her father and then Jason, who grinned back. "Now I ask you, Mr. Snow, what are you doing in my home?"

"Mr. Snow?" Alex and Jason both asked in confusion. The sea water had to have addled her father's head.

"Yes. Did you not properly introduce yourself?" John asked as he walked toward the man and started to push him down the hall.

"Come on. Let's see what Father does," Alex said as they all followed John.


John pushed Mr. Snow down the hall, amidst his protests and begging. Through it all his heart felt light. Alexandra had clung to him as she had when she was a baby and he had heard her call him "Father." He was still that to her after all the years apart.

Raising these two girls was going to be interesting. He had raised Jim, but he had hardly any experience with little girls past the age of two or three.

John opened the door on the second floor and saw Bayne's wife, Gaynelle Snow, in the hallway. "Hello, Mrs. Snow," John said in irritation. Here was another he would oust from his home.

"Ghost! Ghost!" Mrs. Snow screamed as she ran down the hall in terror.

John then noticed a man on the floor and a woman in the hall. "All right, Mr. Hughes, on your feet, Sir," he heard Jason say behind him. John motioned the woman in the hall to follow them.

"We're moving out of here. Just stay there, we'll be back," John heard Jason say again. Probably to the woman.

"Amanda? Amanda?" He heard the woman ask behind them. Amanda. That was his niece's name? His brother had liked the name when they were younger. When John was 30 and Jim 15 they had discussed what names they would give children if they ever had any. Jim had only picked Amanda for a girl while John wanted their mother's name, Talitha, for a girl.

"Ghost!" He heard Mrs. Snow scream as he came to the main staircase leaving the mansion. He saw Aunt Lou, Liza, and Samuel all standing there.

"Where's the ghost? Who saw a ghost?" Aunt Lou asked as Mrs. Snow went past her. Aunt Lou screamed in fright as she looked at him.

"I'm real, Aunt Lou, not a ghost- I promise," John said as they went to the foot of the stairs.

"That's what they all say," Aunt Lou said. John could have laughed at that. How many ghosts did Aunt Lou know to say that?

"My baby! My baby! Oh, I thought you were killed!" The woman from the hall exclaimed as she ran up to Amanda and hugged her.

"Get off of me! She's not even my real Momma," Amanda said to John after she pushed the woman away. A look of repulsion filled her face. "Why didn't you tell me?"

The woman sighed deeply. "Honey, it's so obvious. Neither me nor Irene look a thing like ya. You and the little redhead here, look alike in some degree. And the only reason your father made me promise I wouldn't tell was so you thought you had a real family," the woman said, looking remorseful.

"She does have one now. Me," Alexandra spoke up from beside John.

"I thought she did when you came into the dining room and you acted like twins," the woman said as Mr. Hughes came up to her, a look of indignation on his face.

"You mean you put me through all this trouble knowing full well she wasn't your flesh and blood?" The man asked. The woman smiled apologetically.

John nearly smiled himself as Alexandra and Polly came over to Amanda and wrapped their arms around her protectively. His daughter was only an inch or two shorter than both girls, but he could see a strong personality that matched his. He would talk to both of his girls later, but he had to empty the house first.

"Jason, would you please escort Mr. and Mrs. Snow out?" John asked.

"With great pleasure, Sir. This way," Jason said, pushing Mr. Snow and his wife to the door.

"Well, I am not leaving without my things," Mrs. Snow said haughtily as she pushed past Jason.

"And as for my brother's widow and her friend," John said, pushing the woman and Mr. Hughes toward the exit.

"I volunteer," Liza said, raising her hand. Samuel helped push them out.

"Thank you, Liza, Samuel," john said as he went back to Alexandra and Amanda. He wrapped one arm around Alexandra. He didn't know how Amanda might feel if he repeated the same gesture. "My brother was married to that woman?" John asked. Amanda nodded her head, John huffed out a breath.

Jim had made a mistake marrying that woman. Something said in her actions that she had treated Jim and Amanda horribly. Gaynelle came into the hallway, lugging a valise that rattled.

"Jason, would you help Mrs. Snow carry her bag? I do hate to see a woman laboring under such weight," John said. He heard Alexandra cough slightly as if covering up a laugh.

"Yes, of course, Mr. John. I'll take that," Jason said, pulling the valise.

"No, thank you. I'm quite capable," Mrs. Snow said, starting a tug-of-war.

"I insist," Jason said, pulling the bag out of her hand.

"No, that will not be necessary," Mrs. Snow said belatedly.

"Thank you. You know, Mrs. Snow, you really should start learning to pack for traveling. Jason said, pulling out some gilt candlesticks. "These are nice," Jason said as they all smiled. "There's only one rule really. Don't haul out what you did not haul in," Jason said warningly. "All right. Thank you, Madam. After you," Jason said, pulling out a small black hat and putting it on her head. Jason led them to the door.

"Goodbye, Mr. and Mrs. Snow," John said as they left the house.

Alexandra heaved a huge sigh of relief. "It's finally quiet. I think I'm going to go get a cup of tea. I'm not going to sleep tonight," Alexandra said.

"Sounds good. I think I want one too," Amanda said with a smile. Both girls wrapped their arms around each other as they walked to the kitchen.

"Miss Alex, Miss Mandie, why don't I get you the tea?" Aunt Lou asked. So both of his girls had nicknames?

Alex and Mandie. He could get used to Mandie, but Alex? He couldn't envision himself ever calling his daughter Alex. He had always thought of her as Alexandra.

"How about it, Cousin Alex?" Amanda asked.

"Nope. I know how to fix my own tea. It's not as if I'm three," Alexandra said, looking at Aunt Lou and John. John felt a smile cross his face.

His daughter was his. She was as obstinate at 11 as he and Jim was. He remembered giving his mother and father quite a few headaches at her age. Both of his parents had died by the time Jim was 11. So John had the headaches from Jim's ways.

"Miss Alex, I don't mind. I know you can do it yourself, but I want to get it. You and Miss Mandie wait here," Aunt Lou said, walking to the kitchen.

"I didn't stand a chance in us getting it ourselves, did I?" Alexandra asked.

"I could have told you that would happen, Alexandra," John said coming downstairs and wrapping his arm around her.

"I had to try. I'm used to doing things for myself," Alexandra said ruefully.

"I was my father's headache. I guess you and your cousin are going to be mine," John teased both girls.

"Very funny, Father," Alexandra said, pressing one hand against his shoulder and the other against his stomach.

Aunt Lou came back with hot cups of tea and gave one to each girl. They walked off to the library, Ned following.


Alex held her teacup as they went into the library. Her father's attention was now on Mandie and he smiled as he looked at her and Alex.

"I can't decide whether you look more like my mother or Elizabeth," John said. Mandie smiled briefly as they sat down. "They told me you were dead."

"Who?" Mandie asked.

"Elizabeth's parents," John said, a steel entering his voice.

"Why?" Mandie asked confused.

"For the same reason they split your father and Elizabeth up and annulled their marriage five days after their honeymoon. They found out we were half Cherokee. And they were not about to let Indian blood dilute their pure German ancestry. My own wife was disowned by her parents when she married me. They said I wasn't a White man. I was an Indian and they'd never accept me or any children we had," John said a sad look on his face.

"I with Jim Shaw. Messenger come. Bring baby. You," Ned said to Mandie. "Messenger say Elizabeth dead in childbirth. Give you to Jim Shaw."

"You knew this whole time that Etta wasn't her real mother?" Alex asked, turning to Ned.

"Am sorry, Papoose. Promise Uncle Jim never tell," Ned said. Mandie then turned to look at John.

"How do you go fourteen years and never make up with the only brother you had?" Mandie asked the question both girls had thought.

"I thought he would come back after his marriage was annulled. So I married myself and waited. He was the one who left- he took Elizabeth and Ned. I didn't know where he went. So I waited. Too long," John said sadly as he looked at a spot on the floor.

"Father would have listened to you if you had told him to come back," Mandie said to Ned.

"What happened to Elizabeth?" Alex asked her father.

"I don't know, Alexandra. I didn't want to know. Jim was proud of his Indian blood. I told him to hide it, that it'd get him in trouble. He didn't listen to me," John said with a bitter smile.

Alex pulled her antler necklace out of the pocket of her dress, running her fingers over the smooth bone. "I think I am," Alex admitted.

"I leave that up to you. You decide if you want to be Cherokee or not. With your uncle I learned I couldn't force him to be one or the other," her father said, taking the necklace out of her hand.

"I don't know if I'm proud of my Indian blood or not. I'm glad you're not dead," Mandie said walking off. Alex, John, and Ned all looked at each other in silence for a few awkward moments.