Chapter 22: FAREWELL
Dear Mom and Dad... Here we are back in Boggy Town after spending a week in the deepest, darkest swamp you can imagine. Like something out of Grimm's fairy tales. There is a lot to tell but some of it will have to wait until I get home. It is just too complicated and there is a 'privacy factor' involved. Frankly, I think what that really means is that there are secrets to be kept from the law. Have met some interesting and extraordinary people. I'm glad I came along. I do not mind not getting to see New York City or places like that... they are just cities like San Francisco and will still be there next year.
Dad... if you think the Wild West is wild, you should come on down to Florida. There are smugglers and pirates and feral people who live like savages way back in the swamps where no one can find them. Turns out Jess' brother was one of these people but I am getting ahead of myself. There are not any actual Indians that I have seen.
The first wild man we met was Painter, who was a Rebel officer and a friend of Jess' brother. He did not want to help at first but changed his mind and became our guide. We rode the Jolie Rouge up and down rivers and sloughs for days before Jess got solid information about Tony (that is his brother). These people are very careful about their hideouts as most of them are wanted by the law. Jess and Painter had to go in a pirogue at night secretly to meet him. A pirogue is a boat sort of like a canoe but made out of a hollowed out log, in case you did not know. I had to stay onboard the sternwheeler so all I know is what I have been told.
They were gone over two days and came back with Tony's second wife Olivia and three little boys and Tony's daughter by his first wife. Her name is Samantha and she is a wildcat! Tony died unexpectedly the night after he and Jess met after twenty-three years. I do not know the details yet but I do not think violence was involved.
Anyway, we pulled into the dock here in Boggy right at dawn. A carriage came to take away Miz Ollie and her four children to the home of Miss Amelia Pettus, whom I have not met yet but will when we go for lunch. Captain Booger and Jess and I are staying at the Lafayette Hotel again. We might be here a few more weeks. It depends on how long it takes to find a lawyer and get started on the petition to claim Samantha's inheritance.
I guess I should back up here. Jess said to be sure to tell you that he does not feel too badly about NOT being the last man standing in the inheritance race. It would have been nice to have the money but Samantha is the last surviving female in his line so it is rightfully hers. It occurs to me Jess didn't have to tell anyone about his brother's family, or about Sammie (as she likes to be called). He could have just lied and said he never found them and claimed the money for himself and they would never have known anything about it. Just like you said, Dad... he is an honorable man and I am very proud to be his friend and relative.
Love and miss you, your son Jay Dee
P.S. I got a marriage proposal from Sammie. She was dead serious. She is also 13 years old and has a lot of finishing school ahead of her. I suspect the teachers will be finished before she is, ha ha. Anyway, I did not want to hurt her feelings so I said I was already engaged. (Not true, Mom! Not true, so do NOT faint.)
Dear Slim and Daisie... We are back in Boggy where there is a post office. I got so much to tell you but it is a long story and some of it not so good. Found my brother right before he died from old war wounds. Left a family: wife Olivia age 38, Samantha age 13, Jonathan age 5, twins Jess and Davey age 3. They are at a friend's house right now but someone has to take care of them and I reckon you know what that means. I guess you better go ahead and hire a replacement for me as I don't know when I will be back. I am really sorry.
Hope you all have a good Christmas.
Jess
Thursday, December 4th... Jess and Cap'n Booger were sharing the old-fashioned hackney cab's two-passenger seat up front while Jay Dee elected to accompany the cabbie in the driver's rumble seat. Hard to believe only two weeks had elapsed since the last visit to the Pettus' ancestral pile. Seemed like months to Jess, who wasn't nearly as intimidated, now that he knew the routine—cul-de-sac, double-gated walled estate, bell, gate attendant, driveway, marbled staircase, liveried butler, dim cavernous hall floored in herringbone-patterned mahogany parquet.
This time they were diverted down a side passage to a banquet-sized dining room already occupied by Miss Amelia Pettus at the head of the table, with an almost unrecognizable Olivia and Samantha to her right and—to her left—two empty chairs with William Bradshaw in the third chair and two well-dressed colored gentlemen further down. The table had already been laid for luncheon.
Jess' stomach did a flipflop as they were approached by an elegant black-clad servant with a long slender neck that seemed hard-put to support the tignon atop her head. Her face was all too familiar... an older Cecelia or a younger Rosalie? Behind him he heard Jay Dee's muted gasp of surprise—so he'd seen it, too. It wasn't just Jess' imagination. Without speaking and with subtle gestures the woman directed him and the captain to the two empty chairs and Jay Dee to the one adjacent to Sammie.
Jess was startled when the august, cool-as-a-cucumber Miss Amelia introduced the Messieurs Romulus and Remus Pettus, Attorneys at Law—second cousins on her father's side. He hoped he hadn't betrayed it. No one else seemed to find anything unusual in their presence. The twin lawyers both stood up to shake hands. Jess hoped his wasn't trembling, period. With handshakes all around, everyone was seated.
"I do realize recommending my own kin simply reeks of nepotism," the lady happily continued, "but my cousins specialize in estate law and they are extremely good at what they do. Rem and Rom were near the top of the first graduating class of Howard University School of Law. We're terribly proud of them.
"Olivia had a brief meeting with them yesterday and they have agreed to represent her, on her daughter's behalf, in the pursuit of Samantha's inheritance. But we'll get to that later... first we eat. Delphie... would you advise Otis?"
The woman who might... or might not... be one of Rosalie Mount's daughters silently glided away. Jess watched her leave before slowly turning his head to catch Cap'n Booger's eye and receiving a surreptitious wink in return.
You sly old dog, you!
Sammie was extraordinarily subdued, almost listless... as if she'd been drugged. She been outfitted—probably against her will—in an age-appropriate cotton frock of pale blue that accentuated her eyes. Nothing much could be done about her short-cropped hair until it grew out. She seemed to perk up a bit when Jay Dee sat down next to her.
Olivia was looking quite ethereal in a plain bottle-green day dress of some shiny material. Her hair had been plaited and wound into a corona. On any other women it would have appeared dowdy—on her it was just right. Amelia was resplendent in another one of her outrageously not age-appropriate tea gowns, not giving a flip for social approval.
Jess was silently thankful that no fish, shellfish, pork or mystery meat of any kind appeared on the menu... just good old fried chicken, rice, assorted vegetables and yeast rolls. After a leisurely meal the remnants were whisked away, a short break was held to attend to personal needs, and everyone reassembled at the now converted conference table. Briefcases and folders appeared.
It was all too obvious an unsuccessful attempt had been made to excuse Samantha from the proceedings. Her mouth was set in a grim line of determination and her cheeks were flushed with anger. Having witnessed firsthand the stupendous temper tantrum of which the girl was capable when thwarted—and her colorful vocabulary—Jess devoutly hoped she had the sense to maintain some decorum.
Miss Amelia tapped a long-handled silver spoon on her glass of iced tea.
"Jess... we'll hear from you first. Rem and Rom already have a general idea of the situation from Olivia. Please be as candid as you feel comfortable...but it's important they be made aware of all the details. You may rest assured they will be absolutely discreet in sorting out what is necessary to disclose publicly from what must remain confidential. As Mister Carroll put it, 'Begin at the beginning... and go on till you come to the end. Then stop.' No... no... you needn't stand up."
Jess sat back down after looking to Cap'n Booger and Painter for reassurance and nervously clearing his throat.
"Um... how far back you want me to go, Miss Amelia? This could take a while..."
"Take all the time you need. I would suggest as far back as meeting the men who first suggested you might be related. It was a vastly entertaining story. I'll enjoy a reprise."
"That's gonna take a real long time, but here goes... it starts with me gettin' my leg busted..."
Seeing he had a mesmerized audience, Jess took a deep breath and launched into the tale, three years in the making, that culminated in today's assembly. Their reactions ran the gamut from outright laughter to expressions of sympathy. The twin lawyers made copious notes throughout. At the story's conclusion, Romulus Pettus remarked that Mister Harper was quite an accomplished raconteur... had he ever given any thought to politics? Or perhaps a career on the stage?
Is the man plumb loco? Me? An actor?
"Miss Amelia... I gotta know somethin' before we get too far along... it's about Tony's family... I kinda feel like they're mine now so I gotta figure out how we're gonna get by until..."
"I'm glad you brought that up, Jess, as arrangements have been made to accommodate Olivia and her children."
There's them dadgum arrangements again. Nobody tells me nothin'. Why do folks think they can run around makin' arrangements without even askin' me what I think about it.
But Miss Amelia was talking...
"There's nothing more sad than an elderly woman rattling around alone in an empty mansion with only the memories of bygone splendors. A house devoid of love and laughter is lifeless. It needs contentment and the voices of children to make it a home again. I am seventy-five years old, Jess... in splendid health and possessed of all my teeth and most of my marbles. I intend to live until I am one hundred at the very least, and I have more money than I can ever spend in the next quarter-century.
"I have asked Olivia, and she has agreed, to reside here with me as my companion... not my handmaid. The entire third floor will be renovated to serve as her and Samantha's private apartment, along with a nursery for the little ones and a governess. Tutors will be engaged to attend to their educational needs. So you see, you need not be concerned with their future welfare."
This was very good news, in a way... but Jess wasn't too sure he was pleased to be reduced to the rank of useless, unnecessary and unneeded shirttail relation, now that he was more or less psyched up to assume the mantle of male head of household. And how did Olivia really feel about living on charity? What about Sammie, who'd never been to school, whose social graces were practically nonexistent?
"You sure about this, Ollie?" he asked quietly.
"It's the best possible outcome for all of us, Jess. My children will have a chance at a proper life and education... and I can be with them every day. Yes, I gladly accept Amelia's generosity without reservation."
"What if you decide to marry again?"
"I'll cross that bridge if and when I ever get to one."
"Sammie... what about you? You okay with this... with livin' here?"
The girl surprised him. Then again, she didn't, being already way too knowledgeable for her years. The young lady sitting there now was not the petulant youngster of four hours ago. When she began speaking, Jess got another surprise.
"Well... at first I thought I'd hate it. But it's sure nice having a bedroom all to myself... and there's a library, Uncle Jess." The girl's eyes shone. "Miss Amelia says I can go in there anytime I like and read anything I want. Of course, some of those books I need a lot more learnin'… schooling… to understand."
Sammie cut her eyes to her stepmother. Ollie nodded her approval. Jess then understood that his sister-in-law—the former schoolteacher—hadn't been remiss in educating her offspring… and that his niece could behave and speak like a proper young lady when she had a mind to. More likely after having been threatened if she didn't.
Samantha continued. "I was some skeert… scared… of going to school with town kids, knowing they'd be making fun of me about being a swamp rat and all, but I ain't… I'm not… going right away. Miss Pettus says she'll teach me deportment and after a while I'll go to real school. Anyway, if Ma's happy then I reckon I'll be happy, too."
The girl seemed to run out steam then. "Okay if I go now? One a the horses had a baby last night an' I wanna go see it."
"The proper term is 'May I be excused?' " Ollie chided.
"Yes m'am. May I be excused?"
"You may. Change your clothes first. And Sam... you can not go barefoot around stables. Put on those new boots. You have to get used to wearing shoes. Don't think I didn't see you kick yours off under the table."
"Well... shit. Oooooops… 'scuse me! That just slipped right out. Sorry, y'all." She was gone in a pale blue blur.
Sammie the Invincible was back. Jess wanted to laugh so hard he was getting a pain in his belly holding it in. Olivia looked mildly embarrassed. Amelia just shook her head… but she was smiling.
By the end of the following week, the Pettus brothers had established telegraphic communications with the law firm handling Coraline Tanner's estate and the petition process was well underway. After the holidays a representative would be dispatched from Seattle to Boggy to meet face-to-face with Olivia and Samantha Harper and to view physical evidence proving their identities. Jess had been dumbfounded when Ollie had produced, at one of the many successive luncheons and dinners, a sandalwood box containing what she called 'artifacts.'
Aside from more recent official documents recording Tony's marriage and Samantha's birth, the box yielded items Jess assumed had been destroyed in the house fire—a battered but still legible family bible in which were recorded the birthdates of Jess and his siblings (he was shocked to see how few babies had survived their natal event), a verdigris-encrusted faux gold locket containing remarkably well-preserved images of both parents, a tarnished silver rattle inscribed with Tony's name and birthdate. Evidently these had disappeared along with Tony. Their mother had either never noticed these were missing or had never commented on it.
Regarding Olivia's relationship to Samantha—in light of her long-term unsanctified alliance with the child's father—the lawyers said there would be no problem executing documents declaring her as common-law wife. Captain William Bradshaw had already signed a statement attesting to Olivia's and Tony's having cohabited over seven years as man and wife, which put her in a legal position to be declared guardian.
Jess was signatory to a plethora of documents affirming his own relationship and eyewitness report. He also sat for photographs with the children that would illustrate the family resemblance. The Pettus twins took depositions from select individuals who'd known Carlton and Minnie Harper, including her brother James 'Jimbo' Ragsdale, who held no rancor toward Carlton. Remus and Romulus Pettus were 'cautiously optimistic' that there would be very little difficulty in obtaining Samantha's inheritance... although it would be a lengthy and involved process.
In the meantime... an onboard party was held to see off the Jolie Rouge, loaded with an official backhaul of raw sugarcane bound for Galveston—piled over an unofficial liquid cargo. Captain, crew and guests (all male) got uproariously drunk on Jamaican rum. The finale entailed Jess and Jay Dee puking up their guts side by side over the promenade deck's railing. They'd had to sleep over. The next morning found them being unceremoniously decanted by a cabbie onto Miss Amelia's doorstep, where they'd been staying since moving from the hotel.
Painter'd hung around a few more days, concluding his business with Miss Pettus and moving about town only after dark. On the eve of his departure, after another sumptuous farewell dinner and having made his goodbyes to his new friends, he mounted his borrowed horse and disappeared from their lives. Jess wondered if he'd ever hear from the man again.
Having decided they were done with partying for a while, Jess and Jay Dee cooled their heels within the walls of Pettus Hall. But they weren't bored... not for a minute. The estate encompassed five hundred acres—all that remained of the original plantation—and backed up to the northern tip of the bayou, including two miles of waterfront property. Jeff Pettus, stable manager and Rom's son, provided them with spirited mounts—registered Thoroughbreds. Jess had some troublesome moments of insecurity dealing with an English saddle but soon overcame it.
Jess and Jay Dee did a lot of fishing, both off the dock and from the deck of a rather grand sailboat belonging to the estate. Jay Dee knew just enough about sailing to keep them out of trouble and get them back to the dock. And they were always accompanied by a handful of fieldhands' children who knew where the best spots there. They gave most of what they caught to the children to take home to their families for supper.
Jeff Pettus had a pack of beagles and, whenever he found time to spare from the stables, he took Jess and Jay Dee out rabbit hunting in the fallow fields.
On their first tour of the grounds surrounding the mansion, Jess'd been puzzled by the oval pond situated on the rear terrace. Surrounded by mortared rocks and fed by an artesian spring plunging over an engineered waterfall, it contained crystal clear and numbingly cold water flowing over a sandy bottom before feeding into a creek meandering toward the bayou.
"What's it for? Don't see no fish..."
"It's a swimmin' pool, silly. For swimmin' in," Sammie'd scornfully advised. Away from Olivia, the girl readily slipped back into swamp patois.
"Huh? With all that water out there?" Jess waved toward the waters of the bayou visible through the orderly ranks of domesticated orange trees.
"Ain't no alligators in here. We kin go swimmin' later this afternoon."
"Um... don't think so." What little recreational swimming Jess did back home was generally accomplished in the nude or cut-off britches except for the few times he'd accidently fallen into rivers fully clothed… and he'd never been swimming with females. "Wouldn't be... uh... proper."
"Miss Amelia says it's good for the health. We have special clothes—she calls 'em 'bathin' costumes'—to wear. Don't much like mine... there's too much of it. The boys have better ones..."
…which Jess got to view later that afternoon. Cavorting in the pool with Sammie and the little boys while the newly-employed nanny looked on, there was Jay Dee—with wet fabric adhering to every bulge of his anatomy... right there in front of Sammie and that woman.
If Miss Pettus thinks I'm prancin' around in my underwear an' jumpin' in that cold water, she's got another think comin'.
Too much of a good thing dulls the senses... in this case, complete lack of responsibility other than to be on hand to sign whatever the Pettus brothers presented. Time was slipping away and there'd be snow on the ground back home. Jess ached for it. It still rankled a little that his imagined reign as head of household had lasted less than week, but he was getting over it. In all honesty, how could he have provided for a woman and four children? Olivia seemed a bit withdrawn but resigned to her new status. Sammie really did seem to be making an effort to conform to her new status as a 'town girl.'
While all this wealth and leisure was mighty fine, it wasn't him. Wasn't his life. More and more he thought about home... his real home... and wanted to be there. Jay Dee outright admitted to being more homesick than he thought he'd be and fretted out loud about when they'd be permitted to be on their way.
Then the day came when Remus Pettus dropped by to advise Jess that he was free to go at any time... that any further issues involving him could be resolved via telegram. The last dinner was grand... but sad—one Jess would remember the rest of his life. He very sensibly refrained from drinking too much.
Monday, December 15th... After an early breakfast, hugs and kisses were exchanged... and promises to keep in touch. When Jeff brought the carriage around, Miss Amelia walked out with Jess while Jay Dee helped load their luggage. Taking him aside out of earshot, she pressed two envelopes into his hands. One was thick and bulging and tied with string. The other, larger one was flat and wax-sealed.
"What's this?"
"One of these contains cash... enough, according to Rom, to get you and your cousin all the way to Wyoming and him to California... first class rail all the way. And a little extra…"
Jess tried to give them back. "Miss Amelia... I can't possibly..."
"You can and you will. Call it a finder's fee. Had it not been for your perseverance, Olivia and those precious children might have languished in that dreadful swamp forever. They would have grown up ignorant, in dire poverty. You know what Samantha's fate would have been. She has an exceptional mind under that hoydenish exterior. I see college in her future... and a brilliant career. It's too soon to know how the boys will measure up but I have high hopes. Please... accept this from me... for me."
"Well... all right."
"Do you have a bank account at home... in Laramie?"
"Oh yes, m'am... got four hundred dollars saved up."
"Does your bank offer safety deposit boxes?"
"Pretty sure it does. I ain't got one, though. Nothin' to put in it."
"Lease one... and put this other envelope in it. Leave it there for precisely one year, then you may open it. Can I have your word on that? It contains specific instructions."
"But what...?"
"No... don't ask. Just promise..."
"Well... okay then... I promise... on my honor."
She walked back to the carriage with him and stood by as he climbed aboard next to Jay Dee.
"Farewell and Godspeed to you both. Write and let me know when you're home. Better yet, send a telegram. Jeff... drive on before I forget myself and shed tears in public."
The carriage pulled away. Fifteen minutes later Jess Harper and Jay Dee Kelly transferred to the stagecoach that would be transporting them to the rail depot at Tallahassee.
The South's railroad networks had suffered massive destruction during the war years, but immense strides had been made since then. It was again possible to travel with relative ease—not only coast to coast but between the northern and southern states. Moving from the southeast quadrant of the country to the northwest meant hopscotching from one rail line to another—there was no direct route. However, the rail station agent assured the travelers that with first class tickets, good weather and no blockages, they should reach their destinations in plenty of time to celebrate Christmas with their families.
Assumin' I got somethin' to celebrate... maybe I should let 'em know I'm comin... yeah... that's what I'll do... I'll send a telegram from Cheyenne... no, wait... better make it earlier... Ogallala... that'll give Slim time to either meet me at the station... or... no, don't think about 'or'...
"Jess... JESS!"
"Huh... wha?"
Jay Dee was frowning at him from where he slouched on the opposite seat in their private compartment. Outside the window the rolling landscape was gaining momentum.
"What are you thinking about? You've been in another world ever since we boarded."
Jess grinned. "Home, kid. I'm thinkin' about home."
It's true what they say... there ain't no place like home.