That night was especially poignant for him as well beside it being their last for a while. There was something slightly different about the way Virginia had loved him back. Because of it, he didn’t want to let her go, he didn’t want to leave her. Yet, he did because she insisted that he go. Upon his departure, he gave her the last of the money he’d made for her. Although tempted, she held back from telling him about the baby she carried. She didn’t want him staying behind, going to work. She knew for certain that he would never leave her if he knew. Virginia decided that a man that good, belonged to the Lord. There was no way she would ever stand in the way of that.
He went off to school and at first, he wrote her once a week. But as his lessons progressed, as his knowledge of God’s word deepened, he wanted to do the right thing. He tapered off writing to her with the last letter telling her how he wanted to grow closer to God. He didn’t want to be a hypocrite. However, should she ever need anything from him, he would not hesitate. Virginia was well pleased with his correspondence to her. She was glad that she never told him about the baby.
Spring time arrived. He came home and fought with himself not to go and see her. From his mother he learned that she was doing well. Staying busy and building the reputation that she’d wanted. The visit was for one week, and it was the hardest week of his life. Last day there before he was to return to school, against his better judgment, he went to see Virginia. The night before he was to leave he knocked, and then knocked again… there was no answer.
Hurt, despite knowing why she didn’t answer the door, he left. The next day, he returned to school.
Later on that summer, Virginia prepared herself for him once more as it was clear and obvious for any and all to see, that she was with child. During that time, she made sure that her wedding ring was always on. The women who had become her regulars, commented on her pregnancy, “I shure’hope that won’t be getting in the way of you doing my hair,” one said. For another concerned about the outfit she’d been measured for, “You don’t get sick with that do you? I’m gone need that outfit - I’ve paid for it, it better be ready on time.”
Virginia assured the ladies she would be just fine. They didn’t question about the personal matters surrounding the child and could care less, after all - she was married - that was bound to happen, getting pregnant. However, as the days rolled by, and she grew in size, Lida Bell couldn’t keep her eyes off of Virginia’s belly. She knew beyond a doubt, Reginald Piercey was nowhere to be seen, that had been especially so over the Christmas holidays. What she was constantly trying not to think about, was all the times her son had come home late, late into the night. Late every night during the Christmas holiday at the same time he and his father started acting differently toward one another. Finally she put two and two together. She kept blocking out all the times she caught her son giving Virginia certain types of glances, glances a young white male should not be caught giving a black girl or woman. She wanted to ask, but she dare not for fear of the answer. Up until that moment, she’d wondered why her husband had consented to their son taking a trip to Italy, England, Ireland and Scotland. For some reason, it had been encouraged by the school clergy - so GM had said. He’d simply agreed that it would be good for Jacob during the summer, instead of coming home. The truth was, his actions were due to Virginia’s condition. GM didn’t want his son home she thought, because of what he might do if he saw how he’d left Virginia Piercey. From the moment it clicked in her mind that this woman might have slept with her son, she’d turned cool towards Virginia. So many times she’d been about to ask her straight out, ‘Have you slept with my boy? With Jacob?’ The question was burning a hole in her brain. Fear of the answer made her bite into her lips. What if she had? What would they do? A little mulatto child that for all intents and purposes, would be theirs, a part of them. Lida Bell didn’t know how to handle the idea of it. What if her friends and patrons saw it. What would they think?
As for Virginia, once again, she hadn’t been born just yesterday. Listening to the women in the shop, she learned that Jacob was on an European tour, learning about various religious doctrines in other cultures and countries. This answered her curiosity as to why he wasn’t home for the summer. It also made things easy for her in that she wouldn’t have to hide from him. As for Lida Bell and his father, she knew it was only a matter of time before they approached her, she was simply preparing herself for that day to come. In the meantime, she worked just as hard while pregnant as she had before. Taking her baking soda, kept her stomach under control - and gave her energy to keep moving.
Time finally came, summer was over and Virginia was approaching being due anytime now. On one particular day, early fall she had just finished the last head for that day and it was still early. Sweeping the floor, she braced herself because Lida Bell kept taking deep breaths, making noises as if she wanted to say something but bit her words back and then finally she did it, out of the blue she spat, “Reginald Piercey did not come back here Virginia, he - did - not!” She was breathing hard in the asking, the last three words spoken as fact. Spoken to say that she knew that for a certainty, and then, “Tell me please, that - when that child is born - it’ll be dark like your girls. That, it will not… be - a - a mulatto child. And - and if it is, that - my boy, my son - is not responsible, please tell me that.”
Virginia stopped sweeping. All this time she’d prepared herself for the questions, and yet, now facing them, she wasn’t sure what she wanted to say. Taking a deep breath, deciding she stated softly, “This child… is mine. As for who fathered it - no one need ever know that. I plan on keeping it out of site.”
“Will it… be - dark … or… light, tell me.” Lida Bell was demanding.
“Can’t be sure - could be light.”
“Damn you Virginia, don’t play word games with me, is the father… white, or not!?” Lida Bell huffed through tight lips.
“Yes,”
“Yes what?”
“Yes, the father is white.”
Lida Bell spun in the middle of the floor shaking her head, exasperated and annoyed to the height of her being, “You people…” She spun, getting wound up, “…have you no decency? No morals? No care for right or wrong? Sleeping with white men… why do you do that? Why - why can’t you just leave our men and boys alone? Why can’t you just - just stick with your own kind - stop making problems for everyone! You had no business sleeping with my son-…”
“I never said it was your son.” Virginia returned softly.
“Do I have moron written across my forehead? You think I’m that stupid? Of course it was my son! I can see it now, see it as plain as day that you seduced him, it’s what y’all do! You a disgraceful lot and can’t be trusted. God knows you’ll bed anything if you think you can get something out of it! You got no care for yourselves or anyone else. Lord what we gone do?” She walked about, her hand to her heart, worrying over the solution, “Don’t think for a moment that we haven’t discussed this, George and I. He doesn’t seem to think it’s a big deal, and I totally disagree. I mean, this is my husband’s name after all! McPherson’s have been a proud family - honorable, dignified, working hard to do right by all. Then this!” She worked to blow off steam, pacing and patting her chest as if the sky was about to fall. “You know I could see it happening, em-hm, I could. Saw the way he couldn’t keep his eyes off you, I just hoped, he’d well - wanting to follow the bible and worship the Lord the way he does and all, I thought it might go nowhere. Apparently, I was wrong.” She took a long and deep cleansing breath, as if making up her mind. “Well, there’s no other way for it. If it’s born white, or too light, you’ll just have to give it up. Put it in an orphanage for someone to adopt and we’ll just tell folks it died.”
The sweeping broom stopped - Virginia tried as hard as she could not to look at the other woman as if she’d lost her mind, but, “Sorry Ms. Lida Bell, no matter what, I’m not giving up my child - for any reason. I’ll keep it out of site, but-…�
�
Lida Bell cut her off looking stunned, eyes wide and mouth open exclaiming, “After all I’ve done for you - took you off of that failing farm and brought you here, for a better life and this is how you repay us?”
“I have paid my half for this business Ms Lida Bell and I work hard here. My baby won’t make any difference in how people see you McPherson’s.”
“Oh that’s easy for you to say, y’all could care less how folks see you, you got no pride, no sense of honor, no-…”
“MOTHER! Don’t you say, another word!” The deep voice of her son shocked both women into spinning to look towards the rear of the shop.
There stood Jacob, face red - ire up.
“Jacob? What - what are you doing here? You - you supposed to be back in school, not here-…”
“I’ve been here for quite some time now. Heard every word you said.” Jacob stood shaking his head, “Who are you people, how can you be so cold?”
“You just hang on here one minute young man, you’re not even supposed to be here, let alone-…”
“I’m a grown man, I’ll be where I decide to be.” He steamed, his eyes rolling from Virginia and her protruding stomach, large and low - to his pale mother. Showing that she did have a touch of conscience - maybe - or it could have been the discomfort of being caught being ugly by her son, Lida Bell harrumphed, “Does your father know you’re back here?” She asked, shaken by his presence.
“No, he doesn’t, not yet.”
“Well - what are you doing here - this is not a good time. I mean…” She gulped walking to him trying to block Virginia from his eyes, as if putting her behind she could keep her son from seeing her.
“I knew - I knew something was going on.” Jacob admitted, looking down at his mother, shaking his head his voice rumbled, the timbre of his voice did not match his age - his voice was one of old ancient, almost the way you would think God might sound, or His son, Jesus may have sounded, pure masculine - all male, “Have you no conscience, no heart - you should be ashamed of yourself.”
“I should be ashamed?! I should be ashamed…” She gasped in disbelief. Turning she threw her open hand indicating Virginia and her obvious state, “You can say that to me after you’ve done that! Tell me you didn’t do that? That that’s not your doing?” She fought the need to snarl at him, her upper lip twitching from her displeasure, “Well?”
He stood with his eyes fixed on his Ginny. When the head instructor at college called him in his office and fed him a load of malarkey about the reasons he should seriously consider seeing Europe - to expand his biblical insight in theology - he knew something was wrong. Then he went into how he needed this journey to give him extra credits. Problem with his direction, Jacob discovered that he was the only one from all other students strongly encouraged to do so - and he was a straight A student. He smelled a rat. The rat smelled like his mother and father - especially his father. The other give-away was his father when he drove him to Charleston to catch the ship sailing to Liverpool. The primary target of their discussion had surrounded Virginia and how this trip would help him to disengage. It would give him time, he said, to delve into his original plans to become a Baptist minister. As far as his father could see it, he’d had plenty of time now to play, get familiar with a woman. Sew his wild oats - purge his system so that now, he could move on. Reminding him that part of growing up and being a man, was knowing when to let go. The entire two and half hour drive was about how it was now time for him to let go of Virginia. Not about school. Not about being safe while traveling. Not about the important things surrounding being in a foreign land. Not about how much money this trip was costing them, so make the best of it. Not about how much he and his mother would miss him. Not about how his sister would miss him. Who wasn’t there for the drive to his journey starting point, nor his mother. Just… him and his dad. All that, after he’d already determined to break away from Virginia. Consequently, when his father went on and on about her, alarm bells went off. Doing pretty well with arithmetic, Jacob could add this up confidently to be about nothing more than getting him away from Virginia.
Why now all of a sudden? All the way to Europe? So far away?
Thus, arriving to where he would set sail from, his father had seen him onto the large ocean liner, stood awkward in his state room and told him, it was a long drive back, he best get going. He gave him more money than he’d ever seen in his life, and left the ship. Jacob had come out of his room, walked back to the deck and watched his father leave him behind. Soon as the coast was clear, Jacob got his things together, asked for his bag and left the ship. He returned his ticket and decided that he needed to get Virginia out of there and now. Thus, he spent the summer in a town called Greenville, South Carolina. He chose Greenville because during school, he’d met the preacher from there. He’d come to his school giving a talk to the students and making them aware that soon, Greenville would be in need of a new Baptist Minister, simply put, he was dying.
During the summer, from May to September, Jacob had stayed at the ministers home, met his wife and his sons. He got to know the congregation there, as they did him. While there, he noted that they, like everywhere else were struggling with the economy. And at the other side of town, there was a close knit area of blacks and a collection of homes that were empty. A couple had a plot of land perfect for a small family to grow their own food, raise a few animals in order to survive just so - they could easily do so. He chose the one with just enough land, two acres for Virginia. Anything and all needed he could get for dirt cheap - merchants were desperate. As for the house, it was not isolated and alone, but in the midst of others. He spent the money given to him to see Europe, to get a house and land and made sure it was done up beautifully. He even paid for it to be wired for electricity - and had a full bathroom put inside, plumbing and all done. Because he felt he might have a hard time talking her into leaving, he didn’t want her to regret or long for anything left behind. Making sure of that he built on a back room with it’s own back door and porch. That took him the longest to do, because he made it up for her to sew and do hair, just the way she was doing for his mother.
But this shop, was hers - to do anyone’s hair she wanted - black or white, who ever walked through the door.
As for food, he paid those nearby to plant corn, greens, melons, tomatoes, okra, potatoes, peppers, peas. It already had an orchard on it with trees, growing figs, lemons, pecans, peaches and apples. That as well was one of the main reasons he’d chosen it. Jacob had never worked so hard in his life, as there was a worn out barn that he restored for livestock. Mainly, a milking cow he bought, a goat with two kids, pigs and a stunning chicken run. Someone from the white area of town had geese, and he bought enough to get them started at the new house. Last thing he added, was her own horse and buggy. By the time all was done, he stood back and for once, felt like a real man taking responsibility to correct what he saw as a wrong. He’d done a lot of thinking in the time away from Virginia. How could he possibly go before the Lord, and pray for forgiveness and blessings when he’d done wrong by Virginia Piercey. Her lot in life had been bad enough because of her first husband. Then he’d gone in and made it worse. No blessings would be his, no prayer for the sins of others would be heard from him as long as he left his own sins in a mess. So before he could stand in any church at a podium as a minister, he had to make his own atonements. He had to do right by Ginny.
Jacob McPherson loved their Creator, the God he learned about. And because he knew Him so well, just as He’d forgiven David for being on the roof that led to his sin with Bathsheba, so would He forgive him for his part with Virginia. That is, if he cleaned up his mess and prayed for forgiveness and repented of his sins. After all - that was the whole reason for Jesus Christ volunteering to come down and save them all. If he was going to stand for that Father and Son, he had to prove himself. He felt he needed to do so for the first person he’d ever loved besides his parents and that first love was Virginia Pierce
y. Even though he knew to love her was wrong, that didn’t mean he couldn’t, nor shouldn’t do right by her. That drove him and drove him hard.
Thus, he spent all summer long doing that in Greenville, when he was supposed to be in Europe. He did it to “Free” Virginia. It didn’t matter what she thought she’d done making the deal she had with his parents.
He knew the truth.
He knew that his father was not an honorable man. He found out that his father… had bought Virginia’s farmhouse and was using it to brew bootleg liquor. He’d had the audacity to pay her rock bottom for it, instead of what it was worth, despite the loads of money he would gain from it. Using the underfloor place she had once needed to hideaway, she and her girls - that place was now for his “Still and Bottling”. The folks who had moved in, worked for him, for GM. Just as Jacob had found out about his father’s other dirty dealings and said nothing of them, so he got wind of that as well. He’d even driven by the woods there, parked in the distance and crept up to it in the dark to see with his own eyes what was going on.
All he kept to himself.
Now, all was complete, he’d come home to find this - his mother speaking of getting rid of a child that he’d made with Virginia. His head was spinning, this was the last thing he expected, but everything made sense now. His parents, his father knew that he’d gotten her pregnant with his child. Now more than ever was there no regret of conscience that he used his European money to do right by her. His parents knew that the child was his. All he could think of them was how despicable they were, and especially his mother who actually wanted her to give it away and claim it dead.
Beauty of Man and Woman - Volume 13: Bomaw Page 14
