The Daughters of Julian Dane

by Lucile McCluskey

  “Since his daughter wouldn’t have anything to do with me, he didn’t expect me to support her. So I spent some for clothes, and some at the house-of-ill-repute.”

  Addie gasped, “Grandpa!”

  “See, you think the same thing that Hightower did. And you’re both wrong.” He sort of chuckled. “The madam of that house was the most educated person in town. She had a whole room full of books. I paid her to educate me. And she did a good job of it – taught me to talk properly, how to dress, walk, table manners, and as she said, conduct myself like a gentleman. And she rented me her many books. Otherwise, I invested my money in the bank. And Hightower was very pleased with that. But after Gabe’s first visit, I always put some aside in a pocket for his next visit.”

  “Did he just keep coming to you for money?”

  “For a few years, yes. Then one day a stranger came into town looking for me. Said he had been a friend of Gabe’s, but Gabe was dead. And he had promised him, before he died, that he’d come. Seems Gabe had taken up with a woman who thought herself to be a widow. But the missing husband had shown up one day and he was a better shot than Gabe. He said that the woman had seen to it that Gabe had a decent burial. I thanked him for his troubles and gave him the money I had put aside for Gabe. He looked like he could use it.”

  “But Olivia? Didn’t she ever see him, and didn’t he see his child?”

  “No to both, young Addie. He said he swore when he finished changing my britches, that he’d never change another.”

  “Grandpa, how could you not love the baby, Victoria?”

  “Victoria belonged to Olivia and her mother. Hightower and I saw very little of her. She barely knew who we were until she was half grown.”

  A phone rang somewhere in the house. “I’d better go, Grandpa. I’m expecting Mr. Sully to call. I have to talk to him before I can call Mooney about moving people for me.” She looked at grandpa and felt a real compassion for him. “I sure have enjoyed all you’ve told me, and, grandpa, I wish I could hug you.”

  “That would be real nice, young Addie.”

  “Goodnight. I’ll see you tomorrow. And thanks for telling me all about your life.” She turned up the sound on the TV news enough for him to hear, rushed out of the dressing room and closed the door.

  She found Miss Mattie sitting at her kitchen desk, her hands covering her face. “Miss Mattie! Is something wrong?”

  The woman looked at Addie, tears in her eyes, but a big smile on her face. “Oh, Addie, child, everything is so right that I can’t believe it!” And she reached out to hug Addie. “Mr. Morgan just called. He said that I could start on my plans for the dinner club and to put him down for a membership. Then he gave me at least a dozen other names who want to sample my cooking. He also said tell you that the Kinnards would start packing tonight, whatever that means.”

  Addie returned Miss Mattie’s hug, telling her how happy she was for her, and feeling very much relieved for the safety of her trolley cars. Now she could call Mooney. “Miss Mattie,” she said, “tomorrow Mooney will move the Mitchells into the gate cottage, and Wylene into one of the apartments over the garages. Her aunt Ruby, and her son, Adam, will also be moving into one of them as soon as Mooney can manage it.”

  “This place is really getting filled up.”

  “Sounds like it,” Addie agreed, “and if you’re really going to get to have your dinner club, then it’s time for me to tell you about your organist, Judy Arnold, who’ll be moving into Miss Willy’s study and bath.”

  Chapter Thirty-six

  The sun shinning in the French doors awakened Addie early on Wednesday morning. She missed her mother being beside her in the big bed. And she thought of Della’s longing for her mother and wondered about the crippled maid of Mr. Cutler’s neighbor. Could it be possible that the woman was her Aunt Henrietta? She had to do something to help her mother find her family. She wondered how much longer Mr. Cutler would be in England. She must remember to pray daily for his father. And she had to remember that she had a million things to do today, and that her daddy and Donnie would be home today. She was anxious to get on with the day so it would pass quickly, and they would be home.

  The Kinnards first. She hated going to the slums, but Mooney was moving them first because he only had to move them around the block. And a short while later, that’s where she found him.

  Her shinny, black truck was backed up to the small porch of one of the shacks behind the Mitchells, and Mooney was on the porch talking to a man about his height, but about fifty pounds heavier, wearing a plaid shirt and tan pants. It had to be Fuzzy Kinnard for his head was covered with a mass of carrot colored fuzz. And now she was aware that she knew his daughter, a freshman named Katy – the only other red head in school. She was a very pretty girl – her hair a carrot colored blond really. She parked the car on the street and walked up to the porch. Mooney introduced the man, and he was thanking her over and over for the job and a decent place to live when his wife and daughter appeared in the doorway. Mr. Kinnard introduced Addie to them, and Mrs. Kinnard began thanking her. “I just wish the move was farther away for you,” Addie said.

  “Oh, honey, we’ve seen the apartment in the fire hall. It’s clean and roomy, the ceiling doesn’t leak, and there are no rats or roaches. We couldn’t be more pleased or grateful. And, Addie, when the trolleys are running, and people are using the fire hall as a transfer station, well, it seems to me that the kitchen in the corner downstairs could be put to good use as a snack bar. Of course, we could still use it as our own kitchen, but what I’ve been thinking is serving drinks and sandwiches, chips, candy, and such, maybe even popcorn. Katy and I could handle it easy.”

  Addie was surprised, but pleased with the idea. She turned to Mooney and Mr. Kinnard. “Sounds like a good idea to me. What do you two think?”

  “We could talk about it,” Mr. Kinnard said, and Mooney and his two helpers, who had appeared in the door with a dresser, all agreed they liked the idea.

  “I’ve checked with the Mitchells,” Mooney said. “They’ll be ready to move as soon as we get through here. Most of their stuff is going in storage, you know.”

  “Yes. I know. But, Mooney, Miss Mattie got her go-ahead on the dinner club, and after I go around to the Mitchells, I’m going out to see Miss Judy. If she’s still of a mind to move to Stonegate, can she be worked into your schedule for tomorrow?”

  He agreed that she could and asked her to tell Miss Mattie how happy he was for her and Miss Judy. Addie said her good- bye’s and went around to the Mitchells.

  There were several people in the bare yard and on the small porch. Mrs. Mitchell was embracing a small, frail, gray haired, white woman, as they stood close to the door. A small man about the age of the woman was standing by her, patting her on the shoulder. The woman seemed to be crying. Now what? Addie wondered, as she walked up to the porch and paused beside Billy and Cooter playing checkers, as they sat on the edge of the porch. She wondered if Cooter knew how to play checkers? She was unsure about intruding. Then Wylene appeared in the doorway.

  “Addie! Just the person I want to see,” Wylene exclaimed.

  “Good morning,” Addie said as Wylene jumped off the porch to join her. “Is something wrong?” she asked nodding toward the older woman.

  “That’s the Ballards. They don’t want us to move. We’re sort of their protectors. They were broken into a few months ago. Their Social Security check had just been cashed. The hoodlums tied them up and took just about everything they had of any value. And we were wondering, Addie, if the Ballards could rent that other apartment?”

  Addie wondered why- when she wanted to help somebody, they always wanted her to help somebody they knew?

  “We know they can’t pay anymore rent than they’re paying here, but we hate moving off and leaving them,” Wylene added.

  “But, Wylene, it’s upstairs – pretty steep stairs. They don’t look…” She stopped herself, remembering the other gray stone cottage at the
bottom of the hill. “Oh, there is another cottage, a gardener’s cottage. So far as I know, it’s not furnished, and it’s sort of off by itself down a hill from the side of the mansion. It should be about right for the Ballards. We’ll have to see. And you wanted to see the little church. I have to go see Miss Judy Arnold. Remember, she lives next to the church and little house. Would you like to go with me? We could also check the cottage for the Ballards.”

  “Sounds great, but let me check with mama.”

  At the farm, they found Miss Judy cleaning out closets. She had sold the furniture from her two spare bedrooms and her dinning room.

  “My living room furniture and a few other pieces aren’t all that good,” she said, “not hardly worth trying to sell.”

  They looked pretty good to Addie, but she said, “Miss Judy, Miss Mattie has the go-ahead on her dinner club. Do you still want to move to Stonegate and play the organ for the dinner club?”

  “Oh, Addie! I haven’t been able to sleep for thinking about it and praying that it would really happen. Are you saying that I can?”

  “Yes, ma’am, I am. I know it will be awhile before the dinner club is ready to open, but you need to move now, and I’m sure Miss Mattie could use your help. And Mooney can move you tomorrow. I know this is short notice, but he starts his job on Friday. Would you like to come to Stonegate and look at the room and bath?”

  “Oh, my Dear, I don’t need to see the room. I’m sure it’s beautiful. If I can have a nice place to live and have my organ with me to play and earn my living – what more could I ask for?” She asked just above a whisper, because she was close to tears. “It’s so much more than I ever dreamed of having again, since there are no teaching jobs available anymore in Riverbend. And I’m so grateful to you, Addie. Just the thought of it makes me happier than I’ve been in a long time. Just knowing that I don’t have to move back in with Hazel... Well, you can’t imagine. And my sister, Lois, is moving out of our old home too. She’s going to keep house for the Reverend Ethridge. Now Hazel will have her house all to herself again. I can’t wait to tell her. And I’ll be ready to move tomorrow if I have to stay up all night. And you say the room is really big?”

  “I’d say it’s about fifteen by sixteen or seventeen. If you have extra chairs, or a sofa, or a chest, I’m sure there’d be room. The organ can be put in the dinner club.”

  “I’ll go with Mooney when he takes the first load and see what else there may be room for. I don’t like to be crowded, but I do have a piece or two that I don’t want to part with.”

  “I’ll tell him to call you tonight.”

  “May I hug you, Addie,” the woman asked with a catch in her throat.

  On the way down to the small church, Addie was feeling good because she had made another person happy. She couldn’t wait to tell her mother. To Wylene, who had waited in the car for Addie, she said, “All we can do is see if the key fits the church door. If it does, then I own the church, and the little white house.”

  “Girlfriend, you sure fell into some strange situation. Imagine a box of keys to houses and buildings that you know you own, but you don’t know where they are.”

  “I took the box from Mr. Cutler because I needed a house for Deena Castle and her mother and grandfather to move into by this Friday.”

  “And now, we’re all going to be living at Stonegate! You need to pinch me, cause I still can’t believe it. And you own Stonegate!”

  “Well, Wilhelmina Stone’s retarded nephew owned it, and I’m a distant relative of his.” Distant in time, Addie thought, but you wouldn’t understand that. “Here we are,” she said stopping the car right at the door of the church.

  They approached the door with the keys in Addie’s hand. One most definitely looked like a house key, so she chose the larger one to try. It slid into the lock easily and turned. “It fits,” she announced opening the door. They stepped into the vestibule and found themselves facing double doors with a small window in the upper part of each door looking into the sanctuary, a room that would seat about a hundred people, Addie thought.

  Their footsteps sounded on the bare wood floor as they walked down the isle between the pews toward a plain wooden podium, the only other item in the room. There were baseboard electric heaters, but no means of air conditioning. A door facing them on the right of the back wall must go to a pastor’s study, Addie thought. It must be small, she reasoned because it matched the space on the left of the podium which must be for a piano and a few singers.

  Wylene had paused, seeming deep in thought, her right arm across her waist, her left one propped on it, her chin resting in her left hand. Addie didn’t want to interrupt her thoughts until she said, “Humm.”

  “What are you thinking? Could we fix it up enough for a wedding?”

  “You’ll probably think I’m crazy.”

  “No more crazy than some of the things I’ve done lately.”

  “Okay. Just listen then,” the girl said. “I’m seeing this place painted a soft off white and trimmed in a very pale gray with silk greenery and white flowers. And lots of brass – especially candle holders. But not for just ‘a’ wedding, but as a wedding chapel. I know three girls right now who would start planning their weddings if they had some place to get married. They all go to my church, and they’re all seniors. Just think how many more girls would like a pretty place to get married in without the cost and trouble of all the decorating.”

  Stunned with surprise because she had never thought of Wylene with a head for such an idea, she asked, “You really think so?”

  “Yes,” she answered and then was silent a few moments, still thinking, Addie thought. Then, “Yes, Addie, I think this would make a nice wedding chapel for anyone to get married in.” She turned to Addie. “Girlfriend, I have a little money saved up that I was going to buy a used riding mower with, and I’d need that for paint and decorations, so I wouldn’t have any money to pay down unless I could earn some working for you like you said.” She paused for breath, for she was becoming very excited. “Addie, would you sell me this place? I could pay you out of each wedding that took place, and as much more each month as I could.”

  “Wylene, are you serious?” Addie was catching her excitement. “You actually want to make this place into a wedding chapel?”

  “Until now, I didn’t know what I wanted to do after I graduate, except marry Bud, but now I do. Oh, yes. I really do want to make this into a wedding chapel. And Bud will help me because I won’t get married until it is a wedding chapel, my wedding chapel – that is, if you say yes.”

  Addie looked at her friend who was all excited smiles, and she couldn’t help but smile herself. “Wylene, it’s not doing me any good sitting here empty, and my daddy says buildings deteriorate more rapidly when they’re vacant. Of course I’ll sell it to you. You can pay me as you can. You can go see Mr. Sully and make the arrangements. Do you want to see the little house? which I’m sure was the parsonage, and it will go with the church.”

  “Oh, yes. Who knows? Maybe, Bud could move into it. He could live in it by himself until we’re married.”

  They found the house consisted of living room, kitchen with eating area, a utility and laundry room, two bedrooms with a connecting bath, front and back porch that connected with a carport. The rooms weren’t big, but the house was in good condition, and Wylene was delighted with it. “Oh, I can’t believe this!” she exclaimed. “And Bud will be so excited about it.”

  “You’re sure Bud will go along with you on this?” Addie asked as they were returning to the slums, so Wylene could get moved into the apartment at Stonegate. “Hadn’t you better bring him to see the two buildings?”

  “Bud will do anything that I say. Don’t you know that by now?”

  Addie laughed, and thought, love between a man and a woman must be something very special and wonderful for every couple in love – not just her mother and daddy.

  When they reached the Mitchell house, the front porch and yard were
still filled with people. The Ballards were still there. Addie met them, and Ruby, and her son, Adam. Two neighboring families had joined them, both named Mathews: Claude Mathews, his wife and three teenage children, Claude’s parents and an aunt who lived in one of the shacks next door to Claude’s family. The Mathews were a clean looking, white family who had lost their farm when the two men and Claude’s wife had lost their jobs at the clock factory.

  Addie thought of the Arnold farm with it’s three bedrooms, a sewing room upstairs, the roomy living room, dining room, kitchen, and bath downstairs. She was sure the two Mathews families weren’t paying a lot of rent, but combined it would make a payment on such a place as the Arnold farm. It would be better than it sitting there empty.

  “Too bad you don’t own the Arnold farm?” Wylene said. “It would make a good place for the Mathews.”

  Weird! Addie thought. Our minds run on the same track. I guess it’s because we were just out there.

  Mr. Mathews looked at Wylene. “Is Judy Arnold moving?” he asked.

  “Yes, sir,” Addie answered him. “And I was wondering about your two families fitting in there. That is, if you’d like me to talk to the bank about it?” The man looked at Addie in surprise, and questioning. And Addie was wishing Wylene hadn’t mentioned it.

  “I don’t understand. What have you got to do with the Arnold farm? And the bank?”

  “Mr. Mitchell,” Wylene said quickly. “If Addie says you can move into the Arnold farm, then believe me, you can.”

  “What’s going on here?” demanded a harsh, loud, man’s voice.

  Addie turned in time to see Mooney walking up behind a man of medium build, thinning, brown hair, and a bushy mustache. Addie had seen the man about town, but she didn’t know who he was until Mooney said, “Well, well, if it isn’t Mr. Sommers calling on his tenants.”