The Daughters of Julian Dane

by Lucile McCluskey

  The walnut room had a lovely, linen covered table in front of the French doors that opened onto a balcony, and Addie had brought the two women their dinners to be enjoyed before the open French doors. They ate Miss Mattie’s sumptuous cooking while Henrietta kept remarking on the beauty of the room and everything else that she had seen so far.

  Della told Henrietta that they would spend the time of the open house on the fourth floor, which would not be shown because it was just storage. “And we’ll rummage through everything and pick out anything we want to keep,” Della declared.

  “You mean I can have anything up there that I want,” Henrietta asked excitedly.

  “Why not?” Della said.

  Della called the number again as soon as she awakened on Sunday morning, but got the same results. She dressed for the day, made sure Mattie didn’t need her, and climbed the stairs to Henrietta’s room to help her sister dress. They would come back to breakfast with Addie, Mattie, Judy, and Tobias, then help where ever they were needed until time for them to retire to the fourth floor before the ladies, including Janie Willis, arrived. She remembered that there was no phone on the fourth floor. She must remember to take her cell phone. They would still be calling the number regularly.

  She found her sister standing at the closet door trying to decide which of the lovely, new outfits to wear. “We’re just going down another floor. You could wear your pajamas and a robe. We’ll use the elevator.”

  “Oh, Della, I’ve never owned such beautiful clothes. I want to wear something pretty. How am I ever going to thank you for all this?”

  Della hugged her sister. “How am I ever going to thank you for taking the blow that was meant for me?”

  “I told you not to think that way,” her sister reminded her.

  “I’ll help you get dressed, and Jimmy Lee has been given Wilhelmina’s room to show, so we’ll take a few minutes after breakfast to choose any coats or jackets that we want from her closet and put them in our closets. Addie has already taken what she wants.

  “I’m pretty sure Jimmy Lee knows Addie, but she won’t see her. Addie and Deena will be serving refreshments in the dining room as the people leave. And you and I will be on the fourth floor making like it’s Christmas.” They giggled like a couple of children. “There is a large house on Bakers Landing where we are storing things we plan to keep. Anything you find, that you want, can also be stored there. Everything has to be cleared out to make room for the nursing home I mentioned.”

  “Della, I just love this room. Do you think I’ll ever have a home with a pretty bedroom? I have to keep telling myself that I’m not dreaming.”

  “This is one of the bedrooms that I’m going to keep, so when I have a place for it, it will always be there for you. And I’m going to pray that you will indeed have a lovely home of your own one day. And I have to keep telling myself that I’ve actually found you, and that we have hopes of finding mama. I’ve called already this morning. I just wish we had an address.”

  Trish said she couldn’t even make out the postmark, and I can’t either.” Then Henrietta looked seriously at Della and asked, “Do you think, if I get my leg fixed, that I might one day find myself a husband?”

  “I certainly do, even if we have to advertise for one,” Della answered with a chuckle. “And I’m hoping that we can get started on getting your leg fixed as soon as tomorrow.”

  Mattie poured coffee, then took her seat at the big round breakfast table. “Tobias ate earlier so he could be down at the gate when the trolleys are delivered. They’ll be parked inside the fence, but not in the way of cars being parked. I can’t wait to see them myself. Oh, and did I tell you that all but one of the ladies yesterday, Janie Willis, joined my dinner club. And Addie has signed up Grant Cutler. I’m getting quite a list. And Addie wants to be a server – if she can find the time. She’ll make a good one too, because she likes doing it.”

  “I’ll try to make sure she has the time,” Judy Arnold said looking at Addie with a big smile.

  “She has a mind of her own these days,” Della said smiling at her daughter. “And if you wouldn’t mind a pregnant hostess, maybe I’ll apply for that position.”

  “Oh, Mama, do you really think you should?” Addie asked as she buttered her second roll.

  “Yes, I think I’m capable of it, and, honey, please eat something beside Mattie’s rolls. I think she’d live on them, Mattie.”

  “I’ve never tasted anything so good,” Henrietta said. “Della was kind enough to let me have more than my share at dinner last night. And, Mattie, that was the best meal I’ve ever eaten.”

  “Thank you, Henrietta. And I’ll save a spot for you on my list.”

  The phone, which sat on a side table beside the love seat, rang. Della and Henrietta looked at each other hopefully, and everyone became silent, as Della got up to answer it. “Hello,” she said with a prayer that it would be her mother.

  “I’m calling for a Della or Henrietta Haynes. This is Maude ...”

  “MAMA!” Della screamed. “MAMA! IS IT REALLY YOU?”

  “DELLA!, HENRIETTA!”

  “IT’S “DELLA, MAMA. HENRIETTA IS RIGHT HERE!” Della burst into tears as she handed the phone to Henrietta, who was approaching on her crutches, and shaking with sobs.

  “Oh, my Babies!” Maude Haynes was exclaiming loudly. “I’ve found you at last. Where are you?”

  “MAMA!” Henrietta exclaimed into the phone. “I’ve missed you so bad. I want you. Where are you?” Della was holding onto her sister as they both listened with the phone between them.

  “How are you both? Is Jimmy Lee with you?” Maude Haynes was asking through her tears.

  Mattie and Judy got up carrying their cups with them to give the two sisters privacy.

  “No, Mama, but she’s here in Riverbend,” Henrietta said.

  “You’re all three in Riverbend?”

  “Yes, Mama. But where are you? Can you come here?” Della asked.

  “Oh, I want to see you so bad – to hold you in my arms again after all these years. But I can’t right now. Johnny had her baby a little early. They tell us it’s going to be fine, but she has to stay in the hospital with him and breast-feed him. I’m staying with little Ethan. They live forty miles from me. I’ve just come to get some clothes and to check my messages ...”

  “Mama! We want you so bad. Isn’t there anyone you could get to keep Ethan? If it’s a matter of money, Mama, I’ll send the money,” Della said looking at Addie for approval. Addie nodded her head in agreement. “And I’ll send you plane fare,” she added. “And whatever you need.”

  Maude didn’t answer for a few moments. Then she asked, “Is this Della?”

  “Yes, Mama.”

  “There is an LPN who works part time at the hospital where Johnny’s husband, Wayne is an RN. He brought her to their house when Johnny had to be put to bed because she was threatening a miscarriage. She stayed four days. I could get Wayne to check with her. The problem is, we don’t know how long the baby will have to stay in the hospital. And, oh, I want to see my darlings so bad. I ache with wanting you. I have all these years. I can’t believe I’m talking to you at last. I’ll give you Johnny and Wayne’s phone number. I have to leave because Wayne has to go to work. And I want you to have my address in Fresno, and I want yours. We must never be out of touch with each other again ever.”

  Henrietta and I will call you when you get back to Johnny’s house. Just tell us what time. Now here is Henrietta.”

  “What happened, Mama?” Henrietta demanded. “Where did you go?” She was crying into the phone as Della picked up pen and paper.

  “Henrietta, where did you and Jimmy Lee go? Where did Frank take you?”

  “He didn’t take us anywhere. He left us in the restroom at that beer joint.”

  “Then, you and Jimmy Lee were not in the trailer the next morning when he drove off and left Johnny and me, carrying my purse with him? I can’t believe this! Oh, Henrietta, honey, w
e have so much catching up to do. Let me give Della Johnny’s phone number, and call me in about two hours.”

  Henrietta promised that they would, and she handed the phone to Della. “Mama, it’s Della.”

  “Oh, my Della. I do have to get my clothes together and go, but tell me, is Henrietta still a cripple?”

  “Yes, Mama. But I’m taking her to an orthopedic surgeon in Nashville just as soon as I can get an appointment. I’ll tell you all about it when we talk later. Give me the phone number.” She wrote down the phone number and address of her sister, Johnny, and reluctantly, let her mother go.

  Addie had stood by listening to as much as she could hear and hugging her mother and aunt. She was so happy for them, and for herself. She now had a grandmother. She had to tell Grandpa Eli, but now, she had to get them to finish their breakfasts whether they wanted to eat or not. Time was getting away from them, and there was so much to do.

  A few minutes later she found Miss Mattie and Miss Judy attending to the Murcheson’s deliveryman in the kitchen. He was bringing in boxes and boxes and stacking them on the kitchen table. Miss Mattie was reading a note. Then she said, “Charlie, you tell Edna that I can’t begin to thank her, and she can rest assured that she, and her whole family, will be members of the dinner club. And I’ll be looking for them this afternoon.”

  “Can you believe that woman?” she asked happily after the deliver man had left, and Addie was looking over Miss Judy’s shoulder to see what she was ooohhh, and aaahhh over.

  “Cookies!” she exclaimed. “Boxes and boxes of cookies, homemade cookies. And do they look delicious, and so many different kinds.”

  “Edna Murcheson made them. And look at these fresh strawberries? Aren’t they beauties?”

  Della and her sister had joined the group around the kitchen table. “What can we do?” Della asked. If you’re going to serve the berries, we can help with them.”

  Mattie put her arm around Della. “I’m so happy for you and Henrietta, I could just cry. And if you’re sure you feel like doing it, I’ll melt some white chocolate to dip the berries in.”

  Judy Arnold expressed her happiness for the two sisters also, as she was cleaning up from breakfast. “Mattie says we’re having a light lunch for us ladies and Tobias about eleven-thirty.”

  “Yes,” Mattie said, “and I want you to take plenty of snacks and drink up to the fourth floor when you two leave us.”

  “Can you imagine Johnny with two children?” Henrietta asked as she and Della stepped into the elevator with their tray of goodies and a thermos of punch.

  “She’s twenty-eight. So it’s time to add to her family if she’s going to.”

  “Am I too old to have children? Am I?” Henrietta asked.

  “Of course not,” Della assured her. “Women these days have their first babies safely even in their forties. We’re late calling mama back, but Mattie needed us. I hope mama isn’t worried that we’re not going to call her. But she has our phone number.”

  “Can you believe that we can just pick up a phone and talk to her? I can’t. It’s been so long.”

  “It’s something I’ve wanted and dreamed about for seventeen years. Wonder what she looks like now?” Della said as they left the elevator at the fourth floor and closed the doors until they clicked.

  “Well, we looked the most like her. I hope she hasn’t changed too much. But she probably hopes the same thing about us.”

  “Let’s go into the spare bedroom. There’s a lot been taken out of it lately. We can rest on the bed as we talk to her,” Della said leading the way to the third door on the left of the big, cluttered room.

  “Addie and I agreed to send mama a thousand dollars for herself, and that we’d pay for a housekeeper or sitter for Ethan until Johnny and the baby get home. And when we get her on the phone, let’s try not to cry. If we cry, she’ll cry too, and there’s so much we want to ask her.”

  “I’ll try,” Henrietta said as Della tried to make her sister comfortable on the bed. Then she sat down beside her and dialed their sister, Johnny’s, phone number.

  The phone was answered immediately. “Della, Henrietta?”

  “Yes, Mama, it’s us.”

  “I was so afraid I’d dreamed it like I have so many times through the years.”

  “Mama, are you all right,” Della asked holding the phone where her sister could also hear.

  “Yes, my Darlings. I’m in good health. I work in a beauty salon as receptionist. And I’ve told Johnny and Wayne about finding you, and that I want to leave here as soon as possible. I also told him that you said you’d pay for a sitter or housekeeper, and he promised to call that LPN I told you about. I’ll let you know as soon as I can. But now, I need to ask Henrietta some questions.”

  “I’m right here, Mama.”

  “Honey, tell me about you and Jimmy Lee being left at that beer joint.”

  So Henrietta told her mother what had happened to them after they came out of the restroom and the truck and trailer were no longer there.

  “And all that night I was asleep in the truck thinking you and Jimmy Lee were in the trailer sleeping. But when morning came, Johnny was coughing so bad I had him stop so she could get some fresh air, and we could eat. His smoking was as bad for her as the smell of the trailer. We had pulled into a truck stop. I got Johnny out of the truck, and he said he was going to find a spot to park, then he speeded up and drove off and left us. My purse was on the seat with all our money.

  “A truck driver and his wife put us in their truck, and we thought we’d catch up with him, but he had hid somewhere. It was like he had vanished into thin air. We looked for him as far as they could take us, stopping at every truck stop and asking truckers if they’d seen him, but no one had. The truckers all took up money for us and promised to keep watching for him. They called other drivers and gave them the description, but he was never found. Fortunately, we got to Fresno riding with one trucker after another, and we had almost as much money as we had started out with.

  “I found the place where Frank was supposed to have a job lined up. But he had not shown up there or gotten in touch. So I got a job at a beauty salon, and Johnny and I got along all right, but I nearly lost my mind wondering about you and Jimmy Lee. I kept searching every way I could think of. I had police from Tennessee to California looking for my girls. Then I saw this ad. I didn’t know what to think, and I was afraid of what it might mean. I was really worried until I heard Della on the answering machine,” and she burst into tears again. And Della and Henrietta could no longer hold back their tears either.

  They talked until the cell phone battery was getting weak. They agreed that they would call their mother daily until she could come to them. They got their sister’s phone number at the hospital so they could talk to her later. They had to explain Jimmy Lee’s situation to Maude, but promised to somehow let Jimmy Lee know what had happened, why she had not come back for them.

  Then they busied themselves the rest of the afternoon catching up with each other, as they went through everything stored on the fourth floor, until Grandpa Eli showed up.

  The elevator had barely closed on her mother and aunt when Tobias came in. Addie had just put his lunch in the microwave oven, and Mattie was pouring him a tall glass of fruit tea. “You’re not going to believe this,” he declared, “but cars are already lining up. I had to close the gates after the trolleys were delivered, and people are standing at the fence looking at them.”

  “But, it’s not even twelve o’clock,” Mattie complained.

  “And I was afraid not many people would come,” Addie said. “I sure hope we don’t run out of food.”

  “I’d better get dressed,” Mattie said. “And if you run out of punch, use this gallon of fruit tea, then use soft drinks over ice. There are plenty of them in the pantry, and there’s plenty of ice. Remember only five items per plate.”

  “It would have been good if Wylene could have helped us,” Judy said.

  “
She wanted to, but several people from their church were going to paint the chapel and little house with them today. They couldn’t pass up an offer like that,” Addie said.

  “Mattie, would it be advisable to let the people start coming in as soon as the volunteers arrive and have taken their places?” Tobias asked.

  “Yes, but they’re not due until almost one o’clock. Just remember that I promised the volunteers that we’d close the doors at six.”

  “When you go back to the gates, I’ll call you when Miss Mattie says to open up. You can take my cell phone with you,” Addie told him.

  When five o’clock came people still filled the front porch, waiting to be admitted to the mansion. The food was fast running out. Addie and Deena were serving the Murcheson’s cookies and soft drinks when Mr. Whitefield showed up at the back door, asking if there was anything that he could do?

  “You are a godsend,” Mattie said when Addie introduced them. And she soon had him on his way to purchase more food. He was back in no time depositing bags on the kitchen worktable and clearing a space for himself. Quickly, and deftly, he had a tray of delightful looking tidbits being held out to Addie in the dining room.

  “Gramps!” she exclaimed in surprise. “Where did you get this?”

  “Made them,” he answered. And quickly returned to the kitchen to create more. He later explained that the lady who managed the apartment house where he lived gives a big birthday party once a month, and she had taught him to do the food for her.

  At six o’clock people were still going through the mansion, but none of the ladies seemed anxious to leave. It was after six-thirty before they could close the doors.

  Mattie thanked the volunteers graciously, and gave them a gift certificate for dinner for two at the dinner club when it opens.

  Everyone was tired by the time the last guest departed, and Mattie suggested that the cleaning up could wait until morning. She wanted to go over her list of people who had taken application to join her dinner club.