by Janie DeVos
“I’m going to stop off and see the Haileys before heading back to my folks’ house. I’m sure Emmitt and Mayoma have aged twenty years in these last few weeks, wondering whether their son stills walks this Earth,” I said with a weak smile.
“Then you’ll go to your parents’ house. For how long?” His voice was flat, but his eyes were intense. All his emotions were evident there, and they bored into me at the moment.
“I’ll stay with my parents just as long as it takes to catch the next steamer north. I need to get back to Jacksonville—to my job.”
“And to David,” he added.
“Yes, to David, too,” I confirmed.
“Well…Eve, I wish you much happiness.” He smiled but it was forced. “I hope to see your name on the byline of the New York Times someday.”
“Thanks, Max.” I smiled. He started to urge Sampson forward.
“Max!” There was urgency in my voice that surprised even me, and it certainly did Max for he abruptly pulled the reins in and turned around to look at me, waiting. “Max…I d-don’t even know how to begin, much less what exactly to say to let you know how grateful I am to you for saving Ivy’s and Moses’s lives. They wouldn’t have made it to the village without you.”
“Yes, they would have,” he said, confidently nodding. “Love conquers all, you know. At least that’s what they say,” he added softly. “You’d better get a move on, Eve. You have a boat to catch.” Without saying another thing, he turned Sampson around and started to move out.
“Wait!” I shouted though I had no idea what I wanted to say.
He once again pulled Sampson to a stop, and turned around to face me. “What is it, Eve?” He sighed rather impatiently.
“You once said you had put things on hold to track Ivy and Moses down. What are your plans now, Max? What are you gonna do?”
“I’m heading down around Lake Weir. I bought a larger grove there.”
I was surprised. Max had never mentioned anything about it. “Oh, I-I hadn’t heard.”
“It’s time to move on, Eve.” He started to leave but hesitated. “You take care of yourself.”
It felt like he was looking right through me, as though he knew what was in my heart but also knew that I was too frightened to admit it. Finally, he tipped his hat and rode off. As I watched him go, I wanted to call out to him, to make him turn around again, but I just let him go. I just had to let him go.
Chapter 40
Sins of the Father
When I approached the Haileys’ cabin, I saw Emmitt up on a ladder working on some siding. There was no way of letting him know I was there without startling him, but I stopped a distance from him and called out. “Hellooo, Emmitt!” He nearly fell from the ladder, but he grabbed a rung in time. With a mouthful of nails, he looked over his shoulder, and seeing that it was me, he dropped his hammer and hurried down.
He pulled the nails from his mouth as he walked toward me. “Moses?” he said, and even at the distance I was from him, I could see the terrible fear in his eyes.
“He’s fine, Emmitt. He’s just fine. He’s safe, and he’s married to Ivy. They’re in South Florida, at the Seminole village.”
Emmitt dropped the nails and fell to his knees, clasping his hands together. Closing his eyes, he raised his face toward the heavens. “Thank you, sweet Jesus! Thank you, Lord!” He began sobbing.
“Oh, Emmitt! Emmitt!” I dismounted from Maggie and hurried over to him. Kneeling in front of him, I pulled him to me, and the man, who was the same age as my father, cried like a baby in my arms.
Suddenly, I heard the banging of a screen door, and Mayoma walked outside with a look of absolute terror on her face. With Emmitt crying in my arms, she could only imagine the worst had come to pass, and she slowly and woodenly walked toward us as she wiped her hands on her apron. “It’s Moses, isn’t it?”
I went to her. “Moses is fine, Mayoma. He’s fine, and he’s safe. He and Ivy are living with the Seminoles in the ’Glades. They were married some days ago.”
“Oh God, oh Jesus!” she said as her knees buckled and she fell onto the grass. Emmitt knelt in front of her, and the two held each other and rocked as they cried and uttered their thanks to the heavens.
There was nothing more I needed to say, so I quietly rode Maggie out of the yard, and as I did, I heard Mayoma shout to the Lord to always bless me and protect me. And I prayed that he heard her loud and clear and that her request would be effective immediately, for my next stop was at the old homeplace.
I was nearly out of the yard when I saw discarded pieces of charred siding. I almost made myself keep going. I really didn’t want to know, but I had to. So reining Maggie around, I headed back to Emmitt and Mayoma, who were helping each other up their front porch steps. “Emmitt, what happened to your house? Why are there charred planks over there?”
Emmitt looked at Mayoma as if silently asking her if he should tell me. She gave one curt nod, and he came back down the steps and over to me. “Miss Eve, your daddy done tried to burn us down,” he answered honestly, though I could see that it pained him to do so.
“Oh, my God, Emmitt. Oh, my God. W-when? When did he do it?” I could feel my legs shaking against Maggie’s sides.
“Right after y’all left. He come over that night when Mayoma and I was sleepin’, and the only reason we knew something was goin’ on was because Mayoma’s hands were a’ hurtin’ her, and she wasn’t able to sleep. She was sittin’ in the kitchen, havin’ a cup o’ tea, when she started smellin’ the smoke. She hollered for me to come quick, and we ran out the house. Your daddy had poured kerosene down ’round that part you saw me a’ workin’ on, and the flames was already startin’ to climb the walls pretty good. I seen Hap just standin’ back by the tree line starin’—frozen like.”
“Who put it out?” My mouth was as dry as the desert.
“Me and the good Lord Hisself.” He smiled. “I started throwing buckets o’ water on the flames, but it wasn’t helpin’ enough, and then the skies opened up, dousin’ that fire! Your daddy was still standin’ there when it was doin’ nothin’ but smolderin’, and I went over to him and said, ‘Mr. Hap, why you doin’ this to us? We didn’t do nothin’ to you! Moses and Ivy done did what they did, and Mayoma and I ain’t got nothin’ to do with it. And to tell ya the truth, Mr. Hap, we don’t much like what they done neither.’ Then that poor ol’ Hap dropped the kerosene can, fell to his knees, raised his face toward the face o’ God, and cried like a baby.”
“Oh, Emmitt! I’m so very, very sorry! Here,” I said, reaching into a small pouch hidden within Maggie’s saddle. I pulled out three silver dollars and reached out to him with the coins. “Please, take this. It’ll help pay for the wood.”
“Miss Eve! I can’t take your money!” Emmitt backed away with his hands out in front of him.
“Yes, you can, and you will, Emmitt! It’s the least I can do. Please. If for no other reason than it will help me feel a little better.” I reached my hand out to him as far as I could. “Here, take it. Please!” He reluctantly did as I asked.
“Thank you, Miss Eve.”
“Emmitt, our family has put yours through enough. I want you to know that it stops now. I promise you that.”
“Don’t go doin’ nothin’ foolish, Miss Eve. There’s been enough people actin’ crazy ’round here lately. Don’t you go actin’ crazy, too.”
“I won’t, Emmitt. I promise. But I also promise that you and Mayoma can go to sleep without worryin’ that you’ll both be burned up in your beds. It’s over, Emmitt.” I turned Maggie toward home. “I have to go now. You take care of yourselves, ya hear me?”
“You say it like we ain’t gonna see ya no more.” Emmitt was no fool.
“I’m not sure you will, Emmitt. I’m gonna be married soon, and once I am, there won’t be much of a reason for me to come back here. It’s not home
anymore.” I took one last look around. “Well…I’d better go on. I’m gonna miss you and Mayoma a whole lot.” I kicked my heels into Maggie to get her moving before he could see the tears in my eyes. There’d been enough crying around their place.
Chapter 41
The Homecoming
Papa was sitting in a rocker on the front porch when I rode into the yard. He was staring off into space, though I thought I saw him quickly glance at me before he continued to look off into nothingness. I put Maggie into the corral, and watching my father closely, I mounted the porch steps and walked over to him.
“Papa?” I said flatly. There was no response from him, and I tried again. “Papa, can you hear me?” When he still didn’t answer, I walked through the screen door and called out to my mother. I didn’t hear anything, so I went into the kitchen just as she was coming in the back door with an apron full of eggs she’d gathered from the coop. Seeing me startled her, and she nearly dropped them but recovered in time.
“Eve! Oh, Eve!” she said as she started for me but then realized she had to unload her eggs first. “Here, help me with these! Lord, God, thank you, thank you!” she said as I helped her put the eggs into the sink. When they were all safely out of her apron, she pulled me to her. “Thank God you’re home! Is Ivy here, too?” When I told her that she wasn’t, she held me away from her at arm’s length. “Weren’t you able to find her?”
“I found her, Mama, and she’s fine. But before we get into all of that, tell me what’s wrong with Papa.”
“He’s been that way for nearly three weeks now. Hardly says a word unless he has to, and then it’s usually just one word—like yes or no, that kind of thing. Spends most of the day just starin’ off into space. I got that doctor to come out when he passed through a few days ago, and he couldn’t find a thing wrong with him, but when he asked if your father had been through a traumatic experience lately, I said that he had; the doctor thinks that’s likely the problem. He said with a little time, he’d probably snap out of it. Then that man charged me a quarter and left.”
“Does he eat, Mama?”
“Yeah, he still eats some but not like he used to.”
“Well, Mama, I guess you’re gonna have to do what the doctor said and give it some time.” I felt unemotional about my father’s condition. I knew he’d brought this on himself, and I didn’t have a thimbleful of sympathy for him.
“Sit down, Eve. Sit down. Tell me about Ivy. Where is she and how is she? And where is Moses? Lord, you don’t know how relieved I am to hear she’s okay!” She grabbed the coffeepot and two cups and sat across from me at the kitchen table.
“It’s a miracle they’re okay, Mama, seeing as how Papa and Mr. Kite started out to track them down and then decided to let a couple of professionals do it. We ran into Rayne Longwood and Tom Bigelow.” I watched her expression closely as I took a sip of coffee.
Her face lost some color, and she covered her mouth with her hand. “Oh, God. Where did you run into them? Was anyone hurt?”
“You know, Mama, I was out trailing after Ivy for a good long while, but I finally found her. And when I did, I made sure that she was safe and sound—and gonna stay that way. I had plenty of time to think about things. And you know what I kept askin’ myself, ‘Just how did Papa have the money to pay Tom and Rayne the kind of cash I’m sure they wanted for a job like that?’ I had to wonder if Papa was making good enough money again to be able to afford them, even though he was only workin’ about half the hours he used to. And if he wasn’t making much money on the river, then I had to wonder if he made it by doing something else, or maybe he even got some of it from someone else.”
“If you mean was he doin’ somethin’ like makin’ whiskey, or somethin’, I can tell you he wasn’t, Eve. He wouldn’t do such a thing!”
I scoffed at that last remark. “Lord, Mama, you make it sound like he’s a highly moral, ethical man!” I leaned across the table toward her and said in a low voice; “Must I remind you that he threatened to kill his own daughter and Moses?”
“Oh, he didn’t mean nothin’ when he said he would kill Ivy. It was Moses who took advantage of her.”
“Stop it, Mama!” I said, slamming my hand down hard on the table and sloshing coffee out of my cup. “Just stop it! Rayne and Tom told us that Papa’s instructions were to bring Ivy home if she was willing to come, but if she was determined to take off somewhere and have that baby, they were supposed to kill her. So stop lying! How did Papa have the money to pay Rayne and Tom? Tell me!” I shouted.
“I gave it to him,” she said in a whisper that was hardly loud enough to hear.
“You gave those two men money to kill your own flesh and blood?” I said in a low, flat voice. “Say it again, Mama! I just want to make sure I heard it right! You gave Rayne and Tom the money to murder my sister. Say it!” I shouted.
“Yes, I gave them the money!” The words exploded from her. “But they weren’t supposed to kill her—only if they had to,” she tried to reason. “Your father wouldn’t leave it alone. He just wouldn’t let—”
I stood up and kicked the chair back from me, knocking it half way across the kitchen floor. “Mama,” I hissed, “you’re a pathetically weak, disgusting woman. And you know what makes you even worse than Papa? The fact that you pretend to be something you’re not. You can’t even use being crippled and bitter as an excuse!” I backed away from the table and my mother. “I will never step foot in this house again. And never, ever try to contact me for any reason whatsoever! The irony of it all, Mama, is that the daughter you wanted dead is alive, and I’m the daughter who is now dead to you.”
I hurried upstairs to retrieve the suitcase I’d brought when David and I came for Papa’s birthday. It seemed so very long ago; my parents seemed like strangers now.
Mama was coming up the stairs, as I brushed past her on my way down. “Good-bye, Mama.”
“Wait, Eve, don’t go! Wait!”
But I paid no attention to her as I walked out the screen door and onto the porch. I set my suitcase down and stood in front of my father. He didn’t look at me but continued to stare vacantly at something in the distance instead. Placing my hands on the arms of his rocker, I leaned in close to him. “I know you can hear me, Papa, so hear this: If you ever try to hurt the Haileys again, or hire anyone to do the dirty work for you, I will personally go to the sheriff and turn you in. Then, I’ll be the best damn star witness the prosecutor has ever had the pleasure of putting on the stand.
“And one more thing—and remember this well, because I’m not comin’ back and this is the last thing I’m ever going to say to you. So listen good, Papa. You listen good!” I was just inches away from his face now. “If you ever try to hurt one hair on Ivy’s head, or her baby, or Moses, as God as my witness, I will kill you! Do you understand me, Papa? I will shoot you down like a rabid dog! And I’m gonna make sure I’m lookin’ you square in the eye when I do it!” I pushed myself away from his rocker, grabbed my suitcase, walked down the steps, and never looked back.
Chapter 42
What Lies Ahead
I gave up trying to keep a hat on my head as the ship steamed into Jacksonville Harbor. It felt good to be back, although I was both nervous and excited about seeing David again.
It felt like a lot of time had passed since I’d walked out of my parents’ house, but it had just been the day before. I had gone straight to the general store to see if I could catch Mrs. Brody before closing time. She was just counting the money from the cash register, and the door was locked, but upon seeing me peering in through the window, she’d quickly let me in. After telling her I’d be right back and grabbing a pencil and paper from the counter, I hurriedly located a deckhand who had just come off one of the boats and paid him to take Maggie back to the Haileys’ house for me. I scribbled a note to Emmitt, asking him to take care of her until I could decide what to do about her, an
d I included a silver dollar in with the note to help pay for some horse feed. Then I went back to talk with Mrs. Brody.
Without giving her too many details, I asked her if I could stay the night in the store’s back room because the next boat leaving for the St. Johns wasn’t until early the next day. However, the Brodys were now living in their new home directly behind the store, and she kindly invited me to spend the night there. I was grateful to be able to have a hot bath, a good meal, and a clean bed to sleep in. It seemed as though months had gone by since I’d had any of those small luxuries I’d always taken for granted. Before leaving the store to go over to the house, I sent David a wire, letting him know I’d be back the next day, and when Mrs. Brody came home a little bit later, she handed me a return wire:
Long meeting into tomorrow night. Meet at park Wed. at 11:00. D.P.
As soon as I read his message, I was somewhat relieved. At least he hadn’t replied that it’d been nice knowing me but…
Throughout dinner, Mrs. Brody tried to question me about what had been going on over the last several weeks. In Silver Springs, gossip spread as fast as fire on dry grass, and oftentimes, Mrs. Brody was the one holding the match. She tried to pry as much information as she could from me, even though she already knew that Rayne and Tom had gone in search of Ivy and Moses. She’d also gotten wind that I had come looking for Max, and she’d put two and two together and figured we’d gone out looking for the runaways, too. I simply told Mrs. Brody that we hadn’t been able to find them and had finally given up. She asked me if I’d seen the other two men, and I lied and said no. I figured that since none of this was her business anyway, deviating from the truth in the name of protecting the somewhat innocent was a forgivable offense.
The next order of gossip concerned David Perlow and our upcoming wedding. Mrs. Brody met him while he was waiting to catch the steamer out of Silver Springs and was very much smitten with him. Mama and I had heard all about how lovely and polite David had been to her the day we came into the store to order the material for my wedding gown. Now, as I sat there trying to enjoy her overcooked bass and lumpy mashed potatoes, she drilled me on more details about my upcoming nuptials, which included asking me if we’d set a wedding date. I told her that we planned it for October 16 and that we would be married in Jacksonville. She asked if Mama or I was going to post banns about it in any of the newspapers, and when I told her we hadn’t thought about it, she scolded me, saying it was only proper etiquette for a young lady to have her marriage plans publicly announced.
