“I will,” she says, turning to wave. But Rose wonders if she actually will. “Good luck with your move,” Regina adds, before exiting through the gate.
Rose can’t imagine that her brother was easy to live with, but she likes to think that perhaps he found some happiness. Though in Temple fashion, it was all a secret.
Alone in the garden again, Rose digs in her purse and pulls out the sand dollar she found in a box of her childhood memorabilia while she was packing. After tying the shell onto one of the oak’s lower branches, she stands back to admire it, remembering the day she and Violet laid in the grass looking up at the tree adorned with sand dollars. Like all childhoods, there is a mixture of good and bad, but she chooses now to remember the good.
Today marks the two year anniversary of her mother’s death. They purposely chose this auspicious day to move into their new place. According to Old Sally and Violet, who can see these things, her mother’s spirit has been at peace since the fire. For her mother’s sake, Rose hopes this is true. Her mother would like the idea of a park being created in honor of the Temples. In a way, it redeems the mess those secrets caused.
Before leaving, Rose bows to the garden of her childhood.
“Goodbye, Mother. Goodbye, Edward. Goodbye, old tree.” She pats the rough bark of the live oak that watched over her all those years. Her best wishes extend to all her lineage, descendants, as well as ancestors, the best and worst of the Temple clan.
Stopped at a traffic light on the way out of town, Rose opens the envelope that Regina gave her. Inside is a small key on the end of a gold chain. With the key, is a letter written by her mother on Temple stationery.
Dear Edward,
Enclosed is the second key to the second safety deposit box at the bank. For some reason it feels wise to send it to you, now that the Book of Secrets is being released. You must use all of your resources to find out who is doing this and make them stop. Our family has always had enemies, but this is someone who is especially devious. You must make them pay.
Nobody else knows about this second key or the contents of the box and it should stay that way. The Book of Secrets is nothing compared to the ledger in the second vault. Use it whenever you see fit, and by all means, don’t let Rose or Queenie get their hands on either of the keys. They don’t understand the world the way we do.
By the way, did you know that Violet Stevens is your father’s child? I only just found out. Oscar left a letter saying he wanted her to have the house. Since it was his final request on this earth, I will honor it. My final request to you, which hopefully won’t need to be followed for many years, is that you honor my decision.
Love from your devoted mother,
Iris Temple
P.S. I called earlier. Was that one of your servants who answered the telephone? I’m not sure why she was working so late, but I hope you didn’t have to pay her extra.
P.P.S. This may come as a surprise to you, Edward, but I’ve been thinking a lot lately and I wrote Rose back into the will. Please don’t contest it. I’ve been so unforgiving of her over the years. Perhaps it is because your father was much fonder of her than me.
A car horn honks behind her. The light is green. Rose drives but then pulls off the road as soon as she can and turns off the car. Two keys? Two safety deposit boxes full of secrets? Even for her family that seems excessive. If her brother was in the house the night of the fire looking for the second key, was it simply his misfortune to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, as the saying goes? Or did he actually set the fire? These are questions that will never be answered.
Shaking, Rose reads the letter again while tears spring to her eyes. She has come to expect moisture these days, in its many forms. However, this final word from her mother is totally unexpected.
Traffic is light across the Talmadge Bridge and up the South Carolina coast. Rose anticipates the next chapter of her life. If two years ago someone had told her that she would be living in Savannah again on Old Sally’s property, she would have thought them crazy. But a lot can happen in two years.
The original structure of Old Sally’s house remains, though it has been expanded and totally renovated in ways Rose never imagined. Before, it was like a tightly closed bud that now has blossomed into a spacious, lovely flower with many petals. Even Old Sally, who knows most everything before it happens, seemed surprised by the overall transformation.
During the construction, Old Sally lived near the renovation site in a Winnebago that Rose bought for her so she could remain near her beloved beach. Old Sally made friends with the construction workers, and they ate lunch with her every day on two picnic tables they set up outside her camper. For months, Violet cooked hamburgers and hot dogs on two large grills for the workers and made huge bowls of potato salad and baked beans. Other times, she made dozens of ham and cheese sandwiches with homemade sweet potato chips and gave them large slices of lemon meringue and peach pies. As a result, they finished the house in record time and promise to visit whenever they can. According to the workers, they have never known a project to go so smoothly.
Rose turns off the main road and takes the sandy drive to the beach. In the distance, their new home resembles one of the elaborate sandcastles Rose and Violet built when they were girls. There are enough bedrooms in the big house for Old Sally, Queenie, Violet, Jack and the girls, as well as Katie and Angela. Rose and Max have the guest cottage in the back with a wrap-around porch that connects to a wooden walkway leading to the main house. In their new compound they have a combined total of three dogs—Rose and Max’s two border collies and Katie’s small mutt. In addition, Angela has two cats and Violet’s girls, Tia and Leisha, have a pet turtle, but have already asked for a dog.
Nearly home, Rose pulls into the driveway of Spud Grainger who now lives a quarter of a mile down the beach. He waves from the second story deck of his new house and heads down the steps to her car. Officially retired from the Piggly Wiggly, Spud has traded in bow ties for colorful Hawaiian shirts. As he opens the car door, she thinks how odd it still is to see him without a tie.
“You ready?” Rose asks.
“I’m always ready, now that I’m a man of leisure,” Spud says. He smiles.
“It’s nice of you to help with the move.” Rose has enjoyed getting to know Spud over the last year.
“Did Katie and Angie make it in?” Spud asks.
“They arrived last night with a full U-Haul,” Rose says. “We were up until midnight unloading it.”
Katie and Angela are the most surprising addition to their complex living situation. Six months ago, they had a commitment ceremony in Chicago that Rose and Max attended, and just last month Katie announced she was pregnant. Rose doesn’t question the details—a grandchild is a grandchild. Although what surprised her even more, was Katie’s announcement that she wanted to raise their child in Savannah among family. Luckily they have plenty of family—in a traditional and nontraditional sense—to go around.
“I was in Hilton Head last night, or I would have helped with the U-Haul,” Spud says.
Spud converted one of his Hilton Head properties into a retirement village for jazz and blues musicians. Having taken up saxophone again, Spud spends every Saturday night attending a jam session in the lobby. People from all over the Carolinas and Georgia come to hear them.
“Did Queenie enjoy herself?” Rose asks.
“Oh my, yes,” Spud says with another smile. “That lady can really dance.”
Over the months, a budding romance has developed between Queenie and Spud. She goes with him on Saturdays to hear him play saxophone.
The Temple clan looks different these days, becoming inclusive instead of exclusive. A mixture of black and white, married and single, straight and gay. If her mother is somehow privy to these events, she is probably writing a letter of protest to God at this very minute. But Rose doesn’t care. She is happy to let her mother have the last word.
Three moving trucks of various sizes are i
n different stages of unloading as Rose pulls her car into their new eight car garage. Moving men carry boxes and furniture out of the different trucks like bees coming out of several hives. Rose and Spud dodge movers as they walk the wooden boardwalk to the front of the house. At one point, Spud takes her elbow and steers Rose out of the path of an overstuffed armchair.
Like she paused that day she first saw Old Sally again, Rose stops on the walkway to take in the ocean. It is high tide. Sandpipers skirt the edges of the waves, as they always do.
“I could look at this view every day for the rest of my life,” Rose says to Spud.
“And the good news is, you will.” Spud’s smile is almost as bright as his shirt.
Rose laughs. “You know, Spud, you’re absolutely right.”
The renovated house is at least four times bigger than Old Sally’s original dwelling. It has two stories now, with a huge porch attached to the kitchen and a sun room facing the ocean. A dozen wooden rockers rest on the front porch and a large wooden picnic table is built in so they can eat outside if they choose. While Rose takes off her sandals at the top of the stairs to go barefooted, Spud excuses himself and goes inside.
Max stands at the ornate double wooden doors looking like a native. He no longer wears his cowboy hat and boots, but opts instead for a ball cap, shorts and flip flops. Having relaxed like a pro into their financial freedom and subsequent early retirement, Max gives Rose a quick embrace. The envelope Regina gave her crinkles in her pocket, and she wonders briefly what to do with it.
“Happy?” he asks, before directing a mover who has stopped in the doorway to ask where to put a box.
“Definitely,” Rose says, realizing it’s true. She’s never felt so full of possibilities.
They have walked through the house many times at different phases of the construction, but now it is finally complete. Floor to ceiling windows grace every side of the house. Ceiling fans in every room spread the ocean breeze around whenever they choose not to run the air conditioning. Everyone had input into the original plans, and with Violet’s blessing they have created a kind of collective dream house. Life is never perfect, of course. There have been a few bumps in the road, but something about this new adventure and new family feels right to Rose. They will get through the rough spots together.
“Someone’s waiting for you on the side porch,” Max says.
“Who?” Rose asks.
“Just go,” he says, as if intent on being mysterious about it.
The inside of the house is organized chaos. Tia and Leisha giggle with two girlfriends by their side and carry boxes to a different wing of the house. Violet, Queenie and Angela are in the kitchen fixing everyone lunch. Angie smiles at Rose. Her hair is longer and her face is minus the piercings. She appears more relaxed and lighter than when Rose first met her.
Spud greets Queenie with a kiss on the cheek. In response, she pats him on the rump and laughs.
Violet has her hair braided with beads like Old Sally used to do when she was a girl. Mother and daughter sing Michael, Row Your Boat Ashore, swaying to the melody, their shoulders touching as they cut up peaches. Rose remembers when Queenie sang this in the car and hopes she won’t throw in a primal scream to go with it.
Although, this crowd could probably handle that, too, she thinks.
Violet rolls out dough on the countertop for a peach pie and then transfers it onto the pie plate and crimps the edges. In three months Violet will open a new business called Violet’s Tea Shop and Bakery in downtown Savannah. The day before the fire, Violet’s shoulder had warned her to move her money from where she kept it in the Temple mansion kitchen.
Rose stops to eat a piece of peach from Violet’s bowl. The taste is so completely delicious, she takes another piece and then another.
There’s nothing in the world as rich and soulful as Georgia peaches, Rose thinks, as peach juice runs down her chin.
“Welcome home,” Queenie says, and her words sound as sweet as the peaches. They exchange a hug full of history.
Rose and Queenie have waited a long time for a moment like this. A time when neither of them is haunted by secrets or shame, and they can completely be themselves. After Violet worked through all the hurt feelings with Queenie, the two women became practically inseparable. Violet spends part of every day learning the Gullah family traditions from Old Sally, as well as creating some special teas and tinctures she plans to sell at her shop.
On her way to the side porch, Rose admires Old Sally’s new window seat that has replaced the table and been expanded to her specifications. Colorful cushions have been added for Old Sally to sit on while she nurtures her collection of beautiful and ordinary things, as diverse as the people they represent, including the ones who now live in this house. The sandcastle Rose gave Old Sally nearly thirty years before sits in the center and next to it Rose places the second key.
Later, she plans to talk to Queenie and Violet about what to do with what’s in the safe deposit box at the bank, but she has a feeling a big bonfire on the beach may be in their future. She will also tell them that it was Edward who was releasing the secrets and why he felt the need to do it. She likes to think that her brother had good intentions at heart. She only wishes she had known this side of him.
After admiring the view again, Rose walks out the side door to find Old Sally and Katie sitting on the wraparound porch. At almost 102 years of age, Old Sally reminds Rose of the tree in the Temple garden. She has watched over all of them over the years and has also been one of the biggest blessings in Rose’s life. When she sees Rose, Old Sally smiles, igniting the love Rose has for this woman.
Rose flashes back to herself as a girl, leaning into Old Sally’s wide hip, her strong, brown arms wrapped around Rose. Those memories make up for everything her mother did or didn’t do. As long as you feel love from somewhere, it’s enough, she decides.
Katie holds Old Sally’s hand. Seeing the two of them together makes Rose smile. This is what family is all about, she thinks. Generations all under one roof, honoring and appreciating each other.
“Old Sally’s going to teach me some of her spells at the same time she teaches Violet,” Katie says.
“That’s terrific,” Rose says. She wonders what her mother would have to say about Katie learning what she considered “voodoo.”
Katie lets go of Old Sally’s hand and walks over to Rose and kisses her on the cheek. “I’ll leave you two alone and go help Angie,” she says.
Rose nods, noticing how pink Katie’s cheeks have already become. This move is going to be good for her, too, Rose thinks.
As Katie walks away, Old Sally stands to greet Rose. She moves more slowly these days. On the night of the fire, she seemed to pass the mantle to Violet. Yet her eyes remain bright. They embrace. For years whenever she and Old Sally embraced, Rose felt like a little girl in the arms of the Great Mother. This is the woman who not only baptized her with the sprinkler bottle while doing the ironing when Rose was a girl, but also the woman who sprinkled her with love throughout her life. But it’s her turn to take care of Old Sally now, with the help of Queenie and Violet, who were also raised in the shade of this grand woman.
Old Sally relaxes in Rose’s arms. Confirmation comes from somewhere deep inside that Rose has been moving toward this moment her entire life. A new feeling washes over her like a gentle ocean wave. She is home. She is finally home.
Thank you for reading!
Dear Reader,
I hope you enjoyed Temple Secrets. I want you to know that I really loved writing this story. I especially loved the characters Queenie and Old Sally. I have actually missed spending time with them now that they have journeyed out into the world.
As an author, I rely on your feedback to complete the circle as the story travels from writer to reader and then back again. To be honest, you’re the reason I write. So tell me what you liked, what you loved, even what you wish I’d done differently. You can also let me know if you want more stories
like this one. I’d love to hear from you!
You can write me at [email protected] or visit my website at: https://www.susangabriel.com.
Finally, I want to ask a favor.
If you’re so inclined, I’d love a review of Temple Secrets. Whether you loved it or not, I’d appreciate your feedback. Reviews can be tough to come by these days, and you, the reader, have the power to champion a book or ignore it.
Whether you bought this book at Amazon, Nook, Google Books, iTunes, Kobo or elsewhere, you can review it there.
If you want, you can tell potential readers what you liked most about the book, what interested or surprised you, or whatever you feel like writing. It doesn’t have to be long.
Thanks so much for reading Temple Secrets and for spending time with me.
In gratitude,
Susan Gabriel
P.S. You can see all of my books, along with excerpts, videos, etc. at my Amazon author page here: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B002BLYGTW or at my website https://www.susangabriel.com
Acknowledgments
After twenty years of writing, I have a tremendous amount of gratitude any time one of my books makes it out into the world. I am especially grateful for my readers, who have told me what my books have meant to them, and encouraged me with emails and reviews.
For information on the Gullah culture, I am indebted to Bill Moyers’ story on the PBS show, NOW, as well as an article called Gullah: A Vanishing Culture, by Paige Williams, in the Charlotte Observer, along with other research.
I appreciate the input from my first readers: Anne Alexander, Krista Lunsford, Josephine Locklair, Jeanette Reid, Ann Bohan, Liz Gunn, Kendrick Wronski and Jane Kennedy. Thanks to Nancy Purcell and the Quotation’s writers group in Brevard, NC, who gave me feedback on the first chapter of Temple Secrets. I also appreciate the feedback given to me by my literary agent, Mary Grey James.
Temple Secrets: Southern Humorous Fiction: (New for 2015) For Lovers of Southern Authors and Southern Novels Page 27
