by BobA. Troutt
The last of winter had passed. The chill of the wind was warmer now than the months before. Spring approached as a roaring lion, bringing the early rains that quenched the thirst of the land. The last of the snow was no more than a memory of the season that had slipped away. The crocus and the buttercup were in budding stage, waiting to open up in a few days. Then everything will break away and start blooming. The sweet smell of the fragrance of God’s spring will highlight the wind, accenting the breeze. The stir of the winter wind bowed to the bright warm sunlight.
In 1917 I worked as a lighthouse keeper on Bay Point Island, a small island about twenty-five miles south off the coast of Stonehouse Harbor, Georgia. The island was full of life and had a strong heritage of its past. On the backside of the island on the other side of the Scott Estate toward the mainland was the old abandoned Bay Point State Penitentiary for the criminally insane. Dating back to the early 1800’s, its ruins still stand today. Ocean waves still crash on its rocky coastline; spray from the waves moisten the molded and mildewed rock walls. The razor wire is all but gone, rusted away. At night, especially a foggy Georgia night on the island, you could almost hear the hounds of Spencer Huntington’s ghost tracking down escaped convicts outside the prison walls in a massive manhunt. Today it is one of Georgia’s many tourist sites. Hamilton Bay trimmed the coastline toward the inland and rests its waves softly on its shores. Toward the inland to the north was an old swinging bridge that stretched across Mercer Falls.
Not far from the lighthouse was the Scott Estate. It was once the home of the late Winfred A. Scott, the owner of Scott Fish and Cannery in Stonehouse Harbor. He had made his fortune from the ocean. His wife Martha Ann had borne a child, Cheryl, who had inherited the estate. The big house set atop the hill from the lighthouse. At night you could see the lights from the top floor of the house. The estate held peach and apple orchards which also brought in a mighty income. North of the house stood an orchard of nut trees. There were hickory nut, walnut, pecan, and butternut trees that also enriched the wealth. A giant fountain sat in front of the house surrounded by a circle drive trimmed in virgin South Carolina rose bushes and giant boxwood shrubs. The fountain was made of glazed marble imported from the Mediterranean. It was trimmed in polished pearl and amethyst cut stone. Behind the house, among the flower garden and fish pond, was a giant aviary filled with exotic birds, parrots, canaries, lovebirds, cockatiels, and parakeets. This was Cheryl’s hobby, her pastime, her getaway.
Winfred and his family were at the top of society back then. He was well respected and liked by most. Yet like so many others, the Scotts had a dark side and a lot of secrets. Only a few ever knew that Martha Ann had been married before. When she was younger she had a child by her husband. Both of them, still kids themselves, soon brought the end to their relationship. The way times were, the hardships and struggles, drove their home into ruins.
Before her divorce was final, she met Winfred. He swept her off her feet. Still childlike, not really knowing what love was, and so infatuated with him, in her eyes he could do no wrong. She gave her daughter up to her first husband when Winfred told her he wanted to marry her, but he didn’t want a readymade family. After the divorce, her first husband and the child left, and she never heard from them again. After dating for almost a year, Martha Ann and Winfred married.
Everything was heavenly for a while. There was high prestige in being Winfred Scott’s wife. She enjoyed the high class recognition from everyone, ballroom dances, country clubs, traveling abroad, and playing crochet on the lawn with the governor, senators, and judges. She had it all and so did Winfred.
She was so beautiful and full of life. Although he was ten years older, she made him feel like a young man again. But, as time passed, the rich and glamorous life sort of died down. Everything now seemed to be about the business. The late night rendezvous in the bedroom slowed down. The sexy small talk soon died, too. Martha Ann became lonely, depressed, and started drinking more. Winfred, not much of a big drinker, argued and scolded her about her drinking. Among the drinking and some other things, they soon fell out of love. The sparks of the romance and the fire of their marriage had all but gone out.
As time passed, Winfred stayed tied up in his business and Martha began to stray. She started seeing one of the fishermen who worked on the shipping docks of Stonehouse Harbor. He worked for Winfred. The affair went on for several months. They would sneak around in Stonehouse and on the island whenever Winfred was out of town. Finally, Winfred caught wind of the affair but, by that time, Martha Ann was pregnant. She was forty-three.
Late one night Winfred got a call from one of his buddies, a local policeman. He had found Martha Ann alongside the road. She was drunk and crying. Winfred told the officer to bring her home. When the officer brought her to the door, Winfred slipped him a little money in his shirt pocket and told him he would take care of it now. After the officer left, Winfred confronted Martha Ann about the affair, but she denied it. She argued the point that she had been raped, that there was never an affair, but the talk of people telling lies and rumors. He suspected differently. Then she broke down and told him she was pregnant. He was at a loss for words. Winfred stormed out of the house in a rage, disappearing into the night’s darkness. Hours later, he returned. He held his head up in pride, but his eyes looked as if he had been crying.
To save face and avoid embarrassment to the family, Winfred accepted the rape story and took matters into his own hands. He had her lover killed. He paid big money for a couple of men to take her lover out in the night to the ocean and feed him to the sharks. They tied him up in fish bait and threw him overboard. The lover disappeared into the deep dark water just off the coast of Bay Point, never to be seen again. Later on when Martha tried to see him, she couldn’t find him; he had disappeared. She knew Winfred had done something but couldn’t prove it. The word about town was he moved up North. The other word was short but bitter, Winfred’s revenge. Nothing was ever proven about the disappearance.
Winfred accepted being the baby’s daddy. There was a slim chance he might have been the father. While Martha Ann was seeing her lover, there were times she slept with Winfred also. He didn’t know for sure if the baby was his, but at the same time he didn’t want to know the truth. Martha went along with it. The child did however bring a little romance back into their lives. After a while, I guess you could say the child turned out to be a blessing instead of a curse. It saved their marriage. If the truth be known, it probably saved Martha’s life.
Eventually, Martha had the baby. It was a girl, and she named her Cheryl. Life became normal for Winfred and Martha Ann. The baby enhanced their lives and marriage. Cheryl was the talk of the town. She was the new jewel in the Scott’s crown. No one ever knew if Winfred was the baby’s real daddy. They accepted that he was, but there were the rumors in the shadows about the real father. No one ever challenged it, they knew better. There was something about having a child around that put a different meaning on the word home. It seemed that all the cracks and crannies that lay wait in the Scott marriage where filled with the child. The home that lost its laughter smiled once again. The warm feeling of love that once inhabited it was now rekindling the flame. Martha Ann had given up on her drinking and Winfred stayed at home more playing with the child, being a daddy and husband.
Life is filled with ups and downs and it would be when Cheryl was seventeen that she would leave her mark on the Scott’s family tree. It was then that she got pregnant. When Winfred and Martha Ann found out they were very angry. It was like they were reliving the haunted past again. Winfred didn’t waste any time. He made a few calls and made the arrangements for Cheryl to be sent away, out of state, and have her baby given up for adoption. Cheryl was devastated. She didn’t want to give up her child. But the influence of her parents and the Scott fortune hung in the balance.
The baby’s daddy, who
se nickname was Bones, was the caretaker of the estate grounds. He was my nephew. I oversaw the lighthouse for Mr. Scott. Bones and Cheryl used to play around the lighthouse when they were kids. The two children grew up together on the island and they had been secretly seeing each other for a long time. He was nicknamed Bones because of the crossbones and skull he had tattooed on his arm. Bones was hired by Mr. Scot to tend to the crops and take care of the migrant workers during the harvest. It was hard for him to figure it out. He put two and two together and it all added up to three (so to say).
The Scott’s immediately isolated Cheryl from everyone, especially Bones, until she left on the trip. Bones tried to see her several times but was stopped by Winfred’s bodyguards. Winfred even went to him and threatened him if he didn’t stay away from her. He said he would have bad consequences to pay that he didn’t want to pay.
From time to time when Bones was working out in the yard he saw her peeping out the window through the curtains. That was the last time he saw her. She was being kept a prisoner in her own home by them. No one knew when it had happened, but one day Cheryl was gone. No one knew where she was. It was kept hush-hush, not even the father of the baby knew. Everyone was told she went on an unexpected trip to Europe for a few months.
In a short time, Cheryl had her baby girl and named her Sarah. Months later, she returned home by herself. She would never be the same again. She had asked about Bones, but he had finally left. No one knew where he was. The child was given to an orphanage, and Winfred had it fixed that the child would be passed on through several orphanages to keep anyone from finding the child, especially Cheryl. Winfred gave big donations to the orphanage to have his wishes followed. The orphanage was glad to do it because they needed the money. There was some talk about it on the island, but like everything else it died down.
In the eyes of the others, Winfred and Martha Ann had lost the respect and popularity of the town. It cost the Scotts more than they wanted to give. From then on Winfred and Martha Ann started going down. Not many people would have much to do with them. Their health began to fail and soon they passed. Cheryl was left in charge after inheriting the Scott Estate and fortune. At their death, she neither shed a tear, nor grieved for them. Cheryl was a beautiful young woman and ruled her inheritance with an iron fist.
After her parents died, Cheryl spent the next two years searching for her baby. If there was one thing in this world she was bound and determined to do, she was going to get her baby back. No matter what the cost. She went headstrong, cutting through the red tape and the bureaucracy. She spent a lot of money buying information and leads.
After nearly three years, her hard work and determination began to pay off. She got a lead. Her daughter had been adopted by a family in North Carolina, a Troy and Elizabeth Fittsmichael. The child’s name was Sarah. After carefully following the child’s trail from where she gave the baby up and uncovering the trail her daddy left, Sarah ended up at the Windsor Hills Orphanage in North Carolina, about an hour drive out of Raleigh. The next thing to do was to figure out a way to get her baby back without giving herself away. She wondered what she could do. How she should go about it. After all this she had finally found her baby. It was just a matter of time that she would hold her baby once again.
It was by chance one day while she was at the cannery checking on some new equipment that she overheard one of the workers mention a Troy Fittsmichael. He was telling the others that he had worked for him in Charlotte. The worker went on to say that Troy was a good man and one of the best bosses he had ever had. When he had finished talking she spoke up, “Excuse me, sir.” Then she called him over to the side asking him questions about Troy. “Are you referring to Troy Fittsmichael who has a wife named Elizabeth and a daughter name Sarah?” she inquired. “I need a new foreman to take over some of the new operations at the cannery that will be opening up. Do you think he might be interested?” she questioned.
“He might,” he replied. “Do you know him?”
“In a roundabout way,” she said.
“When I worked for him in Charlotte,” he went on to say, “we became good friends. He remembered their little girl, Sarah. When they adopted her they were so happy. Elizabeth couldn’t have children.”
Cheryl nodded her head that she understood.
“The last time I talked to him, about a year ago, things had gotten pretty bad. The place where we had been working took bankruptcy. The last I heard he was looking for work. They were having hard times.”
“Could you reach him?” she asked.
“Sure,” he replied. “I have a cousin that lives down the road from him, if he still lives there. I’ll call him.”
“Call me at this number,” she said, “when you get his phone number and address. I’ll get in touch with him and see if he is interested. I’ll tell him that you recommended him for the job. Now what’s your name again?”
“Billy Walker,” he stated, “but he will know me by my nickname Shakey.”
Billy told her he would have it for her by late that evening.
“Thank you,” she replied.
“You’re welcome,” he said as he went back to work.
Troy and Elizabeth were having a hard time. They barely could make ends meet. Troy was out of work. The cannery where he worked in Charlotte had closed. It wasn’t long before Cheryl had a game plan. As soon as she got the information she started to work. She mailed them some brochures about the island and invited them down for a little getaway. They were welcome to stay in the cottage there at the mansion. Also, she added that there were jobs available. She went on to say that Troy had been recommended for a supervisor’s job at her cannery in Stonehouse, Georgia by his friend Billy Walker, Shakey, and she would love to discuss the job with him. She even offered to pay their moving expenses and help them to relocate if they were satisfied with everything. Next, she gave her name and number and finished with, I will be waiting to hear from you—Cheryl Scott, Scott Fish and Cannery in Stonehouse, Georgia.
Shortly, Troy and Elizabeth received the invitation. At first they couldn’t believe it. Troy had heard of Scott’s Fish and Cannery and always heard it was good money and steady work. The fact that Shakey had told her about him meant a lot. The next few days they discussed it. Finally, they made the decision to check into it.
“What could it hurt?” they agreed.
Troy called Cheryl, and they made the arrangements. They would come down on Thursday, spend the weekend, and go from there.
When Troy and Elizabeth got there, Cheryl was ready for them. She had a catered supper to begin with, then a walk about the grounds. She showed them the cottage. It was a beautiful French stone cottage with a winding porch laced in morning glory vines with a gazebo on one end. It had three bedrooms, kitchen, living room and two baths with polished floors made of Himalayan firwood.
“Oh, morning glories, they are my favorite,” said Elizabeth.
“Me too,” replied Cheryl, “and it was Mama’s too.”
The evening weather was great. After the superb meal, they sat around and talked. Cheryl asked if they had any children. Elizabeth answered that they did, a daughter by the name of Sarah. She said she couldn’t have children and discovered that Troy was sterile so they adopted.
“Why didn’t she come with you?” asked Cheryl.
“We left her with my brother and his wife,” replied Troy. “We wanted to check things out first and spend a little time alone.”
“How old is Sarah?” Cheryl replied.
“She’s eight going on nine,” said Elizabeth. “Would you like to see a picture of her?”
“Sure,” replied Cheryl. “I’d love too.” As Cheryl reached for the picture, her hands began to quiver. “Oh, excuse me,” she said. “I have tremors sometimes.” Then she looked at the picture. She held back the tears that filled her eyes. It was the first time she ha
d seen her daughter since the night she was born. “She is a doll,” said Cheryl. “I can’t wait to meet her. I love children,” Cheryl said as she gave back the picture.
“Do you have any children,” asked Elizabeth?
“No,” Cheryl replied as a big knot hung in her throat. “Excuse me.” Then in a few minutes Cheryl said, “I wish I had a little girl like yours.”
“Maybe you will one day, Cheryl,” consoled Elizabeth.
“Well, you two go ahead and get cozy in the cottage and tomorrow we will go to the cannery. Make yourselves at home; enjoy the pool. Let me know if you need anything. I’ve got to go to Stonehouse for a while. I’ll see you later.”
“Thanks, Miss Scott, thanks a lot,” replied Troy. “Bye.”
“Call me, Cheryl,” she said as she turned and laughed.
“You got it, Cheryl,” replied Troy.
Cheryl had to get away. She couldn’t hold back anymore. She needed a stiff drink to ease the pain. That evening Cheryl hit the highlights of the nightlife. She hit one club after another to try to ease the pain of what she had done. The night was young and so was she, a beautiful woman out for the night. But, she suddenly stopped in her tracks when she sat at the table and looked across the room at the Skillet Creek Bar and Grill. “It can’t be,” she whispered to herself. “Oh please tell me that it is,” she cried out as she took out across the floor. The man across the room turned toward her and looked.
“Cheryl,” he said. “Is that you?”
“Oh my God,” she cried out. “Bones, it’s you. She couldn’t believe it. I thought I’d never see you again! Where have you been? I’ve tried to find you.”
He explained, “I spent some time in Oklahoma and Nebraska for a while working on the wheat harvest. Then I traveled about catching work here and there and one day I wound back up here. You don’t need an experienced groundskeeper do you?”
“Yes, yes, I do” she cried and laughed, “Oh, God, yes. There are crops that need spraying and trees that need pruning and on and on. Bones, don’t say another word. You’re hired.”
As tears filled her eyes she ran her fingers in his hair and told him she needed him and that not a day had gone by without her thinking of him.
“But what about your dad and mom?” he asked.
“They passed away a while back,” she stated.
She informed him that she had inherited the estate and the cannery and that she was the top dog now.
“I’m sorry to hear about your family,” he said.
“I’m not,” she said.
“Me either,” he replied. He then made a toast, “You and me against the world, cheers!”
“I’ll drink to that,” she replied. “Hey, Bones, you are not going to believe this.”
“What’s that,” he asked.
“I have found the baby.”
“You have, how?’ he asked as tears ran down his face.
As Cheryl wiped his tears away, he reached up and took her hand and kissed it.
“I’ve missed you,” he said.
As they moved back over to her table they sat down and she told him the whole story. He turned to her and told her he had tried to find her after she left. But her dad had so much power and money he couldn’t compete. Eventually he got discouraged and gave up.
Cheryl replied that she understood. She didn’t blame him. There were times she thought about giving up, but she couldn’t let go of their child.
“Can I see her?” he then asked.
“It won’t be long,” she said. “I’m still working on it.”
As they sat there talking, they had a lot to catch up on. As they talked, the empty drink glasses began to pile up, the drunker they got. Finally, a couple hours later, Cheryl looked at him and said, “Let’s go home.”
As they drove up to the house he said, “It’s been a long time since I have been here. I forgot about how beautiful it was. And the memories, there are so many I wouldn’t know where to start.”
“Welcome home,” she said.
As they walked toward the house, they suddenly heard a commotion around back.
“Oh, no my birds,” she cried out.
When they got around to the aviary the birds were squawking, flying around frantically, and making all kinds of noise. Quickly they rushed around to see. Bones told Cheryl to stay back that he would check it out, thinking it may be a dog or possum, trying to get to the birds. Cheryl watched from the distance as he approached the aviary.
Inside the cottage, Troy was awakened by the noise also. He could see Cheryl and some man as he looked out the kitchen window of the cottage. Elizabeth never turned over. He couldn’t get over how beautiful she looked in the moonlight as he watched from the shadows until she went in.
Then, all of a sudden, two skunks shot out from under a bush, spraying Bones, and then took off out across the backyard leaving him stinking to high heavens. At first Cheryl laughed at him until she didn’t see him laughing. Then he started laughing and they both laughed. But, she kept her distance. You talk about stinking and sobering up, that did the trick. Bones stood so helpless. He didn’t know what to do. She felt so sorry for him. Man, he stunk so bad it almost took Cheryl’s breath. She told him to take off his clothes and come on in the house and take a bath.
“There is some canned tomato juice in the cellar I’ll get, and you can take a bath in it. They say that will take away the odor. Leave your clothes outside,” she suggested. “No, put them in the trashcan.”
Slowly, he stripped down and then headed into the house. He still stunk. She told him to soak in the tomato juice for a while and then wash himself. While he did, she would pour them another drink. She had to make a joke and asked him if he wanted a Bloody Mary. He looked at her funny and then realized the joke.
“Yeah, right, wise guy,” he replied.
The smell lingered for hours in the backyard. The skunks were long gone, and Bones was in her tub. The next morning she went over to Stonehouse and did some quick shopping. She picked up some clothes for Bones and took them back so he could get dressed. Troy and Elizabeth ate breakfast with Bones and Cheryl. After that Cheryl took Troy and Elizabeth over to the cannery for a tour. While there, she introduced him to some people he would be working closely with. And of course they saw Shakey. They were like brothers. They talked and talked. Finally, they left for a bite of lunch. They went back to Bay Point and met Bones and toured the old penitentiary there.
“It was a sight to see,” said Elizabeth.
“Amazing,” replied Troy.
Bones had to leave us. He was moving in some things back at the house.
“Well what do you think about it?” asked Cheryl.
“The island is so beautiful,” replied Elizabeth. “It’s so heavenly. I could stay here forever.”
Troy remarked he had never seen anything like it.
“Do you think you would be happy here?” she asked.
“I think so,” he replied.
“Me, too,” said Elizabeth.
“Then we all agree. You can stay in the cottage as long as you want,” replied Cheryl. “Whenever ya’ll would like some time alone,” she said, “I’ll be glad to watch little Sarah for you.”
“Troy, what do you think?” asked Elizabeth.
He then nodded his head with a smile, “Why not?”
“The job is yours if you want it.” She asked, “When can you start?”
“As soon as we get moved, give us a week,” they replied.
“Consider it done,” said Cheryl. Then she hugged them both. “Go back home and get everything packed up and I’ll send a moving company to move you. I’ll pay. It can be a housewarming treat. I would like to meet the little one of the house.”
“It will be good returning home again,” stated Elizabeth. “We have a lot to do.”
“Elizabeth, do you think you’ll miss North Caroli
na?” asked Troy.
“Some,” she replied. “Troy, do you think we are doing the right thing?”
“Sure,” he said. “Everything is handed right to us. You can’t beat that. We’ve worked hard and come too far to turn our backs on a once in a lifetime blessing.”
“Yeah, I know,” replied Elizabeth. “It seems so easy, too easy as a matter of fact.”
“It is a once in a lifetime opportunity,” coached Troy. “You’re not getting cold feet on me are you?”
“Maybe a little,” she said, “maybe a little.”
“It’s going to be fine,” he replied. “After a couple of months, you won’t even think about North Carolina.”
“I guess you’re right,” she said as she gave him a kiss and hug.
The move to Bay Point Island started as soon as they arrived home. It went so smoothly that by the following weekend they were unpacking and hanging family pictures up in the cottage. Cheryl had come by early that morning and offered to watch Sarah for them.
“That was nice of her,” stated Troy. “She seems to love children.”
Life went on in Bay Point. It was good there. Cheryl had given them one of her parrots as a housewarming gift for little Miss Sarah. The parrot’s name was Governor. He was a colorful Amazon parrot from South America.
“What do you say, Governor,” asked little Sarah.
Then he would reply, “Governor is a pretty bird.” He would then squawk out loud, “A pretty bird. What do you say?” replied Governor. “You didn’t hear me say anything did you?” she would reply back, and then squawk! Then Governor would fluff his feathers and walk about on his perch. “You’re a smarty ain’t you,” he would say as he whistled and squawked. “Governor is a pretty bird, a pretty bird.”
Sarah loved him. Governor was like having another child around.
At the cannery, Troy had taken over some of the operations. He had some new ideas he wanted to try and she told him to go for it. Cheryl took care of little Sarah for them. She had gotten Elizabeth a part-time job at a bakery in Stonehouse. She had a good friend who owned it. Elizabeth loved to cook and bake. Cheryl babysat a lot for them; it was great. Bones and Cheryl, later on, began to spend more time with Sarah. Troy and Elizabeth were so busy. Whenever they started talking about being away from home so much, Cheryl would kindly offer them a little pay incentive to encourage them.
Cheryl had her dark side also. She could be a shady woman when she wanted to. The more she saw Sarah, the more she got attached to her, meaning the more she wanted her for herself. The months rolled by and Cheryl kept Troy and Elizabeth busy. She started hanging around the cannery more than she had in the past, claiming to be checking on the business. But little did anyone know, she was moving in on Troy. He had done some good things for the business and was bringing in the money to prove it. He was a pretty smart business man. He sort of reminded her of her daddy. Cheryl liked that. They would take lunch together at times when he would work late. She would always have an excuse to be there.
Another thing was when Troy got the job and started making that big money, he was like so many others. He became uppity. I guess you could say he forgot where he came from. Also, there were some other things that came along with it. He and Elizabeth had started to have trouble. She had quit the bakery to be at home with Sarah more. Cheryl didn’t like that so she turned to Troy for revenge. She and Troy became a pretty hot item there for about two weeks. Cheryl had sent Bones away on a trip to New England to look at some new fishing boat equipment.
But, her plans with Troy soon came to a halt. Troy saw a side of Cheryl he didn’t like, so he decided to get out. But when he did, Cheryl threatened to go to Elizabeth and tell her and also fire him. They could lose it all. Cheryl was not going to let it go, without her daughter. So, one evening she went by Troy’s office and told him to meet her at the old swinging bridge north of the lighthouse around dusk if he wanted her to let it go. He hesitated at first, but then agreed. Elizabeth was already suspicious and asking some questions.
That night they met on the bridge. Cheryl tried to rekindle what little they had, but Troy still didn’t want any part of it.
“These meetings with Cheryl,” he explained to Elizabeth, “are out of town business trips.”
Whenever he came in at three o’clock in the morning, Elizabeth didn’t seem to believe him, but she had no reason not too.
That night one thing lead to another as Cheryl started getting out of control; she then started to slap him. He quickly blocked her off, pushing her back. The bridge was swinging back and forth. The wind was so strong that night. As he reached out to hold on, he fell over the side of the bridge to his death below. Cheryl quickly got up and looked over the edge. There below on the rocks, Troy lay broken from the fall as the water splashed over him. As the shadows of the night moved about, she left for the house. She expected Bones to come home at anytime. That night Elizabeth sat up to talk to Troy to find out some answers. She felt something was wrong but she wasn’t for sure what.
When morning came, Elizabeth found that Troy hadn’t come home. She knew something had happened. Quickly, she took Sarah in her arms and headed for Cheryl’s. When she banged on the door, Bones answered. Elizabeth asked for Cheryl.
“Come on in,” he said, “why, what’s wrong?”
Then Cheryl came in and asked what was going on. Elizabeth explained that something had happened to Troy. He hadn’t come home last night, and that wasn’t like him. Cheryl took her into her arms to comfort her.
“He probably stayed at the office late and fell asleep,” suggested Cheryl.
Elizabeth started to cry. Then Cheryl told her she had some friends on the police force, and she would call if it would make her feel better. Hurriedly, Cheryl called and asked to speak to Detective Baxter or Detective Steele. After explaining the situation to them over the phone, they said they would check it out. That eased Elizabeth some, knowing something was being done. Cheryl explained to her that a person wasn’t considered missing until seventy-two hours, but, the detectives assured her they would get right on it.
“Thank you, Cheryl,” replied Elizabeth. “You have been good to us.”
A few hours later the phone rang. It was the detective. They told Cheryl that a couple of children playing under the old swinging bridge found a body on the rocks below.
“We checked his identification and it’s definitely the one you were looking for.”
“Thank you,” she replied. “We will be right over.”
When she put the phone down, Elizabeth looked up at her and said, “He’s dead.”
Cheryl rushed over to her and grabbed her and held her tight in her arms. All of a sudden Elizabeth screamed out, fighting to get away. Cheryl held on, holding her close until Elizabeth calmed down.
“Where is he?” she asked. “What happened?”
“Come on, we will take you there.”
As they walked to the car, Elizabeth suddenly fell to her knees. Cheryl reached down and helped her to her feet. As Bones opened the car door, Elizabeth got in. In a matter of minutes, they met with the detective at the bridge. Elizabeth slowly got out of the car and walked over to the bridge. There she looked over the edge and saw Troy’s broken body mingled with the rocks. All of a sudden she collapsed. The next thing Elizabeth knew, she awoke in the hospital. Cheryl and Bones were at her side.
“Where’s my baby?” asked Elizabeth.
“She’s over here in the chair asleep,” replied Cheryl.
“What about Troy?” she inquired.
“You need to get some rest,” encouraged Cheryl.
“But what happened?” questioned Elizabeth. “Why am I here? Where’s Troy?”
“You passed out and the ambulance brought you here. Don’t you remember?” asked Cheryl.
“No, not really,” she explained. “The last thing I remember is looking at
the rocks below.”
Then suddenly she had a flashback and went into hysterics. Quickly, the nurse came in and sedated her. In a few minutes she began to calm down. As she grew sleepy, she told Cheryl to take good care of Sarah until she came back home.
“I will,” she replied. “Don’t worry; I’ll take good care of her as if she were my own.”
“You have been good to us,” she said as she fell asleep.
A few days later the detectives came by Cheryl’s. Elizabeth had already come home from the hospital. She was having a hard time accepting the loss of Troy. The detectives sat down and talked to her about what they had found out in the investigation. There was no sign of foul play. The evidence pointed to the fact that he must have slipped or tripped on the bridge and fell over to the side. The impact of hitting the rocks below was the cause of death. The other detective did bring up that the wind was strong that night causing the bridge to swing. The winds coming in off the ocean sometimes could be very strong.
“So you’re saying it was an accident,” spoke up Cheryl.
“Yes, ma’am, that’s the way it appears. But, we can’t help to wonder why he was out there alone.”
“Maybe he wanted some time to be by himself,” stated Cheryl. “He had been working a lot of hours.”
“Well it could be,” he replied. “We’ll never know,” he said. “What about his wife? Do you think she’ll pull through?”
“She can stay here with me as long as she wants and live in the cottage. I’ll take care of her and Sarah.”
“Okay, then,” replied the detective. “If you need us, call.”
“We will,” replied Cheryl as they turned and walked away.
The months passed and things with Elizabeth weren’t getting any better. Cheryl was taking care of Sarah all the time now and was taking Elizabeth to a psychiatrist. The doctor said she was in a severe deep depression because of the loss of her husband. He wanted to give her shock treatments, but first he wanted to see if she could pull out of it herself with medication. Cheryl stayed by her side. The doctor also wanted to place her in the mental hospital for a while for observation, but Cheryl put that on hold. Instead Cheryl wanted to take care of her at home.
Time soon passed and a year later, Elizabeth took a turn for the better. She was up some, eating better, and talking more. But there were those times when she still went off into a deep depression. They could last up to weeks, maybe months at a time, but she was better in a lot of ways. There was one thing Elizabeth had to do when she got her strength back. She was going to have to face her demons when the time came.
Cheryl continued to help her. By now, Sarah looked at Cheryl as a second mom. Bones too played his role in the craziness, although he lay low most of the time, sort of in the background.
The night Troy died she had often wondered if there were three people on the bridge. As the light from the lighthouse scanned the inland that night, she suddenly got a glance of what may have been a third party. She has wondered a lot of times if it could have been Bones. She has learned, sometimes it pays to keep your mouth shut.
Then one evening a storm hit the island and Elizabeth left early for a walk. The wind had picked up and a fine mist of rain stirred about. Elizabeth had found her way over to the swinging bridge. It was the first time she had been there since Troy had died. She stood at one end of the bridge debating whether to face it or not. The bridge was swinging a little and rocking up and down. The wind flipped and flopped about, spitting a mist of rain onto her face. The angry water below splashed and hit hard upon the rocky shore. Slowly she eased up on the bridge, holding tight to the rail. Step by step, little by little, she slowly moved to the center. Out in the ocean you could see the sky lit up and a heavy rumble in the clouds sounded above her. Then it started to rain. The fierce winds from off the ocean drove the rains hard inland, as lightning pierced the stormy skies. As she approached the center, she held on for her life. Suddenly she took a stand and boldly cursed the winds and storm.
“Damn you,” she cried, “for taking my life, my husband! Damn you!”
She raised a fist toward the sky and the storm answered back, driving her to her knees and pressing her back. As she held on for dear life, a streak of lightning flashed and struck a nearby tree on the bank.
“Take me!” she yelled. “Take me if you will, but I will not back down nor fear you!”
As great sheets of rain bombarded the bridge, the bridge twisted and flopped but could not shake her. Then, all of a sudden, a calm appeared and the rain became a drizzle, and the lightning and thunder ceased as the wind stilled. Slowly, she lifted her head and got up to walk. By that time Cheryl had appeared at the end of the bridge. Quickly, she ran out to get her, and to bring her back home. There was nothing to say. All was well.
“Elizabeth, are you all right?” asked Cheryl.
“I’ll be all right,” answered Elizabeth.
“We didn’t know where you were,” scolded Cheryl. “We thought something had happened to you.”
“You had us worried,” replied Bones holding Sarah.
Sarah started crying for her mother. She was scared. As Elizabeth took her into her arms, she stopped crying.
“I had to do it,” she replied. “I had to face my demons.”
“We understand,” said Cheryl, “but you could have been killed.”
“But I wasn’t,” replied Elizabeth.
After that Cheryl started keeping a closer eye on her. There were times Elizabeth would wander off, but she always seemed to find her way home. Elizabeth never did fully get back as she once was. Elizabeth became more distant, kept to herself more. She always seemed preoccupied. She didn’t have much time for little Sarah. Elizabeth noticed how happy Sarah seemed to be with Bones and Cheryl and how good they were with her. She never said anything about it, but she did notice and kept it to herself. Then one day Cheryl got an urgent call from Chattanooga requesting that she come there. There were some documents that had been found that she needed to see. She asked them to send them to her because she really couldn’t get away, but they insisted and out of curiosity she decided to go. Bones stayed with Elizabeth and Sarah.
The next day she took a flight out of Atlanta to Chattanooga. When she arrived at the St. Philips Home for Children on Sugar Tree Road outside of Chattanooga, she met with a Father Joseph and Sister Shelley.
“I’m glad you could make it,” he said. “I know it may be an inconvenience, but I thought you might want to know what we found.”
“Father, what does it have to do with me?” she asked.
“A few years ago the way I understand it, you sent out a letter seeking information on your daughter.”
“Yes, sir, I did and later on I found her,” said Cheryl.
“We took your letter and started a case file on you to try to help you find your daughter. In the process, your file was lost and placed into the archives and was never completed. Sister Shelley and a couple more discovered the mix-up as they were moving files to another location. We checked into our archives and found something we thought may be of interest to you. You do understand we could not give out documents nor information, but you did offer in your letter a generous donation for any information that we might have on your daughter.”
“I understand,” replied Cheryl. “Let me see what you have and I’ll write a check.”
Sister Shelley turned and presented the case file to Father Joseph. “According to our documents, your mother, Martha Ann Roberts, (her maiden name) had a child by her first husband. Martha Ann gave the child to her first husband and they left. She then married Winfred Scott. Not long afterward the child’s dad died and she was placed her here at St. Phillips. When she came of age she left and later on married. I married them.”
“Are you sure?” cried out Cheryl.
“Yes, we have the documents that prove it. The child’s name was Eliz
abeth. I married her and Troy Fittsmichael. So you have a half sister.”
Cheryl eased back in her chair as tears filled her eyes. Then Father Joseph cleared his voice.
“We hope the information was helpful,” he said.
“Oh yes, yes it was,” she replied as she wrote out the check.
“Thank you,” he replied. “Sister Shelley will see you out.”
“Thank you, Father,” she said.
On the way back home, she couldn’t believe it. She was so confused. Her thoughts were scattered. She couldn’t believe it. After a while of soul searching she decided to tell Elizabeth the whole story, but when she arrived home she found out Elizabeth had committed suicide. She had taken an overdose of sleeping pills. Bones had found her body lying on the couch in the cottage when he called for her to come and eat dinner. He immediately called the police. Cheryl broke down screaming and crying out Elizabeth’s name. As they placed her in the ambulance Cheryl fell to her knees.
“Oh my God,” she cried.
Bones ran to her to comfort her as little Sarah stood by and cried, “Mama, Mama, Mama.”
Wages of Sin
