The Americans
Page 84
He looked from the portrait of Philip to the little bottle containing the thin layer of dried tea. He examined the other mementoes one by one, feeling a stab of jealousy when his eye came to rest on the box of earth from the Union Pacific. Even the Irishman Michael Boyle had contributed something, and he hadn’t been born a Kent—
“Gideon?”
“Oh—Julia.” He hadn’t heard the door open.
Smiling, she glided toward him, her skirts rustling. She bent over the desk. “What are you writing, dear?”
With a rueful look, he held up the blank sheet. “Nothing. It was to be an editorial, but I can’t even get started.”
Her faint frown showed she knew something was wrong. She walked to the window, gazing out at the snow-covered Common. As he followed, she said, “I’m so looking forward to the children coming home. Even if Will and Carter find it hard to get along anymore, I’ll be glad to have them here. Sometimes I feel so—oh, so decrepit and worthless without them—”
She turned, her lovely dark eyes tinged with melancholy. She put her hands on his shoulders. “We’re old, you and I.”
He smiled. “Getting there. Getting there. But the family’s in good hands.”
“A little over a year ago, you didn’t believe that.”
“True. But things are working out.”
She leaned back against him and gazed at the snow. “How beautiful it is.” She heard him draw a quick, sharp breath, and turned. “What’s wrong? Is it the pain in your chest again?”
“No, there’s nothing—”
“Gideon Kent, don’t try to deceive me. This has gone on far too long. You must see someone! Your own son, preferably. He knows about the pain, by the way.”
“He does? How?”
“I should say he suspects. He told me so.”
“How did he find out, Julia?”
With a smile that didn’t hide her concern, she said, “Why, I suppose it has something to do with his being a doctor. He claims he’s been aware of certain symptoms you’ve been exhibiting for months. I want you to speak to him the moment he arrives, Gideon. I won’t hear of you saying no this time.”
Gideon laughed. “Well—I know better than to argue with a determined woman. I’ll let him look me over. But I assure you there’s nothing wrong. I won’t permit anything to be wrong.”
He slipped his arms around her from behind and pulled her gently against him as the fire crackled and filled the room with warmth. In his mind he heard bugles blowing, Stuart singing, cannon roaring. Quickly the sounds began to fade, just as the song of the carolers was fading—
“I’ll be around ten years more at least,” he promised. “I want to see the Kents safely into the twentieth century.”
“Spoken like a father. You forget your children are grown.”
“Yes, I do, don’t I? Constantly.”
“They really don’t need your protection any longer. They can get along very well on their own.”
“I know.” The sadness in those words was relieved by a smile. “I will, however, fight to the end to keep them from guessing that I know.” He pivoted slowly to the mantel, the feelings of inadequacy overwhelming. “I wonder what they’ll add to that collection? I’ve added nothing.”
She turned to face him.
“Is that what you’ve been thinking about lately? At times you’ve seemed very troubled.”
He answered with a nod.
“But you’ve given the family a great deal, Gideon. Most particularly, three children to carry the Kents well into the next century. Even Carter will make his mark, though it probably won’t be a spotless one. Your accomplishment is as real as any of those objects on the mantel. Don’t you see that?”
“No.”
“A few years ago, you doubted there was anyone in the family to carry it on as you thought it should be carried on. You admit you’ve changed your mind—”
“Yes. Because the children have changed.”
“Changed and grown. With your guidance! They’re strong, capable people. That’s what you’ve put into this family. It may not be as visible as Philip’s sword and gun, or the piece of mast you found. But it’s every bit as substantial.”
He thought about that. Perhaps she was right. Perhaps she’d identified the best—the only thing—he could leave behind—the best that could be left behind by any man: children who had been brought up to behave responsibly, and to believe in something beyond their own self-gratification.
A bit reassured, he squeezed her arm. A moment later he said, “Would you mind if we walked a little?”
“It’s very cold, dear.”
“We can bundle up. I’d like to go to the waterfront. I always feel closest to old Philip down there. A dock was the first piece of America he felt under his feet. I don’t know whether you understand—”
“Certainly I do. But are you sure you’re feeling up to it?”
“I’m perfectly fit. I tell you I intend to be around for a good many years yet. Count on it.”
“Oh, Gideon—I will. I love you so much.”
“I love you, Julia.”
They kissed, long and ardently, while the fire popped and a log broke and fell. Then the tall, bearded man and the lovely dark-haired woman left the room, and the watching eyes of the family’s founder.
They donned old coats, scarves and gloves and overshoes, and stepped into a bright winter night that was surprisingly windless. Arm in arm, they strolled slowly through the melting snow, listening to sounds of Christmas merrymaking behind brightly lit windows, or catching the occasional music of carolers. Soon they reached the piers where dark vessels lay creaking in the cold. The harbor was not yet frozen. A rising moon glittered on the water that had been witness to so much history.
During the walk, Gideon had been turning Julia’s remarks over and over in his mind. His children—and her son—were the legacy the two of them would leave behind. Will’s idealism, and Eleanor’s—and whatever conscience he and Julia had managed to instill to temper Carter’s opportunism—those were the mementoes they would add to the family’s heritage.
It had taken Julia to make him see that. Lord, how he loved her. She was the one who always pulled him through the hardest times, and made him perceive light in the darkness. His sense of inadequacy began to fade, and he was able to fix his attention on the quiet sea stretching away eastward into moon-silvered darkness.
Out there lay Europe. Philip Kent’s beginnings. The beginnings of the family. A feeling of tranquility and confidence slowly fell over Gideon as he stared at the sea. The family was secure. It would go on, and it would thrive despite the inevitable reversals that were a part of life. Eleanor was already carrying still another generation. What signs and wonders would that child see? Many, he was sure.
How wisely old Philip had chosen. How wisely and how well. The Kents had grown up in a good land, and they had contributed in a small way to that growth and that goodness, Gideon thought as he gazed at the ocean separating the creaking pier from the great unseen land mass of Europe. All at once he was absolutely certain of one thing Julia had said. He was no longer necessary to the family’s survival. There was a touch of sadness in knowing that, but there was also a release, and peace.
All at once a worm of pain began to gnaw the center of his chest. He sat down on a bollard and drew a labored breath. Then: “You know, Julia, I never thought I’d live beyond my forty-seventh year, and now I’ve nearly made it. Only a few more days to go.”
“Forgive me, darling, but what’s so special about forty seven?”
He spoke with difficulty, the pain more intense all at once. But he wasn’t alarmed; it had been almost as intense many times before. “That’s an average man’s lifetime. Ten years longer than it was the year I was born.”
“And you didn’t think you’d make it?”
“No.”
“Well, I’m glad you did. But you should have known you would.”
The pain was crushing. He sat pe
rfectly still. “Should have known? Why?”
With her voice full of love, she said, “You’ve never been an average man, Gideon. You’ve made a mark on this family that your children and their children will remember forever. Be proud of that. Be proud of them.”
He didn’t answer, but he gave an almost imperceptible nod. In his mind he heard bugles blowing, Stuart singing, cannon roaring. How quickly it had all gone. Too quickly—
The lights on an outward-bound steamer held Julia’s attention for a moment or so. She didn’t see Gideon stiffen briefly, then appear to relax. When she looked at him again, his good eye was closed.
He sat motionless. The wind stirred his gray hair and beard. She touched him and only then realized he wasn’t asleep.
She clasped his shoulder to verify her suspicion. “Oh, my dearest—” she whispered.
But as the first tears came to her eyes, she saw that he was smiling.
A Biography of John Jakes
John Jakes is a bestselling author of historical fiction, science fiction, children’s books, and nonfiction. He is best known for his highly acclaimed eight-volume Kent Family Chronicles series, an American family saga that reaches from the Revolutionary War to 1890, and the North and South Trilogy, which follows two families from different regions during the American Civil War. His commitment to historical accuracy and evocative storytelling earned him the title “godfather of historical novelists” from the Los Angeles Times and led to his streak of sixteen consecutive New York Times bestsellers.
Born in Chicago in 1932, Jakes originally studied to be an actor, but he turned to writing professionally after selling his first short story for twenty-five dollars during his freshman year at Northwestern University. That check, Jakes later said, “changed the whole direction of my life.” He enrolled in DePauw University’s creative writing program shortly thereafter and graduated in 1953. The following year, he received his master’s degree in American literature from Ohio State University.
While at DePauw, Jakes met Rachel Ann Payne, whom he married in 1951. After finishing his studies, Jakes worked as a copywriter for a large pharmaceutical company before transitioning to advertising, writing copy for several large firms, including Madison Avenue’s Dancer Fitzgerald Sample. At night, he continued to write fiction, publishing two hundred short stories and numerous mystery, western, and science fiction books. He turned to historical fiction, long an interest of his, in 1973 when he started work on The Bastard, the first novel of the Kent Family Chronicles. Jakes’s masterful hand at historical fiction catapulted The Bastard (1974) onto the bestseller list—with each subsequent book in the series matching The Bastard’s commercial success. Upon publication of the next three books in the series—The Rebels (1975), The Seekers (1975), and The Furies (1976)—Jakes became the first-ever writer to have three books on the New York Times bestseller list in a single year. The series has maintained its popularity, and there are currently more than fifty-five million copies of the Kent Family Chronicles in print worldwide.
Jakes followed the success of his first series with the North and South Trilogy, set before, during, and after the Civil War. The first volume, North and South, was published in 1982 and reaffirmed Jakes’s standing as a “master of the ancient art of story telling” (The New York Times Book Review). Following the lead of North and South, the other two books in the series, Love and War (1984) and Heaven and Hell (1987), were chart-topping bestsellers. The trilogy was also made into an ABC miniseries—a total of thirty hours of programming—starring Patrick Swayze. Produced by David L. Wolper for Warner Brothers North and South remains one of the highest-rated miniseries in television history.
The first three Kent Family Chronicles were also made into a television miniseries, produced by Universal Studios and aired on the Operation Prime Time network. Andrew Stevens starred as the patriarch of the fictional family. In one scene, Jakes himself appears as a scheming attorney sent to an untimely end by villain George Hamilton.
In addition to historical fiction, Jakes penned many works of science fiction, including the Brak the Barbarian series, published between 1968 and 1980. Following his success with the Kent Family Chronicles and the North and South Trilogy, Jakes continued writing historical fiction with the stand-alone novel California Gold and the Crown Family Saga (Homeland and its sequel, American Dreams).
Jakes remains active in the theater as an actor, director, and playwright. His adaptation of A Christmas Carol is widely produced by university and regional theaters, including the prestigious Alabama Shakespeare Festival and theaters as far away as Christchurch, New Zealand. He holds five honorary doctorates, the most recent of which is from his alma mater Ohio State University. He has filmed and recorded public service announcements for the American Library Association and hasreceived many other awards, including a dual Celebrity and Citizen’s Award from the White House Conference on Libraries and Information and the Cooper Medal from the Thomas Cooper Library at the University of South Carolina. Jakes is a member of the Authors Guild, the Dramatists Guild, the PEN American Center, and Writers Guild of America East. He also serves on the board of the Authors Guild Foundation.
Jakes and his wife have four children and eleven grandchildren. After living for thirty-two years on a South Carolina barrier island, they now reside in Sarasota, Florida, where Jakes has resumed his volunteer work on behalf of theaters and libraries while he continues writing.
Jakes in 1936, on his fourth birthday.
Jakes and his comedy partner, Ron Tomme (at right), won first prize for their comedy act on Rubin’s Stars of Tomorrow, a talent show aired on WGN-TV, in Chicago, 1949. Tomme went on to star as the leading man on the CBS soap opera Love of Life.
Jakes with his daughter, Andrea, in the mid-1950s, in front of his home on North Walnut Street, Waukegan, Illinois.
Jakes received his fourth honorary doctorate, this one from DePauw University, in 1985 in Greencastle, Indiana. Jakes and his wife are both DePauw graduates. At left is Dr. Richard Rosser, then-president of the university.
Jakes with his wife, Rachel, at a boat party for sixty friends to celebrate the couple’s fiftieth anniversary in 2001 at Calibogue Sound, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.
Jakes’s 2006 publicity photo for The Gods of Newport, taken on the Cliff Walk at Newport, Rhode Island.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this ebook onscreen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
copyright © 1980 by John Jakes
introduction copyright © 2005 by John Jakes
cover design by Mimi Barc
978-1-4532-5597-1
This edition published in 2012 by Open Road Integrated Media
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