by Sydney Avey
Title Page
The Trials of
Nellie Belle
a novel
Sydney Avey
Durham, NC
Copyright
Copyright © 2018 Sydney Avey
The Trials of Nellie Belle
Sydney Avey
[email protected]
Published 2017, by Torchflame Books
an Imprint of Light Messages
www.lightmessages.com
Durham, NC 27713 USA
SAN: 920-9298
Paperback ISBN: 978-1-61153-248-7
E-book ISBN: 978-1-61153-247-0
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017941368
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 International Copyright Act, without the prior written permission except in brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Acknowledgements
1 - A Progressive Woman
2 - The Miner’s Wife
3 - Marriage and Escape
4 - A Gypsy Life
5 - Riding the Rails
6 - Loosening the Reins
7 - The Sheriff’s Report
8 - Hopes and Dreams
9 - Whistles and Bells
10 - Passion and Pain
11 - Displays of Grief
12 - Madame Cyrette’s Jewels
13 - Love’s Broken Dreams
14 - Dismissed Without Prejudice
15 - A Sandy Footprint
16 - A Growing Family
17 - Payment in Kind
18 - Last Chance Romance
19 - Poor Clara Ritzwell
PART 2
20 - Depression
21 - Discontent
22 - Graduation
23 - Discovery
24 - Disappointment
25 - Derelict
26 - Dunes
27 - Packing and Moving
28 - Disillusion
29 - Visit
30 - Ditched
31 - Dogs
32 - The Last Ride
PART 3
33- Discord
34 - Disconnect
35 - Passing Torches
36 - Last Call
Epilogue
Author’s Note
About the Author
Resources
Other Books by Sydney Avey
If You Liked The Trials of Nellie Belle
Dedication
For my family, with gratitude and compassion
for those who went before us,
with wonder and awe at the present generations,
and with hope that our stories, inspirational and cautionary,
will nurture generations to come.
Acknowledgements
Acknowledgements
Heartfelt thanks to family members down through the generations who have supported (knowingly and unknowingly) the telling of this story: to my great grandmother, Nellie Belle Scott, for writing and preserving the short stories that made their way into my book; to my grandmother, Opal Nellie Wolff, and my mother, Shirley Jane Matheson, for passing down to me Nellie’s writing and Leone’s scrapbook; to my cousins, Dorothy Meyer and Nancy Bishop, who spent an afternoon listening to me tell my story and gave me their blessing to write this book; to my sister, Cheryl von Drehle, my daughter, April Avey, and my good friend, Arnette Cratty, for their feedback and encouragement; and to Joel Avey for helping me maintain balance between work and rest.
No published book is the author’s product alone. Thanks to development editor Marcy Weydemuller, copy editor Katie Vorreiter , and publisher Wally Turnbull, for their diligence, gifts, and talents. Also to author Jane Kirkpatrick for suggesting that “the quiet one” in my story might have a larger role to play.
Finally, to my church family at Groveland Evangelical Free Church for their prayers, and my communities in California and Arizona for their support.
1 - A Progressive Woman
1
A Progressive Woman
Spokane, 1906
Try as she might to convince herself that her daughter’s death was not her doing, Nellie could not help but feel that her price for freedom had been Mabel. She smoothed a hand over the faded quilt spread on the grass, stretched her legs out in front of her, and reached her fingers into the damp weeds sprouting on the knoll that marked the young woman’s grave.
“John sent flowers,” She told her sister.
“That was nice.” Jessie reached over and touched the gold locket nestled against Nellie’s breastbone. Nellie slipped her hands behind her neck and undid the clasp. She opened the pendant and let it rest in the palm of her ringless left hand. The two women sat shoulder to shoulder, scrutinizing the photo inside, the familiar face so full of the promise of things to come that never would.
Nellie allowed her sister to wrap dry fingers, roughened by housework, around her own well-tended hands. She winced when Jessie squeezed a little too hard. She knew what Jessie would say. Selfishly, she wanted the comfort of her sister’s forgiveness and blessing.
R
Nellie hadn’t always been interested in what Jessie had to say. Growing up in a three-room sod farmhouse, squeezed between two older brothers and this afterthought of a sister, she often stuffed her ears. Sounds that she did respond to tended to be solitary in nature—the clop of her paint pony’s hooves as she raced him across the north-central plain; the ding of a bell as the Kansas Pacific chugged through the crossing and departed. Her ears were tuned to the sounds of freedom. But as the sisters grew older, Nellie came to value Jessie’s opinion more. After all, Jessie was the first to welcome Nellie and her husband John to the West and the last to criticize when Nellie left John.
Nellie had waited to make her escape until their son Johnny was seventeen. Twenty-year-old Mabel and ten-year-old Opal would accompany her on a summer trip to Spokane. Johnny would stay behind and work with his father in the building trade.
“Johnny and I will be just fine, Nellie Belle.” John had stepped forward and placed his hand under her elbow to steady her as she boarded the northwest-bound train. “Don’t you worry none about us.”
Johnny had handed luggage up to his sisters and flashed the same rakish smile his father always employed to charm the female members of his family. Dear boy.
R
Today, Nellie held back her tears as she had done five years ago when she blew her son a kiss good-bye, caught her husband’s eye, and raised her hand in farewell. Etched in memory were their hearty waves as the train pulled back from the station, their jaunty steps as they walked away, their arms wrapped around each other’s shoulders.
Jessie took the necklace from Nellie, pinched the heavy locket shut, and handed it back. “I think you should go. It would help you get past this terrible grief.”
“What about Opal?”
“She can come stay with us if she wants to.”
Nellie tugged up a ragweed rosette, shook dirt from its root ball, and added it to a neat row of weeds she absentmindedly plucked. “She’s a funny one, Jessie. She says she hates to be alone in the hotel when I’m working, yet she wants to go New York and audition for the stage.”
Jessie shielded her eyes from the high noon sun and searched Nellie’s face. “She’s a bit young for that, don’t you think?”
“She’s almost sixteen. A dancer’s life is short. I think she should give it a try.”
/>
Jessie’s eyebrow shot up.
“I know what you’re thinking. But I raised Opal differently than I raised Mabel. Opal is city-wise. She’s the quiet one, but her spirit is strong.”
“And Mabel?”
“My Mabel was a good girl. A sweet girl. Trusting, too trusting.”
Jessie frowned. “What do you mean?”
Nellie poked her finger into a dirt hole to dislodge a beetle that had just lost its cover. “I mean, she was naive. In her world, all people wanted the best for each other. All flowing water was clean …”
A small shudder twitched her shoulders and threatened to rupture the place in her soul where grief lay tightly lidded. She bid tears not to form.
“Mabel lived as though she were immune to threats,” Nellie said.
“And so did we all when we were children.”
“But she was not a child. She was twenty when she died. No amount of cautioning held any sway with her.”
“We none of us knew. Even the doctor didn’t know.”
It had been on a hot day at a family picnic that Mabel had walked down to the creek, cupped her hands, and lapped the cool water. A few days later, she developed a fever. When her fever spiked, the doctor assured Nellie it was a good sign. Her body was fighting an infection, he said. But after three weeks of no improvement, Mabel descended into delirium and died. The infection she had been fighting was typhoid. The doctor had missed the signs.
Jessie ran her fingers through her untamed curls; an old-fashioned do for the day. “Funny, I don’t remember you being the cautious type either.”
Nellie snorted. “Given that I am contemplating taking assignments from the court that will have me traipsing all over the Northwest, I suppose you are right.”
“You have worked hard for this. Working your way up in the steno pool, getting your court reporter’s certificate—I’m so proud of you.”
Nellie sighed. “It is the only thing I have to be proud of. I made a mess of my marriage. I have not been all that good a mother …”
Jessie placed her fingers against her sister’s lips. “Shush.” Then she stood and held out her hand to help Nellie to her feet. Standing side by side, they circled each other’s waists and gave one last moment of silent attention to the flower-laden grave of Mabel Leone Scott.
R
Just as Nellie fit her key into the lock of the hotel room she rented for herself and Opal, the door flew open.
“Where have you been?” Fifteen-year-old Opal stood in dark relief against the window light that filled the room. Nellie need not see her daughter’s face to know her expression. Concern and aggravation tolled in the young girl’s voice.
Nellie pushed her way past Opal into the living space they shared, not homey but comfortable enough. At least the rooms the Ridpath rented out to mostly single professionals were clean and new.
“You should have come with me, Opal.” Before the small, slim girl could answer, Nellie dropped into one of the upholstered wing chairs that backed up to a pair of tidy twin-sized beds. She reached across a small table to pat the empty seat of the other chair. “Sit down; I have something I need to talk to you about.”
Opal took measured steps in the opposite direction. She retrieved her sewing basket from a writing desk piled high with books and papers, unopened mail, and take-out menus. Opal set the basket on the small table and pulled out a dance costume she was decorating with ribbon trim. Without a word, she folded herself into the chair next to her mother and bent her head to her task.
Nellie looked down at her hands. She picked at the dirt crusted beneath the unpolished nail of her index finger. A quick scrub with a nailbrush would take care of it. How she wished she could as easily wash away the unsightliness of regret. Would she live to regret this new decision? For better or worse, she had set her foot on this path a long time ago. She would see it through.
“I have been offered an opportunity by the Spokane Superior Court to accompany the judge when he is required to travel and, on occasion, to go out by myself to record witness statements.”
Opal kept her head down. She brushed a wave of dark hair out of her eyes and poked her needle through the red ribbon trim she was attaching to a black tarantella skirt. Her small fingers plied the needle tip in and out through the ribbon, picking up three more stitches.
“Opal, did you hear me?”
“I heard you.”
“Well?”
Opal raised her dark eyes briefly and then returned to her stitching. “You won’t mind, then, if I go to New York for audition season.”
Nellie took in a quick breath. “You don’t want to finish high school first?”
Opal set aside her project and launched into a sales pitch Nellie had heard before. The great stages were on the East Coast. Competition was fierce. Younger dancers had an edge.
“But fifteen is too young, Opal. Sixteen, maybe.”
“Promise you will let me go to New York when I’m sixteen, and I promise to live here quiet as a mouse and finish the school term. No one will even know you aren’t here.”
Nellie relaxed. “I won’t be gone all the time, and when I’m away, Jessie has offered to let you stay at her house.” She looked at Opal and raised a questioning eyebrow.
“You know I can’t do that. How would I get to my dance classes?”
A picture floated before Nellie, tiny Opal on a grassy hill whirling about with a beribboned tambourine. Where did that talent come from? Nellie’s own feet refused to obey when Opal tried to teach her the box step, and John would have sooner eaten a beetle than attempt a two-step. Light on her feet, quick to learn, what Opal lacked in stature she made up for in flawless technique, or so the ballet mistress said. But what most impressed Nellie about her daughter was her patience with the children in their building.
Opal had stenciled flyers and drummed up business giving dancing lessons to the girls and boys who lived in the hotel. If Opal punched her ticket in New York, she could make a legitimate living as a teacher.
If only I had been able to begin a career so young. But to wish that would be to wish away her children, and that she would never do. Although she would never say it out loud, she knew she would not stand in Opal’s way.
“All right, then. If you want to stay here, there are people you can go to if you need anything.”
“I’m sure I won’t need a thing, Mother. I’ve been pretty much on my own ever since you went to work.”
Nellie let that go. She got to her feet and busied herself putting away the small stack of work blouses Opal had ironed and folded. “It will be good to know that you are here keeping house for us.”
Opal pressed her lips together and gave a low grunt. “The hotel maids do all the cleaning. Most nights, I pick up dinner from a restaurant. I’d hardly call that housekeeping.”
Nellie smiled brightly. “It may not be housekeeping, but I’d call it homemaking. You are the one who keeps us together, body and soul.”
Opal put a knot where the ribbon trim met a seam and bit off the thread. “I will take credit for keeping us in clean clothes. Since we have stopped attending church, I’m not so sure about the state of our souls.”
Nellie’s shoulders slumped. How easy it had been to attend church when she and John sat like bookends, three children between them, performing their religious duties. After watching Mabel get sick, slip into a coma and die, all because no one recognized the symptoms in time, Nellie had not cared to sort out who to blame, the doctor, herself, or God.
Tell the truth. You didn’t have the nerve to show your face in church after you left John. Nellie bit her lips.
“I’m sorry, Mother. I shouldn’t have said that. I’m just confused, that’s all. If God is not our comfort in time of need, then what’s the point?”
“I’m not the person to ask. You will have to figure that out for yourself.” Nellie pushed the dresser drawer shut a little harder than she intended. Softening her voice, she continued, “I certainly won�
��t stand in your way if you want to go to church. I just don’t feel comfortable. Someone always wants to know about my husband. It’s nobody’s business.”
Opal shrugged. She stuffed her sewing back into the basket and jumped to her feet. “Let’s celebrate your new job. Let’s go across the street for some spit-roasted turkey at the Silver Grill.”
R
A month after their celebration dinner, Nellie fastened the strap on her train bag and slipped an arm into her heavy tweed motor coat. Opal followed her to the front door.
“How long will you be gone?”
Nellie cupped her hand under Opal’s chin. “Such a long face.” She moved her daughter’s face side to side. “But a clean one.” She tapped her on the nose. “I should be back in two or three weeks. Walk me to the train station?”
Dawn light greeted them as their feet hit the pavement outside the hotel. The streets began filling with men and women on their way to work. Motorcars pulled up to curbs and took their places in a stationary parade that would line the streets all day. Nellie and Opal began the three-block walk to the station. The closer they came to the moment Nellie would board the Northern Pacific passenger train, the more Opal began to object.
“I’ve never been left on my own for so long.”
Nellie kept walking. “We talked about this, Opal.” She did not turn to look at her daughter’s face. “You said you’d be fine, and you will. I raised you to be independent. You are almost grown, and besides, I will only be gone a few days.”
Opal slowed her pace. “What if …” A distant rumble on the tracks prompted a flurry of activity. A clanging bell charged the air with excitement. The stately train pulled into view. Brakes screeched and hissed; trainmen, porters, and passengers spilled from the train; Opal’s apprehensions were all but lost in the scamper and noise.
Nellie found her car and hefted her train bag up onto the first step. She turned to look at Opal. She threw out an arm and the girl came running. Nellie drew her in for a quick hug and leaned over to brush her lips across Opal’s ear.
“This will be good practice for you before you go to New York,” she whispered in a gravelly voice. “Jessie has promised check on you.”