Hannah's Wishes

by Agnes Alexander

  “Sunday would be fine with me. How about around eight?”

  “That’s a little early. Pa used to always get drunk on Saturday night and sleep it off on Sunday morning. I doubt his habits have changed. How about ten o’clock? He should be up by then.”

  “Fine.” He stood, sat his empty glass on the table and picked up his hat. “Then I’ll see you at ten on Sunday.”

  ♥♥♥

  Minerva couldn’t sleep. She turned over on the straw mattress and asked, “You awake, Tobias?”

  “Yep. I’m having a hard time going to sleep, too.”

  “What’s going on with Miz Wedington? She’s sure acting funny since she got home from that wake.”

  “I noticed she was kind of strange. Miss Hannah thought so, too.”

  “What’d Miss Hannah say?”

  “Jest asked me if I didn’t think her aunt was acting different.”

  Minerva sighed. “She shore was right about that. Did Miz Wedington have a conniption because Miss Hannah was downstairs when she got home?”

  “Not at all. You know she had her to the dining room for supper then she had me carry her upstairs like usual. Strange though, she went with me. When we come back downstairs, Miz Wedington told me to take her wheelchair back upstairs, and that surprised me, because she was punishing Miss Hannah by keeping her chair away from her.”

  “She don’t never change her mind ’bout the punishment she hands out.”

  “I know, but that weren’t what surprised me the most.”

  “What else did she do?”

  “She had me wait until she went to her room and get a piece of cloth. She told me to take it to Miss Hannah so the girl could make her a dress.”

  “My Lord, don’t that woman have enough dresses?”

  Tobias chuckled. “She didn’t send the cloth up for a dress for her. She sent it for Miss Hannah to make herself one.”

  “You’re lying to me, Tobias.”

  “No, I’m not. It’s the gospel truth.”

  Minerva shook her head in the dark. “Sometimes, I think that woman is as crazy as they come. If it weren’t for Miss Hannah, I’d say you and me needs to move on out of here, but I can’t see leaving that girl to Miz Wedington’s wiles.”

  “I agree with you, wife. But you’re right, we can’t leave Miss Hannah.”

  “I guess that’s best. But since we’s free now, it would be nice to go somewhere that we weren’t still treated …”

  “Don’t say it, Minerva. We ain’t slaves no more. Miz Wedington pays us to work here. Not much, that’s true, but we gets a little money and we have a nice room here in the back.”

  “Sometimes, I dream a foolish dream that we leave here and get a little place of our own, but I know that’s not gonna happen. We ain’t got no place to go, anyway.”

  “I don’t know, honey. Jarrett MacMichael said they was a lot of Negro folks in the west. He said they weren’t looked down on like we is here. If we ever leave this place, I think we’d go to the west.”

  “That would be nice. Maybe we could take Miss Hannah with us.”

  He chuckled. “Now Minerva, that there is a really foolish dream.”

  Chapter 7

  Jarrett noticed that Lydia stiffened when he turned the buggy down the rutted dirt road that led to the farm. He frowned. “Are you all right?”

  “Just a little nervous. It isn’t easy for me to come out here to see Pa.”

  “I didn’t realize how it would affect you. Maybe I should’ve come alone.”

  “No. I offered to come, Jarrett. I know how Pa is. He’s as likely to shoot you as to let you come in.”

  “Has he always been this way?”

  “As far back as I can remember.” She sighed. “I do remember that Mama loved him, though. The more I thought about it, the more I wondered why.”

  “I guess people don’t always have a choice of who they fall in love with.”

  She chuckled. “You’re right there. I never dreamed I’d fall in love and marry a gambler and a saloon owner. Then I met Bradly Patterson.”

  He saw that talking seemed to relax her so he asked, “How did you meet your husband, Lydia?”

  “It was almost three years ago. Drina and I had been visiting Hannah while Pa went to the saloon as he always did when we were in Savannah. When he didn’t come back to pick us up as usual, Aunt Verbena got upset and said it was time for us to leave because Hannah needed rest. Of course that was a lie, but we’d learned a long time ago not to cross Aunt Verbena, because if we did, she always took it out on Hannah. Drina and I figured we’d have to walk back into town, but dear auntie told Tobias to take us to the saloon in her buggy and let us out. Of course, she warned us not to go inside.” She laughed. “Do you think we listened to her?”

  He chuckled. “Probably not.”

  “You’re right. As soon as Tobias was out of sight, we pushed the door open and went inside. Naturally, we got lots of stares and some whistles, but actually, there were no insults, nor did anyone try to come up to us. That is, except Bradly Patterson, but we soon learned he only approached us to offer help. When we told him we were looking for our father, he called out Pa’s name. I remember distinctly that one man hollered back, ‘You won’t find Burl Hamilton here. He’ll be on the other side of town.’ At the time, I didn’t know what he meant, but I later learned that the saloon we were in was a respectable place that the town’s elite male population came to play cards and have a drink. There were no women or prostitution involved.” She glanced at him. “Am I getting too long-winded?”

  “Not at all. I’m interested. Please, go on.”

  “Well, as it turned out, Bradly hitched up his buggy and drove Drina and me to a more shady section of Savannah where there were several saloons. He wouldn’t let us go inside any of them. We waited in the buggy and he’d go inside and look for Pa. He finally found him in the fourth one. Pa was furious. He said it was embarrassing to him to have his friends know his daughters had come looking for him, so I guess Bradly told everyone we were outside waiting.” She took a breath. “Anyway when we got home, Pa was still mad. He decided he’d make us pay for embarrassing him.”

  “What did he do?”

  “He whipped us.”

  “You’re kidding.”

  “No, I’m not. When he would get that angry, he’d often use his horse whip on us.”

  “It takes an evil man to do something like that, Lydia.”

  “I know, but I guess we’d gotten used to it. Anyway, after a couple of weeks, Bradly showed up at our door. I was flattered, but didn’t expect anything to come of it. I was wrong. Pa got all upset seeing him there and tried to run him off. When he refused to go, Pa grabbed his whip and ran me in the house. That was the last time Pa hit me. I learned later that Bradly told him he’d kill him if he ever touched me again. Three months later, Bradly asked me to marry him. I was so in love with him by then that I couldn’t say no. I did feel guilty, leaving Drina alone with Pa, but she insisted I grab my chance at happiness. After Bradly and I were married, I tried hard to get her to come to work in the saloon with us, but she wouldn’t do it. It was then that I found that ad for a mail-order-bride and took it to her. She didn’t like the idea at first, but I think the last beating Pa gave her changed her mind, because the next thing I knew she was on her way to Arizona.”

  “So, I’m guessing it worked out well for the two of you.”

  “It sure did for me, and from her letters, I think Drina is happy with her cowboy.” She smiled at him. “Now that I’ve poured out my life story to you, tell me something about yourself, Jarrett MacMichael.”

  “Well, my life certainly hasn’t been nearly as interesting as yours. My folks own a medium-sized ranch near Phoenix, Arizona, and I have a brother and a sister. My sister, Charlotte, is the youngest. She’s married to a rancher and they have twins; toddlers. They live a few miles from Mom and Dad. My twin brother Everett and I are the oldest. Neither of us is married, and we decided w
e wanted to do something different from ranching, at least for a while, so we formed MacMichael & MacMichael Detective Agency in Flagstaff. So far, we’ve been able to make a living, but we’re certainly not getting rich.” He chuckled. “I guess the Pinkerton agency has something to do with that. That’s about all there is to know about the MacMichael family. As I said before, we’re not a very interesting bunch.”

  “You’re wrong, Jarrett. Your folks are very interesting to me. It’s the kind of family I’ve always dreamed of. I think my sisters have those same kinds of dreams.”

  He didn’t know how to answer her, so he kept quiet. Jarrett loved his family, but he’d never thought them anything special. Maybe he was wrong. To those whose mother had died and left them with a father like Burl Hamilton, he figured Cyrus and Abagail MacMichael did sound pretty special.

  Lydia interrupted his thoughts. “Turn on that road to the left. It’s a short cut and will lead us to the farm.”

  He nodded and turned the buggy. “Are you still wanting to go through with this visit?”

  “Yes, Jarrett. Hearing about your family has given me courage. I know I can face Pa today. It wasn’t a good life with him, but I know I’m happy now. Someday, I hope Bradly and I have a baby. I want it to have a good home like you had.” She sighed. “Do you think that’s possible when a couple works in a saloon?”

  “Yes, Lydia, I do. I think it’s the amount of love you give a child, not the job the parents happen to have, that makes a good family.”

  “Thank you. I want to believe you mean that and that’s what I decided to do.” She smiled at him. “Can you make this horse go a little faster? I want to get this visit with Pa behind me.”

  Jarrett shook the reins over the horse’s rump and he sped into a gallop. It wasn’t long until the ramshackle farm house came into view.

  ♥♥♥

  Verbena entered the house thorough the front door and put her Bible on the table in the formal parlor. She glanced around to see if everything in the room was in its place. Seeing that it was, she left the room and headed upstairs.

  Pausing at Hannah’s door, she knocked. When Hannah called to her to come in, she pushed the door open and stepped inside. Seeing Hannah working on her new dress, she bit her lip. “Do you think it’s proper to be sewing on Sunday?”

  “I’m sorry. I was only rushing to get it finished.” Hannah put the dress aside. “Did you enjoy the church service this morning?”

  “Of course I did. Reverend Calhoun did his usual expert job of spreading the gospel, as I knew he would.” She looked around and went on, “Mrs. Calhoun wore the dress you sewed for her, and she said she’d had many compliments on it.”

  “I’m glad she liked it.”

  “She wants another one and I told her to come by this week and you’d be glad to make one for her.”

  “Yes, I’ll be happy to.”

  Verbena nodded. “I know you sometimes come downstairs on Sunday, but I’m expecting company for dinner today and you’ll need to stay in your room. I told Tobias when he went to put up the horse and buggy to bring your food up for you.”

  Hannah nodded.

  “Eat everything and someone will come for the dirty dishes. Then, before you start working on your dress again, which I’m sure you will, though it’s Sunday, you need to read today’s Bible chapters.” She took a paper from her pocket and handed it to Hannah. “Here’s the list of the chapters that Reverend Calhoun used for his sermon. Be sure to study them carefully, because as usual, I’ll ask you some questions tonight to make sure you didn’t skip any of the reading.”

  Hannah took the list. “Yes, ma’am.”

  Verbena went out the door without saying anything else. She hurried to her room and stepped inside. She put her hat in the its box and placed it on the shelf in her huge wardrobe. Turning to the beveled mirror over her dresser, she smoothed down her hair and started to leave the room, then paused. On impulse she turned and picked up the atomizer on her dresser and sprayed a tiny amount on her throat. The perfume was old, but it still held its expensive smell as well as it did the day Hector had presented it to her on her birthday more than twenty years ago. She wondered what he’d think if he knew she was using it today to make herself attractive for another man. Then, she realized that she didn’t care what he’d think. It had taken some years, but now her memories of him didn’t influence her actions in any way. In fact, she seldom thought of him at all. Verbena looked in the mirror again and did something she seldom did. She laughed. It wasn’t that she wanted to make herself alluring, but she thought it would be interesting to see if Reginald even noticed the fancy smell.

  ♥♥♥

  Jarrett stopped the horse near the front steps and wrapped the reins around the brake stick. Before he could get out of the buggy, Burl Hamilton came out of the house with his shirt half off and a shotgun in his hand.

  “Well, well, looky who’s here. I see that gambler’s done got his fill of you and brung you home. I knowed it’d happen sooner or later.” Burl laughed a deep harsh laugh and waved the shotgun toward the buggy where Jarrett and Lydia sat. “Git on in the house and fix me something decent to eat, girl.”

  “This isn’t the gambler, and I’m not here to cook for you, Pa.”

  He squinted at her. “Then why’re you here?”

  “We want to ask you some questions.”

  He spit tobacco on the ground and shook his head. “Then you might as well turn around and git out of here. I ain’t got time for no questions.”

  “Mr. Hamilton,” Jarrett said. “It’s important that we speak to you.”

  “Ain’t important to me, so git going.”

  Jarrett wondered how he was going to get through to this man, but before he could speak again, Lydia reached over and put her hand on his arm and whispered, “Let me handle this.”

  He nodded and she turned back to her father. “Pa, I think we have some trouble, and I need to talk to you about it.”

  “I ain’t got no trouble.”

  “You may have more trouble than you can handle if you don’t talk to us.”

  He wrinkled his brow. “I don’t see how.”

  “Then, let us come sit on the porch and explain.”

  He turned and propped his gun against the wall beside the door. “Well, come on, if you’re coming. I ain’t got all day.”

  Jarrett didn’t think the chairs on the porch looked stable, but he managed to find one he thought was safe enough to sit in. He dusted it with his handkerchief and placed it near the door for Lydia. He leaned against one of the posts that held up the sagging roof.

  Burl took one of the rickety chairs and plopped down. He scowled at Jarrett. “Ain’t I seen you afore?”

  Jarrett thought about lying, but changed his mind. He didn’t think there was any reason to hide his identity from this man. “Yep. I was here the other day, but you were too busy to talk with me. Name’s Jarrett MacMichael, in case you forgot.”

  “I never forgot ’cause I never paid any attention to it in the first place.” He turned to Lydia. “Now, what is it you want, gal?”

  “Pa, I figured out that Aunt Verbena is paying the taxes on this place so you can keep it.”

  “What if she is? It ain’t none of your business.”

  “Not really, but if something happened to her, you’d not be able to pay those taxes, would you?”

  For the first time, he looked scared. “She ain’t dead, is she?”

  “No, she’s not dead, but she’s acting mighty peculiar.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, Jarrett here has become friends with her, and he says she’s trying to cover up something.”

  “Yes,” Jarrett put in. “We thought you might be able to tell us what she’s doing her best to hide from everyone.”

  “I don’t know nothing.” He refused to meet Jarrett’s eyes.

  “Pa, why did you give Hannah to Aunt Verbena?”

  He looked agitated. “She weren’t no
good to us around here. She couldn’t walk.”

  “There had to be more than that. Did Mama want her to be sent to our aunt?”

  He jumped up and shoved his chair backward. He grabbed his gun and went storming into the house, slamming the door behind him.

  Lydia looked shocked when she turned to Jarrett. “I never expected him to react like that.”

  “It probably means he knows a lot more than he’s willing to tell. I’ve often found that happens when I’m getting close to the truth, or if I’m not, the person thinks I am.”

  “Should I go after him?”

  “Let’s wait a few minutes and see if he comes back.” He smiled at her. “I’m sorry if this is getting to be too much for you.”

  “I’m fine, Jarrett, but I think it’s easier to handle some of the worst drunks in the saloon than to handle Pa.”

  The door opened and they both turned, expecting to see Burl come out. Instead, a rotund negro woman stepped across the threshold. “Do you all want some coffee or something?”

  “Who’re you?” Lydia managed to spit out.

  “I’s Lulu.”

  “What in the world are you doing here, Lulu?”

  “I lives here.”

  Puzzlement covered Lydia’s face. “How long have you lived here?”

  “For ’bout six months. Ever since his girl run off to marry a cow man in the west. ” She stepped back as if she expected Lydia to hit her.

  “Why in the world would you want to live here?”

  “Mr. Burl needs somebody, and I needs a place to stay. We figured we would make do with each other.”

  “I see.” Lydia looked at Jarett. He shrugged and she turned back to Lulu. “Do you think he’ll come back out here to talk to us?”

  “No, miss. Him done gone out the back door with his jug and a handful of shells. He headed to the woods. That’s where he goes when he don’t want to see nobody. I don’t ’spect him to come back till supper time, if he comes then.”

  “Miss Lulu…” Jarrett started.