She did not like the way all of this happened, and she wanted some time alone with the little girl to explain. Nothing had seemed different this morning when Goldie was eating breakfast with Solly, and Ruby had seen them both off to school. It would be too different for Goldie if Emerald took Goldie to Jay’s house to watch her and prepare supper for them.
Miller School had been overwhelmed by the influx of newcomers to the Hill, so the structure and outside of the building had been beaten down more quickly. The school was not what it should have been for Negro children, but it was definitely a world from where she had gone to second grade inside of the combined First Water Church/School in the woods of Winslow, Georgia. Still, Nettie wished that there was more that she could do.
She knew Adam and Ruby had hired tutors to come and supplement Solly’s education in this place. The tutors would teach Maisie soon. She could do the same for Goldie if she were her mother. But she was not and would never be, just like she had been told all of her life.
She made herself comfortable on a park bench on the edge of the school property to wait for Goldie to get out.
After a while, a car pulled up to her. She peered in to see large Matt driving a strange car with the menacing Archie next to him.
“Blessings to you,” she greeted them.
“What are you doing out here, girlie?” Matt gave her one of those looks again that made her shift.
She was very uncomfortable, but would not let them know it. God is with me. God is with me. She shouldn’t have felt uncomfortable with Matt—he had taken her to the grocery store before—but his looks gave Nettie pause.
“It’s time for Goldie to get out of school. I’m her nanny, and it’s my job.”
“Goldie don’t need a nanny anymore. Her daddy got all the time in the world, now that he’s out,” Archie added.
“What do you mean?” She shifted a little on the bench.
“He came on in this morning and said he was out of the game.” Matt gripped the wheel of the car and laughed. “Imagine that.”
“It was that churching you gave him yesterday. Preaching up in the store. That’s our store, not yours!” Archie yelled out over Matt.
Nettie’s blood chilled, not liking what she was hearing. It was wonderful if these nefarious men were telling the truth and Jay was out of the game, but it was the way they were speaking that made her wary.
“Lem bought him out.” Matt turned serious all of sudden. “That means we don’t have no jobs because Lem don’t want no oldsters like us.”
Something bright flashed in Archie’s hand and all of the bones left Nettie’s body, turning her into a mass of gel.
Matt continued calmly, “So you need to come with us. We know that Jay’ll give us a nice amount for his lady love.”
“You must be mistaken. I’m not his lady love.” She was surprised that she could speak. And in such a firm voice.
“Oh yeah, you are. If you ain’t, he’s a fool. Boss Man’s not a fool. Get in the car,” Matt growled.
She had no choice but to obey. She didn’t want Goldie to come out here and see this and have to come with them. She had no idea what was going to happen, but God told her to protect Goldie first, at all costs. And if it was Nettie that they wanted and not Goldie, well then, she would be the sacrifice.
She stepped into the backseat of the car and it lurched away from the school. She tried not to feel terrified at the men’s snickers and laughter.
To ease her fears, she recited the Lord’s Prayer in her mind over and over.
When Jay pulled up to the Morson house, the front door was wide open and there were people coming in and out of the house. Normally calm, the house was full of confusion and disarray.
He hopped out of the car and went in the open front door, where he saw Lona Bledsoe weeping and John, Adam and Asa looking stone-faced. Mags stroked her belly up and down as if her life depended on calming the baby down within her, and Emerald and Delie stood in the corner with their arms about one another, biting their lips.
Goldie was sitting in one of the big chairs, talking to a white police officer, Dougherty. Jay knew Dougherty. And he didn’t like him. At all. Still, his heart lurched at the tears running down his daughter’s face.
“What is going on?”
Goldie became a projectile to his pant legs. “Daddy, they took Miss Nettie.”
His heart fell. “What?”
“I saw her. I was coming out of school and I saw her getting into the car with Mr. Matt and Mr. Archie. She didn’t want to go, but Mr. Archie had the gun trained on her. She went with them so that I didn’t have to go. I tried to run after the car, but Mr. Matt drove too fast, like he always does.”
Dougherty stood and regarded him with a smirk. He tried to have as little to do with the police as he could, a hangover from his days when he was always in trouble with the law, but he guessed that the Morsons and Bledsoes had not known what to do. If Jay had been there, he might have stopped them from calling the police and taken care of the matter himself, but it was too late for that now.
“You out of the game now, Jay?”
“As of this morning.”
“Well, seems like two of your runners didn’t like being unemployed and they took your girlfriend for some ransom dough.”
“Yes, I gathered that. Why don’t you forget that you were ever here and let me take care of it?”
Dougherty looked around at the scared family gathered in Ruby and Adam’s fine parlor. “My pleasure.” He walked out of the house without looking back.
He smoothed down Goldie’s braids with a hand to stay calm. For Nettie’s sake. “How long ago did this happen?”
“An hour.”
“She told me she was going to get a Moxie. I didn’t think she was going to get Goldie out of school.” Emerald’s voice shook with fear.
Jay nodded, trying to see a blessing in this disaster. But he knew what to do. This was how his life was. “It’s kind of good that she did. Otherwise, Goldie here might not have seen all of this to let me know where to go.” He planted a kiss on her cheek, which was salty with tears. “It seems I’m always imposing on the Morsons to take good care of you while I am gone, but this is for one last time. I’m going to go get Miss Nettie and I will be back.”
“Please be careful, Daddy. You’re all I have unless you make Miss Nettie my mama.”
“I know. That’s why I am going to find her.” He looked into the face of every Bledsoe, Morson and Caldwell in the room. He raised his voice. “When I do find her, I’ll ask her to be your mama and my wife. Let us pray that she says yes. No matter what anyone else here thinks about it.”
“What do you propose to do, Jay?” Adam’s face was a mask of concern and worry.
“I’ll take care of it, Doc. Don’t worry about it.”
“Please.” Lona stepped to him and grasped his hand. “Nettie has never done anything to hurt anyone. You got to find her.”
“I’ll bring her back. You don’t have to worry about that, ma’am.” Jay stood up and walked toward the door.
Ruby had appeared in the door and guarded it, with her arms folded, but when he approached her, her entire demeanor became softer. She put a hand on his back and guided him from the room, speaking in a sad, hushed tone, “Please. Bring Nettie here first if there is something that we need to help her with.”
Jay got Ruby’s meaning and he couldn’t stop a slight shiver from going up and down his spine. They wouldn’t dare. He would do great damage if they thought to…
When she spoke again, though, her voice firmed up and he wondered if he’d imagined the softness from Ruby. “But make sure they understand that they can’t get away with this kind of thing anymore. We have to live here.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“You love her, don’t you?” Ruby peered far up at him. She really
was very petite.
“More than I thought possible.”
“She loves you too.” Her voice was resigned to the possibility.
But for the first time, he could tell she was not unhappy about it. His heart surged. He bent down to hug his future sister to reassure her, and she returned his embrace.
“I’ll find her.” He moved forward, out of the door, determined to find Nettie and make her his.
Chapter Eighteen
“Where are you taking me?”
“Shut up,” Archie tossed over his shoulder as the road out of Pittsburgh became rockier and there were more woods and forests. Were they still in Pittsburgh? She didn’t know if this strange place had forests too.
“Just do as we tell you. We aren’t going to hurt you; we just want to wait until Jay gets here with the money.”
“We need that money, but we could have some fun first, Arch.”
“We don’t want no fun. We just want our fair share.”
If the game had belonged to Jay, then why did these men feel that they were deserving of money? She prayed he did what was right and reasonable, but didn’t bankrupt himself or Goldie in the process of saving her.
She had never known what love was. Now she understood. She wanted Jay and his little girl to live, on more than she wanted to live for herself. She had faced death before and knew she had been blessed with a longer life than she once thought possible.
The car slowed down and stopped at a cabin in a woodsy-looking place. Archie reached in, grabbed her by the arm and pulled her out of the car roughly.
“I’m sure you’ll behave, being one of those good Christian girls and all. Go on in and sit down on the floor.”
Nettie saw the dirt floor of the cabin and did not want to dirty her suit, but she had no choice. That was it. She would be dirty now. The pricks of tears hurt her eyes and soon they ran down her face freely.
How in the world would anyone know where to find her? Nettie’d told Em that she was going to get a Moxie. She could be anywhere. She prayed.
Please, God. I have been foolish today, but I was feeling so sad. I did not want to see Em getting ready to go to that little frame house that has come to mean so much to me. I could not take it and I had to leave. It was my foolishness that led to this situation. Please help me find a way out of it.
She wrapped her arms around herself, wishing they were Jay’s large arms instead. I love him, she finally admitted to herself.
Nettie tried to think about when she’d begun to love Jay, and she knew. It was when she had seen Goldie’s crooked braids. She had been drawn to him then. Who was this man who was purported to be a gangster, a shady character, someone who dabbled in the illegal world, but who at least tried to braid his seven-year-old’s hair?
All she had been trying to do to keep away from Jay was foolish and thoughtless. It needed to stop. She, above anyone, should have the signs of providence. Hadn’t she been the one to find him in the alleyway? She had used all her strength to save Jay, to bring him to Adam for help.
But if these gentlemen—loosely put—were right, Jay had left policy for her. And that meant he loved her too.
She shook her head in disbelief. It was so hard to believe one thing, one good deed, overwhelmed what she had been told for an entire lifetime. By people who she knew loved her. They wanted the best for her.
But they were wrong. This man loved her. He wanted the best for her. He was right for her. And now, to please her, Jay angered these two men, and a new life was not possible anymore. Because of her.
Hot tears made salty trails down her face and she hugged her knees to herself, grateful now that she’d worn rather long skirts she could wrap about herself. It was later in April, but it was still Pittsburgh, so it was cold. Nettie fell asleep with her head on her knees and dreamed that Jay had come to save her.
Her dream was all so real, except that Jay had a gun. When he burst in the little room holding the pistol, Nettie screamed that the pistol was the devil’s tool, but she was glad that Jay was there. She reached for him, and he for her, and those delicious lips met hers. The warm, shivery feeling she knew once before went up and down her spine, and she was happy.
She fought the waking up sleep was the world where she was in Jay’s arms and she was happy. It was not horrible situation she was in.
Except she really did hear Jay’s voice.
They were all outside and Jay shouted at his henchmen. Then there was a thud and dust clouds came up through the dirty window Nettie peered out of. It was still light outside and she could see his fists swinging at the men, hitting them.
She shouted with all her might, “Oh, Jay, please, love, be careful! Be careful!”
She looked all around the cabin for something to fight with. There had to be a poker or a fragile chair, but there was nothing except the dirt floor. Running to the door, she twisted the knob, but it was locked.
Peering out through the foliage, she was barely able to see Jay and could just hear him. Please, God, keep him safe. Keep him safe.
The door burst open and she was afraid for a moment. Just a moment. Then he came through with Matt in one fist and Archie in the other. He threw his burdens down on the floor.
“Are you all right, Nettie?”
She nodded, shocked to see blood on the faces of Matt and Archie. “Are they okay?”
“They will be. They need to stay out here in the country and think about what they did. I’ve bought them and they are happy now, so we don’t have to worry about them.” Jay clearly wanted to wipe his hands free of their blood.
She took off her suit coat and offered him the inside.
“I don’t want to dirty your clothes.”
“Don’t worry about it. I won’t be wearing them anymore.”
Jay’s face split into a grin. “Going clothes shopping with Goldie?”
“Doesn’t she always get what she wants?”
Jay wiped off his hands and offered her the jacket back. She took up one end with her hands and Jay tugged on the other end of the jacket, pulling her toward him. “She will if you will be her mama. And my wife.”
The feeling she had of Jay putting his arms around her was more perfect and even better than her imagination. She spoke into his broad chest in a muffled voice, “You don’t mind that I can’t have children?”
“We have Goldie, love. She’s ours if you want her.”
“Of course I do.” She laid her hands on his lapel. “And if I were to get sick again?”
Jay pulled her from him. Something shifted in his eyes. Her heart skipped a beat. He didn’t want her. It would be too much emotionally to have had two sick wives, and she couldn’t blame him for that.
“We’re going to enjoy each and every day we have. And I’ll treasure each one like gold. We’ll keep ourselves in his service, so, hopefully, that day won’t come for a long, long time. I love you. And I hope it’s enough for you.”
“I love you,” she whispered, “and I know it’s enough.”
This time, Nettie was the one leaning in to kiss those lips she had longed for, knowing in her heart, this man and his daughter were the true reasons she had been saved from sure death all those years ago.
Chapter Nineteen
Since Jay was getting too old to play baseball, he could own a place where baseball was played instead. He took over the payments on the baseball field that had been built in the middle of the Hill about four years ago. The guy owed him a favor or two, and buying the field was the perfect way to show he was completely out of the game. Besides, May was just the time for baseball in Pittsburgh, and for weddings. He would have no problem leasing his new ball field. Now, he had his own place to watch the Crawfords, but also other teams who would come to Pittsburgh to visit and want a place to practice close to where the Pirates played in Forbes Field.
He had t
houghts of drafting a new minor-league team to feed into those Negro teams. He might organize the kids in the Hill. Watching people play in the field on off days gave him a feeling of joy he had not known was possible sitting in that crowded storefront on Wylie Avenue. Now he was free and not weighed down by other people’s promises, expectations, pennies, nickels and dimes.
But he kept the bank. He always wanted to be there to help if he could.
Today, his baseball park, Fields of Gold, would play host to a special event. When he and Nettie announced to her family that they would be married, Nettie insisted that only one person could perform their ceremony and that she had to come from Florida.
And his promised bride had been right. Sister Jane was a pistol, all right—an old lady who was most appreciative of Jay’s muscular assets. It made him laugh to think about how she got a kick out of squeezing his arms. But what he liked most about Sister Jane was that she was someone who wasn’t surprised that Nettie was getting married.
“I had always prayed for that but kept it for me,” he overheard Sister Jane say when she thought she was alone with Nettie. Jay listened to every word. “I just didn’t know if you would open yourself up to the possibility.”
“I never thought I could be a wife and a mother. I didn’t see that in my life.”
“God’s plans can go many ways, child. Maybe he didn’t intend for children to come from your body. But the way that you feel about this little girl and her father is even more precious because it’s rare. Hold on to it, child. Treasure it.”
“I will.”
From that moment, Jay had loved Sister Jane. He’d looked forward to her benediction of their marriage for quite some time. Now, on this day at the start of May, it was here.
It may have been risky to wear white to a ballpark, but his all-white suit was one of his last extravagances as a man who had gone in a new way, and he was determined to do it right.
Asa, his future brother-in-law, knocked on the door and leaned into his office, “Are you ready?”
A Treasure of Gold Page 20