by Carol Costa
“Granted,” Judge Finley. “Keep me posted on his condition. Court is adjourned for today.”
Mary got up and went over to Benjamin. She wasn"t sure if he had really passed out or if he had collapsed to end Jacob"s torture on the witness stand. One look at her husband told her it was not one of Benjamin"s tricks; he had actually collapsed.
William Barnard wanted to summon a doctor, but Silas told him that they would take Benjamin home and minister to him. Jacob was beside himself, thinking that the testimony Nichols had forced out of him had made Benjamin collapse.
“That"s nonsense,” Mary told him. “Benjamin is a very sick man. He probably was not even aware of what was happening with you on the witness stand. It"s not your fault.”
Jackson Fuller found a wheel chair and the men lifted Benjamin into it. With the help of the deputies, Benjamin was taken from the courtroom and brought to the car.
Silas drove back to the colony. Cora was in the front seat with him, weeping. Jacob and Mary sat in the back of the car on each side of Benjamin, trying to keep him upright as the vehicle bounced along the roads back to the colony.
By the time, they got back to Diamond House, Benjamin had regained consciousness, but seemed unable to speak. He was carried up to his room, undressed and put into his bed.
“He"s too weak to eat,” Mary told Jacob, Silas and Cora when she joined them in the dining room after administering to Benjamin. “I managed to get some tea into him, but that"s all.”
“Benjamin is much too ill to appear in court tomorrow,” Silas said. “I have already spoken to Mr. Barnard. He will notify the Judge.”
Louella served their evening meal.
“The ordeal of the trial has robbed Benjamin of his strength,” Cora said. “He needs to rest. He will be better in a few days.”
As soon as they finished the vegetable stew and hot biscuits Louella had prepared for them, Silas and Cora left the house. Jacob and Mary went back upstairs to check on Benjamin.
Benjamin moaned when they walked into the room and motioned for them to come closer to his bed. Jacob hurried over and Benjamin whispered something to him. As Mary moved closer, Jacob raised his head and she saw the tears in his eyes.
Mary took Benjamin"s hand and he gave her a weak smile. She held his hand until he fell asleep. Then, she and Jacob left the room.
“He is slipping away from us,” Mary told Jacob as he walked her to her suite.
Jacob shook his head refusing to believe her words and walked away from her. “It is the trial and the awful things that Nichols said today. Benjamin is an angel; he should not be subjected to such cruelty.”
“Nichols is a very thorough man,” Mary said. “He has reached back into the past and made us all look evil by connecting us to Michael Mills. I warned Benjamin many times against making the same mistakes that put Michael in jail, but he would not listen to me.”
Jacob broke down and wept, still blaming himself for Benjamin"s collapse. “I should have refused to answer his questions.”
“Then the Judge would have sent you to jail,” Mary told him sternly. “You had no choice, Jacob. Nichols already knew all the answers before he questioned you.”
Jacob wiped his eyes. The poor man looked as if he were going to be the next person to collapse and Mary told him to go to his room and get some sleep.
Mary slept fitfully that night, getting up every few hours to check on Benjamin.
The next day Benjamin was no better, but no worse either.
He remained in his bed and Mary and Jacob took turns watching over him. Word came that Judge Finley had recessed the trial until Benjamin was well enough to return to court.
By that night word had spread throughout the colony that Benjamin was ill. Despite the cold weather people were gathering on the grounds of the Diamond House. Candles burned in the night air as his people held a vigil and prayed for King Benjamin.
Mary was sitting by Benjamin"s bed at midnight when Jacob entered the room again. Benjamin was asleep. Even in slumber, each breath that he took seemed slow and laborious.
“How is he?” Jacob whispered.
“He is very weak. He"s going to die, Jacob.”
Jacob seemed stunned by her words and ran from the bedroom into Benjamin"s sitting room. Mary found him sitting on the silk covered sofa praying.
Mary sat down beside him. “Listen to me, Jacob. Benjamin is going to die and everyone will know that his claims of eternal life were hollow promises. It may cause many of our people to turn away from the colony. It will be up to you and me to keep the colony from being totally destroyed.”
“No,” Jacob insisted. “I cannot believe that Benjamin will ever leave us.”
“Even after all that has happened, all you have seen and heard at the trial, you still believe in Benjamin?” she asked kindly.
“He is the Seventh Messenger. He will triumph over death and lead us to the Millennium.”
Mary got up and walked over to the doors of the balcony and looked outside at the people gathered there. Jacob went back to Benjamin"s bedside. He returned a few minutes later and told Mary that Benjamin was asking for her.
Benjamin was agitated and his breathing was worse than before. Mary took his hand and spoke to him softly. Her voice calmed him and he drifted back to sleep.
A short while later, Silas and Cora came to keep watch with them. It was then that Jacob announced that Benjamin had given him a message for his people.
“What is it?” Cora asked.
“I will deliver it when the time comes,” Jacob told her.
Mary was still holding Benjamin"s hand when his last breath rattled from his diseased body and he died. She held his hand for a moment longer, as visions of their many years together flashed through her mind.
She saw him once again as the young vital man that had claimed her heart so many years earlier. She saw him with their two babies, so happy and proud. She saw him preaching on the road and in the church they built in Ohio. Finally, she saw him covered with ash stumbling out of the blazing building, holding the body of their daughter in his arms.
Jacob touched her shoulder and Mary let go of Benjamin"s hand and stood up. Mary Purnell had stood by Benjamin"s side throughout his life. Now she would take his place as the leader of the House of David.
“We must go out to our people, Jacob,” she said firmly. “But first, you will tell me the last words that Benjamin spoke to you.”
Jacob nodded his assent and whispered to her the message that Benjamin had given him. The small group that witnessed Benjamin"s death walked out of the room together.
Mary put a shawl around her shoulders and stepped out onto Benjamin"s balcony with Jacob and Silas on either side of her.
A peaceful calm moved over Mary. Benjamin was dead and she hoped that all the trouble and distress of the last years of his life would be buried with him.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
“Benjamin has been called to sit at the throne of God,” Mary announced to the colonists gathered on the lawn in front of Diamond House. “From his place with the other angels, he will speak to me and I will guide you through the days to come. Benjamin is not dead, but simply in an angelic trance. In three days, he will be with us again.”
Jacob stepped forward. “In three days, he will return and the Millennium will begin.”
The gathering cheered. Jacob took Mary"s arm and they retreated into the house again.
Mary turned to Jacob. “Why did you tell them the Millennium would begin in three days?” she asked sharply.
“Because Benjamin told me it would and that was the message he wanted passed on to the colony. You did not give them the whole message.”
“Oh, Jacob, I know you mean well, but Benjamin is not going to rise in three days. It will be hard enough to explain that to our people. Now, you have given them false hope that the Millennium will also be here in three days, and that will not happen either.”
Jacob stepped back as if she had slapp
ed him. He did not answer her for several minutes. Finally, he said. “You will see, Mary. You will see.” And then he turned and walked back into the bedroom where his fallen leader lay dead.
*** Once again, Mary paused and looked at Naomi who was shaking her head in disbelief.
“But in three days, Benjamin was still dead,” Naomi said.
“Yes. Silas obtained permission to keep Benjamin"s body intact for a few more days, but then the State of Michigan ordered us to embalm Benjamin"s body and bury him.”
“My mother and I were still in Benton Harbor then. We couldn"t show our faces on the street without people recognizing us and taunting us. I was frightened all the time, but my mother yelled at me and said I"d better get used to nasty people as they were everywhere. The other thing I remember is that she and Nathan were very happy when they heard about Benjamin"s death.”
“Yes. I"m sure they were elated,” Mary said slowly.
“So did you bury Benjamin?”
“No. His body was embalmed and sealed in a casket and placed in one of the underground rooms at the Diamond House. It is still there today.”
“I didn"t know that,” she said. “That must have been about the time that my mother and I moved to Chicago.”
“Yes, I remember. I hired a detective to watch Evelyn. I wanted to know in advance if she tried to return to Benton Harbor or contact anyone at the colony.”
“Did you keep track of Nathan Sullivan too?”
“Yes. Nathan took his daughters back to Indiana where they were all reunited with Martha. I don"t know if they stayed together permanently or not.”
“So, you stepped into Benjamin"s place. But how did you keep the people from rebelling when Benjamin didn"t rise from the dead and lead them to the Millennium as he promised?”
Mary smiled. “I simply borrowed one of Benjamin"s tricks. I went into a trance and communicated with Benjamin who was of course still with the angels. He gave me another message for our people. I told them that the Lord Almighty told Benjamin that he should stay with the other six angels for awhile longer and continue to communicate with his people through me.”
“And the people accepted that?”
“Without question. You see, Naomi, if you tell people what they want to hear, they are happy. The members of the colony were surprisingly calm. They had become so accustomed to their simple, peaceful life that things went on just as before. Oh, yes, I had Benjamin"s routine down pat. I thought that everything was going to be mine.”
“What went wrong?”
“The trial resumed. Benjamin had been dead for several weeks by this time, but he had one more surprise for me.”
Naomi watched the older woman"s face as she began to tell her about the final days of the trial.
*** Not only had Mary taken Benjamin"s place as head of the colony, she also had to take his place as the defendant in the trial.
Seated at the defense table with William Barnard, she rose as Judge Finley entered and sat down behind the bench. Barnard was going to move to have the case put aside on the grounds that without Benjamin the House of David no longer posed a threat to public morals. However, before he had a chance to speak, George Nichols took center stage in the courtroom.
“Your honor, with the court"s permission, the State would like to present one more witness.”
“Objection,” Barnard said. “The prosecutor has already rested his case.”
“Yes, your honor,” Nichols said. “But this witness has just come to our attention, and we ask that she be allowed to testify, as she can give further evidence of the immoral and illegal actions of Benjamin Purnell.”
Barnard objected again in a loud voice.
“Calm down, Mr. Barnard,” the Judge told him. “I will hear this final witness before I make my decision. Objection over ruled.”
Defeated Barnard sat down again.
“Thank you, your honor. The State calls Angelina Purnell.”
A women, who appeared to be a few years older than Mary, was escorted down the aisle to the witness stand and sworn in to testify.
“Who is this woman?” Barnard whispered to Mary.
“I don"t know. I"ve never heard of her,” Mary whispered back as a chill of apprehension traveled through her body.
“I don"t like this,” Barnard said under his breath.
George Nichols approached his new witness. “Mrs. Purnell, please tell the court what your relationship was to Benjamin Franklin Purnell.”
“I"m his wife,” she replied.
Mary gasped and felt the blood drain from her face. The shock Mary felt rumbled through the courtroom as the spectators reacted to the woman"s announcement.
“Can you explain how you can be his wife, when the woman seated at the defense table also claims that title?” Nichols asked her.
“Well,” Angelina said not trying to hide her annoyance with the question. “I didn"t know I was still legally married to Benjamin until your investigators told me that there was no record of our marriage ever being dissolved. We got married when I was sixteen. He left me high and dry when I was seventeen. All these years I thought he had divorced me, but I guess he never bothered to make it legal.”
Mary"s head and heart were pounding in unison. She looked at Barnard in disbelief. He patted her hand, trying to console her. “Don"t worry, Mary. I"ll verify the facts for you.”
Nichols presented a marriage license from the State of Kentucky that proved that Angelina and Benjamin had gotten married two years before Benjamin and Mary had been married.
The Judge adjourned the court. “I will take all the testimony and evidence into consideration. You will be notified when I reach a decision.” He got up and walked out of the courtroom.
Mary was too stunned to move. Having been excused from the witness box, Angelina walked over to speak to Mary.
“I"m very sorry about this,” she said. “I married again and had five children and my children and grandchildren are very upset too. I don"t know why these people couldn"t leave well enough alone.”
Mary nodded. “Yes,” she said absently.
“I"ve been told that Benjamin died recently. You have my sympathy,” Angelina said.
“Thank you.”
Angelina shrugged and left the courtroom. Barnard helped Mary to her feet and led her out through the side door to his office. Jacob, Cora and Silas followed along. They had been in court again today, supporting Mary, just as they had supported Benjamin.
“What does this mean?” Silas asked as soon as they were settled in Barnard"s office.
“I don"t think it will have much effect on the case.”
“What effect is it going to have on me and the colony?” Mary asked. “That"s what concerns me now.”
“Look, I will do my own investigation, my own search of the records. Where were you and Benjamin married?”
“In Kentucky, the same state that he married Angelina in. My father would not have let me leave with Benjamin unless we were married, but our town was very small and poor. It wasn"t even a town actually, it was just an area where a group of people lived and worked together.”
“Who married you?”
“We went to the county seat and got married by a justice of the peace.”
“You still haven"t told us how this will effect the colony?” Silas said.
“Mainly, it affects Mary and her right to inherit Benjamin"s estate. However, we are getting ahead of ourselves. We must wait for Judge Finley to announce his ruling in the case at hand before we move on to other matters.”
Everyone agreed that Barnard was right. Without further discussion, Mary, Jacob, Silas and Cora left the office and returned to the colony.
*** Within a few weeks, Judge Finley decided that without Benjamin, the House of David was no longer a threat to public morals and all charges brought against the colony by the State of Michigan were dismissed.
While the decision was a great relief to Mary and the other members of the House of David, it wa
s just the beginning of another legal battle.
Mary thought that the whole matter of the validity of her marriage to Benjamin would be put aside. The people were looking to her for leadership and guidance now and eagerly awaiting the messages she would get from Benjamin as he remained at the throne of God with the other six angels.
A few days after the court ruled in favor of the House of David, Mary received an unexpected visit from Silas Mooney and Andrew Dewhirst. They met in the front parlor of the Diamond House.
Although Dewhirst did all the talking, Mary realized that Silas, the man who had been with them since their days with the Flying Rollers, had turned against her. Silas wanted Mary to step aside so that he could take Benjamin"s place as the temporal and spiritual leader of the colony.
Dewhirst spouted off a lot of legal terms, most of which Mary did not understand.
“Save your breath, Mr. Dewhirst,” Mary told him. “My lawyers will speak to you and your lawyers. You can explain your claims to them.” Then, she turned to Silas Mooney. “You have been one of Benjamin"s closest friends and advisors, Silas. I cannot believe that you are willing to destroy all that we have worked for here for your own selfish motives.”
“It is for the good of colony that I have come forward to assume Benjamin"s place. I believe he would have wanted me to do this.”
“The people look to me for guidance since Benjamin"s physical presence is no longer with us. You know that Silas.”
“No. Our people wait for Benjamin to return to us as he promised.”
Dewhirst held up his hands for them to stop arguing. “None of that matters,” he said sternly. “The fact is that Mary was not legally married to Benjamin and therefore she is not entitled to inherit his property.”
Mary stood up. “I"ll thank you both to leave my house,” she said keeping her voice calm. “I will not justify your ridiculous claims by arguing with you any further. Even if I was not legally Benjamin"s wife, I was his partner and worked beside him to establish the colony and you two demons will not drive me away from what is rightly mine.”
“It is not rightly yours,” Silas yelled. “I too worked beside Benjamin and therefore I have as much claim to the property as you do?”