Scarlett Heart (The Scarletts

by Brenda Barrett

  "Like what?" Noah asked.

  "Like, I was dirt poor, he wasn't. He never had to worry that his shoes would fall apart if the rain fell or that he couldn't afford books for high school. If it weren't for my brother," she swallowed, "I wouldn't have gotten through high school."

  "Which brother?" Noah asked.

  "The brother my mother gave up for adoption. Her first child. He helped me out as best as he could.

  If it weren't for him I'd probably have stayed in St. Mary. I wouldn't have graduated high school and wouldn't have passed my subjects and wouldn't have gotten that job. And I wouldn't have gotten that college scholarship and wouldn't be on the verge of becoming the first one in my family to graduate with a degree.

  My other siblings, the girls near my age are already on their second or third children. The cycle continues. I had a lucky escape."

  Noah nodded. "I see."

  "I am determined to be different," Raine said cryptically. "I am sorry that Dean never understood that."

  Chapter Eleven

  Paddington, St. Mary was not very easy to find, after turning off from Port Maria the capital of the parish. Noah was happy that he had Raine with him to give him directions and that he was driving an off the road vehicle. They left the beautiful coastline and headed into the interior of the parish.

  It had its own kind of beauty, with dense blocks of greenery interspersed with the occasional farmland. He entered an area that was lush with banana and coconut trees. It was as beautiful and rustic as Raine had described. Some places didn't have proper roads. He had to stop while a man in a donkey cart loaded with water containers slowly meandered along a hilly pothole infested path, that Raine said was the main road.

  Raine stifled a yawn. "This is it."

  She pointed to a rusty sign that read Paddington. It was tucked between two trees and was crooked as if it had fallen and somebody propped it up between the trees.

  She glanced at the clock. "Six-thirty. Most people are up by now."

  It didn't look like six-thirty. Noah double-checked the clock on the dashboard. The place was overcast and it started drizzling lightly. He started to open the window and realized that it was rather chilly.

  "I didn't expect this weather," Noah said. "I was imagining sunny cloudless skies and pleasant citizens waving as we drove by."

  "Like a Jamaica Tourist Board ad?" Raine laughed. "What part of deep rural Jamaica, didn't you get?"

  Noah laughed. "The deep part."

  "Over there is Mass Preddy's house. This is the beginning of the district." She pointed to a lone house built with wattle and daub set back in a common.

  There were several goats in pens nearby. The fog covering mountains bracketed the scene and made a perfect backdrop. Noah stopped the vehicle and took out his camera.

  "Are you serious?" Raine glanced at him and shook her head.

  "It's beautiful," Noah said getting out of the car. "Unspoiled. It stokes my creativity."

  "Well, I guess..." Raine said. "If I squint hard enough I think I can see the allure of the old house."

  Noah laughed. "You have to look at the big picture. The house is just one interesting thing. Look at the foggy mountains in the distance and the sparkling diamonds created by the untrampled wet grass."

  He turned to her and captured her picture as she leaned out the front window. "And the pretty girl in the front of the car."

  He winked at her as she made funny faces.

  "Give me…" Raine got out of the car. "Let me take a picture of you too."

  After he got back in the car, Noah felt lighter somehow. He was feeling more like his old self.

  He thought that Paddington in its stark lonely beauty had brought back his creativity, as if visiting made him feel free.

  Raine pointed out the St. Mary Dairy Farm. It was a vast piece of flat land nestled in the valley. He could see cows in the paddocks and various buildings somewhere in the center of the greenery.

  There was a sign on a weathered piece of wood, beside the opened gate and he stopped. Surprisingly, not a hint of recognition he got from the place.

  "You can drive right up." Raine murmured. "The farm house is the first building to the right. The dairy and the rest of the outbuildings are some distance away."

  She glanced at her watch, "maybe the new owners are staying at the house."

  Noah nodded. "New owners?"

  "Yep. Dean sold the place after his father died." Raine shook her head. "He said it became too much for him to handle and he wanted to do something for himself for once."

  Noah drove up to the house. It was in one of those old-fashioned gingerbread designs that had a wrap around porch, latticework trimmings, and a wooden railing. He rarely saw this design anymore, except in pictures.

  The place looked freshly painted in a blue and white pattern. The door was open and there was talking inside, it stopped when Noah pulled up.

  A gentleman who was probably in his fifties walked onto the veranda with a big mug in his hand.

  "Hello," he said. He sounded friendly enough.

  "Oh crap," Raine muttered beside him. "That's Pepper. He was one of my mother's special friends. My sister Cam's father."

  Noah glanced at her. "Is he hostile?"

  "No." Raine got out of the car. "He was one of the best things to have happened to my mom. Cam was baby number five but my mom was too much of a handful for him. When he couldn't take it anymore, he moved out. It was a bitter break up. He got married to a very nice lady a couple weeks after the break up. My mom was livid."

  "I knew this place was worthy of a book," Noah said getting out. "Like a country man soap opera."

  Raine chuckled. "You have no idea."

  Pepper's real name is Vincent Logan and he was the caretaker for the place. The owners were in the UK. Pepper gave Raine a hug and seemed quite elated to see her.

  When Noah told him why he was there and that he just wanted to see where Dean Long lived Pepper nodded. "You have his heart, huh? Imagine that. You have a good heart there, man. The Long's were good people. They've lived in this neighborhood for years and we have nothing but nice things to say about them. The senior Dean Long was a father figure to many in this district."

  Noah looked at the house. "Can I have a look inside?"

  "Sure." Pepper shook his head, " but I don't know how much help it will be to you. The new owners replaced the old stuff. My wife, Aggie, is in the kitchen you can say hello to her."

  Noah nodded and left him with Raine who was dutifully reporting about her Montego Bay life and her studies.

  He entered the house still waiting for a hint of recognition or some sharp feeling to assail him but he got nothing.

  The place was indeed redone; he could smell a faint paint smell in the large living room. He entered a huge kitchen area, which seemed as if it took up half of the house.

  It had a long table in the center of the room. A large lady in hair rollers and a house dress, was humming as she fried what smelled like plantains.

  He knocked on the doorway panel and cleared his throat.

  She spun around.

  "Hello young man." She smiled.

  "I am just looking around," Noah said, he explained to her about his heart and Dean Long and she looked at him oodles of sympathy rolling off her.

  "Their relatives took all the furniture and that kind of stuff, honey. So, I don't know if this place would feel familiar, and it needed some serious repairs," Miss Aggie said wiping her hands on an apron.

  "I found something that belonged to the young Dean though." She headed to the living room area. "Found it just yesterday. I was thinking I should burn it since he's dead and all. Vincent and I figure that if nothing is left here for him then he wouldn't haunt the place."

  Noah stifled a laugh and cleared his throat instead.

  "Here it is. You can do whatever you want with it."

  She handed him a book, a thick leather bound book. It had a zipper at the side. Dean Junior was neatl
y taped on the front of it.

  "Thank you," Noah said taking it from her gratefully. He sensed that she had handed him a gold mine of information.

  "No problem." Miss Aggie grinned at him. "You are a very handsome man."

  Noah felt uncomfortable under Miss Aggie's steady regard. "Where have I heard your name before? Scarlett... Scarlett."

  She rubbed her chin and looked him over squinting and then snapped her finger.

  "You are related to Peter Scarlett. Have to. You have the brown red hair and the pretty puss eyes. Good Lord, how is that man? I knew him from Mobay when I worked at Ambrosia hotel, many, many years ago. He delivered stuff there."

  "He is not around anymore." Noah cleared his throat. "Dead."

  "Ah," Miss Aggie nodded. "Death respects no one. Sorry to hear. Peter was very popular with the ladies."

  "Yes, he was." Noah nodded.

  Miss Aggie laughed. "You be good, you hear. Don't be like that father of yours. She headed back to the kitchen."

  Noah smiled.

  He said his goodbyes and headed to where Raine was talking to Pepper and petting a shaggy brown and white dog who was looking up at her adoringly.

  "You feel anything?" She asked him scratching behind the dog's ear.

  "No." He held up the book, "I got something, though."

  Raine nodded. "I figured you wouldn't feel anything in there. Dean spent most of his time out here. He was an only child on a dairy farm; the house was just for sleeping."

  "And eating." Pepper piped in.

  Raine pointed to a tree in the distance with a bench and table underneath it. "That's where he hung out."

  Noah walked over to the place and looked around. Carved on the almond tree far up near the limbs were neat little letters. Dean and Raine forever.

  He looked at it for a long time and then circled the tree looking for Dean and Cassandra but could find nothing.

  Which wasn't surprising, Cassandra probably came into Dean's life long after he passed the stage of declaring his love on tree trunks.

  He only stepped back when Raine and Pepper came closer. They were talking about a community member who had recently died.

  Then it was time for them to say their goodbyes. They headed to the car.

  "So you felt anything by the tree?" Raine asked, when he buckled in.

  "No." Noah looked at the tree again. "Dean carved your name in the tree and wrote forever underneath it."

  Raine smiled sadly. "Yes, I remember. We were fifteen and it was summer. Being here just brought it back. You know, I can't believe he is gone. "

  Noah nodded. "You never went to his funeral?"

  "No." Raine inhaled shakily. "His aunt who lives in Cayman came out to do a thanksgiving service for his life but she didn't announce it until it was too late for me to attend. I had exams that day."

  "Sorry to put you through this?" Noah said apologetically.

  "It's okay." Raine sniffed. "I grieved already."

  Noah stared at her for awhile. "You sure?"

  "I am sure," Raine sighed.

  She looked at the book. "What do you think is inside it?"

  Noah shrugged. "Maybe his thoughts about you."

  Raine grimaced. "If it's after the break up. I don't want to know."

  "Well, I won't tell you." Noah looked around at the surrounding hills. It seemed as if there were no neighbors close by. The drizzle had stopped and the place smelled like grass and cows.

  "Where to now?"

  "Well, if we want to stop by my mother's place and find anyone we have to go now. She is working as a nursing aide at a retirement home and most of my sisters are either working or going to school."

  "How many sisters do you have again?" Noah asked starting the vehicle.

  "Seven," Raine muttered, "and I make eight."

  "Eight girls." Noah whistled. "And you claim you are the average one in the lot. I have got to see this."

  ****

  Raine's mother and siblings lived nearly fifteen minutes from the dairy farm. The house was the same gingerbread design as the Long's former place but this one was nestled in the hills and had a cut stone finish at the bottom.

  It was surrounded by a healthy looking banana grove and two mint bushes that were covered with purple blossoms. It was the first time he had seen a mint bush that high and thick. It looked like a bougainvillea plant.

  He stopped before one and reached out and plucked a leaf, rubbed it between his fingers and sniffed it.

  "It is really mint," he whispered.

  Raine laughed. "You're a city boy and it's showing."

  Noah nodded. "Alas, I had no idea that mint could grow this tall and had such glorious blooms."

  Raine chuckled again. "Alas, I have never heard anyone say alas, unless they were practicing for a Shakespeare play."

  "There is my mom," Raine groaned, as the front door opened and a petite woman with a bouncy bell haircut peered out at them.

  "She is weird and un-mom like," Raine said in a rush as she got out of the vehicle. "This is your only warning."

  Noah frowned at her but he followed.

  Raine's mother came down the short flight of steps a huge smile on her face when she saw Raine.

  She was already dressed for work in khaki pants and red polo t-shirt. Up close, Noah could see that she was still an attractive woman. She had an undoubtedly note worthy shape but she wasn't the great beauty that Raine had told him about. Not in his opinion anyway.

  She probably was at one time, Noah conceded when she turned the full wattage of her smile on him.

  Raine introduced them and she winked flirtatiously. "Call me Yolanda, not Miss Thatcher. Miss Thatcher sounds like an old lady."

  She held unto his hand a little longer than was polite and then turned to Raine,

  "If I knew you were coming I would have gotten you some coconuts and bananas."

  Raine shrugged. "I didn't know I was coming. Noah decided at short notice that he wanted to know Paddington. so I came with him."

  "Oh," Yolanda smiled. "You interested in where our Rainy grew up. That's so sweet and very unique. This one's a keeper, Raine."

  "We are not together, mom. He is my boss." Raine sighed and looked at Noah as if she were cornered. "I carried something for the girls—let me just deliver them real quick."

  "Cam is still sleeping, Gia is bathing, Erica is getting ready for work, Marsha is fixing breakfast, and Rochelle is at her guy's house, hardly lives here anymore. Tina moved out last week."

  "Where?" Raine looked concerned, "She is just fifteen!"

  "To her father's place," Yolanda replied sharply. "Where else?"

  "Oh," Raine breathed a sigh of relief. "Well, then, I'll just go inside and say hello."

  Yolanda watched as Raine left.

  "She is a nice girl." Yolanda remarked in a detached manner as Raine disappeared into the house."But she is so protective of her sisters, it's not funny. She treats me as if I am the kid and she is the adult and I don't know what's best for my own children."

  Yolanda laughed. "You two not living together long?"

  "We are not living together at all," Noah replied sharply.

  "Ah, Raine is taking it slowly, again? That girl is borderline crazy. Don't hold it against her if she is hanging on for marriage. She used to live with my parents who had some old fashioned ideas about relationships and stuff.

  "Sometimes, I don't think Raine is related to me. She is so different. My other girls are wiser to the ways of the world and yet Raine is the oldest and the most educated."

  Noah was stunned into silence. He looked at Yolanda waiting to see if she was joking but the lady just looked at her watch and shook her head. "I am going to be late. Unless, you want to drop me to work in your fancy vehicle."

  She winked at him and laughed. "The ladies at my job will be suitably impressed. I can now tell them that my oldest girl finally found herself a rich friend."

  Noah didn't get a chance to respond. One by one Raine's
siblings popped out of the house to look at him and wave.

  "Go and put on clothes Gia!" Yolanda shouted to the first girl who came to the door wrapped in a towel. "You don't want Raine's guy friend to think we are uncivilized."

  Gia was a tall gangly girl, with a cloud of hair around her head and big innocent looking eyes. She stood staring at him transfixed for an unhealthy length of time.

  "Hello there," Noah said waving uncomfortably.

  Gia smiled shyly and then spun back into the house squealing something unintelligible.

  Another sister came to the door and yet another. None of them looked alike and they were all good-looking as Raine had said.

  Erica was the only one to introduce herself. She came out with a baby on her hips and an overstuffed baby bag.

  Erica was short and chubby and resembled her mother. She had a slightly harassed air about her as she juggled the child on her hips.

  "Nice to meet you, Noah," Erica said politely. "I am sorry we can't invite you inside. It's full of half dressed women and it's so untidy. I am a neat freak and living with a bunch of untidy females makes me crazy. It's a good thing I am getting out of here soon."

  "Soon can't come soon enough." Yolanda snorted. "And you wouldn't be in this predicament if you had chosen a better man to have babies with than the one you did. As slow as Raine is she got a good catch in Noah here."

  Noah didn't bother to correct the assumption that he was some sort of sugar daddy to Raine, he realized that denials were going to fall on deaf ears. Raine's mother had a whole different storyline working from. He now understood the warning Raine gave him earlier about Yolanda being weird and un-mom like.

  "True, Raine lucked out," Erica made a face and looked at Noah. "Not many prospects in this side of the world, that's why your smart daughters leave. You have brothers Noah?"

  "Yes, all taken," Noah said quickly.

  A car came by at the same time, stopping near the front. A guy got out in semi formal clothes, said a hasty good morning and helped Erica put the toddler in the car.