Letters on the Table

by Pattie Howse-Duncan

  Then Murphy set step two of his plan in motion—initiating the purchase of an entire city block in downtown Kingston, including the building that once housed Graham’s Diner, the building where Katherine had lived as a child, with plans for it to become Kingston’s finest park.

  He paid a visit to his longtime friend, J.C. Westmoreland, Kingston’s prominent real estate developer. “I want swings, slides, merry-go-rounds, seesaws, everything any son or daughter of Kingston would want in a park and then I want a train for people to ride that encircles the park. Some folks in this town need to be reminded there’s no such thing as the wrong side of the tracks. Tracks were meant to cross over and take you places rather than serve as a dividing line of injustice and poverty. I’m going to be out of the country honeymooning for most of the next two months, but I’d like to break ground as soon as I return. Whatever you do, make sure the massive pin oak isn’t damaged when you tear down the diner. I want a bench under that majestic tree. I plan on sitting on it often with my wife beside me as we marvel at the journey we’ve been given.”

  The Right Reverend Drew Keller officiated their ceremony. Lily Mae and Doc were the only others present who witnessed the moment she officially became his. Their wedding night brought a new level to their love. She had never been intimate with a man, and Murphy realized he had never really made love before. She gave him every inch of her body to discover and claim. And then the afterward became just as intimate and divine as the act itself. They melted in each other’s arms, exhausted. Her foot rested in the arch of his foot, as they breathed the same air. They slumbered through the night, their bodies always touching, as if magnetized.

  Seventeen months later federal agents raided Wanda Sullivan-Langston’s home. After being indicted by a Federal Grand Jury, her husband was charged with eleven felony counts of money laundering and fraud. The IRS frowned upon business owners filing fraudulent claims for small business disaster loans.

  Doc and Baxter

  They lost both Doc and Baxter the week after their second anniversary. First Baxter, then Doc. Their hearts broke as they watched Baxter close his weary eyes and take his last breath. They’d lost a piece of who they were. The house was still and quiet now, and his absence made the air hard to breathe.

  They had no way of knowing a tsunami was just days away. An unpredicted storm of heartbreak was headed their direction.

  Doc finally booked his retirement gift from Katherine and Murphy, a long-awaited fourteen-day deep sea fishing trip to one of the British islands near Cuba. It was something Katherine had heard him talk about frequently after he’d read Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea. Something he “one day” intended to do, and they knew if they didn’t give it to him he’d never get around to going.

  He called them long distance half way through the trip. “I wish we were all here together to enjoy this beautiful island. Words don’t begin to do it justice, and I’m certain you’d love it.”

  “Are they treating you right over there, Doc?” Murphy watched as Katherine shook her head in his direction and silently mouthed, “Don’t tell him about Baxter. Save it.”

  “I’ll put it this way son, I don’t know what you told them or how you arranged it, but I think I’m getting better VIP treatment than if ole Hemingway himself were here.”

  “No one deserves it more than you, my friend. I’m putting Katherine on the phone now. She’s hanging on to my every word and smiling from ear to ear, so anxious to hear your voice.”

  She couldn’t get the phone to her ear quickly enough. “You’ve only been gone seven days, and I miss you terribly. I can’t wait to get you home so we can all sit around the table and listen to your stories. How many have you caught, and how’s the food?”

  “The second day at sea I caught a sixty-eight-pound wahoo, and my guide took it to an old cook and told him how to prepare it. It was enough to feed most of the entire north shore of the island, and I’ve never seen so many happy people trying to thank me. Not many here speak English, but they sure seem to understand it. This is the fishing trip of a lifetime, and I thank you.”

  “Seems like you’ve been gone a month! We’ll be at the airport to meet your plane on Saturday, and then Lily Mae will join us here for dinner. We want to hear every detail. I love you, Doc. Not counting nursing school, this is the longest we’ve been away from each other since the summer I was seven, and I can’t wait to get you home.”

  Doc could hear the longing in her voice, and he knew exactly how she felt.

  “I couldn’t love you more, my dear. It’s funny you mentioned that summer so long ago. My solitude this week has given me some time to reflect on the different paths I’ve chosen in life. Been thinking a lot on some of those forks in the road and pivotal decisions, especially about the events from that summer.” Doc paused, and just as Katherine was beginning to speak, he continued, “and I’d like to share something with you when I return. It’s something I overheard all those years ago, a few months after your father disappeared. I’m positive of its validity, and I think it’s time you learn what I’ve known all this time. I can’t justify why I’ve never talked about it, and I’m not proud that I’ve never had the courage, but now the memory has reared its ugly head and I’m troubled.” Katherine heard his voice choke, but he recovered and continued, “But, we can’t go backward, can we? So, no more of this kind of talk on a long-distance penny. I’m eager to see all of you in just a few days. Goodbye, my sweet Katherine.”

  They did go to the airport on Saturday, and they watched his plane land, but they wouldn’t realize for another twenty-five minutes why an ambulance met the plane on the runway. Doc suffered a fatal pulmonary embolism and died just minutes before landing.

  The next few days were a blur. Murphy never took his eyes off Katherine, knowing her world was upside-down. Sleep evaded him that week as he watched her wrestle fitfully in her sleep. Lily Mae had always been the balm for Katherine so Murphy asked her if she would come to Cross Creek for a few days. He was worried he wasn’t doing enough to help her.

  “I keep wondering who on earth I would have turned out to be if he had not been in my life? He could have simply chosen to look the other way after my father disappeared.”

  Lily Mae held Katherine tightly in her arms and reminded her, “Never question the good Lord’s doings, Queenie. Doc’s love for you wasn’t by accident. The Lord knew you needed Doc as much as he needed you. And now, all these years later, the Lord knew to give you a strong man before He took your other one away.”

  “Now I guess I’ll never know what it was he wanted to tell me about the summer my father disappeared.”

  Lily Mae winced and stiffened her back, turning suddenly to look at Katherine. “What makes you think he was going to tell you something about all that?”

  “He mentioned it on the phone. Our last conversation. It had to do with overhearing something a long, long time ago and now wrestling with himself about never doing anything about it.”

  Lily Mae blew out a puff of air she’d been holding in. Speaking softly, she thought aloud, “The Lord must not have thought you needed to know what Doc was going to tell you or else He would have arranged for it to happen while Doc was still with us.”

  And then, she held her tighter as Katherine shed more tears. Lily Mae cried with her, knowing she now might have to be the one to tell her what Doc meant for her to know. She knew full well what he intended to divulge. She just wasn’t sure she had the strength to see the aftermath.

  Katherine and Murphy weren’t the only ones Doc had called long distance. He also called Father Drew. It was a brief phone call but long enough for Doc to allude that he needed to get something off his chest when he returned. He warned it was the kind of news that would knock all of them, especially Katherine, off their foundations. He worried she would not understand why he had feared telling her before, and for that he had no answer.

  W
hen the autopsy report indicated an advanced stage of colon cancer, they realized the embolism was actually a blessing. They were thankful for a quick, painless death for the man who attended the bedside of countless terminal patients, watching as their lives faded, waiting for death to finally knock on the door.

  PART THREE

  1977 – 2014

  Savannah

  “Hello,” was the only word he spoke, stopping to see if continuing would just be a waste of time.

  “Well, hello. How are you on this beautiful day?” Katherine’s response encouraged him. What kind of day was it? He noticed very little, as his haunting memories overshadowed the present.

  “My name’s Hollis Walker, and I heard you’re looking for a caretaker. I hope you don’t mind I drove out without calling first but I was driving through town and stopped in front of a church that was hosting a BBQ fundraiser for their benevolent fund and one of the church ladies sat down next to me and we talked for quite a while and when we said our goodbyes she gave me your name and drew me a map to get to your place and well, here I am. Have you hired already?”

  She heard the urgency in his voice, and she knew she liked him from the start. There was something about his eyes that held a mixture of honesty and eagerness. She saw pain mixed in there also. He was soft spoken and small framed but handsome with a dose of shyness sprinkled in. Good manners, strikingly appealing, and gentle. A trifecta. Katherine could immediately tell he was genuine. She knew Lily Mae must have seen it too or else she wouldn’t have made up the part of a fictitious job.

  He sat on the porch swing and waited while she fixed them both a cold drink, asking the typical get-to-know-you questions. His answers were remarkably clear for a man who appeared completely distracted, keeping his eyes steadfast on his older model black Volvo station wagon parked under one of the enormous pecan trees near the house. All the windows in his car were rolled down which led Katherine to assume he had some sort of animal accompanying him, perhaps a loyal old dog to provide company. Whatever it was, he listened and watched alertly for any signs of movement.

  The second he detected a faint sound, he bounded off the porch, taking two of the broad steps at a time. Leaning into the back seat, he began talking to the dog in a soft, soothing voice. Katherine rose to see if she could bring the animal some water or assist him in bringing the dog to the porch where she was sure he would be much more comfortable. Their porch had been lonely for a dog since Baxter died.

  When he turned to face her direction, she saw what he held in his arms. Katherine was certain she had never seen a more beautiful creature with thick ringlets the color of sunshine, eyes of darkened slate, and lips like those painted on a china doll’s face. One lone dimple suddenly appeared when her father whispered something to evoke a smile.

  Katherine kept her ears open as the three of them visited, anxiously awaiting the sound of Murphy’s truck winding down the driveway. When he did finally arrive, her husband was more than surprised to find a well-groomed young man on one of the porch rockers and a four-year-old child snuggled up next to Katherine on the porch swing, enjoying a glass of Katherine’s lemonade. He studied his beautiful wife’s face as he climbed down from the truck’s cab, and her smile told him that this pair of unexpected strangers made her jubilant. And that alone let him know all was right with the world.

  He felt a confident handshake when the two men exchanged introductions—always a positive sign, in Murphy’s rulebook.

  “Lily Mae met Hollis in town at Bethel’s plate lunch fundraiser, and she suggested he drive out to Beechwood and apply for the job opening.”

  That was all she needed to say. It was then Murphy knew he would create some job that needed to be filled someplace on the grounds of his homestead. “And who is this little bit sitting on my swing?” Murphy asked with a big dopey grin, trying to emulate the voice of a gentle giant from one of the fairy tales little girls tend to love.

  Giggling, she buried her face in the crook of Katherine’s arm, peeking out sheepishly while Hollis introduced his daughter, Savannah. Murphy and Savannah locked eyes and that was that.

  The two men went on to have what Murphy later referred to as a job interview, but in actuality, it was a vegetable dinner prepared by Katherine. Squash casserole, corn on the cob, sliced tomatoes, black-eyed peas, pickled okra, spoon bread, and blackberry cobbler for dessert. It felt natural to share the garden’s bounty and to have two more chairs at their table.

  Murphy reached over and squeezed Katherine’s hand. “Hollis, it sounds like you would be well suited for our general caretaker’s job. It would involve exactly what the title says. I need someone with fresh eyes to supervise the care of the north quadrant.”

  “Sir, I can’t tell you what that means to me. I’m honored. Now, you need to know, I’ve never done anything like this before, so I might need some time to learn the ropes.”

  Savannah looked up from her bowl of cobbler, and with a smidge of it on her chin, she proudly announced, “Daddy can draw, and he makes me books. Don’t you Daddy? I get to go to school next year, but I already know how to read because my daddy taught me, didn’t you, Daddy?” Hollis leaned over and wiped the cobbler from her chin and planted a kiss on top of her head.

  “I pity that teacher next year because, well, you know what they say about the proverbial sponge.” He faltered for a second and then asked, “Would my job allow me to take her to and from school when she begins next year?”

  Those few words told Murphy and Katherine that no other parent would be joining the girl and her father.

  Katherine heartily answered “Of course!” at the exact second Murphy responded with his own hearty, “Absolutely!”

  “That’s funny!” said Savannah as she threw her head back with a laugh, causing both Katherine and Murphy to wonder what it might be like to watch her grow up at Cross Creek.

  After dinner, they all walked a portion of the north quadrant and then climbed onto the old restored ’24 model Farmall tractor to venture out and inspect some of the timber and a couple of the irrigation ponds.

  During the restoration of the tractor, Murphy had replaced the traditional seat with a padded bench seat providing ample room for Katherine and Baxter at that time to sit comfortably with him. This ride, however, consisted of three adults and a tow-headed bundle of giggles. Savannah snuggled in her father’s lap next to Katherine; until she climbed completely unsolicited into Murphy’s lap to help him maneuver the eighteen-inch steering wheel. A sixth sense seemed to tell the four-year-old that that particular lap had been waiting fifty-five years for her to claim as her own.

  Along the way, they watched a hawk launch from a branch high above and glide right over them. Savannah was fascinated. “What is that giant bird? Is it an eagle? That’s America’s national symbol.”

  They all chuckled, and Murphy explained, “That was a Cooper’s hawk. They’re fond of beech trees and that is the kind of tree you see all around us so you’ll see a lot of hawks around here, too. Did you like it?”

  Savannah was enthralled. “I love it. Do you know more things about Cooper’s hawks?”

  Murphy was fueling her curiosity. He stopped and picked up a feather and measured, showing her it was longer than the distance from her wrist to her fingertips. Pointing to a nest about thirty feet off the ground, he said, “I know their eggs are bright blue, and they usually lay three to five. Those eggs are called a clutch. What do you know?”

  Savannah absorbed it all, her mind racing to store the new information in files somewhere within her head. Without missing a beat, she replied. “I know the American bald eagle lives up to 20 years. That’s a very, very, very long time. Can I please keep this feather?”

  Katherine’s heart was full. She loved listening to her husband talk with this inquisitive well-mannered four-year-old bundle of energy with a barrage of questions. Something in her gut told her that the “I know/
what do you know?” routine would become a daily part of their lives if Hollis accepted the job.

  They rode over to the caretaker’s cottage to see if Hollis thought it would be a suitable place for them to live comfortably. An aged country cottage with high ceilings, it had a wood burning fireplace, an abundance of large windows, and beautiful hardwood floors. Katherine and Murphy began removing the sheets covering the upholstered furniture, revealing a room that was warm and inviting. Hollis saw a place he and his daughter could call home. A fresh start. A rebirth.

  Everything Hollis and Savannah owned was packed neatly in the back of his car. They had no destination until Hollis, by happenstance, drove through the town of Kingston and saw a young teenage boy standing outside a small church building waving a poster advertising a BBQ plate fundraiser. And a lady greeted him like she’d been expecting him to walk through the door. She then sent him in the direction of Cross Creek, and with all the remnants of courage he had left, he knocked on the McGregor’s back door.

  It came as no surprise to Katherine when Murphy asked Hollis if he would like the job. No reference checks, no forms to sign, no negotiating, no bargaining, no union representatives, no bonus signing packages.

  It was simply, “Son, would you like to work for us?”

  “I’m honored, sir. Could you and I step outside for a minute or two?” Murphy detected a clouded look on Hollis’ face, indicating trouble of some sort.

  Katherine gave both men a nod to let them know she and Savannah would be happy catching a few lightning bugs in the backyard, deliberately positioning herself so she could still see both men as they conversed.