The Daughters of Julian Dane

by Lucile McCluskey

  Once settled behind the wheel, she said, “I’m going to drive to the Community Center and park. It’s just a short way from here, and it’s closed. We can talk before I go to the Log House Restaurant and get us some lunch. We can eat at one of the picnic tables under the trees there. Then we’ll go to the shopping center and buy you some clothes. How does that sound?”

  “As long as I’m with you, nothing else matters. Are you going to take me with you – to your house?”

  “Of course, my darling Henrietta, but it’s been so long – let’s just have our time together right now. I need to know why you’re a cripple, why you’ve been separated from mama all these years, why Jimmy Lee doesn’t want me to know her, and I want to know about this letter you have.”

  “I’ve been a cripple since you left home,” Henrietta said looking at her sister unhappily, as though she didn’t want to answer the question. “You remember mama gave you her bag of coins when Odell ran to the barn, and she told you to run before he came back, because he’d have his gun?”

  “How could I ever forget? I didn’t know who had made me pregnant, so how could I tell him?”

  “That’s something you’re going to have to explain to me. How could you not know who made you pregnant? But mama was right. He had that big old pistol. And when he saw that you had left, he flew into one of his rages and threw the gun. It hit me in the knee. Then he ran to his truck, but it wouldn’t start.

  “Mama picked me up and carried me into the house. When she saw how bad my knee was, she went back out to tell him I needed to go to the clinic. He wouldn’t pay her any attention, just kept working on that old truck until he got it started. Then he took off and didn’t come back for three weeks. Fortunately, he brought food. We had eaten three of mama’s laying hens and were down to milk and boiled eggs.”

  “Oh, Henrietta, that makes me feel so guilty. How long before you got to a doctor? Why are you still a cripple?”

  “No, Della. Odell was responsible, and mama never did get me to a doctor. She didn’t have any way of getting me to one, or any money. There was no one in the Martin place, the only place within walking distance. And we didn’t have a phone.”

  “I know. Ben had just left the place. He found me on the side of the road. I had blood all over the front of my dress from my nose. He took me to the creek and cleaned me up. I told him what had happened. He was on his way to Nashville. He took me with him, and married me. I had a pretty red headed baby girl seven months later.”

  “Oh, Della, I wish I had known. You can’t imagine how much I’ve worried about you, how many sleepless night I lay with my aching knee wondering where you were. And wishing you were there on your side of the bed.” Della reached over and they were in each other’s arms again, tears rolling down their cheeks.

  “And you can’t know how much I’ve wanted you and mama, all of you, Della said through her tears. “I did a lot of crying myself to sleep nights while I was carrying Addie. We came back to Riverbend as soon as we heard that Odell had been killed, but all of you were gone, and no one knew where. But didn’t mama ever get you to a doctor?”

  “No. Odell wouldn’t take me. I didn’t go to school anymore either. I guess Odell was afraid he’d have to tell how my knee got hurt. So it just grew this way.”

  “Well, it’s not going to stay this way. I’m sure there is an orthopedic somewhere who can fix it, and we’re going to find him.”

  “Oh, Della, that would be a dream come true. I’ve hated Odell all these years for what he did to me, but I guess it’s wrong to hate the dead. He got himself killed in a drunken brawl, on a Saturday night, when Cousin Frank was visiting in one of his smelly trailers.

  “After Odell’s funeral, Frank convinced mama that we should go to California with him. He said he had a good paying job waiting for him out there. So mama sold everything she could, and she had a little of Odell’s insurance money left. She thought she had enough for us to get a new start in California. So we took off in Frank’s truck and trailer. Mama was to buy the gas, and she soon learned that she had to buy almost as much oil for the old truck, and keep Frank in beer. He promised to pay her back for the beer.

  “When we left, Johnny was real sick with bronchitis, so she and mama rode in the trailer. Jimmy Lee and I rode in the truck with Frank. But he wouldn’t keep his hand off Jimmy Lee even though she socked him a couple of times. When we stopped at a beer joint on the second night, she refused to ride in the truck with him anymore. So mama said she and Johnny would ride in the truck, because she thought the smell of the trailer was causing Johnny to cough more.

  “The restrooms to this place were on the outside of the building, and mama told Jimmy Lee to take me to the restroom before we took off again. She did, and when we came out, the truck and trailer were no where in sight. He had driven off and left us. And that’s the last time we saw mama and Johnny.”

  Della was shocked. “That can’t be true!” she exclaimed. “You are kidding me.”

  “No. And Jimmy Lee was sure he did it on purpose, and that when mama found he had done it, they would come back for us. Well, we waited ‘til closing time of the place, and they hadn’t come, so she explained our situation to the owner. He had five cabins behind the place and he let us have one when Jimmy Lee told him that mama would pay him when she returned to get us. He let us stay the second night and let us eat, but then he said no more.

  “The place was out in the middle of nowhere, and we didn’t know what else to do. It was getting dark on the third night when a woman drove up for gas in a big Cadillac. She was sick – too sick to even get out of the car. So Jimmy Lee pumped her gas for her and talked her into renting one of the cabins for the night. She promised the woman that we’d stay with her and take care of her.

  “Well, the next day, she wasn’t any better, and she wanted to get home to her house in Florida. So Jimmy Lee drove her to Florida. She was real nice to us, bought us a couple of changes of clothes and fed us good, and she had paid our bill at the beer joint. She told Jimmy Lee that we could stay with her until Jimmy Lee could get a job.”

  “Henrietta! What happened that mama didn’t come back for you?”

  “We never knew, Della. Jimmy Lee figured that mama had fallen asleep and didn’t wake up ‘til morning and didn’t know that we weren’t in the trailer. Frank wanted to drive day and night too. But Jimmy Lee figured that they’d had plenty of time to come back for us if they were coming, and we didn’t know what else to do but go with Mrs. Womack. We had no place to stay, and we were hungry. We hadn’t eaten since breakfast the day before.

  “The woman was still very sick when we got to her house in Florida, so we stayed with her. At least we had food and a place to stay. We stayed almost two years – until she had to be put in a nursing home.”

  “Then what did you do?”

  “Well, Jimmy Lee had been dating a Captain from the Air Force base near by. So she married him. He’d been after her to marry him for months, but he drank, and she knew it. But again, this was our only choice. And he got her a job at the officer’s club, waiting tables. We lived in a one bedroom apartment. I slept on the living room couch.

  “Mike was okay until he got drunk, then he’d rough Jimmy Lee up. The third time she went to work with a black eye, the manager fired her. So when Mike came in that night she told him to pack his things and get out, that it was her paycheck that was paying the rent, and she didn’t need him. He did, and she filed for divorce.

  “When her eye got better, she asked for her job back. They had replaced her with a girl named Trish Givans, but their hostess had married and left. So Jimmy Lee got that job. When she came back to the apartment, she had Trish and her three year old son, Bobby, with her. They were to stay until Trish could find someplace where she could leave Bobby while she worked. So I kept Bobby for her.”

  “And all this time you hadn’t been to a doctor with your knee?”

  “Della, it had grown this way, and we knew it would take
a lot of money to get it fixed, if it could be fixed. A pair of used crutches didn’t cost all that much, and we were always just getting by. Jimmy Lee fed me and gave me a place to stay, and kept me in clothes. I couldn’t ask her for more. Trish paid me as much as she could to keep Bobby, and Jimmy Lee let me keep it.

  “It was Trish who told me how to try to find mama and Johnny. She went to the library and looked up newspapers in Fresno, California and all around Fresno, and their addresses, on the computer. That’s where we were supposed to be going. I’d save up my money, and Trish would write an ad that said, ‘Will Maude or Johnny Haynes from Riverbend, Tennessee write to her post office box.’ I didn’t let Jimmy Lee know what I was doing with my money, because she was mad at mama. She was sure that mama could have come back for us some how. But until Trish got this letter giving us this telephone number to call, we hadn’t had any answers.” She was searching in her purse for the letter. She handed the one page to Della.

  “It just says, ‘I am Maude Haynes. I have a daughter, Johnny. We once lived in Riverbend, Tennessee. Please call this number’”.

  “Have you called the number?” Della asked hopefully.

  “I haven’t, but Trish has called it several times, but there is never an answer. An answering machine picks up after four rings, and Trish keeps leaving a message for Maude Haynes to call her, but she hasn’t called. Trish has an answering machine.”

  “Why haven’t you called,” Della demanded.

  “Jimmy Lee, or Janie, would never allow it. You see, she quit her job at the officer’s club to help Col. Willis’ wife, who was dying of cancer, when she learned that Col. Willis was from Riverbend. He had to come back here to attend to his father who was very ill. So she stayed with his wife while he was gone. Jimmy Lee had decided she was going to marry Col. Willis.

  “She had told the Colonel that she was from a very old southern family who had fallen upon hard times, and that she was the last of the line. I’m supposed to be the granddaughter of an old family servant, whom she promised on her dying bed that she’d take care of.”

  “Ooohhh! Then that explains why she doesn’t want me to recognize her. But why did she think she had to tell the Colonel such a story?”

  “Because she’s sure he must have known Odell Haynes, and he’d never marry the daughter of Odell Haynes. He’s a lot older that Jimmy Lee, or Janie, as he knows her, and she was determined to marry him and come back here. Why, I never knew.”

  “This is all so unbelievable,” Della said shaking her head.

  “She allows me to write to Trish and talk to her on the phone, but that’s my only connection with anyone else. She’d be furious if she knew about the ads.”

  “We are going to start calling that number today. And you must call your friend and give her your Stonegate address and phone number.”

  “Stonegate! That’s where Jimmy Lee is! She was invited to lunch there today, and to an open house tomorrow. That’s all she’s talked about all week.”

  “I know. We made sure she was invited, and that she arrived. My daughter, Addie, owns Stonegate. She inherited it. That’s where we’ll be living for awhile.”

  Henrietta gasped, then started laughing. “I don’t believe this! Janie and the Colonel think it’s the honor of a lifetime for her to be having lunch at Stonegate, and I’m going to be living there?”

  “Yes, you are. But, she is our sister, and I’m sure she’s had a hard time. We won’t betray her. She knows I’m here. She’s seen me, I know. I’m going to find it hard to forgive her for being here for two years, and not letting me know it. But I’m so happy to have found you. I’ll just have to believe that God had a reason for it. Now, if we can just find mama and Johnny.”

  Della turned the key and the big car hummed into life. “It has to be mama. We know that, but I’m worried as to why she hasn’t returned your friend, Trish’s, calls.”

  “Me too,” Henrietta said. “I’m sure she’s as anxious for any news of us, as we are of her and Johnny. Of course she has no way of knowing what the ad is about, but I know she’s hoping. I just know it.”

  “She’s bound to be,” Della said, “but right now we’re going to have lunch. Then we’re going to buy you some clothes, then we’re going home to Stonegate, and start calling that number. There can only be one Maude Haynes with a daughter named Johnny who once lived in Riverbend, Tennessee. Oohh, I’m so excited, I absolutely tingle all over.”

  They both laughed with happiness. “Oh, I have to call Addie. I should have already.” She reached into her bag and brought out her cell phone.

  “You have a cell phone!” Henrietta exclaimed. “Jimmy Lee wants one, but the Colonel is a real tightwad and says no way. However, he had been paying me twenty dollars a week. Spending money, he says. I keep wondering were he thinks I’d spend it. I send it to Trish for more ads. I know Jimmy Lee has had it hard, and I’m grateful to her, but lately, she’s been almost cruel to me. I think she takes her unhappiness out on me. The Colonel is so jealous of her he makes life hard for her. I hope one day I can repay her for all she has done for me.”

  “Yes. She may need you one day,” Della said, then, “Hello, dear, Yes. The cripple woman is my sister, Henrietta. Oh, honey, I’m so happy. I can’t wait for you to meet her. Is everything going okay there?” After a few moments, she said, “We’ll be there as soon as we have lunch, and I take Henrietta to get some clothes.” After another moment, Della said, “I sure will. Bye, honey.”

  As the two sisters ate their lunch under a red bud tree on the lawn of the Log House, Della told Henrietta about Julian Dane, Addie’s spirit father, and his connection to Wilhelmina Stone of Stonegate, his other daughter, Victoria, and son, Nickelos. She could tell that her sister was having a hard time accepting what she was telling her. And especially so, when she told her of seeing Victoria’s spirit leave Addie’s body. “I know you’re finding it impossible to believe, but that friend of ours, Donnie Whitefield, also saw it, and he saw Julian Dane and his son, Nickelos, as a small child. He’ll tell you. And even thought, for some reason, he was allowed to see it, he still has a hard time believing what he saw. Of course we told Ben, and now you.”

  “Della, I know it’s unbelievable, but I know you’d only tell me the truth. And I’ll never tell anyone. They’d think I was crazy.”

  “And for that reason, I wouldn’t tell Grant Cutler, our attorney, when he wanted to know Addie’s relationship to Wilhelmina Stone. I didn’t want him to think we were a bunch of nuts.”

  “Grant Cutler,” Henrietta said. “I’ve never met him, but he comes to Janie’s neighborhood get-togethers. She thinks he’s handsome.”

  “Why, yes, I guess he is. Now shall we get down to the department store?”

  When they reached the store, Della asked for the saleslady that Addie had told her to. The woman was very happy to be sent for when Della told her who she was. “We’re going to need everything from sleep wear to dresses and sports wear, even shoes and underwear, but no coats or jackets. The woman was beaming as she led them to the better ladies’ wear. “I know where there is a large selection of coats and jackets, expensive ones,” she whispered to Henrietta.

  Henrietta was wide-eyes as Della paid for the purchases in each department with hundred dollar bills. Each time she received cash back, she would unsnap Henrietta’s purse and drop the change in, then close it. At first, Henrietta rebelled, but Della paid her no mind, so all she could do was thank her each time.

  It was more than three hours later before the loaded Lincoln was going up the Stonegate drive with Della explaining things about the mansion and its grounds, and the plans for the open house.

  “And your sixteen year old daughter, Addie, actually owns this place?”

  “Yes, dear sister. And there is one other thing I need to tell you. Ben does not live here with Addie and me. We are separated right now. There are some things we have to work out, and also, I’m pregnant – almost three months.” Della had parked the Li
ncoln beside Addie’s car in front of the garages.

  Henrietta squealed, “Pregnant!” She reached over and hugged Della. “Oh, how wonderful. A baby! I’m so happy for you. I guess that’s something I’ll never have, but at least I’ll get to hold yours and love on it. Oh, Della, I’m so happy!” And the tears began to flow again.

  Addie was overjoyed to meet her Aunt Henrietta, and that her mother had found her beloved sister. But she looked at the two of them together. Henrietta was now dressed in a becoming lavender blue casual pantsuit. Addie said, “It’s like having two mama’s. And I know just the room for Aunt Henrietta, the one with the antique walnut furniture. Since you like it so well, Mama, she will too.”

  Mattie and Judy accepted the, ‘We haven’t seen each other in years, and she hurt her knee in an accident. We’re going to see about getting it fixed right away’. But Jo Ann Simmons wanted details. Della cut her short by asking, “Since you’re in the medical profession from Nashville, could you recommend a good orthopedic surgeon? I want to get her to one as soon as possible.”

  Jo Ann was pleased to be asked. “Is Monday too soon. I know the best there is, and I can get you an appointment anytime.”

  Della assured her that Monday would be great, and she excused herself to go help Henrietta get settled in the walnut bedroom while Addie was still bringing up Henrietta’s purchases.

  “I know you must be tired,” Della told Henrietta, “so get comfortable on the bed, and we’ll start calling that number.” And they did, but all they got was the answering machine. Della said who she was and gave the Stonegate number to be called. “Why would she give us a number and then not answer?” Della asked in disappointment and frustration.

  “I’ve wondered and wondered,” Henrietta said. “Our only hope is to just keep calling.” And they did until eleven that night.

  Between calls, Della had explained to Addie all that her sister had told her, and why the black headed woman, who was her sister, Jimmy Lee, had not wanted to meet her – to be recognized by her. Addie had sympathy for Jimmy Lee, but was also angry at her.