The Daughters of Julian Dane

by Lucile McCluskey

  “Why are you selling your house?”

  “We’re not. My brother-in-law has decided that a big city is no place to raise three teenagers. So they’re moving into our house as soon as this one is completed. After all, it’s as much theirs as it is ours, and we’ve had it all these years. We’re glad for them to have it. We’re anxious to find out if there is life after grass mowing, weed eating, hedge trimming, tree topping, and housework?”

  “Why is Sully moving?”

  “He’s deeding his house to Della’s sister, Johnny, her husband and two children. Sully says it’s too big for him. And Wayne, Johnny’s husband is an RN. He’s accepted the position as Director of Nurses at the Clinic. And Hal Fenton sure was happy to get him. He can’t get pregnant, no morning sickness, or maternity leave, or wanting to work part time. OOHH! There’s something else I have to tell you. Two more actually. Addie’s parents are separated.”

  “You’re kidding me! They can’t be! Why, she’s expecting!”

  “Honest. I don’t know why, not even a rumor. But he has been seen having dinner with Donnie Whitefield’s mother a few times at the Log House, late on Sunday nights.”

  “Do I know this Donnie Whitefield? Seems like Della mentioned him to me before I left.”

  “He and big Bud Andrews work for Addie building and remodeling houses. All this is their work,” she said pointing to the drawings. Donnie’s mother was in the hospital in Florida from a car accident. Ben took Donnie to pick her up and bring her here. And Addie fixed up a house on South Street for them. I guess they’re just good friends.” Then she pointed out the biggest house of the drawing.

  “This is Della’s house. She’s been moving into it for the past few days. Della’s mother, Maude, lives with her, and her sister Johnny and her family are staying with her until Sully moves out of his house, and they can move in. And Addie lives in this tiny little house here. See, it connects with Della’s house by these two garages. They open from the back. They don’t look like garages from the front, do they? OOHH! I haven’t told you the second thing. Hold onto your hat! Sully is in love!”

  Grant gasped. “Elinor Weston, if you drop one more bomb on me... No! I’ve had all I can take for one morning. I’m going to leave, after you tell me where Sully is.”

  “But you haven’t asked who he is in love with?”

  “All right, Elinor, who? And then I’m leaving!”

  “Della’s mother, Maude Haynes. And, Grant, they knew each other before Sully went away to law school. Even dated the summer he left. And right now, he’s at Della’s house. They’re getting ready for Della’s sister, Henrietta, who is coming home today. She’s been in the hospital in Nashville for knee surgery and a long session of therapy.” Elinor chuckled. “Anytime you want Sully, just find where Maude is.”

  Grant sighed real big. “I hope she’s as pretty as her daughter. And, Elinor, who pays the people who work for Addie?”

  “Why, she does. I understand that Friday is payday. And she pays in cash.”

  “Cash! Cash? I just knew you’d drop one more. What about payroll deductions for such things as income taxes and social security?”

  “I guess she doesn’t know about things like that.”

  Grant hung his head in his hands. Lord! Help me! I gotta get out of here. I may see you again, or I may leave town like our dear mayor did,” he mumbled as he got up and walked out of his office.

  When Grant reached what was once the graveled area off River Road that led to the landing, he found it had been nicely black topped, and the area was buzzing with activity. A tall, slim, gray haired man, Slim Reynolds, a friend of his father’s, and a retired bricklayer, was directing six teenage boys about their work. They were bricking the entrance on both sides of the opening into what once was Baker’s Landing. Grant slowed to a stop. It looked like it was going to be very big and elegant. There were electric wires sticking out of each side to light it up. Slim saw him and was coming over to the car.

  “Grant, boy, I haven’t seen you in ages. I’m so sorry about your dad. There was a piece in the local paper about him. We were pretty good friends at one time, you know.”

  “Yes, I remember, and thanks, Slim. How are you?”

  “Can’t complain. You recall that hot summer your dad and I almost got tee-totally drunk trying to keep cool on beer while we built his bar-be-cue pit?”

  Grant chuckled. “I sure do. What you and dad didn’t know was that I was stealing sips from both your bottles And I didn’t even like the stuff.”

  They both laughed then. “I see you’re building an entrance here. I thought you were retired.”

  “I was, but Sully asked me if I’d teach a class of boys to lay brick...”

  “And stone,” a boy nearby called out.

  “And stone,” Slim added. “They’ve done real good. I’m proud of them. Have you seen the Town Square? The sidewalks are our work. When the city agreed to build the sidewalks, I taught them how.”

  “So the city paid for that? And the cobble stone streets, the flowers, and trees, even the park benches and gas lights?” Grant asked.

  “Sure did. When the mayor skipped town, first thing the council did was check the money situation. And were they surprised? The mayor hadn’t robbed the treasury. The town had more money than anybody thought it had. The first thing they wanted to do was buy the trolley cars, but that little lady, Addie, drives a hard bargain. She’d sell them the trolleys if they’d fix up the square the way she wanted it. Victorian, she said. The town loves it. And the new hotel fits right in with it. You ought to check it out. The first phase is almost completed. The second phase is adding more rooms where the parking lot was in back of the hotel. And the third phase is going to be a three story high, glassed in walk-way from the hotel to a parking garage across the street, where the slums used to be. It’s really going to be something.”

  “I seem to have missed an awful lot. I’m going to have to spend some time getting caught up. It’s good to see you, Slim. I’ve got to get down here and find my law partner, Sully Morgan,”

  Chapter Forty-four

  Ben closed the back door of Lettie Neilson’s new house. He was already tired, and it wasn’t noon yet. Maybe he’d knock off about three. These long six-day weeks were taking a toll on him. He really hadn’t had time to come to the landing today, but he had told Lettie Neilson, last winter, to call him anytime she needed him, and she had. A long handle ice tea spoon had the kitchen sink stopped up. Lettie had insisted on paying him. She had told him all about Addie finding the bag of gold coins. She kept telling him what a wonderful daughter he had, and what a great job he and Della had done bringing her up, and how happy she was to have Addie and Della for neighbors. Not once did she mention the fact that he wasn’t living in that big, pretty, white house. He supposed she knew – having not seen him around.

  He placed his tool box in the bed of his truck and opened the door. He would park under one of those trees across the street and eat his two bologna sandwiches early. Maybe that would give him some energy. The cup of coffee and two stale donuts hadn’t stayed with him very long.

  He parked the truck and opened both doors, hoping a breeze would blow through. It was early October but the days were still hot, even though the nights were cool. He was glad summer was over. As he munched on his first sandwich, he watched the comings and goings that centered around Della’s new house. He had seen no window air conditioners anywhere around it, so it had to have central heat and air. He was glad. He remembered how Della had suffered with the heat when Addie was on the way. But these hot days wouldn’t last much longer. And she had been living at Stonegate, so he was sure she had gotten through the summer’s heat just fine.

  He finished his second sandwich and thermos of ice tea. He had to admit to himself that he missed the good lunches Della used to fix for him. He looked at his watch. Eleven-twenty. He wondered if Denise had caught the eleven-fifteen trolley? It just barely got her to the women’s clinic on Ston
e Road by twelve o’clock. He punched in a number on his cell phone and let it ring until the answering machine picked up. Apparently, she had left for her job. She had still been asleep when he left that morning.

  Things had changed between them after the preacher’s visit a month ago. Nothing had been said by either of them, but they both knew. He had been reading the Sunday paper while she napped. He had assumed that the knock on the door was someone collecting for something. But he was surprised to find the Reverend Kyle Ethridge and two ladies from Community Church on the small front porch. He had been even more surprised to see that one of the ladies was Eve Mobley. He couldn’t believe that she had the nerve to show her face at his house. He had forgotten that Denise was just on the other side of the bedroom door that opened into the living room, when he invited them in.

  When they asked to see Della for a few minutes, he was even more surprised that they didn’t know that she no longer lived there. “Well, uh, Della and her mother go to Nashville on Sunday afternoons to see her sister, Henrietta, who has had some serious knee surgery and is in rehabilitation.”

  “Oh, the Reverend said. “Then perhaps you could give her a message for us.”

  They had made no effort to sit down as he had suggested. Perhaps they would leave now, he hoped, as he remembered Denise.

  “The ladies of the church,” Eve Mobley said, “would like to know if Della would let us give her a gift tea like we do for all our expectant mothers, and brides-to-be?”

  “We realize that you and your family haven’t been attending the church lately, and we understand,” the Reverend said.

  “No, we haven’t,” Ben said, “and, Reverend, I owe you an apology for my behavior the last time you were here.”

  “That’s quite all right, Ben. It’s like I said, we all understand. But Della has been such a faithful and loyal worker in the church. It’s like one of our older ladies said, ‘With the Martin family gone, it’s like a hole in the congregation’. The ladies are busy making things for the baby. Mrs. Lyons, at ninety-two, is making a crib quilt, others are crocheting booties, and sweaters, and caps.”

  “We wouldn’t want Della to feel that we were doing this to get you and your family to return to the church,” Eve Mobley said.

  “We just want to do this for Della,” the other lady said. Ben knew he should know her name, but for the life of him, he couldn’t recall it.

  “If you’d tell Della we stopped by, and ask her to call us, we’d appreciate it,” Reverend Ethridge said.

  “I’ll give her your message,” Ben said hoping they’d take their leave now, and they did. He breathed a huge sigh of relief as he closed the door after them. He leaned against it with that one phrase playing in his head, ‘without the Martins there was a hole in the congregation’.

  Denise stuck her head out the bedroom door. “Is it safe now?”

  He looked at Denise as she slipped out, and for the first time, he realized what a situation he had created for himself. How embarrassing it could have been. How damaging it could be for his work. He hadn’t answered Denise.

  “Are we going to the Log House for supper later on?” she asked.

  A few times they had gone out for supper on Sundays about the time most people were on their way to evening services at their churches. He thought for a few moments. “How about we stay in tonight? If we can’t find anything to put together, I’ll run out to the store.”

  Denise had reluctantly agreed – had taken him by the hand and led him to his recliner, and made herself comfortable in his lap. But a strained period of silence had followed instead of the playful time they usually had on Sunday afternoons.

  The Reverend’s unusual phrase would not leave his mind. It wasn’t long before he realized why. Without Della and Addie there was a hole in his life. A hole that Denise, nor anyone else could fill.

  In the days that followed, he had realized what he had given up for sheer lust, and how much he had hurt the two people he loved most in the world. And his son – his unborn son. Della was having the son he had always longed for. He wondered how he could have even hinted that she might be carrying anyone’s child other than his.

  Della was the most decent person he knew. She kept her promises, her marriage vows. He had allowed suspicion to enter his mind because he was full of guilt himself. And Addie, his daughter. Yes, his daughter. Julian Dane may have made Della pregnant, how was still a mystery to him, but he was Addie’s father. He had walked the floor with her for six months when she had the colic, and getting her days and nights mixed up. He had pulled her baby teeth, and played tooth fairy. He had taught her to ride a bike and drive a car. He was her daddy. She was his daughter, and he had let her down. She had needed him. She had asked for his help, and he had let his foolish pride drive her away from him.

  And Denise. He hadn’t been fair to her. The past few weeks he had neglected her, using work, and more work as an excuse. The new apartment building he had taken on when he wasn’t quite through with Miss Penny’s was too much. He was now faced with getting them both up to rental condition in order to meet the bank notes on them. But working twelve and fourteen hour days had left him falling into bed right after supper each night. And that wasn’t fair to Denise. But what could he do? What was he going to do? He didn’t know, but it was time he found out. He shut the truck’s doors, started the motor, and headed for home. He had to get some rest, so he could think logically.

  Chapter Forty-five

  Grant drove through the bricked entrance of Victoria Park slowly. The landing had always reminded him of a ghost town, but no more. The place was crawling with activity on both sides of the newly black topped street. He supposed the cobblestone was waiting for the finishing of the houses that were in different stages of being built. The first lot on his left, where there had been a tumbling down house, now sported a new, two story house in its finishing stages. A sign in the yard read, ‘Future home of Dr. Joel Jenkins and Family’. The Simmons’ house next to it, now the Neilson house, had a new front porch big enough for a swing, or some chairs and a small table. He drove on until the big house came into plain view. No longer a simple wood structure, it was now a glistening white clapboard, very different, and very beautiful. It was unbelievable, the transformation that had taken place. The porch ran within a few feet of each side of the house and was supported by six big, square, fluted columns with white railings between them and down the steps to the ground. A short, matching railing ran across the roof in front of the three dormers and slanted into the hip of the roof on each side. Large, brass, coach lanterns flanked the three sets of French doors. They were turned on. Maybe because this was a special day. Della’s sister, Henrietta, was coming home, Elinor had said. Even the low shrubs were perfect, setting off the white, brick foundation.

  The center French doors, flanked by tall, potted evergreens, stood open. He got out and walked up the brick sidewalk to the few steps of the porch. He was thinking the place deserved to be called a park if all the houses were going to be as attractive as the three he had seen. Victoria Park. He wondered whose idea it was? Surely not sixteen year old Addie’s. Well, Sully may not have found out whose advice Addie was following, but he certainly would.

  He looked over at the twenty or so feet of garage space between this house and the little one that Elinor said was Addie’s. It was all painted the same white. And the door of the little house was flanked by small, brass, coach lanterns. He had always thought the little house unique. Its bay windows with the white railing that seemed to be protecting the tiny recessed front porch and its glass door, matched the one on the second floor. It had to be the smallest house anyone had ever built, but it now seemed all a part of the big house. The brick walk of Della’s house branched off, running in front of the garages and their shrubs, to connect with the brick walk from the street to the porch of the little house. All this was Addie and Della’s home, and he wanted to see it inside.

  Voices from the inside reached him, one most
familiar. Sully Morgan appeared at the foot of a handsome stairway. “Hurry up, Maude. They’ll be here any minute.”

  “I’m coming,” a low, soft, feminine voice was heard before its owner appeared holding the hand of a small boy, who was grabbing each spindle as he made it one step at a time down the stairs. “Not so loud,” she said, “Johnny is putting the baby down for its nap in Della’s beautiful nursery.” Grant had walked up the porch steps, and there she was.

  She looked so much like Della – same honey, blond hair. He couldn’t tell the color of her eyes, but her face resembled Della’s, her build, just right for a woman her age, and she seemed to have on very little make-up. She was lovely. He envied Sully having found a woman like this to fall in love with. As she reached within three stairs of the bottom, Sully took her hand.

  A tall, well, built young man and big Bud Andrews walked up to Sully. So that must be Donnie Whitefield, he thought. “We’re ready to leave,” he said. “Are you riding back with us?”

  “But they’ll be here any minute now,” Sully protested.

  “Yeah. But I have to see some guys, who are doing some work for me at the house, before they leave.”

  “I’ll get a ride back or take the trolley,” Sully said.

  “If you’re sure then. Bud and I are taking off for the day. Wylene has a wedding, and Bud promised to help with the reception.”

  “I don’t understand,” Sully said, as the two left for the back of the house, “Addie sighs for that young man, and he seems to find every excuse he can to avoid her.”

  “I know,” Maude said.

  Then Sully saw Grant standing at the open door. “Grant!” he exclaimed, rushing toward him. “It’s so good to have you home,” he said grabbing Grant in a big hug.

  “Thanks, Sully. It’s good to see you.” He wished he could say it was good to be home.