Blood Sisters

by Melody Carlson

Ellen chuckled. “Yes, it must make me seem ancient. But I was just a little girl back then, and it was during the Depression, and I suspect Great-Granddaddy was trying to impart some sort of his age-old wisdom onto me. He died not much after that.”

  “And did Burt’s family own a plantation too?”

  “Oh, heavens, no. The Morrisons were sharecroppers who lived in a tumbledown shanty on the wrong side of the tracks. Goodness knows, there were colored folks doing better than the Morrison family back in those days. Why, my daddy threw an absolute fit when I started dating Burt in high school.”

  “I had no idea. Was it because he was poor?”

  “Well, partially.”

  “But you saw him anyway?”

  Ellen took a bite and nodded. “Oh yes, and it was something scandalous. But there was just something about Burt. Why, he was so tall and handsome, and with that curly blond hair and those beautiful blue eyes. And despite his impoverished upbringing, he was the smartest boy in the class, and athletic too. And I knew how his daddy was a mean ol’ cuss; why, everyone in town knew that, but then I suppose that endeared me to Burt all the more. Despite what my daddy said, I just knew that Burt Morrison was going to make something of himself someday.”

  “So what did your parents do when you wanted to marry Burt?”

  “Well, fortunately for us the war came on, and all the boys went off to fight for Uncle Sam. But I promised Burt that if he made it back safe and sound, I would marry him. He still says that’s the only thing that kept him alive over in the Pacific.”

  “And so you were married after the war?”

  “Well, not quite. You see, despite Burt’s handsome uniform and earning some mighty pretty medals, my daddy was still not convinced anything good could come from the Morrison clan. So he and Burt had themselves a nice, long chat, and Burt agreed that if we could get engaged, he’d go off to college on the GI bill.”

  “So you were married after he finished college?”

  “Not exactly. It’s not that Burt wasn’t smart enough, because he was. But he just didn’t agree with a lot of things they were teaching him up at that college. And so, after a couple years he quit and got himself a job at the lumber mill. He worked real hard there, starting with the lowliest job of sweeping up—I still remember how much he hated it. Why, there were coloreds with better paying jobs than him. It was real hard on him, especially after the way he’d grown up with nothing, and being looked down upon by everybody. I felt terribly sorry for him, and that’s when I stood up to my daddy and told him I was going to marry Burt no matter what my family thought.”

  “And did your father agree?”

  She shook her head with a puckered mouth. “Not at all! Mother and Daddy never did come around to accepting my marriage. I think from the beginning they were just poisoned against the Morrisons altogether. Why, even when Burt worked his way up to a really good supervisory position at the mill, it still wasn’t good enough for my daddy. I hate to admit it, but I think my family were just a bunch of social snobs. My brother was a doctor, and my sister married a lawyer who later became a congressman. And I guess in their eyes, Burt and me were just a couple of ne’er-do-well hicks.”

  “That’s too bad. I remember Jasmine saying that she didn’t have any grandparents, and I always thought that was kind of strange, because even though I didn’t have a dad, I did have grandparents.”

  “Yes, I suppose that was another reason it was easy to leave our home in Mississippi.”

  “But then you went back?” Judith refilled Ellen’s glass.

  “Yes, things hadn’t worked out here quite the way Burt had intended. He needed to go back down South to get some things together. He thought it was just going to be for a year or two, but it was about six years before we could return.”

  “Was that when he began organizing the club at the lake?”

  She nodded. “Yes, he needed more members to buy into his plan. He had to do some campaigning and whatnot. And as it turned out, the late sixties and early seventies were a good time to introduce people to his ideas. A lot of people were getting fed up with the way things were going in Mississippi around then.”

  “So a lot of people moved out here then?”

  “Oh my, yes. We had about a hundred families back then. But our numbers have dwindled a little over the years.” She pushed her empty plate aside. “I’m not sure why that is. Burt says it’s because we need young blood. Too many people got old. Their children moved on. Oh, I don’t know...”

  Judith sensed it was time to change the subject. “Well, I think the story of how you and Burt got together is pretty romantic, Ellen. Thanks for sharing it with me.” She rose and began to clear the table. “I have some orange sherbet,

  if you’d like, for dessert. And I could make us a pot of tea, if that doesn’t sound too warm.”

  “No, that sounds heavenly, dear.”

  Judith put on the teakettle. “All this talk about romance makes me curious about Jasmine’s marriage to Hal. I think he said they’d been married just about a year.”

  “That’s right.”

  Judith dished some sherbet into a pair of delicate dishes and set them on the tray just as the kettle began to whistle. “Had Jasmine ever been married before?”

  Judith watched from the corner of her eye as Ellen pressed her lips tightly together as if considering whether or not to answer. “You may as well know, Judith, that Jasmine did not lead a very happy life.”

  Judith set the tray containing tea and dessert on the table. “I had suspected as much.” She poured their tea. “But I just don’t understand why, Ellen. I mean, Jasmine was always such a happy girl. She was so creative and motivated, and—well, it just made no sense to me that she would take her own life.”

  Ellen nodded. “I know how you feel, but Jasmine had changed. She wasn’t the girl you or I remembered.” She looked up with misty eyes. “Not like you, Judith. You’ve grown up to be a fine woman. Why, I’m sure your mother must be very proud of you.”

  Judith reached across the table and squeezed Ellen’s hand. “I’m sure you were proud of Jasmine too, in your own way.”

  She took a sip of tea. “Perhaps, in my own way, maybe.. .”

  “So, Jasmine never married before? Never had children? What had she been doing all those years?”

  “I don’t really know, dear. She ran off just as soon as she got out of high school. She had gotten terribly rebellious and disrespectful to both her daddy and me. Of course, a lot of the kids were acting like that in the seventies. We

  were just getting ready to move back here to Oregon when we lost touch with her completely. Oh, believe me, Burt tried and tried to track her down. But she clearly didn’t want to be found. Burt said it was probably because she was making such a mess of her life and because she was too embarrassed to show her face to us.”

  “How sad. But at least you still had Constance.”

  “Not for long, it turned out. Of course, Constance had moved out here with us since she was still in school back then. But just as soon as she graduated, she did the exact same thing as her sister. Just took off, following right in Jasmine’s footsteps.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry. That must’ve been so hard on you.”

  “Yes, in many ways, it seemed both my daughters had already been dead and buried for a long time before this.”

  “And they never got in touch with you? Not during all those years?”

  “Well, every once in a great long while, I’d hear word from Constance. Naturally, it was always for money. And I’d usually give in without admitting as much to Burt, and then for a short while I’d hear from her off and on. And then, after that, nothing at all.

  “Then the last time she called, Burt put his foot down and told her no. Well, she just begged and begged, but Burt wouldn’t budge. Then she told him she knew where Jasmine was, and she offered to give us information about her sister if Burt would just send her money—a lot of money, as it turned out. Well, Burt was torn
about it, but I wanted to know how Jasmine was doing, so I begged him to send Constance the money. By then we suspected that Constance had a drug problem, and to be honest we didn’t have much hope for her. But to think I had the chance to find out where Jasmine was—to know that she was alive and doing okay—well, that was worth a lot to me. I suppose, to be perfectly honest, and no mother likes to admit such things,

  I suppose I always did favor Jasmine just a little. Anyway, I pleaded with Burt and finally he decided to make a deal with Constance.”

  “And that’s when you were reunited with Jasmine?”

  “Yes. Burt went up to meet Constance somewhere in the Seattle area. He wanted to arrange a meeting with Jasmine. He wound up staying up there for a whole month. And then when he came home, he had Jasmine with him! Why, I was so excited, I could hardly stand it. But, oh my, how she had changed. I suspect she may have been using drugs too, although she swore up and down that she never had. But she was so hard and cold and bitter and upset. And she was all jittery and nervous all the time. Why, she’d jump at the slightest little thing. And she and her daddy, well, they just didn’t get along at all! I finally just tried to keep them away from each other altogether. Jasmine only stayed with us for about a month. Burt had introduced her to Hal Emery, and well, the next thing I knew, she had actually agreed to marry Hal. Now, I know this doesn’t sound very nice, but I was just totally taken back that she actually wanted to marry him. I mean, Hal of all people. Not that he’s not a good person, mind you; Burt thinks the world of Hal. But it just made no sense to me. Just the same she married him. Burt went by himself with the two of them down to Reno. I couldn’t go because I was having some health problems at the time, but I felt hopeful that maybe, after all those lost years, just maybe we’d actually be a family again. And despite Jasmine’s age, I even had hopes of becoming a grandmother.” She shook her head. “Silly of me, I know.”

  “Not so silly. These days lots of women start their families after forty.”

  “Yes, I suppose. But I should’ve known by that pitiful look in Jasmine’s eyes, by the way she acted so unhappy all the time, I should’ve known that something was wrong. Terribly wrong. And I guess I blame myself for what happened to her. I should’ve been a better mother to her. I should’ve known she was troubled in her heart. A mother ought to know these things—” And then she began to sob.

  Judith went for a box of tissues. She then sat right next to Ellen and put her arm around her shoulders. “You can’t blame yourself, Ellen. It’s not your fault. Jasmine was a grown woman. She made her own choices.”

  Ellen blew her nose. “But I should’ve known something was wrong.”

  She patted her back. “Even if you had known, what could you have done differently?”

  “I don’t know...” She blotted her eyes. “I just don’t know.”

  Judith cleared the table. “I’m sorry for bringing up such a hard subject, Ellen. I didn’t realize that so much had gone on.”

  “Of course you didn’t, dear. And you have every right to know. You were Jasmine’s best friend. I remember how she cried and cried for you when we went back to Mississippi, saying she’d never have a friend half as good as you. And, as it turned out, she didn’t. In fact, there were a number of times when I encouraged her to go see your Aunt Polly.”

  “Actually, she’s my cousin.”

  “That’s right. But I told Jasmine to go in and see her and see if she could put her in touch with you. I thought it would cheer her up. But to my knowledge, she never did. It’s as if she were already dead, Judith. Dead and in her grave. I just don’t understand it at all. Why would a beautiful young woman like that just give up on her life? Why would she go off and kill herself?”

  “I don’t know.” A large lump filled her throat and tears gathered in her eyes. Well, maybe she did know something about giving up, but then again her own situation was completely different from Jasmine’s. She had lost everything— whereas Jasmine had simply thrown it all away. Jolted back to the present by the ringing doorbell, Judith looked up to the clock. “Oh, dear.” she said as she stood. “It’s already two. And now Burt is going to find us in here all weepy and red-eyed, after I promised to take good care of you.” Ellen rose quickly to her feet. “Nonsense, Judith, you did take good care of me.” She linked her arm with Judith’s as they walked toward the front door. “And the truth is, dear, I feel much, much better now. I think I just needed to say all those things out loud. Thank you so much. You were a good listener to a mother’s broken heart.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  “OH, DADDY,” SAID ELLEN in a babyish voice as Judith opened the door. “You’re just too prompt. Why, Judith and I were having the best little talk just now, and I hate to go so soon.”

  Judith smiled, her arm still entwined with Ellen’s. “That’s right. We were hoping you’d be late.”

  He looked at his watch and frowned. “Sorry, ladies. But I have to be back at the lake before three.”

  “Oh, I forgot all about that silly registration today.” said Ellen as she hurried over to get her purse.

  “Registration?” asked Judith, hoping not to sound overly curious.

  “Oh, it’s nothing,” said Burt. “Just some visitors for the holiday weekend. But I need to be on hand to help out.”

  “Yes, Burt’s got all kinds of meetings going on this weekend and into the Fourth, and I’ll be off by myself, all alone by my little lonesome.” Ellen looked longingly at Judith. “Oh, I just wish I could take you home with me, dear.” Then suddenly she turned to Burt. “And why not, Daddy? Why can’t I just take her home with me?”

  Judith held up her hands. “Oh no, Ellen, I wouldn’t want to impose—”

  “Nonsense, it would be wonderful!” Ellen’s eyes lit up as she grabbed Burt’s hand. “Oh, Daddy, couldn’t Judith come home and spend the weekend with me—”

  “I’m sure she has other plans,” said Burt coolly, tossing a sharp warning glance towards his wife.

  “You don’t have plans, do you, Judith?” asked Ellen with the eagerness of a small child. “Wouldn’t you like to come out to the lake and stay with me for a few days? Oh, it’s real pretty out there right now. I’ll bet you haven’t seen it since you were a kid.”

  Judith smiled. “You’re right. But I really don’t want to intrude. And it sounds like Burt’s got a lot going on right now. I’d hate to get in the way.”

  Burt pressed his lips together and looked back and forth between the two women. “Well, I know that Ellen would appreciate the company. She never likes going to the meetings anyway.” He studied Judith carefully, his blue eyes piercing and calculating, as if trying to determine her motives. “Are you certain that you really want to come out there, Judith?”

  She shrugged slightly. “Well, I guess so. I mean, it’s been so great getting reacquainted with both of you. And to be perfectly honest, I have been a little lonely lately, not really knowing anyone in town. You two are the closest thing to family for me right now.” She smiled with lifted brows.

  “Oh, that just settles it!” exclaimed Ellen as she looked at her watch. “Now you run and pack your bags, dear. Burt can wait a few minutes. It only takes ten minutes to get to the lake, and it’s just barely after two now.”

  Judith looked at Burt, hoping to appear sincere and caring. “Are you sure this is okay with you, Burt?”

  He nodded, but his brow remained furrowed. “Yeah, sure. Just go and get your things. And hurry it up.”

  “And don’t forget to bring your swimsuit,” called Ellen. “I’m sure you’ll want to take a dip if it gets as hot as the weatherman’s predicting.”

  She quickly filled her suitcase, remembering to put in the little extras that Ellen might appreciate. But just as she zipped it closed, she remembered Adam and how he’d insisted she must be wired before going out to the lake. But to put the brakes on at this stage might stir suspicion, especially with Burt. And it was such a victory to win him over like this. Besid
es, she was curious about these meetings that would be going on out there during the next few days. This could be her best chance to learn something important. She tucked her cell phone into her purse. She’d just give Adam a call once she was out there and let him know what was up.

  “Ready to go,” she announced.

  “My, you really are fast,” said Ellen.

  Burt reached for her bag. “Yes, it would take Ellen at least half a day to pack, spur of the moment, like this.”

  “Oh, not that long, Daddy.” Ellen laughed as she linked her arm into Judith’s again. “We’re going to have such fun!”

  “I’ll have to explain a few things as we drive, Judith,” said Burt as he waited for her to lock the front door. “I’m sure you may have guessed that there are reasons that we keep the lake a private club. And, naturally, we have a few rules you’ll need to be aware of.”

  “Of course,” said Judith. “That seems only right.”

  She watched as he placed her suitcase into the immaculate trunk of his car. She noticed a well-packed box in one corner containing what appeared to be some emergency supplies, and then a long padded case that she guessed contained a firearm of some sort. “Have you been hunting lately?” she asked with what she hoped seemed innocent interest.

  “Nah, I just like to be prepared for any emergencies. You never know what you might run into when you’re out in the wild.”

  “You drive this pretty car around in the wild?”

  “Oh no,” said Ellen. “Daddy has a nice four-wheel-drive pickup that he uses to go hunting and out into the woods. But sometimes we have to drive places where it feels a little unsafe. And Daddy just likes to keep us nice and secure.”

  “That sounds sensible.” Judith climbed into the leather upholstered backseat. “This is a beautiful car, Burt. I think you must be right about buying American.”

  “You better believe it.” He turned on the ignition. “We gotta stay loyal to our country even if it is being run by a bunch of idiots.”

  She laughed, remembering some of the rhetoric she’d read in Adam’s notes about fierce patriotism mixed with an almost paranoid distrust of government. If she were smart, she could play right into his hand. “I know just what you mean, Burt. Sometimes I consider how our country was founded, and I shudder to think what our forefathers would say if they were alive to see what’s going on these days.”