The Pink Bonnet

by Tolsma, Liz;

  Gladys would never reach her in time to retrieve her and get her home before Willard finished in the barn. She grabbed the keys to the Chevy truck from the hook by the back door and headed for the shed where Willard stored it. After a few cranks, the motor turned over, and she puttered her way in Fanny’s direction. About five minutes later, she pulled over beside the child and set the parking brake. “Fanny Knowles, you get your behind in this car right this minute.”

  The round-faced girl gazed at her through tear-stained lashes. “No. I wanna go home.”

  “Well, that’s where I aim to take you.”

  “Not there. I want my momma.” Her cascade of tears cut ditches through the dirt on her face.

  “This is your home. I’m your momma. You got no other momma. She didn’t want you.”

  “No! No!” Fanny stomped her feet then fell into a sobbing heap on the ground.

  Leaving the truck idling on the side of the road, Gladys went to her daughter and gathered her into her arms. “Oh Fanny, my Fanny.” She stroked the girl’s silken hair. How much heartache had she seen? But how could she love a mother who neglected her so? Her life here might not be easy, but at least she had someone to watch over her and plenty of food in her belly. “How were you gonna get home?”

  “I dunno.”

  “It’s much too far for you to walk. And your momma won’t even be there. She don’t miss you. I’m sorry about that. But I’d miss you if you left me. So will you come home and stay with me?”

  With those green eyes that melted Gladys’s heart every time, Fanny stared at her. “I don’t wanna.”

  “Come on.” At least the child still weighed next to nothing, making it possible for Gladys to scoop her up and carry her to the waiting vehicle. How was it possible for a six-year-old to be so small?

  Fanny fought her with everything she had. Gladys thumped her in the backseat and turned the car for home.

  “No! No! I want my momma. Please, please, I want my momma.”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  By the time Cecile and the three women arrived at Angel House, where Percy and Cecile had searched for Millie, Cecile’s stomach had wound itself into knots. She closed her eyes. If only she could be anywhere else on earth besides here.

  Too much misery.

  Too much suffering.

  Too much horror.

  A chill wind blew through her threadbare brown coat, and she drew it closer. They’d come here because it was certain Miss Tann would never admit them to her office. On the outside chance she did, she’d never volunteer any information.

  Cecile opened her eyes and stared at the three-story brick Georgian home. So innocuous on the outside. No clue from here about the secrets on the inside.

  She risked returning, not for Millie but for the three ladies next to her, each of whom was missing a child. And for the countless other women who had lost children to Georgia Tann.

  Cecile drew in a deep breath and swallowed hard. As the four women made their way up the walk to the front door, her palms sweated. She braced herself for the sights and sounds and smells she would encounter.

  She turned to the others. “This isn’t going to be a pleasant experience. Conditions inside are deplorable. I want you to be prepared. Are you ready?”

  Virginia’s mother nodded, her face jiggling. “I’ll endure whatever I have to if I can just bring my daughter home.”

  Cecile rang the bell.

  When the nurse who opened the door saw the group on the step, she widened her gray eyes. “Can I help you?”

  “Please, ma’am. You care about people, otherwise you wouldn’t be a nurse. And you want to do right. I have reason to believe these women’s children were brought here last night. Please, if we can just have a look around and take them home, that’s all we’re asking.”

  “Absolutely not.” From the scowl on her already dour face, it was doubtful she truly wanted to do what was right. She moved to close the door.

  Cecile stuck her foot on the threshold. Pain shot through it when the nurse attempted to squeeze the door shut. She couldn’t allow her to cut them off. “Aren’t you a mother? Can’t you understand?”

  “No, I’m not a mother, and I don’t ever care to be. These children are nothing but trouble.”

  “Then let us take a few of them off your hands. It will make less work for you. Wouldn’t that be nice?”

  “And what would Miss Tann have to say?”

  Why did it always, always have to circle around to that woman? If a few more people in this city stood up to her and Judge Kelley and Crump, none of this would be happening. Mothers would be holding their little ones close, telling them silly stories and singing them sweet lullabies. Children would be sleeping in their own beds tonight, dreaming peaceful dreams and growing up happy and secure.

  “If nothing else, let me inside, just me alone. Let me search for the girls.”

  “I’m telling you, no one is to be allowed inside. Not any of you. Their children aren’t here. We didn’t get any new admissions last night. That’s the honest truth. If you know what’s good for you, you’ll leave. Right now.”

  Cecile strained and shoved the door wider. “We aren’t going anywhere until at least one of us is admitted to check for ourselves. If, as you say, you don’t have the girls, you have nothing to fear.”

  Faith’s mother whispered. “Good for you.”

  “None of you are getting into this house.” The deep voice came from behind Cecile and sent every hair on her arms standing straight.

  Miss Tann.

  Cecile spun around.

  The large woman narrowed her blue eyes. “And all of you have something to fear.”

  Percy pulled his Packard to a screeching halt in front of Angel House. From the sound of Cecile’s voice over the phone, there was no doubt something was wrong. Why was she even here? He bounded from the car, up the walk, and to the door. The half-opened door. Without stepping inside, he leaned in and studied the scene. Tann held Cecile and three other women in a corner of the room, her pistol pointed at them.

  He was walking into a trap. But he couldn’t turn his back on Cecile and the other ladies. Before Tann realized he was here, he had to formulate a plan to disarm her.

  “Nice that you could join us, Mr. Vance.” The uniformed chauffeur pushed Percy through the doorway. He spun around and fisted his hand, but before he could raise his arm for the punch, the click of a pistol being cocked sounded in his ear. The hard, unforgiving metal of the barrel pressed into his temple.

  “Welcome, Mr. Vance.”

  At the sound of Miss Tann’s voice, Percy went cold all over.

  He shuffled into the living room, the dark wainscoting and dark brown floors sucking the light from the room. The women huddled together in the corner to the side of the brick fireplace. The heaviest of the ladies whimpered.

  “Now I have you just where I want you.” Tann circled the room like an eagle eyeing its prey.

  “And what do you plan to do with us?” Though Percy’s pulse pounded in his ears, he kept his voice unwavering. No need in frightening the women more.

  Tann tapped her whiskered chin. “I haven’t rightly decided. Perhaps I should make you disappear as I did with the children.”

  “Please,” the small, dark-haired woman squeaked from the corner. “Just tell us where our children are. We’ll never say anything to anyone about you. I beg you.”

  Tann gave a single guffaw. “Begging. Nice touch. But it doesn’t sway me.”

  He needed a plan, a way to at least get the women out of here. If they banded together, they could overpower her. The problem was the firearm. With just a few shots, they would all be eliminated.

  Cecile stepped forward from the clutch of women. She directed her venom on Tann. “I know you have my daughter. I’ve been here before, and one of the little girls here told me about Millie. She told me Millie was going to Memphis. You have to tell me where she is. How cruel can you be? To know she’s so close and I
just can’t get to her … it’s torture.”

  Memphis. At the sound of that word, Percy’s world came to a sudden stop. A fog enveloped him. He couldn’t breathe. Sweat bathed him. His heart throbbed.

  “I demand to know where she is.”

  Cecile’s words cut through Percy’s haze. The room spun and tilted.

  “You’re in no position to be making demands. You will never, ever see your daughter again.” Tann’s gaze swept the room. “None of you will. I would rather see them dead than returned to you.”

  The walls closed in. Percy couldn’t breathe. He loosened his tie and licked the sweat from his upper lip. He held up his hands. “Listen, no one wants a confrontation. Just let us go, and we won’t say a word to anyone.”

  “That’s not going to happen.” Miss Tann nodded at her chauffeur. “You know what to do.” She looked at each one in the room. “Good riddance.” As she headed out, three towheaded boys raced into the living room, followed by their huffing and puffing nurse.

  “What are these hooligans doing in here?” Miss Tann’s face turned tomato-red.

  “The rascals got away.”

  Whooping like Indians, they darted around the room, over the furniture, and tackled Miss Tann. She wobbled and dropped her pistol to the ground.

  “Is that a real gun?” One of the boys bent over it.

  “Now!” Percy screamed. He grabbed Cecile by the hand. She grasped one of the other women, and the five of them dashed for the door.

  “Get back here! Stop them!”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Percy and the four women raced down the walk from Angel’s Home. Behind them, Tann screamed. Two shots fired. On and on they raced, not slowing until they had gone several blocks and turned the corner. Tann’s shouts faded. Percy’s lungs burned.

  Cecile tugged on him. “Stop. I can’t …”

  He pulled to a halt, the women accordioning behind him. “I think we’re safe. I never did see the Cadillac come after us.”

  Cecile’s hand trembled. “I don’t feel safe. Look, here’s a café. Why don’t we get some tea and rest? Think about what we’re going to do next.”

  The other women agreed with her plan. This way, they were off the street and out of sight of Miss Tann and her uniformed guard. No telling when they might come cruising down the road. They entered the small restaurant. Cecile and Percy occupied one table in the back, the other mothers at a different one nearby. They sat away from the glass windows and near the kitchen door in case they needed to make a quick escape.

  “You gave me a scare. What happened?”

  “I know where Millie is.”

  She gasped. “You know?”

  “Yes.”

  “For how long?”

  “I just figured it out now.”

  She furrowed her brows.

  He blew out a huge breath and sipped his tea. “I grew up in Walls, Mississippi. Just a dot on the map right next door to Memphis … Mississippi.”

  “There’s a Memphis in Mississippi?”

  Would he ever forget that town? Or that day?

  A blaring hot sun had beaten down on him, searing him. At eight years old, he’d had enough. Enough of the belittling. Enough of the darkness. Enough of the beatings. He was going to do something about it.

  He wasn’t big enough to fight his pa. All his ma did was cry ’cause she got beaten too. And Tenny. His big sister could never fight again. Pa had robbed him of her forever. That left him with one other choice. He was going to run away from home.

  On that sweltering hot summer day, under the big Mississippi sun, he set off down the dirt road toward freedom. The loose soles of his shoes beat a steady rhythm on the hard-packed ground.

  Memphis wasn’t that far from Walls. Pa went there to drink all the time. If he could walk there, so could Percy. The coins he stole from Pa’s sock drawer, the money Pa kept for his liquor, jangled in Percy’s pocket. It had to be enough to see him through until he got a job. After all, he was a man. Ready to take on the world and leave behind the life he despised. The people he feared. The nightmares he dreaded.

  Memphis was a big city, at least that’s what he’d learned in school. There were lots of tall buildings and trolleys that ran on tracks in the streets. Crowds were everywhere. They even had a zoo. Maybe once he got himself settled, he’d visit and see the exotic animals.

  After a while, his toughened feet ached. His parched tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth. Yet he persevered. Nothing was going to stop him from getting to Memphis. Maybe Pa got there faster cause his legs were longer, but Percy would make it sooner or later.

  He trudged on. Heat shimmered from the road, and cicadas chirped in the cotton fields. A group of sharecroppers sang a rousing spiritual as he passed one farm. How much farther could it be?

  A little group of houses appeared on the horizon. Yes, now he was getting somewhere. Memphis must be close. Though sweat dampened every piece of clothing he wore, he picked up his pace. He was almost free.

  But the little bunch of homes was just that. No big city. No tall buildings loomed on the horizon. So where was Memphis?

  A shrunken old man rocked on his porch, whittling a piece of wood. “You lost, boy?”

  “Yes, sir. I’m lookin’ for Memphis. Gonna make my way in the world there. But I don’t rightly know where it is. My pa walks there and back all the time, so maybe I went the wrong way.”

  “You Ike Vance’s boy?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Well, you done found Memphis.”

  Percy pivoted on one foot. “This ain’t Memphis. My teacher told me it was a big city with lots of tall buildings and automobiles. I don’t see none of that here.”

  “This is Memphis, Mississippi, not Memphis, Tennessee. You can’t walk all the way there. It’s too far for anyone to walk, even your pa.”

  Like a cornstalk in a drought, Percy drooped. And when he turned around, there had come Pa swinging a willow switch.

  “Percy?” Cecile touched his hand, drawing him to the present. “Are you okay?”

  He nodded and gulped. “Yes. Memphis, Mississippi, has a population of less than a hundred. Just a few houses at a crossroads. A nothing place. No one outside of the area would know of its existence.”

  “What about that place upsets you?”

  He gave a couple of small shakes of his head, more of a shiver, and worked to unclench his hand. He couldn’t talk about it. Ever. “Nothing.”

  She rubbed his forearm as he fiddled with the handle of his teacup, warm against his cold flesh. She leaned closer. “You can tell me anything. You know all about me, but I don’t know much about you. Whatever you say won’t go further than this table.”

  “I did not have a happy childhood. Can we leave it at that?” He worked to block out Tenny’s cries the day Pa snuffed the life out of her because she had tried to save Percy.

  “I’m sorry. I can’t imagine. Mine was idyllic. At least until Nathaniel came into my life. Then my parents warned me he would never amount to anything and turned their backs on me. On us. Every child deserves a youth like I had, a good life.”

  “I would have loved to have been adopted. If Tann came and took me away from my parents, I would have been the happiest child in the world.”

  “So that’s why, when I first met you, you believed she was doing good for every one of those children.”

  “And she could, if she handled her business aboveboard. There’s a right way to go about helping hurting, innocent little ones, and there’s a wrong way. Obviously, she’s chosen the wrong way.

  “I grew up with nothing. Nothing materially, nothing emotionally. I swore my life would be different.”

  “You’ve lost all you’ve worked so hard for.”

  “I’ve had to put my house up for sale before I lose it to foreclosure. Not that there are many buyers.”

  “Helping me has cost you everything.”

  He nodded.

  “How you must blame me for yanking aw
ay the security you had managed to build.”

  How could he blame her, when he’d been the one to turn a blind eye to Tann’s schemes? “But my life was built on sand. Sure to collapse.” He grimaced. The reality of it stung.

  He shook himself, pulled a few coins from his pocket, and slapped them on the table. “What are we wasting our time sitting here for? Let’s tell the other women you and I are going to get your daughter.”

  “Those are the most beautiful words ever.” She pecked him on the cheek.

  He could only pray it would be as easy as he made it sound.

  R.D. pushed the papers around his desk and rubbed his throbbing temple, still smarting from the accident. Even though he and Darcy had the assurance that Pearl wasn’t Mrs. Dowd’s daughter, neither of them could sleep. Any moment, R.D. expected Tann or one of her underlings to appear at his home and wrench Pearl from them. If only these headaches would stop. If only he could close his eyes for a few moments of rest. If only he had the assurance his family was safe.

  “Griggs!” A wild pounding sounded at his counter. Vance!

  The pain behind his eyes intensified. What could the man want? He’d promised to leave them alone.

  Vance continued to pound. You had to give the man credit for his persistence. “What?”

  “Do you remember any adoptions to Memphis, Mississippi? Any at all in the past two months?”

  Strange, but he did. Several recent adoptions went through his home area. His and Vance’s home area. He gave a slow nod.

  “Names. Do you remember any of the names?”

  He squeezed his eyes shut, but no matter how hard he thought, he couldn’t recall a single name. He shook his head.

  “But aren’t you still familiar with the area?”

  “What is this about?”

  “I have reason to believe Millie Dowd is in Memphis, Mississippi. I left so long ago, I don’t know anyone there anymore.” Vance bit his lower lip. “But if you go back more often, you might have connections. People there wouldn’t be willing to give up information to Ike Vance’s kid, but they might be willing to open up to you.”