Thibadeau The Pirate

Thibadeau The Pirate

happyhugo

Historical, romance

copyright (C) 3/20/09

32,611 Words

A Brattleboro, Vt Tale 

Readers score  8.11

A romance based in Vermont. A crime uncovered
from the past. Some history going back 210 years.
Love between rich woman and man just getting
started. Some drama

Chapter One

“Hello. Jason speaking.”

“It’s me, Mom. How are you son?”

“Fine, and you?”

“I’m great. I have some news for you. Your great-aunt Nellie passed away a week ago. I went to her funeral yesterday and the burial was in Springfield.”

“I remember her. She was old. I’m not surprised she died.”

“I know. She did live a long life. Anyway, I met with her attorney this morning. She deeded me the house on Canal Street, but I think she wanted you to have it. She set things up so if I refuse it, it automatically comes to you. She was just going through the motions because I have looked after her some. She never cared for cousin Burt so he is out of it. The place looks in terrible shape. I don’t know where I’d find the money to fix it up. I don’t even know if the taxes are paid on it or not. You wouldn’t want to take it off my hands would you?”

“I don’t know Mom. I’ll have to look at it. I am moving back to town in a couple of weeks. The house is that spooky old Federal with the pale green door isn’t it?”

“Yes. You went there with me once years ago when you were about twelve.”

“I remember. I expected to see a ghost come floating down the stairs all the while I was there. Aunt Nellie always dressed in black and she looked like a witch.”

“I know son, but that is because her husband ran off some sixty years ago and she said she might as well have died, it hurt her so. After seven years she had him declared dead and he might well have been. Since that time she has worn widow’s weeds.”

“What are widow’s weeds?” The expression struck me funny and I started to laugh.

“You know, what she had on.”

“I guess, but she still looked like a witch to me.”

“You’d better be careful, you’re the one that is going to clean out her house including the witches and ghosts that live there.”

“Okay, Mom. I am interested. I’ll come up a week early and I will go through the house with you.”

I did remember my great-aunt. I had only been in the house once ten or twelve years ago, and I was pulling my mother’s leg a little. Aunt Nellie was ancient, but I often saw her on the street moving along slowly with a cane. I always spoke and addressed her as Aunt. This seemed to please the old lady and that may have been the reason Mom ended up with the property. My cousin Burt had never been back to town that I could remember. Mom sent him a Christmas card every year and she sometimes received one in return, but that is about the only connection we had with him.

I was coming back to town hoping to work as an appraiser for different mortgage companies and some of the banks in the area. I also did house inspections and title searches for clients who were buying property. The job, although it entailed a lot of paperwork, would let me out of the office and I would not be stuck at a desk all the time. I could set my own schedule and planned to get in a little fishing, which was my passion.

I needed a distraction too. I had been dating a woman, Katie, who was a couple of years older than me, and I finally found the courage to ask her to marry me. What I thought would be a quick answer to my proposal took the better part of a week and then it was a negative. Hurt some, but after I did some crying on her best friend’s shoulder and being consoled by her, I decided it was Katie’s loss, and not mine. Then I decided to not even start a relationship with Prissy, Katie’s friend, so I was coming home free and unattached.

My father had passed away several years ago. I had a much older brother and sister that had families of their own and who lived within a hundred miles. I had been a “mistake” on my parents part, and I was born as my siblings were leaving the nest. My mother replaced the love she had for them and transferred it all to me. My father and I had never really bonded as such, but he did let me go along on his fishing excursions. He hardly ever spoke, but I knew he loved me. He was just amazed that the woman he loved had produced another child when he thought he was all done raising kids.

When Father passed on, Mom surrounded herself with a gaggle of other widows and divorced friends who kept her from being lonely. She and I talked at least once a week, every week, and when I came home I was treated like a king. Money had never been a problem for Mom, as Dad had been the owner of his own hardware store and had left her well situated financially.

***************

I had my van loaded with all of my possessions. Katie and I had been living together up until the time she turned me down. When this happened she moved in with her parents. We had bought some furniture together and I promised to call so she could see what I was leaving. It was mostly second-hand store stuff. I called Katie and asked her to come over to say good-bye. She knocked on the door while I was finishing the last of the beer in the fridge before I turned it off.

“Hi Katie, come on in. I’m leaving in a few minutes. Mom promised me supper and I want to get there to help her prepare it. How are you doing?”

“Pretty good, Jase. Jason, I’m sorry it didn’t work out for us. I’m just not ready to settle down.”

“Yeah, I know. When you turned me down, I was hurt, but when I thought it over, it was a relief. I guess I’m not ready for marriage either. We have had some great times though. I’m sure I said as much to Prissy.”

“I know, she told me. She’s hoping you will call her though.”

“Tell her not to expect me to. I told her I wouldn’t. You know if you want to move back in here, I didn’t take any of the furniture and there are two more weeks paid on the rent. I didn’t take the bedding, and I left half the towels and stuff like that.”

“Jason, you are a really nice person. I almost regret my decision.”

“Well, it’s a little late for us now. I’ve made my decision to move back to Vermont to be near my mother. I haven’t made any plans to have you with me.”

“Okay, that makes it easy. You will kiss me, though, won’t you?”

“I was hoping you’d let me.” It took us almost the rest of the night to end the eighteen-month relationship.

****************

I arrived in Vermont in time for breakfast. “Took longer to say good-bye than you thought?”

“Yeah, most of the night in fact. I closed the door on that part of my life, but I did it gently.”

“That’s the way Jason. You’ll still have her as a friend. Friends count in this life.”

As we enjoyed our breakfast, Mom handed me the papers from the attorney to read. I glanced at Mom almost as soon as I read the first line. “This says I’m the sole owner.”

“I had the option to refuse it and then it came automatically to you. There is more and the main reason why I refused it. There is some property located in Chester off Popple Dungeon Road. Forty acres, the deed says. The lawyer thinks the title is clouded, so there has to be some work done to clear it up. I don’t want to be bothered and you know about stuff like this.”

“Thanks a bunch, Mom. Well that will be my first job then. Does all this stuff have to go through probate?”

“The property does and there is some money. The contents, you own outright. I gave Aunt Nellie a thousand dollars in your name for the contents about six months ago. I’m sure her stuff is worth much more than that. The attorney has the bill of sale on file. You know everything comes to you by being nice and by speaking to her when you met her on the street. The other kids and a lot of adults used to run from her or call her an old witch.”

I smiled, for in my mind I did too, but she was related to me and if she was a witch, what would that make me?

“There is a dance at the country club tonight. Will you be going?”

“Do I get to dance with my favorite girl?”

“This old lady you mean. Yes any time, but I have to ask you to dance with some of my friends. They expect it, especially as you always flirt with them.”

“You and your friends may be over sixty, but you are all wonderful dancers. Besides, it’s fun giving them a thrill.”

“I think you get quite a thrill out of it too. Anna told me how she teases you and what happens when she does.”

“Anna, the one who is in her late seventies? Yes she does and she isn’t the only one either. Maybe if I don’t find a girl pretty soon, I’ll have to check them out.”

“Well if you do, be discreet about it.”

“Mom, you sound like they could still make love.”

“Don’t kid yourself son. You’d be surprised what they could do.”

“Mom, do you ever---you know, fool around like they do?”

“That’s none of your business, Jase. How did we get on this subject anyway?”

“You brought it up. I think you are sorry I lost my girl and are trying to help me out.”

“That’s enough. Now gather up those papers and we will go over to Canal Street.”

***************

I was anxious to see what my inheritance amounted to. At first glance, the property looked run down. There had been two flower beds, one on each side of the walk leading to the front door, but you couldn’t tell what had been planted in them. The lawn was just weeds, and none of it had been mowed this year and it was now July. There were two steps up to a wooden porch about ten feet wide with a short railing around it.

The front entrance was a large door centered between narrow windows. At one time there was an ornate heading over it all. The whole entrance was about seven feet wide and eight feet tall. The porch roof was more of a cornice which mated with those over the windows on the front of the house. The drip edge of the roof had the same treatment. I thought when I had everything repainted to restore the dwelling to its original color, it would look pretty luxurious.

On entering, and knowing more about buildings now than when I was here as a youngster, I was impressed. The front door entered into a huge center hall with a curved staircase on the right. This was the one I remembered where I expected a ghost to come floating down. It was compounded by the fact that it was open to the top of the second story where it was capped by a domed ceiling. It was dark in here for the hall was only lighted by the windows on either side of the door and a window that was high up on the second story level. I flicked the lights on, but the electricity had been turned off.

Mom and I did a walk through. The rooms were all dusty and there weren’t that many rooms in the main house, but all were large. When you reached the top of the curved staircase, there were a pair of doors opening inward to a ballroom. One half of the second level was taken up by this. I knew there must be a huge attic above, but I didn’t see any entrance. There was a long narrow room which I assumed was used for wraps if the ballroom was in use. There were also two large bedrooms, both looking out over a flat-roofed ell which held the kitchen and probably some servants’ quarters.

On returning to the first level we looked in on a parlor, a bedroom and a living room. The dining room was beyond the living room in the ell. The kitchen was massive by today’s standard as was the whole building actually. I spoke pretty much the first time since we entered. “Where are the bathrooms? There must be more than one. You look down here and I’ll go back upstairs.”

I found one through a door off the cloak room which could be reached from the two bedrooms. Mom found one off the living room that could be accessed from the downstairs bedroom. There was another utilitarian one near two small rooms we surmised were servants’ quarters in the back end of the ell. Next we went around and looked at the furnishings. All of these things were of a period seventy-five to a hundred years ago. There were only a few pieces that showed wear, but all needed professional cleaning. “Quite a purchase for a thousand bucks, wouldn’t you say?” Mom asked referring to the contents.

“You got that right.”

What to do first? I didn’t want to move in and Mom wanted me to stay with her. Electricity, that was first, as I needed to know what the heating plant was. “Mom, I think I will go and talk to the lawyer and have him tell me a little about Aunt Nellie. He must know how she survived all of these years. How old was she, anyway?”

“The paper said she was eighty-nine. She was shocked when I asked about her age one time. That wasn’t a question you asked of her in her opinion.”

The attorney was in his sixties and said he had represented Helen Leblanc since he first began his practice. “She was your father’s aunt, you know, not your mother’s. She had her likes and dislikes and she didn’t think too much of Jacob, your father. She didn’t dislike him really, he just didn’t resemble what a Thibadeau should look like. Now you---tall, dark and handsome---that’s a Thibadeau. Where that came from, I have no idea. I can remember when she had much the same features as you do. Of course she shrunk a lot as she aged.

“I have a letter here for you. I was to give it to you on your twenty-first birthday if she died before you reached that age. She lived longer than she expected. You are what, twenty-four, now?”

“Yes.”

“Nellie said there was something in the letter that would shock you and she was pleased that you got more age on you before I had to give it to you. Those were almost her last words to me. Do you want to open it now?”

“No, I’ll wait until I’m with my Mom.”

“Just a couple of things that I know about her. She never had much family, yours, of course, and she had a cousin Burt, but he skinned out. She talked a lot about her ancestors. One in particular and you are his namesake, Jason Thibadeau. He died sometime in the early eighteen hundreds. I have two keys to give to you. I have no idea what locks they fit, but as you explore the house I’m sure you’ll find what they open.”

I took the letter home and threw it and the keys on the sideboard. Mom had gone out and I was tired so I went in my room and went to sleep. I had come up from Boston and as Mom noted, I had a long good-bye with Katie. It had been nice living a spell with her, but I knew there was someone out there I could care more deeply about.

***************

Dinner was at seven at the country club and Mom and I were a few minutes late. There were smiles all around when I escorted Mom to our seats. I really did enjoy being with these older women. Mom, who was the youngest, had been without a mate the least amount of time. It was a convivial dinner with everyone excited about me being back in town and pleased I was going to be staying at home with my mother.

Mom leaned and whispered that it looked as if she was going to have a steady stream of company from now on for they would be coming around to see me. I laughed at her, saying at least she wouldn’t be lonely. When the band started playing I danced with my mother first. This had been a practice ever since Dad had passed on. From what she said I was a much better dancer than him which was why she so looked forward to these outings. Most of Mom’s friends tried to be a little subtle in letting me know how much they enjoyed dancing with me, but Sheila came right out and asked if I wouldn’t like to go home with her.

“Sheila, no. Not because I know I would enjoy a night with you, but what would that do to all of your friends? It would split you up and all of you have been friends too long. I wouldn’t want to be the cause of such dissension among you.”

She pulled back and looked up into my face. “You’re right, of course, so just excuse this lonely old lady. Do dance a little closer to me and let me fantasize that the night is going to end differently than it is.” I figured I had to find me a girlfriend---and soon.

The last dance of the evening was with my mother, and she asked me if I had a good time. “You know I did. I wish there were more men of your age around to dance with you ladies. It doesn’t seem fair.”

“You mean because we are lonely?”

“Yes.”

“Don’t let it bother you. We talk about it a lot and all of us have our memories. I think I am the luckiest one of all, though. It’s a shame how some of the women have families and they pay no attention to their Moms like you do. I am lucky as it could have happened to me. You are here in town and are staying with me. I rarely see your sister and brother as they have their own families and life, but I have you, so I’m fine.”

***************

Saturday Mom and I slept in, and I was the one to make coffee. “When we finish breakfast, I have a letter from Aunt Nellie to read that she wrote years ago. The attorney warned me that Nellie said it would be a shock to me, so this morning, I’m a wee bit curious. How come she was called Nellie when her name was Helen?”

“I have no idea. Just a nickname, I guess.”

I slit the letter open and spread it out on the kitchen table.


I’m assuming this is Jason Thibadeau reading this. If it isn’t then you are reading a personal letter from me to him.
Jason, I have a confession to make and I have left you to deal with it. I killed your uncle in 1949. His remains are in the attic in a box that I constructed after he was killed. To reach the attic, you must go into the cellar and behind a panel just to the left of the entrance, you will find a door. This leads to a stairwell that goes up to another door on the third level of the house. This is the only access to the attic, as I have had all others blocked up. It would be suggested that you have some authorities with you when you go into the attic. My confession and the weapon are near the box where his body lies. I am sorry to have to place this burden on you. You are the only man of the Thibadeau family that I have the confidence in to carry out this chore. You may think this was terrible of me, and I’m sorry for that, but I have no regrets in ending his life.


Love, your great-aunt Nellie

A shiver went through me. I had a vision of meeting my aunt on the street at different times. Everyone would have run from her if this letter was true and they had known about it. I passed the letter to Mom. She blanched and then looked at me. “I wonder what your uncle did that was so bad to bring on his death. It had to be another woman. Of course she was the one that gave out that he ran off with one. He probably did and then returned. I wonder if we will ever know what really happened.”

While Mother was thinking and talking, I looked at another smaller sheet of paper. Again the missive was addressed to me:


Jason, Jane brought you to visit me today. She said you are twelve years old. Someday I am going to ask you to carry on what I call the family Thibadeau. There are burdens associated with this, some pleasant and some not so. I have in my possession three boxes of journals and diaries which are located under my bed and I will pass them on to you someday. The information contained in these papers was all kept by the women of the family. These tell of their lives since the original Jason Thibadeau settled in the town of Chester. If you are as intelligent as I hope you to be, would you read these journals and publish the story of how the family first began and what has happened down through the last two hundred and more years?
It may not hold much interest to anyone but you and yours. Although when you get to read this there will be another note with it to put the name of Thibadeau in the news. I see you on the street and you always speak, which pleases me no end. If I had a child I would want him to be just like you.
To pique your interest, the original Jason Thibadeau was a privateer (pirate) during the war with England and did quite well with his conquests. You will find this information in the journals.


Your ancestor, Nellie Leblanc

“Mom, it looks as if I am going to earn every bit of what the house is worth. Shall we go find great-uncle or shall I do as she suggests?”

“You have more papers there. What are they?”

I looked at what was in my hand. There were two deeds and what looked to be a registered agreement giving one person the exclusive right to use such land as long he paid the taxes on it or until this agreement was rescinded and the title owner resumed the use of said land. One deed described a 40.2 acre lot where the original Thibadeau tavern stood and the other was a deed to the mineral rights on the same plot. This deed described a talc mine that was located in the southwest corner of the property, but also included any mineral found anywhere on the property.

“What do you think? Shall I go to the authorities this morning? It’s a weekend and this shouldn’t cause too much of a stir.”

“That is up to you, but it is going to cause a stir whenever you do it. You may want an attorney with you, too, when you go to the police.”

“Okay, then I can’t do it now. How about riding up to Chester with me this afternoon? I want to see if I can discover where this land I have inherited lies.”

“No, you go by yourself. You probably won’t find it without looking up some records and you can’t do that this weekend either.”

“It will be a nice ride and I’d like someone to talk to.”

Mom, with a smirk said, “You can always ask one of my friends. How about Sheila?”

Without thinking I said, “Horny Sheila with the big tits?”

Mom was openly laughing now. “Yes, that Sheila.”

It was nice that Mom and I could banter like this. I knew my mother was lonely and I wished that she could find a companion. She was only sixty and Dad had been dead ten years. She needed someone to love. “Mom, why don’t you try one of those dating services on the Internet? There are still older men around that are just as lonely as you. There must be one for you somewhere. I don’t want you to get to be like Sheila.”

“I know, Jase. I’ve thought about it. It is such a big step though.”

“Maybe I could help. At the very least, I could weed out the losers for you.”

“We’ll talk about it. Thank you for thinking of your old mother.”


Chapter Two

I went alone up the thruway to the Falls and then up RT 103 to Chester. I saw an old man walking along the street and I asked if he knew where Popple Dungeon Road was. It was the quickest way to get to Windham he informed me. After getting directions, I asked, “Have you ever heard of an old tavern that was on that road owned by someone named Thibadeau back in early times?”

“Sure, nothing of it left now. The state is talking about putting up a marker to identify where it was located. They won’t have much luck though. Some little red-haired bitch from the city bought the land one-two years ago. She has more money than God. Snooty little thing---pretty though. She’s putting up a cabin all by herself. The design is okay, but she can’t drive a nail to save her soul. Course it don’t help none that the guys go up there and harass her.” He gave me the directions again to be sure I could find the place.

I drove slowly along the road following the old man’s directions. I went by the brick farm house and came to a tumbled-down cow barn and an old farm house. Just before I crossed a bridge there was a little side road with a hand-lettered sign that I couldn’t read because of the foliage. Turning onto this, I came after a couple of hundred yards to a driveway that said, “Private Property, Keep Out.”

I turned up it anyway and a hundred yards further on, there was a shiny Mercedes parked in a pull off. The road from then on was just a trail. I was going to have to back out. I parked in beside the car and started up the trail. It was four-wheel-drive passable, but that was all. I came into a little clearing. I knew this was the land that I had a deed to, for I had passed the pile of stones that marked the boundary.

A few feet in from the trail, the land had been cleared enough for a turn around and a small cabin was started. There were piles of boards and timbers dumped on the ground. I walked over and looked at it. It was green sawed and never stuck up to dry. I knew that with the sun on it and the damp ground it was going to be twisted and useless to try to build with. I walked around the foundation, which was nothing more than some posts sticking out of the ground and boards nailed around them.

The woman wore jeans and a tee, with her feet encased in sneakers. She was sitting down with a 2x4 lying across her knees. It was twisted halfway around like a corkscrew and bent as well. I could see that she had been crying, but you would never have known it except by the tear trails in the dust down her cheeks. The look I received was filled with anger.

“What the hell do you want? This is private property and you’re not welcome.”

“I can see that. I can also see that you are having problems.”

“Yes I am and I don’t know why. I can’t get one board to meet another. I don’t see how carpenters build houses.”

“That’s because you bought green lumber and it has warped on you.”

“But the man at the lumberyard said it was the best material to use. And then the guy that brought the stuff told me I had to unload it myself. I tried but I didn’t get very far and had to pay him an extra $50 to just dump it. Why do people treat me this way?”

“Are you mad at me right now?”

“Yes I am. You aren’t supposed to be on my property and you look as if you are laughing at me.”

“So if I say something, you can’t get any madder at me?”

“Probably not.”

“Okay, we’ve settled that you’re mad and I can’t make it any worse, so I’m going to go ahead and tell you what’s wrong. I suspect you came into town showing people you had a lot of money and that you knew what you wanted without asking any advice and worst of all you have a bad attitude. Right now you happen to be the town’s entertainment. You are either going to have to give up and move out or one-up them in some way. Either way you are going to have to change your attitude about life.”

“What are you, a preacher?”

“Nope, just an ordinary guy.”

“I thought ordinary guys in this town stood around and stared at me. You can’t believe how they describe my tits or my ass and what they’d like to do to me---or me to do to them for that matter.”

“What did you have on when you went to order the lumber?”

“Shorts and a halter. Why?”

“And when you were in the store, did you see any of the other women dressed like that? Or on the street for that matter?”

She sat and thought for a minute trying to remember and then her face turned red. “Oh my God.” Then she looked imploringly at me. “I’m not like that at all. And I was scared going into the lumberyard not knowing what to order. I guess I demanded a clerk wait on me and I had to act like I knew what I wanted, didn’t I? What am I going to do? I love this place.”

“How come you bought it?”

“I was reading some essays published in a dentist office magazine. It was written by some school kids doing a history project. It sounded like a place to own, so I sent someone up from the city to see if I could buy it. He said it was available so I made an offer.”

“You’ve had the title checked and have a warranty deed and everything?”

“I guess so. I paid enough for the place and he walked away with a big commission.”

“Everything is probably all right then. What are you going to do after you get your house built?”

“There is a soapstone mine on the far side of the lot. I’m going to mine it out and carve it. Big selling point by mining my own material and carving it and then selling the finished product. Neat, huh?”

“Umm, I guess. Before we go any further with this conversation, would you tell me your name?”

“Sure, but you can’t laugh. It’s Sarah Bernhardt, you know as in the actress of long ago.”

“Have heard of her. Never met one before, though. Sarah Bernhardt, I mean.”

“What’s your name now that I’m not mad at you anymore.”

“Jason Thibadeau.”

“You mean like the man that built and ran the tavern here on this property? Wow, it’s like history coming alive. Any relation?”

“Just that someone said he might be an ancestor and I was curious to see where the tavern was. I’m from Brattleboro, south of here. I’ve been living in Boston for a few years and just returned to live with my Mom.”

“Not married, then?”

“Nope, close, but got turned down.”

“That sounds about like me, only I did the turning down. Found out the guy was after my money.”

“So what are you going to do about this mess? You’ll never make a dwelling out of what you have here. That question includes the mess about being the town’s entertainment.”

“Is it that hopeless? I so wanted to do something on my own for a change. My Mom and Dad think I should just sit around until I find someone to marry.”

“Tough for you. I don’t have that much money and am setting up a business this week, but I’m free to go looking for a wife anytime. Can you do anything, I mean besides alienating a whole town and making a mess of a historical property?” I smiled when I said this.

“Not much, although I worked three years in the university archive department reading and transcribing letters and journals for well-known historical personages. I had the best time doing J. P. Morgan.”

“That sounds like it was fun.”

“It was and I could do it because I had my own money and it wasn’t a paid position. They don’t have any other personages right now, but they are going to call me when they do. I could have done a lot of it right here after the cabin was built, but it doesn’t look like that is going to happen. Between my stone carving and that, I thought my life was right on track. I give up for the day. I’m going home and cry. I’ll walk back with you.”

“Where’s home?”

“I have a room in Chester with a nice old lady. She is the only one in the whole town that is nice to me.”

On the way down to our vehicles I mentioned that I wasn’t a carpenter, but I knew a lot about buildings with what I was going to be doing for a living. When she was opening her car door she turned and faced me. “Jason, could you build my house for me? I mean a really nice snug little cabin that is warm and comfortable. Someplace I can work and forget I’ve got too much money. I’ve been kidding myself and when you came around the corner, I had just made the decision to give up my dream. Would you?”

“Have you got any plans of what you want to build?”

“Some. I keep all my papers in my room. Would you follow me in and take a look at them. As you may have gathered, money is no object, but I don’t want big and overblown. Build it just as if you were building it for yourself. I don’t mean physically, but hire the right people to do it.”

“I guess I could give you some time.” Thinking to myself, you better damned well better believe I would give this pretty little redhead some time.

As we were standing on the steps leading into the house, I was introduced to a woman my mother’s age named Etta. She exclaimed, “Your mother wouldn’t be Jane Corman Thibadeau, would she?” I confirmed that she was. We spent a few minutes while Etta went down memory lane about them growing up together and the times they had going to dances. Before we went to Sarah’s room, I had made a date. A date to come pick up Etta for the Friday night country club dance to surprise my mother. I assured her that Mom would love having her stay over and I would bring her home Saturday morning.

Sarah had more than one room. It was a living room, a bedroom and kitchenette. The bath only had a shower. As Sarah was getting out her papers and sketches she asked, “Do you always pick up strange women for a dancing date that way?”

“First time ever, but it will be fun for both Mom and Etta. Just one more old lady for me to dance with, though.”

“Explain that.” I gave a rundown about my mother and her friends and how they flirted outrageously with me and even propositioned me.

“Do you ever take them up on it?”

“God no. It would destroy the group friendship they have for each other. If I made a move on one of them, they would be jealous and would feel like the woman scorned. No, we dance and have a good time and everyone is happy.”

“What would happen if you brought someone in from outside, for a date, I mean?”

“Nothing really. It would be my business and not theirs. The balance wouldn’t shift one iota. All would be the same. All a little bit unhappy and dissatisfied, but not with each other.”

“Interesting. You sound like a student of philosophy.”

“No, my Mom figured it out. We talk about relationships a lot. She has these friends and she has me and she knows what her friends need and she knows I can’t fulfill it, but we do ask what if. So I go and let them flirt with me and I flirt with them and we dance and it gives them a little pleasure for the evening.”

“You’re a pretty deep person. I think I’m glad you went looking for your ancestors this afternoon.”

“Is this where it is okay for me to ask you to the dance Friday evening?”

“I could be coy and hard to get, but yes, ask and I’ll say I’d love to go dancing with you.”

 “You realize that you are going to have to share me with seven or eight others on the dance floor. I can’t just drop them.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way. Why don’t I arrange to bring Etta down and we will see each other there.”

“Okay, but I’ll be talking to you before then.” I had been looking over Sarah’s papers and invoices of what she had purchased. “Monday afternoon I will be in town and we will see about getting the town, or at least the lumberyard, to sit up and take notice of you, in a different way than they are now. Can I have this material order and your drawings to work on tomorrow?”

“From this, I take it, you are working for me?”

“I said I would give you some time. We’ll see how it goes.”

***************

“Did you find your property? You were gone a long time.”

“Yes, I found it. I also found the woman I want to marry.” Mom stared at me. “She’s cute, red-haired, not too tall, nice figure, and a bitch to quote one man I talked with. Those are her good qualities. One thing that could be trouble---or not---if she marries me. She thinks she owns my land and another downer is that she is rich.”

“Jase, I think you have your priorities wrong. Why would you want to marry a bitch and why wouldn’t you want to marry someone with money?”

“You’ll have to tell me. She is coming to the club dance with me Friday evening. You have to be there to meet her.”

“You try to keep me away. When are you going to see her again?”

“Monday afternoon and I’m working tomorrow on a project. I don’t know yet if it is mine or hers. She wants me to build a house on my property and build it just as if it was my own. How’s that for complications?”

“You better tell her soon, before it gets more complicated.”

“If I do, she may not want me around and Mom, I’ve got to get to know her.”

“Okay, I’ll look her over at the dance and tell you then if she would be suitable to be a wife for my son.”

Boy, did the lumberyard and home supply center take Sarah for a ride. Even when they supplied what she ordered, the things were way overpriced. To make sure, I called in and priced everything as if I was buying. Everything I thought she would need. I was promised a discount on top of that if I paid cash. I used Sarah’s invoice and marked the prices as they were given to me. On a separate sheet of paper, I noted the penalties she was going to threaten the owner with if the adjustments weren’t made.

I got the name of the clerk I was talking to and asked if he had the authority to stand behind the quotes and he said he did for he was the owner’s son. I went to bed early Sunday evening. I won’t say I had a dream about Sarah, but I was thinking of her when I went to sleep and I was thinking about her when I woke up.

***************

When I drove into Chester, I saw the old guy I had asked directions from sitting on a park bench. He had two cronies with him. I stopped and thanked him for directing me. He looked over his glasses and asked if I had met the woman yet. “Yes I have. In fact she said she was going to be at the home center this afternoon about one-thirty. I wonder what they will do to her today. They’re riding her pretty hard aren’t they?”

“Yeah, some of us think it has been carried too far, but she’s got money enough, so no harm done.”

“What happens if she starts buying out of town and tells people how she was being treated? Could cost him more than a little fun, couldn’t it?”

“Never thought of that. Could be.” I left them sitting there and went to pick up Sarah. I would bet that the home store was going to be full this afternoon when Sarah approached. Rumors do get around.

I took Sarah out to a diner. It was terrible, the food and the service both. It was funny as everyone else’s food came right out of the kitchen on time and looked a lot better than what we received. Half-way through, I couldn’t eat the rest of my entree and I said to Sarah, “It is reasonable to assume you have eaten here before. Was it a bad experience?”

“It was horrible. I think one of the truck drivers that unloaded my building supplies is related. I wouldn’t know this, but he was in and out of the kitchen. This is the first time I have been in since then. I’m sorry it had to spoil your meal.”

“Don’t take another bite. There are some tourists coming in. We will get even.” Two van loads totaling fifteen people filed in and took the ten-table on the end and the two booths closest to it. The waitress rushed over and started taking orders. I said to Sarah, “Bring your plate. You take the left side and I’ll take the right.” I made my way to the table. “The chef has asked me to show off his expertise with the food he serves. This is what he put on my plate. He also brags about how fast the service is. We came in over an hour ago. I’ve had better food and never waited this long so you can bet I won’t be eating here again.”

I dumped the plate in the middle of the table. Sarah did the same, and we headed for the exit, she picking up her purse as she went by our booth. I stepped up to the cashier and asked for our check. The waitresses were in tears as the fifteen customers filed out. The locals didn’t raise their eyes to us. The cashier was shaking with embarrassment and then said, “Oh hell, you don’t owe us anything. I’m sorry. You will get better service next time if you would please come in again. I promise.”

Sarah came through, though. She handed a waitress a bill and whispered something to her as we marched out. Outside, I said, “I’m still hungry. Shall I stop at a mini-mart and get us a grinder?”

“You go in alone and bring it out. If I go in, someone will put crap in it and I wouldn’t know the difference. I’ll have a soda and a snickers bar for dessert.”

“How much did you give the waitress?”

“A dollar.”

“No you didn’t. She was smiling. What was it, a twenty?”

“Maybe just a little more.”

I didn’t push it. I’d know the next time I was in town. Gossip would take care of that. We sat in the parking lot of the home store and ate our lunch. There were a lot of people going in and not many coming out. I patted Sarah on the knee and said, “Let’s do it.”

Sarah walked up to the checkout and asked to see the owner, Mr. Furlong and his son about a question on her delivery of two weeks ago. The clerk said she could handle it. No, and Sarah raised her voice just a notch, she wanted Mr. Furlong. “Okay, he will be out in a minute. The son is out in the yard.”

“Would you page him please?” Sarah wasn’t holding up business for no one was checking out. Eventually both came up front.

“What seems to be the problem, dearie?” Sarah wasn’t in the mood to be patronized today.

“My representative called in for quotes yesterday for items listed on my invoice. You charged me at least 30% more for the same items listed. Also what you delivered was mostly substandard and green lumber that can’t be used for construction.” Now Sarah started playing to the crowd. “I’m no virgin and if I get screwed, I want it to be in a bed. I certainly don’t want it to happen in a lumberyard and most certainly not by you although you have done a pretty good job of it so far.”

She stopped for a minute and faced the crowd. “Does anyone know where I can hire a top-notch carpenter to build my little house? I will guarantee he will have the finest material to work with. If I can’t get it here I will get it somewhere else.” A few names came out of the crowd. I noted them.

Sarah turned again to Furlong. “Are we going to do business again or not?”

Mr. Furlong had enough. “Would you come into my office, please. We can straighten this out to your satisfaction I’m sure.”

“Would that be ‘Dearie’ or Miss Bernhardt?”

“Miss Bernhardt, of course.”

Sarah got everything that I had suggested. She did add one thing on her own. She required that the truck driver who had held her up was to be the only one to pick up the returns. He would have to pay her fifty dollars before entering the property.

“What next to get my good name and status back to what it was before I came to Chester, VT?”

“Would it help if you went stately down the street with me walking three paces behind you?”

“Silly, it’s still a man’s world and you know it. I do thank you for all you’ve done. Just two days ago I was crying my eyes out and look at me now. I’m going to have my own little home and I’ll bet no one will be laughing at me anymore. You can never do wrong in my eyes.”

“Someday I may do something to disappoint you. Would you remember what you have just said?”

“I’m not worried. You could never disappoint me.”

“Look, I have the names of carpenters I took down when you were doing your thing.” Sarah giggled. “Can you handle calling them? I can review them if you want, but I have to make some contacts here in town to get my business up and running. Try to pick a carpenter that will do what you want, and don’t micro-manage him. That way you will get a better job done. The plan for your home is pretty straightforward. You’ll end up with what you want.”

“Jason, may I have your phone number in case I have a question?”

“Sure, and may I have yours?”

“For questions?”

“None yet, maybe I’ll think of one someday.” I dropped Sarah at her house and had time at the bank to give the mortgage loan officer my card. It would be slow building a clientele, but it would come.

Chapter Three

Tuesday and Wednesday I made dozens of contacts to get the word out about the business I was starting. Wednesday Sarah called. “I think I have found the carpenter I want. This afternoon I went to look at two jobs he has completed and interviewed the homeowner he is working for now. He has a crew of three men and he covers all phases. The only subcontractors are for the roof and the plumbing. One of his men is a licensed electrician. The only problem is he can’t start for three weeks. Should I wait on him or find someone to start sooner?”

“The time frame sounds very good. Better than I expected, almost. If you like what you’ve seen, sign him on. So what are you going to be doing for the next three weeks?”

“I’m not sure yet. I’m undecided. I mean I could go see my folks or just hang around and make some more friends here in town. The whole world has changed for me. More people speak to me. Some just say hi, but others stop and introduce themselves. This is beginning to feel like my town. How is your work going?”

“I haven’t had any work yet, but that isn’t surprising. I’m out everyday, getting my name placed. That is the important thing at this point. Say, I have a bunch of old journals that came from a great-aunt of mine. Lots of history in them, I imagine. They are said to go back two hundred or more years. Would you want to thumb through them?”

“Oh God, could I?”

“Sure, I’ll have them out and you can look at them Saturday before I take you home.” 

 “You want me to stay at your house Friday after the dance?”

“That’s the plan. Actually it is my Mom’s house, but she knows you are coming and we have room.”

“You have room for Etta too, you said. You shouldn’t have to drive all the way up here to get us. I will drive down.”

“No, you are my date and I’ll come get you and take you home. That is if I don’t decide to keep you.”

“Jase don’t say something like that. It’s too soon and after all I haven’t met your mother yet.” Sarah went into gales of laughter and got out a giggly good-bye.

I called Etta Friday morning to confirm, which she did. I then asked Mom to hold three seats for dinner and I wanted Sarah and her friend to stay the night with us. Could we put them both up? It was all set by the time I left to pick up my dates. I got small corsages, just alike for Etta and Sarah and received a kiss on the cheek when I pinned them on.

Traveling south, Etta sat in front next to me with Sarah in the back. I wanted so to turn around and look at her. She had on an expensive gown, just a little more than was usual for country club attire. But then I smiled for I had gone out and bought a new blazer.

We entered the club just as the first food was being served. Talk about an entrance. The guests hadn’t settled down from happy hour yet or started eating. The wave of silence started at the front door as we came in and rushed toward where my mother and her friends were seated. Talk about a proud puppy. Etta clung to my left arm. I hadn’t realized how truly attractive she was until I pinned her corsage on. She was dressed in a peach colored suit. Or maybe they were looking at the woman on my right arm?

Sarah with her dark red hair that she had treated with gold highlights at the salon sometime today. The brocaded piece of forest green that would have been a jacket if it wasn’t just big enough to slip her arms through. It came to the top swell of her breasts and bottomed just under them. There were no straps holding her dress up and it was easily determined none were needed. The dress itself was a pale lime and clung all the way down to just above the knee and then it swelled so it could be danced in without restriction.

Mom and Etta ignored both Sarah and me after the introduction, for they were tied up in renewing their friendship of long ago. Not so my date. I made introductions and Sarah was on display. Sheila made the comment that there was no hope for her now and she had so much to offer, too. This made everyone laugh for Sheila did have an impressive set of breasts. That is the way the evening went. This was the first time I had missed the first dance with my mother in all the years we had been coming here. Tonight she pushed me into Sarah’s arms. “Go dance with your date. I can get acquainted tomorrow. I want to talk to Etta, anyway.”

The difference tonight from other Fridays was that I had every other dance with Sarah and still had my turn with my mother, Etta and all of Mom’s friends. There wasn’t the blatant flirting either, between me and the women. Maybe it would return if Sarah became a regular fixture. I always felt comfortable flirting with the older women, but with Sarah if I said something, I wanted her to know I meant it. I could talk business, as about her cabin, but otherwise I couldn’t think of much to say to her when we were alone. Tonight, holding her while dancing, I let my arms and my smile speak for me. Would she get the message?

After the dance Mom and Etta went into the house together, while Sarah and I lingered. She thanked me for the date and leaned forward for me to kiss her. It was awkward, twisted like we were in the front seat, but it was nice. When we reached the hall Sarah turned off the outside lights, as she was closest to the switch. She flicked off the hall lights at the same time. I expected she would turn them back on, but instead she whispered, “Now, I can show you how wonderful a time I really had.” She came into my arms and I gathered her to me. This was a kiss that would be remembered. I’m sure we both wanted it to continue. Instead, when we pulled apart, she flicked the lights back on. It was enough for now. What a sample, though.

I expected to sleep on the couch, but Mom and Etta wanted to continue their life update, so they slept together in Mom’s bed. I had my own room while Sarah had the room intended for Etta. Again I went to sleep thinking of Sarah.

***************

We all had breakfast together. Mom now turned her attention to Sarah. I’m sure she knew more about her than I did, as Etta would have been questioned closely during the night about my date. “So what is on the agenda for today?”

“I’m going down to the house on Canal Street and get those chests of journals that Aunt Nellie left me. Sarah has done some work in this area and I’m going to let her look at them. If it is something that can be put into a story of the Thibadeau family, she can tell me. Eventually it would be nice to have a family tree with the first Jason Thibadeau at the root and me as the present one up in the tree on a branch somewhere. She has some time for the next few weeks. Do you or Etta want to go with us?”

Mom shook her head no, so Sarah and I headed out. When I reached the car I thought of something and went back to get my CD player and a CD. “The electricity was supposed to be connected yesterday. If it was, I want to show you something.”

Sarah looked around as we walked up the walk. “This must have been a beautiful house in its day. Who owns it now?”

“I will when the estate is settled. Aunt Nellie was my father’s aunt. I’m sure she will have recorded the relationships in one of the journals that you will be looking at. The journals are supposed to be under my aunt’s bed. We will get them and set them by the door. Then I want to take you upstairs and show you something.”

I went into the bedroom that was beyond the living room. “Did she die in that bed?”

“I think so. Mom was coming every day for she knew how frail the lady was. The day before she died, Mom said she was up sitting in the living room. Mom found her dead the next day when she came down. I’ll have to ask where she was when Mom discovered her.” I got down on my knees and lifted the skirt around the bed.

Three chests were lined up in a row and all were about the same size. One had the dull glow of brass, one had the patina of old copper and the third looked to be of cedar with brass affixed where the box would wear when moved around. I pulled two out with the metal handles that were attached to the ends. The third, the wooden one, had a leather handle and looked to be much like the old-time trunks that travelers used.

None were locked, but had hasps where a padlock could be used. All the tops were slightly domed. The brass and copper chests were soldered together at the joints and the wooden one appeared to be glued except where the brass fittings were used on the corners. They were all 18x36 inches and 12 inches high at the top of the dome. I was surprised at how heavy they were. I opened the brass chest assuming it would be the oldest. I guessed wrong, the copper one was. A paper had been glued inside the lid and had 1795 to 1880 marked clearly on it. The brass lid had 1881 to 1927 and the cedar chest had 1928 to---.

Sarah was jumping up and down with excitement. The chests were full of an assortment of books and papers. Each book or diary had a “from---to” date on it in various different hands, indicating different authors. She chose the journal with a “from” date, but no ending date and cautiously opened it as if the words would escape off the page and be lost forever. The first entry was of a year twenty-five years previous. I recognized the writing as that of my great-aunt.

Sarah turned to the last entry:


I’m getting so frail, I may not write more. Jane has been like a daughter to me, but she doesn’t have the interest in the family of Jason Thibadeau that began in 1795. I will ask Jane today to ask this Jason Thibadeau to continue the never-ending saga of the original or the one he is about to embark on. No I will ask him myself. Jason please continue these journals for they are important. So important that I had to kill to keep them safe. I know you will say yes. If you find it an impossible task, I feel you should ask one who has red hair and freckles. Thank you in advance for your acquiescence. Nellie.

Sarah closed the journal with a bang and dropped it back into the chest. “Oh my God, this is so spooky. Did she have second sight?”

“I wouldn’t know. I only met her once, but she had a powerful sense of family. Of course in the last two hundred years, history has a way of repeating itself. She probably took a wild guess. You will help, though?”

“How can I not do this? What did she mean she had to kill to keep the records safe?”

“I suspect I know, but I don’t want to tell you here today. Come on, I want to show you something after we put these by the door.”

We moved the chests and I picked up the CD player. Taking Sarah’s hand, I led her up the curved staircase. There was a small landing before making the final curved ascent to the entrance to the double doors and I paused her there. “Stay here and look down. Imagine dozens of couples crowding into the hall below. All are happy and laughing and excited and in a minute you will know why they are acting that way. I will come back and get you.”

I rushed up the stairs, eased through the double doors and plugged the player in and started a Strauss waltz. I turned it up so the music blared and Sarah could hear it as well as the imaginary guests in the entrance hall. I looked down on her and she was standing with her eyes closed and I quietly eased down to where I could place her arm in mine. She and I mounted the stairs and I threw open the doors to the ballroom. We made a grand entrance and I took her in my arms and we whirled around the room, just as the music reached the crescendo.

Tears were in her eyes and she said, “I heard it and I felt it just as you wanted me to. It was like being transported back to a more glorious time. Do you think this really is history repeating itself and we have lived this before?”

“We could believe it if we wanted to, but that would make us lovers or young marrieds with three children at home. Let’s leave it as a fantasy and work on the real thing more slowly.”

“You are a true romantic, but somehow I feel you have your feet planted solidly on the ground. More solid than me even and I thought I was a down-to-earth person.”

We danced through the CD. “Boy when you ask a girl to a dance, you do it in a big way. Hours in a crowd last night and thirty minutes alone in a ballroom in the morning. Are you trying to make me fall in love with you?”

“Without saying yes or no, but if I was, how am I doing?”

“I suppose if I said not too good, you would redouble your efforts.”

“If I was trying to make you fall in love with me, I would redouble my efforts.”

“We could go on all day without answering each others questions, couldn’t we?”

“Yes, but I like being with you and I don’t want to say anything to drive you away. Let’s keep it just that we are friends and not ask any more pointed questions.”

“Good, I like being near you too.”

I took Etta and Sarah home. I carried in the brass and copper chests and placed them in Sarah’s room. I didn’t linger, as I wanted to read in one of Nellie’s journal about the killing of her husband. I placed the wooden chest that held the most recent history in my own room. When I reached home, I first emptied the chest, laying out the journals and papers. On the bottom there was a scrap book of events from accounts that had made the newspapers or letters written by friends and family members to Aunt Nellie. These were all somehow related to descendants or members of the Thibadeau family.

Thinking the disappearance of Henry Leblanc would have been noted in a newspaper, I looked at that first and found a short article about it. The date was noted so I easily found the journal where Nellie Leblanc had written of the account where she killed her husband. I had her confession written in her own hand of how she did it. I had to search further back in the journal to find out why. To me it would take a very strong motive to kill one’s spouse.

Looking for background I went back to the time Henry and Nellie were married. Nellie wrote about her horrifying first night on their honeymoon. Horrifying for her anyway:

Nearing thirty when married and never having much social life, her parents pressured her into marrying Henry who she knew didn’t care for her, but for the money she brought to the union. From what she put on paper, Henry was a brutal man and only tolerated submission in all things from his wife. He had the habit of bringing home female companions and banishing her to an upstairs bedroom while he cavorted in their marital bed.


Totally fed up with life with her husband and her own life, she planned his demise. As luck or retribution would have it, things came together in her favor. Henry brought home a young lady, maybe not even of age. Nellie handed him seventeen hundred dollars with the stipulation that husband and chippy would leave town and never return. He gladly accepted this and his leaving was noted by various cronies who had a laugh about the whole situation.


Nellie was now free of her burdensome husband of nearly six months. The husband returned one night, arriving accompanied by a man who was driving to Canada. Broke and quarrelsome, he found Nellie poring over a journal. Remembering how his wife guarded them, he grabbed one and headed for the stove, tearing sheets from it to start a fire. Horrified that the Thibadeau history was about to be destroyed, she promised him to act the loose woman for him if he would desist from burning her book. Again he asked for that and more money to leave, which she promised. The only thing she balked about was, she wasn’t going to act the wanton in her marriage bed, but would make up a comfortable nest to play it out in the attic.


When she handed him $450 and took the best bedding up the stairs, he followed her. She put the bed together and undressed seductively before him, laying her gown and underthings on a chair. He undressed and emptied his pockets, laying his clothes on another chair. He then proceeded to ravish her, “making her do unnatural acts and unspeakable things.”


Tired and satiated, he soon fell into slumber, lying on his right side. Crawling from the bed where she felt she had been raped, albeit by her spouse, she retrieved a .32 hidden in her gown and prayed, “God forgive me this thing I am about to do.” Pulling the trigger she fired one bullet into the back of his head where the head and neck joined.


No blood except a little that trickled out of his nose, she rolled him onto his back and left him there.

I had read enough. I put the journal down and I knocked on Mom’s door. “Mom would you come out and sit with me? I just read where Aunt Nellie killed my great-uncle. She may have had reason to kill him. The way it is written, it is just as if she was sitting here telling me about it. There is more, but I couldn’t take anymore tonight.”

“How did she do it, I mean what weapon did she use? I’ve heard women use poison more often than any other method.”

“Not Aunt Nellie, she shot him in the head after they had sex. Sounds as if he deserved it. I wonder if Dad had any idea she had done this. Did he ever say anything about Aunt Nellie?”

“No, but he was always leery of her. He must have been just a kid when his uncle died. I think from what you say, this was the year I was born. By the time I got to know her she was always friendly, especially to me, but never seemed to have many friends. She told me when Uncle Henry was courting her, they had the ballroom open and she had many friends. His parents were quite the social people and expected it to continue after they gave the house to Henry and Nellie. She grew up in Springfield.”

“Vermont?”

“Yes. She had a hard time making ends meet until Henry was declared dead. After that she had access to all the money that came from his parents and I think she came into some money from her parents. She was a frugal woman, sad and lonely and most likely a little crazy, too. The only thing she had was the history of the Thibadeau family. That must have come to be the only reason for her continued existence. Too bad she had to live so long, but maybe that was God’s penance for killing another human being.”

“Was he a human being to treat her that way? Of course we only have her side of the story.”

“You’re a romantic, son, but I’ve always known that. You still have the problem of settling what your aunt did, though. When are you going to take this to the police?”

“Mom, I’m going to tell Sarah about it first. She is going to delve into the journals and she might as well see how some of these characters can come to life. I said it seemed as if Aunt Nellie was speaking directly to me. Maybe when Sarah reads the words set down in the journals, she will feel like I did. It should draw us closer together.”

“She is the one you have set your heart on?”

“I believe so. Can you accept her into the family if it goes the way I hope?”

“Of course. She will make a lovely addition.”

“Thanks Mom, I guess I can go to bed now and sleep. Aunt Nellie did upset me.”

Chapter Four

“Sarah here.”

“Hi.”

“Hi, yourself. Jason, if you were here I would kiss you. God, I have never been so interested in anything as I am in these journals. I turned them all out of the chests and started to read the one written by a Ruth Baker. You know when I identified her as the first author of the first journal, it struck me that she had a biblical name and I have one too. How fitting, don’t you think?”

“If you say so.”

“Did you know your namesake was a pirate during the Revolutionary War? He captured a British supply ship full of grain. He sailed it into a harbor in Jersey and it went to General Washington for his horses. He also captured a ship that had a whole lot of blacksmith tools on it and barrels of horse shoes. It also had bales of blankets and several barrels of salted beef. It doesn’t sound too exciting to me.”

“Maybe not, but during war time all of that stuff would have been priceless to our side.”

“This journal is very hard to read. I don’t think Ruth had much education. She printed and some of it is faded and the paper is rough and thick, not like ours today. She was a farmer’s daughter and lived on the farm with her three brothers. I haven’t got too far into it and it takes me a long time to make out what she is saying sometimes. I have had to use a Websters to figure out what words mean for they used different ones than we do for different things. How come you called?”

“I’ve been reading Aunt Nellie’s journal. She did something that I am going to the police with to clear up a mystery that took place sixty years ago. Would you like to be here when I do?”

“Would I? When are you going to do it?”

“Tomorrow afternoon after I read her journal some more.”

“Jason, can I come down early so you can tell me all about it?”

“I was hoping you would. How early can you come?”

There was silence for a minute and then Sarah said, “You want me to come down this afternoon, don’t you?”

“Kinda, but I didn’t know how to ask without you thinking I was imposing. Some of Nellie’s journal spooked me a little.”

“You’re scaring me. What did she do?”

“Not telling ’til you get here.”

“Okay, I’m on my way. Be there in an hour.”

Sarah made it in time for lunch, which my mother had prepared. Mom was laughing at me during the meal, telling Sarah about me knocking on her door last night. I gave Sarah the pertinent parts from the journal to read as soon as we finished lunch. The story was nowhere near as upsetting to me today as it was last night when I first read it. Sarah shivered and edged her chair a little closer to Mom. When she reached the end of the section where I stopped last night, I said I would read out loud what Aunt Nellie did next.

As put down in the journal, Aunt Nellie related that now she had killed her husband, she had a body to dispose of. She couldn’t leave it in the attic where it shortly would begin to putrefy. When she tried to lift it, she couldn’t budge it. Going down into the kitchen she secured a butcher knife and a pail and returned to the attic where she eviscerated the body. Four times she made the trip from attic to the bathroom where she chopped the disemboweled parts into small pieces and flushed then down the drain. She knew that they would pass into the Whetstone Brook and out into the Connecticut River where the carp and other fish would be waiting to totally dispose of the grisly soft body parts.

Her words:

Tired unto death, I looked at the clock in the living room and found it near daylight. I drew a tub full of water and washed myself and what of Henry clung to me from my grisly task. I then prayed to God for forgiveness and heating water again I soaked for an hour. I went to bed and slept until four in the PM. Rising I went to the hardware store and purchased twenty-five pounds of lime to slow down the decomposition of what was left of Henry that lay in the attic.


The thought crossed my mind that this truly was a shell of a man. This when I packed the lime into the empty cavity of what was once my husband. Again I washed and prayed to God and then I went to bed and slept the sleep of the damned, but I awoke refreshed and I now waited to be discovered of this deed I had done. I made a trip to the attic once a day for a month and decided even only with the vents at the end of the building, the stench would not be attributed to this house and would be blown away in the wind. In this time I constructed a coffin for him to rot in.


Again I went to the hardware store and purchased window putty and a lock and hasp. I sealed the door with the putty and put the lock on and put Henry from my mind. I’m sure God will seek retribution for this thing I have done, so I don’t expect to live very long. He will take me and send me to Hell, which is only just. I can only plead my case that I have already been through Hell. I await God’s will.

There were several empty pages in the journal at this point. Whether Nellie planned to write more and to fill the pages with more information on the subject would ever remain a mystery. I looked at Mom and Sarah to see their reaction to what I had just read. Both were staring straight ahead and I knew they were with Nellie as she went through her actions to hide what she had done. Apparently she thought at some point she would have to answer here on earth, but wanted to put it off as long as possible.

“What’s the next entry?”

“Just about going home to Springfield to visit her parents. She took the train and had a friend with her. She says here she wore a colorful gown.”

“But she was always dressed in black.”

“Probably she didn’t put those on until Henry was declared dead by court order seven years later. She would have wanted everything to appear normal and keep up the farce he was still alive until that time.”

“To think she had almost fifty more years with the possibility of being found out hanging over her. That would drive anyone crazy. I visited her often and she never gave much indication of being fearful about anything. She was a semi-recluse, but never acted anything but a little odd.”

“Maybe she accepted the fact that she would be found out and she would deal with it when it happened.”

“When shall I talk to the police? I don’t want these papers to leave my hand. I think to start with, I will give them a copy of the letter that the attorney gave me and retain the original. Who wants to go to the copy center?”

“I do. I haven’t read the letter yet.”

“Mom has seen it and as long as you are with me you might as well too.”

I entered the police department and stepped up to the window. A woman in uniform looked at me. She looked about half asleep and bored. “Umm, I just took control of a piece of property that was left to me by my great-aunt, Helen Leblanc. I also received a letter that she left with Attorney Jones to be delivered to me. I read it this morning and in it she indicated there is a body in the building. Is there anyone here that could go with me to check it out?”

The uniform looked at me. “You’re kidding aren’t you?”

“Nope.” I still don’t think dispatch believed me.

“Well let me get a detective to listen to your story. Your name and address, please.”

The detective, Mark Fisher, was much more wide awake---and the uniformed dispatch officer was awake too by this time. I was asked for background information about myself. And how long had I lived at my mother’s address? I answered a week recently and until I was eighteen previously. And who owns this building where you say the body is? I said I had inherited it but the estate hadn’t been probated yet, so I supposed the estate did. Would excavating equipment be needed? Nope.

“Why not?”

“Because I have a key to where the body is said to be located.”

“Well let’s go there and see what we can find. I hope this isn’t a wild goose chase.”

“I do.”

“Why’s that?”

“Would you want to inherit a house and have a body come with it?”

“No I guess not. Do we need any tools at all?”

“Maybe a crow bar and a hammer.”

“This is beginning to sound like fun. Who is this young lady with you?”

“Her name is Sarah Bernhardt and she is doing some archive work on some papers for me.”

“She know about all this? Who else?”

“My mother, Jane Thibadeau. She kind of looked after the old lady. My father was the old lady’s nephew.”

“What do you do for employment?”

“I am self-employed, setting up a business of my own. I inspect buildings for banks, mortgage companies and homeowners. I also do appraisals and title searches. Umm, maybe we should have some flashlights. I have no idea whether there are lights where the body is.”

“All right, let me get another officer.”

Sarah, nervous, whispered the comment that the officer was afraid to go alone. Unfortunately he overheard her and stopped dead and looked at her. “I’m sorry. This has me shook up.”

“You better not go with us then.”

“No, I’m going. Jason said I could. No more comments from me, I promise.”

The entrance to the cellar was in the kitchen. There were several lights that came on when I flicked the switch. I had paid no attention to how the house was heated in the winter time. Mostly cellars were cluttered with odds and ends, but this one wasn’t. The floor was cemented and the area was nearly empty. There was an oil-fired boiler in one end and it appeared to be almost new. No oil tank so it must be buried outside. There was a monstrous coal- fired boiler along one wall that had been abandoned with a coal bin still with some pea coal in it.

Detective Fisher looked for an entrance to a stairwell. “I thought you said the door to the attic was down here?”

“Here, you read a copy of the directions and then you will know as much about it as I do.”

He read the letter and went to a section of irregular wall that jutted out into the basement. Fisher tapped on it. The three foot face next to the stairs we had come down sounded hollow. He looked at me.

“Open it. There is room enough to have an enclosed staircase in that section.”

Detective Fisher drove the crowbar into the edge of the panel made out of half-inch plywood. There were two sheets, one 3x8 and another one 3x4 nailed above that one. Sarah tried to see inside before the two detectives had fully pried the lower one free. I pulled her away to give them room just in time, for it came loose suddenly and fell away exposing a door with a padlock on it. I handed Fisher the two keys I had brought with me. He chose one and it fitted the lock and turned easily. When he swung the door open we could see the narrow stairs leading upward into the darkness.

Both officers had flashlights and Sarah and I had the two police lanterns they had provided us. The stairs were steep and narrow. At the first floor level the stairs reversed themselves at a small landing. We could see at one time there was a blocked off entrance here that would have gone into the kitchen. The same at the second floor level where the stairs again reversed. “This blocked off entrance will be about at the end of the ballroom cloak closet if I remember correctly the layout of the rooms.”

“You’ve been in the house recently?”

“Just a walk through before the lights were turned on and before I read the letter.”

There was another door with a padlock here as well. This one had putty pressed into all the cracks in the doorjambs and underneath the door, sealing it tightly. A few blows with the hammer cracked the putty and it rattled out. There was no problem with the lock and the latch lifted easily. Detective Fisher turned to Sarah. “You have the honors of going in first, if you wish.”

Sarah was standing behind me on the stairs, the last one up. “No I guess not.”

Fisher opened the door and stepped through, with the other detective right behind him. They stepped to each side of the door and flashed their lights the length of the attic. I looked through the door. Sarah was standing behind me and I could feel her face pressing into my back. “Can you see a body?” she whispered.

“No. It looks as if there are four little rooms without doors on one side, and the rest of the area is open. There are some antique kids toys scattered around. It looks like kids used to sleep up here and play. Probably when there was a ball going on below.”

“Whew, no body. I’m not afraid anymore. Let me in.”

When we got out into the room there were actually five small rooms lined down the west wall. The middle room had a full-sized bed in it. The bed clothes had been smoothed out with a pretty coverlet covering the bed---or would have been except for the heavy dust that covered everything. There were two chairs and we could see a man’s clothes folded on one. There was a wallet and some change, along with a pocket watch and a chain with a fob on it. The shoes were headed in under the chair.

The other chair held a camisole, bloomers, petticoat, hose and gown. A pair of shoes were tucked in under that chair, too. Fisher went down through the piled clothing in each chair. The only thing that interested him was found in the pocket of the gown. It was a little beaded, leather holster. He said women kept a weapon in these and carried them in their purse.

He opened the wallet, stiff now, and found several bills. I knew about how much money was to be found when he counted it out. Henry must have been near broke when he came back that last time, for there was $457 in bills. “She didn’t kill him for the money, anyway. I wonder why she left her clothes?”

I had a vision of Nellie going down the stairs naked to get a knife and a pail to dispose of some of Henry’s body parts. Ugg!

Sarah spoke up, “So where’s the body? I thought it would be on the bed.”

Detective Fisher looked under the bed and found nothing and started to shake his head. I turned to look at Sarah. She was sitting down on a roughly constructed box. The box was of unplaned boards with uneven sawn ends and hammered together with nails, many bent over, much as if an eight-year-old child had tried to build something. I walked around it and spotted a woman’s hat lying up against the box. I nudged it with my toe. It flopped off a small metal box. There was a small revolver lying on top of the metal. The box that Sarah was sitting on was about ten inches deep, less than two feet wide and not quite six feet long.

The three of us were staring at Sarah. She leaped up and threw her arms around me, holding onto me tightly. “Oh no! It isn’t big enough.”

“Come on Sarah, we’ll let Detective Fisher open it. That must be the coffin. We’ll stand over by the door.”

The detective took the crowbar and pried one board off the top laying it on the floor, and flashed his light inside. “Yes we have remains here. I guess we better secure the area and call in forensics.” He told Jack, the other detective, to call the station and talk to the chief. We’ll let him handle the crime scene.”

I spoke up, “May I see what you found? After all this was my great-uncle.”

“Sure go ahead. How about the lady?”

“Of course I do.” Sarah was brave again. “Can’t you pry the other board off?” Detective Fisher shrugged and did as he was asked.

There wasn’t anything scary to see if a person didn’t think about what lay there targeted by the light of our lanterns. Nellie had made liberal use of the lime she had purchased to dispel the stench that was bound to occur as the body decomposed. Now all we could see was the outline of what had once been Henry Leblanc. His facial features were there of course, but shrunken so he would have been unrecognizable to anyone that had ever been familiar with him. There was a three-inch opening from his breastbone to the juncture between his legs that was packed solid with lime---not white anymore, but a greyish brown. His trunk, arms and legs consisted of flesh shriveled around the bones. Just shaking the box when the boards were pried off had jarred the corpse enough so that some of the hair had come loose from the skull.

“I guess I don’t need to see more. I’ll let you take over. Look there are a lot of light sockets up here, but the bulbs have been removed. Tell your men to bring bulbs and I will see if I can find a fuse box in the cellar.”

“Good idea. One other thing, we will need the original letter to you and I’m sure we will have to get statements from your mother and this woman’s attorney. Right now it looks like a straightforward murder by one spouse killing another. The only thing lacking is a motive.”

I could feel Sarah tensing up as if to say something and I squeezed her hand---hard. This was family business and the police had everything at hand they needed without us adding to it. Sarah squeezed my hand back in acknowledgment of wanting to keep it only with the family. We left one of the lanterns and Sarah and I made our way down the winding stairwell. I found the fusebox and looked around for fuses. I finally found a box of them with assorted amperages.

The chief was just coming in the front door when we were ready to leave. I let him have the house keys and he promised to have them dropped at Mom’s house. I also asked him to make sure the two doors were padlocked to the attic.

***************

I guess one of the officers at the station tipped the media. At seven that evening Mom received a call from the local newspaper. They wanted to speak to me as they had been informed that I was the one that found the body in an attic of a house I owned. I denied it and referred them back to the police station. What about the body being transported to Burlington for an autopsy? I didn’t know that, I replied. Well did I own the property or not? It might come to me after the estate was settled. Can we get some pictures of you? No. May we take pictures of where the body was found? Not likely---see the police, they may have pictures to release. This is news and could be a big story. Sorry, I was only in the house one day when I was twelve. Didn’t know the lady that well, just that she was a distant relative. Well we may get back to you.

The police chief called in the morning. “I understand the paper wanted an interview. You didn’t give them much.”

“That’s because I don’t know much. I was given a chore to do, through a personal letter. I didn’t know Helen Leblanc, but she was a distant relative and I did as she asked. As far as I am concerned, that’s what I did and so there isn’t anything more.”

“Will you be responsible for the body when we finish the investigation?”

“Of course.”

“Where will it be interred?”

“Here in Brattleboro with his parents. There is a lot set aside for him.”

“Not with his wife?”

“No. She is buried with her family in Springfield, Vermont. Under the circumstances it wouldn’t seem right to have them next to each other.”

“I can see your point. Thank you for cooperating and thank you for not making a circus out of this. The force doesn’t need the distraction.”

I turned to Sarah when he hung up. “Maybe this will go away without too much trouble.”

“Jason, you know there is a lot of information contained in those chests we haven’t looked at yet. Just the few facts that we do know; your namesake, the pirate, and your great-aunt, the murderer, is enough to make a riveting story. There must be facts in those journals that are just as compelling. I really want you to think about a full blown account of Jason Thibadeau and his descendants.”

“Well maybe, but this is my family we are talking about. It would be like airing our dirty linen.”

“You’ve given me the job of reading and cataloging the journals and their contents. It would be okay for me to set aside some of the more memorable happenings that took place in the last two hundred years and see if it would make a book. We wouldn’t have to decide it now. If and when I find something, we could get together and read it over together.”

“That’s bribery.”

“I know. I have to get something out of this and not from some dry, dusty old journal, either.”

Sarah returned to Chester before lunch and I returned to more mundane things like trying to get my business started. I had a call in the afternoon. A prospective property buyer wanted a house inspected to see if it conformed to everything needed as labeled, before he signed the papers. He wanted to negotiate the price one final time. I found he was in a good position to get a reduction. I looked to the Realtor to see if he was unhappy. “Not at all. Everyone will go away happy and satisfied. It keeps us from being sued down the road at some point if something goes wrong. In fact you can count on referrals from the agency.”

Two days later there was an update in the newspaper about the death of Henry Leblanc. It just stated that:

Henry Leblanc met death at the hands of his wife in 1949 and the body has been lying in the attic of their home since that time. She had constructed a rough coffin and had taken certain measures to keep the body hidden from view. Nellie (Helen) Leblanc had been a recluse, living alone for the last fifty years and the only contact people had with her was the various service people that kept her home up. A niece by marriage, Jane Thibadeau, visited her in her last years and was the only person she had direct contact with.

Nellie Leblanc left a full confession of what she had done, but why she did this was still a mystery. The body of Henry Leblanc came to light through her direction to a grand-nephew, Jason Thibadeau, who is to inherit the bulk of her estate after probate. The estate consists of the property where Nellie Leblanc lived and where she murdered her husband years ago. The nephew declined to make comment as he said, “I only knew her as a distant relative.”


Chapter Five

Sarah called, “I see you made the news in the paper.”

“Yes, I made the news. I’m hoping the wire services don’t pick it up. What’s up?”

“I just wanted to tell you that I braved the diner where we had trouble. They treated me like a celebrity. I wouldn’t have stopped, but there is a little swinging sign on the lawn in front that says, ‘Sarah Bernhardt dines here.’ I guess when we were here before we called attention to the place and it is packed now. It is mostly locals. They’ve hired a new cook to speed up their service and spruced up the place too. They want to know if you are ever coming back. It would mean a free meal.”

“I have never dined with a celebrity before, so I will have to make an appearance. Oh, I had my first job yesterday. I think this is going to work. I’m really excited about it. Who knows after ten years or so, I will be able to afford to start looking for a wife.”

“Oh, I hope it doesn’t take that long.”

“I hope not either. Just think of all the likely prospects I would have to pass up in ten years. Anything new going on with the cabin?”

“Yes there is. The contractor hired a demolition crew to go in and knock down that mess I tried to build. God how stupid I was to try to build something myself. There is an excavating crew coming in to dig a cellar hole and put in a good foundation. He convinced me that I would be smart to build it down as well as up. I have some bad news for you though. Did you know that Ruth Baker who was married to Jason Thibadeau was pregnant two times and had three children by him before they were married?”

“What do you mean?”

“Quite the story, if I make it out right. It seems that Ruth’s three brothers liked their rum and cider of a Saturday night. They would walk the length of the field up to the tavern and drink. Jason would see that they got home, half carrying them when he closed the place. Ruth, waiting at home, would see that they got into bed. After awhile she got so she would give him coffee (he supplied the beans) and they would sit and talk. Ruth was sixteen and no beauty, but Jason at thirty-five, was attracted to her. After their first kiss things progressed very fast. Her words: When he first mounted me, I knew how a heifer felt when we led her to be serviced by the bull. She became pregnant and bore him a child, a red-haired girl named Sarah. No one knew who the child’s father was as Ruth never left the farm. It was her choice according to the journal not to name the father of her bastard child. The Saturday nights never deviated and he was always there for her and encouraged his young lover to learn how to read and write.

“She bore him two more children before things changed. Tom and Harry, the twins, came two years later. Ezekial Baker, the middle brother, became enamored with a widow and married her. This widow would have nothing to do with her unmarried sister-in-law with three bastard children. Hating to see the woman he had come to love, and the mother of his children scorned, Jason took it upon himself to marry his sweetheart and make an honest woman of her. These were good years for both, from what I can tell from the journal. They had more children, but the three she had when she came to Jason were the ones she talked about most. Jason, did you note that Ruth named her daughter, Sarah?”

“I did. Do you suppose this is all leading up to something? I mean Jason married a red-haired girl and she had a daughter named Sarah and you are a red-haired girl named Sarah.”

“There is a big difference between them and us, though. You’re not nineteen years older than I am.”

“Minor detail, wouldn’t you say? Maybe even for the better. There is one other thing that is different.”

“What difference?”

“You said that Ruth was unattractive. That is not the case with you. You are beautiful.” There was a long silence and if the phone wasn’t dead I thought she had hung up. “Sarah, are you still there?”

“Yes.”

“Did what I say upset you? I hope not for I do see you as beautiful.”

“No it didn’t upset me. I was just replaying you saying that I was beautiful in my mind. Look I think we better end this conversation for now. Sweet dreams tonight, Jase.” The phone clicked.

Damn! I wanted to ask her to the dance. I rang her back. “Hello, Sarah, here.”

“Sarah, I wanted to ask you to the dance again. I should have asked you earlier, but forgot. I don’t see how I could have, you are in my mind so much.”

“Jason, I won’t be able to. I’m going to Connecticut to see my folks for the weekend.”

“Okay, if you have other plans, that’s fine. I’ll see you next week. I assume you will be back by then?” I made it a question.

“I think so. I’ll call you when I’m back in town. I want to see the cellar hole before they start construction.”

“Good, I’ll see you sometime, then. Bye.” I was missing her already, I guess because I was so attracted to her. I was disappointed, but hell she was a rich young thing, and what would she want with me anyway?

“So Mom, ready for the dance with your favorite escort tomorrow night?”

“Jason, I’ve accepted a date with another person, but I certainly will dance with you.”
“That’s great! Is it anyone I know?”

“You’ve met him. It is Detective Fisher. He came to interview me about Aunt Nellie. We got to talking and I eventually offered him coffee. When I said I loved to dance and went every Friday night, he asked me if he could take me. You don’t mind, do you? After all you have Sarah.”

“I don’t mind at all. I probably won’t be going as Sarah is out of town.”

“Oh Jase, that’s terrible. Of course there is horny Sheila with the big tits.”

“Not interested. You go and have a good time. I’ll be fine.”

***************

I did go. I had an unexpected visitor. Prissy Adams, friend of my former girlfriend Katie, arrived at the house just after Mom and Mark Fisher left for happy hour and dinner at the country club. I have to tell you she climbed all over me, she was so glad to see me.

“Jason, I came up to see you. Now that Katie is out of the picture, I’m hoping you will look at me---look at me as more than just a friend of Katie’s.”

“I’m sorry Prissy, I’ve already found someone I’m interested in. We are collaborating on a project of mine.”

“No chance for me?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Well that blows that dream. It is good to see you anyway. I have to find a room and I might as well head back to Boston tomorrow.”

“Hey, don’t leave so fast. You’re still a friend. How about going to dinner and then I’ll take you out dancing. My mother will be at the dance and I’ll ask her if she will put you up tonight. We will be two friends out having a good time.”

“You mean it?”

“Sure. Let me take a quick shower and put a shirt on. Twenty minutes tops.”

“What should I wear?”

“What have you got?”

“A little black number I was hoping to turn you on with.”

“That’ll be just fine, but I warn you I’m already taken.”

“Yes, but I’m here and she isn’t. Oh hell Jase, I’ll behave. You are just as nice as ever. Whoever she is, she is one lucky person.”

The entrance we made was every bit as startling as the one I made the week before with Sarah. Prissy had chic short black hair and white alabaster skin. She had a diamond studded tiara that adorned her locks. The dress was short, exposing the top of her breasts and then it came only to her mid-thigh. It was constructed mostly of lace from what I could tell. There was a matching bracelet to the tiara on her wrist.

Tonight there wasn’t room at the table with Mom and Mark Fisher and all of mother’s friends. We were given a two-person table along one side of the room. I took Prissy over and introduced her to Mom, Mark and the women sitting there. Sheila, outspoken as ever, said, “Jesus Christ Jason, where do you get all these beautiful women? How can we old bags compete? You aren’t going to forget to dance with us are you?”

“No, I promise I’ll dance with you the same as ever. May we sit with you all when the dancing begins?”

“Certainly.”

I had to explain to Prissy about my dancing with Mom’s friends. “They are feeling a little put out. This is the first time Mom has brought a date. Mark seems like a very nice person and I’m really tickled that they are together. They are all happy for her, but it just makes them all a little more lonely, seeing her with a man and they don’t have one.”

“I can relate to that feeling. That is the way I felt when I was around you and Katie.”

“Prissy, don’t give up. You are extraordinarily beautiful. There has to be someone for you. You wouldn’t want me to trifle with your affections just because I could, would you?”

“Maybe, just a little bit.” Prissy was pensive and thinking over what she had just said. “No, you are right. I wouldn’t want that.”

Mom and I exchanged partners early in the evening and I asked if Prissy could sleep over in the spare room. “What about Sarah? I thought you had found your love?”

“I have, Mom. Prissy is an old friend and I’ve known her for as long as I knew Katie. She came up here looking to see if maybe there was a chance for the two of us together. I explained I had found someone already. I couldn’t see why she had to return home immediately.”

“You better be careful. Sarah might not understand.”

“So you think she better not stay at the house?”

“No I didn’t say that. Of course she can stay and be welcome. It’s just that you may have a hard time explaining to Sarah when she finds out.”

“How would she find out?”

“Well I can think of about six ways if you ever bring Sarah to this dance again. Women can be so catty when they are jealous.”

“Would horny Sheila with the big tits be one of those that would tell on me?”

“What do you think?”

Later on in the evening, Prissy said to me, “You’re quite the stud. I thought I was the only one affected by you. Christ, the woman with the big breasts squeezes you so tight you must have trouble dancing. She must be seventy if she is a day.”

“Actually she is and jokingly propositions me every two or three weeks. She is just lonely. The whole gang of Mom’s friends are. I feel sorry for them, but I don’t show it. None of them want pity so I flirt with them and let them sneak a kiss from me sometimes. They will miss me if I stop coming to these dances. Oh, Mom said you could stay over at the house. Why don’t you stay tomorrow night too, and go back on Sunday?”

“Okay, I’d enjoy staying on. I like your Mom, she is nice just like you.”

Prissy went straight to bed when I brought her home after the dance. Mom came in about one-thirty. She saw my light on and knocked on my door. I said for her to come in. “I thought you might be with the lady you brought to the dance.”

“No Mom. I could be, but I’m still hoping Sarah is the one. How was your date?”

“Fine. Mark is really nice. He asked me for another date. I don’t know whether to go or not. I’m going to call him during the week. He is younger than me by four years and is a widower. His wife died several years ago.” She was standing there wanting to say something. Finally, “Would you be upset if I started going out with him on a regular basis? I mean, he kissed me and suddenly I had feelings I haven’t had since your father died.”

“Go for it. Just think you may live thirty more years and you are going to need someone to cuddle up to. You deserve to be happy and I’m not going to be around all the time. Besides I couldn’t do the things for you that he could. So go ahead and see what develops.”

She smiled and backed out of my room. I turned back to one of Aunt Nellie’s journals. I went back to before she married. From what I could gather, hers was an arranged marriage to some extent. Henry’s parents were disappointed in their son. I think the word to describe him was profligate. They arranged for Nellie to control the money, which Henry wasn’t aware of until just before the wedding. Up until that time he did everything to make his wife-to-be believe they would have happiness.

When his father announced the arrangement about the finances, Henry smiled and assured his father it was fine. However, on his and Nellie’s honeymoon, he showed his true nature by being mean and vindictive. Nellie was trapped into an abusive marriage, both mental and physical.

More motive---why she killed him. Luck that the murder was never discovered---that had to be considered, too.

I skipped ahead in the diary to the time after she had killed Henry. I was looking for how she managed to have enough money to live on for the several decades she lived after him. There was the money they had given Nellie Leblanc to control the son and the parents had purchased a large insurance policy that paid off when the court declared him deceased. When his parents in turn passed on, Nellie was the beneficiary of their estate, too. There was a small sum when her own parents died. After reading all of this, tired, I went to sleep.

I slept in. Mom and Prissy were up and had eaten by the time I went to breakfast. The two had bonded to some extent. Mom suggested I take Prissy over the line into New York to see the Bennington Battlefield. We convinced Mom to join us. We stopped at the Bennington Monument and I climbed the many stairs to look out over the countryside.

Mom and Prissy prepared dinner. I suggested that Mom call Mark and invite him. Mom said she couldn’t---it would be too forward of her. I called him after prying his home number (reluctantly?) from Mom. He was able to join us. There was an action flick at the theater that I wanted to see, so I suggested Prissy and I go see that. This left Mom and Mark some time alone. My date and I did hold hands and I did put my arm around her through the tense part where the hero was trapped and it didn’t look as if he would survive.

Mom was in her room asleep when we came in. I halted outside Prissy’s room and she turned to me. “You would be welcome to come in, you know.”

“I know, but then we wouldn’t be friends anymore.”

“Goodnight then, Jason. I’ll see you in the morning.”

***************

Prissy was preparing to leave about ten in the morning shortly after we had our last cup of coffee. There was a knock on the front door. Mom opened it. “Sarah, this is a surprise. Come in. Jase said you were out of town. He is in the kitchen. Who is this with you?”

“This is my brother. He is spending the week with me. We got off the thruway to say hi, before going on up to Chester.”

I guess this had to be the most awkward moment I had ever had. Sarah came breezing into the kitchen, happy to see me. She found me standing beside a beautiful woman in a traveling suit with a suitcase by her leg. “Oh!”

“Sarah, this is Priscilla Adams. Prissy, this is Sarah Bernhardt. She and I are working together on some historical papers.”

Sarah went cold. “Hello, Miss Adams. I don’t believe I have heard Jason mention you.”

“I’m not surprised. He was going with my best friend and I dropped in to visit Friday night. I’ve always liked Jase a lot so I thought I’d try my luck with him, now that he was uncommitted, so to speak.”

Just then Sarah’s brother said, “Sarah aren’t you going to introduce me?”

“Oh yes, this is my brother, Tim. This is Jason Thibadeau and his mother, Jane.” Tim didn’t acknowledge my mother. His attention was totally on Prissy.

Tim made things easy for me. He addressed Prissy. “And what kind of luck did you have, now that Jason is uncommitted so to speak?”

“To tell the truth, not much. He took me dining and dancing and to the movies and we had a great time. I even invited him into my room last night, but he turned me down. He said it would spoil our friendship. He never in two days kissed me once. I’m beginning to think he isn’t as uncommitted as I thought he was.”

“So that means you are uncommitted?”

“Yes, always a bridesmaid but never a bride.”

“You know, if you would give me your phone number and tell me where you live I might change that.”

Prissy looked at him. “You’re serious aren’t you?”

“Yes I am and I really want your number.”

“Okay. Jane, do you have paper and a pencil?” Prissy scribbled her number and passed it to Tim. “I’m just leaving, would you carry out my suitcase?” Prissy came to me and kissed my cheek. “Still friends?”

“More than ever. I’m glad you came. Who knows, maybe your visit will pay off for you big time.”

My Mom got thanked royally and Prissy was asked to come back again. Tim was waiting patiently by her car. They stood talking and we could see he was trying to persuade Prissy to agree to something. She gave in and Tim came back up the walk. “Sis, I’m taking Prissy out for lunch and to get acquainted. I’ll be back in three-four hours.”

He wheeled and ran around the car and jumped in. Prissy gave us a little wave and a smile as she pulled away.

Sarah was standing there exasperated. “What just happened here? My brother has never acted like that before.”

“I don’t know, but I’m all for it. This way you can’t leave for a few hours. I missed you.”

“You’re a liar. I’m gone three days and I come back and find you entertaining another woman. A very beautiful one at that.”

“Does that upset you?”

“No---yes---maybe. It shouldn’t, but she is so pretty.”

“I didn’t notice.” I grinned when I said this. “Sarah, welcome home.” I reached for her and she came into my arms. I kissed her and it was returned with fervor.

“God, I’m glad to be back. Connecticut is so crowded. There is nowhere to go and nowhere that isn’t noisy. You can’t even see the stars at night because of the artificial lights. At least where my folks live, anyway. Now tell me about your beautiful friend or do I have to wait and ask my brother?”

I gave Sarah a rundown on Prissy. I also declared if Tim and Prissy became more than mere acquaintances, Tim couldn’t find anyone better. Then Sarah hit me with a bomb. “Jason, my father thinks I should have an in-depth title search done on my property. Would you do it because that is what you do? You were the one who mentioned it the first time we met.”

“Sarah, I don’t think I want to.”

“Why not? Daddy says that if the title isn’t clear, just go to the person involved and make a monetary agreement and clear it up.”

“Money is his answer to something like this?”

“Sure, he has plenty of it. If the person objects too much, he can always take it to court.”

“Sarah, call your father and have him send in a team of his own to do it. That way he will be confident that everything is as it should be.”

Sarah looked at me as if I was crazy. “Do you know something that I don’t?”

“Not really, but the name Thibadeau will come up in the title search and I wouldn’t want him or you influenced by what was found.”

“Okay, I guess that makes sense. I’ll call him. Have you done anymore reading in any of the journals?”

“I skipped around some in a couple and found out where Aunt Nellie got enough money to live on all of these years. There is still a little left for the estate to use so I won’t have to take any out of my own pocket until after probate.”

Sarah had not let go of my refusing to do the title search for her. “Jase, I don’t believe you about why you refused the job. You have to have a better reason than you gave me. You certainly can use the money you would get for the search in your business, starting out as you are.”

I wanted to put this as delicately as I could. “It’s the money you would be paying me. The first sentence I heard to describe you was that ‘you were richer than God.’ There are other people out there in my line of work that don’t mind taking your money, but I prefer not to. I’m sure your daddy offered to have someone else do it, not some hick from Vermont.”

Why I said that I don’t know, but I called it right, for Sarah blushed and wouldn’t look at me. “But you helped me with my problems at the diner and especially with the construction of my cabin. I’d be back in Connecticut if you hadn’t showed up when you did.”

“That’s because I saw you sitting down with tear streaks on your face and you looked as if you needed a friend. I needed a friend at that time too, so that is what we became. If I said, ‘I’ll fix your problems if you pay me,’ we would have no chance of being friends and we are, I hope.”

“We are friends, but I still have the feeling there is more to this than you are telling me. What else went on since I’ve been gone?”

“Bit of gossip. You remember the detective that went to Aunt Nellie’s with us. He was at the dance Friday night. He really is a pretty good guy.” I turned to Mom. “Isn’t he Mother?”

Mom was blushing all over the place. “Yes he is. He asked me for a date and I had him in for lunch and we are going out again during the week. If Jase asks you to the dance again, you will see what a good dancer he is too. Now as long as your brother ran off, would you help me make lunch and I will tell you all about him.”


Chapter Six

Work was beginning to trickle in. I had two house inspections and a title search the first part of the week. Wednesday I just had to see Sarah, so I called and made arrangements to meet her at the diner for lunch. It cracked me up to see the little sign that stated Sarah Bernhardt dines here. The place was packed when I entered. Sarah and Tim were seated in a booth and there was a waitress hovering around. As I sat down, Tim shook my hand. He didn’t give me a chance to more than say hello to Sarah before his questions started about Prissy. In the telling, a little more than I would have liked came out about Katie, my former girlfriend. To finish it off, I just said that Prissy and Katie had been close friends and she had become one of mine when I moved in with Katie. Sarah questioned, “Sounds as if you were serious with this woman?”

“I thought so at the time, but when I asked her to marry me, she turned me down and then I could see that our relationship was more of a convenience than true love. The next time I propose, I will make certain I love the woman deeply before I ask.”

“Well, I’m glad it wasn’t Prissy. I’m seeing her next weekend and I’m hoping very often after that. Actually we both will be working in Boston, so we can be together as much as we want.”

“How are you getting home from here?”

“Dad and Mom are driving up and I’m going back with them. They want to see this property that Sis is so crazy about. The cellar hole was dug this week. I think there was a building there before, for the digger thing disturbed a buried stone wall. He said it was part of a foundation. The construction starts next week, didn’t you say, Sis?”

Sarah was laughing. “My brother talks all the time. I’m glad you came up Jason. I’ve been reading Ruth’s journal. She is getting better at recording things and her writing is more legible. Sarah’s husband kept after her to learn more about the business, and she soon kept track of the expenses for the tavern. They built four rooms on, so now they could have overnight guests. The stage changes horses here for the trip up into the mountains to reach Windham and Londonderry.

“You know, I always thought that the people back then were straightlaced, went to church on Sunday and never did anything wrong. You asked me to recap some interesting tid-bits. Of course we know how Ruth got pregnant and no one knew by whom. And then she was looked down on by Ezekial’s wife Mazie. Ruth found out Mazie was no better than her who had been practically driven from her family home and this is how she found out---.

“On occasion, Brother Jonathan didn’t go drinking on Saturday night. Jason had the same arrangement to help the brothers home. One night Samuel and Ezekial tied one on early and were bothering the other patrons. Jason sent Ruth down to get Jonathan to come get his brothers. Ruth walked in on Mazie and Jonathan in a compromising situation. Her words: Jonathan had Mazie pinned to the mattress and I waited fifteen minutes for them to pull apart. So much for a faithful wife and a trusted brother.

“At a later time, Mazie and Ruth became friends and shared many secrets, one of which, Samuel and Jonathan took turns drinking at the tavern with their brother Ezekial of a Saturday night.”

I didn’t comment for I guess women and men were all the same, today or yesterday. “Anything else in there less titillating?”

“Yes. A soapstone outcropping was discovered and was being mined. Some of the stone went to Springfield where it was being ground into talc. Another prospect that was being investigated was in making soapstone sinks. Their hired man already was sawing off flat stone for people to warm their beds with. This must be the same mine on the other end of my property, wouldn’t you think, Jason?”

“Most likely. Some day you will have to go looking for it. Is there any description of where it is located?”

“None except it was a short distance south. We know where the buildings were now for the excavator found a foundation wall.”

“When you get your cabin up, you will have to go looking for it.”

“You will go too won’t you? Please? It is part of your history or heritage also.”

“I’d love to.”

As we finished our lunch the cook who also owned the diner came out and shook my hand. “I apologize for the way we treated you last time you were in. Whatever possessed us to treat Sarah the way we did, I can’t say. It was like the town was trying to see who could make her the most miserable. We ended up being the laughingstock as we well deserved. Then when my waitresses were handed a hundred dollar bill because they lost money on tips, we were so ashamed. If you are going with her, you hang onto her. She is something.”

I collected Tim and Sarah and we rode out to the cabin site. I had missed the road sign that went off Popple Dungeon Road because it was obscured with brush the first time I was out here. Old Stage Road was there for all to see now, for Tim had cut away the foliage. Today we drove right up to the foundation site. The building contractor had made a serviceable road into the property. There wasn’t much to see, just a hole in the ground. We could see where the backhoe had nudged the original foundation of who knows what part of the tavern.

I soon was on my way back to Brattleboro. No dancing this Friday, either. Papa and Mama Bernhardt were arriving in the afternoon, which left old lover boy Jason out. Oh well, I could still think about her. I noticed Sarah was more reserved with Tim present. I could imagine how she would act being with her father and mother.

***************

Friday morning I had a meeting with Aunt Nellie’s attorney. There were papers to sign concerning probate. There were just a few bills to pay. I was named administrator which carried certain duties. I relied mainly on the lawyer to show me what to do. But by Aunt Nellie selling to Mom, in my name, all of the personal property, there wasn’t much more to be done.

I did spend the rest of the day listing the furniture and appliances. Much of it did have some value as antiques. After that I did a house inspection just as if I was doing it for a client. The house was in solid shape. Some cosmetics, of course, but it was a fine structure otherwise. When Aunt Nellie needed to make a purchase, she went for quality. The bedding was top of the line. Even the drapes were of the finest quality. Everything would have to be sent out to the laundry and freshened before it could be used.

Mom looked beautiful when Mark came to pick her up. That lonely feeling hit as soon as the door closed behind them. What the hell, I thought. I’ll go down and keep the ghosts company. I took my CD player and the same disc Sarah and I danced to and set it up in the ballroom down at the Canal Street property. That was damned depressing, being up here all alone. I took a kitchen chair out onto the front porch and put my feet up on the railing. I sat there listening to the music coming down the stairs and through the door I had left open. It was loud enough to reach the street.

A late middle-aged couple came strolling by, saw me and came up the walk to visit. They inquired about the house, saying this was the first time they had seen more than a single light on at once for years. I told them about how the house at one time had been a center of fun and frolic for couples in the area. There was a ballroom upstairs if they would like to see it. “No kidding? We go by this house often and never knew that.”

They stepped through the door and it was like stepping into the past. The long hall with the curved staircase. Johann Strauss was playing the Blue Danube waltz. The man took his wife’s hand and ascended the stairs. The double doors were open to let the sound out. Empty, the room looked huge. The floor was dusty, except for where Sarah and I had danced in one corner. “Are you going to open it up for dancing? God, there is no place in town where a couple our age can go to enjoy ourselves. We have a large circle of friends that would dearly love to have some place to dance. Some place that wasn’t too loud and we could come and waltz the evening away.”

“I don’t know. It is a private residence. I’d probably get in trouble with the noise and all. A person should be able to invite friends in for an evening though.”

The person stood there looking first at his wife and then around the room. “Okay, I’d like to make you a proposition. If you would put the floor back in shape for dancing, I will personally provide a stringed quartet and make a donation to the estate for upkeep of the property. We will even make sure there aren’t any cars on the street. It will remain a private home with guests for the evening.”

“Sounds like fun. When would you like to have it ready?” I was thinking in two weeks, maybe.

“Oh, tomorrow night for sure. Can you do that?”

“I can try. If I can’t, you leave your number and cancel the music, but all come by to see it.”

“Fair enough. Do you know who I am? You haven’t asked my name.”

“Yes, I know who you are. You were pointed out to me at the country club a couple of weeks ago. You’re Hammond Struthers and you’re president of one of the banks here in town.”

His wife Betty spoke. “I remember you now, you were dancing with that beautiful red-haired girl in the green gown. You danced with all the old ladies that were sitting with you at one table, too.”

“My mom, as you put it, was one of the old ladies. Those are all of her friends. The old gals are all without male companions, so I go and give them a dance now and then. They appreciate it. I bet they are missing me right now. This is their night.”

“Why didn’t you go then?”

“Sarah, the lady you saw me with has her parents up from Connecticut so I was alone and didn’t feel like dancing.”

“Well maybe you can persuade her to come to the dance tomorrow night. Let’s see, I think there will be nine couples, but that won’t hardly take up half the floor. Your house---invite some of those old gals and I personally will dance with each one.”

Hammond and Betty danced when I started another CD. I went back to the porch and left them alone.

Morning found me on the phone to cleaning services. I was in luck. One had a crew available after one in the afternoon and assured me they would have the floor in shape if it was no worse than I had described. Mom was curious as to what I was up to. I just said that I was taking her out for the evening. She had to wear a gown though. But Mark was going to take her out to the movies. I’ll call him---we will share you between us, how is that? Mom was all smiles.

My next call was a little more difficult, but I was in luck. Tim answered Sarah’s phone saying his sister was out. When I explained what I wanted, he jumped on it. I guess the whole family was bored with nothing to do and with each other. Next I called horny Sheila with the big tits. “Sheila, this is Jason. I missed the dance last night. How about we go out tonight to make up for it?”

There was a dead silence and then she said, “Jason, I know I kid around and flirt and I know how people refer to me. I know I propositioned you, but I just can’t do it. I wish I could. I’m sorry. In fact I’m a little disappointed that you called.”

“Sheila, I know all that. Look, I’ll be busy, so would you notify all of our mutual friends and meet me at this address. Make it for eight. I promise you a good time. Oh, and don’t say anything to Mom, I’m trying to surprise her.”

“What should we wear?”

“A floor-length gown if you have one. The other ladies, too.”

“This is like one of those mystery dates, isn’t it?”

“It is.”

***************

I couldn’t believe how well things came together. The ensemble came, set up and played a few bars and informed me the acoustics were superb. Next Hammond and Betty came with three other couples. The music started before the rest of Hammond’s friends showed up. Sheila and Mom’s friends were next. Mom and Mark came in so pleased to see her friends there. She whispered, “I’m so proud of you to do this for your Mom.”

“Actually, it isn’t my party. Hammond Struthers is the one that made it happen. I’ll tell you all about it later.”

I went downstairs waiting at the door for Tim to bring Sarah and his parents. I had no way to gauge how Sarah would feel about this. I hoped she didn’t feel manipulated. A Mercedes pulled up in front of the walk. I hurried down and opened the door for Sarah’s mother. “Hello Mrs. Bernhardt, I’m Jason Thibadeau. Sarah and Tim are my friends. I know Sarah likes to dance. Hammond Struthers, our local banker, cajoled me into opening the ballroom here. I talked to Tim and he said you were all free this evening, so I invited him to come and bring you. I hope you enjoy yourselves.”

Sarah was standing there beside her father. I couldn’t tell how she was taking this. At least she wasn’t screaming at me. “Jase, please meet my father, John Bernhardt. My mother’s name is Ruby. You know this is a big surprise.”

“It was meant to be. Come, let’s dance.” I took Sarah and her mother, escorting them into the entryway and then I paused for effect. The cleaning crew had used something to freshen the house against the closed up house smell, which Sarah noticed. The stairs were wide enough so I could have a lady on each arm as we mounted to the second level. We reached the open doors to the ballroom and I again paused for effect. Most of the couples were wearing evening wear. The music was gushing forth as the couples swirled around. Mom and Mark spotted us and stopped their dance to come greet us.

Sheila went by in the arms of someone I hadn’t been introduced to yet. She was glowing. Tim was immediately pressed into service as there were several more women than men. He danced with Mom’s friends and Hammonds, never knowing which was which. It didn’t matter, for most were continually changing partners. My first dance was with Ruby Bernhardt and her first question was, “Who is this Prissy Adams that Tim is so enamored with?”

“She has been a friend of mine for a few years. She is one of the nicest women I know. I would be dating her myself if I wasn’t interested in someone else.”

“Well, I trust Sarah to look out for herself. Tim has been a little more sheltered, so naturally we are concerned when he meets a new girl.”

“Priscilla won’t hurt him. She always thinks of others before herself. I’d hate to see her hurt either, but if Tim is anything like Sarah, Prissy should be okay. They will just have to work it out for themselves.”

“I love your house. And your own private ballroom, I never heard of such a thing.”

“I’m glad you like it and thank you for coming.”

Ruby actually giggled. “Did I have a choice? Tim said he owed you a favor and this was pay back. Anyway, I’m having a great evening.”

Sarah came into my arms. “When did all of this happen? Why and how?”

“Sarah believe it or not, last night at this time it was just as it was when I brought you here. I was lonely so I brought some music and was sitting down front, because the ghosts up here weren’t much company. Hammond came along and we got to talking. I showed Mrs. Struthers and him the ballroom and he wanted a place to dance. We came to an agreement and here we are. I had the house freshened and the floor waxed and buffed. It wasn’t completed until five this afternoon. I wanted you here for the grand opening.”

“So you didn’t pick up another beautiful girl and go dancing with her last night? I thought you might as you seem to be able to come up with one on occasion.”

“No, not this week. With your comment I have to ask, were you thinking of me last night?”

It took us half the length of the room before she looked up at me. “Yes, I was thinking of you.” I drew Sarah a little closer to me.

I couldn’t leave until Hammond and his group had left. Sarah and Tim seemed reluctant to leave and their parents, used to late evenings out, weren’t pushing to return to Chester. Mom and Sarah were conversing with Ruby standing by. John and Tim were with me, as was Mark.

Hammond came up and congratulated me on having the floor in such wonderful shape. He addressed Mark, who he was acquainted with. “Quite the bit of excitement here in the last few days, right, detective?”

“Yes, and I never expected to be in here again now that the investigation is completed. Jason, who was so forthcoming and his mother that knew the old lady intimately, made it possible to close the case. Of course the old lady had known she might be caught someday and had her confession all written out and available. Strange case, but an easy one to solve.”

Hammond turned to me. “Jason, I’ll be in touch. If you need any financing to restore this place, be sure to come in and see me. If you decide to sell it, for God’s sake, see me about that, too. And thank you for allowing us to have a wonderful evening. Goodnight.”

John was curious. “What was that all about?

Mark looked to me and I looked to Sarah. “Dad, Jason was left this house by his great-aunt Nellie. She left him to look after something she had done a half century ago. A crime was indicated so he went to the police and I went with him. Detective Fisher was the one to come here to see if it was true. Detective Fisher opened up a hidden staircase to the attic directed by the letter that was left for Jase. When we reached the attic we found things just as described. The weapon, the confession and the body were all there.”

Sarah was out to shock her father. “I inadvertently sat on a wooden box that contained the body of Jason’s great-uncle Henry.” Sarah had drawn closer to me and drew my arm around her. “It was kind of scary, but no more so than watching a scary movie when I was a teenager. It happened so long ago it wasn’t like it happened yesterday.”

Mark was smiling. “Quite the trouper, Sarah is. She even asked me to open the box so she could view the remains more closely.”

Ruby and John both looked shocked which was what Sarah was trying for. Tim looked envious of this adventure his sister had experienced. “Are you saying that this Aunt Nellie murdered her husband and kept his body in the attic for fifty years?”

“That is correct. My father was great-aunt Nellie’s nephew. Mom was the only relative that had much to do with her in the last years of her life. I was only here once when I was young. She decided on that day that I was a true Thibadeau. She did watch me grow up as I used to see her on the street and we would speak. Her will left mother the property, but she knew that Mom would not accept it and would turn it over to me. At that time certain papers were given me. One letter was written to me and when I read it, I felt she was talking directly to me.

“I followed her wishes pretty much to the letter. When the remains are returned to me, I will see that he has a proper burial. Other than that, there is the will to be probated. The contents belong to me already as Mother and Aunt Nellie collaborated in seeing they were in my name before her death.”

“Why did this old relative of yours settle on you to inherit her estate?”

“Aunt Nellie was the keeper of the family history. She had all of the journals and diaries that were recorded by our various ancestors since the original Thibadeau built a tavern on the site that Sarah now owns. I’ve lent Sarah the bulk of the journals to read to give her a sense of what it was like back in 1795 when he came here. I have those that were put down on paper since 1928. Most of which were written by Aunt Nellie herself. I get the sense that my aunt felt that I am the reincarnation of Jason Thibadeau. I think Sarah has found a description of him and it fits me to a ‘t’.”

Mark broke in. “Is there anything in her journals that the police should know about? I wasn’t aware there were any such documents.”

“Nothing that wasn’t covered by the confession. A little more detail of the travails she had to endure before she took care of her problem. Just as soon as the case is fully closed, you can read what she wrote if you want. I don’t want her journals to become public through the media. I’m sure there is nothing in them that would warrant a reopening of the case.”

“Okay, I guess I didn’t hear this conversation then. Jane you must be tired. Let me take you home.” He had a grin on his face as he escorted Mom down the stairs and out the front entrance.

That pretty much ended the evening. Tim took his parents out to their vehicle. Sarah hung back while I shut out the lights and locked the front door. The little porch was dark and instead of going down the steps, she drew me into a dark shadow and kissed me. It was what I was longing for. This kiss had the passion and fire that gave me what I knew was lurking in that pretty body of the girl I was holding in my arms. “Come to Chester tomorrow and have dinner with me and my family, please? About two would be fine.”

“I’ll be there.” That kiss did things to my mind. But what about Papa and Mama? Well, Ruby did say Sarah could take care of herself and Sarah did ask me to dinner with her folks.

I drove home and saw that Mark’s car was still in front of the house. I didn’t want to interrupt anything or put a damper on Mom and her date, so I drove over to McDonalds. On the way, I found a Sunday paper and read about every word in it before I was so sleepy I knew home was the place for me. I met Mark while I was closing my car door. He looked a little sheepish and just said, “Goodnight, Jason.”

I could hear Mom in the shower and she was singing, so I guess she was happy with her evening out with Mark. I crashed.

In the morning I slept late and would have slept longer, but Mom was singing again. When she poured my coffee she started to say something. I cut her off. “Mom, you’re cheerful this morning. That makes me happy and I don’t need any details of why. I think Mark is a good man, so do everything possible you need to do to keep him. Enjoy the moment and if it turns into more, I will be as pleased as you.”

“Thank you Jason, I knew you would feel that way. How are you getting along with Sarah?”

“Fine I think. I’m driving up to have dinner with her parents. I talked a minute with Ruby last night. I think she trusts Sarah to pick her own friends. She was more concerned about Tim and quizzed me about Prissy Adams. I built Prissy up and have no regrets about doing it. Tim and Prissy would make a nice couple.”

“That’s good, Jase. Be loyal to your friends.”


Chapter Seven

Dinner was one of those “And what are your prospects, young man” type of dinners. In a way I didn’t blame John Bernhardt. He had a lovely and very rich daughter and she was hanging out with a young man with an unknown future. I took it for awhile---all the questions that got answered, but never what he was searching for.

Finally I said, “Mr. Bernhardt, you are trying to find out what kind of a person I am. Sarah probably knows more about me than I do about her. I do know that she is beautiful. I know she does some dumb things sometimes, but also doesn’t mind going about to correct them, either. The people here in town say she is richer than God. That is good and I’m glad, but that is her business and not mine. Money gives a person certain advantages that others might not have.

“If Sarah and I should happen to become more than friends and I couldn’t provide her some luxury that she wanted, I would expect her to buy it for herself. Other than that I feel I can certainly provide for her needs and any children we might have. I plan on having a comfortable lifestyle and I know I can provide one. I admit that this Aunt Nellie thing has distracted me from setting up my business as fast as I thought it would come together, but I have spent some time with this beautiful little rich girl. I think I have been able to prevent her from being taken advantage of. Even with all that I continue to make contacts. I have had seven individual completed orders done and several more that are coming together.

“The last three weeks have been interesting and exciting for both of us and has drawn us together pretty fast. Do I want to step back from her? No not at all. You can’t imagine how pleased I was to have you at the dance last night just so I could see Sarah again this soon. Then she invited me here today, which gives me hope she is starting to have some feelings for me as well.”

John’s face was getting very red. I knew he wasn’t listening to me. Ruby laid a hand on his arm to calm him, but he wasn’t deterred. “Young man, you are descended from a goddamned pirate and a woman that spread her legs for a tavern keeper. I can’t even think of you courting my daughter.”

“I’ll let that pass for the moment and ask you a question. Is your birthday on January 10, 1964, and were you born in Meridian, Connecticut? Was your father’s name Samuel, born January 27, 1932, in Springfield, Massachusetts? And was your grandfather’s name Jonathan who you were named after as John? He that was born in September, 1901 in Claremont, New Hampshire?”

John stared at me wondering where this was going, especially when I had his and his father and grandfather’s names and birth dates correct. I winked at Sarah, who asked, “Dad, was there ever an Ezekial in our family ancestry?”

“Yes there was. My grandfather had a brother of that name. I suppose Jason would know that too?”

“I do, he was six years older than your grandfather.”

Sarah was about rolling on the floor she was laughing so hard. Catching her breath she stated to her father, “Daddy I think Jason has better lineage than we do. Your great-grandmother many times removed was less than a faithful wife. She was married to one brother and was servicing the other two, keeping it from her husband. I suspect no one ever knew which brother was the father of her children. Am I right, Jason?”

“That’s right. The surnames switched a couple of times before the Bernhardt name came into the picture back in the 1870s. The Bakers had a strong sense of family just as the Thibadeau family did. If the journals are correct, and I have no reason to doubt them, Sarah, you are a direct descendant of Mazie Baker. So Ruth Thibadeau and Mazie Baker were sisters-in-law and that would make us distant cousins.”

“How the hell do you know all of this?”

“Aunt Nellie. She spent the last sixty years hunting down and compiling these journals from various relatives. Most of those of the Thibadeau family were at hand, but some of the family splintered off and Aunt Nellie diligently wrote letters to known family members who helped her. The information has fallen off in the last few years. For instance, Sarah and Tim are not listed in the Bernhardt family tree.

“It makes one wonder why Sarah chose the particular property here in Chester to purchase when she decided to build herself a dwelling. Another thing, why did I show up when I did? If I had come here a day later, Sarah would have given up and gone back to Connecticut. Is it God that moved us into these positions so we could find each other? Not to be blasphemous, but why would God bother himself with insignificant Jason Thibadeau and Sarah Bernhardt?

“I would rather think God gave Aunt Nellie a penance. She was burdened with life that was beyond what she thought she could bear. She took the quick and easy way out by killing her husband. To make up for that, God left her on earth a long time to pay for this sin. Still a good woman, he charged her with the task of finding an unlikely couple and throwing them together into situations where they would fall in love and have the happy life that was denied her.”

I looked at Sarah. I saw puzzlement and wonder in her eyes. I continued, “I don’t know where that theory or the words came from, but Sarah, I think I just said I love you.” I was waiting for her reaction.

“Wow! Jason, we have wasted three weeks of our life together. I knew that first afternoon together I could fall in love with you.”

“I had the same feeling at the same time.”

“But what would have happened if I had missed you and gone back to Connecticut?”

“When and if you had tried to sell the property and a good in-depth title search was conducted, you would have found that someone else had title to it. You would have had to meet with that person to resolve the issue.”

“But I paid a lot of money for the property.”

“Yes, but the person you bought it from did not own it. It wasn’t theirs to sell.”

Sarah puckered up as if to cry. “Can I get my money back?”

“Only through the courts.”

“You mean that Aunt Nellie’s plan to get us together almost failed by just an hour or so?”

“Close and inconvenient, yes, but Aunt Nellie had a backup plan to see that we came together at some point.” I reached into my jacket and pulled out the packet that held copies of the original deed, the mineral rights and the lease agreement that charged whoever held the land to pay taxes. “You would have had to meet,” I paused, “with me.”

The whole Bernhardt family looked at me with disbelief. “That is why, Sarah, I didn’t want to do the title search. You would have thought I was trying to put something over on you. I still want your father to perform the title search just to prove that I do have ownership. Who knows when the mistake in ownership occurred? Maybe in the last century? If I don’t have clear title, I will pay his people for the trouble myself.”

John Bernhardt sat at the table with his head sunk on his chest, contemplating. Finally he raised his head. “Sarah, this is all bullshit. This guy has to be a con artist. If he had come in with half his supporting evidence and coincidences, I might have believed him. He has blown it by having too much. Jason, I’m going to have to ask you to leave. Sarah, you sit right there until he goes.”

Sarah wasn’t the only one shocked by what her father said. Tim looked at his father as if he was crazy. Ruby was looking at her husband in disbelief. Tears were in Sarah’s eyes and then she got angry. “Dad, you are wrong. What about the thousands of dollars he has saved me? What about me being a plaything for the town that went away when he appeared in my life? What about Jane, his mother? Is she in on this so-called con? You danced with the bank president’s wife last night. Were she and he both in on it? You say bullshit. Well I say bullshit to you, too. If Jason leaves, then I go with him.”

“Leave, then, but someday you’ll see that I am right. Remember I still control your inheritance. As long as you are with him, no more money.”

Sarah followed me up to the cashier where I paid for my dinner. It took quite a few minutes for her to separate my bill from John’s, but I insisted. Sarah stood clutching my arm until I was able to pay my tab. We could look back at the table where Ruby and Tim were arguing with John. Tim approached as we were going out the door. “I’m staying with Sarah.”

“No. Let’s sit in my van and talk a bit.” When we got in Sarah leaned over and kissed me. Tim slid into the back seat. I turned so I could face both of them. “I know you two believe me, but your father doesn’t. I won’t come between you and your father. Sarah, I’ll give you these papers, just to show you how much I care for you.”

“No, that would be giving in to Daddy and he is wrong.”

“What are we going to do then?”

“Jason, I still want my little house where the tavern stood. I’ll make Daddy and Mom stay another night and tomorrow I’ll fix up the accounts and mail them to you so you have the authority to build my house. I’ll go back to Connecticut with them for the next few months. The cabin was promised to be completed by the contractor by the second week in December. I’ll meet you there and we will have Christmas together. In the meantime, I will work to change Daddy’s mind. Things will work out, they just have to.”

“That’s over four months from now. I have to see you before then.”

“You will, silly. When Daddy calms down, he’ll wonder if he did the right thing. Besides Mom is on our side and with her helping, that is a battle half won. I’ll be in touch by cell phone. We will meet, I promise.”

Sarah and I kissed and she went to sit in her car. Tim, reluctantly got out of my van. “This isn’t going to spoil my chances with Prissy is it?”

“I wouldn’t think so, but you might want to keep it low-key around your father. Again, your mother is on your side. She asked me about Prissy. I convinced her she would be good for you.”

“God, I could kiss you myself.” He went over and sat with Sarah. I started my van and as I pulled away, I saw John and Ruby come out and head for Sarah’s car. Ruby gave me a little wave while John ignored me.

***************

No word from Sarah that night or the next. UPS delivered a packet to me with authorization to see to all phases of the house construction. In it she informed me by note, that she had talked to her contractor and told him I was her representative.

Thursday evening I had my first contact with Sarah when she called. “Hi Jason. Are you sorry you got mixed up with me?”

“No, of course not. How are things with your parents?”

“Daddy is extra sweet to me. He keeps watching me because he can’t believe I gave in so easily to him. Mom is---well just Mom. She is the same all the time. He knows I’m going to inherit from his mother in another eighteen months anyway. He has control of Gram’s money until then. He has never used that threat before and is afraid he went too far with making it. He does love me and wants the best for me. I guess I shouldn’t have invited you to dinner, but I thought you and Dad would get along better. Instead it all went wrong. I’m sorry.”

“It will work out. Do you miss me?”

“I feel about the same as you do.”

“That bad, huh?”

Sarah giggled. “Yes.” And then she burst out laughing which in turn set me off. When she stopped, she started talking about the journals. “Jase, you said you had some family trees that Aunt Nellie compiled. Would you send me copies? I want to leave them out where Daddy can see them. He is so stubborn, I know I can’t confront him directly. I brought the other journals home and I study them in the evening while he is in the same room with me. He asked me what I was doing, and I said I was researching them and might write a book.

“He uttered two words, ‘freakin fiction’ and went back to reading his paper. I left an outline that I had written on the table and I think he read it for the papers were disturbed when I looked at them later. I’m working on Mazie and Ezekial Baker right now. I don’t know how Mazie’s diary came to be in with the others. Sometimes while reading it, it makes me feel as if I was right there with her and she was talking to me instead of her diary. Dad is bound to be interested. Pretty neat, don’t you think?”

“I do. But then I have come to expect it from the one I love.”

“Jase, are you sure about what you are saying? I’d die if you didn’t mean it.”

“Why?”

“Because I love you, dummy. Reason enough? Jason, I have a question. If I arranged to see a friend of mine that I went to Smith with, could you drive down to Northampton to see me sometime? She is on the faculty there.”

“Just say the word.”

“Good. Dad will be checking up on me, I’m sure, by calling Sandy, but he wouldn’t have to know you are there too.”

“That’s sneaky.”

“I know and I’m twenty-three and shouldn’t have to sneak around, but Daddy has brought this on himself. Of course I could go the route that Ruth and the original Jason Thibadeau did.”

“I don’t think that would be a good idea.” I paused, excited about the prospect of making love to Sarah---but? “Sarah, we haven’t known each other long enough to take our love to that level yet. Let’s try to straighten this out with your father first. When I make love to you, I want the way open for it to lead somewhere. Right now, your father is in the way, but someday he will come around.”

“Someday I’m going to tell Daddy I offered myself to you and you turned me down just because of him.”

“Okay, but wait until I have asked for your hand and he agrees it is a good idea that we get married.”

“I bet the original Jason wouldn’t have waited.”

“I know, but Ruth didn’t have a father watching out for his daughter.”

“Lucky her.” Our conversation went on for another half hour before we hung up.


Chapter Eight

Mark Fisher came in to see Mom while I was talking to Sarah. It finally dawned on me that he was waiting to speak to me as well. I said I love you to Sarah and hung up. I turned to Mark. “What’s up?”

“Something you ought to know, Jason. There is a private investigator in town checking up on you. Have you noticed an elderly gentleman watching you? He is tall and maybe sixty. He wears a suit and has a gray mustache. You remember Jack who helped me with the remains over on Canal Street? He noticed that this car was following you and yesterday while you were getting lunch, Jack got into a conversation with him and found out he is a private investigator. I just thought I would pass it along to you.”

“Thanks, that would be John Bernhardt’s doing. I don’t mind and in fact it might even help me with Sarah. How are you and Mom doing?”

“We are fine. In fact we are doing great. I really like your mother a lot.”

“That’s just about the same words Mom said when I asked her about you. I’m glad you two found each other.” Mark smiled all over when he heard this.

Work was beginning to trickle in from the contacts I had put out. I was spending day-times inspecting property and working nights doing the paperwork. Tomorrow, I was going up to Chester to check on the progress of Sarah’s cabin. I hoped to be back by noon, as I had a title search to perform at the town clerk’s office. I watched my rear view mirror and sure enough a car followed me onto the thruway and got off at the same exit. It followed through Chester and onto Popple Dungeon Road. The driver hesitated when I turned onto the Old Stage Road. After I finished my business with the carpenter and turned back towards Chester, it was behind me again, but far back.

The car passed me on the thruway, but didn’t get too far ahead. I was able to pass it before I got to the first Brattleboro exit, the driver made sure of that. I pulled into McDonalds and went inside. The place was packed and I had to wait for a table. When one freed up he was behind me waiting too. I turned to him and said I’d share my table if he didn’t mind eating with a stranger. He grabbed at the invite.

General conversation brought out that he was in town for a few days. I learned that his name was Peter Smith and that was about all. I talked about myself, telling him about setting up my business and how I had a girl I thought the world of. I said she was out of town for a little bit, but I hoped we would get together soon.

He made the comment that the town didn’t have too many things to do. “Oh, I wouldn’t say that. I always go to a dance Friday night. In fact I’m going tonight. I have a bunch of girls that treat me real nice. They are always disappointed if I don’t go. Say, you wouldn’t like to go with me, would you? I can get you someone to dance with after we get there.”

Peter fell all over himself in taking me up on my offer. I let slip where I was going to be this afternoon and tomorrow as well. I think he thought his job was immeasurably easier. I gave him directions to the Country Club and went down to the town offices to work.

When I got home, Mom said Sarah had called and left a message for me to meet her early tomorrow in Northampton. I called her at her friend’s to confirm and she said no matter what time I got there to knock and she would let me in. I sat and thought how I was going to work this to get away from Peter. I made a call to Sheila to set my plan in motion.

I rode with Mom and Mark and Peter was waiting near the entrance when we arrived. I introduced him to my mother and asked her to introduce him to her friends. Sheila was waiting when we walked in and Mom put the two of them together. By the time happy hour was over, Peter was real happy. Dinner was excellent as always and Peter couldn’t believe his luck. He was on the job tracking me and he was having a good time as well. He thought he knew where I was going to be tomorrow and he might even get lucky tonight.

Everyone was friendly to Peter and our whole crowd was aware of what he was doing in town. Sheila was having trouble keeping Peter to herself, for seventy-five-year-old Amy was giving her a lot of competition. Mark, Mom and I left early, about ten. No way was Peter going to get away to follow me. I took Mom’s vehicle and headed south reaching the place where Sarah was staying shortly after midnight. She met me at the door.

Just seeing her was enough. We didn’t tempt each other when we lay on the bed. We both kept our clothes on, but we did do a lot of kissing. Well maybe our hands wandered a little, but mostly we just feasted our eyes on each other. Finally, both of us tired, we spooned together and fell asleep. Sarah was my treasure and I was holding her in my arms. I awoke to little kisses all over my face, which I soon returned.

The phone rang at eight and it was John checking on Sarah. She didn’t have to tell any lies for he didn’t ask the right questions. I explained about her father hiring an investigator to watch me which made Sarah angry at her father. “What I should do is get knocked up and not tell him. I would get bigger and bigger right in front of him and when it was confirmed, I wouldn’t tell him who the father is.”

I laughed at her angry countenance. “He just loves you, that’s all. He’ll come around. By the time he gets the report from Peter, he’ll think I’m just the person you ought to marry. Honest, my business is taking off. I’m thinking of hiring a secretary to do some of the paperwork.” I was smirking.

“Anyone in mind for the job?” Sarah was thinking I was referring to her.

“Umm, yes actually. I think Sheila would fit the bill. She is the typical grandmother type and she has so much to offer. What do you think?”

“No way! It is me or nobody.”

After breakfast we had a serious talk about the property on Canal Street. Should I keep it and return it to its previous splendor? We didn’t have to decide today, but we both were leaning toward it. I questioned whether the grisly history of the place would bother Sarah. “No, not at all. In fact that just adds to the charm. Something to tell our six kids, you know.”

“Six? Where did you get that idea?”

“That’s what Ruth had and I am a Baker from way back.”

“True. Those journals come alive for you just as they do for me, don’t they?”

“Yes, and I think my father is getting interested too. I leave my notes lying around. That reminds me, did you bring those family trees with you?”

“Yes, how are you going to explain it if he sees you with them? He will know you and I have been in contact.”

“He may know but he won’t be able to say anything, because then I will know he has been prying in my papers.”

“God I hate to leave you, you seem so far away.”

“I know, but it will be worth it as soon as Daddy comes around.”

“That reminds me, Peter is going to be checking up on me by this afternoon. I will have to get back.” It took several kisses before I was able to break free and head north. I hummed a love song all the way home.

**************

I had a short message from Sheila when I got home. “Jase, just to let you know, I let a room out to your Peter Smith. He took it for a week. He really is a pretty nice person. If he wasn’t investigating you, I might make a play for him. He is almost as lonely as I am.”

“God Sheila, go for it. I liked him too. The only time I will want him distracted is when I want to see Sarah. I saw her last night and we are keeping it quiet so Peter can turn in his report and Papa won’t be the wiser. You make sure Peter treats you right and if he doesn’t you let me know. I owe you one already.”

“One what?”

“Favor.”

“Okay, just checking.” Sheila would never pass up a chance to flirt.

I went to sleep early tonight. I had danced last evening and then driven more than an hour to meet Sarah. Didn’t get much sleep after I reached her, either. Morning found a job posted on my answering service. The details were given, so I went right from home to the site. Peter was behind me although I wouldn’t have seen him if I wasn’t looking.

McDonalds for lunch and there was Peter. I invited him to sit with me. He had news---or so he thought. “Guess what Jason. I’ve taken a room with your friend Sheila. She is the nicest person I’ve met in a long while. Tell me about her.”

“Well, she was a librarian, retired now of course. You probably noticed she is fairly well endowed. Also how she flirts with everyone. She has been like that for three generations of young men, me included. I don’t know who coined the phrase ‘horny Sheila with the big tits,’ but it has stuck to her. She knows people call her that and it is a term of affection for the whole town. If anyone took her seriously and harmed her in any way, someone would take that person to task. Actually it was a sad day for the young people when she retired. The library has stopped being a hangout for the youth now that she isn’t there. She was a confidant to the girls and she explained things they needed to know about sex as they reached puberty. She kept the library stocked with a whole section for the young people growing up with need-to-know stuff.

“I know when my first girlfriend dumped me, I was crushed. Sheila asked me what was the matter when I came in so dejected. She listened, and just said, ‘Well that happens all the time. Look at Carol, the same thing has happened to her. Why don’t you go sympathize with her?’ I did and Carol and I were a couple for the next two school years.”

“Kind of a mentor for the young people, you mean.”

“I guess you could call it that. Say, what are you doing this afternoon? I’ve got a house inspection. You can tag along if you want. I usually only do one a day, but if I can get another one done today, I can work up the paperwork on both when I get home tonight.”

“How come you are working so hard?”

“I’ll tell you a secret. I’m interested in a woman I met a few weeks ago. She is interested in me too. The problem lies with her rich old man. He thinks I’m after his daughter’s money and I want to be able to go to him as owner of a good strong business when I ask him for her hand. I want to be able to give her a good life on my own and I know I can. I’ve met both him and her mother and I could get to like them both. It is taking him a little longer to get comfortable with me.”

“Why don’t you just go off and get married? She must be of age.”

“She is, but if I live with her for the rest of my life, I want to be friends with her father and mother. When I get married I want happiness to stretch out into the future as far as I can see. It wouldn’t happen if he and I were at cross purposes.”

“That’s pretty sensible.”

“He loves his daughter and is just protecting her, so I don’t fault him for that. Most people would be glad their girlfriend has money, but in this case it is keeping us apart, so I’m having to work a little harder to win him over. She is worth it, so I don’t mind. I’m confident it will turn out right. We aren’t even looking at what will happen if it doesn’t.”

“Well if he isn’t blind, it sounds like a good plan that will work for you.”

Peter Smith rode with me, watched me work, ate when I ate and listened to me talk about my ancestors. Talking about family came about when he overheard me talking with my lawyer about the deeds to the property I inherited. I had to explain how this complicated matters with my girl. How I felt the land she bought was mine, and it had been sold by someone who probably thought it was his to sell, but wasn’t.

“My girl isn’t bothered about not having clear title and we know if we marry it won’t matter that much. I have a wish that her father will do an in-depth title search---one that I have refused to do. This is another thing that I want clear in his mind before I ask for Sarah’s hand.”

Peter hung out with me all week. As time went by, he pried the story of my life out of me. He was much interested in Priscilla Adams when I mentioned her. I’m sure everything I said would get back to John in Peter’s report. He spent evenings with Sheila, feeling sure I was tied up making out my inspection reports. Sarah called me every evening as we thought it best for her to do the contacting. I wouldn’t call, for with my luck, I would reach John and not Sarah.

Thursday, Sarah stated that she was coming up to go to the dance with me. Her father wouldn’t like it, but she just had to see me. Besides she wanted to see the progress on the cabin, see Etta and visit with my mother. I suggested she bring her mother. “You and I aren’t going to be doing anything that will bother her.”

“Aw shucks!”

Sarah arrived in the middle of the afternoon on Friday, she had her mother with her. Not bashful around her mother, she clung to me for a very passionate kiss. Ruby just smiled and smiled even more when I kissed her on the cheek.

Mom invited the two to change clothes at our house for the dinner and dance. Sarah changed in my room. She had on a more conservative gown this time, but she still was a vision. She was in gold and off-white tonight. I didn’t recognize the material, but it was shimmery and felt like liquid mercury. Ruby was beautiful in the same style dress, but hers was blue with gold accents.

I watched Ruby closely as Peter and Sheila entered. Ruby definitely knew Peter although they took great pains to not let on. Most telling was when Peter asked Ruby to dance, he talked to her non-stop for the whole set. When I danced with Ruby later I asked, “So did I pass?”

Ruby looked at me. “What do you mean?”

“The investigation that Peter has been doing---with me as the subject.”

Ruby studied me intently, then confessed. “I told John you would find out and it would backfire. How long did it take for you to get on to him?”

“Just a couple of days after he reached town. One of the policemen gave me a heads-up. I figured your husband would do something like this so I wasn’t surprised.”

“I suppose this will turn you against John, won’t it?”

“No. Look, I know John is just trying to protect Sarah. I could wish that he had someone watching her when she first came to Vermont. That was the time she needed protecting. I’ve made it as easy for Peter as I could. I think I’ve made a friend of him. There was only one time when there was any duplicity. The rest of the time what he writes in his report is just the way it was.”

“What was the duplicity?”

“Sarah and I spent one night together and before you ask, no we weren’t intimate. We will be sometime, but we aren’t ready yet. I want John to look on me as a good prospect for a son-in-law. Having sex with Sarah at this point would only complicate matters.”

“You are an unusual man and Sarah is a beautiful desirable woman. What is holding you back?”

“Sarah and I have a lot of common ancestors and we are slowly reading their words and thoughts. Both of us feel they are talking directly to us. Sarah is into this more than I am, for she has more time to delve into the journals. We talk almost every day and she keeps me abreast of what happened decades and centuries ago. I have only the last three-quarter century to read about, but it is slow going for me.”

“Why is that?”

“It will be in Peter’s report. I’m trying to show John I can support Sarah and don’t need her money. It won’t be long before I’m going to ask him if Sarah and I can date openly with the ultimate goal of getting married. Sarah and I have both had relationships. We feel that was just marking time until someone put us together. Whether it was our ancestors or God’s plan, we have no way of knowing. But we are both committed now, and we are almost ready to fulfill our destiny.”

“I can see you have given this a lot of thought and you are very persuasive. I’m inclined to agree with you. John isn’t totally against you either. That is why I’m up here with Sarah, to take a real hard look at you. You and she have done just right with the way you have handled this situation, by not fighting John which would have made him stubborn. John is actually a pretty decent person and will make you a very good father-in-law.”

“I get the feeling that you approve of me?”

“Yes, and I have since I first met you. Some of it of course has to do with Tim. Also, this Prissy being as beautiful as she is, when she came up to see you, I imagine if you had given her an opening, she would be in your bed. And I don’t fault her for that either. She evidently has had some feeling for you for a period of time. You have come off as being honest with everyone and that counts for a lot with me. It isn’t everyone that could keep all their friends in a like situation.”

“I think I’m going to love having you for a mother-in-law.” We finished the set and I waltzed her back to our table.

Mom came over and whispered, “Jase, I have a problem. Mark would like me to stay at his house tonight. Will that make me a poor hostess?”

“No, they are my guests. I’ll just say you gave up your bed tonight so I wouldn’t have to sleep on the couch. Nothing more needs to be said. I’ll be happy, you’ll be happy, and I’m sure Mark will be very happy.”

“I’ll see that he is.”

When we reached home, Mom came in and packed an overnight bag and drove away. Ruby was to sleep in my mother’s bed. I had my own and Sarah was to have the spare. Sarah went into her bedroom first and Ruby soon retired. I locked up and went to my room. I had just disrobed when my door opened and Sarah, in her nightgown, stood there looking at me. I dove for my pajama bottoms as Sarah giggled. “Chicken.”

I finally got them on, almost falling over in the process. “I’m sleeping with you tonight and the definitive word is sleeping. It was mother’s idea. Are you okay with that?”

“You bet!” We did sleep after awhile and well, too. The sun was up when we came awake. Ruby had hunted around and found coffee makings---the tantalizing smell wafting through the house.

“I thought I was going to have to wake you,” Ruby said as I was kissing Sarah awake. “Sarah, you better muss your bed up so Jason’s mom won’t know where you slept last night.”

“Don’t bother Sarah. I don’t hide anything from Mom.”

***************

We chose Bickfords for breakfast. Sheila and Peter Smith were just getting out of his car when we arrived. We sat together and bantered back and forth. Peter insisted on paying the tab for all of us. We discussed what our plans for the day were. Sarah wanted to see her property in Chester of course. She and I went in my van. There wasn’t room in my van for all so Sheila and Ruby rode in Peter’s car.

It was just after eleven when we pulled into the cabin. Sarah was excited. The cabin was taking shape. The building was framed and the roof had been sheathed. The window openings were in waiting for the units and the front door had been installed. Ruby and Sheila wandered up the wooded knoll behind the cabin. Sarah went all over the cabin inch by inch.

Suddenly we heard a scream from the direction the two older ladies had taken. Sarah, the fastest, headed up the hill with me and Peter close behind. We met Sheila who breathlessly explained. “Ruby fell into a big hole. She just stepped off to the left of where we were going and the ground gave way. I heard a big splash.”

Sarah’s face was white. We only had a few more feet to go when we reached the sight of the mishap. There was a round hole a little more than six feet across. Apparently this was a well that had been covered. Moss had grown over it so it became almost indistinguishable from the surrounding soil. I cautiously peered over the side and I could see Ruby about eight feet down in water. She was clinging to the side of the well staring up at us scared, but not panicked. “Get me out of here. It’s awful cold.”

“Ruby, can you hang on until we get Rescue? It’ll take awhile for them to get here.” Peter had his cell out and was dialing.

“I think so. I hurt my left shoulder and that arm is numb.”

“Okay, give me a few minutes.” I turned to Sheila. “Sheila and Peter, you keep talking to Ruby. Sarah and I will get the ladder off my van and some rope. I won’t be able to get her out, but I can get down to her and keep her company until help arrives.” Sarah and I set off running for the van. I had a twenty-foot extension ladder I used for house inspections. When we reached the van I unslung the ladder, retrieved a coil of rope from the interior, and picked up a 2x6. I put the rope over my shoulder and with Sarah on one end of the ladder and the timber and I on the other end, we ran back to the well.

When we got there, Peter said Rescue was on its way. I asked Sheila to go down to the cabin and direct them when they arrived. Peter stayed on the phone repeating the directions as often as they were asked. I pulled the ladder apart and laid one section across the opening. With the remaining section, I slipped the 2x6 through one rung and lowered the ladder into the well. It hung from the 2x6 which stretched across beside the first section. I climbed down to her to find tears of gladness shining on her face. The lower end of the ladder was two feet below the surface of the water. “Hi, Sweetie pie. This is the last time I’m going swimming with you.”

“Damn it Jason, hug me, I’m so cold. I lost my dress. Something snagged on it and ripped most of it off me when I fell in. It was caught and if I hadn’t got free of it I would be down there under water.”

I hugged my future mother-in-law to me to warm her. Any other time but this it would have been immensely pleasurable. I was able to stop her from shivering quite so violently.

“Mom, are you okay?”

“I’m fine. I’m practically naked and I’ve got a hot young man in my arms. What more could this forty-five-year-old lady ask for?”

“What do you mean you’re naked?”

“My dress tore off when I fell in.” Just then Peter said the dispatch had reported the fire department and Rescue were turning onto Popple Dungeon Road. It shouldn’t be long now before they arrived.

“Sarah, would you run down to my van and get my shop coat? Your Mom is going to want something to put on as soon as she is out of here.” Ruby whispered something to me. I laughed and she would have swatted me if she could have. “It is illegal to do that in a swimming pool, but I think under the circumstances you are entitled.”

“You won’t tell a soul, will you?”

“No.” We clung to each other. Even I was getting very chilled and now Ruby had been in the water a half hour longer than me. Finally we heard people coming and the skyline was ringed with heads looking down on us.

The fire chief asked, “How deep is the well?”

No one knew. We could hear a discussion going on, but nothing was happening. I shouted. “Chief, we have to get her out of here. Listen, send down a loop in my rope. I’ll wrap the rope around Mrs. Bernhardt and bind her to the ladder rungs. There are enough of you guys to lift the ladder and her right up out of here. Just leave a rope for me to hang on to. She has a injured shoulder and her dress was ripped off of her, so she needs care, both physically and to prevent as much embarrassment as possible.”

The rope came down and five minutes later Ruby was on her way out of this hole. In ten minutes I was on solid ground myself. The ambulance with Ruby in it was headed for Springfield, with Sarah riding with her. Peter and Sheila stood watching the vehicle leave. I spoke to Peter. “I think you better call John and inform him about Ruby. Tell him she will be fine and not to rush up here and endanger himself. Let him know Sarah is with her.”

Sheila broke in, “And tell him that Jason is a bona fide hero for keeping her from more danger after the fall. Tell him it was Jason who figured how to get her out of there the quickest and with the least trouble.”

“Peter, leave me out of it. We had a problem, we solved the problem and no one got too badly hurt.”

Peter was looking exasperated. “Why are you leaving this up to me? Why do you think I should be the one to call him?”

“Because you are who you are. Sheila knows, Sarah knows, and I’ve known since an hour after you identified yourself to one of the policemen when you first hit town. This hasn’t compromised your investigation one little bit. What you report to John is just the way it is. The only thing different is your report may be a little more detailed than it would have been if I hadn’t made things easy for you. You make the call and then we will go over to the hospital and find out what Ruby’s injuries are and you can call John again from there.”

I carried two more 2x6s up to the well. The two ladder sections and the three timbers pretty much covered the opening, at least enough to prevent anyone from falling in. Returning I locked my van and we went the dozen miles to the Springfield hospital in Peter’s car. He didn’t say what he told John. John would be up this evening. “When you update Ruby’s condition ask him to come to Brattleboro. Sarah will be with me at my house.”

Ruby was in very good condition. Her shoulder carried a very bad bruise, but nothing was broken and the prognosis was that with light therapy, she would regain all feeling in her arm from a pinched nerve. Immediately I wished I had driven my van to Springfield, but I was able to catch one of the fire rescue crew and he agreed to give me a ride back to Chester. I headed for home to let my mother know what was going on.

Mom had a garbled version already. My name had been repeated several times over Mutual Aid and the scanner we always had on. She was very relieved when I arrived, and asked for details about the accident. When I told her I had invited the Bernhardt family to stay overnight, she again thought that was a good idea. Mom set about getting the house ready. An hour later, Ruby arrived and twenty minutes later John pulled in. Ruby had been lightly sedated and was a little groggy.

Things got off to a rocky start, mostly because John had concerns for his wife and her health. For some reason, John, in his mind, blamed me for the debacle. That created a firestorm from both Sarah and Ruby. Sarah asserted vehemently, “Daddy, I love Jason and we are going to be married someday soon. I don’t care about Grandma’s inheritance and all the money you have settled on me you can have back. So there!”

Ruby added her thoughts. “John, you listen to me. I fell in a well and was hurt. I was within a few minutes of saying to hell with it and letting myself sink. Jason gave me hope and figured out how to get down and help me hold on until help arrived to rescue me. He even told them how to do it. Another thing, this young man held me in his arms, keeping me warm from the coldest water I have ever been in---and I was naked or almost so. He also saved me from embarrassment for he made sure I was well covered when I came up out of that hole in front of an untold number of rescue workers. So don’t be an ass. Beg him to marry our daughter and be glad I’m here to tell you to do it.”

John flicked a glance at me and then back at his wife. “You look as if you could fall in love with him.”

“I could if I didn’t love you or if he didn’t love Sarah, but I do and he does. Be friends, please.”

John Bernhardt turned gracious and came to me and shook my hand, hugged me and thanked me for what I had done for his wife. Two months later he escorted Sarah down the aisle and into my life for years to come.

Epilogue

This is a story of my and Sarah’s romance, but it was a story of others too. Mom and Mark’s. They fell in love and married shortly after Sarah and I did. Tim and Prissy married and we are best friends. Oh, and Sheila and Peter, they never married, but were definitely a couple until she passed away.

Hammond Struthers was there for me when I needed permits to turn the Canal Street property into a dance studio. The top floor in the attic where murder was committed, has become the learners’ studio. The waltzes and two-steps and quadrilles are taught and practiced there and then danced in the ballroom on the second floor. Once a month Hammond and his friends take over the ballroom and dance to the strains of different ensembles he engages so the old time dances are not just a memory.

Sarah and I purchased my mother’s house and we live there and will until our family gets too large. Sarah’s cabin is our second home away from home. The well that figured so prominently in bringing John to look on me as his son-in-law, has been cleaned and enclosed and is the source water for the cabin. For some reason Ruby will never drink from it.

Sarah and I are co-authors of a book on “Thibadeau the Pirate” and his various descendants. The publishing house has ordered quite a large first printing and thinks the book has all the makings of being picked up by Hollywood.

Aunt Nellie, who was the sad, lonely, unhappy one in life, collected and kept the journals and murdered for them. This is really her story and Sarah and I fully intended to name the book after her. I awoke one morning about two, bathed in sweat from a dream I was having. Sarah, already awake, claimed to have had a similar dream where a woman dressed as a witch informed her it was best that a book not have Nellie in the title. My dream was more explicit with Nellie talking to me and calling me by name and saying much the same.

Is Aunt Nellie still with us, watching over us Thibadeaus? I believe so!

The End
              Be sure to read Thibadeau the Pirate (The Early Years) as this tells how and why Jason gets to Vermont