Family Reunion (20 page)

Later that morning, Hope and Joseph left, returning to their room to get some rest. Manny went to his cabin office and finished the payroll, afterwards he left it to his son and Leon to take care of, so that he could get some rest, which wasn't easy despite him being up all night. His mind kept trying to figure out clues and means in which he might be successful in finding Lena. Here he was, with all of their children surrounding him and no matter how elated he was to have them back, without her, the complete satisfaction he craved was not there.

He lay with his hands clasped behind his head, staring at the ceiling and finally closed his eyes knowing sleep was essential for clear thinking and productive planning. After rest, he would gather a few of his crewmen who hung out at the docks to locate Derek Greyson.
'You yellow bellied bastard! You moved on me…that's okay.'
He thought turning over, feeling sleep creep up on him.
'I'll find you, I'll find you! And when I do, you're gonna take a bribe and tell me what it is I need to know, and if that doesn't work, then I'll throw caution to the wind, revert back a few years, and beat the hell out of you.'
A wide yawn brought a sleepy tear to his eye and he was fast asleep.

* * *

"Now what?" Mike asked later that day as he, Leon, Joe, and Hope met up again. Manny sat at his desk thinking to himself, and then answered. "We wait until they bring me information about Clarence Winston. I remember there were two men who came to Webster Fields for her; all I know is that they were called Casey and Pearson. Whoever it was that sent them for her, has hired Clarence Winston to find her because they somehow lost her. So until Clarence Winston is found, there's nothing we can really do. I just wish I knew exactly where it was they’d lost her. Once we have the state or city where I think she escaped from his men then we can go about there searching for her."

"How long have you been looking daddy?" Hope asked.

"Since I returned to find you two missing. My mistake was giving up
the search because I'd given up hope. There's no chance of that happening again, now that I have you and Mike back, I can't stop until I find her."

"What do the two men that took her look like?" asked Mike.

"I never saw them son. By the time I returned, they had disappeared just as she had. I looked for them in vain." Manny returned.

"Why did they choose her to take in the first place?" Joe asked.

"I don't know the answer to that yet." Manny answered.

Leon took a deep breath and spoke up saying. "I know." They all looked at him. "You know, how, since when?" Manny questioned.

"Since last night, I spent the evening at South end, Mattalaine's. While I was there, a few of the sailors who were heavy into the bottle started discussing something about a treasure and how they were considering taking a stake in trying to find it. An argument erupted when one of the men called another stupid because if the white man with the money couldn't find her, how in the hell was a poor tar nigger-..." Manny cleared his throat at that, "…-I'm just telling you as it came to me." Leon informed him.

"Has this to do with my mother? If so, why'd you wait so long to tell us?" Mike asked.

"I came in this morning with the plan of telling you but when I saw Hope, it left my mind and we were all engrossed into other things. Knowing we'd get together now, I waited." Leon explained.

"Never mind that, what does a treasure have to do with Lena?" Manny asked sitting forward in his seat.

"The treasure, I came to find out after the heat died down was offered for the return of her, who happens to be, Princess Ceś alena."

Manny could only stare at him dumbfounded for a second. Hope covered her mouth stunned as everyone grew quiet. "But who? Who besides my father knew that our mother was a Princess?"

"Her father ...King LuMaden."

"King LuMaden? Oh my God." Manny repeated feeling nauseated. "I remember now. The men who searched for her said that they were sent by her father to find her."

"Her father?! My mother's father?" Hope questioned astounded.

"From what I could gather last night, he offered treasures from his Island to anyone who would return his daughter to him. Derek Greyson is the man-…"

"Derek Greyson!?" Manny repeated. "I bought two of his ships! I helped fund that bastard in his search!"

"Where is he?" Mike asked, getting hyped.

"Gone." Manny steamed. "I bought out his business. Ramsey Fleets
will be going up where his offices once were. It's where all of my offices will be moving to upon completion of the changes I'm having made. I will no longer occupy the office where
you
no longer work, young lady."

"Oh…it breaks my heart to think I'll have to quit from there." Hope replied sarcastically.

"I don't want to hear this. I want to know where he is to find my mother!" Mike interrupted growing agitated. "So if he can no longer be found at that business, where is his home?"

"I don't know." Manny admitted. "Leon, go on…finish telling us what you’ve learned."

"Not much else to tell… His men found her and lost her."

"Do you think it's possible that her father has her? Maybe someone else found her and returned her to him?" Mike thought aloud.

"No." Manny stated surely.

"What do you mean no! Why not?" Mike asked.

"He's right." Leon spoke up before Manny could give his reasons.

"The offer of the reward is still open and unclaimed."

Mike looked aggravated. "How do you know that?"

"Because after the bar closed Mattalaine and I...um..." He looked at Hope and swallowed, by the look on his face Hope knew. "Well go on, I am a married woman now you know!"

"Well, on occasion, I sleep over...at Mattalaine's and during the night we talked. I asked her more about what the sailors had said and she told me some had just returned from the Island where the Princess was supposedly taken. The natives there were hostile, allowing no one near their Island unless the Princess was with them. So things are still as they were. Wherever your mother is, it's not home with her father."

Mike sat back astounded. A treasure was being offered as reward for her return.

"My God," Hope voiced softly. Everyone looked to her. "I was just thinking, like we were lost to you, she was also lost to her father. Because he sought to have his daughter back, it caused you, to lose us all."

"No! Your father's wife,
Miss Katherine
was the cause of that!" Mike bit out angrily.

Manny sighed.

The others present sat stunned.

Tension in the room was building. Hope looked at her brother seeing his bone of contention with their father re-surfacing.

"I'm just
saying Mike that she was taken from Webster Fields because her father searched for her."

"I don't care about all of that. I want my mother back!"

"Son…we all do." Manny returned softly, patient with him. Mike stood from his chair in clear frustration, he began pacing and fighting his emotions. The others turned from him back to Manny, whose eyes followed his son. It was building, simmering, he could tell, he could feel it, sooner or later his son was going to explode. They were all silent in their own thoughts a moment until Manny spoke up once more saying. "Leon, I want you to get the men together, and place three to a saloon covering the entire wharf area. Since she's still being discussed here and there, I want to place ears out there to pick up on any information that might be vital until we know where to find Winston or Greyson. Joe and Mike, I want you two to make it a habit from this point on to be at Cabby's stop. Stake a place at the bar, and drop a word or two to different ones about the treasure or the Princess and see what comes back at you. You must dress in your finery, it's a gentlemen's bar."

Calming himself, Mike agreed as did Joe.

"Leon after the men are in place, you're going to become a regular at Mattalaine's. If there is more to be heard, you have to be there to hear it. As a matter of fact, I want you all to bring up Greyson and Winston in your conversations by whatever means you choose. See if anyone has a comment or gripe or anything about them. There is no more time to waste, I want her found."

Manny, Hope and Mike could feel their blood pumping with anticipation. Something was in the air and whatever it was, they could all feel it. There was a clue out there, they just had to figure out where and what it was.

* * *

In the days that followed, business went on as usual. Manny took Hope with him just about everywhere during the day, when she was not in the presence of her husband who was working along with Mike and Leon learning about the business. One afternoon, Manny took Hope and Josey to see Thomas, who was a teacher in New York now. Explaining to her how they had become fast friends during Manny's hard adjusting years after she and Lena had disappeared. They talked a lot, with her telling him what she'd learned from Josey, who accompanied them as they went to Thomas's school house. They had an enjoyable visit with Thomas, who was delighted that Manny had his children back.

Of course, the
conversation turned to his plan to find Lena. When that topic was exhausted, Thomas advised Manny on getting Mike's children enrolled in school. He had a choice between allowing them to attend a majority white school where only a few black students attended or coming to his school.

Manny knew that all of Mike's children would have to attend Thomas' school, made possible by the New York Manumission Society, where abolitionist or white philanthropist taught. With Thomas being a man to never miss an opportunity, he hit Manny up for a sizeable donation, chuckling Manny gave generously.

"Wait until we find mother and she learns that you two are friends." Hope commented in the carriage on the way from the school house.

"She's never going to believe it." Josey added.

"I'm certain it will come as a welcome surprise when we do find her." Manny finished, staring out the coach window with her heavy on his mind. Dropping Josey off, Manny and Hope visited the new building that he now owned. His new furniture had been delivered so his daughter helped him put his office in order.

"What's on your mind daddy?" She asked, placing her hand in his, as he stared out at the bustling city.

"Rory." He answered after a deep sigh.

"Rory? Who is Rory?" Manny looked down at her, and stroked her cheek.

"He's a young man I hired on as my cabin boy before I left on the delivery to Virginia. I told him I would be back around the end of last month and to report back to me for a resuming of his duties. I've been back for days and no Rory. I guess I'm a little worried about him. Gaitsu and Maria said he came to the ship and did his work well in my absence but he left the ship a couple of weeks before my return and hasn’t shown his face again. I can't help but wonder why?"

"Maybe he's waiting to be sure you're back before he returns."

Manny shrugged. "I don't know, he's such a troubled young man, he's not been treated well at home. His life is not all happiness as far as his relationship with his mother is concerned. It's made him rebellious and daring, but deep down inside he's a good boy, he just needs some attention, a father figure in his life."

"And you know what?"

Manny glanced sideways at her, "What, little girl?"

"There's no better father in the world, than my own." Manny
chuckled and pulled her into his arms for a tight hug. "My little Golden Hope, how I've missed you."

"No more than I missed you." She returned hugging him just as tight, feeling tears come to her eyes. "How about, we go check on him?"

"No. He might resent it. I'll give him a few more days to come around, and then if he doesn't, I'll have to go check on him myself."

The fifth night out, Mike and Joe returned with what information they had gathered since planting themselves at Cabby's, which was similar information to what Leon had picked up, only with a slight difference that frustrated Mike, further irritating him as Joe related what had transpired.

"As we stood, we dropped the opening for discussion on Greyson and the most interesting character responded." He began as he removed his suit jacket down to his waist coat before he sat before Manny's desk in the cabin of the Princess.

"Let's hear it." Manny stated, noticing Mike was worse than ever now that more time was spent searching for his mother, each day that certain something fed a growing resentment and energy in him.

"First of all, this character I'm speaking of was full of spirits; he overheard Mike's inquiry about the treasure, saying he had an interest in it and if anyone knew how it could be obtained." As Joseph explained, Mike remained silent, staring off into his own world.

Joseph went on relating what the tipsy man stated,
"Only one man come close to actually gettin' it, the treasure. My old boss, Greyson found her. Was talkin' big and braggin' sayin' as how his ship had finally come in. Did a lot of celebratin'. He actually had her in the palm of his hand you could say. They disappeared you know, the ones he hired to bring her in. Some say he had'em done in."
Adding finally that he mumbled something else as he was about to pass out, saying low in his arms,
"If he'da known when he brought her over."
He finished with, “The bartender said his name was Pratt. As for the last of what he said, I don't know what he meant."