Family Reunion (31 page)

"Quit thinking about my sister like that and hold this thing!" Mike grumbled, noticing the dreamy eyed look on Joe's face; cocking a brow he ignored his brother-in-law's bark. Together they formed, so to speak, a truce, a loyal companionship. After spending so much time together, they’d got to know a lot about the other and found, they were very much alike.

Mike would never admit to anyone that he truly liked Joe, nor would Joe admit the same about Mike for that matter, but their actions fooled no one. Manny stood watching as the last crate was hoisted over, and then lowered before him with Mike leading the crate through the hole so it would not tilt on the sides. Manny's gaze lifted out over to the docks to see Rory standing on the wharf looking for him.

'So, you've finally come to me again.'
Manny thought.

Getting so
involved with trying to find Lena again meant he'd neglected to go and check up on him as he had said he would. The youth’s welfare had weighed heavy on his mind everyday since his return. Then, as Manny thought about the time of day, he wondered why he wasn't in school.

'There must be something wrong for him to let me see that he's missed school today.'
Manny made his way towards the rail of the ship, Rory came closer to the edge of the wharf.

"Mr. Webster, please I need to talk to you sir!! It’s really important!" Rory yelled over the noise of the busy dock. Manny couldn't walk off the ship to speak with him just then; there were a few more things he had to see to first.

"Okay, go to the new waterfront building, two blocks down, left – look for the sign – I’ll be there in a few moments.” Rory sighed and stood there a moment, he didn't want to wait but he could see things were busy.

He nodded and turned away.

Manny turned back to his sons, a grin came to his face to see them wet with sweat and winded, looking as if they were ready to drop. "What's the matter son - Joe? Surely you two aren't tired? Hell, we've just begun; we have two more still to go."

"We!? Did he say we?" Mike asked scathingly as he turned to Joe who was also frowning. Using his shirt sleeve to wipe over his face, he groaned, "Two more?"

"Yes sir, the Sea Wolf and the Crest Horizon. Don't tell me you two can't handle it, why on a good day, Leon and I, with a few of my hard working men, would unload up to five ships by two pm, and load up five more before dusk." They both looked at him with things on their minds neither could say out loud. They weren’t willing to admit they were beat, they both had too much pride to come out and say they'd had enough. Manny turned away before the amusement showed on his face.

Chapter Seven

Rory walked along looking up to find a sign indicating the new building, upon finding it, he entered to see workmen busy in the lobby area. Unsure of what to do, he wandered around the new building as he waited, looking into all the new offices and wondering which one was Manny's. He could hear the voice of a woman down the hall and followed the sound of it.

Twice he heard her say,
"My father's office…"
speaking to the person she was directing.
‘
His Daughter is here? Finally I'll get to meet her.'
He was anxiously wondering what she would look like, having only seen her from a distance, and then it had been dark. The man she'd been speaking with passed him by as he left the office. When Rory got there and looked inside, searching for her, there seemed to be no one in the room.

Hope was under Manny's desk trying her hardest to clean up the spilled ink she’d dropped on his brand new Persian rug, which was now thoroughly and completely soaked through.

"Shit! I can't believe it!" She blasted the stain and her own clumsiness; she persisted in scrubbing when she heard someone enter the room.

"Ohhh! Now who could that be?! Um, just a minute, I'll be right with you! I hope." She called out from under the desk. She saw shoes from her vantage point and invited the visitor to, "Have a seat. I'm sorry but I've a little mess under my father's desk I'm trying to clean ... which doesn't seem to be coming clean. This would happen to me." She mumbled to herself then thought as the stain was not moving.

'Maybe I could cut it out and then cut a clean spot from under the
couch to match and switch'em, he probably would never know?'
"Hmmm?"

Rory looked at the desk puzzled for a moment but shrugged and sat down as she told him of her dilemma, thinking that maybe she needed some help, he offered his assistance.

"You need any help?" He asked, standing again from the chair to lean over the desk in order to get a look at her. All he managed to see was her rear up in the air out from beneath the desk, which he stared at a moment unable to help himself.

"Naw, that's okay, I've done as much as I can for now, I'll fix it a little later after I get hold of a good sharp knife." She said, backing up from beneath the desk. Rory quickly returned to his seat. Hope stood; looking down she straightened her dress and lifting her face she smiled at him. "Hi. I'm Hope, well, actually Golden Hope ...Hmmm? I never could actually figure out why my father named me quite that way?" She suddenly thought gazing upward, giving it some thought. "I guess to say, hi, I'm Golden, wouldn't really sound right now would it? Anyway, everyone calls me Hope, which sounds a whole lot better as a first name, when actually it's my second... oh well ... oh my, have I stunned you...I'm sorry." Hope apologized when she'd quieted long enough to notice that Rory was staring strangely at her. She then took in his features and realized he must be Rory, remembering everyone's description of him with his burnt red hair, amber brown eyes and olive skin tone.

"You must be Rory? My father and brother have told me ... so much ... about you. Is there something wrong Rory? You are Rory aren't you?”

Rory found himself temporarily immobilized.

He stared up at her with wide eyes as if seeing a ghost. He was trying to swallow but his throat felt dry and tight. His insides suddenly began to quiver uncomfortably as her wide golden eyes, with their touch of blue, stared back at him. Becoming somewhat alarmed, Hope walked around the desk noticing how he flushed and then turned red while his breathing deepened. "My goodness, what's wrong with you? Are you having trouble breathing? Is it something I said?" She then looked down to see if her dress had torn and exposed something but it had not. Glancing back at Rory's startled expression; she tried to figure out what could possibly be wrong with him since he would not speak to her.

Sweat popped out on Rory's brow. He couldn't believe his eyes. It was her! His mother! Difference was, she was lighter, but her hair was even pinned up the way his mother often wore hers. On this version of her, the hair was a curly gold and she was a lot younger.

Rory felt
it was no coincidence. There was no way two people could look so much a like without being related in some way. Panic struck Rory as he gripped the arm rests of the chair, pushing himself up as if it was a struggle to do so, the whole time unable to tear his eyes from Hope who was suddenly speechless herself, unable to figure out why his behavior was affecting her so strangely.

Her mind was at first blank, she felt nervous and shaky. He hadn't said anything but there was something about the way he looked at her that sent chills up and down her spine. Rory stepped quickly backward from around the chair, almost falling in his haste to get to the door, feeling blindly behind himself for the opening. For a second more he couldn't help but stare at her, as if making sure of what he was seeing and then he was gone. He said not a word in his hurried departure.

Hope stared at the open door. Wondering what had just happened? What had she possibly said to him to make him react that way at seeing her? She shook her head and slowly walked back around the desk. As she sat down, she couldn't dismiss him, or his reaction to seeing her from her mind.

'Why did he look at me that way? Why? ...I don't understand? My! was daddy ever right, if he doesn't remind me of ... grandmother?'
Hope sat there for minutes more staring at the door.
'Maybe I should tell father he came here, and for some reason ran away when he saw me ... why does he look so much like grandmother? I think I will go find him and tell him, as he's been worrying about him. But the way he looked at me? One would think he'd seen a ghost!'
She thought as she picked up her gloves and reticule, walking from the office down the hallway to the stairs, wondering where she’d left her cloak. With every step she took, her stomach seemed to tighten as her thoughts progressed.

'What if?'
She theorized and fantasized a possibility that was so far fetched it scared her, because with the pounding of her heart, something told her it was not too impossible to be true as images formed, and pieces to a scattered puzzle began to fall into place, her steps began to pick up speed outside of the building then down the board walk. A fixed picture was beginning to grow from the puzzle. Hope thought…
'Mama…oh mama… were you with child when you lost me?'

At Dustinhurst:

"I came here as a young girl. Me an' some others escape from a plantation in Georgia an' make our way North. We all hid away in this empty buildin' not quite sure where t'go or what t'do. An' one day, I went out on my own looking for work.”

“
This white lady I meet, she tells me she can help me fin' work an' a place t'stay and well, here I am. Been here ever since. I think I was here 'bout two maybe three months 'fore Feline come."

"Who is she?" Leon asked.

"The woman I hear you an' that otha' man talk about when you come last week. Her name was Lena but ... here, we all got to callin' her Feline, 'cause of them eyes o'hers. She never say much at first, she just stay quiet, to herself." Leon swallowed a lump in his throat. "So she
was
here?"

Francis nodded. "It's been a good long while but she was here. Me and her shared a room with some others. I guess it be 'bout seven years or more. Hard t'judge time - a place like this." Leon inhaled deeply followed by a moan. "Seven years ago." He repeated, disappointed at the length of time.

He was standing outside of a tall wooden fence, Francis stood on the other side of it with a wrap around her shoulders, talking and looking back to the back door of the work house. She would have to go in soon; they would be looking for her. Things were lax when Rosenberg was off; they kept a watch on them but not a strict one.

"How long was she here?" Leon asked. Francis tilted her head in thought then answered. "Three years, almost four."

"Do you know why? And how was it she left?"

"She never would talk or say why…she use to have nightmares a whole lot. She wake up screamin' "No no no!", and "Please don't!" nothin' new in that. She come awake shakin', then curl up tight and back t'sleep. She had this white lady for a friend. I can't bring her name to min' right now but she come and visit Feline a lot. Ever'time she come, she bring her lil'boy with'ha-…"

"Little Boy!? Whose little boy?" Leon asked with his brows pinched in confusion.

"Feline lil'boy. He 'bout three o' fouh years old. Oh how he use t'break her heart. She act like she'on care but at night, I hear her cryin' an' sayin' his name. He was somethin' too, mean o'red lil'cuss. Sometime he want his mama, sometime he don't. His daddy must'a been white cause he had the nicest red curls you eva'see. Now what was his name?"

Leon felt his heart hammering,
'Oh my God!'

"I know, I know – his name start like R – Roy…um? Roy? Roger? No, um?? Rrro-…"

"Rory." Leon stated knowingly.

"Yeah, Rory… tha's his name. Ou she use to cry over that boy."

Leon couldn't believe it… Rory was Manny's son. Right beneath his nose… his own son. Before he left, he had to know more.

"You say she
was in here three or four years, and you have no idea why, nothing, and you shared a room?"

"I'm sorry, nobody ever push her for a reason she there, we all like her. After she here a while she talk to certain ones, helpin’ if she could. She could tell some stories yeah. She could read, write, ever’thin’. Carrie, this one girl, she look up to Feline like she was God or a angel. She start t'stealin' paper an' quill from Rosenberg so Feline could write us stories to read. Miss Rosenberg start noticin' after a while how much stuff gone missin'. An' Prudence told on Feline and Carrie. They punish her and Carrie." She shook her head, sad with the memory.