A Million Tears (72 page)

‘Make up you mind, mister,’ he grumbled, but cheered up when I gave him five dollars.

After all the dreams, the heartaches and the travelling, here I was. I walked slowly towards the house, noting again that nothing was different. I hesitated at the corner and on impulse went round to the back door.

It was open and I stepped into the kitchen. Mam was by the sink, her side to me. She must have sensed my presence because she looked up, slightly startled, a pile of dishes in her hands. I couldn’t speak all of a sudden and things became hazy. I cleared my throat and said: ‘Hullo Mam, I’m home.’ It came out sounding rather husky and strained.

The dishes smashed to the floor and with a shout she flew across the room. We hugged and hugged and hugged. She was crying – we both were. I only caught some of the words she said, like ‘dead’ ‘couldn’t find you,’ ‘where have you been?’

I looked over her shoulder at Dad, hurrying through the door. He stopped for a second and then gave a kind of roar. Mam let me go long enough for Dad to grab me in a bear hug and waltz me around the kitchen. Somehow, a semblance of order established itself and I could speak. I told them briefly where I’d been but I was more interested in them and Sion and Gunhild.

‘Wait a moment,’ said Dad, and went to the back door. ‘Juan, Juan,’ he yelled at the top of his voice. I heard running footsteps and he appeared in the doorway. ‘Juan, David’s back,’ said Dad. ‘Grab one of the horses and get into town as fast as possible and tell Sion to come home.’

I went over to shake Juan’s hand and he said, ‘Nice to have you back David, real nice.’

‘Thanks Juan, it’s unbelievable to be back.’

‘When you get to town,’ said Dad, ‘don’t tell Sion why we want him. Just tell him it’s vital he comes home immediately. You know what he’s like. He’ll have something he’ll want to finish. If he does, grab hold of him and tell him he’s got to come immediately. Stress the importance, okay, Juan?’

Juan grinned. ‘Okay, sir,’ he replied and ran back to the stable.

We went into the study where Dad opened his drinks cupboard. ‘Malt whisky,’ he lifted the green tinted bottle, ‘a present from Huw and Mair. I’ve been keeping it for a special occasion and I don’t think there’ll ever be one more special than this.’

While he poured I sat on the arm of Mam’s chair. It was difficult to do anything else as she kept hold of my hand as if she would never let go.

‘So what happened exactly?’ she asked. ‘Where were you? Oh, I know on an island, but where? And your nose? What happened to it?’

‘My nose? Oh, that was so long ago I forgot. It happened in New Orleans just after I met Jake Kirkpatrick. It got kind of mangled up but no real damage was done.’

‘I see,’ said Dad. ‘Okay, but where exactly were you?’

‘We don’t know. It was fifteen days sailing off the coast of Florida. We have no way of telling more accurately. But never mind me, what’s been happening here? How’s politics going? How’s Sion?’

Mam laughed. ‘It’s going to take a week to exchange the news. Sion is working too hard,’ she said soberly. ‘We’re thinking seriously of selling this place and buying a house in Washington. We spend a lot of time there, now your father’s in the House of Representatives. What a place it is. The stories we have to tell you are unbelievable, especially when you consider they’re all about the so-called leaders of the country.’

‘Now, Meg,’ said Dad, ‘keep off your hobby horse for now. What we thought we might do was buy a ranch out this way, as an investment. It’ll be somewhere to call home. I’ll find a manager, probably Juan, and Marie said she’ll stay as the housekeeper. Having a husband and wife team has its advantages. I don’t know yet. We still have to decide. But enough of us, what about you?’

I began telling them the story of the storm and what we were doing. Then I asked, ‘What’s this about Sion working too hard?’

‘He works all the hours God gives him,’ replied Dad. ‘You know he’s taken over from me entirely now? No, of course you don’t know. Let me refill your glass,’ he poured a generous three fingers of the amber liquid. ‘We’re opening a new warehouse in Indianapolis and he has plans for Cleveland and Pittsburgh. Sonny manages to talk him out of his wilder ideas, but all in all I have to admit he’s doing better with the business than I ever did. He has a knack and, furthermore, he seems to love it.’

‘I wish he’d enjoy life more,’ said Mam. ‘He’s too intense for a young man. I know he’s interested in this flying business but I think that’s all foolishness. It’ll never get further than being a hobby and a very dangerous one at that.’

‘Flying?’ I asked perplexed, thinking about his kites.

‘Some men have built a flying machine of wood that will take off into the air, go in a circle and land again,’ said Dad. ‘It’s interesting to hear him talk about it. I’m not sure I agree with your mother entirely but on the other hand I don’t agree with Sion either.’

‘Why? What does he say?’ I sipped my whisky. There is something special and smooth about a malt which I appreciated.

‘Oh, he has ideas that one day there’ll be hundreds of machines carrying people and mail across America. It’s daft. It’ll never happen,’ said Mam decisively. ‘Listen,’ we could hear a horse arriving at the gallop. The front door clattered open and we heard his boots on the wooden floor.

‘David,’ he yelled, knocking my glass to the floor when he grabbed me in a bear hug equal to Dad’s. ‘Christ Almighty, I can’t believe it.’ He held me at arm’s length. ‘The beard and tan makes you look older, and you’re definitely leaner. That nose makes you look like a tough,’ he chuckled. ‘But where have you been? Do you know I spent three months looking for you?’

‘What?’ I was startled. ‘You did? Where?’

‘Let me grab a drink and I’ll tell you. Hell, it’s so good to see you. We were sure you were dead. There didn’t seem to be any other explanation. Oh, thanks Dad.’ He broke off as Dad handed us both drinks. He had changed a little too, looking older than I remembered. Or perhaps it was the air of authority he had about him that made him appear older.

‘Yes, I looked all over for you,’ he resumed. ‘The last we or, em . . . the last we heard,’ I did not think anything of his hesitation just then, after all I had written to Gunhild from Jamaica, ‘was that you were in New Orleans. By November last year we were so worried I took a train to try and find out where you were. It didn’t take long. I must say when you make enemies you make good ones. That creep Guinn. I counted my fingers after shaking his hand.’ We laughed. ‘I found out about the boat deal and about Jake Kirkpatrick. It took a few hundred dollars but I found somebody who knew somebody who said he had seen you both in Jamaica. So that was where I went next. I must say it wasn’t unpleasant seeing these places. In fact, it was quite an adventure. A bit like being a detective. I found your em, friend, the singer in the Blue Pelican. What was her name? Elizabeth?’

I nodded.

‘I’d asked around the bars and taverns for nearly two weeks before I found her. She told me all about that business with Cat Ball too. Oh, yes, and it was she who put me on to Casper. Trying to get information from him was like trying to get blood from a stone. He said he needed time to check out me and my story. So I hung around another couple of weeks until he sent for me. He told me about San Juan and what you were going there for. So then I took a boat to Puerto Rico, but learned nothing. I asked all over the damned place but couldn’t come up with anything. Everywhere I went I spread the word that there was a thousand dollar reward for information about you, and I put adverts in the local newspapers. But apart from a few cranks there was silence.’ He paused to replenish his glass. ‘We came to the conclusion the boat must have sunk and you were dead. It took a long time to accept,’ he shrugged, ‘but when we heard nothing for so long there was no alternative. And here you are,’ he laughed again. ‘There’s so much to tell you, too. The investments we made in the business are going to pay off like you can’t imagine. Business is booming. Do you know the banks are falling over themselves to lend us money? They can’t do enough. If you take over here I can go to Indianapolis and get things straight there while Sonny . . .’

‘Hey, no business,’ said Mam with a frown. ‘Not tonight, Sion, please. There’s plenty of time for that. I want to hear more about what happened to David. How were you rescued? Did another boat come along and pick you up?’

I laughed. ‘I wish it had. It would have saved us a hell of a lot of work. No, we salvaged the boat from thirty no, forty feet of water and brought her to the surface.’

‘Good Lord,’ said Dad. ‘How on earth did you do that?’

‘With difficulty,’ I replied. ‘No, that’s not true. It wasn’t difficult, just time consuming and hard work. We had plenty of problems of course but it was not difficult in a technical or complicated sense.’ I told them more of what had happened.

‘I’ll go and make some sandwiches,’ said Mam. ‘Just don’t say another word until I get back. You can talk business and politics while I’m out.’

‘Wait until you come to Washington,’ said Dad, ‘and I’ll show you around. Things are beginning to get better now for the working man, law-wise that is. All we need now is to get the laws observed. Roosevelt has worked wonders. We’ve had the Elkins Act passed which means that shippers and railroads have to publish their rates, and are liable to pay back any rebates they’ve got if they don’t stick to them. That’s allowed the government successfully to sue the great Chicago packing houses and the Standard Oil Company, which is quite an achievement, believe me. Soon the Hepburn Act will be passed. It’ll extend the jurisdiction of the Interstate Commerce Commission to storage and terminal facilities, sleeping cars, express companies, pipe lines, and also force the roads to surrender their interests in steamship lines and coal. There’s a lot more besides. I’ve got a bill going forward about the working week and long hours. There’s plenty happening about the child labour laws, oh yes, and about food purity and drug legislation. It’s really an exciting time with one drawback to it all,’ he said sadly.

‘What’s that, if it’s like you say?’ I asked.

‘Because these are just laws, made in Washington. Look at the size of the country. How do we enforce those laws? It’ll be years, decades even, before we can make people observe them. You mark my words.’

‘Yes, sure, Dad,’ I agreed. ‘But at least it’s a step in the right direction.’

‘Oh, there’s no doubt about that.’ He busied himself opening a bottle of French red wine, last year’s Christmas gift from John Buchanan, he said.

Mam reappeared. ‘What a mess in the kitchen. All my good crockery,’ she said with mock severity. ‘Here’s some chicken and beef and there’s some salad I must bring in. Won’t be a second.’

Not long after I stood up. ‘I must get one of the horses. I want to go over to the Reisenbach’s farm and see Gunhild,’ I grinned. ‘I can’t wait any . . .’ I trailed off.

49

The only thing I noticed about the day, riding along the dusty road, was that the wind was chill and there was a hint of rain in the air. I was going to see Gunhild. I had to. I did not know what I was going to say or achieve by it, but I had to see her. After over a year and a half of thinking and dreaming about her, to find it was all for nothing caused an unendurable ache within me. When Sion had told me I had had the weirdest feeling of being instantly sober and feeling more than a little sick.

They told me what had happened. After I had left, Gunhild had received a few of my letters while I was in New Orleans and had written to me there. If I had received her letter I would never have left with Jake. She had written to tell me she was pregnant. I had been so numbed by the news of her marriage that this second piece of information bounced off me. She had been upset not to hear from me after she had written but as time wore on she became worried that something might have happened to me. By the time Sion had come to look for me she had been convinced something serious had happened. When Sion had returned he had more or less convinced her that I was dead.

Reisenbach had been understanding up to the point when Sion had returned. After that, he had insisted Gunhild should marry the first man who would have her. He had thought her very lucky when Gunther Kallenberg, a farmer from the old country, wanted to marry her. The man had three teenage sons, was a widower and needed a mother for them. She had resisted at first, determined in spite of the stigma, to have the baby but not to marry. Her family had constantly nagged her and pushed her until finally she had given in. They had married two weeks before the baby was born. She had been born on the second of January, a little girl, with blue eyes and black hair. Mam had seen her and cried. She was the spitting image of our dead Sian.

The remainder of that night was spent sleeplessly lying on my bed, in an agony wondering what to do. Dawn had just broken when I could stand it no longer. I wanted Gunhild to come away with me. One thing I had learned while on the boat, was that the world was a bigger place than even I had suspected. We could pass ourselves off as a married couple, and bring the baby up with her true parents. The thought comforted me along the way. We could even buy a boat and return to the island. That was a great idea.

About eleven o’clock I rode over a low hill, now well into the farm lands of smallholdings, each of about two or three hundred acres, and saw what I took to be her place. The house was not very big and from where I sat, looked in need of a coat of paint. Apart from a main one storey building, there was a barn and a few outhouses. I could see chickens roaming the yard and in one corner, a pig sty. In front of the barn was a pump and water trough and I decided to ride up to it and water the horse. I had never felt so uncertain in all my life.