Before I could open it though there was another knock at the door and I moved to open it motioning for her to stay seated. It was Mrs. Horton standing there covered from head to toe to protect her from the elements. She didn’t seem surprised to see me here and even smiled knowingly at me. Stranger by the minute.
“Hello young man, mind if I come in?” I stepped back and away from the door to let her enter then followed her to the table. Jessica got up from her seat as the old lady approached.
“Mrs. Horton, is something the matter? Whatever are you doing here in this awful weather?”
I pulled out a chair for the old lady and helped her get seated after removing one of the many layers she seemed to be wearing. She got herself settled and looked at the two of us after I’d taken my seat. “I guess about now you two are wondering what’s been going on.”
“Understatement of the year.”
“Well, I’m here to tell you some of it and I suspect that will fill you in on the rest.” She pointed to the envelope I still held in my hand. Then proceeded to tell the most unbelievable story I’ve ever heard.
“Your grandfather, and your great aunt were in love with each other a long-long time ago. They were the talk of the town around these parts oh about sixty years ago I’d say it was now. Everyone thought they’d end up getting married and settling down, but…” She took a deep breath and her shoulders drooped.
“Your great grandfather was a hard man. He didn’t see his children as flesh and blood but more like commodities. The two of them were making plans to be together, he’d already bought her a ring. Then one of your great grandfather’s business partners, or the man he was trying to take on as a partner came for the weekend and brought his daughter along with him.”
“No one knows what happened, but that young lady took one look at your grandfather and fell head over heels in love with him. Poor Gavin, he did his best to put her off but it was no use. No matter how he ignored her that whole weekend she clung onto him like a vine.”
“Long story short to seal the deal with this man who would do anything for his daughter, your great grandfather forced your grandfather to break things off with poor Emily. It broke her heart into a thousand pieces, everyone saw it.”
Here she took another deep breath as a look of sadness overshadowed her face. “Anyhow, it’s all anyone would talk about for weeks, months, while poor Emily tried to go on with her life. Some of us thought she should move away, start over fresh, but she just hunkered down inside this house. This is where she grew up with her parents and your grandmother Jessica.”
“They had the big wedding here about six months later and poor Emily just disappeared from sight, she hadn’t moved, just never left the house again. It was a bloody waste too, she was a beautiful girl both inside and out.”
“Gavin was miserable, everyone could see that too, and things went on like that for months. Back then divorce was out of the question and though it was obvious that Gavin held no love for his wife, there was nothing he could do about it.”
“Emily started showing up again after about a year, she went on to finish school and got her degree then she started working at the library. I don’t know how she did it since everyone in town was always in and out of that place.”
“Anyhow, I don’t know how your grandmother Delia came to find out about the past love affair but she did and she became plum mean. No one knew she had it in her. Up until then she’d seemed like the most genteel thing, which made everyone feel sorry for her, that her husband was already in love with someone else.”
“But after she found out about poor Emily, I’m sorry to say, her true colors came out. She’d go to the library and taunt her, then she got some of the other wives involved and they’d take turns day after day harassing her in that library.”
There were tears in Jessica’s eyes at this point and I found myself reaching across the table to take her hand in mine. “Go on!” I was a little more choked up than expected. She nodded her head and carried on with her tale, her eyes having that faraway look as if seeing into the distance.
“I think poor Gavin was thinking of a way to get her to stop, and that’s how your mother was conceived. But instead of things getting better they only seemed to get worst. But not as bad as when someone tried to ask for Emily’s hand in marriage.”