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Date Posted: 14:05:57 08/22/03 Fri
Author: Wanda
Author Host/IP: 216.51.254.249
Subject: Second Generation - Parts #61-63

PART #61

At seven thirty the next morning, Ruth was awakened by knocking on her door. She was groggy, and her head hurt. At first she was not sure she was awake. She wondered if this was a dream. She sat up and put her feet on the floor. Again, she heard the knocking and a soft, “Mother, are you awake?” She grabbed her robe, put it on, and went to the door. Opening the door, she saw Delbert standing outside with a tray of coffee and pastries. “May I come in?” he asked. She opened the door wider for him to be admitted. She noticed he looked like he had not slept much. He placed the tray on a table and turned towards her. He saw she looked distraught. He walked to her, took her in his arms, and said, “I am truly sorry for some of those things I said to you last night. I am still trying to work through the emotions of all that’s happened. There has been much information dropped on me recently. Mother, I will always wish you had told me about my father before his death. But I will say, “I am sure you did what you felt was best in the situation, and I have to respect that.”

Ruth said, “Delbert it was never my intention to hurt you. What I did was for your own personal protection. Sammie knew the mob through and through; and he always feared something would happen to either me or you or both of us. Time and again he told me, “Ruthie, you must keep silent about your connection to me. You must never tell Delbert about me, for it would put him in mortal danger. It is better if the other families think I am dead and gone.”

Delbert sighed, “I am trying to understand; and for now, I just want to drop it. I don’t feel like we can keep chasing this around in a circle. Let’s talk about something positive. I was wondering how you would feel about me asking a young lady to go out to dinner with us this evening. Would that be all right with you? Her name is Juliana. I work with her in the bank. I do think you will like her when you meet her.”

Ruth’s face brightened up, and she said, “I think that would be a lovely idea. I would enjoy meeting your co-worker. Is she a close friend?” Delbert answered, “Mother, I have only been here a short while. I can’t say we are close friends at this point. She started work at the bank the same day I started work. She comes from a very nice family. I was invited out to her family’s plantation for dinner one evening. I had an opportunity to meet her family. I might tell you that Juliana’s brother is engaged to marry Lenore’s daughter, Lucia.”

Delbert could see his mother wince at the sound of Lenore Deverall’s name. “Didn’t you tell me these people know who you really are?” she asked. Delbert replied, “I believe the only member of Juliana’s family who really knows who I am is the brother who is marrying Lenore’s daughter. Lucia showed the letter addressed to me and the copy of Hollingsworth’s will to Boudreau. He was so concerned about me being the son of this man, and perhaps coming to town to do something terrible to Lucia and her mother. You might say, ‘He came to warn me not to cause the two women any trouble.”

Ruth said, “Oh my goodness Delbert, you would never do anything to harm anyone.” Delbert looked at his mother and said, “Mother, they don’t know me, but they did know my father. His actions are pretty well known in this area. How are they to know I am any different from my father?”

Ruth could see how troubled Delbert was from everything that was taking place. She looked at him, and asked, “Delbert, do you want me to go back to Pennsylvania today? I really don’t want to cause you anymore grief. None of this is your fault. If staying here is going to be a problem for you, I will go back.”

Delbert said to his mother, “Let’s give it a couple days. I want you to meet Juliana, and we will take it a day at a time. Is that all right with you?” “Of course,” said Ruth. Delbert looked at his watch and said, “Mother, I have a paper with the want ads and for sale real estate lying on the coffee table. Why don’t you look it over and see if you can come up with something that looks good in a small home? I will call you later, and see how it is going. Right now, I really need to get to work.”

Delbert walked into the bank and saw Juliana making a pot of coffee. He stepped into the coffee room and asked, “Juliana, my mother would like to meet you, and if it is all right, I would like to take you out to dinner tonight. How do you feel about that?” Juliana said, “I would love to meet your mother.” He said, “We can go over to the hotel after we get off work and visit for awhile; then we will go to dinner.”

Later on in the morning, Delbert heard light knocking on his office door. He called, “Please come in.” He looked up to see Lucia and Boudreau standing in the door opening. Lucia asked, “Would it be possible to talk with you for a few moments?”

PART #62

Delbert seemed surprised to see Lucia, but welcomed her warmly. He stood up and shook Boudreau’s hand, and asked, “What can I do to be of help to you?” Boudreau answered, “Lucia wanted to come and talk with you Delbert. I hope that is all right with you.” Delbert said, “Of course it is all right, please sit down.” Delbert sensed the visit had nothing to do with banking needs.

Lucia sat down across the desk from Delbert and said, “Delbert, I would like some information from you. Perhaps there are things you would like to ask me, and there are things I would certainly like to ask you.” Delbert responded, “I have a feeling this has nothing to do with your accounts here at the bank.” Lucia said, “You are correct in that assumption. I felt there were probably things you would like to know about our father that I can tell you. Perhaps we could exchange information. Would you like to be first in asking me questions?”

Delbert was somewhat shocked at the boldness of Lucia in coming to see him. After the reaction to his appearance at the La Faye plantation he felt she would stay as far away from him as she could possibly get. He asked, “Are you sure you want me to ask questions?” She answered, “Delbert, I am the one who came to you. I am offering you the opportunity. I came because I wanted to come.”

Delbert said, “I don’t know that I have many questions; but I would like for someone who knew him well to tell me about my father. I never knew about my father until after his death. My mother would never discuss my father with me. I had no idea of who the man was or why I was never given a name. I guess you might say I do have a curiosity about the man. So, what can you tell me?”

Lucia looked at Delbert and she said, “I had a feeling that is what you wanted to know. First of all I want you to know that I had no clue that you existed. My mother did not know about you either. We found out about you about the same time you found out about our father.”

Delbert said, “Boudreau had already told me that, but I do thank you for telling me as well.” Lucia said, “Now, let me see what I should tell you about our father. I first remember Daddy when I was about three calling me his little princess. He took me with him whenever he went to the barber shop; and he took me for rides out in the country. He treated me special, telling me often that he loved me. Whenever I would go with him, he would buy me an ice cream, and laugh when I dribbled ice cream down upon my dress. He came in at night and kissed me good night when I was younger. As I grew older, my Daddy changed. He was gone from home more and more. When he was at home he had people coming and going all the time. Some of the people were fierce looking individuals. He tended to dote on me and wanted to control every area of my life. He kept a beautician on staff for my mother and me. It was her responsibility to keep both Mother and me finely dressed and groomed. Daddy always wanted us to be available to be on display. Delbert there was a sinister side to Daddy; he treated my mother cruelly. He was indifferent to her when I was younger, but that grew to coldness, then to cruelty. My mother lived such a life of sadness there was a period of time she drank heavily. My father plied her with alcohol, and then he ridiculed her for drinking. He called her a lush. What Daddy didn’t know is that mother was brave enough to stop drinking. She made plans for us to leave Lake Charles, for she had found out that Daddy hired someone to kill Boudreau. Daddy was into control and power. Whatever he touched he had to control. When he saw that Boudreau and I were falling in love; and he couldn’t break up the relationship, he decided to have Boudreau killed. It happened that Mother went to the police, and told them about Daddy’s plan to kill Boudreau. The hired assassin had stabbed Boudreau, and since he had failed to kill him, Daddy had another man put on the case to get the job done. Delbert, this is probably shocking to hear, but our father was a sinister and evil man who would stop at nothing to get what he wanted.”

Delbert watched Lucia as she spoke, and saw the sadness, the bittersweet remembrance, and the anger all rolled together as she talked of her father. He sighed, “I see it is all true what Boudreau has told me.” Lucia responded by saying, “I can assure you that what Boudreau said is absolutely true.” I might also tell you when the police were closing in on our father, he was racing his car to get away from them; and ran into a lumber truck that was pulling out on the highway from one of the saw mills in the area. He was killed instantly in that accident.”

Delbert looked at Lucia and said, “Lucia, I do thank you for being truthful with me. Now, what is it you want to know from me?” Lucia said, “I do want you to know I do not mean to hurt you; but there are some things I do feel is pertinent for me to know and understand.” Delbert said, “Go ahead and ask what you want to know.” Lucia said, “Delbert you said you did not know about our father until he died. Why would you leave an area you have known all your life and move to Lake Charles? Was it curiosity on your part to find out about us? Was it the job here in the bank, or the estate that was left to you that drew you here? Are you going to be satisfied living here and not creating more problems for my mother and me?”

Delbert sighed, “Lucia, I have no intention of creating problems for you or your mother. I humbly apologize for upsetting both of you at the La Faye home last week. I admit I did know about you and was curious about you. After all, you are my half sister. I wondered about you, and what you would be like. You asked why I was drawn to Lake Charles. I guess you could say I was curious about my father, what he was like, and of course I will not deny that the job and the estate left to me had its’ drawing points. I will not lie to you about that. I will tell you I was shocked the day I walked into this bank and was led to this office that had already been decorated as it is today. Your father’s picture was hanging on the wall behind my desk, and my mother’s picture was on the desk. He had this office all ready for me. I am wondering if he had planned on calling me to share the information about my heritage. I don’t know really, but it all seems so strange.”

PART #63

Lucia cleared her throat as she looked at Delbert then she said, “I would like to ask you something else. What are your intentions now?” Delbert answered, “I guess I don’t fully understand what you mean.” Lucia said, “Delbert, are you going to be satisfied with what my father has left you? Are you here to protest the will? You have to realize that I never knew you existed, and then upon Daddy’s death I find not only do I have a half brother but my father has left a sizable estate to him, and left my mother nothing but the house where she is living. You might say Daddy left her high and dry. She has nothing after being married to him all these years. I want to know something Delbert; did my father leave money for your mother? Has my father been furnishing money for your mother all these years?”

Delbert could see the anguish in Lucia’s face, and hear it in her voice. He spoke softly as he answered, “Lucia, I am so sorry about your mother; I had no idea. You have to realize I did not even know of my father’s existence, let alone, how he was going to divide his estate. If you are concerned about my intentions regarding the estate, please don’t think I am here to take anything away from you and your mother.
I would ask you to understand something was also taken away from me. I never had the opportunity to know my father, as you have known him. That is a pain that does not seem to go away. Is money going to make that pain go away? No, of course it won’t do that. I can see the frustration you must feel, and I really hate to tell you that my mother’s income has been from our father. He did leave her an estate so that she could live comfortably. I feel so badly having to tell you, but I do want to be as truthful as I can with you. I feel that is what you are doing with me, and it is only fair I do the same for you.”

Lucia started to cry softly, when she had the answers she had come to get. Boudreau put his arm around her and patted her shoulder. Lucia looked at Boudreau, and said, “How could my father have treated my mother so cruelly; she was married to him for thirty years? It is difficult to believe he treated mother so badly, yet he showed such loving care toward Delbert’s mother. I will never understand this.”

Boudreau stood and said, “Sweetheart, don’t you think we should go now? Delbert has answered your questions; and we have taken up quite a bit of his time.” Lucia looked at Delbert and said, “Thank you for being honest with me.” He answered, “Lucia, I wish things had been different. I feel badly for you and your mother; and I feel badly for myself and my mother too. You haven’t asked about my mother, but she has been hurt in all this too. But, that is a story for another day. Thank you for coming in to talk with me. I appreciate this more than you could possibly know. You are a courageous woman and I am proud to be your half brother.”

Boudreau and Lucia walked out of the bank and drove back to the Deverall home. Boudreau kissed Lucia, and said, “I must get to work. Jean Baptiste is going to suggest I get another job if I am not more consistent with my work hours.” Lucia apologized for taking Boudreau away from his job. He said, “I promised your mother I would go with you. I will work extra hours today to make up for the time lost. It will be all right. Jean Baptiste is going to marry my sister, Katerina, so he is like family anyway.

Boudreau left and Lucia walked up the stairs of the Deverall home to look in on her mother who was resting. When she looked inside her room, she saw she was seated on the bed going through old pictures. Lucia walked into the room and asked, “Mother, what are you doing?” She answered, “I am looking back through old memories Lucia. See these pictures; we were happy at this time, but as you look through the years you can see how the countenance on our faces changed.

Lucia could see her mother had been crying. She asked, “Mother, are you all right?” Lenore said, “Lucia, I am not sure I will be all right for a very long time. How did your visit go with Delbert?” Lucia said, “This may seem strange for you to hear, but I do like him. He seems to be very sincere, and a little lost. The questions I had for him he was forthright in answering. He wanted to know the truth about Daddy. He said he wanted to ask someone who really knew and who would tell him the truth. That is exactly what I did. He told me he had been hurt by not having been told the truth. I said we had not known the truth either. I told him as much about Daddy as I could Mother. I felt he deserved to know what our father was really like. He was shocked that Daddy left you only the house and nothing else.”

Lenore asked, “Did Delbert say whether Hollingsworth had left anything to Ruth?” Lucia was afraid her mother would ask that question. She hesitated before answering. Her mother said, “Sweetie, you don’t have to say anything; your silence has spoken loudly the answer.” Lucia could see her mother was crushed by this knowledge. All she could say was, “Mother, I am so sorry. You did not deserve this at all. I will never understand why Daddy treated you so terribly.” Lenore said, “Lucia, I do understand. I wanted him to leave organized crime, but of course you know that. He wanted me to fully support him as a mobster. He loved another woman; he did not love me. He loved you, the child I gave him, but he never loved me. He saw himself as a man who loved one woman, but that woman was not his wife.”

Lucia said, “Mother, may I ask you a question.” Lenore said, “Yes, ask whatever you want Lucia.” “What would Daddy have done if you had asked for a divorce?” Her mother said, “Lucia, divorce was not possible for a mobster. If there was talk of a divorce the woman was eliminated. That was done so she could not talk about the activities of her husband in organized crime. I knew it was not wise to talk of divorce. I couldn’t bear the thought of you being raised by a mobster without your mother.”

Lucia said, “Mother there is one good thing that has come out of all this.” Lenore said, “Please tell me what it is.” Lucia said, “I have come to know you better, and to see how much you have sacrificed in your life on my behalf. I shall never forget your sacrifices.” Lenore put her arms around Lucia, and said, “It was not difficult for you were my whole life.”

To be continued...

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