The Mandie Collection (5 page)

“Mrs. Taft, I've put you and Amanda in here,” Mrs. Woodard
said as she pushed open the door to the room on the front corner of the house.

“Thank you, this is fine,” Mrs. Taft replied as she stepped into the room with Mandie following. Mrs. Woodard took John Shaw on down the hallway.

Mandie noticed their bags had already been brought up, and she hurriedly opened hers and took out a blue and white gingham dress. She had changed clothes before Mrs. Taft even had hers laid out on the bed.

“I'm going back downstairs, Grandmother,” Mandie told her as she started for the door.

“All right, dear. I'll be down shortly,” Mrs. Taft replied as she began unbuttoning her waist.

Mandie found Joe sitting on the bottom step waiting for her. He had already changed his clothes, too. He stood up as she came down.

“No grass grows under your feet, does it?” Joe teased.

“Yours either,” Mandie replied with a smile. She sat down on the steps, and he did likewise. “I wish we had known the hearing was not till tomorrow. We could have had a little more time searching the house for the will.”

“But Dad said it was set for nine o'clock in the morning, so you would have had to come here today anyway,” Joe reminded her. “Unless you were going to travel at night.”

“No, Grandmother wouldn't have agreed to that,” Mandie said. “Here comes Grandmother now,” she added as she stood to look upward.

“Are you all waiting for me?” Mrs. Taft asked as she came down and saw them standing there.

Mandie smiled up at her and said, “Of course, Grandmother, because I know nothing is going to be discussed until you return to the parlor. I want to hear everything that's said.”

Mrs. Taft stepped down into the hallway as she looked at Mandie and said, “Come along, then. You might miss something.” She smiled. “You too, Joe.”

When they returned to the parlor, Mandie was surprised to see her uncle was already there. He certainly had not wasted any time in his room. After Mrs. Taft had been seated, John Shaw began asking Uncle Ned questions.

“The will that my brother Jim drew up and that Amanda and Joe found has disappeared out of my desk, as Dr. Woodard has probably already told you,” John Shaw began. As the old Indian nodded, he continued, “We are trying to remember the signatures of the witnesses on the will and thought perhaps you might have known who they were, or maybe you were present when Jim signed the will.”

“I not there when Jim Shaw made will, but he told me,” Uncle Ned began. “Man named Tom Kennering sign his name, and other man named Jacob Smith.”

John Shaw looked at Joe and said, “You almost got one of the names right.” Then turning back to Uncle Ned, he asked, “Do you know these two men? Do you know where we can find them now?”

“Know them,” Uncle Ned said, nodding his head. “Tom Kennering gone to happy hunting ground, accident, shot hunting deer. Jacob Smith, he moved way up north soon after he signed. Jim Shaw said too far to visit.”

Everyone sighed in disappointment.

“Do you know any relatives of these men that we might be able to find?” John Shaw asked.

Uncle Ned thought for a moment, then shook his head and said, “No, no kin people.”

“Uncle Ned, were these men friends of my father's? I mean, did they visit each other?” Mandie asked.

Uncle Ned nodded. “Visit, hunt together,” he replied. “When Jim Shaw first moved to Charley Gap, they friends.”

“Where did these men live? Were they neighbors of Jim?” Mrs. Taft asked.

“Tom Kennering live over mountain in Tennessee,” the old Indian explained. “Jacob Smith come from up north and he return up north, live in cabin in mountain alone.”

Dr. Woodard had been thoughtfully listening to the conversation, and he told John Shaw, “Strange that I never knew these people. Being a doctor, you know, I get around most everywhere and meet 'most everybody.”

“And of course you had been living here in Swain County a long time before Jim ever moved out here,” John Shaw replied. “What about the accident when this Tom Kennering was shot? Was a doctor called in, or did it happen near here, Uncle Ned?”

“Shot in Tennessee, too far for Dr. Woodard,” the old man explained. “Too far for Jim Shaw to go. Tom Kennering friend of Jacob Smith and visit Jacob Smith in mountain cabin. Jim Shaw visit there.”

“You'd think Mandie's father would have asked my father to witness the will, or at least have told him about drawing one up, since they had known each other way back when they both lived in Macon County,” Joe said.

“No, he probably didn't let your father know any of his business because he knew your father was still in touch with all of us now and then. And remember, he moved out here to break all connections with his family,” John Shaw reminded him.

“You're absolutely right, John,” Dr. Woodard agreed. “We saw very little of him after he moved here.”

John Shaw turned back to Uncle Ned and said, “Looks like we've got a problem. If we could have found even one of those men, it would have helped matters.”

Uncle Ned frowned for a moment and then he said, “I send braves to Tennessee. Find friends of Tom Kennering.”

“That's a good idea, Uncle Ned,” John Shaw told him. “If we could find friends of Tom Kennering, it's possible they would have also known Jacob Smith and just might know where he moved.”

Uncle Ned stood up as he said, “I go now. Start braves on journey.”

Mandie rose and went to clasp his hand as she asked, “Are you coming back here?”

Uncle Ned patted her blond head and said, “Be back tonight. I not go to Tennessee. I send braves to Tennessee.”

“I appreciate this, Uncle Ned,” John Shaw said as he also stood up.

“Jim Shaw my friend,” the old man said sadly. “I promise Jim Shaw I take care of Papoose. This will belongs to Papoose and she need help. Now I go. Back before time to sleep.” He gave Mandie's hand a hard squeeze and turned to leave the room.

“Please hurry back,” Mandie called after him as he stepped into the hallway.

Everyone sat back down to discuss this new development in the situation.

“I will probably be able to get the judge to give me some time to
find the will,” John Shaw told Mrs. Taft. “I have no idea how much time, or whether you want to stay around after we see him tomorrow.”

“Of course I'll be around, John, as long as it's necessary, that is, until this matter is settled,” Mrs. Taft replied.

“Will I be able to stay home and continue looking for the will?” Mandie asked as she looked from her grandmother to her uncle.

“I told Miss Prudence we might be gone all this week because we weren't sure how long all this would take,” Mrs. Taft told her.

“Things are so uncertain right now,” John Shaw told her. “We'll probably go home after the hearing tomorrow and then have to wait and see if Uncle Ned's friends turn up any information for us. I don't see much sense in sending you back to school in Asheville and then maybe having to bring you home again the next day.”

Joe looked at his father and said, “How about me, Dad?”

Dr. Woodard thought for a moment and said, “We'll just have to wait and see, like John just said. But since you were with Miss Amanda when she found the will, I know we'll need to have you present at the hearing and any other proceedings. I don't suppose it would hurt you to miss a few days of school.”

Joe grinned and said, “Thanks, Dad.”

Mrs. Miller came to the parlor door to tell Mrs. Woodard she had coffee ready. “Shall I bring it in here, or do y'all plan on sitting at the table?” she asked.

“If we drink it in here, then we won't be in your way about fixing supper,” Mrs. Woodard told her.

“I'll be right back then,” Mrs. Miller told her as she disappeared back down the hallway.

“Coffee! Just what I need, with a slice of that chocolate cake I saw Mrs. Miller making,” Joe said to Mandie.

“Chocolate cake!” Mandie exclaimed. “Me too.” Then she turned to Dr. Woodard and said, “You know, Dr. Woodard, I really need Joe to help me finish searching the attic, and we haven't even started on the cellar.”

Dr. Woodard smiled at her and said, “We'll see.”

CHAPTER FOUR

AT THE COURTHOUSE

Mandie woke with the sound of the chickens the next morning, and when she looked over in the other bed, she was surprised to see her grandmother had evidently gotten up, made up the bed, and gone downstairs. Snowball stood up on her bed, stretched, and yawned.

“Well, well!” Mandie said to herself as she tumbled out of the huge bed and reached for her clothes. On the previous evening she had laid out everything she planned to wear. “I wonder if everybody else is up.”

She hurriedly dressed while her white cat watched, and then she scooped him off the bed and put him on the floor. “Come on, Snowball,” she told him as she opened the door. “Time to eat.” She looked back, and Snowball raced past her legs and down the hallway.

As she followed her cat, Mandie smelled bacon frying and coffee perking. Suddenly she was starving. She rushed down the stairs. Snowball had already disappeared. Upon reaching the downstairs hallway, she could hear voices in the parlor.

“Shucks!” she said to herself. “Must not be time to eat yet.” She walked to the parlor door and looked in. Everyone was there, even Uncle Ned, who had not returned when she went to bed the night before.

Joe spotted her and called as he went over to the doorway, “Well,
come on in, sleepyhead. It's about time you got up.” He grinned at her. “You're holding up breakfast.”

“Holding up breakfast?” Mandie asked as she stepped into the room. Uncle Ned, Uncle John, Mrs. Taft, and Dr. Woodard seemed to be in a deep conversation and did not look up when she came in.

Mrs. Woodard had heard Joe's remark and rose from her chair as she said, “Don't let Joe tease you, dear. You are not holding up breakfast. I was just fixing to go check with Mrs. Miller and see about it. I'll be right back.”

As Mrs. Woodard left the room, Mandie went to sit on a stool near the adults. Joe followed and sat on the carpet.

Mrs. Taft saw her and said, “I didn't want to wake you until the last minute, dear. You needed to get some rest after that long journey yesterday.”

“I'm not tired now, Grandmother, but I am hungry,” Mandie said with a smile.

Uncle Ned looked at her as the men paused in their conversation and said, “Braves gone to Tennessee now.”

“Thank you, Uncle Ned. I don't know what I'd ever do without you to help me out,” Mandie said, smiling up into his old face.

Uncle John got up and moved to a chair closer to Mandie. He looked serious and thoughtful, and Mandie wondered what was going on. He reached to hold her hand and said in a low voice, “Are you ready to go through this hearing, Amanda? You probably haven't stopped to think about it, but your stepmother will be there. You won't let her presence upset you, will you?”

Mandie's heart cut capers as she remembered how mean the woman had been to her and to her father. And all the time, Mandie had thought she was her mother until her father died and Uncle Ned helped her find the way to Uncle John's house. She wasn't sure how she would feel to face the woman again.

“Will you?” Uncle John repeated.

Mandie suddenly felt tears fill her eyes and couldn't speak. Uncle John reached to put an arm around her shoulders as he pulled out a handkerchief and gave it to her.

“Just remember she doesn't have any hold over you anymore,” John Shaw said as Mandie wiped her eyes. “There is nothing she can do or
say to hurt you anymore, if you'll just remember that your mother and I love you so much, and this woman is an outsider now.”

“I know, Uncle John,” Mandie finally said as she finished drying her tears. “But she might be able to take my father's house away from me, mightn't she?”

“Don't worry about that,” John Shaw replied. “I'll fight her to the highest courts for you. The will she has is bound to be forged, and she may be making trouble for her own self by trying such a thing.”

“Uncle John, please, let's just don't call her my stepmother anymore, because she really isn't now,” Mandie told him.

“Of course, you're right, dear,” John Shaw agreed. “We'll just call her by her name, Mrs. Etta Hughes, and if her husband is there, we'll just call him Mr. Hughes.”

“Thank you, Uncle John,” Mandie said, reaching to squeeze his hand.

Mrs. Woodard came back into the room and said, “I believe breakfast is ready now, if you would all come and eat.”

“I am ready,” Dr. Woodard said as he rose.

“Me too,” Joe said, standing up beside Mandie.

John Shaw offered his hand to help Mrs. Taft rise, and they all went to breakfast.

There was not much conversation at the table because everyone had the hearing on their minds and they were in a hurry to finish the meal and get on to the courthouse.

In the middle of her thoughts at the table, Mandie suddenly remembered the letter Uncle John said he had received from her father. “Uncle John, the letter from my father, did you bring it with you?” she asked, anxiously looking at her uncle as she laid down her fork.

John Shaw smiled and patted his jacket pocket. “It's right here,” he said. “Don't worry. I won't let it out of my sight.”

Mandie breathed a loud sigh of relief. “I'm glad you didn't forget,” she said. Then she added, “You know, my father didn't ever tell her about his secret hiding place where we found the will that day, or I'm sure she would have destroyed the will. He showed me the place a long, long time ago when she and her daughter Irene weren't home one day, and I had forgotten all about it until Joe and I discovered it.”

“She still probably does not know about it, because I've had your
father's house repaired after the fire, and the hiding place is hidden again,” Dr. Woodard told Mandie.