The Mandie Collection (6 page)

“You had my father's house repaired?” she questioned him in surprise.

“Yes, you see, your uncle here sent the funds and asked if I would hire someone to do the work, which I did, and there is no sign of fire damage now,” the doctor explained.

“We'll go out and look it over before we return to Franklin,” John Shaw told her.

“Oh, Uncle John, thank you,” Mandie said. “I was so worried about the burned floor and the smoke damage. I'm anxious to see it.”

“That's a good idea, John, to visit the house,” Mrs. Taft spoke up. “You see, I've never been there, and I would like to see what we're fighting that woman for.”

“Grandmother, it's just a plain old log cabin, not at all like your mansion in Asheville,” Mandie told her. “But it was built by my father with his own hands and is precious to me.” Her voice shook a little with emotion.

“I understand, dear,” Mrs. Taft said. “And I would feel that way if I were in your position. But don't you worry about that house now. We'll fight that woman until we're rid of her.”

“Thank you, Grandmother,” Mandie said.

John Shaw pulled out his pocket watch and looked at it as he said, “Now I think we'd better be on our way. We don't want to be late.”

“No, the sooner the better,” Mandie said, rising from the table. She had been hungry, but she didn't finish her food.

When someone opened the door to the hallway, Snowball came bounding in, meowing loudly. Mandie looked down at him and said, “Snowball, I don't think you can go with us.”

“Certainly not, dear,” Mrs. Taft said.

“Don't worry about him,” Mrs. Woodard spoke up. “I'll feed him and keep an eye on him. He'll be all right until y'all return.”

“Are you not going with us?” Mandie asked her.

“No, dear, you don't need me, and I'll just wait here for y'all,” Mrs. Woodard replied.

“Do you think Snowball will stay in the house while I'm gone? Remember he got out the last time I was here,” Mandie told her.

“I'll see that he doesn't get out,” Mrs. Woodard promised.

“Amanda, come on and get your wrap. We've got to hurry,” Mrs. Taft said as everyone was leaving the room.

“Yes, ma'am,” Mandie replied as she hurried to catch up with her grandmother.

Uncle Ned went with John Shaw to bring the rig up to the door, and they were soon on their way to the courthouse in Bryson City.

Mandie had not been in Bryson City many times in her young life, even though she had lived most of it just a few miles out of town. She looked at the big white building sitting in the middle of the square and realized that the ownership of her father's house would be decided in this courthouse by some man she had never seen. And he didn't know her and how badly she wanted to keep the house.

John Shaw parked the rig where the horse could reach the watering trough. The October air was cool, so he didn't have to worry about heat from the sunshine on the animal.

“Here we are,” John said as he stepped down and assisted Mrs. Taft out of the rig. Dr. Woodard and Uncle Ned followed.

Mandie's legs didn't seem to want to move as she and Joe descended from the back of the vehicle. Joe took her hand to help her down and she clung to it. The adults walked ahead to the door of the building.

“Come on, Mandie,” Joe urged as he looked at her. “We have to go inside now.”

Mandie held tighter to his hand, pulling him to a stop. “Joe, I'm afraid,” she said in a low voice.

“Afraid of what?” Joe asked.

“I'm afraid of what that judge might do about my father's house,” she almost whispered. Then she quickly added, “Let's say our verse, Joe.”

Joe looked at her and replied, “All right, Mandie, if you want to, but I don't think you should be afraid.”

“Joe,” Mandie said, grasping his hand with both of hers. Joe repeated with her their Bible verse, “ ‘What time I am afraid I will put my trust in Thee.' ”

“Now we can go inside. Look, everyone is gone,” Joe told her as he tried to urge her toward the front door.

“All right. I'm ready now,” Mandie said. She felt much better after repeating her favorite verse.

Joe held the door open, and Mandie walked through into the front
corridor of the courthouse. The adults were standing before a man at a desk at one side, and John Shaw was asking directions.

“Second floor, up the stairway over there,” the man was saying as he pointed to the huge staircase. “Top of the steps, second door to your right.”

John Shaw led the way as they followed the man's directions. He opened the designated door, and they entered a small courtroom that was filled with long benches divided by a center aisle. A platform for the judge was at the front. The room was empty. He motioned for them to take the front seats on the right.

Mandie, thinking she should try to look grown-up now, straightened the hat she was wearing, the one she had bought for her journey to Europe earlier that year with her grandmother and Celia. She sat up straight, watched for the judge to enter, and listened for Etta Hughes to come in the door, which was now behind them. Joe sat on her left and Uncle Ned on her right. John Shaw had been the last to be seated, and he was sitting on the other side of Joe, next to the aisle.

“Are you all right?” Joe whispered in her ear.

Mandie suddenly realized she was almost holding her breath as she waited for the event that was about to unfold here in this room. She took a deep breath and whispered back to him, “Yes.”

At that moment she heard footsteps in the hallway come to the open door and pause. And at the same time, the clerk entered the room from a door just beyond the door with JUDGE lettered on it. He was middle-aged, awfully tall, rather skinny, and wore spectacles. Walking to his seat at the front, he sat down, opened a book he was carrying, and did not even glance at them.

In the meantime the footsteps began again, and Mandie could tell the person was coming down the aisle. She became rigid again and almost lost her breath when Etta Hughes came into view across the aisle and sat down on a seat in the front row. Mandie didn't want to look at her, but somehow her eyes became glued to the woman who so far had not looked at her.

“Papoose,” she heard Uncle Ned whisper as she felt his arm go around her shoulders on the back of the bench. She reached up and squeezed his hand without changing her gaze.

Etta Hughes was dressed in what Mandie remembered as her Sunday dress—plain brown, without any trim, and a wide-brimmed hat
that hid part of her face as she sat there looking down at the papers in her hands. She was completely ignoring Mandie and the others. And Mandie knew she had to have seen them when she came through the doorway behind them.

Mandie was so absorbed in watching the woman that Joe had to jerk her hand when everyone stood up as the judge entered and took his seat. She noticed the man wore a black robe and smiled as he spoke, but she was so worried about what Etta Hughes was going to say that she didn't even hear what the judge said.

“Mrs. Etta Shaw,” the clerk was saying, and Etta stood up.

Mandie gasped in surprise. The woman was not Etta
Shaw
. She had married Zack Hughes shortly after Jim Shaw had died.

“Yes,” she said as she stood there, evidently not knowing what else to say. The clerk took her papers to the judge.

“You were married to James Alexander Shaw?” the judge questioned. “When he died, you then married Zack Hughes. How can you say you are Etta Shaw now?”

“I have divorced Zack Hughes and taken back Jim Shaw's name,” Etta said. “I have no home now and would like possession of the house he left me.”

“I believe this is a will,” the judge said, looking over the papers in his hands. “Wherein James Alexander Shaw left Etta Shaw all his property.” He glanced up at her and asked, “James Alexander Shaw died April 13, 1900. That's over a year ago. Why did you take so long to file this will?”

“I don't have much education,” Etta said. “I just didn't know I was supposed to until I heard his daughter, Amanda, was claiming she had a will giving her the house, and I decided then I must do something about it, because that is the real will that you have there, Judge. Whatever Amanda has is not his true will.”

“Do you know the two witnesses on this will?” the judge asked her.

“Yes,” Etta said.

“It will be necessary for you to bring them in,” the judge told her. “That is all right now. You may be seated.” The judge turned to look at John Shaw, and John immediately rose as the judge said his name.

“I am John Shaw, Your Honor,” he said. “I have a letter here written to me by James Alexander Shaw, who was my brother, and would
ask you compare the signature with that on the will this woman has submitted.”

The clerk walked over, took the letter from John, and gave it to the judge, who carefully examined it.

“According to this letter your brother planned to leave all his property to his daughter, Amanda Elizabeth Shaw,” the judge said. “But the will this woman has states it all goes to her. I cannot accept a letter as a will.”

“Yes, Your Honor, I realize that, but would ask that I be given time to locate the will that Jim's daughter, Amanda, found just recently, and which was stolen out of my house before I could get it filed,” John Shaw replied. “We are currently trying to locate at least one of the two witnesses to the will. The will which Amanda found left everything to her.”

The judge looked at him and then at Etta and said, “Hmmm.” He looked back down at the papers in front of him. “As far as I can tell, the signature on this will and the one on the letter look identical, but of course I will have an expert compare them. You may have ninety days to come up with the will that you speak of. At the end of that time we will have a hearing to decide this matter.”

Mandie smiled as she heard that remark. She squeezed Joe's hand on one side and reached Uncle Ned's hand on the other side.

“Thank you, Your Honor,” John Shaw said, and Mandie realized the judge was finished and they were free to leave.

When everyone stood up, Mandie glanced over to where Etta had been sitting and was surprised to see her rushing out ahead of them without even glancing their way. She couldn't understand why the woman would not even look at her. And she wondered why Etta was alone. The woman claimed she had divorced Zack, but Mandie didn't believe her. Etta would never let go of any man she managed to hook. She was incapable of living alone.

“Let's go, Mandie,” Joe told her as the adults went ahead.

Mandie quickly followed with Joe. “Oh, Joe, we have ninety days to find the will, but how are we going to do it? We can't stay out of school that long,” she said as they descended the staircase.

“Of course not, Mandie,” Joe agreed. “We'll just have to find it real fast somehow or another.”

When they caught up with the adults at the rig, John Shaw looked at Mandie and smiled. “We have ninety days,” he said.

“But we don't actually have ninety days to find the will, because Joe and I will have to be back to school,” Mandie said with a big sigh.

“No, Amanda, remember I told Miss Prudence we may be gone all week,” Mrs. Taft reminded her. “We'll just take the week so you can spend it looking for the will.”

“Oh, thank you, Grandmother,” Mandie told her. She turned to look at Dr. Woodard and asked, “But what about Joe?”

“He may have a little time out, too, but when you two finish searching the house, then he must go back to school. If you do find the will, I would imagine your uncle John here will ask the judge to reschedule the hearing sooner than ninety days, right, John?” He looked at John Shaw.

“That's right,” John Shaw said. “As soon as the will is found, I will immediately notify the judge.”

“But need witnesses' friends,” Uncle Ned reminded him. “Maybe braves find friends of Tom Kennering or Jacob Smith.”

“If they do we'll have a talk with the friends and see what we can do,” John Shaw replied. “Anyway, right now I suggest we go back to Dr. Woodard's house, and then we'll make a quick trip to your father's house, Amanda.” He looked at Mrs. Taft as they still stood by the rig. “Then we'll head for home.”

“Yes, that's the right thing to do,” Mrs. Taft agreed. “We know the will is not at Dr. Woodard's house. Therefore we need to get back and search where it disappeared.”

Mandie quickly asked the doctor, “Is Joe going home with us? Please.”

Dr. Woodard cleared his throat and replied, “Yes, he may go home with you all, but only because this is supposed to be educational for him. And I won't guarantee you how long he will be able to stay.”

“Thank you, Dr. Woodard,” Mandie said as they all began piling into the rig.

John Shaw shook the reins, and the horse pulled the vehicle out into the road.

“Well, what did you think of a courtroom?” Joe asked Mandie as they rode together in the backseat.

“It looks awfully proper, but I didn't think Etta Hughes acted very
proper. Did you notice she didn't even say ‘Your Honor' when she spoke to the judge?” Mandie told him.

“I suppose he overlooked it because she told him she was uneducated,” Joe said.

“And she never did even look at me—or us, I should say,” Mandie added. “Well, she'll look at us next time we go there. We'll have the will and show her up for what she is.”

“I sure hope we can find the will,” Joe said.

“As soon as we get back, we'll begin searching again, and we just won't stop until we do find it,” Mandie told him. Then she added, “Or until we have to go back to school. Maybe if we hurry we can find it.”

She glanced at Joe and smiled.

CHAPTER FIVE

WITH LOVE