But the Children Survived (57 page)

As James watched, Jacob and the girl sat on the beach and talked.  The girl laughed a lot, and when Jacob turned his head, James could see him smiling.  Jacob didn't look mean.  James wished he knew what the girl was saying so he could say the same thing to Jacob.  Maybe then he wouldn't be so mean to James. 

The girl put her head on Jacob's shoulder, and then she kissed him.  James eyes grew wide.  His brother had a girlfriend!  Someone actually liked Jacob!

The girl stood up and walked towards the rocks.  Jacob ran after her, and took her arm.  She turned towards Jacob, and pushed his arm away.  She was yelling at Jacob, but James couldn't hear what she was saying.  She kept walking to the rocks and when she got there, she climbed up on the first one. 

Jacob stood there balling his hands into fists and hitting himself.  James could tell Jacob was getting mad, but he wondered why.  The girl seemed okay up on the rock.  She was old enough to do what she wanted to. 

People began to appear on the beach.  A counselor came over to Jacob and yelled at the girl.  She got down off the rock and walked up the beach, away from Jacob and the counselor.   After they talked for a few minutes, Jacob walked up the beach towards the campsite, passing within a few feet of where James was hiding.  James waited a few minutes before joining his brother in the canteen for breakfast.

James saw Jacob sitting by himself at the end of one of the long tables in the canteen.  He avoided looking at him.  James sat at a table with some of his cabin mates.  He knew he could never ask Jacob about the girl.  He wanted to find out her name though, so if he saw her today, he would ask her.  He'd have to be sure Jacob didn't see him talking to her.  Otherwise, Jacob would beat him up.

*****

Two weeks before the end of the season, Jacob met Ellie by the river.  The sun was full up, and she was already on the rock.  Jacob was sick of arguing with her, so he waded into the river and began to swim.  He thought if he were in the water, he could save her if she fell, or maybe she would jump off the rock and join him. 

Ellie was feeling particularly daring that day as she jumped onto the third big rock.  She slipped just a little and caught herself.  Jacob swam closer to the rocks. 

“Ellie, stop!” he yelled. 

She waved her hand at him and inched closer to the fourth rock.  The gap between the third and fourth rock was larger than the others.  This was the gap that took the life of the camper 20 years ago.  Ellie knew the story.  She checked her footing, and she was sure she had a firm grip.

The distance between the rocks was about the same as the long jump she’d easily made during her track finals earlier that year, but she wouldn’t have a running start here.  Still, Ellie’s ego wouldn’t let her back down.  She wanted to make it across.

“I know what you're thinking, Ellie,” Jacob yelled, “but it's too far.  Don't do it!”

Ellie pretended not to hear him.  She looked at the rock ahead of her and measured the distance with her eyes.  She just knew she could make it.  She stepped back and propelled herself off the rock, making it to the next rock.  The moss was slippery though and she lost her footing, falling feet first into the crevice. 

James, who’d been watching behind the trees, ran to find a counselor.  Jacob was screaming Ellie's name.  She didn't yell back.  He went under the rocks where he could see her legs kicking.  He tried to crawl under them to grab her legs, but she was wedged in tightly.  Jacob had to surface to grab some air, and when he went back down to her, her legs weren't moving.

Several counselors came running.  One waded into the river.  He pulled Jacob out of his way and went under the water.  He could see Ellie’s legs wedged underneath, but he couldn’t pull her out. 

Another counselor climbed on the rocks and jumped over them until he was on the third rock looking down at Ellie.  He could see her eyes staring back at him.  He hung over as far as he could, but he couldn’t reach her without falling in himself. 

Ellie had drowned within minutes of falling in.  It took a man hanging from a helicopter flying overhead while another pushed her from underneath to finally pull her body out of the crevice. 

*****

Jacob stayed in his cabin the rest of that week and the next.  James would check on him, but Jacob wouldn’t look at him.  When they went home, Jacob went to his room and stayed there until school started. 

When school began, he would come home and go to his room, coming out only for meals.  It took a year for Jacob to finally come to terms with Ellie’s death, but he never really got over it. 

Ellie was the first girl he’d ever cared for, the only person he'd allow to call him Jake, and the first person he’d ever allowed himself to love with his whole heart.  He swore he would never make that mistake again.

Chapter 72

Rutgers College, New Brunswick, New Jersey

In 1964, Jacob Wilmer saw Emily O'Connell sitting on the other side the university’s gymnasium. The Homecoming dance was in full swing, and Emily was surrounded by several young men.  She smiled, tilted her head back and laughed at something one of the boys said.  Her long, auburn hair softly caressed her shoulders. 

Jacob's heart began to ache for another auburn-haired beauty he’d lost years before.  Emily even looked like Ellie.  Jacob slowly made his way across the gym.

Emily saw Jacob coming towards her.  She’d set her cap for the Wilmer heir at the beginning of her freshman year at Douglass College.  She'd made it her business to know his course schedule.  She would always manage to show up just as he was leaving his classes, if her scheduled allowed it.  Till now, however, Jacob hadn't noticed her.  But tonight, her hair loose and her shoulders bare, she reminded him of his long ago first love. 

Jacob stood in front of Emily and asked her to dance.  She thought she might decline, thinking he would be more interested if she were unavailable.  But Emily wanted to dance with Jacob, so she threw caution to the wind and accepted.  As they moved around the floor, Jacob noticed Emily’s eyes.  They were green, emerald green.

Jacob found Emily's charms appealing.  They dated throughout their four years in college, and married a week after graduation.  While Emily never aroused a great passion in Jacob, she served him well by always looking beautiful on his arm.  In time, his feelings for her grew. 

Jacob loved Emily as one loves a dear friend. She gave him a son, an heir to the Wilmer fortune, and fulfilled her societal responsibilities at luncheons and charitable functions throughout Monmouth County, New Jersey.  For Jacob Wilmer, life was good.

*****

Rumson, New Jersey, 1980

Andrew Wilmer watched as his mother feverishly worked the rollers into the doll’s hair.  She chattered away, trying to draw him into her world.  Andrew had no interest in the doll’s whatsoever, but he loved to see his mother so happy.  He loved her more than anyone in the world.  He rarely saw his cold and distant father. 

Every morning Emily would bring him down the cellar stairs and over to the little chair she’d provided just for him.  After he was seated, she would turn on the hot plate.  Their maid, Ethel, always left a pot of water on the hot plate.  After she turned it on, Emily would pick out a doll.

Tomorrow he would turn eight and Andrew had told his mother he no longer wanted to come with her to the cellar.  He had friends now, and he wanted to join the Pee Wee Football team.  Emily had pouted, but she understood.  This would be their last day together in her fashion doll beauty parlor.

Andrew’s favorite moment came when his mother would lower the doll’s head into the pot of boiled water.  He wished just once it would melt into a plastic blob.  Maybe if it did, she would finally stop doing this.

When Emily had turned out the last doll, she held it up and smiled.

“Isn’t she lovely, Andrew?” she asked.

Andrew nodded.  She put the doll on a stand, and found an empty spot in the cellar to display her.  Then she turned to Andrew with tears in her eyes.

“I will miss our time together,” she said.  Andrew was a kind-hearted boy.  He got up from his chair and put his arms around his mother.  She was just a head taller than he. 

“Mom, it’s gonna be alright,” he said.  Emily nodded, and then they walked up the cellar stairs to the kitchen. 

Andrew did join the Pee Wee Football team.  On Saturdays, their butler John would drive him to the games and watch on the sidelines.  He even managed a cheer now and then.  When the game was over, he would drive Andrew home.

Andrew would run through the front door and down the cellar steps to Emily.  He would tell her about the game and she would feign interest.  Seeing the excitement on her son’s face touched Emily’s heart. 

As Andrew got older, he would visit his friends after games and spend less and less time at home.  Emily missed seeing him, and spent more and more time alone in the cellar.  Her doll collection grew to enormous proportions, but Ethel and John were the only ones who knew. 

*****

2001 - Rumson, New Jersey

Jacob Wilmer had received a report from Simon, his “investigator,” saying that his brother James had been writing to Emily ever since he’d left the United States.  Jacob hadn’t been aware of their correspondence.  He despised his brother for turning his back on his family and his country.  James had been living in Italy for years. Before her death, he had written to their mother, but never visited. 

Jacob wasn't aware of any relationship between Emily and James.  He felt as though his wife had betrayed him and he couldn't shake the feeling.  The one person he cared for besides his son Andrew was his wife Emily.  He just couldn't understand why she’d kept this from him. 

Jacob called Ethel into his study.  Ethel had been Emily's maid for over thirty years.  She was a soft-spoken African-American woman who always felt ill at ease in front of Jacob.  Being called to see him in his study was extremely nerve-racking for her.  He had rarely spoken to her, and she couldn't imagine what she had done to prompt this summons.  When she knocked on the study door, Jacob told her to come in.  She opened the door and kept her eyes on the ground. 

“Come in, Ethel.  I have to ask you something.  Please, close the door,” Jacob said. He watched Ethel slowly approach the desk, keeping her eyes on the floor.  “Everything is fine, Ethel, you haven't done anything wrong.” 

Ethel was taken aback by Jacob's soft, reassuring voice.  He was usually ranting at the servants.  She looked up at him and tried to smile.

“Ethel, I just wanted to ask you where Mrs. Wilmer is today.”  Jacob fixed his snakelike eyes on Ethel.   

“She's at a luncheon, sir,” Ethel said softly.

“How long will she be gone?” he asked.

“She said she’d be back around four o'clock.”  Ethel hoped that was all he wanted to know.  She was trying hard not to shake in front of him.

“Very well, thank you, Ethel.  You may go.” 

Jacob always had trouble smiling.  It was a reluctant effort he reserved for Emily and Andrew.  He was trying to smile now, but only one end of his mouth went up.  The other side seemed set in stone.  Ethel turned and left the room, closing the door behind her. 

Jacob waited a few minutes and then exited the study.  He climbed the stairs to the second floor and looked around to see if anyone was watching before he entered Emily's bedroom.  He closed the door behind him and locked it, just in case. 

He began searching the room by going through Emily's dressing table drawers and then her dresser.  He searched her nightstands, her desk, and her hope chest.  Finally, he found a hat box on the top shelf of her closet and took it down.  He opened it and found what he was looking for.

The box contained pictures of James with a man identified on the back as Alfredo.  They were standing in front of a vineyard.  There were letters Emily had tied with a ribbon.  Jacob sat at her desk, slipped the ribbon off and began to read. 

The letters were a chronicle of James' life since he’d left the family in the 1970s.  The first letters were about James' decision to leave the family and his reasons for doing so.  Jacob read them in disgust.  He hadn’t known his brother was a homosexual.  He was sure his parents never knew either. 

It’s just as well he’d buried himself in the Italian countryside, thought Jacob.

There was a letter written in the late 1980s regarding a young student named Russo whom James had sponsored.  He’d sent Antonio to Brazil to meet a woman named Margaret DeMorte.  Jacob stopped reading.  The name DeMorte triggered memories of his father's obsession with biotechnological weaponry.  

Jacob had had a hell of a time with his father when the government turned down Wilmer's prototype.  Matthew Wilmer had retired after that and was never quite the same.  That weapon had been his dream, and that woman's plants had almost made it possible.  Why would James be sending this Russo to see her?  And why was Russo's name so familiar? 

Jacob had always questioned James' motives.  He believed James was determined to bring down the Wilmer family.  He continued to read, hoping James would elaborate on his gift to Russo. 

James had become a professor at the University of Florence, where he taught English Literature.  He and Alfredo lived on a vineyard he purchased sometime in the early 80s which was just starting to produce a decent wine.  He’d sent a label to Emily.  Then, just when Jacob had given up on seeing Russo's name again, it appeared in a letter James had sent eight years ago. 

Antonio's father lived in Florence and was acquainted with James.  James bought his bread at Guido's bakery and would often ask after Antonio.  It seemed Antonio had discovered a supplement that would prevent miscarriage in certain women.  He’d created it using the plants he’d gotten from Margaret DeMorte.  Guido had told James this because he’d been thanking James yet again for helping his boy.