East of Orleans (51 page)

The truth was Jacqueline had been so weakened by the Parisian flu some feared she had returned home to die. She could no longer even take her beloved walks through
Forsyth
Park
. Jacqueline was suffering not only from the effects of the illness, but the years of opium use had started to take its toll. She had become a mere shadow of herself. However, always powdered, perfumed, and wearing the latest French couture, Jacqueline was still a stunning woman. Over the next few weeks, Noble Jones prepared Jacqueline for the trial. He persuaded her to plead self-defense and she did. Of course, there was gossip in the streets that it was not self-defense and that she was nothing less than a cold-blooded murderer. The artists in
Forsyth
Park
looked around with scowls on their faces when shouts were heard that Jacqueline should be hung like Alice Riley. The artist shook their heads and then went back to painting.

Rumors were heard all over
Savannah
that Jacqueline Rousseau O’Brien would walk free for the murder of Jacob Hartwell. Soon after Jacqueline returned and a trial date was set, Mae Patterson and the two-faced girls returned to
Savannah
. The first evening after arriving in
Savannah
, Mae walked into the hotel lobby and overheard the twin girls discussing whether Jacqueline would serve any time. Mae sent a message to Jules McGinnis that she must see him and soon.

Jules’s answer came, but he never did. The messenger told Mae that Jules had no desire to speak to her. The twin girls heard Mae shouting and cursing inside her hotel room. They rushed in to find her exploding with anger. Mae swore to the girls that she would kill both Jules McGinnis and Jacqueline if it were the last thing that she did. The twin girls could smell the strong odor of whiskey on Mae and just assumed that she was drunk and by tomorrow, she would have forgotten the entire ordeal. But Mae did not forget.

In a few days Jacqueline, appeared before the good people of
Chatham
County
and on a cool rainy day, the people of
Savannah
responded with an acquittal of Jacqueline Rousseau O’Brien for the murder of Jacob Hartwell.

“Thank Mary mother of Jesus!” Kate O’Brien shouted when she heard the good news. Excitement rang through the streets of
Savannah
, but not everyone was happy. The night before, Mae Patterson had been seen chanting and carrying on with Mathilde out near the burned down plantation of Lettie McGillivrary. There was a black cloud that was spreading across the city. As Jacqueline stepped out of the courthouse and down the steps, she stumbled upon the mutilated body of her dead black cat. Jacqueline burst into tears. Patrick stepped out in front of Jacqueline to remove the body of her dead cat when Mae Patterson appeared from a carriage.

Mae entered the yard of the courthouse, quietly pulled a gun out from her drawstring purse and pointed it at Jacqueline. Patrick moved Jacqueline out of the way and then tried to reason with Mae to put the gun away.

“This has nothing to do with you, Mr. O’Brien, get out of my way!” screamed Mae. There was no reasoning with her. Mae aimed the gun at Jules and Jacqueline started screaming, putting her hands over her face. Patrick glanced over his shoulder and saw Mathilde with a smile on her face. He turned back around and said, “Mae, if you do this, there’ll be another death for you to contend with. Please, give me the gun.”

“No! That whore and Jules McGinnis have destroyed my life,” said Mae.

Patrick shook his head and said, “No Mae, you’re just upset—now hand me the gun.” He watched her closely and then went for the gun. With Jacqueline standing right behind him, Mae shot Patrick O’Brien three times in the chest. He was dead before he hit the ground.

Dr. Chandler pushed through the crowds. His feet moved quickly and once inside the house on Oglethorpe he removed his raincoat and draped it across a dining room chair. He glanced nervously around the parlor and then spotted Jules.

“Where is she?” asked
Chandler
.

“Follow me.”

When Jules and Dr. Chandler entered Jacqueline’s dimly-lit bedroom, they saw a devastated Isabella leaning over Jacqueline. Jacqueline tried to rise up, but she was too weak. Dr. Chandler smiled, put out a hand, urging her to lie back down. He then knelt over and kissed Jacqueline lightly on the cheek. “Is he dead?” she asked.

“Ah, my child, lie down and let me check you,” said Dr. Chandler. Jacqueline glanced at him. Dr. Chandler opened the front of her white cotton gown and listened to her chest with his stethoscope. He looked at her and then backed away.

“It will only be a short time now,” he whispered to Jules. “Let her sleep.”

Before Isabella left the room she went to Jacqueline’s side and sat on the edge of the bed. Jacqueline took Isabella’s hand and squeezed it hard, “You have been like a sister to me.”

“You are my sister,” Isabella said, unable to hold back the tears. “Shh, I want you to rest. You’re going to be fine.”

Jacqueline turned to Jules and Dr. Chandler. “Can the two of you leave for a few moments?”

Dr. Chandler nodded. “Only a few minutes.” Then he and Jules left the room.

A jolt of pain hit Jacqueline when she tried to breathe. Slowly, she removed the gold cross necklace from her neck that Isabella had given her. “My baby, I want you to see that she has this. I want her to wear it always and know that I loved her. I want you to promise me something.”

“Yes, ask me, ask me anything.”

“Promise me that you will help raise Juliette in this house. I never wanted to leave this house.”

“I promise you,” said Isabella.

“Jules, he will need you. He is not a bad man,” she said.

Down the hall in Juliette’s bedroom, Jules looked at Dr. Chandler. “Is there any way she can get better.”

“Things will not change.”

“So, she will die?”

“Yes.”

“I see. How did you meet her?” asked Jules.

Dr. Chandler rubbed his forehead and closed his eyes for a moment. “I was a young doctor in
New Orleans
. I was there completing my residency and Jacqueline was still a child. I was about to leave work and a young prostitute that I had helped after a botched abortion ran inside the hospital. She had a desperate look on her face and pleaded for me to go with her. She took me to a bordello in the French Quarter. I was ushered to a dark, dirty, wet basement. There I saw a shadow of a girl curled up in a fetal position. It would have been impossible for me to have treated her there and when I attempted to pick her up I realized that she was in shock. She didn’t say a word. Again, I, bent down to pick her up and she started to whimper like a child. I told her that I would take care of her.” Dr. Chandler paused. “They had her so drugged with opium that she was barely alive. I started to lift her and realized that she was in pain. There was a trail of blood around her frail body. I pulled up her dress and started to examine her when I realized that she had a dead fetus that she had not yet delivered. I pressed her hand tight against mine and removed the dead fetus. Jacqueline was thirteen. I have never been able to forget the look on her face. I took her to the hospital but knew that she couldn’t stay there forever. I didn’t know what to do with her. I always wanted to adopt her, but I had just gotten married and my wife was not too happy when I said that I wanted to adopt a thirteen-year-old girl. I never forgave my wife or myself for letting Jacqueline return to that place. And then for years I kept up with her, would send her money; the gold bracelet that she wears on her right wrist I gave her the day she left the hospital. She always haunted me.”

“Why didn’t you go back for her?” asked Jules.

“There were times that I wanted to. I thought about it, but how could I raise a thirteen- year-old girl on my own? When I heard that she was in
Atlanta
and needed a place, I sent her to Mae Patterson’s. I had been to Mae’s on a few occasions and checked some of the girls—it was a clean place and I thought Mae had a good heart.”

“There was a time when she did,” said Jules.

Dr. Chandler smiled. “It was my idea for Jacqueline to use the opium to her advantage. I told her how much to give the men to drug them just enough to knock them out. Since I knew no way to get her away from that life, which was the only way I knew to protect her.”

Jules nodded. A sad look came over his face; a look that was never to leave, never the same again. He faced Dr. Chandler. “Can you keep her comfortable?”

Dr. Chandler nodded.

“Thank you for telling me,” said Jules.

It was almost midnight when Jules was called to Jacqueline’s bedside. She opened her eyes and smiled a weakly. “Are you leaving?” she asked.

“No.”

“I ‘m afraid,” said Jacqueline.

Jules raised his eyebrows. “You afraid, you’ve never been afraid of anything. I want you to rest.”

“Do you love me?” asked Jacqueline.

“I have never loved anyone but you,” he said. “I want you to get well, I’m going to get a divorce and we’re going to be a family.”

“That’s all I ever wanted,” she said, then she fell asleep.

Jules left the room and called for Dr. Chandler. Kate brought Jacqueline some water, but she was not strong enough to drink it. Before dawn, Jacqueline awoke and asked for Dr. Chandler. He entered her room and she smiled. “You always took care of me,” she said. He did not say anything but he watched her remove the gold bracelet that he had given her years before. “I want you to give this to my daughter and promise me that you will always look after her.”

Dr. Chandler nodded and never said a word to her again. He left the room with a single gold bracelet in his hand and broke down and cried. Jules was standing in the kitchen with others when he saw Dr. Chandler enter the room. Dr. Chandler simply nodded that it was time.

Jules ran up the stairs, into Jacqueline’s bedroom and found her peacefully sleeping. He slid into the bed next to her and said a silent prayer, more than he knew he had the right to. He took Jacqueline into his arms and cried and cried. She smiled, a tear ran down her face, then she took one last breath.