Temple Secrets: Southern Humorous Fiction: (New for 2015) For Lovers of Southern Authors and Southern Novels (34 page)

Rose is genuinely confused. Her thoughts race. It makes no sense that her brother would want to tarnish the Temple brand. Yet she remembers how half-hearted his eulogy was.

“But why?” Rose asks again.

“A few years ago when Edward went to visit his mother they were having dinner at a restaurant downtown,” Regina begins. “Evidently an interracial couple came in and your mother was appalled and said some ugly things. Edward was furious over that for months. Then after she mailed him the key to the safe deposit box a few months before she died, Edward decided that releasing the secrets would be his way of destroying the Temple legend—the secrets, the racism, all of it. He has a lot of connections in Savannah, you know, and different old school buddies helped him arrange things, as long as he kept their secrets out of it.”

Regina pauses, as if remembering the sequence of events.

“In the letter from your mother that contained the key, she also mentioned a second safe deposit box and a second key,” Regina begins again. “This was news to Edward and evidently this second box contained secrets that stretched beyond Savannah to an international level. After that, Edward became obsessed with finding the second key,” she continues. “That’s why he made that last visit here. He wanted to find that key before anybody else did. I’m not sure what he was going to do once he found it. I guess now we’ll never know.”

Regina looks at Rose and begins to cry, enough tears that Rose embraces this stranger who is also her sister-in-law. After guiding Regina to a nearby bench, Rose pulls a clean tissue from the pocket of her shorts and hands it to her. If she were Old Sally, she might try to collect these tears. But perhaps the time for protection spells is past.

As quickly as they began, Regina’s tears stop and she announces that she has to leave. She walks away and Rose calls after her. “Regina, did Edward leave everything to you?” she asks, hoping she doesn’t find her question rude. “I mean I hope he did, you know?”

“Actually, I’m now the landlord of several Atlanta high rises in need of renovation,” she says with a wry grin and turns toward the gate.

“I’m happy to have met you,” Rose calls after her again. “Whenever you come back to Savannah, I hope you’ll look me up.”

“I will,” she says, turning to wave. But Rose wonders if she actually will. “Good luck with your move,” Regina adds, before exiting through the gate.

Rose can’t imagine that her brother was easy to live with, but she likes to think that perhaps he found some happiness. Though in Temple fashion, it was all a secret.

Alone in the garden again, Rose digs in her purse and pulls out the sand dollar she found in a box of her childhood memorabilia while she was packing. After tying the shell onto one of the oak’s lower branches, she stands back to admire it, remembering the day she and Violet laid in the grass looking up at the tree adorned with sand dollars. Like all childhoods, there is a mixture of good and bad, but she chooses now to remember the good.

Today marks the two year anniversary of her mother’s death. They purposely chose this auspicious day to move into their new place. According to Old Sally and Violet, who can see these things, her mother’s spirit has been at peace since the fire. For her mother’s sake, Rose hopes this is true. Her mother would like the idea of a park being created in honor of the Temples. In a way, it redeems the mess those secrets caused.

Before leaving, Rose bows to the garden of her childhood.

“Goodbye, Mother. Goodbye, Edward. Goodbye, old tree.” She pats the rough bark of the live oak that watched over her all those years. Her best wishes extend to all her lineage, descendants, as well as ancestors, the best and worst of the Temple clan.

Stopped at a traffic light on the way out of town, Rose opens the envelope that Regina gave her. Inside is a small key on the end of a gold chain. With the key, is a letter written by her mother on Temple stationery.

Dear Edward,

Enclosed is the second key to the second safety deposit box at the bank. For some reason it feels wise to send it to you, now that the Book of Secrets
is being released. You must use all of your resources to find out who is doing this and make them stop. Our family has always had enemies, but this is someone who is especially devious. You must make them pay.

Nobody else knows about this second key or the contents of the box and it should stay that way. The
Book of Secrets is nothing compared to the ledger in the second vault. Use it whenever you see fit, and by all means, don’t let Rose or Queenie get their hands on either of the keys. They don’t understand the world the way we do.

By the way, did you know that Violet Stevens is your father’s child? I only just found out. Oscar left a letter saying he wanted her to have the house. Since it was his final request on this earth, I will honor it. My final request to you, which hopefully won’t need to be followed for many years, is that you honor my decision.

Love from your devoted mother,

Iris Temple

P.S. I called earlier. Was that one of your servants who answered the telephone? I’m not sure why she was working so late, but I hope you didn’t have to pay her extra.

P.P.S. This may come as a surprise to you, Edward, but I’ve been thinking a lot lately and I wrote Rose back into the will. Please don’t contest it. I’ve been so unforgiving of her over the years. Perhaps it is because your father was much fonder of her than me.

A car horn honks behind her. The light is green. Rose drives but then pulls off the road as soon as she can and turns off the car. Two keys? Two safety deposit boxes full of secrets? Even for her family that seems excessive. If her brother was in the house the night of the fire looking for the second key, was it simply his misfortune to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, as the saying goes? Or did he actually set the fire? These are questions that will never be answered.

Shaking, Rose reads the letter again while tears spring to her eyes. She has come to expect moisture these days, in its many forms. However, this final word from her mother is totally unexpected.

Traffic is light across the Talmadge Bridge and up the South Carolina coast. Rose anticipates the next chapter of her life. If two years ago someone had told her that she would be living in Savannah again on Old Sally’s property, she would have thought them crazy. But a lot can happen in two years.

The original structure of Old Sally’s house remains, though it has been expanded and totally renovated in ways Rose never imagined. Before, it was like a tightly closed bud that now has blossomed into a spacious, lovely flower with many petals. Even Old Sally, who knows most everything before it happens, seemed surprised by the overall transformation.

During the construction, Old Sally lived near the renovation site in a Winnebago that Rose bought for her so she could remain near her beloved beach. Old Sally made friends with the construction workers, and they ate lunch with her every day on two picnic tables they set up outside her camper. For months, Violet cooked hamburgers and hot dogs on two large grills for the workers and made huge bowls of potato salad and baked beans. Other times, she made dozens of ham and cheese sandwiches with homemade sweet potato chips and gave them large slices of lemon meringue and peach pies. As a result, they finished the house in record time and promise to visit whenever they can. According to the workers, they have never known a project to go so smoothly.

Rose turns off the main road and takes the sandy drive to the beach. In the distance, their new home resembles one of the elaborate sandcastles Rose and Violet built when they were girls. There are enough bedrooms in the big house for Old Sally, Queenie, Violet, Jack and the girls, as well as Katie and Angela. Rose and Max have the guest cottage in the back with a wrap-around porch that connects to a wooden walkway leading to the main house. In their new compound they have a combined total of three dogs—Rose and Max’s two border collies and Katie’s small mutt. In addition, Angela has two cats and Violet’s girls, Tia and Leisha, have a pet turtle, but have already asked for a dog.

Nearly home, Rose pulls into the driveway of Spud Grainger who now lives a quarter of a mile down the beach. He waves from the second story deck of his new house and heads down the steps to her car. Officially retired from the Piggly Wiggly, Spud has traded in bow ties for colorful Hawaiian shirts. As he opens the car door, she thinks how odd it still is to see him without a tie.

“You ready?” Rose asks.

“I’m always ready, now that I’m a man of leisure,” Spud says. He smiles.

“It’s nice of you to help with the move.” Rose has enjoyed getting to know Spud over the last year.

“Did Katie and Angie make it in?” Spud asks.

“They arrived last night with a full U-Haul,” Rose says. “We were up until midnight unloading it.”

Katie and Angela are the most surprising addition to their complex living situation. Six months ago, they had a commitment ceremony in Chicago that Rose and Max attended, and just last month Katie announced she was pregnant. Rose doesn’t question the details—a grandchild is a grandchild. Although what surprised her even more, was Katie’s announcement that she wanted to raise their child in Savannah among family. Luckily they have plenty of family—in a traditional and nontraditional sense—to go around.

“I was in Hilton Head last night, or I would have helped with the U-Haul,” Spud says.

Spud converted one of his Hilton Head properties into a retirement village for jazz and blues musicians. Having taken up saxophone again, Spud spends every Saturday night attending a jam session in the lobby. People from all over the Carolinas and Georgia come to hear them.

“Did Queenie enjoy herself?” Rose asks.

“Oh my, yes,” Spud says with another smile. “That lady can really dance.”

Over the months, a budding romance has developed between Queenie and Spud. She goes with him on Saturdays to hear him play saxophone.

The Temple clan looks different these days, becoming inclusive instead of exclusive. A mixture of black and white, married and single, straight and gay. If her mother is somehow privy to these events, she is probably writing a letter of protest to God at this very minute. But Rose doesn’t care. She is happy to let her mother have the last word.

Three moving trucks of various sizes are in different stages of unloading as Rose pulls her car into their new eight car garage. Moving men carry boxes and furniture out of the different trucks like bees coming out of several hives. Rose and Spud dodge movers as they walk the wooden boardwalk to the front of the house. At one point, Spud takes her elbow and steers Rose out of the path of an overstuffed armchair.

Like she paused that day she first saw Old Sally again, Rose stops on the walkway to take in the ocean. It is high tide. Sandpipers skirt the edges of the waves, as they always do.

“I could look at this view every day for the rest of my life,” Rose says to Spud.

“And the good news is, you will.” Spud’s smile is almost as bright as his shirt.

Rose laughs. “You know, Spud, you’re absolutely right.”

The renovated house is at least four times bigger than Old Sally’s original dwelling. It has two stories now, with a huge porch attached to the kitchen and a sun room facing the ocean. A dozen wooden rockers rest on the front porch and a large wooden picnic table is built in so they can eat outside if they choose. While Rose takes off her sandals at the top of the stairs to go barefooted, Spud excuses himself and goes inside.

Max stands at the ornate double wooden doors looking like a native. He no longer wears his cowboy hat and boots, but opts instead for a ball cap, shorts and flip flops. Having relaxed like a pro into their financial freedom and subsequent early retirement, Max gives Rose a quick embrace. The envelope Regina gave her crinkles in her pocket, and she wonders briefly what to do with it.

“Happy?” he asks, before directing a mover who has stopped in the doorway to ask where to put a box.

“Definitely,” Rose says, realizing it’s true. She’s never felt so full of possibilities.

They have walked through the house many times at different phases of the construction, but now it is finally complete. Floor to ceiling windows grace every side of the house. Ceiling fans in every room spread the ocean breeze around whenever they choose not to run the air conditioning. Everyone had input into the original plans, and with Violet’s blessing they have created a kind of collective dream house. Life is never perfect, of course. There have been a few bumps in the road, but something about this new adventure and new family feels right to Rose. They will get through the rough spots together.

“Someone’s waiting for you on the side porch,” Max says.

“Who?” Rose asks.

“Just go,” he says, as if intent on being mysterious about it.

The inside of the house is organized chaos. Tia and Leisha giggle with two girlfriends by their side and carry boxes to a different wing of the house. Violet, Queenie and Angela are in the kitchen fixing everyone lunch. Angie smiles at Rose. Her hair is longer and her face is minus the piercings. She appears more relaxed and lighter than when Rose first met her.

Spud greets Queenie with a kiss on the cheek. In response, she pats him on the rump and laughs.

Violet has her hair braided with beads like Old Sally used to do when she was a girl. Mother and daughter sing
Michael, Row Your Boat Ashore
, swaying to the melody, their shoulders touching as they cut up peaches. Rose remembers when Queenie sang this in the car and hopes she won’t throw in a primal scream to go with it.

Although, this crowd could probably handle that, too,
she thinks.

Violet rolls out dough on the countertop for a peach pie and then transfers it onto the pie plate and crimps the edges. In three months Violet will open a new business called
Violet’s Tea Shop and Bakery
in downtown Savannah. The day before the fire, Violet’s shoulder had warned her to move her money from where she kept it in the Temple mansion kitchen.