The Mandie Collection (7 page)

When they arrived back at the Woodards' house, Mrs. Miller had the noon meal waiting for them. And Mrs. Woodard had Snowball under her watch as he slept curled up in the wood box by the big iron cookstove.

As everyone came in through the back door into the kitchen, Mrs. Woodard greeted them. “I know you all must be hungry, so if you'll freshen up, the food should be on the table in the dining room in about ten minutes.” The men and Joe went on through the doorway to the hallway.

Mrs. Taft offered to help. “What could I do?” she asked as she paused in the middle of the room.

“Me too,” Mandie added.

“No, thank you, but by the time you get comfortable, Mrs. Miller and I will have everything taken care of,” Mrs. Woodard replied as she pulled a pan of biscuits out of the oven.

“I'll be back shortly,” Mrs. Taft told her.

Mandie followed her grandmother upstairs, where they took off their best clothes and put on some everyday dresses.

Mandie was excited about going to see her father's house. “I'll show you everything, Grandmother—the swing my father put up in a tree for me, the rail fence he was building around the property line, and
the hiding place where Joe and I found the will,” she said, her thoughts tumbling together. She added with a smile, “And the barn where Susie, our cow, lived. I used to milk her, Grandmother. My father taught me how, and that woman he was married to didn't like to go near Susie. I really think she was afraid of the poor cow. Snowball wasn't afraid of Susie. He was a little kitten then, but he would sit by the bucket and watch me. Sometimes I would squirt a little of the milk his way, and he would go crazy trying to lick it up.”

Mrs. Taft smiled at her granddaughter and said, “Amanda, let's talk when we get out to the house. Right now Mrs. Woodard is waiting for us to eat.”

“Oh yes, ma'am,” Mandie agreed as she hastily tied the sash on her full-skirted calico dress and followed her grandmother out the door.

Their meeting with the judge at the courthouse was discussed during the meal, but everyone hurried. John Shaw told them in order to get across the mountain and home before dark, the visit to Jim Shaw's house would have to be quick.

When John Shaw brought the rig to a standstill in the driveway in front of the old log cabin, Mandie jumped down and waited for her grandmother to join her. She grabbed the lady's hand and led her around the yard, pointing out the things she had mentioned earlier. The others stood by the rig and watched.

Mrs. Taft finally spoke after she had looked everything over. “So this is where you lived with your father,” she said as she put an arm around Mandie.

Mandie looked up at her and saw tears glistening in her grandmother's blue eyes. She knew the lady was thinking about what had happened between Jim Shaw and Elizabeth, about the lies that had separated them, and she knew her grandmother had many regrets. In a choked voice, Mandie told her, “You see why I want this house, why I have to have this house. It's all I have left of my father. And I won't let that woman, Etta Hughes, take it away from me.”

“I understand, dear, and I'll see that she doesn't,” Mrs. Taft replied.

Dr. Woodard called across the yard as he held up a large key, “I
have the key here. Let's go inside and you can see the repairs I had made.”

Mandie quickly followed him as he started for the porch. He paused at the front door and held out the key to Mandie. “Here. You unlock the door. It's your house,” Dr. Woodard said as Mandie took the key.

Mandie unlocked the door and pushed it open. Her feet seemed frozen to the doorsill. She felt her father's presence as memories of him came flooding back. She couldn't move.

“Come on, Mandie, let's show them the secret hiding place,” Joe was suddenly saying at her side. He reached for her hand and squeezed it as he led her into the house.

Mandie's eyes finally focused on the area around the big open fireplace. There was no sign of the fire damage. Everything looked exactly the way it had when she lived here. Even the furniture had been cleaned and stood in the proper places.

“Come on, Mandie,” Joe urged her as he knelt before the fireplace and pulled her down by his side. He took his knife out of his pocket and began working it between two of the boards in the floor.

Uncle Ned stepped forward and knelt beside him. “Open here,” he said as he inserted his knife in a different spot. With one little tug he was able to pull up the section covering the hiding place.

“That looked easy,” Mandie remarked as she watched.

“Jim Shaw show me this way,” the old Indian replied as he moved the piece of flooring back, revealing the compartment below the floor.

Mandie looked inside as everyone else crowded nearby to see what Uncle Ned had uncovered. The space below the floor was empty, and she was about to straighten up when something white caught her eye. She reached down to get it.

“Why, it's a letter to me,” Mandie said, puzzled as she looked at her name on the small white envelope. “Where did this come from?” She looked up at Joe, who suddenly sat back on the floor from his kneeling position, and then at the others, who were silently watching her and smiling. No one said a word.

“Open it, Mandie,” Joe told her without looking her way.

Mandie glanced at him and then studied the handwriting on the envelope. “Miss Amanda Shaw” it read in block letters. She didn't recognize the lettering.
Where did this come from?
she wondered. She turned it over. There was nothing written on the back side, and
the flap was sealed. And why was everyone staring at her? It must be a joke of some kind.

“Oh, well,” she said to herself and ripped open the envelope. She took out the single sheet of paper inside, unfolded it, and read, “Our Dearest Amanda, you have always done so much for other people. Now we all want to do something for you. You love everybody and everybody loves you. We would like to make a promise to you. You will have your father's house, no matter what we have to do. If you lose it in court because of the will, we will buy it from Etta Hughes. Rest assured, she is the kind of woman who can be bought. We want you to know you have already won the battle, because one way or the other the house is yours. With all our hearts we love you, Uncle Ned Sweetwater, Grandmother, Uncle John Shaw, Dr. and Mrs. Woodard, and Joe.”

Mandie's blue eyes overflowed with tears as she tried to look at everyone. She choked up and couldn't speak. Instead she turned to hug Uncle Ned, and then each one who had signed the letter, ending with Joe.

Joe put both arms around Mandie and held her tight as Uncle John reached down with his handkerchief and wiped her eyes.

“Oh, I love you all, too,” she finally said, blinking to focus her eyes as she pulled away from Joe and went back to Uncle Ned. “Especially you, Uncle Ned. It's because of you that all these nice things have happened to me. If you had not helped me find Uncle John, I'd probably still be over at the Brysons, tending to their baby.”

“Papoose, love,” Uncle Ned said as he put his arm around her shoulders. “I promise Jim Shaw I look after Papoose. This house belongs to Papoose. He wanted Papoose to have it. So Papoose will have it.”

Mandie suddenly wondered about the letter. “But how did the letter get in the secret hiding place?” she asked, looking around at the smiling faces.

“Remember we were all up before you were, and I slipped out of the bedroom without waking you,” Mrs. Taft said. “We got together in the kitchen before you came down and decided we were going to see to it that you ended up with this house no matter what happened.”

“We made up the letter, and Joe tried to write it so you wouldn't recognize the handwriting,” Uncle John said, smiling.

“And we really had you puzzled, didn't we, Miss Amanda?” Dr. Woodard asked.

“Joe and Uncle Ned came over here as soon as we got it written and put it in the hiding place there,” Mrs. Woodard explained.

“And you know all the rest,” Joe said in a loud voice teasingly. “We love you, Amanda Shaw.”

“Love is such a magic thing. It can make you feel like you're floating in the clouds without a trouble in the world,” Mandie told them as she folded the letter, put it in the envelope, and held it with both hands. “I'll treasure this letter the rest of my life. And when we finally get everything settled about this house, I'm going to put it back in the hiding place where it will always be safe.”

“We'd better go now and get started back home, Amanda,” Uncle John told her. “You do still want to search for the will, don't you?” He smiled at her.

“Of course, Uncle John,” Mandie replied quickly. “That is important to me. I want to know what happened to it.”

“Then come on and let's get going,” Joe said as he closed the hiding place in the floor.

When they got back to the Woodards' house, they quickly packed their things and were ready to go. Uncle Ned rode his horse along with them as John Shaw drove his rig home, carrying Mrs. Taft, Mandie, and Joe.

“I'll be coming to Franklin in a day or two,” Dr. Woodard told Joe. “We'll see then about when you need to come back home.”

“Thank you, Dad,” Joe replied as John Shaw drove the rig down the driveway to the main road and everyone waved.

Elizabeth was waiting up for them even though it was late when they arrived at John Shaw's house. Everyone settled down in the parlor before the huge fireplace and related the events that had taken place on their journey. And Mandie showed her mother the letter everyone had written to her.

“Yes, dear, you will have your father's house, no matter how we get it,” Elizabeth promised her. “Your uncle John and I discussed the possibilities before you left here yesterday. I know you treasure this letter.”

“Always, Mother,” Mandie told her as she took the letter back.

Elizabeth stood up and said, “Now I think we should all go to bed and get some rest.”

Everyone agreed.

“I'll just find Snowball, then I'll go to my room,” Mandie said as all the others went up the staircase.

“Don't take too long, dear,” Elizabeth called back to her.

Mandie went down the hallway and pushed open the kitchen door, looking for her cat. She found Aunt Lou, Liza, Jenny, and Abraham all sitting around the fireplace drinking coffee.

“It's past time for y'all to be in the bed,” Mandie teased them with a big smile.

Aunt Lou looked at her seriously and said, “We couldn't be gwine to bed widout knowin' whut be happenin' to my chile at dat courthouse.”

“Everything's going to be all right, but I still have to find the will,” Mandie replied as she sat down on a stool nearby. She quickly told them everything that had happened and showed them the letter.

“We been so worried 'bout you, Missy 'Manda, dat we went ahaid and did some lookin' on our own,” Liza told her.

“Looking? You mean for the will?” Mandie asked in surprise.

“We look fo' de will in our own rooms and in Jenny and Abraham's house out dere in de yard,” Aunt Lou explained.

“But we ain't found nuthin',” Jenny added.

“ 'Course dat will ain't gwine be in our house 'cause we didn't take no will,” Abraham said to Jenny. “I been tellin' you dat all de time.”

“But somebody coulda stole it and hid it in our house, and I been tellin' you dat,” Jenny replied.

Mandie smiled at them as she stood up to leave. “It could be anywhere, because we don't know who stole it,” she said.

Liza also rose and said, “You knows, Missy 'Manda, I been athinkin' 'bout dat day Mistuh John leave de do' open, and seem like I 'members hearin' a lil noise when I goes lookin' fo' him when I gits done cleanin' in dere.”

Mandie quickly asked, “A noise? What kind of a noise? Where?”

“I don't rightly know,” Liza said, scratching her head. “Sound like a rat runnin' round and round, or mebbe it be somebody movin' sumpin, but wudn't nobody on de third floor but me dat day.”

“Unless somebody managed to get into the house without anyone
seeing them and getting on up to the third floor,” Mandie said thoughtfully.

Liza shivered as she said, “I sho' hopes nobody got in dis heah house and up dere wid me all by myself.”

“Where were you when you heard this noise?” Mandie asked.

“On de third floor, like I said, and I wuz walkin' down de hall mindin' my own bidness,” Liza explained. “I be 'bout to de next do' to de office do' when I hears dis heah noise, like I tells you.”

“The door to the room next to Uncle John's office?” Mandie questioned.

Liza nodded and said, “Dat's de one.”

“Did the noise sound like it was inside that room?” Mandie asked.

“I jes' ain't sho,” Liza replied. “But I thinks I'm sho.”

Mandie suddenly had an idea. “Liza, let's go up there and you show me where you were,” she told the girl.

Liza looked at her in surprise. “Go up dere? Right now?”

“Yes, right now, Liza, because I am supposed to be going to bed. Everyone else has already gone up to their rooms for the night,” Mandie replied. “It won't take but a few minutes. Come on.” She turned to leave the room.

“No, Missy 'Manda, it be dark up dere,” Liza complained.

“Oh, that's right. We'll take a lamp with us,” Mandie said. “There's one on the landing on the second floor. We'll get it.”

“Missy 'Manda, I don't be thinkin' we oughta be gwine up dere tonight,” Liza objected. “It be past my bedtime, too.”

“Oh, Liza, you go on wid my chile and show her whut you be talkin' 'bout,” Aunt Lou said. “You oughta not astarted sumpin' you can't be finishin'.”

Liza looked at Aunt Lou without replying.

“Come on, Liza. We could have been up there and back by now,” Mandie insisted.