Garnet by Caroline Clemmons

Author:Caroline Clemmons [Clemmons, Caroline]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-01-16T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

The next day, Thursday, time crawled for Garnet. She wondered what Eunice and Harold were up to but was too busy to keep tabs on them. Not that she had anything to hide—at least not something they could discover—she simply didn’t like snoops.

That evening, Harold looked at Joey and Hyacinth. “We’ll be taking the children home with us on the Saturday stage.”

Garnet stiffened. Hyacinth started crying so Garnet pulled her niece into her lap.

Joey appeared frightened. “We want to stay here, Grandpa. We want to live with Garnet and Adam.”

Garnet looked from Eunice to Harold. “The children will remain here with me. Dessie chose me to look after them in the event of her death. Your objection was that I’m single, but you can see I’m now married.”

Eunice sniffed. “Barely, and you should still be in mourning. I’ll bet you only married to try and keep the children.”

Adam stared at Eunice. “For your information, Eunice, the minute I saw Garnet I knew she was the one for me. You can see how attractive she is. Even better is that she’s kind and compassionate and caring. How could I not ask her to marry me?”

“Then, who sleeps on the little bed in the storeroom?”

Joey stood. “That’s where Tessa sleeps.”

Eunice frowned. “Who is Tessa?”

Hyacinth clapped her hands. “She’s my friend even though she’s little. She has to take naps.”

Garnet smoothed hair from the little girl’s face. “Eleanora is one of the widows who’s just remarried and Tessa is her daughter. I look after the child at times, especially before her mother remarried. She’s a sweet little girl.”

Harold slapped a hand on the table. “That has nothing to do with this situation. Dessie was our daughter and we intend to raise her children.”

Garnet set her niece on the girl’s feet. “Joey, you and Hyacinth go upstairs and play while I speak with your grandparents.”

Sobbing, Hyacinth clung to Garnet. “Don’t make me go with them. I wanta stay with you.”

Garnet whispered to her niece, “Remember what I told you earlier, you and Joey are staying here with me.” Aloud, she said, “Go upstairs with Joey.”

Her nephew took a still sniffling Hyacinth by the hand. His eyes were sad when he looked over his shoulder at the adults. “Come on, sister. We can play in your room.”

Her poor children were so frightened. So was she. She prayed hard that she could keep the children. Probably Eunice and Harold prayed they could.

When the children had climbed the stairs, Garnet turned to Eunice and Harold. “Dessie left me written instructions to raise Joey and Hyacinth. She also made me verbally promise several times that if anything happened to her then I would raise her children.”

Eunice looked askance. “Why, that’s ridiculous. You only knew her a few months. We’re blood kin.”

“Dessie and I bonded instantly and were like sisters. She spoke often of growing up and said that was not how she wanted her children raised.”

Eunice shook her head. “I find that hard to believe. She’s not here to speak for herself so you could say anything.

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