An Undying Love

Much too soon granny Bess’s cabin came into view. I knew how much that Charles dreaded being the bearer of such bad news. I closed my eyes and asked the Lord to be with him. I asked the Lord to help Mary Lou, Nell, Sara, Margaret and granny Bess bear the pain that this news would bring to them.

Granny Bess answered our knock on the door. “Well, my goodness, what are y’all doin’ out to visit so early in the morning?” She asked us. “Granny Bess we need to talk to everybody,” Charles said. “Please git everybody together at the kitchen table,” Charles told her.

Soon granny Bess had Sara, Mary Lou and Nell sitting around the kitchen table, just as Charles had asked her to.

“What is it Charles?” “Is it bad news?” Granny Bess asked him. “Yes granny Bess, I’m afeared that it is,” Charles said, pausing to clear his throat. Charles took a deep breath and I could see the tears standing in his eyes. Please help him Lord, I silently prayed.

“In the camping cave on the way back from Harper we found Jerry’s body,” Charles said, as gently as he knew how. I heard Mary Lou gasp. Nell reached for her mother’s hand, looking shocked. Sara put her face in her hands and began to sob. Granny Bess said nothing. Her face turned pale and her breathing became shallow.

Charles explained the circumstances of how they had found Jerry. He told them all the details that he knew of how Jerry died.

Charles put the locket in the little torn package and the card in Mary Lou’s hand. She turned it over and finally read the card. She opened the package and read the back of the locket and then the tears came.

“You didn’t leave me and the baby,” she moaned, through her tears. She kept saying this over and over. “You truly loved me,” she said, holding the locket close to her heart.

“I always believed he would have come home iffen he could,” Mary Lou told us. “Yore pa loved us Nell and nothing can ever take that away from us,” she said, holding Nell in her arms.

“You was right Mary Lou. When the rest of us doubted him you believed in his love for you and the baby. Well, you proved everybody wrong. You held on to an undying love and that love proved true,” granny Bess said.

“Everyone will know the truth about Jerry. His name will be cleared,” Sara said. “Now we can give him a proper burial,” she continued.

“Thank the Lord that he was saved when he was a boy. Now we can look forward to seeing him in heaven,” granny Bess said, crying for the first time.

“Me and pa will make him a coffin. When we are done we’ll bring his body here,” Charles promised granny Bess.

“Thank ye, Charles,” Mary Lou said, quietly. “Yore welcome,” Charles told her. Sara gave him a hug and granny Bess laid her head on his shoulder. It was as if she was drawing comfort from its strength. Maybe it was the man she drew comfort from. I had depended on his strength for as long as I had known him. It didn’t surprise me that others saw him this way.