Chapter
Twenty
The
Letters
“Mother, we have to read these letters,” said
Belinda after she forced open the trunk that had been in the attic
for as long as anyone could remember. “They are obviously from our
grandmother.”
“I'm not sure what to do. They are addressed to your
father and he should be the one to open them. On the other hand, I
don't want to upset him even more than he was this evening.”
“Who was upset?” said Walter as he walked into the
living room.
“Walter, what are you doing up?”
“You three are making such a racket down here. Who
could sleep through that? What are you doing with that old trunk?
thought we got rid of that thing long ago.”
“You'd better sit down, dear. You have some reading
to do.”
Walter looked in the trunk and discovered dozens of
letters addressed to him. They were dated from 1932 to 1943. His
hand shook as he looked at the unopened envelopes. “These are from
my mother. I wonder why my father didn't give them to me when they
were delivered.”
“Father, would you like us to leave you alone while
you read them?” asked Jamie.
“No dear, I'm not going to read them. My mother left
me and if she thought a few letters would make up for that she was
very wrong. My father was right to keep them from me. The woman was
no good. He told me that often enough.”
Belinda picked up a newspaper article that had fallen on
the floor. “Look Jamie, our grandmother was an actress. Here is a
write-up on one of her performance. It says she lit up the stage
with her portrayal of Anna. She was on Broadway. That is where you
get your talent from.”
“According to my father, your grandmother was a
strumpet, a trollop, a hussy and those were just some of the names he
had for her. She hurt him very deeply when she left us. It was the
call of those bright lights that took her away. I'll never forgive
her and I want this junk burned. I'm too tired to take care of it
tonight. Good night to all of you. We won't discuss your
grandmother again.”
After Walter left the room, Belinda said, “He didn't
tell us not to read these letters. I think we have a duty to see
what Grandmother wrote to her only child.”
“I have to agree with you Belinda,” said Grace.
“Your father hid the fact that his mother left him for all these
years. I need to know what the letters say. If he chooses to burn
them without reading them, that will be his choice. I love my
husband enough to invade his privacy if it will help me understand
him better.”
From the first letter in the trunk dated 1932 when
Walter was barely four years old to the last on his fifteenth
birthday, it was obvious Lily Henderson, known professionally as Lily
Lamont, loved her son very much.
She told of her own mother who had small parts in plays
for years. Lily had been around theater people for her entire life.
Her mother left her with the wardrobe mistress during her
performances and when Lily was old enough, she would sit backstage
and watch the show. She was a very observant child and began to
mimic the performers. As a teenager, she was given walk-on parts and
one or two lines. She knew every line in every play by heart. At
seventeen she was given a small role and eventually large roles.
George Henderson was visiting New York City for the
first time. He attended a Broadway play and his life would never be
the same. George was a handsome 25 year old. He had lived in London
with his grandmother for several years and knew all the social
graces. He took one look at Lily Lamont on stage and fell in love
with the young ingenue. He made his way backstage after the
performance. It was love at first sight for Lily too. Against her
mother's wishes, she and George were married two weeks later. George
swept her off to Camden Corners where they settled into George's home
and George's life as a professor at the university.
After a couple of months living quietly, Lily began to
miss the excitement of the theater and New York City. It was around
that time she discovered she was expecting a baby. Walter George
Henderson was born a few months later. Lily loved being a mother.
Walter was her pride and joy. She only thought of her former life
during the evenings after Walter was down for the night and George
had his nose buried in the papers he'd brought home from school.
Lily's mother visited whenever she could get away for a
few days. She encouraged Lily to visit her in New York but George
wouldn't hear of it. Her place was with her husband and not off
gallivanting on the streets of New York.
After five years of marriage, Lily felt as though she
was going mad. She didn't have any friends because George wanted her
to stay in the house when he was not at home. She wouldn't have
minded that so much if only they had a social life together.
“George, I received a phone call from a friend of my mother's. I
must leave for New York tomorrow. My mother is quite ill. The
doctor's don't expect her to live until the weekend.”
“What do doctor's know?” he said. “I'm sure your
mother will be fine. There is no need for you to travel all the way
to New York.”
“George, I always do what you ask of me. This time I
must insist. I need to see my mother. I will take Walter with me
and return just as soon as Mother is feeling better.”
“You may leave if you feel you must, but I insist you
leave Walter with me. I will not have him subjected to the riffraff
your mother calls her friends.”
Lily was torn. She hadn't been away from Walter since
the day he was born, but she felt she must visit her mother for what
could be the last time.
The next morning she packed her bag, hugged Walter
goodbye and left on the train for New York City. It turned out to be
the last time she saw her mother and the last time she saw Walter.
When she returned home, George was standing outside the door. He
handed her a few items of clothing and told her Walter was not there.
He was in a safe place. She had made her choice and would never see
Walter again.
Lily couldn't believe what George was saying. She had
defied him only one time in their marriage and it was to say goodbye
to her dying mother. For this, George would keep her precious son
from her?
Lily had nowhere to go. She didn't know anyone in
Camden Corners. The only people she knew were theater people. She
boarded the train going to New York City where her mother's best
friend put her up until she could decide what to do. She was cast in
a few plays and before long she was a sought after actress. She
never reached star status but because of her work ethic and talent
she was considered a success.
She wrote a letter to her son every day. She told him
how much she loved him and missed him. She never spoke unkindly of
George, but did make it clear that she had no choice but to stay
away. When the letters started arriving, George would throw them
unopened into the fire. After awhile, his housekeeper, Mrs. Hadley,
stopped giving the letters to him and put them in a trunk she had
hidden under her bed. George assumed Lily had given up writing the
boy after she received no response.
George had lied to Lily when he told her Walter was not
in the house. He was playing in his room. He looked out the window
when he saw his mother at the front door. He ran downstairs to greet
her but she was gone. His father told him she had come home only to
collect her clothes. “Your mother doesn't love us anymore,” he
said. She wants to be an actress and paint her face up like a
trollop.” Walter cried until there were no tears left. Mrs.
Hadley was the only one there to comfort the sobbing little boy who
couldn't understand what he had done to make his mama stop loving
him.
Mrs. Hadley suspected the letters were reassuring Walter
that his mama did indeed still love him. That was when she began
going through the mail before Mr. Henderson saw it. Through the
years she collected newspaper clippings written about Lily Lamont.
Jamie picked up one of the articles that had been folded
over. There was a picture of a smiling, pretty woman with a headline
that read: Actress in critical condition after being struck by auto.
“Oh no,” cried Jamie, our grandmother was
seriously hurt in 1943. There were no letters dated after that.
Here's one more article dated two months after the accident. It says
she has been transferred to a long term care facility in Greensboro,
New York. Poor Father, his mother loved him very much and he never
knew it. I always thought Grandfather was a very stern and cold man,
but who knew he was so cruel.”
“I knew he was cruel,” George said from the
stairway. “What do the letters say?”
“George, I'm sorry we are reading them. We thought
they might tell a story of your mother. Do you remember a
housekeeper named Mrs. Hadley? She wrote that your mother was kept
in isolation throughout her marriage to your father. She left you to
visit her dying mother and was banished from the house forever after
that. She did love you George.”
“I'm glad you are reading them. I know I threatened
to burn them but I think I've always known in my heart that my mother
did love me. My father could be a tyrant. I was around fifteen
years old when he finally let me go off with friends. Before that I
was kept in the house most of the time. I had a driver to and from
school and was never allowed to have a friend visit. I was lonely
and blamed my mother for my misery.”
George read some of the letters. He knew he would read
each and every one of them, but he would do so in solitude. His
concern was the article about the accident. “Grace, my father
established a trust to a care facility in Greensboro years ago. Do
you suppose he was paying for my mother's care?”
George went to his desk and pulled out the last
accounting of his father's holdings. He read Greensboro Care
Facility with a monthly amount recorded.
“Grace, is it possible my mother is still alive? It's
been thirty years since she was injured.”
Belinda was already on the telephone asking the operator
for the telephone number of the Greensboro facility. She handed it
to her father. “Would you like me to make the call for you
Father?”
“No dear, I will take it from here.”
He dialed the number. It was after midnight and the
night nurse answered the phone.
“Yes sir, we have a Lily Henderson here. Lily is one
of our favorite residents. She came to us in 1943. I remember the
date because I had just graduated from nursing school and Lily was my
first case. She and I are both growing old together,” the nurse
laughed.
“Why is she still in your facility after all these
years?”
“Mr. Henderson, I know I shouldn't be discussing a
resident with you, but Lily is also my friend. She suffered a severe
head injury in the auto accident. Her brain will never fully recover
from the injury although she has made progress through the years.
When she first came to us, she couldn't speak or communicate in any
way. Through her hard work and years of physical therapy, she is
able to walk and carry on a conversation. She holds a doll and calls
him Walter. Apparently, she had a son, we assume he is deceased.”
“Ma'am, I'm Walter Henderson and I'm very much alive.
I thought my mother was dead all these years. When may I see her?”
“I'll have to check with her doctor, but I'm sure he
will okay a visit as soon as possible.”
“I'll call back in the morning. I would like to speak
with her doctor myself.”
Walter hung up and turned to Grace. “My mother is
alive. She has a doll she calls Walter. She loves me, Grace and she
always did.”
“Girls, will you be able to miss school tomorrow? I
want us to go to Greensboro together. I want you to meet my mother
and I want her to meet you.”
“Walter, of course we will go with you. Let's get some
sleep. We have an exciting day tomorrow. I might be the only person
in the world who can't wait to meet her mother-in-law.”
Walter didn't get much sleep. He called the nurse just
after seven o'clock the next day. The doctor was due in around ten.
The nurse had left a message with his service telling him about
Walter's call. “I'm sure he will call soon with an answer. I'll
let him know you are on your way.”
The other attendants had heard the news about Lily's
son. They didn't mention it to her but were fixing her hair and
putting a little blush on her cheeks and lightly painting her lips.
“I feel like a Broadway star with all this fussing,”
Lily said while holding little Walter in her arms.
“You look like a Broadway star, Lily. I'll bet Walter
thinks you are very pretty.”
“Walter likes when I spray my neck with lavender.”
“I think I have some lavender cologne in my locker.
Let me run down the hall to get it.”
Doctor Howard greeted Walter at the door. “I'm so
happy to meet you sir. In all the years your mother has been here,
she has never had a visitor. We didn't think she had any living
relatives.”
“I believe my father made certain she would be alone.
I had no idea she was here. The last time I saw her I was only four
years old. My father made sure we would never see each other again.”
“I haven't spoken to your mother about your visit. If
you don't mind waiting here, I will tell her now. I didn't want to
disappoint her if you decided not to come. Your mother suffered a
very serious injury years ago. She is a strong willed lady, she was
determined to recover and she has done a remarkable job. I think she
understands more than she lets on. Excuse me for just a few
minutes.”
Walter and his family were sitting in the waiting room.
They were all nervous. After just a few minutes, they heard a
woman's voice, “Walter is here, my boy came to see me? Walter,
where are you?” A pretty older woman walked into the waiting area.
She walked directly to Walter with tears streaming down her cheeks.
She dropped the doll on the way as she threw her frail arms around
Walter's neck.
There wasn't a dry eye as the nurses and attendants
watched the reunion. Even Doctor Howard had to wipe a tear away.
“Mama, you smell like lavender. I always loved the
smell of lavender.”
Walter didn't want to leave his mother. He and Grace
stayed in a hotel in Greensboro while the girls went back to Camden
Corners.
“Doctor Howard, I want to take my mother home to live
with us. I will hire a full time nurse if I have to. We have missed
too many years together already.”
“I can't think of a better place for Lily to be. I
don't think she will need a nurse. She is thriving now that she has
a family around her. Your mother will always need a little extra
attention, but I think she will do just fine in your household. Mrs.
Henderson, I can see there is real affection between you and Lily.
Are you willing to accept the burden of being her caregiver?”
“Doctor, I look forward to having the dear lady in our
home. She has changed our lives for the better already. My husband
is happier than he has ever been and that is thanks to Lily.”
Lily was settled in her son's home. She showed few
signs of her head injury. She and Grace became the best of friends.
Grace enjoyed having another woman around and Lily loved being with
family. They talked about Walter as a child. Lily remembered every
detail of their short time together. Grace took Lily to the
lunchtime fashion shows at The Merryweather. Lily was asked to model
some dresses suitable for the stylish older woman. She looked like a
natural. They shopped in all the shops and stopped by the Theater so
Lily could look around.
“Walter George Henderson! What is this I hear about
you not allowing your daughter to act in a play?” Lily asked when
Walter entered the house one evening.
“Mother, I was wrong! You won't hear me say those
words very often, but it is the truth. Jamie, you go on down to the
theater and see if they are still holding the part open for you.”
“Thank you Daddy, thank you Grandma,” she said as
she kissed them both on the cheek. She couldn't get to the theater
fast enough. She was hoping the part of April was still available.
She was looking forward to rehearsing with Mike again.
“Did you hear that Mama, I don't think my girls have
ever called me anything but father. I think daddy sounds a lot
friendlier, don't you?”
“Yes, I do. I certainly do,” she winked at a
smiling Grace.
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