Marjorie's Story

The Judge, gently placed his hand on Poppa's arm and replied,"Possibly. However there is another more likely answer."

The distinguished attorney explained his speculations. "While investigating the grandmother's Will, we were able to find some old photographs of the Meade family.

Records indicate that her fiance had acquired the original ring in 1908, in Boston and paid eighteen hundred dollars for it. A very high price for those days.

Several of the older photos, dated 1909, were taken for her pending wedding. Showing the lovely, young Miss Frederika Holtmann, i.e. the Mrs. Frederika Meade-to-be. Clearly display her left hand,wearing the original ring. That does not match this ring or the description of this present ring in the codicil."

We looked dumbfounded at this revelation. He went on. "Then two newer photos, dated 1922 and 1926, probably taken at formal events or celebrations. We had close-ups of were the pictures showed both her hands and that she was no longer wearing the original ring.

It seems, at the end of the First World War, the Meade's had been heavily speculating in agricultural futures and apparently had been hard hit by the commodity market's collapse after the Armistice. They probably quietly sold the original ring at that time to survive.

The first record of the present ring is from 1932. When Malcolm's grandmother received several pieces of jewelry from a cousin's estate. The description of one of the rings matches the one that you are holding, Mr. Howard."

The elder attorney paused momentarily to marshall his narrative. "It is possible that the old lady was confused and had come to believe that this was her original engagement ring. Or there has been some sort of mix-up of stories among family members.

Unfortunately, we did not find any clear photographs of her wearing any rings before her passing. She was rheumatic by then, most likely she kept everything of value locked up.

Her will was a mishmash of additions and deletions of codicils over a number of years. I suspect that her family must have had some sort of influence with the Probate Court to have it accepted without proper investigation.

Fortuitously, with these records, we can prove, Mrs uhhm, Marjorie, that the ring..."

I quietly interjected. "I remain Mrs. Malcolm Meade."

The judge gave a slight bow of contrition and continued. "Mrs. Meade. Proof that the ring you will return is the one gifted to you by the Meade family. This is why I thought it important to establish a chain of evidence."

To protect you from their spite if they realize what a shoddy item this ring is and seek to accuse you of defrauding them. I have had to rule on similar sordid squabbles and feuds."

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Originally Poppa was intending to return the ring himself and take the final opportunity to tell those people what for but Judge Larson talked him out of it, to my relief. And I think, probably Poppa's also, as it would have been going against his strong sense of Christian charity and forgiveness.

His Honor cleverly insisted on a stipulation that at least two of the Meade family had to be present and sign the receipt to accept receiving back the ring described in the Grandmother's codicil. That is exactly how he worded the stipulation.

The Judge's office handle the return and were careful to obtain a witnessed and notarized statement of receipt signed by both of Malcolm's parents and his brother Clarence.

Poppa laughed as he described for us, the scene in the Judge's offices. That the Meade's were so stiff-necked about facing the Judge, even though he was only acting as our attorney and not sitting, they never even questioned the value of that ring I had sent back.

I did my Christian duty and sent them Christmas cards for a number of years but they never responded with even a token dimestore greeting card. I still regret that they evidently did not care enough about Malcolm to accept my welcoming hand.

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January, 1958

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My mother, Mrs. June Howard passed away within the loving bosom of her family and friends. The Good Lord finally permitted her to lay down the burden of suffering, she had unflinchingly endured for so many years. In His Divine Wisdom taking that wonderful woman, loving wife, loving mother, into His Divine Embrace.

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January, 1966

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Years later, while on vacation to Miami with my second husband Fredrick. I ran into my ex-sister-in-law Paula at the Hotel Fairview and we spent the afternoon catching up.

She is now Mrs. Paula Meyerstein, whose present husband is a famous Jewish surgeon.

She had the misfortune to have lived with the Meade's for a while during her short marriage with the youngest son, Randolph. She hinted about the insults the Meade's had uttered in her presence about me and that she knew that they had spread the same sort of vile insults about her, behind her back.

"Randolph and I had met at a mixer co-hosted by his fraternity and my sorority. We had been dating for a couple of semesters when we heard about your marriage to Malcolm. I think that emboldened Randolph to ask me for my hand in marriage.

Randolph only hinted about what a bunch of stuck-up old pills his parents were. And almost nothing about Clarence. Not that my family was any better examples to follow!

I had nothing to return home too as my mother and father were divorcing one another for the second time. They had been married to each other and divorced for reasons I had no interest in learning. Then they temporarily got married to other people. Divorced them and got back to together again. Don't think the second try even lasted an entire year." She said dryly.

The waitress had delivered fresh drinks so we both stopped to sample those and briefly discussed the film, "A Man For All Seasons" as we had both recently seen it. Agreeing, that after all these centuries, 'Matters of Conscience' remained as relevant today as they had centuries ago.

Maybe it was the subject of the movie compelled Sylvia to make a confession.

"To be honest, the only reason I bothered with college in the first place, was to find a guy who had a promise of becoming successful. Randolph stuck it out, cause he just didn't want to go home. That summer break, we only had a little money and no where else to go."

"On the way to waste three months sponging off his parents, Randolph and I basically eloped. Stopping at a small town Justice of the Peace for our five minute nuptials. Thats when we found out, now that we were a married couple, none of our parents were willing to finance our returning to college."

"A few weeks at the Mansion, putting up with all the nasty cracks and insults, decided us two things. We were both agreed that neither of us were really cut out for the intellectual effort to earn a degree. And that we would take what little cash we could get our hands on/ Steal, beg or borrow from our parents and flee the Meade household, to seek our future elsewhere.

Ut wasn't long afterwards, without parental discipline for the first time in our lives. When we realized that neither of us were committed to our marriage and we each believed that we had a better chance on our own. I quickly got us an amicable Reno divorce.

Afterwards, I went through several clerical and secretarial jobs before getting a position at Mercy General where I met Daniel. He had just taken up residency and was already earning a reputation as a crackerjack surgeon.

Daniel wanted a woman willing to keep house and bear children for him. I wanted to stop fighting off the relentless gropings by my bosses and start a family. And it has been magic ever since!

Randolph went off and enlisted in the Army. Must have learned some skills. When he got out, a friend got him a job, where he met his present wife.

Evidently Randolph had smartly saved up his Army pay and probably what little inheritance he got after his parent died. His new wife could motivate him better than I did and she got him to purchase a business an older relative of hers wanted to retire from. Good for them both!"

I interrupted with "Sounds to me that you both have earned your happiness in life? God's Blessings come to those who make the effort and are giving to others in their lives."

Sylvia thought about that a minute as she nibbled on an olive. Then slowly nodded her head in agreement ."As have you dearie..."

I blushed, realizing that my words could be misconstrued as self-serving. However the other woman shrewdly realized my reaction and forcibly emphasizied." Stop, Marjorie! There is no need to be, uhhmm, so self-effacing. Your kindness, your goodness show in how blessed your life is now!"

Then a scowl appeared on Sylvia's face. "Clarence, on the other hand, the older brother? He was an example of his parent's upbringing. As queer as a duck and the personality of a brick to the head.

His parents of course, always denied he was a homosexual but you couldn't fool me. His two marriages were instant failures, both times the women received annulments on grounds that he couldn't get it up for them."

I surprised myself that I only felt a faint unease at her blunt language.

Sylvia hesitated for a moment, obviously considering if she should continue. With a shrug of her shoulders she choose to report the scandal honestly.

"I'd guess after that was when Clarence adopted a teenage boy, one of their cousins. I think. The poor kid was in High School when the rest of his family died in a automobile accident. Instead of sending him off to college, Clarence kept him around to 'train' him to become the heir too the pretentious estate of Meade. If the young man had not been a homo, being buggered by Clarence would'a turned him into one.

When he got big enough to escape, the boy ran away for a couple of years. When he returned, it was to find the parents dead and Clarence running whatever was left of the family estate."

She stopped to try and remember. "Kevin? I think his name was Kevin. I as told by the Meade's old housekeeper, Kevin, blackmailed his adopted 'father' for a sizable chunk of cash. Then there was some sort of confrontation and Kevin almost kills the old pederast in a fight before he takes off again and just disappears."

I blurted in horror, "God have mercy on those benighted souls!"

Paula chuckled, "I would sincerely doubt that any of that bunch would appreciate your sympathy, dearie."

She took a sip of her cocktail, I sipped at my iced mint tea, then she went on, "Your Malcolm was the smart one of the three brothers and probably of the entire family. I guess that is why none of the others liked him very much, since he seemed to enjoy making them look stupid.

Last time I heard from Randolph, he was the owner/manager of a bowling alley in Springfield, Illinois. Him and his wife already had four kids and she was pregnant again. I know a big, loving family would make that guy a very happy man.

At least one of that awful bunch turned out to be a decent human being.

I'm just glad I got my tubes tied after my second. Joshua and Rebecca are precious to me, but I would not want any more."

An expression of contrition flashes across her face. Obviously she was afraid that she had offended me by mentioning children.

I reassured her that I had reconciled myself many years ago to my inability to safely bear children as the Lord's decision. As a third pregnancy would probably have killed me, I had an early hysterectomy.

Fortunately, Frederick had already fathered several children before me. Three with his deceased wife and one out of wedlock from his reckless youth.

I am helping guide his two daughters and his second son through their adolescence and we have a wonderfully warm closeness.

As for his first son, I managed to negotiate a reconciliation between him and Fredrick. We at least have cordial communications with Alex and his family. Helping his Mother and Step-Father in paying college expenses for Alex.

In addition, there is all my charity work I do for the Church and through my very good friends, Rev. Chon and his wife Nam-jo, assisting the orphans of Korea.

Sylvia and I talked a bit longer about our lives since the Meades.

Then, after an exchange of addresses along with vague promises to get together sometime. With a hug and a peck on the cheek we parted.

That was the very last time I have ever talked to anyone about the Meade family.

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