The Mayor's Daughter

PROLOGUE

LAURA FELL IN LOVE, TRULY in love, only once in her long life. Tonight she is eighty years old. She is in bed with her husband. He is facing an open window, where there is a warm, balmy breeze. They like to listen to the summer sounds of the night: the hoot of an owl, the chirp of a cheerful cricket.

He is sound asleep. When she has difficulty wooing sleep, she enjoys reliving her memories, the happy ones. Her favorite is the spring of 1938 when she was at Brown State University. Never before or since has she felt bewitched by another human being. How had one boy removed the dark shroud off her shoulders? It was a heavy one she had carried for several years. He had turned her into a butterfly that could float with the wind, but return safely to the open palm of his hand. She was in love. Her memories of those happy days are cherished ones. But they often lead to the devastating ones that followed. What went wrong? Was it all her fault? Why did her faith in herself falter? Why did she doubt his desire for her alone? She was a fighter. Why had she let the other girl get her guy?

Tonight she is drifting into dreamland with only happy thoughts. She put her small goose-down pillow against the back of her partner’s neck, put her arm around his still muscular mid-section and sighed, I love you.

Probably my new cologne. He backed closer into the warm, familiar curves of her body.

When a phone call awakened them, they were frightened. Late calls usually meant bad news. I’ll get it. Laura said. She picked up the phone on the bed-side table and walked into their dimly lighted living room.

Laura speaking

Hi, Sweetie Pie, this is an old boyfriend from your lurid past. His words were slurred. He was definitely drunk.

She winced when she recognized his voice. Charley Gross, she said.

How are you?

Better than ever. Not older, just better.

She thought Why don’t I just hang up?

Charley stumbled on. We’re going to hang a life-size portrait of ol’ Dave in the new high school.

Laura sat down on her grandmother’s Victorian love seat. Her knees were jelly. What? She took a deep breath. Why?

Why? You’ll never admit what a great guy Dave was, will you?

Charley, have a heart. I was just confused.

Yeah. Just confused. They’re going to ask you to come for the unveiling. But I’ll tell ’em to forget it."

Charley… Please.

Don’t try to sweet talk me. I’ve known you too long. You treated Dave like a dirty diaper. He was my best friend when you were a two-timing bitch. You nearly killed him. He paused, "I think you finally did. Why was there NO AUTOPSY?""

She clicked off the phone, and sat straight and still. When her husband came in the room, she looked up. Her soft brown eyes were limpid pools of pain.

Oh Laura, honey. What’s wrong? Their eyes locked. Charley Gross?

She nodded.

I’m going to kill the bastard.

CHAPTER ONE

LA URA WAS TWELVE YEARS OLD when she became the Mayor’s Daughter. She had always loved her father, but now she saw him in a different light. She had a new title, a new role to follow.

Her father, Gary Jackson, was God, king of their castle.

Her mother was his beautiful queen, who served him well by taking care of his house and the rearing of their two children. She was a happy hostess, who loved being a wife and mother.

In 1927, they were a contented family. Doug, Laura’s brother, was ten years old and was her parents’ dream child. He was full of love and laughter with a head of golden curls. Laura was twelve, a tomboy with straight, stubborn brown hair cut in a Dutch boy style. But her deep set brown eyes were always attentive, with a sparkle.

They were slam bang in the middle of the roaring twenties. It was a great time to be a kid in Fairfield, the county seat of Green County. All of their relatives lived in this county. There were radios and newspapers but no television. There were no chain stores, except Woolworth’s 5 and 10 cent stores; no McDonalds, Burger Kings, or Wal-Mart; few movies that had sound. There was no penicillin. Antibiotics were non-existent. No vaccine for tuberculosis or polio. No seat belts.

What every county seat did have was the court house, city hall, jail, several churches, a movie house, a park, schools, and athletic fields. There was at least one doctor, lawyer, grocer, black smith, dentist, veterinarian and pharmacist.

Life was good. She and Doug loved their Dad’s campaign for mayor. He had rented a large tent at the county fair where they helped their parents hand out brochures. They could stay at the Fair all day. Visit the animals, watch the horse races, eat ice cream and candy, and ride the merry-go-round if Dave Dearborn was with them.

Dave’s parents were Gary and Bess Jackson’s best friends. Bess and Louise Dearborn had been close since high school. She was President of the Green County Republican Club. The Dearborn’s son, Dave, was like a big brother to Doug. He was a sandy-haired stocky kid who everyone liked and trusted. But Laura was unhappy when his best friend, Charley Gross, tagged along.

TWO YEARS LATER, the whole country was in turmoil. The stock market crash of 1929 meant financial disaster for businesses and families alike. However, Laura was not aware of any significant changes. Families pulled together. No one went hungry. What bothered her were the changes in her own body. She began menstruating, which was a nuisance, and her breasts had popped out like balloons, they hurt during the basketball games and the tumbling that she loved. They were in the way when she turned cartwheels and did backward somersaults.

She was surprised to discover that boys liked her in a different way, and that some were more attractive to her than they had been in the past. She had never been so conscious of herself: her body, her hair, her popularity with her peer group. Puberty was a painful experience.

She lost the love and respect she had for her mother. She didn’t like the way Bess was critical of some of her friends. Did not like the way her mother wanted her to dress and didn’t like her out-of-date ideas about plucking eyebrows and wearing lipstick. She had pulled away from her mother so much that she failed to notice her mother’s painful battle with poor health: physical, mental, and emotional.

An invisible demon had invaded Bess’s brain. By the end of 1931, this creature, had destroyed her brain leaving behind a beautiful body with shiny, silky, soft brown hair that never turned gray and brown eyes that never twinkled.

When Laura finally realized that her mother was ill, she did an about-face and tried to be her friend again. She helped in the kitchen, acted and dressed in ways to please her mother, planned special outings, but nothing changed for the better. Bess chose a dark, dismal night to destroy all optimism. She tried to kill herself by breathing carbon monoxide from their Willy’s Knight, parked in their one-car garage.

One night when Laura was sleeping soundly, she dreamed her mother was standing beside her bed. She felt a soft kiss on her forehead, a gentle pat on her shoulder and heard whispers she did not understand. Later, she heard her father’s desperate call for help. Laura, give me a hand. She jumped out of bed and ran to help him lift her mother’s limp body up the stairs and into bed. Stay here while I call Dr. Frankman he said.

Mama, where do you hurt? Laura sat beside Bess’s bed and held her frigid fingers.

Only in my head.

When the doctor came, he said. Step out in the hall.

Laura stepped outside the door. She listened and heard her mother say. Put me someplace where the children don’t see me like this.

Bess had opened a door to Hell for herself, and for Laura, Gary, and Doug… and everyone who loved her.

A dentist came and pulled two infected teeth. They prayed for a sign of improvement, but none came.

After a sleepless night, Gary told the children, Dr. Frankman and I are going to take Mother to a specialist in Martinsville. We’ll leave her there, where she’ll be safe, until she gets better.

They nodded. Laura took Doug’s hand. I’m glad. she said.

They left for school. Laura was a sophomore, Doug was in Junior High. Laura’s routine in school remained much the same. But her heart was heavy, and she wondered if anyone noticed the large lump in her throat. It was painful. She yearned for her mother, needed to tell her about the problem she was having with Charlie Gross, who was a year older than she.

On two different occasions, he had accidentally brushed his hand over her breast when passing her in the high school halls, which were crowded between classes. The only action she had taken so far was to avoid him, never speak to him, and give him dirty looks, which he ignored… except to snicker and look very pleased with himself. He was a popular boy. He did wild things, but he made people laugh, his friends cheered him on.

She detested him, but was too embarrassed to report his actions to the front office or to discuss them with anyone. She wondered, does he think I like his touching me?

After her mother left home, most of Laura’s friends were kind, but not all. On one occasion, when her high school classes were dismissed for the day, a gaggle of boys gathered on the school lawn, watching the girls walk by.

Charley Gross and Dave Dearborn looked up as Laura came into view. Charley raised both his arms high in the air, cupped his hands towards Laura. He shouted the words of a popular song, Hey, good lookin’, what ya got cookin? How about cookin’ sumpthin’ up for me?

There was raucous laughter from some of the guys, but a hush fell over the group as Laura stopped walking. She stood tall, and gave him a look of pure hate.

He yelled, What’re you so stuck up about? Your Mom’s in the insane asylum, ain’t she?

Dave Dearborn was standing beside him. He grabbed the collar of his letter sweater. Charley shut up!

Charley yelled louder. Or is it the loony bin?

Dave clenched his fist and struck a hard blow to Charlie’s mouth and nose. He staggered backwards but he did not fall down. He clamped his hands over his face. His nose was a faucet spurting blood…

There was dead silence. Dave walked off as Charley cursed him.

EVERY DAY LAURA walked home alone to a house, which was no longer comforting. It felt cold. It looked unclean, messy, and it smelled musty.

She sorted her thoughts as she passed through her familiar neighborhood. She faced, accepted her future as she walked under the tall oak trees shadowing the brick sidewalks.

She had lost her mother and her old identity. She had changed from a girl who was envied and admired to a girl to be pitied.

It wasn’t just dumb Charley’s abuse. It was also the look of sympathy she saw in many eyes. Other times it was a look of satisfaction that her bubble of plenty had finally burst. Now she was part of the real world.

Her main role in this new world meant helping Gary and Doug walk through the shadows on their path. They began driving to Martinsville every Saturday to see Bess. The visits were sorrowful. The changes they hoped for never occurred.

Her father went to work every day; she and Doug went to school. The hardest part was going home. Laura dropped out of after-school activities and tried to keep their house in order and prepare an evening meal of substance. She failed. But Doug helped with the dishes and there was comfort in their togetherness. He was more bewildered and missed his mother more than she did. Laura no longer teased him. They were now partners, best friends.

Her Dad took their laundry to Mrs. Smith, who lived on the block behind them in a house needing repair, with an outhouse behind it. Her husband was in jail and she needed the money. It was a new experience for Laura to see her blouses hanging on clotheslines down the street.

They fell into a routine where everything went smoothly until Doug suffered a severe attack of asthma. Laura skipped school to care for him.

Gary phoned Louise Dearborn, and was relieved to hear her happy voice.

How can I help? she asked.

Gary said, I know there are country girls looking for housekeeping work but I haven’t found one I like. Can you give me a hand? Gary loved Louise like a sister, but hated to lean on her and Harry unless he had no choice.

I’ll get on it right away and call you back. I think Ed McVay’s mother is looking for work.

Gary said, Bess’s sister, Alma, came to the house this morning and sent Laura to school. But I need to get both the kids back in school.

I’ll take care of it right away and call you. Relax now. Get back to work.

As Laura walked home alone, she asked God for guidance. Both her father and Doug were unhealthy and sad. She wanted to help.

WHEN SHE ENTERED THE HOUSE, the awesome aroma of chicken soup and butterscotch cookies welcomed her. She ran up the stairs to check on Doug. He was asleep, was breathing normally. All his baseball cards were stacked, and pictures of his favorite players were hanging on the wall. He was better. He was sleeping peacefully.

She tiptoed downstairs and there was a rosy, round, woman at the kitchen stove, who wiped her hands on her apron and said, Hi Laura, you don’t know me but I know your parents, and I’ve watched you grow up. I hope you don’t mind my usurping your kitchen.

No, I don’t mind. It smells heavenly.

I’m Mrs. McVay. She offered her hand. It was warm and moist. Mrs. Dearborn picked me up this morning and drove me here to work till Doug is out of the woods.

Can I help? Laura asked.

No, honey, but tell me if I do something the wrong way. Mr. Jackson says we’ll have supper at six o’clock.

A FEW DAYS LATER, Doug was able to go to school, so Mrs. McVay spoke to Gary without the children present. Did Mrs. Dearborn tell you that I have no place to go until I find a new job?

No, but I want to know how much you’ll charge us to stay on here.

Mr. Jackson, I’m homeless. I won’t need a lot beyond free room and board.

That night, after supper, the phone rang. Laura answered it. When she returned to the living room, Gary asked, Who was that on the phone?

Miss Hall, my music teacher

What did she want?

Laura hesitated a second. She just wondered if I was coming to the try-outs for the operetta.

I hope you said yes.

No. I told her ‘not this year’ she understood.

He took his time before he said anything. Laura, don’t ever do that again. Your mother and I want you to have a good life. Make us proud. Give it your best shot at the try-outs.

He saw the flood of tears behind Laura’s eyes, waiting to escape. We have a new understanding now. Don’t you ever forget it.

The best was yet to come. The phone rang again. Doug said, You get that Laura. Probably one of your stupid girlfriends.

This is the Jackson residence. Laura answered as her mother had taught her to do ever since Gary was in politics.

This is Dave, Dave Dearborn. His voice was familiar, but much lower than the one she remembered. Laura was surprised. Ever since she had entered high school and Bess’s health had failed, they had not been friends. As their bodies changed, the rough and tumble friendship they once shared had disappeared.

Hi Dave she said.

I was just wondering if you would go to the Hy Wy party with me Friday night?

Laura felt a surge of warm blood rise from her toes to her head. She took a quick breath. Yes, I would.

Swell. He said. I’ll come by at 6:30. We’ll have to walk. Dad won’t let me have the car after dark.

I’ll be ready.

OH WHAT A DIFFERENCE one little phone call can make. After the Hy Wy party, Dave walked her home. When they reached the street where she lived, it was dark under the tall oak trees. They held hands.

Their goodnight kiss was an awkward one, but it set their hearts on fire. As he walked away, she watched his every move. He looked back and saw her standing there, I’ll give you a call, O.K?

He changed her life. He became her protector, her ticket for all the good times available for teenagers in Fairfield, Ohio

CHAPTER TWO

FOR THE NEXT FEW YEARS, the family survived. Each member fought his separate battle with the Lord when saying his prayers. A God who permitted one of his best disciples to go through the hell Bess was enduring was not a loving one. Christ was promised the moon if He made her well again. Faith in the words of the Scriptures was fractured. But Gary went to Sunday school and Church every Sunday with his children. He prayed for Bess’s recovery and for strength to care for all of them.

After Laura graduated from high school, she continued working at the Fairfield Tea Room where she had worked the previous summer.

When Laura walked home after work, she saw a strange car was parked on the street in front of their Dutch Colonial house. When inside, she was surprised to see Auntie Mid Freeman, one of her mother’s best friends, talking with her father.

Mid and Bess had been roommates for a year at Oxford College for Women. Mid’s husband had died a few years ago. She now held the position of Dean of Women at Brown State University. She stood up to give Laura a hug. How you remind me of your Mother!

Thank you.

Gary said, Mid has looked up your high school record and I am more impressed than ever by your accomplishments.

Oh Dad, she shook her head. Thank you.

She thinks you are college material. I do too. Your mother would want you to go, but I can’t afford that right now.

Dad, don’t worry. I’m not ready for college. I want to stay here.

I know, honey. But I want you to hear Mid’s proposition and make your own decision.

I’m not here to pressure you. Mid could hardly wait to state her case. But I want you to consider college at Brown State University, where we have an excellent school of music.

Laura looked at Gary. Mid’s words started a spark of hope for a different way of life for her. She thought of Miss Hall who had been her elementary and high school singing teacher. There were three careers open for women in the thirties: teaching, nursing, and secretarial work. The obvious one for her was teaching.

Because of your high school record, I can arrange for you to have free room and board if you become a waitress in Horner Hall, the girl’s dormitory. Laura’s heart-beat quickened. She looked at her father.

He said, I can afford your tuition. Mid says it is thirty dollars a semester. But the room and board is a big hunk. Gary hesitated… And your clothes for college.

Dad, I’ve earned enough this summer for my clothes.

Gary laughed. I guess that means you want to go?

She hesitated, and then said, Yes, I do, unless you need me here.

That’s settled then. He looked at Mid. Tell her more. And thank you. We’ll miss her, but Doug and I can batch it for a while with Mrs. McVay’s help.

SHE HAD TWO WEEKS to get ready. She was glad it wasn’t longer because she now had doubts about her own ability to succeed and because it was difficult to leave home. Her most pressing problem was her wardrobe. She had visited Dave at his college and stayed in sorority houses with Fairfield girls, so she knew something about her needs. She had saved forty-five dollars this summer.

She went to the Fairfield Department Store to look for college clothes. A high school acquaintance of hers, Jane, was a clerk in the ladies ready to wear section. Nothing for fall wear was on sale, only summer things. Jane was determined to make a sale, but Laura refused to try on expensive sweaters and skirts, even though they were attractive and something she would need.

What’s the big occasion? Jane asked.

I’m going to Brown State in a few weeks." she said.

"You’re kidding! Your Dad must be rich. Tell him you can’t