Chapter 17

Finally, the day came when Louisa, dressed in mourning black, joined the family in the dining room for breakfast.

Setting a plate of sausage and eggs down before her, Emma asked, “How you feeling, Mama?”

“How you ’spect I feel? I ain’t never gonna feel right, ever again. Pass me them stewed apples, I need something sweet in my mouth.”

Emma handed her mother the bowl.

“I see you all packed up and ready to go,” Louisa said, scooping the apples onto her plate.

“Well, yes. Sam has to get back to work and I—” Emma stopped. There was really no reason for her to leave. She could stay a few more weeks; Sam could make do without her. But since Harlan hadn’t made her feel especially needed or wanted in the house, she didn’t see the sense in staying on. “Sam has to return to work or he won’t have no job to go back to.”

“I see. When y’all planning on leaving?”

“Tomorrow. First train.”

Harlan’s face broke into a smile so wide, it showcased every tooth in his head. It was all Emma could do to keep from slapping that grin clear off his face.

“You gotta stay till Friday, Emma,” Louisa said. “That’s when the lawyer will be ’round.”

“Lawyer? For what?”

“To read the will.”

* * *

Turned out, Tenant owned not just the family house in Macon but acres of land in Warner Robins and a warehouse in Milledgeville. He held savings accounts in two different banks, war bonds, and a life insurance policy worth five thousand dollars.

While the lawyer rattled off Tenant’s assets, Emma and her brothers were slack-mouthed with astonishment.

The lawyer went on to say that it was Tenant’s wish that all of the property (except for the family home) be sold off, and the proceeds split between Louisa and their children.

Emma was aghast. “Mama, did you know Daddy had all this?”

“That we had all this? Yes, of course I knew.”

“But how . . . how did he . . . you all acquire so much?”

Louisa sighed wearily.

“Mama?”

Louisa reached for Emma’s hand. “Let’s just say that God has been very, very good to us.”

* * *

Sam and Emma didn’t return to Grand Rapids, not even to collect the clothes they’d left behind. Emma said it wasn’t worth the train fare.

“Well, what about your piano?”

“That old thing?” She waved her hand. “Why would I go back for that when soon I’ll have enough money to buy a brand-new one?”

* * *

It took five months to settle Tenant’s estate. In May of 1923, Emma and Sam took her inheritance and set off for New York to visit Lucille.