Chapter Eighteen Derek #3
“His father and the men left the house after the meeting and his father didn’t come home for dinner.
He didn’t see him again until he was shaking him out of bed in the middle of the night, shouting at him to get dressed.
He said he could hear far-off noises that sounded like firecrackers and explosions.
He could smell the smoke.” David paused for a moment.
Just when I was about to ask him if he was okay, he continued.
“He said the next thing he knew, he and his father were in the storm cave behind the house. The rest of his family was already there waiting. The last time they’d been in there was during a tornado the previous month.
My grandfather said they spent that night talking, playing games, and drinking bottles of pop.
” Another nostalgic smile appeared before fading.
“That night was different. My grandfather said for the first time in his life, he saw fear in his father’s eyes.
His mother had tears rolling down her face.
He even said my great-aunt Marie was quiet, and that woman never shut up, even when I was a child.
“Their father took them to a hidden door in the cellar, which opened to a tunnel that led to a large underground shelter, just outside town. They were joined by a few more families, and they just”—he let out a beleaguered sigh—“waited.”
“Waited for what?” I asked. “For help? Rescue?”
David gave a small sarcastic chuckle before he answered.
“They waited for it to stop,” he said. “The men and the older boys took turns guarding the entrances to the shelter with guns. My grandfather was only thirteen, and he didn’t like to talk about that night in the shelter.”
I nodded in understanding.
“The next day, he left the shelter with his family to find most of the town razed to the ground, his home ransacked by God knows who. The storm cellar had been looted but luckily whoever was in there didn’t find the door to the tunnel.
People he’d known and loved were gone forever.
Government intervention was joke. The National Guard and the Red Cross were there ‘to help’”—he sketched air quotes—“but according to my grandfather they just made things worse. He’d gone from living in a large house with his own bedroom and indoor plumbing to living in a tent with his entire family and relieving himself in a hole in the ground.
Anytime he’d been hungry, he could wander down to his kitchen where there was usually a slice of pie or one of his mother’s turkey sandwiches waiting for him.
Instead he was standing on line for hours to eat food he wouldn’t feed to his dog.
His dog had also been lost in the riots,” David added as an afterthought.
“It took three days before his father could get his affairs in order enough to get them all on a train to Alabama. I’ve heard this exact story so many times, but the delivery changed from time to time.
Sometimes my grandfather had a tone of defiance.
Sometimes he was angry. Hell, sometimes he’d tell the story with a smile on his face. The words never changed though.”
He sat for a long moment, staring into the distance. Just when I thought I’d heard the end of the story, he began to speak again.
“After everything went down, some of the families decided to stay and rebuild, but my great-grandfather wasn’t one of them.
He wasn’t gonna rebuild Greenwood just to have it torn down again.
Plus, he and his family lost a lot of people they loved.
So, he decided with two other families—the Walkers, no, not that one,” he responded to my raised eyebrow, “and the Hodges—to start fresh someplace else. They pooled their resources, bought three thousand acres of land, and called it Miller’s Cove.
They did their best to keep it hidden, but some secrets can’t be kept forever. ”
“What do you mean by that?” I felt like I had an idea what he was alluding to, remembering Minnie’s outburst at dinner.
“Man, I’ve talked your ear off enough for one day.” David groaned and rose from his chair. I followed suit. “Get back home to that wife of yours.”
I was reeling from David’s revelation about the founding of Miller’s Cove. This man had welcomed me into his home and shared the details of his painful family history, and my sole purpose for being in this town in the first place was to force him to relive his family’s generational trauma.
I’d discovered the Tulsa Massacre as an adult. It was simply an interesting piece of unearthed Black history popularized in documentaries and TV shows. Knowing that it happened was something completely different from meeting the descendants of actual survivors with firsthand accounts.
The sun had only just begun to set, so instead of calling a taxi, I decided to walk home from David’s house to clear my head and make sense of everything.
I called my assistant.
“Hey Mr. C,” Brandon’s cheerful voice called through my phone’s speaker, the complete antithesis of my mood.
“If you’re calling to check up on the reports you asked me to send to Mr. Aldridge on the Harrison Villas project, they’re already done.
He asked if there were any updates on Miller’s Cove.
He’s planning to give Mr. Mason a more formal update tomorrow. ”
“That’s good, Brandon. Thanks for letting me know. I’m actually calling you about Miller’s Cove.” I cut to the chase. “Listen, I need you to get some information for me.”
“Of course. What do you need?”
“I need to know exactly how MasonCorp acquired a thousand acres of Miller’s Cove.”
“I’m on it,” he said matter-of-factly, and I could hear the faint clicking sound of his fingers moving deftly over his computer’s keyboard.
“And, Brandon, when I say exactly, I mean exactly. Who, what, where, when, how, and why. I want every detail you can dig up.”
“Got it.” He paused for a moment. “I can tell you right now that a huge parcel of land was sold in 1992.” Another pause.
More key clicking. “The seller’s name was…
Dennis Walker.” I immediately recognized the last name as belonging to one of the founding families of the town.
“Looks like he was in a hurry to sell, too. It was a cash deal for way below market value.”
“That’s great, Brandon. Thanks. See what else you can dig up, and give me a full report by the end of the day tomorrow.”
“You got it, boss.”
The rest of my walk home was a blur. It was like one of those times when you safely drive yourself home but can’t remember anything about the journey. One minute I was talking to Brandon, and the next minute I was putting my key in the door of the apartment.
“Hey, handsome.” Jasmine greeted me with a thousand-watt smile the made my heart swell in my chest but also filled me with dread.
She was sitting in the same spot on the couch, in the same position with her laptop open.
Tora had moved to the floor under one of the large living room windows. “How was your day with David?”
I didn’t even know how to begin to answer her, so instead, I slowly closed her laptop before laying it gently on the floor and lay down next to her on the couch, placing my head where her laptop had been.
She leaned down and kissed me before scratching my scalp, making my eyes flutter closed and a lazy smile stretch across my face.
“That exhausting, huh?” She chuckled.
“Not exhausting, per se.” I smiled up at her. “But very illuminating.” That was a bit of an understatement, but I was still wrapping my head around the situation.
“Care to share this illuminating news?” She raised an eyebrow.
“Miss Morgan.” I looked at her with a mock scandalized expression. “Are you trying to use seduction to procure confidential information from a corporate rival?”
She threw her head back and laughed.
“No, I was trying to make conversation. I would never ask you to do anything to jeopardize your job.”
“I wouldn’t be opposed to the seduction.” I shrugged and waggled my eyebrows at her. She rolled her eyes and shook her head, but she was still smiling.
“Well, you’re not the only one with some interesting Miller’s Cove news.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yes, and I would tell you, but we are corporate rivals and all.”
“I have ways of making you talk,” I crooned in a low voice and slowly sat up.
“Do you?” she responded in the sexiest whisper.
“Yes.” I stood from the couch before scooping her into my arms, eliciting a delighted squeal. “But I don’t want to talk about Miller’s Cove.” I carried her into the bedroom.
I focused on David’s advice about living in the present.
MasonCorp’s interest in Miller’s Cove was like a moving train.
Sure, I’d started the engine, but even if I put the brakes on now, I wasn’t sure that I’d be able to stop it before it crashed.
I wasn’t sure this thing with Jasmine would be able to withstand the aftermath.
I was determined to spend every moment I could with her until the inevitable became our reality.