27
Key West
1843
A short time after the holidays, I stopped off at Dorothy’s to return a shawl I had borrowed. She was not at home, but Tom greeted me enthusiastically. “Emily! It’s good to see you. This is a coincidence; I was going over to see you this afternoon. Let’s go into my study. I have some wonderful news.”
I was certainly ready for good news. In his study, he closed the door behind us. “Remember how we launched that suit against the U.S. government for the land Commodore Archer expropriated from you and Martin in order to expand the navy base?”
“Of course,” I said. “But I think we agreed that we would never see that money in our lifetime.”
“Yes, we did.” He smiled. “But it turns out we were wrong! The government appointed someone to assess values in Key West, so restitution can be made for every piece of land the commodore expropriated in the navy’s name. You’re to receive a bank draft from the Committee for Naval Affairs. They want to compensate you at full current market value of the land, plus the estimated value of the pineapple crop that year, and full replacement value of the house. There were fourteen acres, at seven thousand dollars per acre, plus buildings and crops. It comes out to one hundred and ten thousand dollars.”
“What?” I shrieked in disbelief. “We paid only a thousand!”
“Quite a good return,” he observed with a smile.
I was dumbfounded. I had money! My own money—a small fortune—and now, in the present, not Pedro’s bequest sometime in the future. This money meant that if Pedro ever left me—or if I chose to leave him—I could afford my children’s education without assistance; I could even afford to buy a beautiful house of my own choice. I made a decision in Tom’s o?ce before I left. “Tom, I must beg your discretion. Pedro … Pedro is not to know about this yet. Can we agree on that?” Tom nodded.
As I rose to leave, I felt light-headed and happy, as though I could dance out of his study and along the hallway. At the back of my mind, I continued to dream of a miracle that would bring Andrew back into my life. I did not know his whereabouts, but he certainly knew mine. If he ever managed to obtain freedom, or run away, he might well ?nd me. And if he did, the money could change things considerably.