Page 44 of So in Love
She joined him and set her cup down on the table.“Yes.I have to admit, I’m a bit nervous to open it up.”She looked at him askance, chewing her lip.
He put his cup down too and rested his hand on her shoulder.“Whatever’s in that box doesn’t define us.”
“I know that.”She sat down.“Let’s get to it.”She pulled the lid off, and Jamie took it from her to place it at the end of the table.He reached into the box and removed all he could while Mom scooted the box out of the way.
Jamie sat down beside her while she separated the contents into two stacks.There were three photo albums.All were black paper and about six inches tall and ten inches wide.The first said “Stowe” in large letters with the dates 1919-1930.
“This is the one I remember,” Mom said, opening the album.
Jamie took one of the others.It had dates scrawled on the bottom of the cover: 1905-1919.He reached for the third—he wanted something dated around the time of the fire.But the last one didn’t have dates, and it was slimmer than the others.Nevertheless, that was the one he chose to open.
Inside was a photograph of a family.There was a couple and five children—two boys and three girls, one of whom was in her mother’s arms.At least he thought it was a girl.Young boys were put in dresses in those days.Beneath the picture, it read 1882.Jamie turned the page and saw two portraits.They were of the couple from the family picture.
“Hey, here’s Redmond and Lavinia Stowe.”Jamie didn’t mention that he was the KKK leader.What had Crystal called him?The Cyclops?Jamie studied the picture as if he could discern whether or not the man was a monster.
The following pages held photos of their children—portraits of them done as babies and a few when they were older, some in groups, and some with animals.One, dated 1891, in particular stood out to Jamie.It was of the three sons—apparently that babyhadbeen a boy—and a large dog.Names were captioned beneath the photo in order of their standing, reading from left to right: Hoyt, Francis, Beau, Turner.
Hoyt was a man by this point.He clasped the end of a rifle, which stood beside him on the ground.He looked a bit sullen, but then no one was smiling in any of these photos.Francis was next to him, a few years younger, maybe in his late teens.Then came Beau the massive dog, his tongue lolling from his mouth.Turner had his hand on Beau’s head.He was much younger than the others and wasn’t smiling either, but there was something about his gaze that was warmer.He looked almost familiar, actually.
“Hey, Mom.Does this kid look like me when I was the same age?”
She leaned over and peered at the photograph, then studied Jamie before going back to the photograph.“Yeah.A lot, actually.That’s kind of spooky.”
And gross.Jamie didn’t want to look like a guy who was in the KKK!
In the middle of the book, he came to a large photograph of a man with his hand on a bible.The caption read: Hoyt sworn in as mayor, 1901.
He turned to a blank page followed by another.And another.Given the patterned fading of the paper, it was obvious there had once been pictures and now they were missing.“Looks like some of the photos were removed.”
Mom glanced over again.“Hmm, yeah.That’s too bad.”
The next page held photos again.His heart raced as he saw the year 1902.It was a single photo of a man next to a horse.He thought it was Redmond Stowe, the patriarch, but it was a bit blurry.He turned the page and the year jumped to 1904.He quickly looked through the last few pages of the book and felt a rush of disappointment.What had he expected to find?A KKK gathering complete with burning cross?
He was glad he hadn’t.But what had been on those blank pages?
Mom finished with her album and slid it over to him.“This one has some blank spots too.Quite a few toward the middle, actually.”
Jamie flipped through it.There were a few photos of Ribbon Ridge interspersed with the family.“We should give this to Kelsey for the exhibit.”
“I’ll do that.”She sighed, opening the third album.“I should’ve remembered I had this sooner.”
Jamie came to the middle section.The first photograph after the blank spots was of a trio of men wearing black armbands.Jamie flipped back, and one of them was the middle Stowe son, Francis.Curious, Jamie turned to the next page but there were no more black armbands.
Mom finished with her album and then picked up the first one Jamie had gone through.He reached for a small stack of papers and shuffled through them.The top one was a commencement notice from Williver College dated 1938.
Jamie set it aside.The next paper was a letter dated December 24, 1923.He started reading:
Dear Mother,
I hope you’ll read this, even if you really do hate me.I’ll say it again: I’m so sorry about Hoyt.I never meant for him to die.But you must know he wasn’t a good person.Just like Father wasn’t a good person.You might argue that I’m not a good person either, but I didn’t seek to cause harm.I sought justice and Hoyt resisted.He and Father, however, intended harm.They caused harm.They murdered a woman in the name of hate and intolerance, and Hoyt was bent on continuing that hatred.
I am very happy with Rose.We have a wonderful family.I am sorry you are not a part of it and that we are still not welcome in Ribbon Ridge.
I hope you had a Merry Christmas.I remain,
Your Loyal and Loving Son,
Turner Stowe
