Twenty-Five

From Jennie's Yearbook*

“Jay, why don’t you start with telling John who you went to see, and why and when.”

Jennie and Jay sat on a park bench, with John facing them.

“So, John, about two months ago, I heard a rumor that Pa’s alleged wife…”

“Alleged?” John looked confused.

“Well, hear me out. Maybe it will make sense by the time I am finished.”

John shrugged and waved the back of his hand to indicate that Jay should proceed.

“Anyway, I heard that Willie was going around town with this other man. One quite older. You know, none of us have thought much of her.”

“Well, I kind of liked her at times. She could be fun…” John placed his chin in his hands and grinned.

“This is serious, John!” Jennie kicked her brother’s elbow.

“To continue… This got me thinking. There was something I heard several years ago. But I ignored it then. I thought it was curious, but I ignored it.”

“Go on, Jay.” Jennie was growing impatient with the drawn-out way Jay was telling the story.

“What did you hear, Jay?” John sat up straighter and quit picking at the grass around him.

“I learned that Pa took out a marriage license eleven years ago. 1902. And not with Willie. But with Mrs. Nancy Hetrick.”

“Wait. Mrs. Hetrick? The widow with all the children?”

“Yes. At first, I thought she had a daughter by the same name. And that daughter died suddenly or something. And Pa didn’t tell us afterward, because what would be the point? He was off in Kansas back then. While we were living at Grandpa’s.”

John shook his head. This part was confusing.

“But then, I got to thinking, wait, it was a Mrs. Hetrick, not Miss. And I asked around and was told Mrs. Hetrick had no daughter named Nancy, nor is there another Nancy Hetrick anywhere in Linn County or even Livingston County.”

John jumped up, dusted himself off, and began pacing. Jennie crossed her arms, a scowl growing.

“Now, here’s the thing, Johnny. Mrs. Hetrick went on living as Mrs. Hetrick. On her own farm. Never held herself out as Mrs. Stark from what anyone could tell me. Though… I suppose it is possible Pa lived there a while. This was before us kids moved to Chillicothe, while we were still living with Grandpa.”

“So…what do you think happened, Jay? Jennie?”

“I think,” said Jennie, “that Pa did something before they had the actual wedding. Something that got Mrs. Hetrick to call off the wedding.”

“You don’t think he hit her, or something like that? Or… maybe he got drunk or got caught gambling. Or… was with another woman.” John scratched the back of his neck. Things like this usually rolled off him. He didn’t judge, especially not his father. But none of this made sense.

“I do not know. Not sure I want to know, John,” responded Jay. “But I got curious. When I had some time, I nosed around. Went to Chillicothe and hired an investigator. What he turned up was that Pa and Willie’s wedding was reported in the newspaper, but he could not find a license. The newspaper account reported Willie’s name as Mrs. Willie Trowbridge. Not Miss Willie Brown like she told us.”

“Holy smokes, Jay!” John sat down again, hard. He started pulling the weeds around him.

Orval & Willie 

“So now, this investigator, he took a month, but guess what he found.” Jennie broke in, wanting to move the conversation along.

“No telling at this point, Jennie. What?”

Jay motioned to Jennie that she should continue.

“He found out that she had a husband. And… get this. She has two sons. She married Ira Trowbridge in Chillicothe, they moved to Oklahoma, they had two kids. Trowbridge was 19, she was 18 when they got married.”

“Good grief!” John took the handful of weeds and threw them, but the wind carried them back. “Wait, when was this?”

Jay answered. “They got married in 1898, had the kids between 1900 and 1902. Then something happened, because she returned to Missouri in 1902 without the husband or the boys. The investigator thinks those three are now in the state of Washington. And Mr. Trowbridge married again.”

“With no evidence he could find of any divorce,” added Jennie. She paused to look at John. He still looked confused.

“So, in summary,” she continued, “Pa took out a license to marry Mrs. Hetrick in 1902, who, by the way, was at least eight years older than him. But it doesn’t look like they went through with it. Then,” she took

a big breath, “the very next year, he and Willie told the newspaper they got married. Like some respectable couple. All while we were living with Grandmother and Grandfather Stark. And while Willie already had a husband and TWO BOYS!”

Jennie bounded up out of her seat, grabbed a stick and threw it. “Damn it!”

The two brothers looked at Jennie in shock, and then at each other, then back at Jennie.

“I am sorry I swore.” Jennie picked up a rock and threw it, too. “I just am so… ANGRY!”

John squinted at his brother, the sun in his eyes. “Wait. When did you learn all of this, Jay?”

“Some of it about ten weeks ago. The rest, last month.”

“And you told Jennie when?”

“Late last night. I was dying to tell her before, but I did not want anything to spoil her graduation. Plus, Grandpa told me to hold off.”

“Wait, Grandpa knew of all of this? What?”

John asked the question as Jennie wheeled around and faced Jay, adding, “Yes, Jay, what on earth? Grandpa knew? Oh, please do explain. He knew? When?”

“I told Grandpa when I went to tell him I made arrangements for Aunt Lizzie and him to come to your graduation. Grandma sensed something was wrong when I saw them, and you know Grandma. She got right in and asked me directly was there something they didn’t know because I was looking troubled. So, I told them.”

“Oh, my goodness, Jay. And Grandfather was here! And said nothing! And looked sad while smiling.”

In that moment, Jennie felt a stronger kinship with her grandfather than ever before. Always smiling, no matter what was troubling him. Trying always to be kind, and to keep the counsel that it is better to say nothing than to speak ill of another.

“And Grandpa didn’t say a word to Pa. Didn’t even look at him.” Jay bent over the bench, put his head between his knees, and began sobbing into his hands.

“Oh, Jay. Sweet brother…” Jennie sat beside him and rubbed his back. “You kept all of this in. So many years of being the dutiful son while being like a father to John, and even to me sometimes.”

John sat on the other side of Jay and added, “Well, you two are only two and three years older than me, but I guess it is true it always felt like you two were the ones who actually raised me.” The three sat on the bench, Jennie and John with their arms around their brother Jay.

Across the park, Aunt Lizzie watched. She did not know what was transpiring, but she knew it had to do with Orval. Then she spied him. Orval. Looking at his children from another vantage point, then glancing over to her.

*The park depicted in this photograph is the setting for this scene. Of the entire campus, little has changed since 1913         except the tree growth.