Mary Turner took up the story once again.
“She lived to be quite old and outlived him, as it turned out, but this will—if it ever existed—never turned up. The will that he did leave made no mention of any legacy to his sister. He hadn’t wanted her to marry Jedediah Gamble.” She stared hard at Serenity. “You left out that part.”
“Because it doesn’t really matter,” Serenity said.
“Why did your great-grandfather not want his sister to marry Mr. Gamble?” Dickce asked. “Was he a poor man?”
“No, he was not,” Serenity said. “His family lost a lot during the war, like most people did, but he was smart and ended up restoring the family’s wealth before he married my great-grandmother.”
“Then what was the issue about the marriage?” An’gel asked. “Is it really pertinent to the story?”
“Yes,” Mary Turner said. “I think it explains why there was no will leaving the contents of the French room to my four times great-aunt. I know this will probably sound ridiculous to you, but it was because he was from Vicksburg. After the war, there was a lot of dissension between the people of Natchez and the people of Vicksburg.”
“Whatever for?” An’gel asked. “I suppose it had something to do with the war.”
“It sure did,” Serenity said, her tone becoming increasingly heated as she talked. “The people of Vicksburg stood up to the Union Army. They refused to give in, but the traitors in Natchez let them in. They didn’t want anyone to hurt their precious houses.”
“Seriously?” Dickce asked.
“I’m afraid so,” Mary Turner replied. “Families, particularly in Vicksburg, refused to have anything to do with their relations in Natchez for years afterwards. There was a tremendous amount of resentment. Naturally, people in Natchez didn’t like the attitudes of the people in Vicksburg.” She paused for a moment. “Supposedly, Jedediah Gamble had been pretty outspoken about all this because his family lost their home while Cliffwood wasn’t really harmed. But he fell in love with Great-Aunt Mary and was determined to have her.”
“If I understand all this correctly,” An’gel said, “the reason that your great-grandfather didn’t leave his sister the contents of the room in his will is because he disliked his brother-in-law so much, he didn’t want even his sister’s children to have it.”
“Basically, that’s it,” Mary Turner said. “And that’s why the Turners are sure there never was a will leaving anything to Great-Aunt Mary.”
A voice from the doorway startled them all. “That’s a damn filthy lie, and you know it.”
CHAPTER 10
Given the aggressive attitude and the contents of his statement, this had to be Nathan Gamble, An’gel thought.
Mary Turner quickly confirmed it. “Why do you always have to sneak into my house, Nathan? And then behave like a crazy person, I might add.” She rose from her chair to confront her cousin. “Why are you here?”
Nathan seemed not to have heard her. An’gel could see that his attention now appeared to be focused on his sister. “Why are you here, Serenity? If you think you’re going to badger me into giving you that money, you might as well save yourself the effort. I’m not going to let you have it.”
Serenity jumped to her feet and let loose a string of profanities directed at her brother and his stinginess and other unpleasant qualities. Wilbanks put out a hand to get her attention but she brushed him aside.
An’gel and Dickce exchanged glances of distaste and disapproval. This young woman was downright nasty, An’gel thought, debasing herself this way. She was screaming now but her brother didn’t appear to be affected by it, other than by continuing to shake his head at her.
An’gel had had enough. No one else seemed willing to stop this tirade. She might as well do it. She got up and positioned herself practically in the young woman’s face and glared at her. Serenity appeared startled by An’gel’s actions and sputtered to a halt.
“You sit down right this moment, young woman,” An’gel said, “and close that nasty mouth. I don’t want to hear another vulgar word out of you, or I will slap you so hard you’ll think it’s next week. Do you understand me?”
Serenity shrank against the back of the sofa and nodded in a jerky fashion. “Yes, ma’am,” she whispered.
Nathan Gamble grinned at An’gel. “I don’t know who you are, lady, but you’re the first person since my mama died who’s ever been able to shut her up once she gets going in one of her hissy fits. Thank you.”
“You need to learn to control your temper and your language, young woman,” An’gel said. “No one is going to move an inch to assist you when you behave like a deranged lunatic.” She turned to Nathan Gamble. “I realize this is really none of my business or my sister’s, but I will not be forced to listen to such carrying-on.” After one last glare at Serenity, she resumed her seat.
Dickce laughed. “An’gel the Terminator at your service.” She introduced herself and her sister to Nathan Gamble, and he responded with the traditional, “Nice to meet you.”
“You still haven’t answered my question, Nathan,” Mary Turner said. “Why are you here? I know it’s not a social call.”
“I’m having some work done at my house, and I need a place to stay for a few nights until they’re done,” Nathan replied. “I figured here was as good as any. Do you have a family rate?”
Now that relative calm once more reigned, An’gel had a more thorough look at Nathan Gamble. Late thirties, she thought, rather short, probably no more than five foot six, and scrawny. He had thick, curly dark hair that could use a good trim, and he wore dark-framed glasses. His clothes appeared to be clean, but they were old and worn in places. Was he that poor, to go around looking like he wore charity-bin rejects? An’gel wondered. Or was he too cheap to buy newer clothing?
“If he’s going to stay here,” Serenity said, suddenly assertive again, “then I’m going to stay here too. He’s going to talk to me one way or another.”
Mary Turner closed her eyes for a moment and drew a deep breath. After releasing it, she spoke. “We already have other guests staying here, and it’s supposed to be vacation time for Henry Howard and me. Marcelline isn’t expecting to have to provide meals for a lot of extra people, only those who were invited to be here.”
That was pointed enough, An’gel thought, but would Nathan Gamble and his sister be deterred? She doubted they would.
“Marcelline doesn’t have to cook most meals for me, maybe just breakfast,” Nathan said, “as long as you knock the price down. I can go out and get my other meals.”
“We can do the same thing.” Serenity poked Wilbanks. “Can’t we?”
The lawyer did not appear pleased by this appeal. An’gel was surprised he had been quiet through the recent ruckus, not doing a thing to curb his client’s intemperate behavior. “If you say so, I guess we can.”
Mary Turner glanced at An’gel as if she were asking for advice. An’gel thought it would be better not to have these people around while they were trying to work out what was behind the odd happenings at Cliffwood, but she didn’t feel it was her place to tell Mary Turner this in front of Nathan, Serenity, and Wilbanks.
After a moment Mary Turner nodded. “Okay, then, I guess you can stay for a few days. The rooms in the annex are clean, so you can all stay there.”
“No, I want to stay in the house,” Nathan said. “I want to stay in my great-grandmother’s room. The contents belong to me by right, no matter what you say.”
“Miss An’gel has the French room,” Mary Turner said, “so you will have to stay in another room.”
An’gel foresaw a prolonged argument over the room, and she decided that, peeved as she was over Gamble’s behavior, the simplest thing to do would be to let him have the room. There was another bedroom upstairs unoccupied that she could take.