Thibadeau the Pirate
Copyright© 2009 by happyhugo
Chapter 7
Dinner was one of those "And what are your prospects, young man" type of dinners. In a way I didn't blame John Bernhardt. He had a lovely and very rich daughter and she was hanging out with a young man with an unknown future. I took it for awhile--all the questions that got answered, but never what he was searching for.
Finally I said, "Mr. Bernhardt, you are trying to find out what kind of a person I am. Sarah probably knows more about me than I do about her. I do know that she is beautiful. I know she does some dumb things sometimes, but also doesn't mind going about to correct them, either. The people here in town say she is richer than God. That is good and I'm glad, but that is her business and not mine. Money gives a person certain advantages that others might not have.
"If Sarah and I should happen to become more than friends and I couldn't provide her some luxury that she wanted, I would expect her to buy it for herself. Other than that I feel I can certainly provide for her needs and any children we might have. I plan on having a comfortable lifestyle and I know I can provide one. I admit that this Aunt Nellie thing has distracted me from setting up my business as fast as I thought it would come together, but I have spent some time with this beautiful little rich girl. I think I have been able to prevent her from being taken advantage of. Even with all that I continue to make contacts. I have had seven individual completed orders done and several more that are coming together.
"The last three weeks have been interesting and exciting for both of us and has drawn us together pretty fast. Do I want to step back from her? No not at all. You can't imagine how pleased I was to have you at the dance last night just so I could see Sarah again this soon. Then she invited me here today, which gives me hope she is starting to have some feelings for me as well."
John's face was getting very red. I knew he wasn't listening to me. Ruby laid a hand on his arm to calm him, but he wasn't deterred. "Young man, you are descended from a goddamned pirate and a woman that spread her legs for a tavern keeper. I can't even think of you courting my daughter."
"I'll let that pass for the moment and ask you a question. Is your birthday on January 10, 1964, and were you born in Meridian, Connecticut? Was your father's name Samuel, born January 27, 1932, in Springfield, Massachusetts? And was your grandfather's name Jonathan who you were named after as John? He that was born in September, 1901 in Claremont, New Hampshire?"
John stared at me wondering where this was going, especially when I had his and his father and grandfather's names and birth dates correct. I winked at Sarah, who asked, "Dad, was there ever an Ezekial in our family ancestry?"
"Yes there was. My grandfather had a brother of that name. I suppose Jason would know that too?"
"I do, he was six years older than your grandfather."
Sarah was about rolling on the floor she was laughing so hard. Catching her breath she stated to her father, "Daddy I think Jason has better lineage than we do. Your great-grandmother many times removed was less than a faithful wife. She was married to one brother and was servicing the other two, keeping it from her husband. I suspect no one ever knew which brother was the father of her children. Am I right, Jason?"
"That's right. The sir names switched a couple of times before the Bernhardt name came into the picture back in the 1870s. The Bakers had a strong sense of family just as the Thibadeau family did. If the journals are correct, and I have no reason to doubt them, Sarah, you are a direct descendant of Mazie Baker. So Ruth Thibadeau and Mazie Baker were sisters-in-law and that would make us distant cousins."
"How the hell do you know all of this?"
"Aunt Nellie. She spent the last sixty years hunting down and compiling these journals from various relatives. Most of those of the Thibadeau family were at hand, but some of the family splintered off and Aunt Nellie diligently wrote letters to known family members who helped her. The information has fallen off in the last few years. For instance, Sarah and Tim are not listed in the Bernhardt family tree.
"It makes one wonder why Sarah chose the particular property here in Chester to purchase when she decided to build herself a dwelling. Another thing, why did I show up when I did? If I had come here a day later, Sarah would have given up and gone back to Connecticut. Is it God that moved us into these positions so we could find each other? Not to be blasphemous, but why would God bother himself with insignificant Jason Thibadeau and Sarah Bernhardt?
"I would rather think God gave Aunt Nellie a penance. She was burdened with life that was beyond what she thought she could bear. She took the quick and easy way out by killing her husband. To make up for that, God left her on earth a long time to pay for this sin. Still a good woman, he charged her with the task of finding an unlikely couple and throwing them together into situations where they would fall in love and have the happy life that was denied her."
I looked at Sarah. I saw puzzlement and wonder in her eyes. I continued, "I don't know where that theory or the words came from, but Sarah, I think I just said I love you." I was waiting for her reaction.
"Wow! Jason, we have wasted three weeks of our life together. I knew that first afternoon together I could fall in love with you."
"I had the same feeling at the same time."
"But what would have happened if I had missed you and gone back to Connecticut?"
"When and if you had tried to sell the property and a good in-depth title search was conducted, you would have found that someone else had title to it. You would have had to meet with that person to resolve the issue."
"But I paid a lot of money for the property."
"Yes, but the person you bought it from did not own it. It wasn't theirs to sell."
Sarah puckered up as if to cry. "Can I get my money back?"
"Only through the courts."
"You mean that Aunt Nellie's plan to get us together almost failed by just an hour or so?"
"Close and inconvenient, yes, but Aunt Nellie had a backup plan to see that we came together at some point." I reached into my jacket and pulled out the packet that held copies of the original deed, the mineral rights and the lease agreement that charged whoever held the land to pay taxes. "You would have had to meet," I paused, "with me."
The whole Bernhardt family looked at me with disbelief. "That is why, Sarah, I didn't want to do the title search. You would have thought I was trying to put something over on you. I still want your father to perform the title search just to prove that I do have ownership. Who knows when the mistake in ownership occurred? Maybe in the last century? If I don't have clear title, I will pay his people for the trouble myself."
John Bernhardt sat at the table with his head sunk on his chest, contemplating. Finally he raised his head. "Sarah, this is all bullshit. This guy has to be a con artist. If he had come in with half his supporting evidence and coincidences, I might have believed him. He has blown it by having too much. Jason, I'm going to have to ask you to leave. Sarah, you sit right there until he goes."
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