The Gallant South- Part Two

Chapter XIII- May 21-23, 1913

        Cora felt numb. Number than numb. She wanted to feel sad, but it was nearly impossible to. She felt more peaceful than sad. Much different than when Renee had died. Death was a strange thing.
       Cora looked at Mama Elsie. She didn't look like she was asleep. She looked like she was dead. Which she was.
        Mama Elsie. Dead. Cora thought. Why now, of all times?
        Cora heard someone crying. She figured it was Annie or Eveline. But it was everyone. Cora just felt numb. Maybe stunned was a better word. Stunned. Numb. Shocked. Mollified. Peaceful. Sad. Nostalgic. There were a lot of things Cora was feeling.
        "I'll...I'll go call Dr. Aurelius," Kit choked out, walking downstairs. Cora, Millie, the Harrelsons, and Masterson followed her downstairs as she picked up the telephone. Cora looked out the front window and saw Bettirose and Alice running up the driveway, both of them looking worse for wear.
        Cora threw the door open. She was going to ask, "Where were you?" But Bettirose spoke first.
        "Did I make it in time?" she shouted, crashing into Cora.
        Cora drew back and looked for words. Theo inhaled very loudly.
        "Well?" Bettirose asked, tearing up. "Is she still alive?"
        Still, no one said anything, because no one knew how to break the news to her. Bettirose, not getting it, waited for an answer. When no one said anything still, she understood. Her face went white, whiter than when Colby had told them he was going to attack the Society.
        "No," she whispered. "No, no, no, no! I can't have missed her! No!"
        "She just...she just stopped breathing," Cora said distantly. "Then it was over. Just like that."
        "Did she...did she say anything before she...left?" Bettirose whispered. Cora nodded. "She said thank you to everyone. And that the future's up to all of us."
        "I...we were at Marjorie's...we came as quick as we could," Bettirose said in between rapid breaths. She put her hand on the wall for support, but still sank to the floor.
        Kit hung up the phone. "He's on his way."
        "Someone's gotta go tell everyone," Cora realized. "Not it!"
        "I've got to get back to work after this. They'll kill me if I don't," Kit said sadly.
        "I don't got the stamina to do that," Theo said. Cora sighed. "Fine. We'll do it," she said, looking at Alice.

        And so, the news was broken to everyone by Cora and Alice. They began planning the funeral that very same day, after they took Mama Elsie to the morgue.
        Now all of the founders are dead, Cora thought. Mama Elsie was the last one. It was as if an era had just ended. There were so many things Cora had wanted to ask Mama Elsie. About how they started the Society. From her point of view. About everything. Especially just after the Civil War. The Reconstruction era, which there was still so much controversy surrounding. About the Victorian/Gilded era, which Cora had been born in, but was too young to remember.

        The funeral was set for two days after Mama Elsie died. Enough time for the rest of her family to make it to the city. She only had children and grandchildren, no siblings or aunts or uncles.
        "She does," Annie explained, "but obviously during the war, they were split up. Wisteria and Elsie's brother were sold to someone in North Carolina. We're the only family she's got left."
        "Are you married?" Cora asked. Annie nodded. "To Moses Edenton. He's comin' down with my children. They're on their way here right now."
        "And I know Richard is married," Cora replied. Annie nodded again. "They'll all be here for the funeral. Are we havin' it in the church?
        "Bush arbor," Eveline spoke up from across the room. "That was always her favorite place. Plus, she built it. Seems fitting."
        "And we're burying her in the cemetery there," Annie said. Cora nodded. "Right between Arthur and Mary-Ruth."
        "Do you think we should make an effigy grave for Wisteria? We have them for Esther and Mason," Masterson suggested. Cora nodded. "Actually, that's not a bad idea. Does anyone know when she was born or died?"
        "Mama used to tell me all about her. She was born sometime in 1813," Annie said.
        "One-hundred years ago," Eveline murmured.
        "And she died in 1864," Annie replied. "After the war, Mama put an ad in the paper for her. Lotta freed people did that after the war. She got a letter back from the plantation saying her mother had died of influenza in 1864."
        "And her brother?" Cora asked.
        "Sold to a plantation near Williamsburg. Never heard from again," Annie replied.
       "How did she get the surname Hamilton?" Cora asked. She'd been writing everything down.
       "She took the name of the man who'd paid her mother to shine his shoes and sweep out his house. The money that paid for her freedom," Annie explained. "His name was Isaiah Hamilton. Lived across the road from the Greenwood plantation, which is where Mama and grandma lived."
        "Laydon's making the headstone, but I haven't paid him yet. I'll pay him to make a stone for Wisteria too," Cora said. She counted the bills in her purse and stood up. "I'll go do that now. Anyone coming along?"
        "I shall. I'm tired of being here all day," Eveline replied, standing up as well. "Sadness is temporary."
        "It's alright to grieve. It doesn't make you look weak," Masterson said, not looking up from his book.
        "Sure," Eveline replied before hurrying out the door.