Becoming Miss Lee

Chapter 27 - A True Family

I could not even begin to tell you how it happened. It was one night of drunken stupidity, one tiny mistake, done for the first and guaranteed only time, and then a life was gone. I knew that it had been Jerome who convinced him because he vanished the same night. Philip left directly afterwards, too, as guilty as his brother had been. I knew that he felt just as guilty, because he left with Jerome and they found him dead, hanging from a rope off the rafters on the top floor of an inn two days later. The only two that remained with me were Henry and George.

I do not recall much of what happened. They rushed in carrying Silas' limp body in their arms. Henriette had grabbed Martha and the Richard and dragged them from the room, calling for Abe to follow. They laid him on the table and Jerome began sobbing, apologizing to no one and biting his finger. Philip ran to the window and threw up out of the window. George had begun to examine him while Henry sat by the door in a state of shock. I moved slowly from my seat in the parlor with a knot of ice in my stomach. I only got one look at him before I collapsed to the ground, narrowly missing Abe's outstretched arms as he scrambled to assist me. He was dead. Silas was dead. His neck was bent in an unnatural way, his eyes were glossy and blank, and his skin was becoming a pallid shade of grey. My husband, father to my children, was dead at the age of thirty one in the year of our Lord 1790. He had been challenged to a drunken horse race and fallen, leaving me a widow with three children and a farm.

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Henry and George stayed and helped me bury him. No one else in their whole family bothered to attend, to send condolences, but his aunt did send me money with a condolence letter, for she was too ill to attend the little funeral, and hers was all I received. I could run the farm. Money would not be an issue, but I had a family to take care of. Mister Lee and Miss Anne were the first of my friends and family to rush to my aid. They offered up their home to my children and me if we needed it at any time. Uncle Francis said that he would come take us to Menokin himself if we needed it. Betsy and Alex agreed to send for me if I needed to spend time outside of Virginia. Thomas was adamant about me staying at Monticello if I needed repose. Even Joseph, upon hearing of my plight, offered to help me in any way he could. My friends were all there for me when I needed them, and I would work my whole life to repay those debts.

I did not leave my home, though. I stayed right there and ran my farm with help from George and Henry. Henry appeared to be getting sober, finally, and I was never happier to see that. We heard nothing from Jerome for months. Richard and Martha were trying their best to be strong, but sometimes I would break down into tears and they would join me on the floor or on the bed, crying beside me, and I would scoop them into my arms and hold them tight to my chest. Abe would be strong for all of us, and he came as the greatest support for Richard, who adored and idolized his new big brother, and I was there for my little Martha. Even my slaves, as they were now mine, made an effort to assist in any way they could. In turn, I provided even better for their welfare, despite Henry's protests. Abe went out and helped George with our personal garden and Richard helped Henry attend to our pigs and goats. Martha quickly began to help me, Henriette, and Pelly around the house. It wasn't long before we had the farm up and running at full speed once more. We could do it with or without Silas' extra money from surveying. However, I noted that Pelly had been acting rather strangely since the other brothers had left. I could not quite say what it was, but there was something slightly off about her now. I eventually boiled it down to me simply being tired and edgy.

When I was not balancing account books or surveying our crops, I would sit endlessly in the study and stare out the window into the distance and think. Abe would sometimes join me, sitting a respectful distance away, not saying a word. One day, when the sky was overcast and the wet winds of rain billowed clouds in the distance, Abe joined me and I asked him, "Abe... I must know, are you happy here with us?"