Chapter 8

Wednesday December 17, 2014

“Maria, have you seen the...” Kate paused for a second to search for the right word. “Pañuelo that was in the hamper?”

“Sí, Señorita Jessica. I put it in la comoda with Señor Jacob’s other pañuelos.”

Kate was glad the handkerchief from the trucker had not gone astray. She doubted she’d ever be able to find him again but there was comfort in knowing that he wasn’t just a figment of her tired imagination. She made a mental note to get it from Jacob’s chest of drawers and carry it with her as a reminder of the trucker’s advice and wisdom. That meeting had been a turning point, and over the last few days she’d put aside most of her fears and embraced her metamorphosis into Jessica Brandt.

Those few days had been a blur with more meetings with Joe Foss and Alicia Estrada, the corporate board, her apartment building property managers, a couple of members of the Chamber of Commerce and a host of others. Each day it seemed she had a full schedule which included lunch. Everyone so desperately needed her to be Jessica Brandt she felt as if a strong current was sweeping Kate Brice farther and farther away - the town of Lodi represented a benevolent Borg, and despite her fears, resistance was futile.

During that time the words of the trucker, ‘Stay and take a chance at failure, ‘ kept coming back to her. She even paid another visit to Jacob at the cemetery to bring him up to date. She had almost turned the truck around because she felt foolish, but once she was again seated on the marble bench that faced his crypt an amazing feeling of calm came over her. She told Jacob about her dream and her flight to the truck stop and the soft-spoken stranger and about everyone’s expectations that Jessica continue his work. In the middle of that one-sided conversation she realized that she’d decided to stay and once she told Jacob that, her fears and indecision were shuttled to the back of her mind. They weren’t gone but they no longer dominated her thoughts.

So on that mid-December day she and Maria were in the garage along the back wall where Maria had set up an ironing board. Mid-morning sun streamed through the high-mounted windows and the forecast was for more sun but still on the cool side. They talked while Maria ironed and Kate sorted through Jacob’s clothes which were laid out on the metal laundry table in preparation for giving them to St. Anne’s Christmas clothing drive. Maria washed and ironed any item that showed the slightest smudge or wrinkle, insisting that it was no trouble and that she would be ashamed to hand over soiled or wrinkled items to Father Xavier.

Even though Maria only cleaned on Wednesdays somehow she had managed to appear each day. Maria took on a mothering roll and made sure Kate had something to eat in the evenings despite Kate’s protests that she was still full from her lunch meetings.

“Señorita Jessica you need to eat more ... usted está demasiado flaca.”

“Flaca?” She thought for a second and replied, “You think I’m too skinny?”

“Sí ... too skinny!” They both laughed.

Jacob didn’t have a large wardrobe but it was all high quality, some custom fitted. Kate hesitated over the clothing especially that associated with the photos around the apartment upstairs. As she touched them second hand memories from reading Jessica’s diary caused an emotional reaction that left her dabbing at her eyes. She had not even considered giving away the two flight jackets that Jacob had worn in the Marines. One was leather with faded gold flight wings stenciled on the breast. The other was olive green cloth labeled ‘Nomex’ which she knew was a fire resistant fabric. Both were well worn and the nylon cuffs of the leather jacket needed to be replaced. Maria had produced a portable metal hanging rod and soon it was filled with neatly pressed shirts and pants and sport coats. There were even a few ties in the mix which showed little sign of use. Kate smiled as Maria lined up the ties as she didn’t picture Jacob as a tie sort of person.

Another thing that took up her time since her ‘return’ as Jessica Brandt was preparation for the annual Christmas party. Kate was grateful that Keri and Maria knew the ins and outs of putting on the party for all Jacob’s employees – now her employees and their children. That was coming up on Saturday. Kate was beginning to feel overwhelmed by all her responsibilities. Sometimes it seemed that it was easier when she was on the road and by herself.

No, she decided that wasn’t true. She wasn’t alone any longer and working to be a credit to Jacob and Jessica had become all important.

Kate was amazed at how quickly she had become more and more Jessica Brandt. She didn’t have to think twice when answering to her new name and signing Jessica’s signature on every kind of document from contracts to sell grapes, to Christmas gift checks which Alicia would distribute to a number of charities in town. She also made a generous donation to the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation in his memory. She figured he would approve of a gift to help educate the children of past and present Marines.

On Saturday, Keri had managed to break Kate free and had dragged her off to Sacramento and showed her the secret of dressing well on a budget. Kate was introduced to an exclusive consignment shop that was a well-kept secret frequented by female state legislators and the wives of legislators. She had gone a little crazy with new items (to her) for her wardrobe, aided and abetted by Keri and the owner, a heavily botoxed flame-haired woman who could have been anywhere between fifty and seventy. Keri had assured Kate that she would never find such quality at these prices and that she should concentrate on how much she was saving, not what she was spending! Of course Kate was happy to be wearing clothes she had selected although her taste in clothing matched Jessica’s fairly well, and she would still wear selected items from Jessica’s wardrobe but she felt better having clothes of her own, even if they were purchased with Jessica’s money.

She tried very hard to become Jessica Brandt, proud granddaughter of Jacob, and she would spend whatever time she was allowed furthering Jacob’s dream for her and the Lodi community.

And on Sunday, Maria had convinced Kate to join Tomás and her family for Mass at Saint Anne’s. It was filled with people who knew and respected Jacob. Many made a point to stop and talk after Mass and to tell her how much he would be missed in the Parish and the town. Father Xavier had greeted them warmly, and that led to an invitation to lunch at the rectory.

He was a tall and rail thin Latino, maybe in his fifties with intense dark eyes. He was astonished and grateful when he saw the amount written on the check she gave him. It was double what Jacob usually donated each year. Kate figured she didn’t need the money and if the day came she was discovered, then the State of California could look bad trying to collect money from the local charities that benefited from her generosity.

During lunch he filled in some of the blanks about Jessica’s family.

“Jacob was a practicing Catholic all his life and he was an active part of St. Anne’s church community since his arrival a number of years ago. I’ve been here ten years and I felt privileged to have Jacob as a friend – he, for some reason took a liking to me and I have to say that made my transition into this community a lot easier. None of what I’m telling you is confidential – its information I got from Jacob and from his brother Mark after they reconciled.”

“When Mark went off to college he decided to reject any religion. This was one bone of contention between your great grandfather and Mark ... one of many, I understand, that caused the rift in their relationship, and that of course colored Jacob’s perception but Jacob also felt that Mark was not respectful or grateful for what their parents had sacrificed. Well, that caused its own rift between your grandfather and Mark too.”

He paused. “Then, of course there was the rift between your father and Jacob – well that’s a whole other story. Early on your father showed no interest in joining Jacob in any of the enterprises he had built here and chose medical school instead ... which might have been okay, but then he chose to move half way across the country to a small town in Indiana. That didn’t help matters. Fortunately, your mother kept the relationship bumping along; doing everything she could to keep father and son, it appears two equally stubborn men in contact, especially when it came to you.”

Kate learned that the two men eventually found some common ground, although that changed when Jessica’s parents joined ‘Doctors for South America’ and left Jessica in the care of friends for a month or more each summer during her high school years. Jacob objected strenuously but eventually he took advantage of those times by taking Jessica traveling with him. Of course it was on one of those South America trips where Jessica’s parents were killed when their plane crashed in the Central America jungles. It made Kate sad that Jacob and Jessica’s father didn’t get along, and that estrangement meant that Jacob missed a lot of time, especially early on, when he could have spent time with them and Jessica.

On Monday, Erica Felder, a vivacious sixty-something with short dark hair and a youthful slender build which was probably a testament to good genes and her dedication to swimming, had taken her to lunch. Erica was very much a female version of Jacob and she exercised a lot of behind the scenes power in Lodi. Unsurprisingly, she was one of Jacob’s long-time friends. She was also a corporate board member. Their lunch conversation filled in many of the blanks about the relationship between Jacob and the community – things that Joe Foss had only alluded to.

“Jessica, I know you spent a lot of time with Jacob on your vacations from school, but you need to understand that you saw the softer side of your grandfather. In this community you either loved or hated him ... there was no middle ground. Once Jacob got a full head of steam on ... well he was about as hard to stop as a loaded supertanker!” She laughed, and continued, “And about as subtle!”

She thought for a few seconds and then said, “He could be pretty hard-headed especially when he thought there were some wrongs to be righted – very Old West. So his employees loved him as did anyone who was what he called the ‘victim of bureaucratic bungling.’ The city council either feared or hated him and it was amazing to see some of their more cockeyed proposals got suddenly tabled when Jacob showed up on the agenda!”

Erica turned serious and reached across the table and touched her arm.

“Jessica, I don’t mean to make light of Jacob’s efforts. I’m just trying to give you some context. This town is holding its breath waiting to see what you’ll do. Jacob’s death left a power vacuum and there seems to be a lot of jockeying around trying to fill it. Many hoped you’d never show up and others think that since you’re young and female you’ll be either malleable or uninterested. You’ve suddenly been thrust into a situation that you didn’t create and now it’s up to you to decide what you’re going to do about that.”

She paused for a moment then said, “You’ve inherited a great deal of wealth, and that gives you a certain amount of power ... but you must exercise that power judiciously and pick your battles and your allies. Remember you can’t buy loyalty, at least in the long term.”

Kate sipped her water, her half-eaten lunch meal all but forgotten, feeling the weight of unwanted responsibilities again pressing on her. She imagined Jacob grinning at her and asking, ‘Changed your mind about being Jessica?’

“A lot of people are watching you.” Kate inwardly cringed. “And so far you’ve made a good impression. You’ve made a friend of Joe Foss, and perhaps more importantly, Keri Anderson.” Erica smiled.

“Your treatment of Maria Gonzales and your relationship with her family has not gone unnoticed. You’ve made a loyal friend there. Maria is very much wired into the Latino community and don’t be fooled by the ‘I’m just a lady who cleans houses’ persona - that’s what she projects to the Anglo community, but she knows a lot of people and can help you in many ways.”

Kate just sat and tried to take it all in.

“I know it’s a lot to process all at once, but I also know that since you carry the Brandt genes...” Erika if you only knew, thought Kate. “You’ll quickly figure out what has to be done. I watched you at the board meeting. You asked a few pertinent questions but for the most part you listened.”

Kate smiled inwardly, knowing full well she had barely understood a thing at that meeting and her silence was primarily due to fear of showing her ignorance.

Kate then broached a topic that had been on her mind for several days, “Erica, I understand you’re a friend of Janet Ferguson and I know she was very close to Jacob, but I haven’t talked to her yet. When the board met Joe Foss mentioned she was absent because she was on vacation. I asked him after the meeting and he said he didn’t know where she was or when she’d be back. Do you know?”

Erica looked sad and paused for a for a few seconds before she replied, “Janet loved Jacob very much and his death hit her pretty hard ... a couple days after the memorial she packed up and headed for San Diego. As far as I know she’s on a large sailboat with some close friends on an extended ocean voyage across the Pacific and then to Australia and who knows where after that. I haven’t heard from her since I got a text that she had reached San Diego and they were ready to cast off. Actually not many people know anything other than she’s taking an extended vacation. She wanted it that way. I’m sorry she wasn’t around to meet you, I think you two would have gotten along famously.”

“Any idea at all when she might be back?”

“How long does it take to get over a broken heart and a shattered dream that her future was with Jacob?”

Kate didn’t respond for a long time, processing what Erica had said. ‘A broken heart and shattered dreams’ – that’s what happened to Jacob and Jessica and to Kate Brice. A tear streaked her cheek.

Erica looked stricken and reached across and put her hand over Kate’s. “I’m sorry Jessica, I didn’t think and my mouth ran away from my brain. I’m sure the pain Janet feels can’t compare with what you’re going through and you’ve stayed here and gutted it out despite the fact everything around you must remind you of Jacob.”

Kate simply nodded holding back tears, then she said, “Losing Jacob is hard on lots of people, I just want to keep things going ... for him.”