Harlem Redux Read Free Page A

behavior might attract inappropriate attention. It was a horrible irony that the most private of all acts—the act of dying—had made her the source of tabloid scandal.
    He had lost all sense of time during the train ride from Philadelphia. Fear had lengthened the trip into an eternity. And fear had shortened it, propelling him toward his destination much too quickly. He had gotten hold of a copy of the New York Times, but neither the latest corruption tales involving the Democratic Party machine at Tammany Hall nor the political circus of the Sacco-Vanzetti case could distract him. His terrorized mind fought to stave off the coming appointment with his very personal reality. A vague protective hope that some terrible mistake had been made rode with him, kept him company the entire way, but this false friend abandoned him the moment his train pulled into Manhattan.
    That was less than an hour ago. Now he stood on the doorstep of his family home on Harlem’s elegant Strivers’ Row, deeply disoriented, his one suitcase at his side, and it seemed that the family maid was the only person there to greet him. But the sight of her loved and familiar face warmed him.
    Annie Williams’s wizened face lit up when she saw him. Her hands went to her cheeks and her dark eyes widened in surprise.
    “Mr. David? Is it you? Is it really you?”
    David gave a barely perceptible nod and the whisper of a smile. He sensed her astonishment melt into joy, momentarily eclipsing her grief, and felt the knot in his chest loosen. God, how he’d missed her. She’d been there as long as he could remember. His eyes went over her. She was ginger-brown, like her favorite spice, a thin, wiry woman of strength surprising in someone her size and age. She was in her late fifties. Most of the time, she appeared younger, but mourning for Lilian had taken its toll. Her eyes were sunken and ringed by circles of dark gray.
    He wrapped his strong arms around her in a hug. Her soft breath buffeted his ears as she whispered gratitude to God for having answered her prayers. Finally, she stepped back, swiped at her tearful eyes with her apron, and took a good look at him.
    “Where you been, Mr. David? We sure did miss you. Coulda used you ‘round here.”
    “Movement business,” he said, glancing away.
    “It was so horrible when you didn’t come back. We thought you was dead and gone. Nobody seemed to know nothing. Them Movement people even offered a reward. But they just gotta lot a kooks writing in. Nothing worthwhile. ‘Magine, Miss Lilian knowing where you was all the time. I ain’t faulting her for not saying nothing—I’m sure she had her reasons, but—”
    He managed a small smile and forced himself to look at her. “I asked her to be discreet.”
    “Well then, I guess I can’t say nothing—but it sure woulda lifted a coupla hearts to know you was all right.”
    She ushered him into the house. Until that moment, he’d wondered if he would actually manage to set foot in it again, but with her to welcome him it wasn’t so difficult.
    I’m acting like a child, he thought.
    And like a child, he let her ease off his coat. She brushed her hand over it and hung it in the vestibule closet.
    “I was going through Miss Lilian’s things after the fun’ral. That’s when I found your address. I wish I’da known where you was before. Maybe it woulda made a diff’rence. Then again, maybe not. I just know I sure is glad you here. I’m so glad you come back.”
    Her eyes went over him devotedly. It had been years since he’d seen so much love for him in anyone’s face. He walked into her arms. They held one another again and it was hard to tell who was comforting whom.
    In her own way, Annie had helped raise him and his twin sisters, Lilian and Gem. She’d seen them through their first loves and first heartaches. She’d rejoiced with them when they won school prizes and comforted them when they lost. He knew that she was as proud of the McKay