Charles
Whitmore jumped to his feet when Stanley Wharbucks, Charmaine and Florence
entered the study. He looked hesitantly at Charmaine as if he wanted to reach out and hug her
but when he saw the look on Stanley Wharbucks’s face he thought better of it.
Stanley Wharbucks went and took his seat around his desk and beckoned to Charmaine and Florence that they should sit down. Before sitting down, Florence went and stood
before Charles Whitmore and looked him up and down. She said
nothing to him,
all she did was let out a grunt and muttered that he almost looked like the Charles she met so many years ago. She then took a seat beside him. Charmaine
said she could not sit down because of the tension in the room so she went and
stood beside her Grandfather. She kept looking at the man who was supposed to
be her father. She always thought that Grandpa Wharbucks, who stood six feet in
his socks, was tall but Charles Whitmore was much taller than him. Charmaine
was guessing that he was about six feet five inches tall. Maybe that's why she was so tall, she mused to herself. A bit on the lean
side and of a fair complexion, Charles Whitmore was undoubtedly a very handsome man.
He opened his mouth and began to speak and there and then Charmaine knew without a doubt that this
man was her father. This was the voice that sung lullabies to her when she was
little girl. She was about to run into his arms when Stanley Wharbucks stopped
her. “Sit down” he told her. “I want to hear what he has to say.” Charmaine sat
down in the chair that was nearest to her Grandfather's desk. “I am waiting on you” he said in an intimidating voice
to Charles Whitmore. Charles cleared his throat nervously. He was sweating and
he took out his handkerchief and wiped his brow. He had a large envelope in his
hand from which he took out some documents. He handed what he said were his and
Charlotte’s marriage certificate and Charmaine’s birth certificate to Stanley
Wharbucks. He apologized to Stanley Wharbucks for all the years that he had
missed out on with his daughter Charlotte. It was selfish of him, he said, for
encouraging Charlotte to run away with him but they were so much in love and they
were not thinking straight. “Are you sure it wasn’t because you heard that her
father was rich?” sneered Stanley Wharbucks. “Oh no Sir! I swear to God I
did not know! Charlotte told me nothing about her life no matter how often I
asked her! It was only after she died and I found her letters that I found out
who she really was and who her parents were.” responded Charles.
“How did she
die?” asked Charmaine. Charles looked at her sorrowfully and said, “She died
shortly after giving birth to you, but before she died she told me that I was
to name you Charmaine. I asked her why that name but she died trying to tell
me.” Stanley Wharbucks got up from around the desk walked over to him and stood menacing over him with his fists clenched. Florence got up and held unto Stanley
Wharbucks arms, “No Mass Stanley! No!” she cried. “Remember Charmaine!” Stanley
Wharbucks was breathing hard through his nostrils but it seemed as if what
Florence said about Charmaine made him change his mind from whatever he was
planning to do to Charles. He turned around and returned to sit behind his
desk. He held his face in his hands then looked up and said there was something
that he was planning to tell Charmaine on her eighteenth birthday. He placed
Charmaine’s hands in his and told her that the reason why her mother wanted her to
have that name was because that was the name of her twin sister. Both Charmaine
and Florence gasped at the same time. “What twin sister?” asked Florence.
Stanley Wharbucks, still holding Charmaine’s hands said that his wife had given
birth to twin girls who they named Charlotte and Charmaine. One morning, they woke up to find
Charmaine dead in her crib with Charlotte lying on top of her. The autopsy as to the cause of her death was
inconclusive but his wife always felt that Charlotte, who was the larger of the
girls, had suffocated her sister to death by squeezing her against the rails of
the crib. At the time of her death the girls were about six months old. The death of Charmaine affected her mother greatly and this was the
reason why they had decided to return to Jamaica. Stanley Wharbucks did not realize how much
his wife blamed Charlotte for her sister’s death until one day when Charlotte
was misbehaving and her mother told her that she had deliberately killed her
own sister. Charlotte came running to him in tears and he had a hard time trying to
console her and telling her that it wasn’t true. Charlotte, who was twelve years old at the time, was never the same
after that and from that day she became very rebellious and headstrong. “Oh my
God, no wonder she would always seem to be talking to herself! It was her sister she was talking to, poor child!”
wept Florence.
“It seems that Charlotte wanted to give you back the daughter you
lost, maybe that’s why in her letter she wanted me to take Charmaine to meet
you.” said Charles. “So why didn’t you take her!” barked Stanley Wharbucks. “I
was taking her!” said Charles standing to his feet. “If you had not sent those
two men to kill me I would have taken her to your front door!” “What! Grandpa
you were going to have my father killed!” screamed Charmaine as she ran from
the study. She ran straight to her room and bolted her door.
Just then I heard
a knocking on my door. It was Maud. She wanted to know if I had heard the news.
There was a demonstration taking place in Spanish Town. Maud said that there were hundreds of people gathered in front of the Police Station asking
for justice for the death of Rajah Williams!
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