Little Girl Stolen

by Terry Broxson

My mother was the middle child of three girls. Her mother and two sisters lived in Abilene, Texas, about one hundred forty miles from us. We visited Abilene often.

Yvonne, the oldest sister, had her first and only child in her forties. At least, I thought so.

In 1986, when I was forty, my mother said she and Yvonne were going to Arizona to meet Jacque.

"Mother, who is Jacque?"

"She is Yvonne's daughter. We have not seen her in forty years."

To say my family was "closed-lipped" about this kind of stuff would be an understatement.

Twenty years later, I was doing some genealogy research on our family. My mother had died the year before. I had met Jacque by this time, but I wanted to know the story. I called my Aunt Yvonne. I also talked to Jacque.

***

"Yvonne, I am writing some family history, and I would like to write about Jacque, but I don't know anything. Is that something you can talk about?" Yvonne was eighty-six years old at the time.

"Terry, I would like to tell you the story.

"I married a man named Jack Robinson in 1939 when I was nineteen. Jacque was born in 1940. After WWII started, Jack went into the Army, and I did not see him until he was out of the service in 1945.

"Jacque lived with me, but she did spend time with both of her grandmothers. I spent some time with Jack's cousin, Willis. We got very close."

"Yvonne, I remember you were married to Willis."

"Yes, we did get married for a few years. I am not proud to admit it, but Willis and I fell in love during the war. That happened in those days."

"Yvonne, it happens these days."

"Yes, I suppose it does. When Jack got home, I told him about Willis and me. He was furious. He did agree to a divorce, but it was nasty. Shortly after the divorce, Jack's mother went to Jacque's school and made up a reason why Jacque needed to leave."

***

"Jacque, do you remember when your grandmother took you?"

"Terry, I remember it very well. I left school in mid-morning, and Grandma took me to her house. Dad was there. We put everything we could in our little coupe and left Abilene."

"Do you remember where you went?"

"We spent the next five or six years going from Texas to North Dakota. We finally landed in Flagstaff, Arizona, when I was in the sixth grade. I stayed there until I married."

***

"Yvonne, what happened when you found out Jacque had been taken?"

"I was frantic! I contacted my mother and daddy, my sisters and their husbands, our friends, and the police. We looked everywhere for weeks that turned into months, but they were in the wind.

"When I could save some money, we hired private detectives. One time in New Mexico, we had a lead. We missed them by fifteen minutes. But they were gone."

***

"Jacque, did you remember living with Yvonne when you were a kid?"

"Yes, my memories of Yvonne were good, and Mam Maw (Yvonne's mother) was also very nice. But my grandma and dad just told me bad things for years about Yvonne and all her relatives."

"Jacque, what happened in 1986 that allowed you all to get together?"

"My grandma's sister who lived in Abilene died, and I went back for the funeral."

***

"Yvonne, how did you discover Jacque was in the Abilene in 1986?"

Yvonne laughs. "It was a bit sneaky, but I knew Jack's mother had a sister in Abilene. A friend of mine lived next door. I had cultivated that friendship. I saw the obituary of the sister. I called my friend. She said there was a gathering at the house and gave me the phone number.

"I called the number. A woman answered. I asked if Jacque was there, and she said, 'Sure, just a minute.'

"A voice came on the phone, 'Hello.' I had not heard that voice in forty years. Trembling, I asked her if she knew who this was? After a long pause, she said, 'Yes.'"

***

I talked to Yvonne and Jacque about their reunion. They both said they were nervous initially, but things came naturally. Yvonne and Jacque had twenty-six years to get to know each other.

I asked Jacque, "What happened to Jack?"

"He was my dad, but he could be a mean man. He was a bad drunk. He was found dead in Cody, Wyoming, in 1966. He was in a shack with no electricity, food, and empty liquor bottles. He was forty-six."

"And your grandma?"

"She died in 1980. I know now she stole me from my mother. In her mind, she saved me. Maybe she did. She devoted her life to me."

Jacque still lives in Arizona. She is retired from a career in banking. She has been married for sixty years and is a grandmother and a great-grandmother.

Yvonne died in 2012 at the age of ninety-two.

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