The Caretaker: A Novel

The news of the “death” of Naomi spreads quickly. Cora, thinking back to Jacob’s premature birth, rushes to send Jacob a telegram before Naomi can do so herself. In it, she tells him that the Clarkes have ordered Jacob never to contact them.

At her father’s farm, Naomi recalls when she began working as a maid at the hotel. She would set aside some of her money each week either to buy an ice cream or to attend a movie. She met Jacob when they both entered the movie and he asked her to sit with him. Their courtship began quickly thereafter. When he proposed marriage, some of the other maids assured Naomi that she was lucky to land a wealthy catch, while other girls insisted that Jacob would not follow through on his marriage proposal. However, the couple were indeed married by a justice of the peace.

When a truck pulls into the Clarkes’ drive, Naomi is surprised that its driver is not Blackburn.

Daniel pays Ben Parson $500 to draw up two new telegrams that state that Jacob has been killed in action. Ben refuses until Daniel threatens to reveal that Ben showed the real telegram to the Hamptons first, thus breaking the law.

Next, Daniel has a casket built at the sawmill, which he loads into the back of his truck. He drives to the Clarke farm in Tennessee, where he shows Naomi’s father some legal documents that he has had drawn up: In exchange for $10,000, the Clarkes must have no contact with the Hampton family. Mr. Clarke signs without objection.

Dr. Egan puzzles over the news—via a telephone call from Cora—that Naomi has died during a pregnancy loss. He is certain that he detected no warning signs but admits to himself that it is possible the stress of the news of her husband’s injuries could have led to such a tragedy. Egan is certain that had Naomi remained in Blowing Rock, she could have gotten to a hospital and been saved.

As Blackburn is digging the grave for Naomi, Cora arrives. She offers Blackburn $5 for his work, but he refuses. He thinks about befriending Jacob when they were children and becoming “blood brothers.” The next day, Daniel arrives with the casket. A few other men help him unload it. Blackburn is angry that it is an unadorned pine box. He is further angered when Daniel refuses to hold any type of funeral service nor comply with Blackburn’s instructions—per Naomi’s request to him—that her headstone be adorned with a fylfot, a symbol from medieval Anglo-Saxon culture.

Blackburn fills the grave and then walks to the engraver’s shop. He asks to pay for Naomi’s stone to include a fylfot, but the engraver refuses, saying that this would have to be approved by the Hamptons. Back at the cemetery, Blackburn discovers that the minister has stopped by to say a prayer over Naomi’s grave, having learned that the Hamptons will not allow a proper service.

That night, Blackburn recalls a memory of his father: When Blackburn was 14, his father defended him against a man who made fun of Blackburn for the way that polio had left his face partially paralyzed.

Jacob recovers in a hospital in Japan. He has pain in his shoulder and is given morphine. He learns that he will be awarded a Bronze Star and that he will be discharged home soon. He thinks of Naomi, eager to start their life together. At night, he has nightmares of the struggle with the North Korean soldier on the ice.

A few days later, the chaplain approaches Jacob, telling him that he has some bad news he must share with him.

In early June, Jacob returns. He arrives at the cemetery, his left arm hanging limp in its sleeve. Blackburn greets him and then leaves him alone at Naomi’s grave. That night, Blackburn prepares dinner for them both, and then Jacob insists on going to see Dr. Egan.

There, Jacob insists that Egan explain how Naomi and the baby died. Egan says that there can be many causes for a late pregnancy loss but confirms Jacob’s suspicion that the news of his injury could have alarmed Naomi enough to cause it. Egan gives Jacob some sleeping pills, which Blackburn administers to him that night in the cemetery cottage.

Alone, Dr. Egan recalls when he began seeing Catherine after his wife, Helen, had died of pneumonia. Catherine was a widow and made it clear to Egan that she would always love her husband. Egan thinks about Jacob and his desperation to know the exact cause of Naomi’s death. He considers whether he should try to call the hospital in Tennessee where Naomi died.

Jacob awakens in Blackburn’s cottage, having a nightmare about his battle in Korea. He walks to his parents’ home to retrieve his truck. They greet him happily, but Jacob responds with coldness. His parents want him to take over the shop, insisting that they have changed their mind about his disinheritance, but Jacob wants nothing to do with their businesses.

He finds his truck keys and drives to the farmhouse he shared with Naomi. After finding some kerosene, he sets the house ablaze, but firefighters and police officers arrive before the house is completely destroyed.

Naomi’s daughter, Annie Mae, is born that July. Though she has been forbidden—by the legal contract—from visiting Jacob’s grave for the next 12 years, Naomi secretly makes plans to place flowers on Jacob’s grave on July 28: the anniversary of the date they met. She is surprised that Blackburn has not come to visit her and wonders if he blames Naomi for Jacob’s death.

Jacob remains at his parents’ home for 12 days after the fire. Dr. Egan gives him a sedative. After this, he begins coming to the cemetery cottage to visit Blackburn each evening. They drink coffee, and Blackburn thinks about how he has failed Naomi and now, unable to cure his sadness, has failed Jacob, too. During the day, Blackburn cuts the grass in the cemetery and gathers flowers for Naomi’s grave.

One evening, Jacob tells Blackburn that he has agreed to allow his parents to sell the farmhouse. He is dismayed that he has heard nothing from the Clarkes, especially not even from Naomi’s sister. The Hamptons have told him that the Clarke family has relocated to Michigan to work in an auto factory. Blackburn is confused, noting that Cora told him the same information but said that the Clarkes left during a different month than she told Jacob. Blackburn wonders who is tending their farm. He recalls Mr. Clarke speaking of how proud he was to own his own land and is surprised that he would suddenly leave it. He suggests that if Jacob were to drive to the farm, whoever is sharecropping it might have an address for the Clarkes in Michigan.

That night in bed, Blackburn recalls being diagnosed with polio, which began with a headache. A month after the illness, it was his father who helped him begin to walk once again.

The Hamptons invite local World War II veteran Seth Nolan to speak with Jacob. They walk to a creek, and Nolan shares that he also suffered nightmares upon returning from war. He reveals that his fiancée became engaged to another man while he was away, but he was able to heal and marry someone new. He encourages Jacob to keep busy to keep his thoughts of war at bay.

After Seth leaves, Jacob rereads the letters that Naomi sent to him in Korea. He recalls helping her learn the material she missed after having had to drop out of school at a young age. He has noticed that his parents have kept prom photos of him and Veronica in frames throughout the house, certain that these will help Jacob forget Naomi.

Jacob begins going to the store with Cora. He does relatively little at first, but she slowly nudges him to take over running the store completely. Within a week, she no longer accompanies him there. Some patrons greet Jacob warmly, but others—those who disapproved of his marriage to Naomi—refuse to look him in the eye. In the afternoons, men come in to buy tobacco and then sit outside chatting. Seth Nolan enters one afternoon and encourages Jacob to attend the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW)’s social events. Jacob reminds him that Naomi’s death is still recent, but Nolan gently urges him to continue to live life, suggesting that this is what Naomi would have wanted for him.

Jacob visits the cemetery five evenings a week. Blackburn notices that he is slowly gaining weight and caring for his physical appearance more. Jacob asks Blackburn for details about Naomi, wanting to know everything he missed, including how she was progressing with her studying and what thoughts she might have shared with Blackburn about the baby. Blackburn shares what he can remember but intentionally holds some details back, wanting them for himself alone.

One night, Jacob tells Blackburn that he attended a VFW dance with Veronica the previous night but left early. He explains that Veronica was kind about this and also revealed that it was clear to her how much Jacob loved Naomi. Jacob notes that Seth had encouraged him to open himself up to loving someone else, but Jacob explains that the thought of Naomi doing this—were she in his shoes—is painful to him.

That night, Blackburn recalls sitting in Dr. Egan’s office as a child, playing with a toy tractor that Egan kept there for children. Egan instructed Blackburn to keep the tractor, and he later gave it to Naomi for her baby. Blackburn wonders what has become of it now.