Searching for Cora Sue - 12 - The Search is Over

Friday morning, October 7th, 1910 and perhaps the day when I will meet with my sister after all these years.

After breakfast, but waiting until Eddie would have gone to work, we did as Kate had suggested, and went to the phone and asked the operator to connect us to Mr. E A Ulray's phone.

“Do you wish his work address or his residence?”

“His residence.”

“I am connecting you now,” she said.

“Plandome Hotel. (pictured above)  Can I help you?” said a female voice.

“Could you connect me with Mr. Edward Ulrey’s room please?”

“He is not in at the moment. I saw him leave for work.”

“Is his wife in, do you know? Could you connect me to speak to her?”

Iwas trembling at the thought of what I was doing.

“Could I take a message for you?” she asked.

“No, I need to talk to her in person - it's a personal matter,” I repeated.

“She is working at the moment.”

“When will she be free?”

“I expect her to have finished by five,” she said, and I think I sort of heard a giggle in the
background.

“Do you know where she works?”  I asked.

“I believe she is a receptionist at a hotel,” she replied.

“Which hotel?”

“Oh, I’m afraid I couldn’t tell you that,” she said.

“Well, I'll call back later then. Thank you for your time.”

I hung up both disappointed and annoyed.

“What did she say?” asked Kate.

“She said he was at work, and so was she, but she was very silly about the whole thing as if it
were a huge joke.”

“Did she say where she worked?”

“No, she wouldn’t tell me, except that she was a receptionist at a hotel.”

“I wonder if it was she you were talking to. Would you have recognized her voice?”

“No, it couldn’t have been. She had a very western drawl.”

“Yes, but so would you if you lived in this part of the world for twenty years.”

“And she would have recognized my voice.”

“Do you really think so? Do you really think that not having any idea that you are looking for
her, she suddenly heard your voice, she would instantly say, 'That’s Mattie.'”

“Well, maybe not.”

“I think we should go over there straight away. And if it isn’t her, nothing lost, we can go to see her husband, or call back later on. What do you say?”

“Oh, Kate, I'm so scared.What if she did know it was me and was putting me off deliberately?
What if she doesn’t want to see me or even talk to me?” and I started to cry.

“You said she was treating it all as a joke - that doesn’t sound like a person who is trying to
put you off her scent. I think she had no idea who you were, and was just playing a game with you.”

“Okay, let’s go,” I said, and having wiped my tears, I put on my hat and made for the door. “We
will know the best or the worst in a few minutes time.”

So calling a taxi to take us to the Plandome Hotel, we arrived there in a very short time as it was
only a few blocks away. I stopped outside to get my bearings.

The white building itself was quite large and square shaped, three stories high, with an elaborate roof decoration, rather like the icing on a cake.

We both took deep breaths, and with Kate holding my arm, we walked into the building.

“Can I help you?” said a plump woman dressed in black with her hair coiled on top of her head.

“Cora Sue?” I said, and started to cry again. I so much wanted to hug her, but something held me back.

“Mattie? Is it you, Mattie? Oh, God, I must be seeing things. What are you doing here? How did
you find me?”

“Oh, Cora Sue, I have wanted to much to see you and for so long. But, where are my manners. You
might not remember her, but you did meet her once before. This is Kate Temple, my mother-in-law.”

“Yes, I remember vaguely,” she said, and she reached across the desk and shook Kate’s hand.
“Look, I'm on duty, and I can hardly talk to you properly like this. Let me call upstairs to see if my replacement is free to cover for me, and then we can go to our apartment and talk.”

So, while we waited she made a phone call, and then smiling, she said, “Rose said she would cover
for me for half an hour.”

So, when the aforementioned Rose appeared, and took her place at the desk, Cora Sue took Kate and me, and we walked to what was obviously her set of rooms on the main floor.

When we got inside, she said, “Please sit down. Would you like a cup of coffee? I know I could do
with one.”

“Please,” said Kate, “but Mattie would just prefer hot water.”

When Cora had gone into the kitchen, Kate whispered, “Would you like me to leave you alone with
her?”

“Oh, no, Kate. Please stay. This is all so awkward. Not at all what I expected.”

A few minutes later Cora came back with the cups filled one with coffee and the other with water,
and a plate of cookies.

“Oh these look good,” said Kate.

“I didn’t make them. I don’t do any cooking. We eat at the hotel restaurant every night. I never
was much one for housekeeping.”

We sat there and drank our drinks, no one speaking until finally I said, “Was it you on the phone this morning when I called?”

“Oh, it was you, was it? It didn’t even occur to me that it might be you. I guess you do sound
the same, but I haven’t heard your voice for such a long time.”

“And yours is quite different. It was Kate who said it might be you - when you put us off.”

“I thought you were someone trying to sell me something. Because Eddie is involved in the silver mine and makes jewelery as a sideline, there are always people who are trying to get him to buy their stuff, or to sell him their pattern, and sometimes when he refuses them, they try to get at him through me.”

“Why did you stop writing to me, Cora Sue?”

“Nobody calls me that any more. Just call me Cora, okay?”

“I guess so.”

“Well, I moved, and so after that I never got any letters from you either. But, I knew you wouldn’t approve of me. In those days, Eddie was still married and I was living with him. I didn’t want you telling me how I was living in sin, and stuff like that. I knew that you wouldn’t like it if you knew, so I chose for you not to know.”

“Didn’t you think I'd be worried about you?”

“Well it has taken you ten years to get worried enough to do anything about it,” she retorted. “And who told you where I was anyway?”

“Cousin Minnie, who is back in Denver with three of her sisters now, remembered that you had told
her you had a boyfriend who was married - and Kate remembered seeing an envelope in your purse with a Salt Lake City address on it.”

“The little sneaks. I never did get along well with that family. They were forever trying to find
out about my life, and give me advice. I wanted to be on my own, and doing my own thing.”

“Are you married to this Eddie, now?”

“Yes. His wife, Alice, divorced him, finally, in 1900, so that was when I moved here and we
got married. And I don’t need for you to tell me that it isn’t a valid marriage as far as the Catholic Church is concerned. It’s good enough for Eddie and me, and if that worries you, well, tough.”

“I don’t care who married you, or even if you are married. I just want you to be happy. Are you
happy?”

“Happy and as rich as I could ever want to be. Eddie has a thriving silver mine, and he buys me
whatever I want.”

“We went to his office yesterday, but he wasn’t there. We have an appointment to see him
this afternoon, but we'll cancel it now that we've found you.”

“Yes, do that. He would be so annoyed if he thought somebody had taken up any of his time
unnecessarily and not to do with the silver business. But, I must get back to work now. Perhaps you can come and have dinner with us one evening. I'll check with Eddie. Where are you staying?”

“At the Peery.”

“Right, well, I'll give you a call after I've consulted with him about when it would be convenient
and then you can meet him too. I think you'll like him. He is a very pleasant man.”

“Well, we mustn’t keep you,” I said, and Kate and I stood up.

“Thank you for the coffee,” said Kate.

“I’ll be in touch,” said Cora, and we were ushered down the corridor and out the front door of the hotel before we knew what was happening.

It wasn’t long before I was in tears again, and Kate was trying to console me. She flagged down a
cab, and we went back to our hotel. Our mission was accomplished. We had found Cora Sue, and she was well and happy. Why should I feel so much like it was all such a waste of time?

When we got back, I lay down on the bed. Kate said she would go down to the lobby and phone the Boston Building to cancel our appointment.

After she came back I was a bit more composed and wanting to talk.

“She didn’t even ask me about Franklin or Frankie.”

“You didn’t ask her if she had children, either?”

“No, I didn’t, did I? I was so taken aback at her coldness that I couldn’t think straight. It didn’t seem like the Cora Sue that I knew and loved all those years ago.”

“She isn’t a young woman any more - and neither are you. You are both very different people who have a whole bunch of experiences that you didn’t share with each other. It's bound to be strange.”

“Do you think she will call again, like she said she would?”

“Oh, I’m sure she will. And speaking of callers, there was a message for us at the desk. BK called in, and when we weren’t in, he left a note inviting us to dinner tonight. Do you feel up to it?”

“Not really, but you go. I really would like you to go with him. I think I could do with a long rest.”

“All right, if you're sure about that, I'll call him now and accept his invitation.”

“Please do, and don’t worry about me. A good night’s rest is something I haven't had for quite a few weeks now, and I think perhaps tonight, I'll finally be able to relax.”

So Kate went out, and I settled down for an early night, when about 8 p.m. the phone rang.

“Hello,” I answered.

“Hi, Mattie. It is me, Cora. Eddie says he'd like to us to eat together tomorrow night, if that
suits you. We can eat at the restaurant here. It has good food.”

“Thank you, that would be lovely. What sort of time?”

“Oh, about six I think. You know where we are now, don’t you? And Mattie, I’m sorry if I sounded unfriendly earlier. I am pleased to see you. It’s just that it was such a surprise - such a shock.”

“I understand,” I lied, “and we can talk again tomorrow night. Thanks for calling.”

“See you then,” she said and hung up.

I did feel happier after the phone call and I drifted off into a long dreamless sleep.

The next morning, I informed Kate that we were invited out for dinner with Eddie and Cora that
evening.

“Oh, that's good. And guess what! BF has invited us to go with him in his car today to see the
Great Salt Lake. Are you up to it?”

“Oh, yes, I would say I was,” I replied. “Now that we have found Cora Sue we probably will need
to think about heading back within the next few days, so we might as well see as much of this country as we can while we're here.”