Tina: Kit was our chosen guardian to Angie should anything happen to us. But we are asking Paris and Jeanette to be guardians of Daniel in the event of our death. Angie is now a legal adult. So, she no longer needs a guardian, but Daniel will for a number of years. They are close enough to us that we would entrust them to raise our son if we’re not able to.

Harriett:  Well, you are very convincing. And you must be more than certain if you would ask Paris and her soon to be wife to be your stand-in as parents.

Bette: So why don’t you tell us your story or at least the story of what you know about Maxine and Melvin.

Harriet: Melvin…I do miss that man. In ways he was the most exasperating man I ever knew. But in ways, he was the most loving and caring man as well.

Bette wondered if they were talking about the same Melvin Porter. Bette decided not to interrupt but let her go on with her story.  She just had to remind herself that Harriett Myers’ relationship with Melvin Porter was not the same as hers. For she was his child and Harriett was his employee and his friend.

Harriett: I met Melvin Porter in 1956 when I interviewed for a secretarial position for the Wescott Firm. I was hired for the job and then I was assigned to a group of three attorneys in the business section of the law firm. Melvin Porter was one of the three. He was about three years out of law school from Harvard. He was married and had a one-year-old daughter. He adored that child, but he and his wife did not get along so well. They had been married about three years. Evidently, Melvin was a man about town before his marriage and at law school. He could be rather charming in those days. Anyway, as his marriage seem to be rather rocky, he sought affection outside his vows he made in matrimony. They were various women he would meet and have a one-night-stand from time to time. Never anyone serious. He and his wife Catherine would have a fight, she would accuse him of cheating on her and he would not deny it. She would throw him out of the house and he would go find another woman. And then one night, he went to a charitable event as the firm’s representative and he met Maxine Brown. She was young then. Fresh out of college with an arts degree. She was beautiful and she was white with blue eyes and blond hair. Melvin was smitten almost immediately. She probably slept with him early in their relationship and had no idea he was married and had a child. When she found out, she gave him an ultimatum.  Divorce Catherine and commit to her or she was finished with him. So, he proceeded to divorce Catherine. Catherine would have custody of Kit and he would get visitation rights. Since she did not work, Melvin needed to provide for her support as well as the child’s. Within the year, Maxine and Melvin were married. Within a year or two, she became pregnant with Melvin’s second child. Maxine was about 25 when you were born Elizabeth. Melvin must have been close to 40 at the time. He was beside himself with joy at that fact that he and Maxine were having a baby. Melvin was doing well here at the firm. He was working on some of its largest clients and working mostly in mergers and acquisitions. I became Melvin’s exclusive secretary as Melvin’s workload became heavier and he moved up the ranks. Mr. Wescott liked Melvin a lot and choose him not only to be a partner but to become the managing partner once the existing one retired.  I forget his name. But Melvin made partner at an early age and he was black which was almost unheard of in law firms in America particularly in corporate law. Anyway, during those years, corporate lawyers put in long hours and sometimes have to work on weekends preparing documents and doing the due diligence needed to perform services for their clients. Maxine was basically raising the child on her own since Melvin was always at work. Maxine began to accuse him of returning to his philandering ways as she would not believe that he could possibly be working all those hours. In truth, he was. So, they would argue about his lack of being at home. She would then threaten to leave him and he would get rather emotional. And so, one night he sought out the arms of another woman. When I questioned him about that, he just said that Maxine had already convicted him of the crime, so why not just go ahead and make it a fact. I believe he was just seeking a calm place in his life. So, this kept up for several years until 1972. That was the night that Melvin as he told me later he and Maxine had another fight. This time Maxine wanted some bourbon or something and left to go to liquor store. She never came home. The next morning, a couple of police officers came to the house and told Melvin that Maxine had been killed in a gangland style shooting at the liquor store. They gave him a number at the coroner’s office to call to direct where the body should be sent. He called me and told me he would not be in until afternoon and asked that I help him with the arrangements for Maxine’s body. He was going to be taking care of Elizabeth and arranging for her care and schooling for the future. He called Catherine, his ex-wife and asked if she could take care of Elizabeth for a couple of weeks until he could make better arrangements. She was even though divorced still very much in love with him and would have done anything for him. Now this was a time before cell phones and car phones and things like that.  Melvin evidently took Elizabeth with her bag packed to Catherine’s and then disappeared himself for about three days. I have no idea where he went or what he did in those three days. I left word that Maxine’s funeral would be at the Episcopal Church on Elm Street on Thursday of that week.  That morning he show up dressed at Catherine’s and picked up Elizabeth and proceeded to the church and then to the cemetery. Catherine and Kit attended the service along with a large contingent from the firm. There were a lot of men in suits and overcoats and fedoras. Now that I think back, there could have been not only lawyers, but FBI agents and gangsters as well in that crowd. But it was a well-attended funeral. Melvin formed the greeting line of one. Catherine and Kit and Elizabeth went over to Melvin and Maxine’s home and prepared a lunch for the family. Later, Melvin had asked Catherine and Kit to move into the house as it was larger than Catherine’s’ home and he would move to an apartment and they would sell Catherine’s home and put it into savings for her and Kit. That is when Melvin started trust accounts for you Elizabeth and for Kit for your education. Later Kit went two years to the community college. Melvin was not pleased but at least it was something. Then she dropped out and got involved in her music and went on the road. That is where she learned about alcohol, drugs and sex. She came home a year later pregnant. Melvin delt with that. Kit was in no shape to raise a child and so he allowed the paternal grandparents raise the child. It was a boy. David Watters was his name. And Kit was devasted.  The same year, Catherine was killed in an automobile accident and Kit then left home for good. So, Melvin hired a housekeeper and a nanny to take care of his 11- or 12-year-old daughter. He then moved home and got rid of his apartment.  From time to time, he would want me to hire investigators to find Kit. And I would do as he asked. I do not think he ever went after her, he just wanted to know where she was.