“That’s my father and me,” he said, handing the first one to Dawson. “I was about six at the time.”
The picture was a rather faded one in sepia. Still, the resemblance between Richard and his father was easy to see. Tiberius was squarely built with widely set facial features. He and his son were smartly dressed for the picture and showed the usual solemn expressions of the time. People didn’t smile much for photographs back then.
Sarbah gave him the second picture, which was in full color and more modern in quality. “And that’s Barbara, my wife; Jason; and me.”
She was plump with a soft face. Jason, about nineteen in this photo, got his light skin was from her. Richard, well-built back then at around fifty, Dawson estimated, had evidently kept his strong physique and youthful features.
“That’s nice,” Dawson said, studying the photograph. “Do you have a lot of pictures?”
“Yes,” he said, opening one of the sideboard doors to reveal a stack of photo albums. “All in there. Perhaps one day when we have more time, I’ll show them to you.”
“I would like that,” Dawson said. He was thinking that much of the pictorial family history involving Tiberius, which Eileen so lacked, was probably all here with Richard Sarbah. “Is your wife around?”
“Barbara and I have been separated for years.” Surprisingly, Sarbah chuckled. “No sympathy required. It was for the best.”
“Besides Jason, do you have any other children?”
Sarbah’s face lit up. “No. He’s my only child. I’m proud of my boy and what he has done for himself. He’s a gem.”
That made Dawson think of Hosiah, then of Sly, and finally of children in general and what they did to a parent’s heart and soul. “I heard about Angela, your granddaughter,” he said quietly.
Sarbah stared at the floor, anguish in his face. “When she died, a part of me died with her. Jason was broken. I was afraid he might kill himself. I prayed to God-don’t let what happened to my father happen to my son. I persuaded Jason to stay with me here for a while so I could support him and keep an eye on him. I would do anything for my boy.”
“I admire you for that,” Dawson said. “You might even have saved his life.”
“But I couldn’t save Angela’s,” Sarbah said sadly.
“Maybe no one could have saved her.”
“There were people who could have,” Sarbah said dejectedly, “but they turned Jason away.”
“You mean Charles and Dr. Smith-Aidoo.”
“Yes.”
“Forgive me-I’m not trying to be offensive, but did Jason ever express a desire to take revenge on them?”
