Tybee IV: Why The Little Children?

Being the conscientious, caring, and responsible person that she is, Patricia stays busy working long hours at the Home almost every day, late evenings, on many weekends, and rarely takes even a day off.  As much as the work of running the Home personally means to her, the stress is beginning to take its toll.  Lately, she has seemed tired, worried, and generally uptight most of the time.

As hard as it is for us to realize it, our late-in-life surprise baby girl, Ruthie, whom Patricia delivered at the ripe young age of fifty-one, will be celebrating her second birthday tonight. The whole Montgomery family is coming to Tybee for the big birthday bash this afternoon, and will be staying with us over the long Labor Day weekend. 

We live at Fort Screven, a former old Army post, on Tybee Island, Georgia, that had been closed since the early forties, in our large, authentically restored and inviting home that had been the old Commanding General’s quarters, and is just steps from the beach and the Atlantic Ocean. Patricia and I scoured all over the County, even went as far away as New York, to acquire early 1900’s type furnishings for this grand old structure.  When one enters our home, with the exception of our modern kitchen and bathrooms, it is like going back almost a hundred years in time. Located only seventeen miles East of Savannah, we enjoy all the benefits of the “Big City,”  yet are able to benefit from the quiet, peaceful life that the old fashioned, 1940’s style beach town of Tybee Island offers. 

     Patricia spent nearly twenty-five years in the practice of criminal law in North Carolina and Savannah, and is considered one of the best in her field. In fact, we first met when she represented me as my defense counsel in a case where I was charged with, but later exonerated of, the murder of a former business colleague.  I  was subsequently recruited to serve undercover with the FBI in an effort to help prosecute the head of a major criminal drug ring.  This experience resulted in the criminals’ conviction, and Patricia and I came into a substantial financial reward. The trying times we spent together in this adventure brought us much closer than any two people I know, and we were married shortly afterwards…now enjoying the proverbial marriage made in heaven.  She finally gave up her law practice to devote herself to directing Billy’s Place.