Jeanette Everglade
The Everglade Family of Everglade County
Jeanette and Jiuseppe Everglade were born into wealth and bloodstained prestige in St. Denis, heirs to the Everglade name and the county their family claimed as its own. Their father, Josiah Everglade, ruled both his land and his household with a cruel hand and a whiskey bottle that was never far from reach.
Josiah claimed their mother had died of tuberculosis. Jeanette never believed him. Even as a child, she suspected the truth was far uglier—that her mean, drunken father had a hand in her mother’s end. No proof ever surfaced, but the doubt never left her.
From a young age, Jeanette proved herself the sharper of the two siblings. She learned ledgers, land management, politics, and the unspoken rules of power—quietly praying for the day her father would fall ill so she could be free of him. She did her best to guide Jiuseppe away from Josiah’s influence, but the damage had already been done. Jiuseppe drank as their father drank, and as the years passed, alcohol became his defining weakness.
Jiuseppe’s Marriage & the First Betrayal
Late one sweltering summer, Jiuseppe met Adelaide Crowe, a woman with soft words, sharp eyes, and a hunger Jeanette recognized immediately. The two married quickly. Jeanette despised Adelaide from the start, certain she had married for the Everglade fortune rather than love.
Her suspicions proved correct.
Adelaide became pregnant with Daniel Everglade, and Jeanette soon realized Adelaide had little interest in motherhood. Jeanette took Daniel in herself, teaching him to read, write, and behave as a proper Everglade should. Daniel grew into a gentle, kind child—everything Jiuseppe was not.
When Adelaide became pregnant again, this time with Liam Everglade, her habits worsened. Drugs flowed freely through Everglade County—opium, cocaine, moonshine—and Adelaide indulged without restraint. Jeanette begged Jiuseppe to intervene, warning him the child would suffer. Jiuseppe was too drunk to care.
Liam was born during the most violent storm Everglade had ever known. Sickly and fragile from the moment he drew breath, Jeanette knew she would have to protect him too.
Sisika & the Cape
Jeanette made her decision.
She planted heroin, cocaine, marijuana, and moonshine throughout Adelaide’s quarters—more than enough to ensure conviction. The Department of Justice sentenced Adelaide Crowe to life in Sisika Penitentiary.
With Adelaide gone and Jiuseppe lost to the bottle, Jeanette assumed guardianship of both boys.
The last word from Adelaide came years later: a half-knitted sweater sent from Sisika. Liam later wore it as a makeshift “cape,” clutching it like armor against a world that had never been kind to him.
The Fall of Josiah Everglade
Liam’s illness enraged Josiah. He threatened to abandon the boy in Armadillo, where sickness ran rampant—claiming it would “solve the problem.”
Jeanette would not allow it.
One evening, as Josiah awaited supper, Jeanette paid off the cooks to lace his drink with something stronger than usual. Josiah, ever the alcoholic, drank the entire bottle without question.
By morning, Josiah Everglade was dead.
At last, Jeanette was free.
County in Name, Chaos in Practice
Jeanette and Jiuseppe inherited Everglade County together. Jeanette ran the county—repairing what her father had neglected, stabilizing the economy, and protecting the people. Jiuseppe ran the saloons.
When Jiuseppe remembered he had children, he filled Liam’s head with nonsense—telling him he was a “wonder boy” who could fly. Jeanette tried desperately to ground the child in reality, though she did her best to keep his spirit intact.
The Hidden Bloodline
Years later, Jeanette and Jiuseppe learned of another sibling—a half-sibling born of Josiah’s many affairs in the streets of St. Denis. The name was never spoken.
That sibling had a daughter: SusieMay Everglade.
When SusieMay’s parents perished in a fire, Jeanette took her in without hesitation. She taught SusieMay how to knit, cook, and carry herself as a lady—but more importantly, how to survive. Jeanette had never learned to shoot as a girl, but her grandfather had left her a pair of M1899 pistols. Jeanette taught herself, then taught SusieMay, determined the girl would never be defenseless.
Love at Last
Jeanette never found love in her youth. Three wards and a drunk brother left little room for romance. But as the children grew more independent, Jeanette met Archibald—a charming man with a kind heart and steady hands.
They married in the spring.
Jeanette refused to surrender the Everglade name. Archibald took it willingly, becoming Archibald Everglade, proud to carry her legacy.
Jiuseppe’s End
Jiuseppe’s drinking worsened in the winter. Jeanette sent him to treatment—what doctors called “rehabilitation.” Thirty days later, he returned sober and determined.
It did not last.
The moment he stepped into Blackwater, he found a new wife and a familiar bottle. This time, Jeanette approved. Abbie Winter was kind, steady, and honest—everything Adelaide had not been.
Late that winter, Jiuseppe drank himself to death.
Jeanette mourned her brother… briefly. Soon after, she uncovered the corruption he had committed behind her back—betrayals that harmed the people of Everglade County.
The Sister Josiah Hid
After Jiuseppe’s death, another piece of Josiah’s past arrived at Jeanette’s doorstep—a woman named Edith Green, carrying a baby in her arms.
The baby was Millie Green, the daughter of Edith and Johnny Green. Edith could not care for her at the time and had come to Jeanette hoping she would take the child in. But there was more to Edith’s visit than a mother asking for help.
Edith was Jeanette’s older half-sister, born of Josiah’s first marriage.
Twenty years older than Jeanette, Edith had grown up in Blackwater knowing she had a younger sister somewhere in St. Denis. Josiah had kept Jeanette in the dark. Whatever fragments Jeanette had heard when she was younger had never revealed the full truth. Now, standing before her with a baby, was the sister their father had hidden.
Jeanette had questions for Edith and a fresh collection of curses for Josiah. But first, there was a child who needed a home.
What was one more mouth to feed?
Jeanette took Millie in and legally assumed guardianship. Millie Green became Millie Everglade, joining the household Jeanette had spent her life holding together.
Two Sisters, Neither Willing to Yield
Later, Edith and Jeanette reconnected, finally giving themselves the chance to know one another as sisters.
For a time, Jeanette thought she had found family she could learn to appreciate without first having to clean up their wreckage.
Then they began to bicker.
Edith was every bit as fierce and stubborn as Jeanette. Neither woman cared to be told what to do, and neither had much interest in letting the other have the last word. Together, they could argue like two old ladies over just about anything.
But Jeanette loved her sister, even when Edith tested every ounce of patience she possessed.
And if anyone mistook their bickering for a lack of loyalty, they learned quickly. Let someone threaten Edith, and Jeanette would be there to have her sister’s back—whether Edith needed the help or not.
Edith was perfectly capable of standing her ground. Jeanette simply intended to stand beside her.
Josiah had kept them apart for years. He would not get the satisfaction of keeping them apart from the grave.
The County Today
With both Josiah and Jiuseppe gone, Everglade County is finally safe.
Jeanette Everglade rules with calculated care, determined never to become her father—or forgive her brother. She strives to be the best county owner Everglade has ever known.
From time to time, she visits two unmarked graves in forgotten ground. No flowers grow there. No one remembers the men buried beneath.
Jeanette spits on the soil and walks away.
May they rest in pieces.
