Grounded Page 11

  Thank heavens Fred had the foresight to add a full bathroom onto the closed-in back porch when Annie entered her teenage years. He had taken to using that one, giving Beulah and Annie full control of the upstairs bathroom. Knowing Fred, he had probably also been thinking it would be a handy addition for their senior years, although he never said as much.

  Last Sunday was the first time Beulah had missed church in years. Church attendance wasn’t compulsory to being a Christian, Beulah knew that, but it was like the hand being separated from the arm: Missing church just didn’t feel right. However, it was awful nice to rest, and what with the funny way those pain pills made her feel, it was better not to be in the church house and saying things a body wouldn’t normally say.

  Thinking of arms, Annie had become those for her these last couple of days. Arms and legs.

  “Thank you, Lord,” Beulah said the words out loud from an overflow in her heart. “What would I have done without her?”

  Her granddaughter had called the surgeon on Monday and made her an appointment for later in the week. She must have worked some magic with the doctor’s office. First they said it would be a couple of weeks, but Annie offered to bring her any time, even if it was a last-minute cancellation, and sure enough, they called back and changed it to Friday morning.

  In the meantime, Annie had asked them about something to help Beulah walk until the surgery. They ordered her a brace, which, aggravating as it was, did steady her quite a bit.

  Beulah reached for it, trying to remember how all those pieces of Velcro worked. Positioning her knee just so, she put the brace around it and studied which piece went in which loop. She heard the screen door slam and tried to hurry, not wanting Annie to think her a helpless old fool.

  “Land sakes,” she muttered when she missed threading a strap through a particular loop. “Looks like an ACE bandage would do as good.”

  “Need help?” Annie asked, popping around the corner.

  Beulah sat up and sighed. “I reckon I’ll get the hang of this thing, but you might need to show me again.”

  “It goes like this,” Annie said, flipping the brace around so the straps fit easily into the loops. “You had it backward. Now, all finished.”

  Annie stood up and handed Beulah her cane.

  “Thank you.” Beulah steadied herself and hobbled toward the kitchen.

  “Where are you going?”

  “Thought I’d make Ms. Hawkins a chicken casserole and coconut cream pie. She’s been here over a week, and we haven’t heard a peep out of her.”

  “That’s a good thing, isn’t it?”

  “I just can’t get her out of my mind. All hunch-shouldered and looking like the weight of the world was on her. It might be a way to check on her.”

  “Sure you’re up to that?” Annie asked. Beulah could hear the doubt in her voice.

  “I’ll take it slow. You go on back to doing whatever you were doing,” Beulah said, determined to take back control of her kitchen. Annie turned her face away, but not before Beulah saw the start of a grin.

  “Okay. I’ll be outside cleaning out the shed if you need me.”

  Before getting her hands on the chicken, Beulah peeked inside at the percolator basket, trying not to burn her fingers.

  “Law have mercy!” she exclaimed. The basket was two-thirds full. “No wonder that coffee was strong.”

  With a deep sigh, she replaced the basket top and the percolator lid. It’s worth it to have Annie home, she thought.

  With old recipes she knew by heart, her mind was free to muse over the strange vision in the garden a few days ago. It was as if she had a visit from Jo Anne for a few moments, more vivid than any dream. Maybe it was only the combination of heat and pain in her knee, but it was as real to her as the ground beneath her feet. Of all places to see Jo Anne, the garden would be the spot. Her passion was growing things, and she would have felt plumb left out to look down from heaven and see both Beulah and Annie planting together.

  Beulah slid the dishes in the oven and sat down, thinking of her precious girl, gone these many years. How time had gone by. Jo Anne died on July 15, coming up on twenty years. She never allowed herself to ask why it had to be Jo Anne. If a body starts asking why the bad things, then you have to ask why the good to be fair. Why did she have good health for seventy-odd years? Why did they live in this beautiful countryside with food and with shelter over their heads? Why had she married the finest man in all of the Bluegrass when she was only eighteen? There would be no end to that line of thinking.

  When Annie came in to clean up, she said she would ride over with Beulah and carry the food to Ms. Hawkins’s door. The uneven flagstone steps to the front door of the stone house were hard to manage, even for a person with good knees.

  “I’m ready,” Beulah called upstairs.

  “Be right down,” Annie called back. In a few minutes Annie came down the steps in faded jeans and a blue T-shirt, carrying old pictures in her hand.

  “Look at these,” she said, and moved next to Beulah to look at the pictures with her. “Here we are with Mom in front of the stone house.”

  Beulah looked at it. “That must have been taken right about the time Jo Anne was diagnosed.”

  “Here’s one with you and Grandpa, Evelyn, and Charlie, taken on Evelyn’s front porch. You’re all dressed up and wearing corsages.”

  Beulah knew immediately when that was taken.

  “We were celebrating our anniversaries. It was our fortieth and Evelyn and Charlie’s twentieth. We both married in October, twenty years apart.”

  “And there’s another one of Jake and me, sitting on the plank fence by the corral. We must have been about ten.”

  “Now that’s a rare picture. You two were never still long enough to get many pictures.”

  “I’d love to get these copied and framed.”

  “Wyatt’s Drug Store does a good job on film development. It’s right downtown near Duncan’s Hardware.”

  “Good! I’ll take them next time I’m in town.” Annie carried the casserole wrapped in dish towels, still warm from the oven. Beulah carried the pie.

  “Grandma, I can take it over there by myself if you don’t feel like going.”

  “Heavens, no. I want to get out as much as I can while I can. I’ll be confined soon enough.”

  In a minute or two, Annie was pulling into the drive to the stone house and crossing the wooden bridge of the creek. The silver car was there. Blankets still covered the windows, like Annie said. Why would this woman want to be shut up in a dark house on a sunny day like this? Beulah didn’t know a thing about how a person wrote a book. Maybe this was what it took.

  Annie got the casserole dish in one arm and the pie in the other and carried them to the house. She had to set one down to knock on the door. Beulah noticed movement in one of the upstairs windows as if someone had peeked out. She watched as Annie knocked again. Another minute went by and finally, the door opened a crack. Annie was speaking through the door opening and trying to hand the food to her. The opening widened and she saw Stella Hawkins accept the dish and the pie.

  Annie smiled at the woman, but the door was shut in her face as soon as Annie let go of the dishes. She turned back and raised her eyebrows at Beulah when she walked to the car.

  “What was that all about?” Beulah asked when Annie got in.

  Annie started the car and backed out. “I don’t think she appreciates Southern hospitality. She said she was busy right now.”

  “Law, law,” Beulah mused. “I’ve never heard of a body not appreciating home-cooked food. I guess she’s not sick.”

  “What is that?” Annie said, slowing the car on the other side of the bridge.

  Beulah peered at the tree Annie pointed to. There was a small brown square with a round circle in the middle nailed to an old oak. Annie stopped the car when she got across the bridge and got out to look.

  Beulah waited on her to come back, wishing she could jump out and do things l
ike she used to. In the rearview mirror, she could see Annie looking at the strange piece of plastic with what looked like a small antenna stuck on top. Annie didn’t touch it, and Beulah noticed she was careful to stay on the side of it.

  “What is it?” Beulah asked when Annie got back in the car.

  “I think it might be a sensor that beeps when someone passes through. That’s what it looks like anyway.”

  “I swan,” Beulah said. “You mean it beeps in her house when somebody comes into the driveway?”

  “Yep. Maybe Stella wants a warning. She might be a little afraid out here by herself. In fact, it wouldn’t be a bad idea for you to have one. It would give you time to load your shotgun.”

  Beulah cut a sharp look at Annie and saw the grin on her face. She laughed.

  “Well, you might be right about that. I might discover the first good use of all this technology.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  That night, while her grandmother watched a rerun of a Billy Graham special, Annie prepared the coffee, adding two heaping scoops more than her grandmother’s instructions.

  “Need anything before I go up?” Annie leaned around the base of the stair rail.

  “Nothing dear. I’m fine.”

  Dear? When had her grandmother ever called her Dear? Evelyn always said it, but terms of endearment from her grandmother were rare as four-leaf clovers. She liked it.

  Undressing in the bathroom, Annie turned the squeaky faucets in the clawfoot tub and let the water heat up before plugging the rubber stopper into the drain. A bottle of bath salts brought to her grandmother from a long-ago trip sat dusty and unopened on the shelf above the tub. Annie poured a generous amount under the hot flowing water.

  While the tub filled, she mindlessly traced the rust stain that stretched from the spout to the drain. Gently, she climbed in and eased down into the water. Leaning back against the curved back of the tub, she let her mind roam over the events of the last couple of days.

  Jake had called to see if they had gotten in to see the doctor. He was with Camille and made phone introductions to both her and her grandmother by speaker. Camille, or Cam as he called her, sounded nice enough, as much as one could tell over the phone.

  Stella Hawkins, on the other hand, was not adorable. She was out of it, high on something. Her eyes were glazed and she slurred the words, “I’m busy” and seemed to take the food only to get rid of her.

  Annie was glad she could keep an eye on the stranger for the next few months and curb any of her grandmother’s neighborly overtures.

  She pulled a wet washcloth over her face and let the heat open her pores. It reminded her of the day of spa pampering she enjoyed as part of Stuart’s Christmas gift. Those times seemed so long ago. In quiet moments, she thought of Stuart and wondered what he was doing, what he was feeling or thinking.

  Did he miss her, regret anything? Maybe even that was pride on her part. The best thing for her was to move forward and leave it in the past. The lump in her throat and the tightness in her stomach eased as each day went by in this place far away from him.

  Annie reached for her cell phone perched on top of the commode.

  “Annie, I’m glad you called!” Janice said. She could hear the clinking of dishes in the background.

  “Are you in the middle of dinner?”

  “We’re cleaning up. Mama DeVechio fixed ravioli tonight.” Her voice fell to a whisper. “She’s cooking all the time. You know I told you she wasn’t adjusting well. It all had to do with the kitchen. Once I turned it over to her, she has done wonderful! She feels like her job is to take care of feeding all of us!”

  Annie laughed. “You wouldn’t believe how much I’ve been eating these last few days. Every time I turn around, somebody is cooking a big meal.”

  “Listen to you—you’re picking up that accent!”

  “Really?” Annie was pleased. “It will be thick by the time I get back. I’m staying a while longer to help my grandmother through a knee operation.”

  “Good!” Janice sounded happy, even relieved.

  “How’s the peace lily?” she asked.

  “Great! Mama DeVechio told me I was watering it too much, so now she’s in charge of that too.”

  “I’m glad something survived the relationship,” Annie said.

  When Janice was silent, she asked, “Is something wrong?”

  “Why am I always the one to break bad news to you?”

  “What Janice?” Annie felt her heart sink.

  “Stuart kept calling me about you. Turns out, it came down to wanting to know where to deliver the rest of your things.”

  “What things? I thought I got it all,” Annie said.

  “Some box you put in a closet to unpack after you moved in,” Janice said.

  “Oh,” Annie said, remembering the box of journals and books she had brought over ahead of time.

  “Anyway, I told him you would be living with Beverly Enlo when you came back. I’m sorry. I should have had him bring the stuff to me.”

  “No, that’s okay. He would know soon enough, anyway.”

  “That’s not all.”

  “Yes?” Annie waited.

  “He took the stuff over last weekend. Apparently they ended up going out together that night.”

  “What?” Annie was stunned. “Beverly Enlo? She’s not even cute!”

  “It gets worse.” She heard Janice take a deep breath. “They went out again Sunday night. Beverly said they want to see more of each other, and she knows it won’t work with you living there. She is bringing your stuff to me later this week with your voided rent check.”

  Annie felt the breath leave her chest and for a moment was unable to take another.

  “Are you there?” Janice asked.

  Breathe, she told herself. “I’m here. But what about Felicia?”

  “Who’s Felicia?”

  “Stuart’s new secretary … never mind.”

  “I told Beverly everything I knew about Stuart, what you found out about past girlfriends, your experience. It went right over her head. She was afraid to call, but wanted your e-mail address.”

  “I haven’t laid eyes on a computer in two weeks, and my phone is spotty.”

  “Annie, I’m so sorry. When you come back at the end of the summer, stay with me until you find something. I’ll keep looking in the meantime.”

  Annie said goodbye to Janice and hung up the phone. So this is how he deals with it. Find someone new to take away the pain. Feel better, replace what was lost and grow something new on top of old roots.

  And she had thought he was calling because he missed her. Annie laughed out loud. “That son of a …”

  The next morning, Lindy called to see if Annie could meet for lunch at the Diner. While Annie gathered her purse and keys, her grandmother moved slowly over to the shopping list next to the telephone. With her glasses held at a certain angle, her grandmother studied the list. “Bring me a five-pound bag of sugar and a pint of heavy whipping cream. I’ll get my purse.”

  “No, I’ve got it. Call my cell phone if you think of anything else.”

  “Oh, wait a minute. Get that two thousand dollars out of the coffee can in the freezer. I’ve been keeping it in case that Ms. Hawkins changed her mind after staying there, but I’d better get it in the bank.”

  “You keep money in the freezer?”

  “That’s one of my hiding places. I’m not sure I remember where all I’ve stashed money over the years. If anything ever happens to me, go through everything before you sell it all off.”

  Annie tucked the wad of bills in her purse. Rolling down the windows of her grandmother’s car, she took in deep breaths of the sweet scent of honeysuckle. Pulling out of the driveway and onto the two-lane road, Annie left the windows down, feeling a sense of freedom a closed car couldn’t give.

  She drove slowly, listening to the bobwhites call from the roadside forest as she followed the winding creek which led into town. The dense wilderness, t
hick with cane and trees, unfolded into flat farmland once again before reaching the town limits of Somerville, the county seat.

  It was noon. The Somerville National Bank was next to the County Attorney’s office, and Annie found a parking space on the street in front of both. She had hoped to get the money in the bank as soon as possible, but she didn’t want to be late for her lunch with Lindy. When plans were firmed up over the weekend, she remembered Lindy saying she had to be in court right after lunch.

  The law office was in an old Victorian building. The tall ceilings and wood floors lent an air of old-time lawyering. The secretary rang Lindy’s office, and she appeared dressed in a crisp navy blue suit.

  “Want to see my office?” Lindy asked.

  “Sure,” Annie said, following Lindy back to a beautiful room featuring a gas log fireplace and restored to its original woodwork.

  “This is beautiful!” Annie said, admiring the painted woodwork and rich wood floors partially covered with a Persian rug. “I never dreamed these old buildings had such character.”

  “Dad owns the building, so he decided years ago to take it back to its original glory. I think he did a pretty good job.”

  “It’s surprising,” Annie said. “I wouldn’t have thought these buildings could be so attractive on the inside.”

  “Time, work and money, but restoration is worth it,” Lindy said as she led Annie back to the foyer. “If you’re ready, we’ll walk down to Bill’s.”

  Just two blocks down the street, a red-and-white-striped awning marked the entrance to Bill’s Diner.

  “I remember the awning being blue and white when I worked here,” Annie said as they approached.

  “It was. He changed it last fall and upset everybody in town. Now that they have gotten used to it, I think they like it better.”

  Lindy pushed open the plate glass and metal door, which jingled the bell above. Several customers looked up to see who was coming through the door.