Elise parallel parked her car in front of the Scrap Shack. She had ridden Sky around the pasture that morning without any problems, but as she rode, she decided she couldn’t take advantage of Rebekah’s hospitality with her horses and ignore her the rest of the time. So here she was at the store for Midnight Madness.
The six o’clock news came on the radio. “Three U.S. soldiers died in separate bombings in Iraq today.” Elise gripped the steering wheel and tried to swallow. The panic stuck in her throat. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She would check the BBC after Midnight Madness to get an idea of where the bombings were. The chances that one of the three was Ted were nearly nil. She knew that. Still, every time a report came across the news, she fought her fear.
She had told Ted last night never to bring up her being tested again. Not on the phone. Not by e-mail. Not to the boys. She knew that his intentions were good, driven by his desire to see Pepper healed, but he was making her life miserable. He had apologized. He seemed to finally understand.
She turned off the ignition. The husband of their neighbor in Georgia had been killed in the first days of the Iraq War. When the chaplain’s car had parked in the shared driveway between the two houses, Elise had called Ted to the window. They’d waited. She half expected a scream or a wail, the house to shake, the street to split in two, or at least the neighborhood to tremble. Something. Tarry’s life had just been blown to pieces. After the chaplain had left, Elise and Ted had knocked on the door. Tarry stood in her entryway, squeezing her two-year-old son. They played with the baby while she made phone calls. Ted went to the store and picked up milk and cereal. Elise washed the dishes and did a load of laundry. A month later Tarry moved to Sacramento, where her parents lived.
Where would Elise move? She wouldn’t want to move anywhere without Ted. She wouldn’t want to stay in Forest Falls. She wouldn’t want to move to Seattle. She wouldn’t want to be, without Ted.
She grabbed her box of Mark’s photos and the scrapbook off the passenger seat. She had finally finished the sorting. Tonight she would begin grouping the photos.
Sandi slid her cutter through a piece of lavender paper. “John and I went into Salem last night. We saw The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.”
“Was it good?” Elise settled into her chair. It would be nice if John would take the boys to a movie, and that would have been the perfect movie.
“Loved it.”
“So what’s going on between you and John?” Elise opened the box of photos nonchalantly.
“We’re just friends.” Sandi shrugged. “I’ll be honest, though. I like John—a lot.”
Elise smiled.
“But he wants to give things time. It hasn’t been that long since Maude died, and he wants to be sensitive to Ted’s grief. You know, all of that.” She sighed. “All the things I taught in my grief class.” Sandi positioned the lavender paper on a page. “I’m fine with that. I can wait. I’ve learned not to put my hope in other people.”
“What do you mean?” Elise sifted through the photos.
“So you have to put your hope in God, right?” Elise hoped she didn’t sound cynical. It just sounded like such a cliché.
Sandi nodded.
“And then you can blame him if the kids don’t turn out and your marriage fails.” Elise laughed. Or your husband goes far away— No, wait, she could blame Ted for that. Unless he was dead. She pulled out a handful of photos.
“Elise.” Sandi leaned back. “Are you okay?”
Elise pressed her fingertips against her temple. She’d said too much. Now Sandi would tell John, and John would tell Ted. “I’m just stressed.”
Sandi took a deep breath. “My husband was a pharmacy rep; he traveled all the time. I pretty much ran the farm and worked part-time. We didn’t have kids, and I was still stressed when he was gone.”
Elise stared straight ahead.
“I know.” Sandi sighed. “It’s not the same as having a husband in Iraq.”
Elise touched Sandi’s arm. “And then your husband died.”
Sandi nodded. “And then I realized what stress was.” She pointed at Elise’s scrapbook. “When are you going to get started on that?”
“Tonight. Well I was going to start grouping the photos tonight, but they’re sort of out of order again. I think one of the boys was snooping—probably Michael.” Elise pulled out the first three photos of newborn Mark.
Pepper and Ainsley clambered up the stairs. “Look, Mom!” Pepper held up a cell phone. “Ainsley has a camera phone, and we just took a picture of a raccoon.”
Rebekah smiled. “Cool, sweet pea.”
“It wasn’t as scary close up as I thought.”
Rebekah took the phone. “Well, don’t make a habit of getting too close. They can be pretty mean.”
Elise bent over her photos. She could just imagine the pictures Ainsley could take with a camera phone.
Rebekah handed the phone to Ainsley and then stopped at Elise’s table. “Pepper said that Mark’s birthday is next week,” Rebekah said.
“I was going to talk with you about that. He wants to go to Seattle, but Michael doesn’t want to go. Could Michael stay at your place?” Elise’s other choice was to ask John. She knew Michael would rather stay with Reid, even though Elise hated to ask.
“Sure, anytime.”
“Remember when we went to Seattle, Mom”—Pepper gave the phone back to Ainsley—“and Reid got sick outside the fish market?”
Rebekah nodded. “And he hasn’t eaten fish since.” She turned to Elise. “When are you leaving?”
“Thursday at noon, which means Mark will miss two days with the horses.”
“No problem.” Rebekah smiled. “Reid can take a turn.”
“Make Michael help.”
“Where are you going?” Sandi sat down with a brownie in her hand.
“Seattle. For Mark’s birthday.” Elise looked at her photos as she spoke.
“What are you going to do?” Sandi asked.
“Go to a couple of bookstores. Take Mark to the music museum. Maybe go by the aquarium and the market.”
“And look at houses?” Sandi held her brownie in midair.
“Why would you look at houses?” Pepper pulled up a chair next to her mom’s. Rebekah put her arm around Pepper and whispered something in her ear.
Elise shook her head. “I won’t have time.” She would pick up fliers, though. She glanced at her watch: 6:45. She wanted to go home and check the BBC.