She dismissed Ella quickly, perhaps rudely. Ella wasn’t sure who Cora was exactly; she’d never seen her before but she knew she was connected to Harrison somehow. She grabbed her sweater and retreated to the kitchen, leaving the two older women alone. Cora poured glasses of iced tea and led Ginny outside onto the porch. It was raining but the porch was large and accommodating.
Ginny had just lowered herself into the wicker chair when she noticed the other woman’s piercing eyes fixed on her. “Mackenzie’s been coming to see you quite a bit, I hear,” Cora started.
Ginny just nodded. “She has.” She looked up at Cora. “I can’t figure out why. It’s odd.”
Cora straightened up. “Does she know?”
Ginny shook her old head. The gray curls carefully set around her head didn’t move. “I’m not sure if she knows. She asked me about a boy that disappeared. But I didn’t tell her.”
“How did she find out a boy disappeared?”
“Someone told her.” Ginny sipped her drink. She looked off into space.
Cora shifted in her chair. This was as close to the world as she ever got. It made her uncomfortable. “Ginny, look at me.” Ginny raised her sad eyes to meet Cora’s. “Did Nick tell her? Were those two in this together against me?” Cora wanted to shake her.
“I don’t know, Cora. No one is against you. She’s a nice girl. Please, don’t do anything rash.”
Cora didn’t respond. There was silence for a second. She was staring at the house across the street. People were running from the car into the house to avoid the rain. It was odd for her being so close to civilization.
“Cora, what happened to James?” Ginny’s words were soft.
Her voice, those words, startled Cora. They hadn’t ever been said before out loud. “What?” She stared at Ginny long and hard.
Ginny was the weak link to everything. At that moment, Cora felt like killing her. Harrison kept his sister in check but sometimes she would just start babbling, like now.
“He was gone one day, but where did he go? Where did he go?” She was talking to herself. “Do you know what I was thinking, Cora? If James were still alive we would know by now. I used to think he would come home. That someone had taken him, but that’s probably not the truth. He’s probably dead. That poor little thing.”
Cora took a sip from her iced tea and then promptly spit it back into the glass. “Why are you bringing this all up now?” She put her glass down on the table and leaned towards the older woman.
“I was thinking so much about Nick dying and then I thought about James. That child was just forgotten. I never forgot, though, even though it’s been twenty-five years. I can’t imagine what happened to him. The last time I saw him…”
“I don’t want to talk about this.” Cora was getting angry. She’d not so much as mentioned that boys name in years, and now this. Reminiscing like it was common knowledge.
Ginny was looking down. “He was leaving my house, that last afternoon that I saw him. The two boys had been over here.” She sat up as if things were getting clearer in her mind. “I’ll never forget the last time I saw that little face, those blue eyes looking back at me when he went to the fence.” Her face was scrunched in concentration. “He looked so sad. If I had only grabbed him up and kept him here with me…”
“Enough!”
“…the day the police came, poor Bradford had just gotten back from Munich that week. Remember? He’d been gone on and off, for what? A couple years, and then just when he came back, James disapp…”
“We’ve spent years trying to get past all this,” she interrupted. “It was a terrible time. Bringing it up always leads to something bad. Always. So stop talking to that girl, do you hear me?”
“Munich. Just back for about three days or so. Poor Bradford, what a welcome home. You gave birth to two boys. Now both boys are gone. Both dead. Both dead…” Her mind had wandered off.
“Stop this, Virginia. Don’t so much as mention a word about that child to Mackenzie. Do you understand?” Ginny stared off into space. “Virginia, I’m talking to you.” Cora took the iced tea out of the older woman’s hand. “Not a word. I want you to shut your mouth. Just shut your mouth. Can you do that?” Her voice was going up with each syllable spoken. “Don’t even see that girl again, do you hear me?” Ginny stared. She wanted to make sure Ginny understood her. She grabbed her hand. Ginny instinctively pulled away. Cora held tightly to one finger. There was a snapping sound and Cora released her grip. She heard Ginny scream in pain.
Cora leaned in to her ear. “Remember, not a word,” she whispered.
Ella came out onto the porch when she heard the noise. “What happened?”
“Oh, my finger. She broke it.” Ginny was bent over clutching her hand.
As she slipped through the make-shift gate to her property, she heard Ginny’s cries of agony. She hoped that maybe the pain was making its way through to her frazzled brain and she understood the message behind that broken finger. Cora didn’t want to have to make another visit to this house.
That iced tea was terrible.