Chapter 38
I sat longwise on my couch the next day, with nothing to do but watch the sun play through the leaves and stroke a sleeping Birdy on my lap. I’d awoken from my own midmorning sleep a little while earlier, still propped up by pillows, since that was the only way I could get comfortable. Adele had taken superb care of me, bringing me water and food and the all-important pain pills. She’d reminded me to call Jim last night before she spent the night on this very couch, and this morning she set me up with a phone, a book, a TV clicker, and water before going off to do her chores. None of which I’d used, except the water.
Adele now bustled in, smelling of fresh air. “There,” she said. “Sheep are all tended to and Samuel said he’ll take the end-of-day shift so I don’t have to go back again. I’m good here until the morning.” She held up a plastic bag. “Found this outside the back door.”
I frowned. “Is it suspicious?”
“I very much doubt that. Here’s the card that was on top.” She handed me a sealed greeting card, with Robbie, Pancake Queen written on the front.
After I ripped it open and read the message, I looked up with as much of a smile as I could muster. “Apparently, that’s lunch. Abe made soup.” He’d also wished me speedy healing and said he was going to demand a rain check on dinner out. A man who could make homemade soup? Nice.
Adele smiled. She took the bag into the kitchen.
I took a long sip from the bendy straw in the glass of ice water. “Hey, Adele?” I called.
After she popped her head back in, I said, “Can you get me my laptop? I’m so worried about Roberto. The last message I got from his daughter was that he was going into surgery for an amputation. It seems like a week ago, but I think it was yesterday. Or maybe Saturday?”
She came back in a minute with the computer. “Why don’t you let me check for you? I have two hands.”
I gave her the password and watched as she scrolled through my messages. My heart was a piece of cold lead. What if he hadn’t survived? Or if they’d found the infection was too widespread?
“Here’s one.” Adele looked up. “Want I should open it?” At my nod she clicked, and then looked up with a big old grin. “Somebody named Graciela says he’s recovering well. That he’s going to be just fine.”
I slid my eyes shut, the hot moisture under my lids matching my thick throat. I heard her snap the laptop shut and felt her hand stroke my hair.
“I’ll be in the kitchen, honey. And in a couple months, I’m thinking you might be going to Italy for Christmas. You keep that in mind, now.”
A tear slid onto my cheek, but I smiled. As I drifted into sleep, I pictured wandering around the Leaning Tower of Pisa with my dad.
I awoke with a start when Adele called out, “Company.” I wiped the corner of my mouth and said “Umph” as I pushed myself to sit up straighter, rubbing my tongue over fuzzy teeth.
Adele appeared a moment later, followed by Corrine and Danna. Danna carried a huge arrangement of fresh fruit. Slices of pineapple and melon cut into flower shapes stuck up on skewers, along with intact strawberries, grapes, and more—all of it arranged like flowers.
“Hope we’re not bothering you,” Corrine said.
“Not at all. I’m dressed. Sort of, if sweats and a robe count.” I gestured to them with my good arm. As I moved to get a little more comfortable, I winced, and Adele pointed to the pill bottle on the table. Birdy leapt off my lap and streaked for the door.
“Time for another dose,” Adele said.
I complied by downing two more pills with the rest of the water. Meanwhile, Danna set the fruit on the coffee table. She high-fived my good hand, then she sank to sitting cross-legged on the floor in one fluid move.
“You showed Ed,” she said with a grin. “I am so glad that man isn’t going to bother me anymore, or any other girls.”
Corrine slid into the rocker, crossing her legs. It was the first time I’d ever seen her wear pants, although she wasn’t exactly slumming, since they were perfectly tailored, black, and likely silk. If the woman even owned a pair of jeans, you could bet they were a designer label.
“The man’s a criminal, through and through.”
“Mom, you used to go shooting with him.” Danna frowned. “You had no idea?”
“No.” Corrine shook her head, then tossed back her hair. She picked an imaginary piece of lint off her slacks.
I laughed. “For awhile I wondered if you’d bumped off Stella yourself.” Oops, that isn’t very nice. Must be the drug talking.
“Oh, it surely crossed my mind once or twice, let me tell you.” Corrine laughed out loud. “People have been saying for years I killed Danna’s father, too. It was an accident, pure and simple.”
“Roy told me Stella was blackmailing you about it,” I said.
“That pathetic man needs to have his mouth washed out with soap. Pure fabrication.”
“Roy may be pathetic, but I sure hope he gets some help.” I frowned again. “Danna, how am I going to manage in the restaurant with only one arm?”
She opened her mouth to speak, but Adele beat her to it. “Don’t you worry about a thing, hon. Danna’s got Samuel, Phil, and me, and we’ve all got your back. The show will go on until you’re able to return to work.”
“Yeah,” Danna said, straightening her back. “You can sit on a raised platform and direct traffic. ‘Bacon here! Biscuit there!’” she mimicked with a smile.
Another knock sounded at the back. Adele left and returned carrying a huge flower arrangement. Mostly yellow-and-red alstroemeria, it also included sprigs of white daisies, along with the ubiquitous baby’s breath and ferny greens. She plucked the little card out of its holder and handed it to me.
“From Jim,” I said after I read it. I didn’t add that he’d signed it: Love from the frigid north. Your far from frigid admirer.
“They’re beautiful. Here?” Adele set them on the bookshelf across the room.
I smiled, nodding. Birdy moseyed back in, consented to a few strokes from Danna, then jumped back up on my lap. As I stroked his smooth, warm back and he chirped his satisfaction, my eyelids drifted shut. I thought it would be okay to rest for just a minute, now my world was set right again.