| |
Jane handed Addie a small brown paper sack when she got in.
“Brought you a treat.”
“A Snickers bar. I haven’t tasted one since—way before Kate left for London. Aunt Alvina liked them too, and didn’t seem to mind us raiding the candy shelf when I stayed overnight. But you shouldn’t have, Jane.”
“It’s a big day in your life, why not celebrate a little? How did it go in there?”
“Fine. You’ll never believe what Norman left me.” Addie shut her door and Jane revved the engine.
“Well?”
“A coupe.”
“You mean an automobile?”
“Yes, a ’37 coupe.”
“Well, I’ll be hornswoggled. Who would have thought he owned such a thing? Is it here in town?”
The reality of the past half-hour started to sink in, and Addie could only nod as she sank back against the seat.
“Let’s go have a look.” Jane headed the Studebaker toward Norman’s corner.
“I don’t know...” Addie’s voice faltered.
“If you’d rather wait, fine. But a quick peek wouldn’t hurt.”
The bag rustled in her hands. Jane bought her a candy bar—she couldn’t believe that, much less that a red coupe awaited her. Jane slowed the Studebaker.
“What’ll I do with a car, Jane?”
“What do you think Norman had in mind?”
“The will says I have to learn to drive before I decide whether to keep it.”
“Then you don’t need to decide right away.”
“I guess you’re right. It’s just that I... Where would I hide it?”
“How about finding out exactly what you have to hide before you worry about that?”
Jane turned into Norman’s alley and bustled out to tackle the heavy wooden sliding doors. “Lift on your end. These rusty runners haven’t moved in a long time.”
They lifted and tugged, heaved and shook. After a mighty lurch, Jane’s half finally gave way amidst complaints from the worn boards. Standing there, she swooned.
“Will you look at that? Makes my old green bird look like a relic.”
In spite of a dusty film, the coupe’s polish shone like Fern’s waxed floor. Jane made her way around the treasure with Addie in her wake. Nothing here except mice had stirred for a long while. Traces of the pesky creatures peppered a pile of boards in the corner.
Cobwebs slung from rafter to corner, posts to ceiling. How long had it been since Norman came out here? And when he did, did he run his fingers over the coupe’s smooth finish as Jane did right now?
“What do you think?”
What did she think? The coupe matched Berthea’s unfolding blood-red dahlias—that was all.
“Hmm?”
Addie shook herself back to the coupe—her coupe.
“Think you might want to learn to drive it?” Jane’s grin started slow and spread.
“Maybe I can come over and sit in it a few times first.”
“No time like the present.” Jane opened the driver’s side and bowed low. “Have a seat in your new car.” Addie bit her lip and slipped against the cool leather. Jane went around the other side and got in, too.
“Oh, my goodness, Norman knew what he was doing. Look at these pieces of shed snakeskin scattered on the floor to keep out the mice.”
The interior was even cleaner than Aunt Alvina’s car. “I wonder if Norman ever drove this. It smells brand new.”
“If he did, he certainly didn’t leave a speck of dust.”
When they got out, Jane winked. “Pretty nice, eh?”
The cranky shed door challenged them again. Rust flaked in Addie’s palm when she turned the latch.
Back in the Studebaker, Jane headed toward home.
“It’s not just the coupe. Norman left me his household goods too.”
“He really took a liking to you.”
The whole scenario seemed impossible. And yet, there was no denying how this meeting had changed her life.
In Addie’s yard, Jane shifted into neutral. “Give yourself some time to get used to this. Sometimes, even good news takes digesting.”
She handed Addie the Snickers bar before she shut her door. “Enjoy your Snickers, and don’t you dare share it with Harold.” Her grin flashed again. “Say, have you heard that the Mars family named the Snickers bar after their horse?”
Addie stared at the brown paper wrapping, and Jane read her mind.
“Go ahead, eat it right now. Then I can have the pleasure of watching.”
She took a bite. “Yum. Scrumptious. You’re too good to me, Jane.”
“Pfft. No one could ever be too good to you. Now enjoy that candy, and come on over if you need to talk.”
v
Late August colored the red sumac along the fencerows. The corn’s rustling turned into an insistent scratch as Addie pedaled her way to Jane’s. Silence stalked her up the steps past the rosebush, still brimming with fragile, pale pink petals. She pressed her nose against the screen.
The scent of roasting beef drifted from the kitchen, and Jane sat at the table, her head folded into one arm and her fingers poised near her radio dial. For a frightening moment, Addie’s heart skipped into her throat—maybe she’d suffered a stroke like Orville.
No, please.
But Jane stirred, so she knocked again.
“Oh, Addie. Come on in.” Her voice lacked its normal lilt, so Addie sat down without a sound.
“Is something wrong?”
Jane’s long sigh sent a quiver down her spine. Where had her cheerful outlook gone?
“Have you heard? A few days ago, our forces launched a horrible battle in a town along the French coast. More than 3,500 of our soldiers died, mostly Canadian and British boys.” She rubbed her jaw line. “Kate’s husband is Canadian, isn’t he?”
“Yes—you mean the attack on Dieppe.”
Harold had repeated the battle details ever since the first bulletin crackled across the airwaves. He slugged the living room wall with his fist and shrieked. “Don’t the commanders care about wasting human life?”
Last night, he ranted for over an hour before Addie went upstairs.
This latest debacle rolled around inside her like a giant, fire-breathing dragon. So many soldiers dead, and such a mighty victory for the enemy.
“Almost a hundred planes lost—how can our forces bear this?” Harold had yelled the statistics into the porch as she swayed in her rocker last night. A thousand crickets chirped around the porch and twice that many fireflies lighted the grove and cornfield.
If only she could talk with him about what was happening. But she might slip and mention Alexandre—she’d never hear the end of that.
Harold poked his head out again and again to spew each dire report. Why insist on repeating everything when she could hear it well enough herself? And why start talking to her now, when he’d barely spoken to her since she painted the kitchen?
She almost said, “The Brits are our allies—they’re doing the best they can.” But his eyes had clouded over in gray fog, so she held her tongue.
The whole time, another unsettling truth nagged at her. Chances were, Alexandre flew in the Dieppe raids, and Kate most likely awaited word.
“Sometimes it seems like the whole world will dissolve in flames.” Jane’s wide cheeks fell in downward wrinkles. “We went through this before in the Great War, with such high hopes that it would never happen again. Now, things seem even more impossible. For every victory in the Pacific, an hour’s worth of agony happens in Europe.”
A shadow flitted outside the window—maybe a raccoon, although they rarely appeared in daylight. Jane didn’t seem to notice.
“My uncle fought in the Great War and was never the same afterwards. Most of those men, like Norman, picked up where they left off when they came back, but some couldn’t shake the memories.”
Her sigh filled the morning stillness, backed by the fixed ticking of her clock. After a while, Addie brought up another topic.
“Your rose bush still has blooms—such delicate flowers even through this awful heat.”
The change of subject brightened Jane, who glanced out the screen door. “That tea rose has been there as long as I remember.” She gave her first smile. “How about a cup of tea? I have a little left. Why hoard it when we can drink some together?”
“I would love that. I drink a little every other day, to save for worse times.”
“You’re out early this morning.” The gas burner flamed under the kettle, and Jane scooped fine black tea into her tea strainer.
“Harold had to leave at six to help Mr. Perry bale hay. You heard Earl broke his leg falling off a hay wagon the other day? Berthea went along too, to help with dinner. I did the chores, but got to thinking about the meeting with the lawyer. I wanted to talk something over with you.”
“All right.”
“Sunday after church, Fern pulled me out behind the building and made sure we were all alone. Then she asked if I’d gone through the household items yet. She was upset that it’s been a full week since the meeting and said I should quit putting it off.
“Something told me not to say we already looked at the coupe. I guess Kate would call it my intuition. But I think Fern might complain to Mr. Masterson if I don’t hurry up.”
Jane filled the teacups and brought them to the table. “Wonder why this matters so much to her?”
“She pushed me for a specific time, but then Harold made some announcement from out on the front steps. I reminded her I couldn’t mention this to him, and it might take time for me to get to town.”
“She pressed you?”
“Yes. She’s already set the auction for September, and said I need to decide right away whether to include the household goods. She even offered to help slip things by Harold—said she’d put me on some church committee so I’d have a reason to go to town.”
Jane rubbed her chin. “How did Fern know you hadn’t already gone over there? Has she posted a guard at Norman’s back door to keep watch?”
“Maybe the lawyer mentioned I haven’t asked for the key. She said surely Norman has some treasures in his house, and aren’t I even curious? She even offered to help me organize things.”
“Did she now?” Jane took another sip.
“I said no, but she grabbed my arm and said to let her know when I go. But I—”
Jane’s eyes shone emerald gold. “Sounds like she wants to snoop around. She’s married to the richest man in town, so what might Norman have that she’d be interested in? Or maybe something she’d rather the rest of the world not see?”
Her suspicions made Addie’s collarbone itch. Her intuition, Kate would say, was right on the money. The only thing Fern might seek would be a photograph. Yet with all the secrecy surrounding their relationship, the young Fernella surely would never have allowed a photograph to be taken of the two of them, would she?
“I don’t have a thing planned today and could sure use an outing. Harold’s gone until tonight, right?”
“Yes. He and Berthea won’t be back until after dark, so I need to start his chores around five o’clock. The churchwomen serve the evening meal too, so the balers can get as much done as possible before nightfall.” Then she remembered how Fern took charge at times like this. “And that means Fern will be busy supervising.”
“Did you have any big jobs planned today?”
“I thought I’d can some tomatoes, but that can wait.”
Jane downed the rest of her tea and poured Addie a second. “Enjoy another quick cup and hurry home. I’ve got something to do, but I’ll pick you up in half an hour.”
She disappeared into the next room. The fresh steaming tea had a calming effect, and Addie feasted her eyes on the flowers outside the window.
Beyond the lovely bed of orange and yellow zinnias east of the house, a shadow fell over a beaten-down path. When it took the shape of a man, her heart flip-flopped. Could Harold have... She leaned back from the window.
Under a ragged black beret, a short, weathered man eyed the house. Patched overalls hung from his thin shoulders, and his rounded boot toes turned up at the ends. Shoulders hunched, he waited like a timid child outside a side door. That door opened, and a thick arm extended—Jane’s.
Addie squeezed nearer the window. The man’s wrinkled face and downcast eyes carried a vacant look, like the upstairs windows of abandoned Depression farmhouses marking the route between here and Benson. He looked every bit the hobo riding into town on an evening train.
Jane handed him a plate covered with a dishtowel. They chatted a little before he shuffled toward the grove.
Finishing her tea in one big gulp, Addie left by the kitchen door. Was this fellow Jane’s husband? But why would he lurk out there like a stranger? Aunt Alvina used to feed a couple of vagrants. But the railroad passed south of town. Why would he walk all this way?
All of her questions about Simon Pike flooded back. The day she took the note to Doc Ayers, she determined to maintain silence with Jane. Now she renewed her resolve and sped home as fast as she could.
