Chapter 21

Sarah was relieved to see the weather clear as they drove up the coast. They got back to San Francisco on Sunday night. Baby Owen was asleep, and Mrs. Gordon carried him up to bed while Mr. Glenn dealt with the luggage. Sarah dropped them at the front door before she pulled into the small garage. She went upstairs to Mrs. Noonan’s to return the car keys.

“How was the trip?” Mrs. Noonan asked.

Her voice sounded wistful, Sarah thought. Had she wanted to come? It had never occurred to Sarah to ask. At least she could be honest about the trip.

“Ah, a wonderful weekend. If you discount a little baby vomit, a lot of fog, not one glimmer of ocean seen the whole time, and some very frenetic mealtimes. Other than that, it was marvelous. Mr. Glenn might feel differently. He declined brunch today, said he’d rather read his Sunday paper in the peace of the pool, empty of children. Missed some very tasty cheese blintzes. There were a lot of kids in that place.”

“Well, you always say it’s a family resort.” Mrs. Noonan’s voice was back to normal, but she paced back and forth. It was not like her.

“Is something wrong?” Sarah asked.

“We’ve got a problem,” Mrs. Noonan said at the same time. “Chantrelle is back.”

Sarah sucked in her breath. Baby Owen’s mother. They knew she had to come back sometime, but the more time that went by, the more the baby became part of them. He’d been a little angel that weekend, aside from the vomit, a sweet, adorable, fun-loving angel. When he was with Chantrelle, he’d been totally different. Silent, sad.

“This is awful! What did she say? She just can’t come back like this, can she? She’s been gone forever!”

“Months and months. Four, five? I’ve lost track.” Mrs. Noonan sighed loudly. “I didn’t talk to her. Mrs. Carmichael saw her. She sees everything from that apartment of hers. She can look right down on the front door, and apparently she does that much of the time.”

Sarah’s apartment had the same view. She was directly above Mrs. Carmichael, but she very rarely looked straight down at the street.

“Anyway, she saw her at the door, ringing Alma’s bell. Enid said she tried for a long time and even rang a few other bells, but no one answered. That was this morning. Mrs. Honeycut and I had taken Mrs. Flynn to church. I’m sure Chantrelle will be back. We have to figure out what to do.”

“Good thing Mrs. Gordon doesn’t have an answering machine. That would be a horrible message to come back to,” Sarah said.

“Do you think Jonathan could help us? Would he know our rights?”

Jonathan Martin lived next door to Alma Gordon. He was a lawyer with a big firm downtown.

“It never hurts to ask. If he can’t help us, he may know someone who can. Oh, what a mess. Mrs. Gordon’s been so good for Baby Owen. She’ll be devastated,” Sarah said.

There was a soft knock at the door. Mrs. Gordon stood outside, and they could see by her face that she knew about Chantrelle. Mrs. Noonan reached out to hug her.

“Chantrelle,” said Mrs. Gordon.

“I know,” said Mrs. Noonan.

“I just got a call,” said Mrs. Gordon.

“She called you?” Sarah wondered if she’d been calling all day, to have reached her so soon after they arrived home.

“No,” said Mrs. Gordon. “It was Enid Carmichael. She saw me come in and called straight away.”

Sarah and Mrs. Noonan exchanged looks. So typical. Mrs. Carmichael loved to be the bearer of news, any news.

“I was so upset I didn’t even tell Mr. Glenn. Just left him with Baby Owen.” She started to cry as she said his name. “What am I going to do without him?”

Mrs. Noonan hugged her tighter. “Don’t worry, Alma. We won’t let him go without a fight. We’ve got a plan to try to keep him.” Though her words sounded soothing, Sarah could see the worry in her eyes.