Circle of Shadows

by
Edna Curry

by
Edna Curry

Copyright
©2000 Edna Curry

ALL
RIGHTS RESERVED

This is a work of fiction. All
names, characters.
incidents
and events in this story
are fictitious and the product of the author’s imagination or are used
fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations or
persons, living or dead is purely coincidental and beyond the intent of the
author or publisher.

No portion of this book may be
reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, printing, faxing,
E-mail, copying electronically or by any other means without written permission
of the author, except for short excerpts for reviews.

This book is dedicated to all the
wonderful critique partners who have helped me in the past, especially Vicky
Jadwinski
and Judi Phillips
.

“Please, ladies, let me finish,”
Mr. Johnson said, taking another drink of coffee to wet his dry lips. The
lawyer frowned down at the will in front of him, then looked back at the three
women sitting in the old-fashioned wooden chairs on the other side of his desk.

“Robert didn’t leave the other
fifty-one percent of his shares in the grocery store to you, Sarah.”

“What?” Sarah’s head snapped up
and her lips made a wrinkled red O. “But I’m his wife. Who else would he have
left them to?” She looked at her daughter, Lili, and her sister, Agnes, as
though for support against this outrage. “He has no other family.”

Mr. Johnson avoided looking at
the three red-haired women staring at him. He pulled out a wrinkled white
handkerchief and wiped his wet forehead.

“He didn’t leave them to anyone,”
Mr. Johnson said, pushing up his horn-rimmed glasses. “He sold them—sold them
two weeks ago for cash, and set up a trust fund for you, Sarah.”

The small room with its darkly
varnished wooden furniture seemed to close in on Lili. She lifted a hand to
brush back her long hair, rubbing at the knot of tense muscles along the back
of her neck, as she tried to absorb this turn of events.

“Oh, well then, that’s all
right.” Sarah nodded, her lips curving in a pleased little smile. “So that’s
what Robert meant when he told me that he had arranged everything, that I’d
never have to worry because he’d taken care of me. He was so good that way, you
know, he never wanted me to have anything to do with business at all. He always
said he just wanted to forget business entirely when he came home, and relax.”

Lili scarcely heard her mother’s
rambling words. The room seemed to whirl around her as she tried to absorb the
shock of what the lawyer had said.

“Father sold the store?” she
whispered unbelievingly.

Adams’ Foods had been a landmark
in their little town since her grandfather had started it as a general store.
Now it was the only grocery store in the tourist town of about two thousand
people. She couldn’t imagine her father selling it.

Just sold it—no chance for her to
fight—or search out options—just gone, out of her control. Bile rose in her
throat. Bitterness towards her stern father tangled her raw feelings into knots
and rode roughshod over the grief she had felt for him.

“How can you be pleased to lose
the store, Mom?” Her voice sounded raw with pain and anger, even to herself.
Lili felt her mother’s hand on her arm.

“I’m sure your father did what he
thought was best, Lili.”

Lili couldn’t look at her mother.
They were from two different worlds; her mother had never understood her
feelings. They had never seen things alike.

“It’ll all turn out for the best,
dear,” Aunt Agnes put in.

Lili was really very fond of her
aunt. She and her mother had been grateful to have Agnes return from Arizona to
support Sarah during these trying days. But at the moment, Agnes’ words rankled
and Lili resented her. The two older women sat with their hands linked in
mutual support, while she felt very alone.

Odd, she thought, how the three
of them could look so much alike, yet think so differently. They saw her
father’s action as caring, while she saw it as betrayal.

“Who owns the store now?” Lili
asked, her usually smooth, low voice sounding ragged.

“Northern Lights Corporation of
Minneapolis. It’s not quite like that, Lili,” Mr. Johnson said, obviously
trying to placate her. “As I said, your father left you twenty-four percent,
and of course, since you already had the twenty-five percent that your
grandfather left you, that leaves you with forty-nine percent. That’s almost
half the store.”

“Almost half
isn’t good enough, Mr. Johnson.
You know as well as I do that if Northern Lights Corporation owns fifty-one
percent, they have control. I merely have an investment, now.”

“And a job,” Mr. Johnson reminded
her. “You’re still the manager. Under your father’s sales agreement, all
employees’ jobs are guaranteed for at least a year, barring something drastic
or illegal in their activities, of course.”

Lili wanted to do something more
than a little drastic and illegal to whoever owned Northern Lights right now.
She swallowed, trying to soothe her dry throat, and took a sip of her coffee,
now cold. Her hand trembled, making the remaining liquid shimmer in brown
ripples in the white porcelain cup.

Damn Father’s old-world ideas! If
I’d been a son
,
he
would have left control of the store to me with no questions asked.

She knew that he would have told
a son to take charge and merely provide an income for a helpless mother.
Because she was a daughter, even one with a business degree, he had put her in
the same helpless-female category. He had given up the store rather than change
his old ideas. She pulled her attention back to the people around her.

“More coffee?” Mr. Johnson’s
secretary was at her elbow with a fresh pot of the aromatic brew. At Lili’s
nod, the woman refilled their cups and discreetly withdrew.

Lili gratefully swallowed the hot
liquid, trying to concentrate on the rest of the details of the will as Mr.
Johnson explained them. It was only days since her father’s death, and those
days had been filled with a whirlwind of decisions.

“For now, just continue at the
store as before,” the lawyer instructed. “I’ve informed Northern Lights
Corporation of Robert’s death, so I’m sure they will soon be in touch with you.
I’ll notify the bank that you’re in charge, so you can sign checks and so on.”

“Thank you.” Lili listened to the
rest of Mr. Johnson’s details in an unbelieving haze. Her head ached, and more
than anything, she wanted to escape.

“Here’s a copy of the sales
agreement with Northern Lights, Lili.”

Numbly she took the envelope he
was holding out to her. She looked at him. “Is there anything else?”

“Not at the moment. I’ll be in
touch. Call me if you have any questions.”

“Then I’d better be getting back
to the store,” she said, rising and holding out her hand to Mr. Johnson. “I’ve
already taken too much time off.”

Sarah looked up in surprise, then
frowned at Lili. “The store can operate fine without you for a few more hours.
We have fifteen employees, for heaven’s sake. You’re just like your father. All
work.”

Lili bit back a retort that her
mother was just the opposite, with no interest in the store, only in her home,
church and social affairs. She strode out, reminding herself her mother had
been through enough this month and didn’t need a sassy daughter, too.

Free of the repressive atmosphere
of the law office, Lili changed her mind about returning to work. The very
thought of returning was repugnant. She got into her little red Chevy and left
town, driving aimlessly until she found herself at the lookout on the high
bluff near the lake. It had been one of her favorite spots to go to think
things out since childhood.

Parking, she walked through the
deserted lot to the guardrail at the overlook. She sat on the wide wooden
fence, hugging her arms around her knees. The buds on the trees were just
beginning to leaf out, and the sweet smell of blossoms on nearby wild plum
trees filled the air. An early morning shower had dampened the ground and left
everything bright and fresh smelling. How could the world look so right and
beautiful, when hers had just fallen apart?

Grief for her father was mixed
with anger toward his actions, which were directly to blame for this awful
predicament. Tears began to fall, as she gave vent to her frustration.

She felt so alone. Her mother
would never understand because she thought, as Robert had, that women should
work only until they married. After marriage, they should stay home, raise
babies and leave business dealings to the men.

Lili’s father had agreed she
could go to college only because she’d had no marriage in sight, and because
she had always been able to sweet-talk him into indulging her whims as long as
he considered them harmless. For important things, he never sought her opinion;
he did as he pleased, as he had with the store.

If only he’d told her what he
planned to do, perhaps she could have talked him out of it. She’d always
assumed Adams’ Foods would remain in her family forever. For as long as she
could remember, she’d dreamed of the day when she would be the owner of their
heritage. Now because of his old-fashioned attitudes, he had thrown away her
dream and sold the store to Northern Lights without giving her a chance to run
it.

In retrospect, she knew he’d
never taken her seriously. Tears rolled down her cheeks. Why did he think she’d
spent all those years in college? And worked at the store during her teen years
when she could have been out having fun? Or spent the past five years training
with the major grocery chain in St. Louis?

Why, Daddy? Didn’t my dreams
count because I was a girl?

Finally Lili blew her nose and
dug into her purse for the copy of the purchase agreement Mr. Johnson had given
her. She read it carefully, looking for loopholes.

At last she found one. Both she
and Northern Lights Corporation had the right to sell some or all of their
shares provided the other was given first option.

She would get a loan, and buy
those shares back, or at least enough of them to regain control.

Excitement bubbled through her.
Lili stared at the signature on the bottom of the paper in her hand, but it was
illegible. The first letter looked like a ‘K’ but she couldn’t be sure.
Northern Lights Corporation, and an address in Minneapolis were typewritten,
but not the name of the person who had signed it.

“Well, Mr. NL Corp., whoever you
are, I’ve decided to stay and fight for my rights. You may own majority shares,
but I’m still in the running. Adams’ Foods is going to remain under the control
of an Adams even if I
am
only a woman and Father didn’t think women knew
anything.”

Lili straightened her shoulders
and drove back toward the darkening town. The store was closed. She must have
spent more time at the lookout than she’d thought.

After this awful day, what she
needed was a relaxing swim. She always kept a swimsuit and towel in a bag in
her car, ready for a swim after work. She headed across town to the motel where
an indoor heated pool was open to the public for a fee.

When she walked into the pool
area, she saw the water was empty except for a family with several small
children.

She stepped carefully across the
wet cement, ducking a spray of water that one boy splashed at another.

Fluorescent lights and the boys’
echoing laughter made the large room bright and cheerful.

Just the thought of gliding
through the cool water had Lili feeling better already. In the dressing room,
she slipped quickly into a blue one-piece bathing suit. She covered her long
hair with a matching cap, hoping to keep most of it dry since the night felt
cool and she didn’t want to get chilled going home. Lili swam laps vigorously
until she felt her tension slip away. By then the family had left and another
lone swimmer had joined her in the pool. Lost in her angry thoughts, it was some
time before she noticed him watching her.

He deliberately kept pace with
her, sending her a friendly smile, bright flecks of green flashing in his hazel
eyes. His wet hair appeared a dark brown, making her wonder if it would be
lighter when it dried. His arms flashed smoothly as he swam, making her notice
his wide, muscled shoulders. A rich tourist, she decided, eyeing his deep
golden suntan and smooth un-calloused hands. Had he been vacationing somewhere
in the sun?

What did she care? She had more
important things on her mind than how a passing, handsome stranger kept his
winter tan.

She stopped at the ladder in the
shallow end of the pool for a breather, and watched him do another lap. As he
returned, he met her eyes, smiled a greeting and pulled up beside her. She
tried to ignore how her heart speeded up as he drew near.

“Do you swim often?” he asked.

“Yes, after work in the evening,
whenever I can.”

Then you’re not a guest in the
motel?”

“No, I’m just a local yokel.” She
smiled at her own attempt at humor, hoping he wouldn’t consider it too silly.
His nearness was surprisingly disturbing. What was the matter with her? She
didn’t normally react to men this way. However
,
this one had an aura of
magnetism and authority about him. “Are you a guest?” She mentally kicked
herself for asking the stupid question.

“Yes, I’m here for a few days on
business. The pool looks so inviting, I’m surprised more people aren’t using
it.”

“I’m sure it was busier earlier.
There are several classes of swimming lessons right after school. And it’s
usually full of mothers and children around the dinner hour.” Lili pulled off
her swim cap and shook out her long hair, running her fingers through it to
smooth out the tangles. Luckily it was only damp around the edges and hadn’t
gotten completely wet.