Daisy Lane (26 page)

“I can’t believe Mamie sent the cops to Kay’s,” Claire said. “Mamie’s a crabby old lady, but I didn’t think she would drag Grace off kicking and screaming.”

“What are you and Scott going to do?” Hannah asked Maggie.

“We still want to adopt her, but you know what Mamie’s lawyers will dig up on me,” Maggie said. “My ex-boyfriend was an ex-con drug dealer. What judge would let me have custody?”

“I got my start in Hollywood doing hair and makeup in a strip club,” Claire said. “None of us have a spotless background.”

“I beg your pardon,” Hannah said. “You floozies may have skeletons in your closets but mine only have dirty clothes and dust bunnies in them.”

“Would you and Sam consider adopting Grace?” Maggie said. “I wouldn’t mind if either you or Claire did.”

“Sam and I talked about it,” Hannah said. “Ever since she saved Sammy’s hide from those feral dogs Sam thinks she’s the bee’s knees. He said it was up to me. Sammy loves her and I do like her. She seems like a nice enough kid and I feel sorry for her, but is that enough of a reason to adopt a whole real live person?”

“It’s one thing to talk about saving her and another to talk about raising her,” Claire said. “That’s a huge commitment.”

“What about you?” Maggie said to Claire. “You’re the only one of us who can afford the legal battle.”

“I have the sordid Hollywood past, remember? Plus she’s happy at Kay’s,” Claire said. “I think she should just settle there.”

“Kay’s got her hands full with her campaign,” Maggie said. “If she wins the election, then she’ll have Stuart’s and Peg’s mess to clean up plus running the town.”

“Kay’s run this town for years,” Hannah said. “You don’t really think Stuart or Peg ever lowered themselves to deal with the day-to-day business.”

“No, I know that,” Maggie said. “I just don’t want Grace to be neglected.”

“If Mamie has her way, Grace will be living up on Morning Glory Circle in the haunted mansion with only a housekeeper for company,” Hannah said.

“Gothic,” Maggie said. “That’s the architectural style.”

“Grim and gruesome,” Hannah said. “That’s what I call it.”

“We don’t have to disappear from her life just because someone else adopts her,” Claire said. “Kay still thinks we have a fighting chance to stop Mamie. She’s going to call in all her favors, and that woman’s done favors for many people over the years. In this whole county there isn’t a clerk, secretary, administrator, committee or council member who doesn’t owe her something.”

“It’s the little people who hold the community together and make things work,” Maggie said. “Mamie doesn’t realize that.”

“I bet Mamie’s lawyers will have trouble getting things filed with the county,” Hannah said. “I bet lots of her paperwork will mysteriously disappear before this thing is over. For my part, I think Mamie might just develop a skunk infestation problem at her house.”

“You’ve talked to Kay,” Maggie said to Claire. “Does she really want to adopt Grace?”

“She’s crazy about the kid,” Claire said. “It surprised her how attached she got so fast. I think Kay always wanted children, it just didn’t work out.”

“She was in love with Matt Delvecchio when they were teenagers,” Hannah said. “I don’t think she ever got over him marrying that crazy nut.”

“That’s so sad,” Claire said. “I don’t think he and his wife have ever gotten along very well.”

“She’s mean as a striped snake, as our Grandma Rose used to say,” said Maggie.

“Maybe a snake infestation would be better,” Hannah said. “Nothing poisonous, mind you, but marked like poisonous ones. I seem to remember that corn snakes are like that. I need to get out my reptile book.”

“Kay will be a wonderful mom,” Maggie said. “Better than me, probably. I guess I wouldn’t mind if that’s what Grace wants.”

“I will give you Sammy plus throw in both dogs,” Hannah said. “You’d be an awesome mother.”

“Thanks,” Maggie said. “I appreciate the offer.”

“So we’ll support Kay and be there for Grace,” Claire said. “Like the three fairy godmothers.”

“If we’re the three fairy godmothers, who’s the bad fairy who’ll try to screw it all up?” Hannah asked.

“My default answer is always Ava,” Maggie said. “Plus in this case she’s been trash-talking Grace to whoever will listen.”

“Sons-of-witches,” Hannah said. “Are you kidding me?”

“Really?” Claire said. “Why would Ava do that?”

“Ava’s darling daughter Charlotte and Grace had a falling out,” Maggie said. “It happened right around the same time Charlotte’s snotty brat gene got activated.”

“She was always such a nice little girl,” Hannah said. “Too bad she realized she was pretty.”

“Beautiful,” Claire said. “Just like her mother.”

“Ava Fitzpatrick, the fairest flower in all of Rose Hill,” Maggie said with sarcasm.

“If poison ivy had a flower,” Hannah said.

“I guess there were some altercations with Grace at school this week in which Charlotte has not come out smelling like a rose,” Maggie said. “She’s dating Thea Lawson’s son.”

“Jumbo?” Hannah said. “That big jerk? What could Charlotte possibly see in that huge doofus?”

“He’s popular, apparently,” Maggie said. “Charlotte’s been running around with the rich kids at Pine County Consolidated and little Grace doesn’t fit in.”

“Thank goodness,” Claire said. “I like Grace just the way she is. She’s got integrity.”

“She’s also courageous and brave,” Hannah said.

“And has an accurate bullshit detector,” Maggie said. “She probably saw right through Ava.”

“You just tell me who Ava’s been talking to and I’ll set them straight,” Hannah said. “I am sick and tired of that mother-flippin’ hussy getting away with everything just because she’s got all the men in this town wrapped around her pinky finger.”

“It’s Theo Eldridge’s money that’s bankrolling Charlotte’s social success,” Maggie said. “Not one of those rich friends of Ava’s seems to mind where the money came from.”

“Do you think those two really had an affair?” Claire said. “Theo was so icky.”

“I can’t think of any other reason why he’d leave her millions of dollars,” Maggie said. “It broke my brother’s heart when that came out.”

“Which one?” Hannah said. “She was married to one and cheating with the other.”

“Bryan didn’t have a heart to break,” Maggie said. “But Patrick has never recovered.”

“He’s sure been crying on some soft shoulders,” Hannah said. “I think he goes home from the bar with a different woman every night.”

“He’s just lonely,” Claire said.

“He’s lonely but he doesn’t want to settle down with any of them,” Maggie said. “I think if Mandy hadn’t gone to prison he would be married to her by now.”

“It’s Melissa now,” Hannah said. “And she gets out soon.”

“I’ve missed her,” Maggie said. “I bet Ava and Charlotte will turn up their noses at her, too, just like they did to Tommy and Grace.”

“I have always wanted to do something about Ava,” Hannah said to Maggie. “But you would never let me.”

“I think Ava will do herself in,” Claire said. “This is a small town and no one gets away with anything forever.”

“I’m thinking of having a talk with her over this Grace thing,” Maggie said. “It’s not right to pick on someone who’s so defenseless.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t call Grace Branduff defenseless,” Claire said. “I think she’s a survivor.”

“I don’t think you’d talk to Ava so much as you’d yell and throw things,” Hannah said. “I think we could be sneakier about it but get the point across just as effectively.”

“You sound like someone with a plan,” Maggie said. “We’re intrigued. Tell us more.”

“Oh no,” Claire said. “Leave me out of it.”

“Too late; you were born into this family,” Hannah said. “Don’t try to deny your God-given mischief-making ability; that’s like hiding your light under a bushel. Baby Jesus hates that.”

“What an interesting interpretation of scripture,” Claire said.

“Just listen,” Hannah said. “Here’s what we need to do …”

Grace and Kay were seated in the breakfast nook at Kay’s house. For the first time in her life Grace didn’t feel like eating, and was picking at her macaroni and cheese.

“Try to eat something,” Kay said. “You’re going to make yourself sick.”

“I don’t want to go to their house,” Grace said. “Why can’t I just stay with you?”

“It may not be for long,” Kay said. “Meanwhile, we’ll all be working on a plan to get you out of there.”

“I keep thinking of all the times we needed money and Grandpa had it,” Grace said.

“It had to be a shock to find out Mamie was his biological mother,” Kay said. “And then to have her reject him in what no doubt was a very rude manner. It must have made him terribly bitter. I wouldn’t give that woman a rat to raise.”

“I just don’t understand how he could let us live so … poorly,” Grace said.

“Wounded pride can make people do foolish things.”

“But he found out about the money when he was twenty-one,” Grace said. “That was before he married Grandma. She used to tell me about how cold they were and how little they had to eat after the glassworks closed, before Grandpa got hired on in the mines. When my wisdom teeth had to come out, Grandma cleaned the doctor’s office for six months to pay for it. She was too old to do that kind of work. She didn’t go to the doctor about her lump because she didn’t think she could afford it. She might be alive …” Grace broke down and couldn’t continue.

Kay put her hand on Grace’s and squeezed it.

“I don’t understand it either,” Kay said. “It’s a doggone shame is what it is. It’s one thing to make that decision for himself, but to put his family through such needless misery when the means to relieve your burden was sitting right there in the bank ... that’s worse than stubbornness.”

“He never liked me,” Grace said. “But I thought he loved Grandma. How could he let her go without if he loved her?”

“I’m sure he loved you in his own way,” Kay said, but she sounded dubious.

“When I think about what our lives could have been like …” Grace said.

“It will do no good to torture yourself thinking what if this and what if that; you’ll drive yourself mad and it won’t change the past,” Kay said. “Focus on the future. Think of all the good you can do with that money. Not just for yourself, but for other people. Mamie’s not only mean she’s stingy; one single dollar in the collection plate every Sunday and never a donation when we need one for the food bank.”

“Why does she want me?” Grace said. “She didn’t want Grandpa or my mom. Why me?”

“Well, first of all, who wouldn’t want you? You’re a very special young lady,” Kay said. “But I see what you mean. Why now? Why not just leave well enough alone?”

“I don’t think it’s about wanting me,” Grace said. “I think it’s about not letting anyone else have me, like I’m just another one-of-a-kind piece of glass for her collection.”

Kay was quiet for a few moments, but finally she just said, “I think you might be right.”

Later that afternoon Grace sat on her bed and listened to Kay talk to Doc Machalvie in the kitchen. When the furnace wasn’t on, she could easily understand every word.

“When does she have to go?” he asked.

“At 7:00 p.m. for dinner,” Kay said. “Mamie’s driver is picking her up.”

“Scott and I are going to go over there this evening and try to talk some sense into her,” Doc said.

“You always seem to know every dirty little secret in this town,” Kay was saying. “Did you know about this?”

“I’m just a few years older than Jacob Branduff,” he said. “By the time I came back here to practice, Gustav was dead and Mamie and her brother were living in Europe. I wasn’t citified enough to do her doctoring when she moved back to town; she went to someone in Baltimore.”

“Jacob’s wife was one of the sweetest women I ever met. She had a time with her girls, that’s true, but all of that might have been different if Jacob had shared some of that money with her.”

“No point in obsessing over what might have been,” Doc said. “We have to focus on Grace’s future.”

“She’s only been here a few days but I feel like when she leaves I’ll miss her so much,” Kay said. “It’s so nice being needed by someone; being able to help.”

“Doris says maybe she’ll let us adopt her as grandparents,” Doc said.

“Oh, wouldn’t that be perfect?” Kay said. “I wouldn’t be so sad if you’d do that.”

“Scott’s so fond of her,” Doc said. “Maybe he could be her adopted uncle.”

“Do you think Maggie will ever marry that man?” Kay said.

The furnace came on and Doc left before it clicked off again.

Later that afternoon, while Kay was meeting with her friends at Children’s Protective Services, Maggie took Grace home with her to the apartment over the bookstore. Maggie was concerned about how shut down and emotionless Grace seemed. She guessed the events of the past few days had taken their toll and the girl had retired inside herself to try to process everything.