Daisy Lane (28 page)

“Please help me,” Grace said.

“Hello, Grace,” the wizard said. “I am so glad to see you.”

“I’m in terrible trouble,” Grace said. “Can you help me?”

The wizard got up and left the balcony, saying, “Let us have tea and we will discuss it.”

Grace began to clean off the table so they could sit and have tea, but found people already sitting there.

“Who are you?” she asked a young boy.

“James Trotter,” he said.

Grace noticed a grasshopper, a spider, a ladybug, and an earthworm having tea at a small table in front of the boy. They all waved to Grace and she waved back.

“I’m Sara Crewe,” the young girl next to him said.

Her clothes were old-fashioned and there were dark circles under her eyes.

“Your father is coming for you,” Grace said.

“No, he isn’t,” the young girl said, shaking her head slowly. “He died in the war.”

Grace recognized Oliver, dressed in rags, holding his food bowl.

“I want some more,” he said.

“The wizard is coming back with some tea,” Grace said. “There’s bound to be something you can eat.”

A plainly dressed woman was sitting at the table, embroidering, and she smiled shyly at Grace.

“Who are you?” Grace asked her.

“Jane Eyre,” she said.

“You’re going to inherit a fortune so you don’t have to marry anyone,” Grace said. “Not the missionary guy or the mean one with the crazy wife.”

“I do not know of whom you speak,” said Jane.

Ava was there, looking at Grace with contempt.

Ava said, “You are not fit to sit at the table with the wizard.”

“He asked me,” Grace told her. “I can sit anywhere I want to.”

She realized, however, that every chair had someone already sitting in it, and there was no room for her.

A clothed rabbit ran through the room, looking at his pocket watch.

“Don’t tell me,” Grace said. “You’re very late.”

“Don’t be a smartass,” the rabbit said, and went down the stairs.

The wizard came back, but he brought a jeweled box instead of tea.

“This is for you,” he said to Grace, “because you have been so good for so long.”

He opened the box and showed her what was inside. It was full of papers.

“What will these do?” she asked him.

“Give your bear back his armor,” he said, smiling. “And bring you home.”

Grace woke up to the sound of the dinner guests arriving.

Knox Rodefeffer was a very large man dressed in tight clothes, with rolls of fat under his chin. He seemed sweaty and nervous; his hand when he shook Grace’s was clammy. He, like her biological father’s lawyer, had unnaturally white teeth. There was also something wrong with his hair; it just didn’t look right. When he raised his eyebrows or wrinkled his forehead, it didn’t move. Grace wondered if it was a wig. He greeted her briefly, didn’t look her in the eye, and then ignored her the rest of the evening, as if she were invisible.

Knox’s brother Trick was much slimmer, with thinning blonde hair. He looked Grace in the eye with his own red rimmed ones when he shook her hand, and Grace could smell the alcohol on his breath. His wife, Sandy, trembled when she shook Grace’s hand. Her eyes darted here and there and never seemed to settle on anything. She kept touching her hair, as if to make sure it was behaving itself.

Grace knew their daughter, Stacey, from Pine County Consolidated. She gave Grace a bored look and said, “Sup?” That was all. She spent the whole dinner texting on her cell phone, and pushing her food around to look as if she was eating, but she never took a bite that Grace could see.

The housekeeper, Mrs. Balanchine served dinner, which was pot roast, potatoes and rolls. Grace thought it was delicious and told her.

Mamie said, “Don’t speak to the help, Grace. It’s considered lower class to do so.”

Mrs. Balanchine winked at Grace and glared at Mamie, but Mamie ignored her.

The dinner conversation was awkward. Knox and his brother talked about business, Sandy fussed over her daughter, and Stacey ignored her mother. Mamie kept trying to get Knox’s attention, but he ignored her. Grace enjoyed the good food and hoped it would all be over soon.

After dinner, Sandy said, “You should come spend the night with Stacey one night, Grace. You two girls are cousins, you know.”

Sandy nudged Stacey, who huffed as she lay down her cell phone.

“Please come over, Cuz,” Stacey said, with a fake smile and an eye roll everyone could plainly see. “We’re going to be besties now.”

After Trick, Sandy and Stacey left, Knox and Mamie went across the hall to her sitting room, and nobody seemed to care what Grace did. She had always wanted to be invisible, and in this house it seemed she was. Mrs. Balanchine removed all the dishes, and when Grace offered to help she said, “Oh no, Miss Grace. Your great-grandmother wouldn’t hear of it. If you ever need anything, you just let me know.”

Grace got up and walked around the dining room, looking at all the knick-knacks and glass that seemed to cover every horizontal surface. She looked at all the glass in the ornate glass cases, but when she tried to open them she found them locked. She wandered out into the hall, where she could hear Knox arguing with his aunt.

“Boarding schools cost money,” he was saying. “Money, may I remind you, that we don’t have yet.”

“But I don’t want her here, underfoot,” Mamie said. “Once we get the money, I can pay you back.”

“My money is tied up in investments, and in case you haven’t noticed, the stock market has taken a turn for the worse. I need her money as much as you do, maybe more. Meredith’s hospital isn’t cheap, you know.”

“Lunatic asylum, you mean,” Mamie said. “When does she get out?”

“Never, I hope,” Knox said. “It’s going to take me years to distance myself from the scandal.”

“You never could pick a wife,” Mamie said. “Bats in the belfry, all of them.”

“There have only been two,” Knox replied. “I can’t afford another divorce.”

“Well, don’t arrange another accident,” she said. “That didn’t work on Anne Marie and people might get suspicious if Meredith dies.”

“Oh, do shut up,” Knox said.

“Somebody’s got to pay the lawyers,” Mamie said. “They want a retainer and they want it tomorrow.”

“I don’t have it and Trick doesn’t have it,” Knox said. “Can’t they give you credit against the trust funds?”

“Only if Grace signs the papers,” Mamie said. “With that blasted Irishman as her lawyer I doubt she will.”

“It’s too bad you didn’t come to me sooner,” Knox said. “We might have got our money before the Fitzpatricks got involved.”

“There’s another problem,” Mamie said. “Scott Gordon.”

“What?”

“There’s something he knows about that I wouldn’t want spread around.”

“What is it?”

“Something I don’t want you to know about, either.”

“Has he threatened you?” Knox asked. “I’ll have him arrested for extortion.”

“He hasn’t yet,” Mamie said.

“That’s a chance you’ll have to take,” Knox said. “There’s too much at stake to back out now.”

“I’m not backing out,” she said. “The attorneys are going to offer him an incentive to withdraw his name as a potential guardian.”

“A bribe, you mean.”

“Maggie Fitzpatrick is his weakness and she has quite the history,” she said. “He’ll do anything to protect her.”

“Aunt Mamie, please try to stay out of trouble,” Knox said. “Don’t go signing anything without me reading it. And for God’s sake, stay home. I’m tired of being banned from every business but my own.”

“You’ll have to speak to the bank board about my mortgage,” Mamie said. “Soon as I get the trust funds I’ll be able to pay it off and clear all these debts.”

“I hope so,” Knox said. “It’s been mentioned that I have a conflict of interest where you’re concerned. It would be much easier on me if you’d just put the deed in my name.”

“Much easier for you to rob me,” Mamie said.

“I’m going,” he said. “Try to be nice to the kid. She’s saving our family from ruin; it’s the least you can do.”

Grace hurried back into the dining room as Knox left. After she heard the front door shut, she went to the sitting room and knocked.

“What do you want?” Mamie said.

“I want to talk to you,” Grace said.

“Well, I don’t want to talk to you,” Mamie said. “In my day children were to be seen and not heard; in the future I’ll thank you not to speak unless you’re spoken to. Now go have Balenchine show you to your room.”

The doorbell rang and Grace could hear the squidge of Mrs. Balanchine’s rubber-soled shoes coming down the hallway to answer the door.

“I’m not staying here,” Grace said. “I know you don’t care about me; you just want the trust fund.”

“Eavesdroppers got their ears boxed in my day,” Mamie said. “Don’t tempt me.”

“Lots of people would be interested to hear you’re broke,” Grace said. “Don’t tempt me.”

“How dare you!” Mamie screeched, and swung her cane.

It caught Grace by surprise, and she didn’t have time to duck. She was lucky the end was covered by a rubber stopper, otherwise it would probably would have cut her as it hit the side of her head. Knocked off balance, Grace fell over, and as she did so she knocked over the glass swan, which Mamie had sitting on the table next to her arm chair. It bounced on the thick rug but then shattered on the stone hearth.

“You horrible child!” Mamie screamed, and raised the cane in preparation to swing it down on Grace.

Grace covered her head with her arms and cried out.

“Stop!” said a voice from the doorway. “Mamie!”

Grace peeked out from under her arms to find Scott and Doc Machalvie standing in the doorway to the sitting room with a shocked-looking Mrs. Balanchine right behind them.

Mamie dropped her arm and the cane fell to the floor. Grace scurried away on her hands and knees and Scott helped her up. Doc looked at her head above her ear and then glared at Mamie.

“You ought to be ashamed of yourself, Mamie,” Doc said. “There’s not a court in this land that would give you a child after that display. I’m going to report you for child abuse.”

“Get out!” Mamie cried, and sank into her arm chair. “All of you! Balanchine!”

“We’re going,” Scott said. “C’mon, Grace.”

“I quit,” Mrs. Balanchine said. “You’re a nasty piece of work, Mamie Rodefeffer. You’ll be hearing from my attorney about my back wages.”

She untied her apron and flung it on the floor.

“I don’t care,” Mamie said, in the petulant voice of a little girl. “Get out!”

“Scott, you’ve got to help me,” Ava Fitzpatrick said as she rushed into his office the next morning.

Her long dark hair cascaded over her shoulders in shiny waves. Her delicately arched brows were drawn with worry above her big brown eyes, and the rosy pink of her flushed cheeks matched the color of her perfectly shaped mouth.

Scott’s heart started thumping and his palms began sweating. He thought of Maggie, felt guilty, and then silently cursed himself for his weakness. What would he have to do to get rid of this terrible crush?

“Sit down, Ava,” Scott said. “Calm down and tell me what’s happened.”

Ava was blinking fast as if to hold back her tears as she took a seat on the other side of the desk. Scott pushed the box of tissues toward her. She took one and twisted it in her hands. Scott mentally braced himself to resist getting involved in Ava’s latest drama.

“Someone has been sending me flowers,” she said.

He laughed.

“That doesn’t sound too bad,” he said. “Most women like to get flowers.”

“No, it’s not like that,” Ava said. “They’re coming every hour, and each bouquet is from a different person.”

“That’s kind of weird,” Scott said. “Who are they coming from?”

“Husbands,” Ava said. “The husbands of my dearest friends, who are also the fathers of Charlotte’s school friends.”

“Hmm,” Scott said. “That’s an awfully expensive prank for someone to pull.”

“You know how people love to gossip about me,” Ava said, touching each eye with the tissue, although there were no actual tears falling that Scott could detect. “Something like this could ruin not just my reputation but Charlotte’s as well.”

“No one is going to think you’re carrying on with all those husbands,” Scott said.

“You don’t know these women,” Ava said. “If it weren’t for the legacy that was left to me, they wouldn’t have anything to do with me. One whiff of scandal and they’ll not only drop me, but their daughters will shun Charlotte as well.”

“Then are they really the kind of friends you care to keep?” Scott said.

“You know how difficult it’s been for me,” Ava said. “All alone, raising three children while managing the B&B. Bryan and Theo nearly ruined me in this town. It’s taken me years to hold my head up in public again. I can’t let things from my past hurt Charlotte. These are the people who will help Charlotte find the right college, a good job, and the man she marries. It does matter, Scott, whether we like it or not.”

Scott thought of Grace, and how, according to Ava’s philosophy, she was doomed to fail because her parents weren’t big fish in this small pond. By this same logic Grace would never be successful in life because she couldn’t afford designer clothing and an expensive car. Hard work and education wouldn’t matter, not unless she got filthy rich or attended the most prestigious school. It was a game very few could ultimately win; no matter how rich or important your parents were, there would always be someone richer and more important who could look down on you.

Ava’s background wasn’t much better than Grace’s. She was only accepted by the upper echelons now because she had money, and well, let’s face it, he thought, because she was so beautiful. Scott suspected the ladies she was most desperate to impress kept her close just so they could keep an eye on her. If there were a scandal they would drop her instantly and enjoy doing it. No doubt about it, Ava’s reputation was her Achilles heel.

“So who do you think is sabotaging you?” Scott asked.

“I don’t know why anyone would do such a thing, Scott,” she said. “You know me. I mind my own business and try to help others whenever I can.”

“Grace Branduff needs your help right now,” he said. “You don’t seem very sympathetic to her situation.”

“She’s not as perfect as you seem to think.”

“It’s not just me,” Scott said. “Maggie, Claire, Hannah, and all the Fitzpatricks are doing everything they can to help her. I’m surprised you don’t feel the same way.”

“I know her better than you all do,” Ava said. “Grace Branduff’s one of the most negative people I’ve ever met. I extended every courtesy to that child but she never appreciated it. I’m just glad Charlotte had the good sense to drop her before Grace infected her with that bad attitude. Her new friends, the Beal twins, are so outgoing and have such positive attitudes.”

“You were an orphan, Ava, before you were adopted,” Scott said. “I’m surprised you don’t have more compassion for her.”

“It’s all well and good for Maggie, Hannah, and Claire to help her,” Ava said. “They don’t have to worry about her sour disposition poisoning their daughters’ chances. They’re perfectly happy to stay at the same social level they were born into. I have higher aspirations than that for Charlotte, and if that makes me a bad person, then so be it.”

“Okay, Ava,” Scott said. “We’ll just have to agree to disagree. Now, back to your flower problem. Who’s mad at you and why?”

“I can’t imagine,” Ava said, and then she paused.

It was interesting to watch the emotions flit across her beautiful face as Ava realized something. She looked almost amused, then angry, and then determined.

“What?” he asked her.

Ava stood up and smoothed the skirt of her dress.

“I think I know who’s behind this,” she said. “I can take it from here, Scott.”

“Ava,” he said. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing I can’t handle,” she said.

Scott stopped in at Sunshine Florist and greeted Erma, who was behind the counter assembling a large funeral wreath.

“Hey, Chief,” she said. “What’s shaking?”

“I’m looking into the curious case of the mysterious flower deliveries,” he said as he leaned on the counter. “I know I can count on your discretion.”

“Then you don’t know me at all,” Erma said. “Is this about Ava’s flowers?”

“Did she stop by?”

“I’ll tell you the same thing I told her,” Erma said. “When I got to work today, there was a list of delivery times, names, and more than enough cash to cover the whole operation in an envelope taped to the door. That’s all I know.”

“Can I see it?”

Erma handed him a creased piece of plain white copy paper with the aforementioned schedule and list of names printed on it.

“Could have come from any computer,” he said. “Not really worth the county’s time and money to try to get fingerprints from it unless something else happens.”

“Something else?” Erma said. “Do you think someone’s stalking Ava? I saw a show about that once. It started out harmless enough but eventually the man killed a woman.”

“No, don’t go starting that rumor,” he said. “I don’t think it’s anything more than malicious mischief. But I would like you to keep your eyes open and your ears tuned in, and let me know if anything else happens. Can I keep this?”

“Sure,” Erma said. “I don’t need it now.”

“Kind of an expensive prank, don’t you think?”

“I wish more people would use me for their pranks,” Erma said. “It made my week, money-wise.”

“Any ideas?”

“Oh, I’ve got lots of ideas,” Erma said. “Apparently Ava Fitzpatrick has made one doozy of an enemy. My guess is it’s one of the wives.”

“Are you making the rest of the deliveries?”

“I had six more to go before Ava stopped them,” Erma said. “Suits me. You need some flowers for Maggie? They’re paid for.”

“You know Maggie,” Scott said. “If she found out I gave her Ava’s flower rejects, she’d smack me down the nearest rat hole.”

“When are you two going to make it legal?”

“As soon as she says yes,” Scott said. “I keep asking and hoping one of these days she just might accept.”

“Maggie Fitzpatrick is a stubborn fool, in my opinion. No offense.”

“None taken.”

“You gonna stake out my shop, see if someone does the same thing tomorrow?”

“Naw,” he said. “You just give me a call if you get another one.”

“Will do,” Erma said. “Do you think Ava would mind if I took these flowers to the nursing home?”

“No,” said Scott, “I don’t think she’d mind at all.”

“Hey, Scott,” she said. “What do you think is going to happen to Jacob Branduff’s granddaughter?”

“I don’t know,” Scott said. “What have you heard?”

“I heard the county took Grace out of Mamie’s house, sent her back to Kay’s,” Erma said. “You care to let me in on the details?”

“Nope,” Scott said.

“I also heard Trick was down to the Branduff place with a surveyor, taking measurements.”

“Really,” Scott said. “Anything else?”

“Between you and me, Mamie hasn’t been paying her bills for awhile,” Erma said. “I think she owes every business in this town.”

Hannah came running into Little Bear Books shouting, “Maggie!”

Maggie came out of her office and said, “Shush. Come in here. What’s happened?”

Hannah pushed her back into the office and closed the door behind them.

“Mission accomplished,” Hannah said. “I told you it would work.”

“What happened? Did you see her? What did she say?”

“She called me,” Hannah said. “And I bet you’ll get a call, too, before long. She said she wanted to see if there was anything she could do to help Grace Branduff. She went on and on about what a sweet, precious child she was, and that she would hate if anything bad happened to her.”

“You’re kidding me,” Maggie said. “That fast?”

Maggie’s second-in-command, Jeanette, tapped on her window and mouthed the word “phone.”

“That’ll be her,” Hannah said.

Maggie picked up the phone and then said, “Oh, hi, Ava.”

She listened for a few moments and then said, “Well, I appreciate your call. I don’t know that there is anything we can do now except pray and offer our support to Grace. I know she’ll appreciate hearing you want to help in any way you can.”

Hannah was beside herself. She jumped up and opened the office door as Claire come rushing in the store.

“She called me,” Claire started to say when Hannah shushed her, pointing at Maggie on the phone.

“I’ll let her know,” Maggie said into the phone. “Although I’m sure she’d appreciate hearing it directly from you and Charlotte. Okay, Ava, thank you. Bye.”

Maggie hung up.

“You’re a frigging genius,” Maggie said to Hannah. “I can’t believe how well that worked and how fast.”

“She’s falling all over herself,” Claire said. “She’s so worried about Grace.”

“She doesn’t know which one of us did it but she was smart enough to figure out why,” Maggie said. “Hannah, what can I say? I underestimated you.”

“I know, I know,” Hannah said. “You may read all the hard books but I’m the secret smarty-pants in this outfit.”

“She made that connection pretty fast,” Claire said. “I didn’t know Ava was that bright.”

“Cunning is the word,” Maggie said. “Clever and cunning.”

“Do you think she’ll give Charlotte some marching orders?” Claire said.

“I’d count on it,” Maggie said. “Whether or not Charlotte marches, though, remains to be seen.”

Grace was surprised to see Ava and Charlotte at Kay’s front door. Ava was holding a bouquet of flowers and had on her “greeting B&B guests” smile. Charlotte was looking at her phone and sulking.

“Kay’s not here,” Grace said. “She had a campaign committee meeting.”

“We came to see you, silly,” Ava said. “Didn’t we, Charlotte?”

“Uh huh,” Charlotte said, but a hateful look conveyed her real feelings toward Grace.

Grace felt funny about inviting people into a house that was not her own, so she stepped out onto the porch. The three stood awkwardly until Ava seemed to remember she was holding flowers.

“These are for you,” she said. “We wanted you to know we are thinking of you and if there is anything we can do to help you just let us know.”

Grace accepted the flowers and a hug with as little body contact as possible. Ava nudged Charlotte toward Grace but she just scowled at her mother and went back to her phone.

“Charlotte,” Ava prompted. “Wasn’t there something you wanted to say?”

Charlotte rolled her eyes and then glared at Grace.

“If you’d like to come over that would be okay.”

“We’d love to have you over,” Ava said. “For dinner, a sleepover; just come anytime, no need to call. You know you’re always welcome.”

Grace couldn’t think of what to say. It was obvious Ava and Charlotte didn’t mean any of the things they were saying, and she couldn’t imagine why they felt compelled to say anything. She started to ask that very question and then thought better of it. She was learning that sometimes it’s better to just let things unfold, and to keep her mouth shut.

“Thanks,” she finally said, and then just stood there, holding the flowers.