No River Too Wide (15 page)

“You were going to tell me about your financial situation,” Harmony said.

“You were going to tell me about Lottie’s father.” Jan managed a smile.

“You first.”

“It’s not complicated, although keeping it secret was. I met your father after your grandparents died. He was already working in insurance—this was before he started his own agency. Anyway, he was knowledgeable about finances, and he helped me settle the estate. Of course, everything went into our joint account after we married, and because of...well, who he is, I lost any real access to the money.”

Harmony took a deep breath. “Oh, yeah, I remember.”

“When he cataloged my parents’ assets, he missed two policies. They were small ones my father bought through his lodge, just meant to pay funeral expenses and help bridge any financial gaps. He got one for my mother, too, since she was eligible. I’m guessing mail from the insurance company was returned after their house was sold, and there was nothing in any legal papers that I found about the policies.”

“That’s pretty ironic. Dad, the great insurance agent.”

“A few years after we got married I saw one of my father’s lodge brothers at the grocery store. One of those rare times your father wasn’t with me. He mentioned the policies, said how glad he was that Daddy had taken them out, that he had been the one who talked him into it. So I called the company the next morning when your father was at work and learned there
were
two policies, and I was the beneficiary. They hadn’t tried very hard to find me.”

“And you didn’t tell Dad?”

“By then...” Janine took a long sip of tea, as if her throat was dry from this rare opportunity to talk about herself. “By then I knew having money Rex knew nothing about was a good idea. Just in case.”

Harmony knew how important this decision had been, and how courageous, because her own stomach was in turmoil when she considered what would have happened if Rex Stoddard had learned his wife was deceiving him. “What if he’d found out?”

“I decided I had to live with that. I established a post office box on my own and had the money delivered there. Since they’d died in a car accident, the company paid double. Two policies, double payments. It wasn’t a fortune, but it was a lifeline. I started a checking account at a bank your father didn’t use, and I put the money in there. I couldn’t put it in savings because I would have been forced to report the interest on taxes. Even so, the money’s enough to help me make a new start.”

Harmony realized this was the answer to a question she had asked herself since leaving Topeka. “That’s where you got the money to help me move here, isn’t it? You used some of that?”

Jan nodded.

“I thought that, well, after I left you’d had to explain to Dad why you used money from your joint checking account to help me leave. I worried.”

“I would have done that if I’d been forced to, Harmony. I knew you had to get away.”

“But all that time you had
money. You
could have left, too. Anytime. Why didn’t you leave a long time ago?”

Jan hesitated, and then she shrugged. “I wasn’t ready.”

Harmony considered how crazy that sounded. But how could she argue with the facts? She said the only thing she could. “I’m glad you have savings.”

“I want you to take half of it. I want you to go to college. You were always such a good student. It won’t send you to a private school, but North Carolina has good universities.”

Harmony held up her hand. “I’ll go back to school when the timing’s better. Taylor’s mother left me some money when she died, so I can start whenever I’m ready. But Lottie’s too young right now, and I’m happy doing what I’m doing. I
will
go, though, and I’ll probably go to law school, too.”

“Law school?”

“I want to—” Harmony decided not to be specific. Her goal was to help battered women, but that seemed an unkind announcement. “I want to help people who need it.”

“My daughter. A lawyer.”

“Too bad I haven’t graduated yet. You could use a good one right now.”

“The law can’t be much help to me. I just have to lie low until I know what’s—” Jan stopped herself, as Harmony had done. “You were going to tell me about Lottie’s dad.”

Harmony hadn’t missed where her mother had been going before the turnaround. “Dad hasn’t shown up yet? In Kansas, I mean.”

Jan gave a slight shake of her head.

“What do you think’s going on with him?” Harmony asked.

“I wish I knew.”

“Want to guess?”

Jan shook her head again.

“You think he’s looking for you, don’t you?”

“It’s the only thing that makes sense, but it doesn’t make much.”

“The fire department doesn’t think anybody was inside when our house burned down. I saw that on the internet. And if I know it, so does he. But he never came forward to say he was all right when they were still sifting through the ashes, at least not that the local news is reporting.”

“He’s still the central figure in our lives, isn’t he? Rex would like that.”

Harmony was glad to hear a hint of anger in her mother’s voice. “Then I say we stop putting him there. I’ll tell you about Lottie’s father instead, although I can sum up everything you need to know in a sentence. Too much like Dad, minus the violence.”

“Good for you for not making the same mistake I did.”

“Growing up in our house? I got daily lessons.”

Jan’s eyes filled with tears. “I can’t tell you how much I wish things had been different.”

Harmony felt awful. Her mother had cried enough tears in her lifetime, and now Harmony was responsible for more. She wasn’t sure why she couldn’t seem to leave their past alone. She really was so happy to have her mother here.

“Look,” she said, “we’ve circled right back to Dad again. Let’s bury him and talk about how you like Asheville.”

Jan pulled a tissue out of her purse. “The mountains make me dizzy to look at them. Did that ever happen to you?”

Harmony reached across the table and rested her hand on her mother’s. “I just pretended the mountains were a wall between me and everything that happened before. But I made sure there was a pass through them for you, Mom. I always hoped you would find it. And now you have.”

Chapter 13

Even though it hadn’t yet opened, Taylor was already unreasonably proud of Evolution, the health and fitness studio she was creating in a former warehouse in Asheville’s River Arts District. She was also terrified she would fail.

The River Arts District housed a variety of artists and eclectic studios in vintage factories and other historic buildings. The studios were often open, and tourists and locals prowled the area to enjoy the intimate and innovative restaurants, as well as opportunities to speak with the artists themselves. The hilly landscape, the distant mountains and the French Broad River added to a unique ambience, and from the beginning Taylor had pinned her hopes on finding the perfect building right in the midst of it.

Evolution sat above the French Broad River—and above the floodplain—with its own vintage brick patio to enjoy the view. Originally the building had been used to store agricultural supplies, and then it had housed transients, until a fire gutted the first floor. Decades of abandonment and neglect had followed, until only a renaissance of the area and Ethan Martin’s keen eye had brought it back to life.

Taylor knew that without her father’s help she would never have visualized the possibilities. And without her mother’s help she wouldn’t have been able to afford it. Even though Charlotte had died months before her daughter first saw the building, Taylor still thought of the studio as a family affair. Her mother’s legacy had financed it; her father had designed the renovations and overseen the work. And she? By trusting her own good instincts, which insisted a studio like the one she envisioned would flourish here, well, she was making the commitment of a lifetime.

If she failed, of course, she would have used up a significant part of her inheritance, and Maddie would no longer have as many choices for her future.

As they stood gazing at the sign over the studio front door, Ethan must have seen the mix of expressions on his daughter’s face, because now he rested a hand on her shoulder. “You’ve come this far. You’ll go the distance. Don’t worry.”

Taylor rarely admitted doubt. Not about anything. But today her heart was too full for evasion. “I can’t believe I did this. What was I thinking?”

“That you’re an intelligent lady with a keen eye and excellent judgment? That all the research you did pointed to buying the building and going for broke?”

“That last part? Broke? That’s the part that worries me.”

“You have enough money to see you through the first couple of years.”

“Not as much as I did before we discovered
all
the floors had to be replaced.”

“I’m sorry. I was hopeful we could salvage more upstairs.”

“In the long run it’s probably better. The new floors are stronger, resilient.” She turned to smile at him. “And it’s unlikely anybody’s going to slip on them and sue me.”

For the yoga classes they had chosen a special environmentally friendly flooring with superior traction, shock absorption and waterproofing, which was being installed this afternoon. For the rest of the building—the workout rooms, the café, the classroom—Taylor had gone with strand-woven bamboo, which was already in place. Once ancient layers of linoleum had all been removed, the original fir floors were so warped and damaged that even Ethan, who lived to salvage and reuse, hadn’t been able to save them.

Ethan slung his arm over his daughter’s shoulders. “You’re going to be okay. With all the interest in this area, even if you decide you don’t like owning a business you’ll be able to sell the building for everything you put into it and more.”

“I think Mom would like what we’re doing here. I hope Evolution will change lives in a good way. That would make her happy.”

“Everybody who walks through these doors will be healthier after your classes and the food at the café.”

“Maybe we’ll even make a vegetarian out of
you.
”

He laughed, and she playfully punched his arm. In reality she had given up on changing her father’s eating habits and settled for knowing that the nights he ate dinner at her house, he consumed at least some of the vegetables he needed for the week.

From the second floor she heard a loud crash, followed by a curse. She winced. “I hope this new wave of workers will actually be finished with the floor when they say they will. The painters come in to finish up on Thursday and Friday.”

“They’re competent. You don’t have enough experience to be amazed at how quickly this all came together. It’s small stuff now. I’m sure your classes will start on time.” Ethan checked his watch, squeezed her shoulder and stepped away. “I’m going to be late for my appointment if I don’t head out. Jan’s coming to pick you up in time to get you home to meet Maddie?”

“We have it all worked out.” Taylor hesitated, then added, “I know she didn’t make much of an impression today, but I think men frighten her, which makes sense after what she’s been through. You’ll give her the benefit of the doubt?”

“It doesn’t matter what I think, but I’ll be using the workshop from time to time, and she’ll have to get used to seeing me around your house.”

Ethan’s workshop was in Taylor’s backyard, and the plan had always been for him to continue using it for woodworking projects. He had built all the cabinetry for the Evolution office there, as well as shelving for the studios.

“She needs time to adjust,” Taylor said.

“I think it’s great you’ve opened your house to her.”

She heard the doubt in his voice and spoke to it. “But you would be happier if she didn’t treat you like a stalker.”

“I just hope with help she’ll be able to live normally someday. Only I don’t know how possible that is, do you? Especially when she’s still worried every minute that her husband will find her.”

“Analiese came up with a great motto for the goddesses. Ways for us to think about helping. Have you heard it?”

“I don’t remember.”

“Abandon perfection. Welcome reflection. Nurture connection.” Taylor paused. “And to that I think we need to add ‘offer protection.’”

He still looked skeptical. “You’re certainly nurturing connection by having Jan in your house. Does she talk to you?”

“She doesn’t bare her soul, but she
has
shared a little of what she’s feeling. It’s a good start. And Maddie likes having her there.”

“I worry about the protection part. All of you alone in the house. If her husband really is looking for her...”

“The group that helped her escape was very careful, and she’s more than cautious. No cell phone records. No credit cards. I’m guessing she’ll be looking for a job where she can be paid under the table.”

“You be careful, too.”

“I promise. I’m installing a security system next week.”

“My meeting’s going to last a couple of hours, but if something comes up...”

“Nothing will. Stop worrying.”

Ethan gave her a hug and a peck on the cheek before he left for his car.

Taylor stayed where she was and continued to stare at the building. She planned to start slowly, but classes were set to begin the following Monday, hopefully indoors, not outside on the patio, and she already had sign-ups. Unless she couldn’t find experienced and reliable staff, the café would open next month. Luckily, in a town where half the population had worked in food service, she wasn’t expecting a problem. In fact, a candidate for chef was supposed to be on his way here for an interview, which was why she hadn’t asked her father to drop her off at home before his meeting.

From the street the building was attractive. The scarred brick facade had been painted a blue that wasn’t quite navy, not quite royal, and the narrow window trim was forest-green with burgundy ledges. The sign, which she had agonized over, would go up tomorrow: “Evolution” painted in white over a sun rising between mountain peaks. She’d had T-shirts made with the logo for staff, and dozens more to sell at cost in the café. If people wore them around town, that was free publicity for her new venture. In fact, she was wearing one herself.