by Becky Harmon
She checked in at the sheriff’s department before starting her shift. Since patrol was not normally her detail and she was just filling in, she had a few cases of her own that needed attention. She stacked the folders in the center of her desk with plans to return later in the evening if the night was quiet.
She radioed dispatch that she was on duty and made a pass through Riverview, hitting every street before turning onto Rivers Pass. Brandon met her in the driveway, his face red and puffy. He wrapped his little arms around her waist and hugged her tight. Over his head, Steph could see Kim and Agnes on the front porch. Pulling Brandon with her, she walked toward them, her heart filled with dread.
“It’s true then?” Kim asked.
Steph shook her head.
Kim stood and then sat again, clearly not sure what step to take next. “I just don’t understand why Dorothy would do this to us.”
They both looked at Agnes.
“Ms. Agnes?” Steph prodded her.
“She wanted her to come home,” Agnes finally spoke.
“This is not her home.” Steph didn’t even try to keep the anger out of her voice.
Kim nodded. “I’ve never even met her and I’ve lived in Riverview for over ten years.”
Agnes shrugged. “That’s what Dorothy said. She wanted her to come home.”
Steph sat down beside Brandon on the front steps. “She doesn’t consider this her home. She told me she had no emotional ties to this place.”
Kim’s head whipped up. “You spoke with her. Oh, right, of course, you did. You were both at the reading of the will.” She paused for a second. “What’s she like? Can we change her mind?”
“That would be a good place to start,” Agnes said softly.
Steph gave Agnes a hard glare. “She’s the cold-hearted professional type, and I don’t think we’ll be able to change her mind. I applied for a loan, but she’s asking a lot so don’t get your hopes up.”
Kim stood again. “Maybe if we all sign on the loan.”
“That might work,” Steph agreed. “I’ll let you know when I hear from the bank.”
Kim glanced at Agnes. “Are you in too?”
“Let’s try to change her mind first.”
Steph rolled her eyes. “She isn’t that kind of person. We aren’t going to be able to change her mind. We have to do something now.”
“Please just try, Stephanie. For Dorothy.” Agnes met her eyes and Steph saw all the years of Dorothy’s pain mirrored there.
“Okay, Ms. Agnes.” Steph stood. “I need to get back to work.”
“Brandon, go get Ms. Steph’s dinner. Quick.” Kim urged him through the door to the stairs.
“You didn’t have to do that, Kim, but I appreciate it.”
Brandon flew back down the stairs and handed Steph a lunch bag. She gave him another hug. “We’ll figure something out, buddy. Don’t worry.”
He gave her a halfhearted smile before returning to sit at his mom’s feet.
Steph waved and climbed in her cruiser. Before pulling out on the main road, she unzipped the bag and pulled out the bottle of water. Checking the other contents, she found pasta salad and a baked chicken breast. She smiled at Kim’s thoughtfulness as she looked at the chicken already cut into bite-sized pieces. It smelled good, but Steph wasn’t sure she could keep down any food at the moment.
She pulled out onto the road and drove out of town to the farthest county limit. Her favorite part of working patrol was the solitary driving around. She liked to get away from people and think. Tonight, however, her thoughts were making her crazy. She couldn’t analyze the situation with Jemini without making her head hurt. She considered stopping at Lake View, but at this time of the evening Cassie would be settled in with her family. She would never turn her away if she wanted to talk, but Steph wasn’t sure she could handle Cassie’s happiness on a night she felt so empty and lonely.
As she approached Rivers Pass again, she turned on a rutted side road where she could approach the house without Agnes noticing. She watched as the sun slowly set over Dorothy’s house and thought about where she was supposed to go from here. She wasn’t sure she could stay in her home if Agnes and Kim were evicted from theirs. Even if she helped them find new homes, she would be miserable there knowing she hadn’t been able to stop it. She couldn’t believe the burden Dorothy had put on her.
Thoughts of Dorothy brought thoughts of Jemini and how she wished she would have returned before Dorothy had died. She could imagine a different kind of meeting between them then. One where she didn’t have to be angry and where she could explore the attraction she felt toward her. Finally forcing her focus back to work, she turned the cruiser around, heading back toward the main road.
After a suspicious activity call around ten p.m. that turned out to be two boys trying to catch worms for night fishing, Steph was finally able to return to the office and work on her case files. Currently she had two break-ins, one case of feuding neighbors, and a suspicious death which she was pretty sure would be ruled natural causes when the autopsy came back.
She typed up some interview notes but quickly realized most of what she needed to do couldn’t be accomplished at one in the morning. Returning to her solitary driving, she let her mind ramble again through the events of the last week.
Chapter Five
Jemini stepped onto the porch, closing the door behind her. After a solitary dinner of saltine crackers and a glass of wine, she had slept a few hours. Unfortunately she felt as miserable today as she had yesterday. Dressed in the only pair of shorts she had brought and running shoes, she hoped a run would make her feel normal again. She would enjoy some fresh air and then drive back to Chattanooga.
“We seem to keep meeting like this.” Kathleen smiled up at Jemini. “Would you like to walk?”
She stared longingly at the woods surrounding her but returned Kathleen’s smile instead. The peace and serenity of the forest was calling her, but she also felt a strange pull to be around Kathleen. Her strength and confidence inspired a feeling of comfort. “Sure. Why not?”
“I was happy to see you return last night. Are you going to stay for the cookout tomorrow?”
“I’m sorry, but I don’t think that would be a good idea.”
Kathleen was silent for a few moments and then she asked, “Is it Steph?”
She gave Kathleen a quick glance. She wasn’t the type to pour out her soul to an unknown stranger, but the compassion in Kathleen’s face eased her resistance. Maybe getting some of it out would help her feel more settled. Kathleen was the perfect person too. Not just because she was easy to talk to but more so because Jemini planned to leave today and maybe never return.
“Dorothy Rivers was my grandmother. Apparently, Steph was close to her and she has been angry since I arrived, though I’m not sure why.” She watched the sidewalk in front of them as she thought about Steph’s question the night she arrived. “Why are you here?”
“Maybe she’s upset because I didn’t attend the funeral, but I didn’t know she had passed away until two days ago when the attorney contacted me concerning the will.”
“Maybe you’ll get a chance to talk with Steph and explain that to her. I’ve only known her for a couple of months, but she seems pretty levelheaded.”
After a few seconds of silence Kathleen spoke again. “Do you mind if I asked what happened at the reading of the will?”
“She left everything but Steph’s house and ten acres to me.”
“And that upsets you?”
“Yes.” Jemini stopped walking. “I don’t live here. The only thing I can do is sell it.”
“You don’t want to move here?”
“No!”
Kathleen placed her hand on Jemini’s arm. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to upset you.”
“It wasn’t a very happy time for me when my mom took me away from here. I thought my grandmother was the world.”
“Thought?”
“I eventually found
out the truth.”
“Oh.”
Jemini shook her head. “I’m sorry. I guess you knew her too. It seems everyone in town did.”
“Not really. I met her once, but I haven’t lived in Riverview very long. We keep pretty busy here at the farm.”
Jemini continued to study the path in front of them. She had shared with Kathleen and now she was going to ask Kathleen to do the same. She couldn’t help being curious about how the town accepted them and their relationship. “Do you mind if I ask about you and Cassie?”
“Of course not. We met last summer and I couldn’t make myself leave here.”
“Because of Cassie or the farm?”
“Yes!”
Jemini laughed, happy to be discussing something other than her past. “So you and Cassie are together?”
“We are. Does that bother you?”
“Oh no. I’m a lesbian too. I just wondered about living in this small town.”
“It’s surprisingly open and believe it or not we aren’t the only lesbians in town.”
“I felt like a zoo animal at the diner yesterday. The town’s really pretty diverse, all things considered. I thought maybe they hadn’t seen a lesbian before.”
Kathleen laughed. “No, I’m guessing that was because of your last name. Rivers is a big name around here and not just because of Dorothy. Your great-great-great-grandfather was the first official mayor of Riverview. Of course, it wasn’t called Riverview back then. It was Landers Pass.” Kathleen shrugged when Jemini gave her a puzzled look. “I was curious after you arrived the other night. Cassie couldn’t tell me why the town of Riverview didn’t have a river, so I went online and tried to find out. It does make more sense that the town was named after a person rather than a river that doesn’t exist. Originally it was called Riversview, but somewhere along they dropped the ‘s’ and it became Riverview.”
“I didn’t realize how far back my history went in this town. It wasn’t something I cared about as a kid and after I became an adult it was too painful to even think about Riverview.”
Jemini was silent while she thought about how she had been treated as a child by the people of Riverview. In the South, a child from a mixed-race family would usually face discrimination and harassment, but she could only remember feeling like royalty everywhere she went. Her mother had tried to teach her about racial inequality, but in Dorothy’s shadow it wasn’t something she had experienced. After they left, she had learned that race did influence how you were treated by others. Being an attorney had taught her to offer civility to others and expect it in return. Her expectations were normally met.
Jemini watched Kathleen’s face as she switched the topic of conversation to get more answers. “Stephanie says there are tenants in the house. Do you know them?”
“Not really but Cassie does. Apparently, Ms. Agnes has lived in this town her whole life. She used to own a beauty shop in Riverview. I think she’s in her seventies now so she’s been retired for a number of years. Kim and her ten-year-old son Brandon live upstairs. Chase and Brandon are in the same class at school.”
“The attorney never mentioned anything like that when he called about the reading of the will. I asked not to be present, but he said I needed to be because of what was being left to me. He implied it was the house and I made it clear I had no intention of moving here no matter what was left to me. He’d already set things up with a realtor, but I didn’t realize there was still someone living there.”
“Of course you didn’t. Why would you?”
“Maybe I’ll be able to sell it to someone that will let them stay.”
As they neared the office on their second lap, Kathleen paused. “I guess I should go back to work. So, you’re staying another day then?”
“I’m not sure. Maybe.”
“Okay. Well, I hope so. I’m enjoying our morning walks.”
She smiled as she started up the hill toward the wooded path. She needed to call Karen and see what time she was supposed to be in front of Judge Stevens tomorrow afternoon, but she couldn’t remember the last time she didn’t have anywhere she needed to be immediately. She didn’t have to be in any hurry to leave this quiet paradise. As she entered the shaded canopy, she allowed herself to consider the things she was growing to like in Riverview.
She could start with the town’s very attractive deputy sheriff and the unknown pull she felt whenever she was near her, but she didn’t want to think about Stephanie and the emotional roller-coaster ride she was on with her. It was hard, however, not to think about the good things she had seen in her in the last two days. Stephanie clearly had a personal connection with the tenants in Dorothy’s house and even though she had been given security in what Dorothy had left her, she was still worried about them.
She did want to know why Stephanie was so mad at her, though. If it was because she didn’t come to the funeral then she hoped she would have a chance to explain. If it was because she had left Riverview, it was hard to believe Stephanie had held onto her anger for twenty years. She had been sad when they left, but she had never once felt anger toward Stephanie. She knew she had been rude yesterday when they talked, but she couldn’t believe that Stephanie thought for one minute that she would throw away her current life and rush to live in Riverview. She couldn’t help but hope that Stephanie would allow her a chance to explain that as well.
Comfortable with her pace, Jemini settled into the rhythm of her run. With her busy schedule she couldn’t remember the last time she had been able to go for a run and not be on a time restraint or to enjoy the outdoors. Her workouts usually consisted of a treadmill inside an air-conditioned gym.
As her stress began to fade, she knew she couldn’t leave Riverview without talking to Stephanie. They had issues to work out between them. She had thought she could sever the ties again and return to her life, but the truth was she felt connected to Stephanie somehow. She wanted the chance for them to talk civilly. There was a chance that Stephanie held the answers to questions she didn’t even know she wanted to ask.
* * *
Steph couldn’t stop her truck from turning in at Lake View. She had thought all evening about Agnes’s words and how she might convince Jemini to stay in Riverview. She parked in front of the office and looked around. She loved this place. It was almost like another world where things were quieter and moved at a slower pace. She turned at the sound of horse hooves thundering across the pasture and spotted Cassie and Chase riding hard. She started walking toward the barn to meet them. She was relieved to hear their laughter and see two happy faces as they dismounted.
“The way you guys were riding I thought there was a bear chasing you.”
“No bear, Ms. Steph. Just trying to win ice cream for dessert,” Chase said excitedly.
Cassie laughed. “You win, Chase. Now you get to cool down both horses while I talk to Ms. Steph.”
“It’s worth it!” Chase said as he unstrapped his saddle and pulled it from the horse. It looked as big as he was, but he handled it with expertise, lugging it over to the saddle stand and swinging it up into place.
“He’s a hard worker especially if there’s ice cream or horses involved.” Cassie smiled at Steph. “What’s going on with you?”
“Just looking for someone to help me straighten out my head.”
Cassie threw her arm around Steph’s shoulders. “You’ve come to the right place. Let’s get some coffee.”
Steph smiled as Kathleen looked up when they entered the office. Her eyes narrowed. “What are you two up to?”
“Steph came for some advice.”
“Then I’ll leave you two alone.”
“No, Kathleen. Can you stay?” Steph asked. “You still kinda have an outsider’s point of view. That can be useful.”
Steph took the chair by the window, staring back and forth between them. Kathleen’s eyes never left Cassie as she brewed each cup of coffee in the Keurig. She had given up on finding someone to share her life with a long
time ago. Getting close and then the pain of leaving was more than she thought she could stand. Watching Cassie and Kathleen made her believe in love again, if only a little bit.
She knew their lives had been complicated in the beginning, but she would never forget the night Cassie had called her to issue an Amber Alert because Chase was missing. She had seen a change in Cassie that night and even the next morning when they found Chase safe, but very scared. During the police interviews she had conducted later to find out exactly what Chase had seen the night his foster parent was murdered, Cassie and Kathleen had barely left his side. Neither of them was his birth mother, but there wasn’t any doubt that they both had developed a mother-and-child relationship with him. During that time, she had also gotten to know Kathleen, who worked with a foster care organization in Pensacola that placed kids on rural farms for the summer. Her impact on Cassie had gone far beyond what could be seen by the human eye. They completed each other as well as making each a better person. She had to admit she had stayed longer than the interviews with Chase had warranted in order to be around the warmth of their family.
“Okay, Steph, let’s hear it.” Cassie handed her a cup of coffee, pulling her away from her thoughts.
She took a deep breath and went straight to the heart of the situation. She was here to ask their advice so no need to sugarcoat the topic. “Agnes says Dorothy wanted Jemini to come home and that it’s up to us to convince her to stay.”
“And did Dorothy leave any suggestions on how to do that?” Cassie asked, handing Kathleen a cup too.
“No, and I can’t seem to talk with Jemini for more than two seconds without getting angry. I want to be furious with Dorothy, but I can’t make myself because I miss her so much.” She choked back a sob. She thought she had handled Dorothy’s funeral and all the ensuing memorial dinners well. She had remained strong, helping Agnes get from place to place, but she hadn’t really taken time to allow herself to mourn, she now realized. When all this was over she would take some time to cry, she decided, even though she wasn’t really the crying type. Given all this stuff with Jemini, though, she was afraid she wasn’t going to have control of the emotions when they finally decided to take over.