FURever Bound

by Patricia Fry

  “Bye.”

  “So is Iris going riding with you?” Michael asked as they walked into the kitchen.

  Savannah smiled. “Yes, if I help her with some research.”

  “You aren’t really going to walk alone with the kids all the way to Iris’s, are you?”

  She shook her head. “No. Not until I know more about the route between here and there. Iris and I are going to check it out on horseback.”

  He smiled at her. “You’re a real little trailblazer, aren’t you, hon?”

  “Maybe.” Savannah shrugged. “I think it would work. Iris is anxious to explore the possibilities too.”

  “When are you going?”

  “Depends on you and Mom and also when I can get Bonnie to deliver the mare.” She addressed Gladys, “Mom, what’s your schedule this week? Will you be available to take over with the kids some?”

  “Sure will,” Gladys said, removing a casserole from the oven. She placed it on a hotplate in the middle of the table. “I have book club Friday, is all.”

  “So, Iris and I can plan a ride, say, maybe Wednesday or Thursday?”

  “Certainly,” Gladys said. She faced Savannah. “But Wednesday’s Teddy’s birthday.”

  Savannah smiled at the child, who was sitting in his high chair. She kissed his cheek. “That’s right. Our baby will be a one-year-old big boy, won’t he?” she cooed. She responded to her mother. “We’re having his party next Sunday. That’s why I volunteered to host the family-and-friends lunch here that day, so we can celebrate Teddy.”

  “Good idea,” Gladys said. She frowned. “Do the others know it’s a birthday party?”

  “I think so—I’ll make sure to remind everyone.” She laughed. “We’re having a circus theme with hot dogs, French fries, potato salad, and baked beans. What do you think?”

  “I think it sounds great. I don’t know how I missed the memo.”

  “The memo?” Savannah questioned.

  “Yeah, I can’t imagine that everyone knows about this but me.”

  “Gosh, I’m sorry, Mom,” Savannah soothed. She hugged her mother. “I guess

  I’m taking you for granted. I assumed you knew.” She pulled back and joked, “Can’t you read my thoughts? You used to when I was a kid.”

  Gladys smirked playfully at her daughter, then asked, “So there’s no family-and-friends-luncheon tomorrow? Did everyone agree to make it every two weeks instead of every week?”

  Savannah nodded. “Yes, we’re taking a break tomorrow.” She turned to her husband.

  “Michael, can you take over with the kiddos for a while tomorrow afternoon?”

  He nodded. “Sure, I can entertain the munchkins.”

  “Great,” Savannah said. “I’ll call Iris after supper, then.” She addressed both Gladys and Michael before leaving the room to wash up. “Thanks, guys.”

  “Hey, they’re my kids, too,” Michael said.

  “And my grandchildren,” Gladys added.

  ****

  The following day just after noon, Savannah helped Lily put on her shoes. “Do you have the picture you colored for Auntie and Max, punkin?”

  Lily nodded. “It’s Layla, Mommy.” She reached for the picture and pointed. “See, Layla is a orange kitty. I made her orange.”

  “Yes, and you stayed inside…um…some of the lines in your coloring book. Good job.” She pointed. “What’s this?”

  “She’s a princess kitty,” Lily explained. “That’s her princess hat.”

  “Her tiara?” Savannah prompted.

  Lily tilted her head. “No, her hat.”

  “Crown?” Gladys suggested, as she rolled the stroller toward the front door.

  “No, Grammy. It’s her princess hat.”

  “Okay,” Gladys said, smiling.

  “Leave the stroller there, Mom. I’ll take it out,” Savannah offered.

  “Okay. I’ll get Teddy.” Gladys smoothed Lily’s hair, asking, “Are you all ready to go over to Auntie’s and Max’s?”

  Lily nodded. “I can walk.”

  “Sure,” Gladys agreed. “But there’s room in the stroller with Teddy if you get tired of walking, okay?”

  “I appreciate you taking over with the kids this afternoon, Mom.”

  “It’s okay, Vannie; I didn’t have plans. And I know how it is with Michael. He is a doctor, after all. You never know when a patient’s going to get sick or hurt.”

  “True. Bud usually takes the emergency calls on weekends, but I guess they have their own emergency with some of their livestock today. Michael should be home soon.”

  “No problem. Maggie wants Lily to help her make a batch of those no-bake peanut butter cookies.”

  “Sounds like fun.” Savannah gazed at the baby. “You’ll have your hands full keeping Teddy out from under foot. He’s really getting around well on his little hands and knees.”

  “We’ll find something to entertain him,” Gladys said. She smiled. “He can be our taster.”

  Savannah laughed. “Yeah, that’s right down his alley, the little foodie.” She pushed the stroller toward the front door. “I’ll take this down the steps for you.”

  Gladys picked up Teddy and followed her out.

  Seconds later Savannah heard Lily shout, “No! Rags, no!”

  She returned to the house in time to see Rags pawing at the bundle Lily held in her arms. “Rags,” Savannah scolded, “that’s Lily’s. You go get your own toys.”

  But Rags was not about to walk away.

  “No!” Lily shouted again. She whined, “Mommy, he’s trying to get my Buffy bunny.”

  Savannah picked up the toddler and took her outside, where Gladys and Teddy waited with the stroller, but before she could close the door, Rags darted out. He stopped in front of her and sat down. “What in the heck is wrong with you, Rags?” she complained.

  The cat turned in place a couple of times, mewed, then reached his front paws up her leg as far as he could toward Lily. He managed to get a claw into the doll blanket and he pulled.

  Savannah frowned and said to her mother, “You know what, something’s not right. He doesn’t usually lust after the kids’ toys—at least not to this extreme.” She lowered the child to the porch and said, “Lily, let me see that bunny. Is that your Buffy bunny?”

  Lily nodded and held it out.

  Savannah removed the blanket from around the stuffed bunny. At the same time, Rags lurched forward and snatched the toy away from her. She started to grab the cat, but something stopped her. “Uh-oh,” she muttered.

  Lily slapped her pudgy hands against her cheeks and gave her mother a wide-eyed look. “Oh no,” Lily wailed. “That’s not Buffy bunny. Mommy, where’s Buffy bunny?” The child began to laugh as she turned and ran back into the house, soon returning with her own toy bunny. She held it out for Savannah and Gladys to see. “Here she is.” Lily giggled. “She was in my bed.” After awkwardly wrapping the stuffed bunny in the blanket, she said to Rags, who was by now eagerly batting at a bee, “Get your bunny, Rags. I have my bunny. You get your bunny, Rags.”

  “I’ll take care of him and his bunny,” Savannah said. “You go on now with Grammy and Teddy. Have a good time,” she called out as they walked away. She picked up Rags and his toy and carried them back into the house murmuring, “Sorry about that, Rags.” She lowered him to the floor. “I should have listened to you. But now you have your ragged bunny back.” She watched as he scampered off toward the kitchen, then she picked up her purse and said, “See you later, boy. Stay out of trouble.”

  “Anyone home?” Iris called, opening the front door. “Ready?” she asked, when she saw Savannah walking toward her.

  “Yeah. I think so.” She chuckled. “Just had to straighten out a case of mistaken identity between the children.”

  “You can’t tell your kids apart?” Iris asked, appearing somewhat bewildered.

  Savannah chuckled and nodded toward the kitchen. “No, it had to do with one of Rags’s toys.”

/>   “Oh? What did Rags do to liven up the place this morning?”

  Savannah walked with Iris out the door and toward her car, explaining, “Well, Lily evidently grabbed Rags’s toy bunny and wrapped it in her doll blanket to take with her to Auntie’s.”

  “Yeah, I saw them walking in that direction.” She wrinkled her nose. “Why would she want to play with the cat’s toy?”

  “She didn’t,” Savannah insisted. “She’d picked it up by mistake, thinking it was her Buffy bunny. But Rags knew the difference and he wanted his toy back. Oh, he didn’t want to play with it, but he sure didn’t want anyone taking off with it.”

  Iris shook her head as she climbed into the driver’s seat of her car. “You have a crazy household. You’re probably glad when I take you away from it all.”

  Savannah chortled. “Yeah, you talk to spirits, and you think I have a crazy household?” When Iris rolled her eyes, Savannah changed the subject. “Hey, before I forget, can you go riding with me on Wednesday?”

  “This Wednesday?” Iris asked. “Yeah, I think that will work. So did Bonnie deliver the new horse—Gypsy?”

  “She’s bringing her over either today or tomorrow.” Savannah then asked, “So, Iris, do you have a plan? I mean for the research—a research plan?”

  “Um…well, I figured we’d start with newspapers from that era—the early 1970s. I want to see if we can learn anything about that construction worker who went missing while our house was being built.”

  “The one you think is haunting you?”

  “Yes.” Iris looked briefly at her. “Our house was the last one in the tract to go up, you know. As you may recall my telling you, our neighbor Florence said her mother-in-law was against building on our lot because of that curse left by the Silver family, and she said there seemed to be an extraordinary number of problems in building our house. One of them involved the disappearance of that poor worker.”

  “But as far as you know, he might have simply decided to quit the crew and leave town for greener pastures, or…”

  Iris interrupted, saying, “Yeah, there are always other possibilities, but how do you explain the spirit in my house?” She glanced at Savannah and warned, “Now just leave that skepticism of yours on the doorstep, will you?” She let out a deep sigh. “Okay, okay, I’ll agree that I might—just might—be a tad overzealous in my desire to experience the spirit world, but can you please try to have an open mind?”

  “My mind is open,” Savannah asserted. “I’m ready to accept whatever facts we discover today.” She faced Iris and emphasized, “Did you get that? Facts!”

  Iris grinned at her friend and shook her head.

  Savannah ignored Iris’s gestures. “So, you think we should start with old newspapers? That seems like a good idea. Do you know the guy’s name?”

  “Don’t have a clue. After I found out about him, I wanted to do a little side research while Florence and I were trying to learn more about the Silver family and their fake curse, but I just didn’t have the opportunity.” Iris shivered and announced, “I’m so excited about this! In fact, I’ve really enjoyed the research.” Speaking more seriously now, she added, “I could probably be a journalist or write a book or something, although I’m not sure I could organize the material into a cohesive manuscript.” Before Savannah could respond, Iris announced, “Here we are.” She parked, then faced Savannah. “There are two of those machines that you read newspapers on. Let’s hope they’re both available. If not, one of us can look through the scrapbooks someone has put together focusing on certain time periods.”

  “Neat!” Savannah exclaimed. “Let’s get started.”

  ****

  “Ronnie Slade Griffith,” Iris said slowly as she drove out of the library parking lot later that afternoon. She giggled. “I’d hoped his name was actually Ernie.”

  Savannah grinned at her friend.

  “He disappeared almost exactly forty-five years ago to the day!” Iris exclaimed. “Now that’s an eerie fact, don’t you think so?”

  “Yeah, I guess,” Savannah said halfheartedly.

  “Serendipitous,” Iris said in a mysterious tone. She glanced at Savannah. “I mean, the fact that he showed up here in spirit form at this particular time. That’s what it is, eerily serendipitous.”

  “So what do you think happened to him?” Savannah asked. “I mean, there was some interesting speculation, wasn’t there? Some believe he met with foul play, but it doesn’t appear that authorities took that theory seriously.”

  Iris’s eyes flashed. “Yeah, according to the paper, reporters and sheriff’s officers were focused on a high-profile case at the time. It seems as though they just swept Ronnie Griffith’s disappearance out the backdoor.”

  Savannah agreed. “The embezzlement-murder debacle involving that politician took up all the space and evidently most of everyone’s time. Ronnie’s disappearance never even made the front page.” She looked at Iris, “Are you going to ask Craig about it?”

  “Huh?”

  “You know,” Savannah teased, “your husband, the detective. Are you going to ask him about it?”

  “Sure am,” Iris said. “I’ve already quizzed him about what Florence told me, but he doesn’t seem to know anything. He didn’t start with the department until 1980—seven years after Ronnie went missing.” More excitedly she said, “Now that we know something more about his story, Craig might be able to dig up some bones. I’ll have to tell Ernie that we’ve got his back.”

  “You’re sure that Ronnie Griffith is your Ernie, are you?” Savannah challenged.

  Iris frowned. “Who else could it be?”

  “Oh, I don’t know, maybe a member of the Silver family who squatted on the land way back when, or a caveman, or an Indian maiden from a local tribe. Maybe it’s someone who came during the gold rush, or a…”

  “No,” Iris spat. “It’s a man, and I’m sure it’s Ernie…er…um…Ronnie.”

  Savannah stared hard at her friend. “Because you want it to be?”

  “No. Because he feels like a guy spirit—a construction-guy spirit.”

  “Ronnie wasn’t a construction worker, Iris. He was a gopher—you know, ‘Hey, Ronnie, go fer a cup of coffee, bring me a hammer.’ According to that letter to the editor you found, where his aunt was begging officials to do something more to find him, he was only twenty-two or so and working in the family business over the summer. He didn’t actually want to be a builder; he just wanted to earn some money and…”

  Iris interrupted. “That wasn’t his aunt. The family spokesperson was one of his sisters-in-law. Her name was Peg, wasn’t it?”

  “I think so,” Savannah agreed. “But Iris, I’m just saying, it seems that Ronnie was still wet behind the ears and probably not even allowed to pound one nail into your place.”

  “What does that have to do with anything?” Iris huffed. “I imagine him as a macho young man—you know, a construction-worker type.” Savannah rolled her eyes. Before she could respond, Iris continued, “Just wait and see what Rochelle says.” She glanced a couple of times at Savannah while she drove. “Did you know she’s coming to spend the night with me and Ernie…I mean, Ronnie?”

  This piqued Savannah’s interest. “No. When?”

  Iris grinned at Savannah as she drove. “Yeah, I’ll bet you’ll believe her, won’t you?”

  “When will she be here?” Savannah asked again.

  “Wednesday. Craig’s going out of town on business for a few days, and I invited her to stay the night with me. I thought she would have told you guys. She said Peter has an art show along the coast. She had planned to stay home until I invited her here to spend time with Ernie.”

  “Ronnie,” Savannah corrected. She shook her head. “I mean…”

  Iris scolded, “I thought you didn’t believe.”

  Savannah ignored Iris’s comment. “I haven’t heard anything about Rochelle and Peter coming.” She slumped a little. “I’m feeling out of the loop. Why isn’
t anyone communicating with me?”

  “Oh, stop your whining,” Iris said, laughing. She poked Savannah with a finger. “You can come and stay with me and Rochelle if you want to!” Iris gave her a stern look. “Only don’t you giggle or sneer or do anything else to disturb our séance.”

  “You’re having a séance?” Savannah blurted.

  Iris recoiled a bit. “Well, maybe not exactly.” She said more excitedly, “But I want to find out what Rochelle senses. I want to see if it’s the same as what I feel.” She pulled up in front of Savannah’s house, stopped the car, and faced her. “This will be a real test of my abilities. Rochelle is such a natural. I’m eager to have her validate what I’m getting.”

  “What if she doesn’t—I mean, validate you?”

  Iris thought for a moment, before saying, “Well, you were at my house when she became aware of Ernie. I hadn’t even said anything to her about it or about him. I was going to, but I hadn’t spoken with her yet. She sensed him anyway. She said he reached out and grabbed her.”

  Savannah cringed and shuddered. “Ewww.”

  “So do you want to join us Wednesday night?”

  Instead of responding to Iris, Savannah said, “Hey, we were going horseback riding Wednesday. You said you’d go riding with me.”

  “I know,” Iris said. “I’m still going with you; Rochelle won’t arrive until late afternoon. I’ll turn the management of the inn over to Ruth and Rupert that day, create one of my work-of-art garden salads that morning for our supper, and we’ll go riding just like we planned.”

  Savannah smiled. “Sounds like a busy day.”

  “Yes, for you too, if you agree to join us overnight.”

  Savannah shook her head. “I’ll have to think about that.”

  “Why?” Iris asked. “Your kiddos sleep through the night, don’t they? Your mom will be there, and Michael, and I’m guessing Peter.”

  Savannah shrugged. “I should be able to sneak away. Could be an interesting evening.”

  Wide-eyed, Iris said, “You got that right.” She grabbed Savannah’s arm as she started to get out of the car. “Hey, bring Rags with you.”