Todd reached over and squeezed my hand.
Thank you, Father. Thank you. My throat tightened, and I couldn’t get anything out except “thank you.” I leaned my head back against the seat and let the tears come. Everything was going to be okay.
And it was, eventually. For Sharlene, at least. And for Hope House. And for Jim. And Harry. Todd and I sat around the huge table in the back room of C. Willikers a few days later, once the dust had settled. Sharlene pulled up a chair between Houston and Harry, and Harry draped one arm over her and his other over Aunt Dot’s shoulders. Mona, Rob, and Lonnie crowded in behind Aunt Dot’s wheelchair. Intarsia was comfortably ensconced on my aunt’s lap, while Annie and Purl curled up under the table, no doubt delighted to have so many of their favorite people in one room.
Todd and I exchanged smiles. I hadn’t been able to keep the secret from him.
I stood up and took a deep breath, then held up a large envelope and gestured to it dramatically. “This, folks, is the deed to Kenny’s property. Sharlene is now the proud owner of the entire tract of land, twenty-four acres to be exact.”
Everyone, including Sharlene, gasped.
“Thank you, Jesus!” Aunt Dot clasped Harry’s hand, her eyes shining. “How did this happen, Callie?”
“First things, first.” I motioned to Sharlene. “Sharlene, where did you get the necklace you have on?’
She glanced down at it, confused. “I’ve always had it.”
I felt tears prick my eyes. “I believe your daddy gave that to you on the night he left.”
She stared at me. “My dad?”
“Yeah.” I dug in my pocket and handed her the key. “Will you see if this little key unlocks the lock?”
“I’ve always wondered if it had a key.” She took it from me and I held my breath while she tried it in the lock. “It opened!”
“Mmm-hmm. Remember the story Sister Erma told you about the thieves who ate cookies in her kitchen one night?”
She nodded.
“Your dad was there that night.”
She grasped the necklace. “He was stealing from Miz Erma?”
“No. He was there to give Sister Erma back the necklace your mother stole from her. It’s a long story, but he was there because he was trying to do what he thought was best for you and Benji. He left Short Creek that night for good.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I’m not sure I understand all of it either, but Morley Blackman was there that night, and he said that your daddy asked Sister Erma to ‘watch out for you.’ She promised she would, but I imagine she didn’t think your mother would up and disappear with you kids. But somehow, she worked it out that you would inherit the land from her even if your dad could never come back for you.”
Sharlene scrubbed her sleeve over her face. “She knew I was Shelby? Like, while I was working for her?”
“I think she did. Especially if she ever noticed your necklace, because I bet it is the one that Jim recovered for her all those years ago. I’m guessing she gave it back to him that night, and he gave it to you when he stopped by to say goodbye to you kids on his way out of town.”
“Wow.” She fingered the lock. “But what am I going to do with all of that land?”
“You could sell it. You’d make enough to get yourself on your feet again,” Harry suggested. “Of course, you’re our family, so we’re going to take care of you anyway.”
Sharlene’s lip trembled. “That’s all I want. A real family. I don’t really care about land.”
“Well, you don’t have to decide anything tonight, sugar.” Aunt Dot patted her hand. Mona ahem’ed loudly. “Wait a minute. I thought you were going to tell us how you caught Mrs. Smarty-Pants Blackman, Nancy.”
I laughed. “I’m getting to that, Bess.” I pulled the deed out for everyone to see. “It was all tied together in such a crazy way, but God saw fit to not only provide the answers, but the land too.”
“And it answered my prayers.” Harry beamed at Sharlene and squeezed her shoulder. “I’ve gotten part of my family back.”
Sharlene smiled shyly. “It’s like a dream come true.”
“I still don’t understand the whole deal with June and Morley.” Houston propped his chin on his hands.
“Okay. So long story short. June was involved in a number of drug deals, but when she was about to be discovered, she killed her connections and focused on making money an easier way. She masterminded the robbery and planned all along to pin it on Jim because of his record. She figured it was a failsafe plan. Morley and Kenny reluctantly agreed to go along with it until the day that Jim saved their lives out on the lake.”
I took a sip of my tea. “They told June they couldn’t go through with it. She was mad, but let it drop. Or they thought she did. But then the robbery really did happen. They could never prove that June did it, and no one suspected Marianne.”
“Whew.” Rob let out a long whistle.
I nodded. “So maybe it would have been left at that. Apparently, Marianne and June agreed to split the proceeds from the robbery—”
“Wait a minute. Marianne really was in on it?” Lonnie looked aghast.
“Yep. The original plan, the best I can get from Morley, is that the two women decided to do the job anyway, then let Jim take the blame for it. When he went back to prison, they would gradually pull the pieces out and try to sell them.”
“But good ol’ Kenny messed up their plan.” Rob stroked his beard. “Good for him.”
“Yes. By that time, Marianne and Jim were on the outs with each other. Supposedly, Kenny offered to help Jim change his name and got him started on a new life in Kansas. The plan was for him to take the kids too. But June found out about it from Marianne. June’s been blackmailing Kenny all these years out of spite over Maple, threatening to tell his part in the whole deal and therefore dragging Maple into it. Kenny was determined that Maple would never have to be involved. But when Erma died, he started to suspect that either Marianne or June had something to do with it. He was willing to lose the land rather than have his daughter know what he had been involved in.”
“But what about my dad?” Sharlene cracked her knuckles until Houston gently covered her hands with one of his large ones.
“I know your dad wanted to take you with him, Sharlene,” I began gently.
“How do you know that? Have you talked to him?”
I winced. “No. But from what I’ve gathered, it seems that in the end, he thought you and Benji would be better off without him.”
Sharlene’s face crumpled. “But we weren’t. Why didn’t he come back for us?”
This was so hard. “I don’t know. I do know that he was hurting deeply over everything that happened, and he also knew his own future was uncertain. I’m guessing he convinced himself that he would hurt you more than help you.” I offered her the letter from her father’s wallet. “This is a letter from your dad. Maybe it will help explain a little more.”
She glared at the papers in my hand. “I don’t want to read a letter. I want to talk to him. How do you know all of this stuff about him, anyway?”
I looked at Harry. I’d let him tell this part.
“A little over two years ago, at our family reunion, several of us agreed that we’d pray every day for Jim and his family, that God would bring them back to us.” He paused and pulled Sharlene to him for a minute while he gathered himself. “In His mercy, He brought you back to me. And gave me the assurance that my cousin, Jim, is waiting for me in Heaven.”
Sharlene gasped. “He’s dead?”
“I’m so sorry, Sharlene.” Harry held her as she cried on his shoulder. “You’re part of our family. We’ll walk through this together, okay?”
She pulled away. “I can’t believe I didn’t get a chance to know him.”
“I know, honey.” Harry kept his arm around her, drawing her into the other room.
As if by silent agreement, we all started in on small talk, giving Sharlene
and Harry a few minutes alone.
“But what about Marianne? Why did she come back to Short Creek? You’d think she wouldn’t want to show her weaselly little face around here.” Mona sniffed loudly.
I glanced at Todd. “That’s the other piece of this. Apparently, Kenny always suspected that June had gone through with the robbery. When she started bugging him about selling the property, he put two and two together. He found some of the jewelry and gradually put a few pieces out on the market to see what would happen. Once they were i.d.’d as belonging to the jewelry store that was robbed, he had his answer.”
“Sure would have saved a lot of angst if he’d gone to the sheriff at that point,” Todd grumbled.
“Yes, but I guess at that point, Kenny was afraid of June’s reprisals. Plus, it brought Marianne out of the woodwork. And we have evidence that she threatened to harm Jim if he said anything. In the end, Kenny had woven himself too tangled of a web to extricate himself.”
“What about Morley?” Aunt Dot leaned forward in her chair, fingering Intarsia’s ears.
I shrugged. “The police are still looking into it, but it doesn’t appear that there’s much that he can be charged with.” I sat back in my chair. “So, there you have it. Case closed.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Sharlene and Harry come back in the room. Sharlene’s eyes were red, and she leaned against Harry’s side as they stood in the doorway.
“Not so fast.” Houston frowned at me. “Where is the rest of the jewelry?”
I shrugged. “Well, I guess Marianne had a few pieces and June had the rest. The police are hoping to get the pertinent info out of our friend, June. Until then—”
Sharlene gasped and clutched Harry’s arm. “I know where it is.”
We all stared at her.
She paced toward the table, then stopped in the middle of the room. She spun around slowly, examining the walls. “It’s at C. Willikers. I knew I remembered something about this building.”
“It’s here at my shop?”
“Yeah. I finally remember. Every time I’d go to that back room, I had like this…shadow cross my mind. At first, I thought I was being weird. But now I remember, like, seeing someone. My mom, I guess.”
“It must have been her. I don’t think June would have hidden anything in here.”
“Yeah. I was so young, you know? Sometimes Benji and I had to stay here at the drycleaners for, like, hours in the evenings while my parents worked. I don’t know what they were doing all that time. But I remember once when it was night time, and I wasn’t supposed to come down those stairs. She was putting something in a box.”
I held my breath.
Sharlene let her gaze roam around the room again. “I watched her put the box in a little cabinet or maybe like a closet, I think.”
We all looked around the room. There hadn’t been a cabinet here as long as I had been here.
She closed her eyes for a minute, then opened them. “It was here in this room, I know it.”
She walked around the room, touching each wall. She came to the stairs. “Here.” She dropped to her knees. “I was so little, and she had made me stay up there by myself for what seemed like hours. I had snuck to the top of the stairs to peek down…I think I wanted a drink of water. But then I saw her.”
“Where, Sharlene?” I dropped down next to her.
“She was down on her knees like I am now.”
I felt around on the bottom stair. Nothing. Then the next one. There was some kind of—indentation. I stuck my finger in and opened it.
Sharlene sucked in her breath. “There it is. No way.”
Everyone crowded around.
Todd handed me his phone with the flashlight on. I shone the light into the small space. The cavity went further back under the stairs than I would have guessed, but it was empty. No box of jewels. No skeletons. No— “Wait a minute.”
I leaned closer and shone the light again. Something white caught my eye, but it was so far back in the space I wasn’t sure if I could reach it.
“What do you see, Callie?” Sharlene stuck her head down next to mine.
“Looks like an envelope.” I handed the phone to her and laid on my side to reach my arm far into the space. “I got it!” I sat up, blowing cobwebs and mouse droppings off the envelope.
Mona squinted at it. “Looks like it might be important, in such a fancy schmancy envelope.”
“It’s addressed to Shelby Sharlene Janosic. That’s you, Sharlene.” I offered her the envelope bearing her name.
She shook her head, backing away. “I don’t want to read anything from that woman who called herself my mother.”
I glanced at Todd, then back at Sharlene. “It could be important.”
“You read it, Callie.” She bit her thumbnail. “I can’t do it.”
I rose from the floor and moved out into the room where the light was better. I slit the envelope with my nail and slid out a couple of sheets of lined paper. A lump rose in my throat as I read the first few lines. I stopped reading and checked the signature at the end of the letter. “Sharlene, this is a letter from your dad. You need to read this.”
“My daddy?” She reached for it with a trembling hand, then clasped it to her chest. “All of this time…”
“Read it, girlfriend.” Mona’s eyes brimmed as she slipped an arm around Sharlene’s waist.
Sharlene drew a deep breath and opened the pages.
We waited in silence, watching her face.
She chewed on her lip, her eyes widening. She folded the letter and looked up. “She forced Daddy into leaving here. Leaving us.” She sank down on the step and thrust the letter toward me. “Here, Callie. Read it. It explains the whole thing. Oh, Daddy. I never got to tell him how much I love him.”
I sat down next to her and skimmed the letter, then handed it to Todd. Marianne had clearly never intended Sharlene to see this letter. So how had it gotten under the staircase in my store? Had it been there, waiting, for twenty years?
If so, then…could Jim have stuck it under the stairs before he left, hoping and praying that one day, somehow, Shelby would find it? But how did he think she would find it? Unless…
“There are more letters.” I knew it, just as sure as I knew my own name. I stood up. “That postcard that came was never supposed to be delivered here, but it was, somehow.” I stared out the window, thinking back to things Kenny had said. “I think you’ll find that your dad never stopped loving you and writing to you, Sharlene. I bet we’ll find a big ol’ box of letters out at Erma’s house. I think she was waiting to make sure you were really Shelby before she gave them to you.”
“But then Marianne killed her before she could give them to me.” She sank down on the step. “I can’t believe I missed the chance to meet him.”
Aunt Dot maneuvered her chair over as near as she could and held out her hand to Sharlene. “Your daddy is in Heaven, Sharlene. You will see him again someday. But right now, you have a whole passel of folks here who love you.”
Sharlene hugged my auntie. “I know God brought me here to y’all. And Miz Erma.”
“She’s waiting up there for us, too.” Aunt Dot pulled back. “And now we know why she told you the story of feeding the fake burglars her famous cookies.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Sharlene grinned. “But she never, like, showed me how to make them. Maybe you could teach me?”
We all laughed through our tears, Aunt Dot shaking her head. “I have other talents besides baking. You’d best ask Callie to help you with that.”
Mona threw her arm around me, beaming. “Yep, Callie’s not only a sloth. She’s a great baker too.”
What?
Harry guffawed, his voice loud in the puzzled silence. “Sleuth, Mona. Not sloth.”
I pressed my lips together, trying not to laugh, but Todd’s snicker did me in. Moments later, we all drew a deep breath, grinning at each other.
“God blessed me with a special gal.” Rob planted a
loud kiss on Mona’s red cheek, then tucked her under his arm. “Let’s get this party started. Who’s pouring the tea?”
Todd and I burst out laughing at the same time.
“Callie’s pouring. She’s got some muffins to go with it too, I bet.” Todd hugged me to his side. “Good job, Nancy,” he whispered in my ear. “I’d eat your killer muffins any day.”
I snickered. “Be careful what you wish for.”
“Oh, I know exactly what I wish for.” He leaned down and before I knew what was happening, brushed my lips with his, right in front of everyone.
A great ruckus erupted from our friends. I shook my head and gazed up at his dear face amidst the hoots and whistles.
One thing was certain.
No, two things:
One: Life is an adventure.
I smiled at Todd, letting him see my heart in my eyes.
Two: I’d better get ready for the ride of my life.
Author Note
Did you notice the scripture at the front of the book? It says this:
“Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.” Proverbs 19:21
We might read this verse and think it means that God is always going to do whatever He wants to do, no matter what. While it is true that God is sovereign and can do whatever He’d like to do, I think this verse has more meaning in it than that.
Here’s the deal. The plans, or “thoughts,” of our hearts as some versions put it, are based on our own human understanding. These thoughts, plans, or motives change with our emotions. They shift with our circumstances. They are influenced by our spiritual and physical health. Or our mood. Or our relationships. But these plans always seem right to us, don’t they?
They do…until we look at them in the light of God’s perspective. God’s wisdom is eternal and unchangeable. He sees time from the beginning to the end, while we see only our own little sliver. Rather than throwing our hands up in the air at God’s arrogance, we can be comforted by the fact that He does have both a plan and a purpose. And He intends to accomplish them both—with or without us.
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