Tessa hurried after her. “Shouldn’t we make a plan or something? Talk about how we’re going to approach her?”
Crazy Kate twisted the doorknob and shoved open the front door. “I’ll approach her the way I always have. Forcefully.” Then the old woman disappeared into the house.
“Oh,” Tessa said. Paul stepped up beside her.
“I’ve never seen two old ladies in a brawl. This could be newsworthy.” He grinned at Tessa.
“I’m glad you think this is funny. I feel like I’m going to throw up.”
Paul slipped his arm around her shoulders and squeezed her against him. “If given a choice, I’d rather have crazy on my side than bitterness. I think we’re going to win this fight, Tess.” He kissed the side of her head. “But let’s not miss the show.” He pulled her up the ramp and into the house.
The crystals in the chandelier clinked together, sending frantic chimes throughout the front of the house. The floorboards vibrated beneath Tessa’s feet. She followed the sounds of voices and found Crazy Kate standing in front of the open French doors. Mrs. Steele and Dorothy stood just off the brick patio looking at the newly mown and freshly groomed back garden.
“Trudy,” Crazy Kate said, not bothering to hide the anger in her voice.
Mrs. Steele’s back stiffened, and then she stood immobile for so long that beads of sweat broke out across Tessa’s forehead. Paul squeezed her hand, and she looked at him.
Dorothy turned and looked at Crazy Kate framed in the doorway. Her expression was not one of recognition. She glanced between her grandma and Crazy Kate. Clouds crept across the blue sky and smothered the sun’s light, muting the colors around them.
Mrs. Steele turned and leaned heavily on her cane. Her top lip curled and her eyes narrowed. “Kate. I had hoped I’d never see you again.”
Crazy Kate’s shoulders squared. “Then you shouldn’t have tried to ruin our family’s home.”
Mrs. Steele laughed, but the sound of it raised the hairs on the back of Tessa’s neck. She shifted closer to Paul.
“Family? We’re not family, Kate. We haven’t been even remotely a family in fifty years.”
Crazy Kate stepped onto the patio, and her dark blue skirt swirled around her ankles. “Geoffrey’s death doesn’t stop us from being part of the same family, Trudy. That was your choice for being unwilling to accept or see the truth.”
Mrs. Steele’s hand trembled on the cane, and then she slammed it against the bricks. “The truth that you tried to steal my husband’s love from me? The truth that you were a no-good woman doing whatever you wanted with whomever you wanted?” She lifted her cane and pointed it toward Tessa. “Like that one? Thinking she can come into someone’s home and act like a floozy, throwing herself at men?”
Tessa’s mouth fell open. She stepped away from Paul and onto the patio with Crazy Kate. “Excuse me? You know nothing about me.”
“I’m not surprised you two know each other. Kate can offer you plenty of ways to trick a man into loving you,” Mrs. Steele said.
Dorothy grabbed onto her grandma’s arm. “Hey, Grandma, maybe we should calm down a little.”
Mrs. Steele snatched her arm away. “Don’t you act as though I’m over-reacting. You have no idea what that woman did to me. What she did to my family!” she yelled in her brittle, broken voice.
A chilly wind swirled around Crazy Kate’s feet and rushed up Tessa’s legs. Leaves tumbled across the yard, and a blackbird landed on the fence, singing a tune that caused goosebumps to rise on Tessa’s arms.
When Crazy Kate spoke again, her voice was calm, gentle even. “Trudy, I loved Geoffrey, but years before he met you. We were kids. Stupid, silly kids. After he left for college, there was nothing ever between us again. Nothing. I’ve told you that. Matthias was the only man I wanted to be with. I tried to save them.” Crazy Kate closed her eyes and clasped her hands together. “You know I tried.”
Mrs. Steele’s face scrunched as though she’d eaten rotten fruit. Her dark eyes watered as she inhaled a shuddering breath. “You didn’t try hard enough, did you?” Her shoulders slumped. “You got to keep Matthias, but what about me? What did I get? I got to be a widow with two small kids and have a husband who called out for you when he was dying.”
Crazy Kate inhaled. “What?” She walked across the patio in deliberate, slow steps.
Mrs. Steele’s jaw clenched. “In his fever, minutes before he finally succumbed, I sat at his bedside, praying he wouldn’t leave me, telling him how much I needed him, and he looked over at me and said, ‘Take care of Kate. I loved her. Promise me you’ll give her what she wants.’” Anger surged from Mrs. Steele and turned the grass brown at her feet. “You. That’s what he was thinking about as he was dying. Not me, not his kids. You, this house, this town, this whole family ruined me. It took everything from me, and I hate you for it.”
Crazy Kate’s shoulders sagged, and she shook her head. Tessa crossed the patio, acting bolder than she felt. Her heart hammered erratically in her chest. “I hate to be rude, but you don’t know what you’re talking about, Mrs. Steele. She tried to save your family, the whole family, even though Geoffrey mistreated her when they were together. Did you know that? Did he ever tell you what he did? How he deserted her? I doubt it. You have no right to show up here with your angry, bitter attitude and blame the whole town and this house just because you’re mad that your husband wanted you to take care of Kate.
“There’s not a quota on how many people you can love. So what if he loved Kate? He loved you too, even though right now I can’t understand what he loved. But he married you and had children with you because he wanted to. And you’re angry that he mentioned Kate? That’s what you’ve been focusing on all these years? Do you have any idea what went on here after you left? Matthias didn’t want to live in the house either, not after what happened. But instead of becoming bitter, he made this house a haven for those who were in need, for those who were sad or lost or sick or broken. For the past fifty years, this house has helped people, and you’re going to destroy that because a man you loved wanted you to take care of someone who was important to him? And you know what you did with his last request? You ignored it.”
Tessa inhaled and pressed her lips together. She glanced over at Kate and noticed that Paul stood just behind her. Mrs. Steele and Dorothy stared at her, and no one spoke. The blackbird flew off the fence. Sunlight escaped through the clouds and warmed Tessa’s cheeks. She glanced up at the attic window. Faint laughter, accompanied by the sound of rainfall, skittered across the yard.
“You were married in this garden, weren’t you?” Tessa asked, thinking of the photo album in the trunk. She returned her gaze to Mrs. Steele. “And it rained on your wedding day, but you didn’t care because you were so happy to be with Geoffrey. And your kids used to play in this backyard. They’d run around laughing, chasing lightning bugs.”
Mrs. Steele blinked in the sunlight. Tears caught in the creases of her cheeks.
“It’s not too late to do what he asked. You can still help Kate. You can help all of us by letting us repair a home that has made a huge difference in so many lives.”
Mrs. Steele reached out and clamped her hand onto Dorothy’s arm. “We’re leaving,” she said, and without making eye contact with Kate or Tessa, Mrs. Steele pushed past them, dragging Dorothy beside her and banging her cane with each step. “And get out of my house.”
20
Singin’ the Blues Grilled Cheese
Tessa slept fitfully, when she slept at all. Losing Honeysuckle Hollow to a bitter old crone—which was the shameful name she’d taken to calling Mrs. Steele during the wee hours of the morning—felt worse than losing her condo to the flood. At least the flood was a natural disaster and not caused by hatred or anger. Mrs. Steele had a choice, and she was making the wrong one.
“She’s still an old lady, and you need to respect your elders. Cut her some slack,” Tessa mumbled as she tossed back the covers and sat up in bed.
“
Am I interrupting?” Paul asked from the doorway. “Should I come back in five when you’ve regained your sanity?”
“Better make it more than five then.”
Paul sat on the edge of the bed. “How’d you sleep?”
Tessa grunted. “I’ve been going through everything in my mind, over and over again. I keep trying to come up with a way to convince Mrs. Steele that she’s making a mistake. But I’m coming up empty. No ideas, no fixes, nothing.”
“Let’s talk to someone who knows her better than we do.”
“Crazy Kate? She was there yesterday, and she didn’t offer any suggestions. In fact, she didn’t even speak to us the entire way to her house.” Tessa sighed. “I’m not sure there’s anything she can do.”
Paul tapped his finger to his chest. “I have a feeling this morning.”
“Is it indigestion?”
“Get out of bed, Tess, and get a shower. I’ll fix you a cup of coffee.”
An hour later, Tessa and Paul bumped their way down Crazy Kate’s driveway. Crazy Kate wore a large-brimmed floppy hat and was bent over a flowerbed in the front yard, pulling weeds. She stood and tossed the weeds into a woven basket as Paul parked the car.
“Come inside,” she said. “No wonder I bought extra cheese from the store. I’m having guests for brunch.” Crazy Kate grabbed the basket with two hands and carried it around to the back of the house.
Tessa and Paul followed her in through the back door. She motioned toward the table. “Have a seat. I’ll make tea first.”
“Not the rosemary tea,” Tessa blurted.
Crazy Kate looked over her shoulder at Tessa. “Something tamer, I agree.” She filled the kettle with water and then placed it on the stove. “I know you’re looking for answers, but I don’t have any.”
“There must be something you know that could help,” Tessa said. “Anything. You know Mrs. Steele—”
“Knew. I don’t know the woman she is now. She’s had a good fifty years of discontentment boiling in her veins.” Crazy Kate opened the refrigerator and pulled out a half moon of blue cheese, a package of bacon, and a stick of butter. “For some questions, it’s best to have patience, and the answers will come to you.”
Tessa frowned. “But we don’t have time to wait for the answers. Mrs. Steele is going to tear down Honeysuckle Hollow.”
“What makes you so certain?” Kate asked.
She grabbed a cast iron skillet from a lower cabinet and placed it on a burner. The teakettle whistled, and she removed it from the stove and placed a tea infuser full of loose tea leaves into the kettle.
Paul shifted in his chair. “You heard what she said yesterday.”
Crazy Kate nodded. She dropped a few slices of bacon into the skillet. “I’m curious about what she didn’t say.”
Tessa wrinkled her forehead. “What does that mean?”
Paul reached over and put his hand on Tessa’s and squeezed. She understood the message: Relax. But she couldn’t because she kept thinking about Honeysuckle Hollow being razed. When she closed her eyes, she could already imagine a line of people ordering greasy burgers and fries from Fat Betty’s. Clueless people would shuffle across a linoleum floor that was built on top of a priceless, historical home.
Crazy Kate filled three cups with the steaming tea and brought two to the table. She placed a cup in front of Tessa. “It means you should drink your tea and wait and see what the day brings.”
Crazy Kate sandwiched soft blue cheese and cooked bacon between two pieces of butter-soaked bread and smashed it against the hot cast iron skillet. Once the sandwiches were browned, she flipped them onto a plate. The she carried a plate full of grilled cheese sandwiches and two paper plates to the kitchen table.
“Thanks,” Paul said, grabbing a sandwich and putting it on a plate. He handed the plate to Tessa. “Smells great. I’m starving.” He took a sandwich for himself and dropped it onto the other plate. “Aren’t you going to eat?” he asked, looking up at Crazy Kate.
“You two go down to the river and eat. There’s a bench where you can sit.”
Tessa glanced at Paul in question, but Crazy Kate made a shooing motion with her hands.
“Out. You two need to be outside where you can breathe and wait.”
Paul shrugged and grabbed his plate. Tessa followed him outside and down to the river’s edge where they found the wooden bench.
“That was weird,” Tessa said.
“Did you just call the town weirdo weird?” Paul joked. “Tessa, you’re losing your sharp edge.”
She nudged him with her elbow. “I’m serious. We come to see her and talk about what to do and she makes us sandwiches, and who, by the way, eats grilled cheese for brunch? Anyway, we come to see her, and she sends us outside to play like children.”
“Though this be madness, yet there is method in it.”
“Thanks, Hamlet,” Tessa said.
Paul pointed his sandwich at her. “Actually, Polonius said that.”
Tessa rolled her eyes. She lifted her sandwich and bit into the crusty bread. It should have tasted amazing because that’s how it smelled. But Tessa’s senses felt dulled, and she chewed mechanically.
The river bubbled over its rock-strewn bed. A cardinal chirped in a nearby tree, and a car engine traveled closer. Tessa turned around on the bench seat and watched a car bounce down Crazy Kate’s driveway. The car parked beside Paul’s rental, and Tessa gasped when the driver stepped out.
“Mrs. Steele is here,” she whispered, sliding down on the bench in an attempt to slip out of view.
Paul turned around and watched. “No need to hide. She’s not even looking this way. I wonder what she’s doing.”
“You don’t think she’s coming over to yell some more, do you?” Tessa asked.
Paul grabbed Tessa’s hand and tugged her off the bench. “Let’s go find out.”
They crept up toward the house and squatted in front of an open window at the back of the house. Crazy Kate had already opened the front door and let in Mrs. Steele, who stood in the living room as though she didn’t know what to do now that she was there.
“Tea?” Crazy Kate asked.
“I didn’t come for tea,” Mrs. Steele said.
“Why did you come, Trudy?”
Mrs. Steele leaned on her cane, but did not turn her gaze to meet Crazy Kate’s. When she spoke, her fragile voice was barely a whisper. “I ignored his request. All these years. Geoffrey would have been—” Her voice faltered, and her hand trembled on her cane. “He would have been so upset with me, but I was angry and I had no one to blame, so I picked you. I don’t know what to do with this anger. I’ve carried it for so long.” She bowed her head and stared at the fireplace.
Crazy Kate closed the space between them. “You can let it go now, Trudy.” She rested her hand on the hand Trudy had propped on the cane. “It’s been more than long enough.”
Mrs. Steele nodded and wiped at her eyes. “I don’t want the house, but after all that Matthias did with it to help people, it would be wrong of me to tear it down. Matthias was always good to me, and he checked on me and the kids all the time up until he—until recently. He never forgot about us, and I guess you didn’t either.
“I can’t imagine why a young woman would want to try and rehab Honeysuckle Hollow, but if she wants it, she can have it. I won’t have it destroyed.”
Crazy Kate walked into the kitchen and refilled the kettle with hot water. “Chamomile was one of the first herbs my mama planted in the garden, and after all these years, it still flourishes, and I believe it makes the best chamomile tea around. It soothes the soul.”
Mrs. Steele took a seat at the kitchen table and propped her cane against the wall. “I’ll be the judge of that.”
Crazy Kate pulled two porcelain cups from the cabinet. “I assure you this tea can turn a skeptic into a believer. You want honey?”
Mrs. Steele relaxed against the back of the chair. “I could use some sweetening.”
; “I second that.”
The sound of Crazy Kate’s and Mrs. Steele’s laughter filled the small cottage. It stretched out through the open windows and lifted on the breeze.
Tessa exhaled and looked at Paul. She lowered herself down until she was sitting on the grass. “Did we win?” she whispered.
Paul grinned. “Thanks to you and to Crazy Kate.” He dropped down beside her, cupped her face with his hands, and kissed her.
21
Settle My Heart Hot Tea
After Crazy Kate and Mrs. Steele finished their tea, Crazy Kate came outside and retrieved Tessa and Paul. Mrs. Steele assured Tessa that Honeysuckle Hollow was hers, and Tessa’s heart thrilled at the news. Then Crazy Kate mentioned the photo albums in the attic that she thought Mrs. Steele would want to see, so the four of them drove to Honeysuckle Hollow, swinging by the hotel to pick up Mrs. Steele’s granddaughter on the way.
Tessa unlocked the front door and let Mrs. Steele, Dorothy, and Crazy Kate inside the house. Crazy Kate led the women up the staircase. When Tessa turned to see what Paul was doing, he stood in the front yard, gazing at the pruned rose bushes.
“You coming inside?”
“It’s lunchtime. We didn’t finish our sandwiches. Think they’re hungry too? I could run to the diner and grab food,” Paul said.
Tessa nodded. “If they aren’t, I am. You don’t mind?”
He shook his head. “It can be a celebration meal. I’ll be back with an assortment. Don’t start the party without me.”
Tessa smiled. “Wouldn’t dare.”
She hurried up the staircase, causing every other stair to moan and pop. The voices filtered down from the attic. At the top of the attic stairs, Tessa saw Mrs. Steele sitting in a filthy wooden chair with a grimy embroidered cushion. Crazy Kate sat in a rocker, while Dorothy had pulled over a stepladder beside her grandmother’s chair. Mrs. Steele flipped through a photo album and pointed out the people on the pages. Crazy Kate used her toes to rock herself in a slow, steady rhythm that fell into sync with Tessa’s heartbeat.
Tessa noticed four dusty portraits were lined up near the window, two leaning on the trunk, and two on either side. The sheets that had been covering them lay puddled on the floor. Four dark-haired young men stared at Tessa. They pulled her to them as though they’d hooked her around the back and tugged.
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