Secrets of Redemption Box Set

by Michele Pariza Wacek

  I brought my sandwich to the table. Unlike Mia, who didn’t mind standing to eat, I liked to sit down. “To buy some tea, actually. She was hoping I would start up Aunt Charlie’s business.”

  Mia’s eyes widened and she let out a whoop. “Really? Yes!” She fist pumped with the hand holding the sandwich, dripping chicken salad on her head. “Oh crap. What a mess. But, anyway. See, I told you people wanted the healing business back.”

  I smiled as I watched Mia struggle to clean her hair. “You did. Oh, I also ran into Gwyn.”

  Mia stopped rubbing her head with a paper towel. “Gwyn was never a customer of Charlie’s, so I wouldn’t worry too much about her.”

  I rolled my eyes. “That’s not the point. It was clear she thought I was selling the house and moving, and was surprised I would stay. What if there are more people who feel that way?” I slumped down at the table.

  Mia frowned at the paper towel. “Did I get it all? Okay, so first off, I think it’s pretty obvious why Gwyn doesn’t want you here, so regardless of how ‘surprised’ she is that you’re staying,” Mia did air quotes around the word “surprised,” “she’s not a good gauge of what people in this town want or don’t want. But, regardless of her, you don’t have to limit yourself to the local market.”

  I gave her a puzzled look. “What, like go into Milwaukee or Madison? I don’t have any contacts there.”

  Mia shook her head. “No, silly. I’m talking about the Internet. You could start an online business selling teas and tinctures. You could also sell your art online. There’s a big market for royalty-free art. Plus, you could turn your paintings into things like notecards and sell those online too.”

  I blinked. “Seriously? You think I could do that?”

  Now it was Mia’s turn to roll her eyes. “Well, duh. How else were you going to sell stuff?”

  “I guess with the herbs, I was just going to pick up where Aunt Charlie left off. As for my art, I thought I’d find a gallery and let them sell it for me.”

  “A gallery? Are you kidding me? Do those even still exist?”

  “They do in New York.”

  “Newsflash, you’re not in New York.” Mia took a drink of coffee, still shaking her head. “I think it makes far more sense to set up your own online retailers. There’re all sorts of things you could do. Amazon. Etsy. Stock photo sites. As for Aunt Charlie, everyone told her she should sell things online too, but she refused. Said she was too old. But you don’t have that excuse.”

  I made a face. “Ha, ha. I’m not even sure where to start.”

  Mia stuffed the last bite of sandwich into her mouth. “How about researching how to start an online business on the Internet?”

  I pondered that. An online business. Could I really do it? Was I actually talented enough to sell my art online? Could I be as good as my aunt, and sell teas and tinctures online too?

  Mia took a final swallow of coffee and glanced at her phone. “Oops, I lost track of time. You better hurry.”

  I took a final swallow of my sandwich and headed up to get ready.

  Chapter 5

  The church reeked of flowers and way too much perfume.

  The flowers were everywhere—in the aisle, the lobby, practically dripping off the stage. I had never seen so many flowers in a church before, most of them white and in huge arrangements.

  The people were everywhere, too. It was standing room only, which suited me just fine. I ended up wedged in a corner, with a heavy-set woman wearing a dark-purple hat in front of me and a family with two young kids next to me. One of the boys kept pulling on the collar of his button-up shirt as his mother pushed his hands away and shushed him.

  Someone had saved Mia a seat in one of the pews. She wanted me to go with her, thinking they would make room for both of us, but I waved her ahead. I was there. That was enough.

  Chrissy was sitting off to the side in a group of other teenagers.

  Along with the flowers were two huge portraits. One was obviously Jessica, and my heart caught in my throat when I saw it. She was sitting in the grass and sun, one knee up, the other folded underneath her, a total Jessica pose. Her head was tilted to the side, and she was laughing.

  She looked so happy, so alive in it. It was probably a candid shot, but however it happened, it was amazing. It totally captured Jessica’s beauty and her essence.

  I had never seen the other photo before. It was of a man, maybe a few years older than Jessica, but he could have been her twin. He had the same thick, blonde hair and sapphire-blue eyes, and his smile was exactly like hers. He was leaning against the side of a cherry-red car.

  With a start, I realized he must be Jesse, Jessica’s uncle, the one Jessica was named after. Louise, Jesse’s sister and Jessica’s mother, had had a huge fight with him right before he left. She had never forgiven herself for the fight, even naming her second daughter after him as some sort of penance.

  Then, her second daughter also disappeared without a trace, once again after a big fight. No wonder Louise was so bitter.

  It was a long service. After thanking everyone for coming and offering a few short opening remarks, the priest turned the floor over to anyone who wanted to say a few words about Jessica. Many, many people spoke. Some of the stories were funny, some were sad, but all captured a piece of her. A tiny snapshot of her life.

  Mia shared how they had first become friends. She was a terrified eight-year-old, so shy she could never look people in the face, much less talk to them. Jessica had simply plunked herself down next to Mia at lunch one day, uninvited, and proceeded to spend the entire period chattering at her. Jessica shared her Oreos with Mia, and they were friends ever since.

  Daphne talked about the night Jessica wanted to give her a makeover despite Daphne’s protests. There was a scissor and tweezers involved, and the end result was apparently dreadful. It took weeks to repair the damage. “Thank God there was no Instagram back then,” she said, smiling through tears.

  Barry shared how, when Jessica showed up, it didn’t seem to matter what everyone else in the group wanted to do. They somehow always ended up doing whatever Jessica wanted. Probably because everyone had a natural instinct to please her … to see her happy.

  Daniel remembered her kindness. Growing up poor with a single mother who worked all the time and still could barely keep her growing boy fully fed, Jessica would regularly give him her lunch. When he asked, she would toss her long, blonde hair back and casually say something like, “You know I’m going to be a model. I can’t be eating all those calories.” Years later, he found out she had asked her mother to pack her two sandwiches, so she could give him one.

  As I listened to each story, I realized how much Jessica was missed. And how much her life had mattered.

  At the end of the day, isn’t that what we all long for? A room full of people swapping stories that celebrate our lives?

  The last person to step up was Louise, Jessica’s mother. Even though everyone in the church seemed to be openly crying, Louise’s face was oddly dry.

  “Thank you all,” she said, her voice clear and strong. It rang through the church, quieting the murmuring and shuffling. Something seemed off, and it took me a few minutes to realize that she seemed devoid of any emotion.

  “I loved hearing your stories about my darling Jessica, a beautiful, amazing, talented girl who was taken from us way too soon.” She paused, and I shifted uncomfortably. I was beginning to get a bad feeling.

  “Both she and my brother Jesse were too young to be taken from us,” she continued. “Nobody, and I mean nobody, should ever have to deal with the pain I’ve had to endure.” She looked around the crowd, her eyes narrow, her stare hard. An older man with a pained look on his face, her husband I guessed, stepped up to her and put a hand on her arm, but she shrugged him off. “Today is a celebration of their lives, and I do celebrate them. BUT that doe
sn’t mean I forget that they are no longer with us. That doesn’t mean I forget that they were taken from us.”

  Her husband tried again to intercede, but she walked away from him. “Yes, I said it. Taken. They WERE taken. Just like my darling Brittany, who but for the Grace of God, was almost taken, too. Just like the others. Like Jonathan, Jesse’s best friend. He had a son, an infant daughter, a wife. But none of that matters, right? He was taken, too. And his family’s lives were destroyed, too. Just. Like. Mine.”

  I was having trouble breathing. The cloying scent of perfume and flowers was sticky in my nostrils. Sweat trickled down the small of my back and between my breasts, probably staining the dark-green dress I wore (black looked awful on me, so I didn’t even own a black dress). Unfortunately, as beautiful as the dark green was, it was also a magnet for sweat stains.

  I shrunk back as far as I could against the wall while searching for an escape route. But there were too many people crammed into the church, and now, everyone was shifting around, glancing uneasily at one another. I would be noticed for sure. I had no choice but to stay put.

  “I WILL make it my life’s work,” Louise continued, “to rid this town of the evil that has descended upon us. Even if it’s the last thing I do. I pledge upon the soul of my brother and daughter and all the rest who were taken too soon, I WILL free Redemption of this evil. Thank you again for coming.”

  She put the mic down and marched back to her seat, head held high. Her husband, clearly embarrassed, thanked us all and invited everyone to a reception in the church basement.

  Yeah, I would definitely be skipping that.

  Jessica’s family left first, and then the rest of the church slowly began to trickle out. I kept my head down, letting my hair fall into my face, praying no one would recognize me so I could simply sneak out to my car.

  It was taking a really long time to empty the church. I saw Daphne and Mia standing in the aisle, looking shaken with a grim expression on their faces. Off to the side, another teenager leaned in close to Chrissy, whispering something in her ear.

  What was taking so long? As the crowd inched their way to the door, I finally couldn’t stand it any longer. I stood on tiptoe to see what was going on.

  Horror filled me. People were paying their respects to the family, who were all lined up on the other side of the door.

  Oh no.

  Maybe once I got closer to the front, I could slide my way past without anyone noticing. It was worth a shot.

  It felt like I had been trapped in that church for hours and hours, the perfume scent so strong, it was palpable. Shouldn’t I be nose blind by now? I tried breathing out of my mouth, but felt like I was gasping. I was so hot, I was almost lightheaded. Next to me, the two younger children were whining. One had to go to the bathroom, and his mom kept snapping that he was just going to have to hold it.

  This was worse than any nightmare I’d ever had.

  I tried to make myself relax. After all, getting worked up wasn’t going to get me through the line any faster. But that didn’t stop me from constantly craning my head to track our progress, searching between the crowd to get a sense of what I could expect.

  As I was checking, I spotted a familiar dark-blonde head. Daniel. He was deep in conversation with someone. Someone shorter than him.

  Someone with white-blonde hair.

  Was that Gwyn? Why was he talking so earnestly with Gwyn at a memorial service?

  Maybe it was perfectly innocent. Like he was giving her an update on Ellen. Ellen and Gwyn were friends, after all. It would make sense for her to ask Daniel for the latest news.

  But still ...

  The crowd shifted, and I lost sight of them for several moments, despite my best efforts. By the time the people moved, and I could see again, they were gone.

  See. He gave her an update and that was that. They both went on their merry way.

  So what if I couldn’t see either of them anymore? It didn’t mean anything.

  God, this was all too much. I fidgeted with my purse strap, feeling even more impatient than the eight-year-old in front of me who had to go potty.

  Finally, a glimmer of hope—I had just about reached the doorway. Maybe I could squeeze past the family in front of me and sidestep through the door. Louise’s attention would be directed toward that family, right? Kids were a natural distraction. I should be able slip past unseen and unnoticed.

  Except I didn’t take into account the power of a tiny bladder.

  “I’m so sorry,” the mother said, barely through the door herself as the boy tugged frantically at her arm. “I need to take Jimmy to the bathroom. I’ll be right back.”

  “Of course,” said Louise, before politely turning to the next person in line.

  Me.

  She saw me and froze. As did I. We stared at each other for a full minute before her face darkened. “I can’t believe you had the gall to show up here, uninvited and unwanted,” she hissed.

  Her husband put a hand on her arm. “Louise, I invited her,” he said firmly.

  Her head whipped around, a horrified expression on her face. “You? How could you do such a thing? You know she’s responsible.”

  “Louise, we know no such thing,” her husband said, his voice patient but exhausted, like they were rehashing an old and tired argument. “It’s time we put the past behind us. Jessica is gone, and thanks to Becca, we now know what happened.”

  “Becca is the reason she’s gone,” Louise said incredulously.

  “And,” he continued, refusing to let her interrupt him, “we also should thank her for saving Brittany.”

  “Saving Brittany,” she snorted. “Her whole family is to blame for all of our troubles. Why can’t you see it? Redemption would be better off without her.” She whirled back to me, stepping closer until her face was so close to mine, I could see the dried foundation in the creases of her skin and smell the overwhelming, sickening floral scent of her perfume. “You may have Bill over here bamboozled, but I know the truth, little girl. And I’m watching you. One wrong step and ...” she shook her fist, her eyes gleaming with the sheen of madness, a faint spray of spittle hitting my cheeks, “you’ll regret it.”

  I backed away as her husband yanked her toward him. “Louise, just stop it,” he said, but she ignored him, keeping her eyes on me. “Why don’t you just move away?” she called out. “Be the one person in your godforsaken family to do the right thing and just go.”

  I turned and hurried out of the church as fast as I could, keeping my face down in the hope of being inconspicuous. I didn’t think I could bear it if I saw others agreeing with Louise, backing her up. I could hear the murmurs from the crowd as I pushed my way though. Louise hadn’t been quiet with her accusations. Everyone in that lobby must have heard. I was mortified.

  I shoved the door open and stumbled outside into the parking lot. The air was still—not even a breeze to provide any relief. I could smell the hot asphalt that shimmered beneath the bright sun.

  Every part of me wanted to run to the safety of my car, but I forced myself to pause, take a breath, and smooth out my dress before I walked across the parking lot. Mia’s and Daphne’s voices echoed in my head. If I was serious about making Redemption my home, I needed to stand tall and keep my head high. If I showed I could be cowed, I would never be left alone.

  A few people mingled outside, but I ignored them as I headed to my car. I had been invited, I reminded myself. I had a right to be here. No, it didn’t work out the way I had hoped, but I had been invited.

  Finally, I reached my car. I paused and took another breath before unlocking the door. I was invited, I repeated to myself, feeling the tears prickling the back of my eyes. I was.

  I reached down for the handle, wincing at how hot it was. God, it was going to be an oven inside. I should have parked in a better spot, like where that blue pickup tr
uck was parked, under the cooling shade of a tree. That person was smart.

  I slid into the driver’s seat and quickly twisted the ignition key so I could open the window. I felt drenched in sweat. I decided then and there to get one of those covers for the windshield to keep the sun from baking the interior.

  I paused one more time before putting the car in reverse, wanting to get myself under control. Louise was just one person, after all. Just because she wanted me gone didn’t mean I should leave.

  But, still. A part of me couldn’t blame her. I was responsible for what happened to Jessica. Maybe it would be better for everyone if I left.

  Get it together Becca, I told myself. Mia and Chrissy most definitely didn’t want me to leave. Or Daphne. Or Daniel. An image of Daniel talking to Gwyn popped into my head. At least, I assumed Daniel didn’t want me to leave.

  Enough of that. Sitting in a hot car in a parking lot was silly. I should go home. I had plenty to do.

  I backed out of the spot and slowly drove out of the lot, eyeing the blue pickup under the shade of the tree as I drove past. What was it about that truck? There was something tickling my memory, but I couldn’t place it.

  A movement caught my attention. Something dark. A shadow darting behind the rear bumper.

  I blinked and the memory clicked right into place--the parking lot of A Good Yarn. A dark shadow disappearing behind a blue pickup truck.

  Was I being followed?

  I craned my head, trying to drive while getting a better look, but I saw nothing.

  What was going on here?

  My cell phone buzzed. I assumed it was Mia or Daphne, checking on me, and I waited until I was stopped at the next light before digging in my purse to retrieve it.

  It was Daniel.

  Need to talk. Can you meet me for dinner tonight?

  Chapter 6

  I stared at my phone, a cold feeling of dread starting to form in the pit of my stomach.

  “Need to talk?” Why? What did that mean?

  Images of Daniel and Gwyn in the church danced in my head. Was that what he wanted to talk to me about?