Sacred Ground

by Adrienne Ellis Reeves

  “You were lucky,” Makima said. “So was Drew, although he probably doesn’t know it.”

  “How about you? As attractive as you are it surprises me that you’re not married.” He’d wanted to know this from the beginning.

  “When I was in school I went out a little but not much. Once I finished school the men I met didn’t attract me until Reggie Powell moved here a few years ago. He seemed to be everything I wanted in a man and we saw a lot of each other. My family was practically planning the wedding when he wrote me a farewell note and took a job in another city.”

  He dumped this elegant, dignified, intelligent woman! How she must have suffered in a town like this where she was so well known and respected. Gabe caressed her cheek and cuddled her. “I’m so sorry, honey. That must have hurt.”

  It had hurt because it had assured Makima that she couldn’t hold a man. She wasn’t feminine enough. Attract, yes. Hold, no. Yet here was Gabe, a man she’d dropped potato salad on in a public place, who’d refused to sell her land for the clinic, who’d been the target of the oh-so-feminine Alana, who was a New Yorker down to his fingertips, holding her in his arms in a most possessive way. She turned around so she could face him. She had to make him understand how she felt.

  “It did hurt, but you’ve made it all go away. Reggie said he was leaving because I wasn’t doing my part in the relationship. I truly didn’t understand what he meant because I was doing the best I could. Then I saw you in that restaurant and something happened. Each time I saw you the awareness grew until you were like a tingle in me all of the time.” She pulled his head down and kissed him fiercely. She strained to get closer to him, forgetting where she was. Forgetting everything except this man who awakened emotions in her she’d never experienced. Finally she made herself let go and move back from Gabe. “Now I know what Reggie meant,” she said, holding his gaze.

  Gabe had to clear his throat before he could speak. “Lawrence said it best the other day. I’m a lucky man!”

  Chapter 28

  By seven o’clock Saturday morning the center was buzzing with the staff and their volunteers making their preparations for the fund-raiser.

  “It looks like rain,” people said to each other as they set up breakfast tables, wrapped plasticware in napkins, filled pitchers with syrup and assembled paper plates and cups. The butter pats were in the refrigerator and the coffee urns were ready to turn on.

  “We’ll just have to hope it doesn’t,” others said.

  “Everyone, remember we planned what to do if it does rain,” Dr. Cook said, “so we don’t need to get upset. Just follow the plan.”

  “Good administrator,” Calvin told Gabe.

  “Yes, he is. If it rains, Jimmy and the crew will move the flea-market tables inside. It’ll be a little crowded but that adds to the fun if all is going well.”

  At seven-thirty, Dr. Cook told Mrs. Gray to serve breakfast to her volunteers. He, Eugenia and Tony collected the money or tickets since even volunteers were expected to pay.

  The breakfast of three large pancakes, two sausages, orange juice and coffee were served to Gabe, Makima, Alana, Calvin, Lawrence and several of Mrs. Gray’s friends from church.

  “This is wonderful food,” Gabe said.

  “You rarely get pancakes like this in NewYork,” Calvin agreed.

  “Mama’s one of the best cooks in the area,” Alana said. “But we’d better hurry so we’ll be ready for the eight-o’clockers. They’re the ones who’re at the door right at eight.”

  Gabe thought Alana might be exaggerating but sure enough, when the doors opened officially at eight, there were some twenty people in line. He and his group were kept busy serving the individual plates with pancakes hot off the griddle.

  He heard a woman say to her neighbor, “I always come to this pancake breakfast ’cause I know Mrs. Gray doesn’t make ’em ahead of time and let them get all soggy. I don’t mind waiting a while.”

  Gabe put this evaluation in the back of his mind as he went back into the kitchen. Mrs. Gray in a chef’s hat, which her daughters had put on her with much ceremony, commandeered the large grill that produced twelve pancakes at a time. Two electric grills had been set up with Mrs. Henderson at one and Mrs. Greely at the other. Next year, Gabe thought, he’d propose the purchase of another large grill.

  By ten o’clock Gabe worried that Mrs. Gray might run out of batter.

  “What do we do if that happens?” he asked Makima.

  “It won’t happen. Don’t worry. She always makes more than enough.”

  Soon after, two potential disasters occurred. The rain came and Jimmy and his crew ran to bring the tables inside. Confusion occurred until the customers got into the action and within minutes all was safe.

  Then Calvin came up to Gabe. “Alana just saw a busload of people pull in. Do we have enough food?”

  This time Gabe, worried about the food, went directly to Mrs. Gray with the message.

  “How many people in the bus?” she asked calmly.

  “Probably around sixty.”

  “There’s plenty of batter. You might check for butter and sausages.”

  He called Makima to help him. She teased him with a sassy grin after they found there was enough of everything. “I told you we don’t believe in running out of food when we’re feeding people.”

  By eleven, the sixty people in the bus had been fed as well as local latecomers, the kitchen was closed, and Gabe breathed a sigh of relief. On the flea-market side so many items had been donated that Jimmy appealed to Gabe for help.

  “We need any tables you can spare,” he said, “and more people to price what keeps coming in.” He looked a little harried. “I didn’t expect such a crowd.”

  “You can take Alana and Calvin and I’ll be over as soon as we get the kitchen cleaned up.”

  “The flyer said from eight to twelve but I don’t see folks leaving,” Calvin remarked. He and Alana made their way through groups of ladies showing garments to each other, children of all ages playing on the floor, and knots of men talking together.

  “Why should they leave? They’re full of good food and now they’re shopping without having to go out in the rain, and they’re visiting, catching up with people they haven’t seen in a while,” she pointed out. They stood side by side sorting through a garbage bag filled with clothing that Jimmy had said needed to be priced.

  He’d given them a guide sheet and said, “Use your own judgment,” then hurried away.

  As they worked together, Alana asked, “Have you ever done this before?” Somehow she couldn’t see this man setting up a flea market.

  “No, never.” Calvin looked at a pair of brown pants that were slightly worn, priced them at one dollar and put them in the men’s-clothing pile. “This is a new experience for me,” he said. As he reached into the bag, he saw Lawrence approaching.

  “Need some help with that?” Lawrence asked Alana.

  Alana, conscious of sudden tension from Calvin, shook her head. “We’ve got this under control, but Jimmy was looking for more help down at the other end,” she said. She watched him as he went down the tables talking to people, surprised at how she’d sent him to Jimmy instead of keeping him beside her to flirt in her usual manner.

  She felt Calvin’s gaze but she didn’t let herself look at him. The evening they’d spent together flashed through her mind, revealing a sudden insight. Without ever saying the words, Calvin had let her know by the way he treated her that she was a woman worthy of deference and respect. She didn’t need to put herself on display just because she was physically attractive. Not that she’d ever thought of herself in those terms, yet now she could acknowledge that her coquettish behavior was her way of making up for the fact that she wasn’t like Makima, could never compete with her sister whom she loved but also secretly envied.

  She put her hand in the bag to get another garment and felt Calvin stroking her arm.

  “Thank you,” he said. He brought out a woman’s jac
ket and smoothed it on the table. “You asked had I worked at a flea market before. I told you this was a new experience for me.”

  She was spellbound by his tender gaze. They might have been alone in a space where only the two of them existed communicating heart to heart.

  “You are a new experience to me, Alana. No other woman has intrigued me as you do.”

  “It’s the same with me,” she murmured. “I don’t know what to make of you, Calvin.” Her voice caressed his name and he shivered.

  “Uncle Calvin,” Drew said. “Jimmy sent me to get the clothes you’ve priced.” Calvin privately wondered how long Drew had been standing there and what he’d heard. It didn’t matter. When he’d seen Alana act against her usual self in sending Lawrence away, he’d had to tell her how he felt. He was jubilant inside as he joked with Drew and piled his arms with clothing.

  “I’ve been hearing the cash registers ringing nonstop,” Alana said. “How much money has the flea market made?”

  “I’m not sure but Jimmy said it’s the most they’ve ever taken in so he’s pretty happy.”

  The center staff meeting on Wednesday was a triumph. Mutual congratulations were exchanged for the work the staffers did at the fund-raiser as well as all the volunteers they’d recruited. A big cheer went up when Dr. Cook announced the total amount of money the center would have after all expenses had been paid.

  “Combining the pancake breakfast with the flea market was a brilliant idea that Gabe had, but it wouldn’t have been this successful if all of you hadn’t put your best effort behind it.”

  “It seems to me in looking over the books that the best way to keep the center in healthy funds each year is to do something like this on a regular basis,” Gabe said, directing his comment to Dr. Cook. He’d meant to bring this plan to Dr. Cook in his office, but this was too good an opportunity to miss.

  “Could you be more specific?” Dr. Cook asked.

  “We could plan three or four major events a year. They would be the kind that no other organization could do in the way the center could. They’d be highly publicized and be of a quality that would permit us to charge a good fee, and also the kind that would keep people coming back year after year.”

  “I’ve always wanted to put on a community fashion show involving the men, women, youth and children of this community. I know it would be a lot of work to do it right but it would also bring in money because everyone would want to see their relatives and friends on the stage,” Makima said.

  “I think we should do the flea-market-and-breakfast combo again. I heard so many people say good things about it,” Jimmy offered.

  “That reminds me that I heard one woman say she always comes to this one because she knows Mrs. Gray doesn’t serve any soggy pancakes,” Gabe said.

  That brought on more anecdotes until Eugenia said, “Wasn’t it too crowded in here? Maybe if we do it again we should get a bigger place.”

  Dr. Cook said, “It was crowded, but I heard no complaints. That was part of the success, I think.”

  Others agreed with him and Gabe put in the final reason. “Holding it somewhere else defeats our purpose since we’d have to pay a rental fee and insurance. All we need to do for any of these events is to be as creative as possible in how we use the space.”

  “We already have the spring dance and the winter ball, so we could keep them or schedule an event for children and youth instead,” Eugenia said.

  “Something for our young people is very important and I think that should be one of the major events of the year. Let’s begin to think about this idea. Put our thoughts on paper and in the coming months we’ll refine them so we’ll be ready when next year comes.” Dr. Cook thanked the staff again and adjourned the meeting.

  “How’s your mother?” Gabe asked Makima as they walked back to their offices.

  “She stayed home from church Sunday and laid around Monday until the swelling in her feet went down. She’s fine and anxious to hear how much money we made. She said to tell you thanks for the roses. That was so thoughtful.”

  “She’s an amazing woman. I tried to figure out how she made all that batter.”

  “She begins days ahead. Measures out the dry ingredients for fifty pancakes and packages it. The day before, she does the same with the eggs, the milk and the oil. The day of the breakfast, she mixes fifty at a time. It’s simple. The sausages go in the oven the day before on sheet pans, a hundred at a time. They’re drained and packaged, so all they need is heating.”

  They came to her office. He didn’t go in but stood a moment more since no one else was around. He always hated leaving her. Despite the excellent staff meeting, he saw her eyes were shadowed. “Are you not rested yet or is there something bothering you? I don’t like to see your eyes like this.” He touched her lids with a tender gesture.

  “I think I’m a worrywart,” she said. “We haven’t heard from Dakers and Sons yet.”

  “It’s only been a few days, hasn’t it?”

  “Actually, it’s been two full weeks.”

  “Has it been that long?” He did a rapid calculation. “It has, hasn’t it? Has your attorney been in touch with them?”

  “He’s left a couple of messages, he said, and they say they’ll get back to him.”

  “Where are they located?”

  “Rock Hill, South Carolina.”

  “I’m sure they’ll be in touch soon, honey. They’re just involved with someone else’s project. Go to bed early tonight and get some rest. You worked so hard getting the fund-raiser together.”

  “No harder than anyone else but I do feel a little down. Tomorrow when you see me, the shadows will be gone.” She glanced around to be sure they were alone, gave him a swift kiss and went into her office.

  Gabe was not at all as sanguine about Dakers as he’d told Makima and he called Mr. Moultrie in Charlotte as soon as he got home.

  “You’re close to Rock Hill, South Carolina, aren’t you?” he asked when the attorney came on the phone.

  “Yes. It’s just across the state line.”

  Gabe explained the situation about Dakers and Sons. “Can you check them out for me? Are they aboveboard and just slow with a new client or is it another scenario? I’d appreciate knowing as soon as possible and thanks.”

  Mr. Moultrie called later that day. “Gabe, I have a colleague in Rock Hill and he investigated the firm. I’m sorry to have to tell you, it was a scam from start to finish, with fraudulent brochures, references, price schedules, detailed pictures and analyses of previous projects they’d done. They set up shop in a town, lure a few people in, ask for a deposit that they know most people will give them because they’re lower than legitimate builders, then they take the money and run.”

  “Aren’t they in the Rock Hill phone book?”

  “They are, with a modest advertisement. But the phone has been disconnected and the building is empty and locked. I’m sorry for your friend, Gabe.”

  Gabe felt sick to his stomach. All he could think of was how Makima was going to feel. “Can they be traced?” he asked.

  “My colleague and I are going to see what can be done. It might be possible since it’s just happened. I’ll let you know.”

  Gabe put the phone down and slumped in his chair. How could he give Makima this news? She would be devastated. Maybe he shouldn’t, because their attorney would find it out, wouldn’t he? But how soon? Wouldn’t she want to know as soon as possible?

  “Calvin!” he called. “Come in here, please.” He needed some help.

  When Calvin appeared he told him the whole story. “I don’t know what I should do. Go to the center and tell her? Call her and tell her? Don’t say anything and let their attorney find out?”

  “Are you her friend?” Calvin asked.

  “Of course I am.”

  “You have to tell her. But not by yourself. I’ll get Alana and meet you there in thirty minutes,” he said as he began calling Alana on his cell phone.

  Chap
ter 29

  “Gabe! What are you doing back here?” Makima asked in surprise. “I’m just getting ready to close up.” As Alana and Calvin followed Gabe in, she smiled. “Hi, you two. What is this, are we all going somewhere?”

  “I wish we were, honey,” Gabe said soberly, “but I’m afraid it isn’t that pleasant.”

  “What’s happened? Is it Mom?” Her face turned ashen and she looked at Alana.

  Alana went to her. “Mom and Dad are both fine. Bobby, too.” She put her arm around Makima who was standing behind her desk.

  “Tell her what you found out, Gabe,” Alana said.

  “It’s about Dakers and Sons. They’ve disappeared from Rock Hill. Their office is closed and their phone is disconnected.” Gabe saw that every word he spoke was a physical blow to Makima. At first her face showed utter disbelief, then shock as what he was saying began to sink in. Her eyes rolled back in her head and her body crumpled into a dead faint. He dashed behind the desk to take her weight from Alana.

  “Get some water,” he said as he eased Makima into her chair with Calvin’s help. Alana came back with a damp washcloth and laid it on Makima’s forehead. She poured a little water from the glass she had into Gabe’s hand.

  “Rub her wrist.” Tears ran down Alana’s face as she begged her sister to wake up and gently rubbed her face with the wet washcloth. Gabe’s stomach muscles were clenched so tight they hurt. With one hand he rubbed Makima’s wrist, with the other he stroked her hair.

  Her eyelids fluttered and she opened her eyes. They were blank, then puzzled as she saw the washcloth.

  “What happened?” she asked.

  “You fainted,” Alana said. “Are you all right now?”

  “Yes,” Makima said as she sat up straight in her chair. She took a tissue from the box and patted the moisture from her face and wrist.