The Last Word bbtbm-3

by Ellery Adams

  “That would be fine.”

  Smiling, Shala presented Olivia with a menu from the museum’s eatery, Iris. She then phoned her fellow curator and made arrangements for him to view the watercolor. Olivia was impressed by the quality of food offered by the café and had a hard time choosing between two tempting dishes. In the end, she selected a sandwich made of balsamic roasted portabella, thyme, spring leeks, and Gruyère served on ciabatta flatbread.

  Haviland, delighted to be sprung from the Range Rover so quickly, showed his gratitude by being especially obedient. Olivia knew the poodle longed to explore the museum’s extensive grounds, but he contented himself with the picnic area and was very careful to keep his distance from other museums visitors.

  Once Shala had eaten a few bites of her artichoke and grilled shrimp salad, she laid down her fork and took a sip of iced tea. “Heinrich Kamler was a German prisoner of war. He was captured when his U-boat sank off the North Carolina coast in the early days of World War II.”

  Olivia nearly choked on her sandwich. She took a large swallow of San Pellegrino and managed to say, “Was he interred at the New Bern Camp?”

  It was Shala’s turn to be surprised. “Why, yes. As it sounds like you’re familiar with the camp, you may also know that both the guards and the local population treated the prisoners quite well. They were encouraged to learn Americanisms such as democracy and capitalism by creating goods and selling them. I’m not sure which products Heinrich and his friends first crafted, but he eventually earned enough to purchase painting supplies. His most famous works were of the camp itself, but he also created stunning landscapes of his home in Germany. His village bordered the Black Forest, and I believe that’s the scene your friend’s painting depicts.”

  Olivia’s thoughts were racing. Had Nick Plumley known about the painting? Was it the reason he repeatedly sought access to Harris’s home? But how could he know of its existence when it had remained hidden for so many years?

  “Are Kamler’s paintings valuable?” Olivia asked the curator.

  “Indeed. Your friend’s is worth at least twenty thousand dollars. If placed in auction, it could bring double that amount. Maybe triple.” Shala speared a shrimp on her fork. “It will certainly generate a buzz. A fresh Kamler work after all this time? I’m certain our director will try to acquire the painting for the museum, and he won’t be alone. The wolves of the art world will gather the moment the news gets out.”

  Olivia wondered how Harris would respond when she informed him that he had discovered a genuine treasure. “What happened to Kamler?”

  Shala’s attractive face clouded. “For some reason, he and another prisoner decided to escape. He killed one of the guards—a knife with his initials carved into the handle was found protruding from the victim’s back. Kamler just disappeared afterward.” She pushed pieces of lettuce around in her bowl. “Who knows? He could still be alive today. A very old man, yes, but it’s possible. He was only twenty-one when he escaped. Seventeen in 1941. That’s when the U-boat sank.”

  “Fascinating,” Olivia said and meant it. After all, Shala had just described the pivotal scene of Nick Plumley’s novel, The Barbed Wire Flower. “How many of his paintings exist?”

  “Fifty-two.” Shala grinned. “Unless there are more in your friend’s staircase.”

  Olivia returned the smile while simultaneously thinking, Harris needs to comb every inch of that house.

  Their lunch finished, Olivia returned Haviland to the Range Rover and accompanied Shala inside to collect the painting. Several museum employees were gathered in the curator’s office when they returned. The air was electric.

  “It’s genuine!” a man stated gleefully. “And I’m intrigued by the note on the back.” His eyes met Olivia’s. “Did Heinrich Kamler have a romantic attachment to someone who lived in the house where this was discovered?”

  Shala edged forward to examine the script. “I was so caught up in examining the front that I never turned it over. Jeez, you’d think I was still in grad school.”

  “I don’t know much about the people who lived there, but believe me, I plan to conduct some research as soon as possible,” Olivia answered the man’s question.

  “Please keep us in the loop,” he pleaded and began to package the painting. After placing it between sheets of acid-free paper, he then secured it on both sides with white cardstock and slid the bundle into a zippered canvas bag. “Consider the bag a gift. Perhaps the owner would loan us this piece for our Arts of the Coast exhibit next winter in return.”

  “I’ll pass on the request,” Olivia promised and took her leave. She was eager to return to the quiet of her car and to spend two hours ruminating over the connection between Nick Plumley and Heinrich Kamler.

  As she roared west down I-40, she couldn’t stop thinking about the note on the back of the painting. It made sense that the syntax seemed a little off. After all, if the author of the brief lines was Kamler, then his primary language wasn’t English. It was German.

  “A bestselling novelist paying house calls on a young and naive aspiring writer, a valuable painting hidden under a stair tread, and a mysterious romance. Perhaps even a forbidden one? Local girl falls for German prisoner?” Olivia glanced at Haviland, who was sniffing at the salt-tinged air with eagerness. They were almost home.

  Olivia reached over and placed a hand on the back of the poodle’s neck. “Captain, why do the most interesting things happen just when I am about to open a new restaurant?”

  She was in the middle of an internal debate over whether to start digging through town records when her phone rang. The dashboard display, which included GPS and a hands-free phone, flashed Hudson’s number in electric blue digits.

  “Hello?” Olivia shouted over the rush of air streaming in through Haviland’s open window.

  “It’s Hudson. Kim’s in labor.” Olivia heard fear in his rough voice, and it was not the kind experienced by all nervous fathers-to-be. It was far more acute. “She’s asking for you. There’s something wrong with the baby and she wants you here. Please, Olivia. Hurry.”

  “I’m coming,” Olivia replied. “Hang in there, Hudson. I’m coming.”

  Chapter 6

  Faith is an oasis in the heart which will never be reached by the caravan of thinking.

  —KAHLIL GIBRAN

  For the first time in her life, Olivia didn’t know what to do with Haviland. She couldn’t bring him into the hospital and she couldn’t leave him sitting in the Range Rover for the second time in one day. Desperate, she pulled in front of The Canine Cottage and raced inside with the befuddled poodle.

  One of the groomers smiled at her over the sudsy back of a Great Dane. “Hi, Ms. Limoges. We didn’t expect to see you today.”

  Olivia hesitated. She hated begging for favors and it was plain to see that the groomers were very busy. “I’m in a tight spot. My sister-in-law is having a baby and I can’t waltz Haviland through the labor and delivery unit. He’s been in the car all day and he’s hot and tired.” She paused. “I never expected my sister-in-law to ask for me. I think something’s wrong . . .” She took a deep breath and finished the thought. “When my brother called, I could tell he was terrified. Can you help?”

  The young woman touched the Dane on the flank and walked around the tub. “Don’t you worry about a thing. Haviland can stay here until we close. We’ll pamper him so much that he won’t even notice you’re gone.”

  “Thank you so much. I won’t forget this.” Olivia kissed Haviland on the snout and rushed out to her car.

  When she reached the hospital, she found Hudson prowling around the labor and delivery waiting room like a caged leopard. Caitlyn was there as well. Clutching a picture book in one hand and a ragged Barbie in the other, she seemed to be trying to shrink into her chair. Her knees were drawn up to her chest in a protective gesture, and she watched her father through dark, worried eyes.

  Olivia grabbed her brother’s hand. “How’s Kim?”


  He squeezed hers in return, the desperate pressure of his conveying his distress. “It’s not her. It’s the baby. Something’s not right with his heart.”

  “Why aren’t you back there?” Olivia asked without judgment.

  Hudson shook his head. “They took Kim into an operating room for a C-section. I couldn’t leave Caitlyn out here all alone.” Hudson swallowed hard. “A doctor stopped by a few minutes ago to explain our ‘options.’ There’s some kind of surgery that could fix the baby’s heart, but they can’t do it here. I gotta tell you—I didn’t understand what the hell the man was talking about. It was like he was talking in another language.” Still holding on to Olivia’s hand, he nearly crushed her bones with the force of his grip. “Help us. Please.”

  A lump formed in Olivia’s throat, but now was not the time to get emotional. “It’ll be okay, Hudson.” She reclaimed her throbbing hand. “Go comfort your daughter. She knows something’s wrong. I’ll go back there and find out exactly what’s going on and what needs to be done.”

  Olivia paused only long enough to put her hand on Caitlyn’s shoulder. “Hey. Long day, huh?”

  Caitlyn nodded.

  “Sit tight for a little while longer and then you and I will hunt down some ice cream. I hear this hospital has a pretty cool cafeteria.” Olivia did her best to sound calm and in control. “First, I want to check on your mom. Be back soon.”

  The little girl didn’t say anything, but her body relaxed a fraction. She unfolded her legs and opened her book. Hudson took the seat next to his daughter and pretended to be interested in the illustration of a princess choosing which accessories to wear with her gold and ivory ball gown. Caitlyn leaned toward her father and whispered, “Once upon a time . . .”

  Olivia pressed a button on the wall and announced herself to the nurse on duty. A buzzer sounded and the door leading into the ward was unlocked. Olivia squared her shoulders and stepped through. She walked briskly up a hallway lined with dozens of photographs of smiling babies, but she kept her gaze locked straight ahead. At the moment, it was disconcerting to see the apple-cheeked faces of those healthy infants.

  “I’m here to see Kim Hudson,” she informed the nurse seated behind a low counter, and then quickly added, “She’s been asking for me.”

  The nurse made a quick phone call and then suggested Olivia take a seat, but Olivia shook off the suggestion and remained where she was. When the nurse looked up from her paperwork, she must have realized that Olivia wasn’t going to sit and wait quietly.

  “I’d like to know if my sister-in-law is out of surgery,” Olivia said, looming over the counter.

  Another nurse approached the desk. She smiled at Olivia and said, “Mrs. Hudson is doing just fine. She’s in her room. I was heading in that direction anyway, so you can come on back with me.”

  Olivia felt a slight loosening of the knot that had formed in the pit of her stomach. “And the baby?”

  The nurse walked briskly down a silent corridor, her rubber-soled shoes making no noise on the white laminate flooring. “They’re going to take him to Pitt Memorial, but I’ll let the pediatric nurse explain everything.”

  Him? Olivia slowed her pace. A boy. Before she had time to take this in, the nurse knocked lightly on a door marked with the name Salter and entered. “Mrs. Hudson? Your sister-in-law’s here!” she announced brightly.

  Seeing Olivia, Kim’s face immediately crumpled. Tears ran in rivulets from her eyes onto the stiff white pillow. “Oh, thank God. I don’t understand what’s wrong with my baby! Why can’t I see him?”

  Olivia had little skill when it came to bedside manner. Trusting her instinct, she laid a hand on Kim’s arm and promised to do anything she could to help. As she spoke, she spied an African American woman wearing a scrub top covered with pink and purple hearts. She was standing quietly near the window, the afternoon light casting a white corona around her head, giving her an angelic appearance. She walked around the bed and introduced herself to Olivia as Dru Ann Love. Her name and the heart design on her shirt were certainly comforting, but it was the woman’s sense of calm that inspired confidence.

  “Mrs. Hudson asked for me to explain things after you arrived. I don’t have much time, but I’ll explain as quickly and succinctly as I can,” Nurse Love stated plainly and looked at Kim. “Your son was born with a congenital heart defect. It’s called atrial septal defect. In layman’s terms, it basically means that there’s a hole in his heart.”

  Kim made a whimpering sound, and Olivia stroked her arm, her gaze never leaving Nurse Love’s warm brown eyes.

  “In a normal heart,” the nurse continued, “blood that is low in oxygen passes through the right ventricle and into the lungs where it receives oxygen. These two chambers of the heart are separated by a thin wall called the atrial septum. Because your nephew has a hole in his atrial septum, the oxygen-rich blood is mixing with the oxygen-poor blood, and the lungs are receiving an increased amount of blood. Basically, they’re getting too much blood.”

  “And this doesn’t show up in utero?” Olivia asked.

  Nurse Love shook her head. “Not always. Sometimes pediatricians discover the condition when they hear a heart murmur and sometimes the stress of labor makes it obvious, but the bottom line is that your nephew requires a pediatric cardiologist and we don’t have one at this hospital. As we speak, he’s being prepped for transport to Pitt Memorial in Greenville. They have an excellent pediatric cardiology department there.”

  Kim tried to sit up in bed. Wincing in pain, she cried, “I have to be with him!”

  Olivia didn’t need a medical degree to know that her sister-in-law wasn’t going anywhere. The last thing she wanted to do was volunteer to take her place. To sit in an ambulance with a newborn infant stuck full of wires and tubes and requiring emergency surgery was Olivia’s idea of hell. The truth was that Olivia Limoges was afraid of babies. She’d never held one in her life. Children were disconcerting enough, but a baby was the epitome of helpless fragility. Still, she couldn’t ignore the agony on Kim’s face, and she’d promised her brother that she’d do anything to help.

  “There, there,” Nurse Love tried to soothe Kim. “I’ll be with him every second of the drive and for the surgery too. We’ve already made a connection. I just came from his room. He’s quite a handsome little man.”

  Kim collapsed against the pillow. “But he needs one of his parents. I’m stuck here and Hudson has to look after Caitlyn.” She shot Olivia an apologetic look. “She likes you, but I’ve never left her with anyone before. I don’t think she’d handle it too good.”

  The nurse came forward with a clipboard and a pen. The family’s arrangements were secondary to the health of her tiny patient. “I need you to sign some consent forms, Mrs. Salter. Or would you prefer I let your husband handle this so you can rest? We need to be on our way now.”

  Kim glanced at the pile of forms and blanched. “I don’t even know if our insurance will cover the surgery.”

  “Trust me, you’re covered.” Olivia took the clipboard from Nurse Love’s hands. “I’ll take these to Hudson, explain what’s happening, and then drive to Greenville.”

  There, she’d spoken the words and there was no rescinding the offer now, no matter how uncomfortable it made her.

  When Kim’s eyes filled with fresh tears, Olivia knew that she’d done the right thing. This woman was her sister by marriage, and her half brother waited in silent anguish on the other side of the hospital. Her young niece was confused and frightened and they had no one else to turn to. They needed her.

  Olivia felt a warmth spread through her chest. These people needed her. They were her family. In that moment, she believed she’d have gone to any length for them but knew there was no time to express how this realization made her feel. Instead, she told Kim that she’d be in touch and then gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.

  “Wait.” Nurse Love reclaimed her clipboard and handed it to Kim. “There’s one form you do need to c
omplete to get a birth certificate. Have you chosen a name for your son?”

  Kim accepted the pen. “Before I went into labor, Hudson and still I couldn’t agree on one . . .”

  “Pick the name you liked,” Olivia ordered. “You’re the one with staples in your belly. Hudson will accept your choice.”

  “Kyle, after my father.” Kim wrote swiftly. “And then Anders, my maiden name. Kyle Anders Salter. And I do believe I’ll call him Anders. He’s got to grow into Kyle.” She handed the clipboard back to the nurse, her lips trembling. “Please give Anders a kiss for me. Tell him that his mommy loves him. That I’ll be there as soon as I can. Tell him I’ll be praying that I can hold him soon . . .” The rest of her words turned into sobs.

  Olivia escaped from the mother’s heart-rending grief. She knew that Kim desperately wanted to be with her baby, but necessity required her to settle for Olivia’s presence instead.

  With the weight of her obligation lying heavily on her shoulders, Olivia strode out to the waiting room and explained to Hudson why his son was being transferred to another hospital. Before he could ask a single question, she assured him that she planned to drive to Greenville as soon as she made arrangements for Haviland.

  “Your wife is terrified,” she whispered to Hudson before leaving. “Go to her. I’ll call you the minute your son comes out of surgery. Don’t worry.” She gave him a brave smile. “It’s amazing what doctors can fix these days.”

  Relieved to see Hudson take Caitlyn gently by the hand and turn toward the labor and delivery ward, Olivia pulled out her phone and began to make the first of many important calls.

  It was nearly midnight by the time Olivia returned to the quiet and comfort of her own home.

  Under any other circumstances, Olivia would have deemed it downright rude to call Diane, Haviland’s vet and Flynn McNulty’s girlfriend, at eleven forty at night in order to pick up her dog, but after the day she’d had, she didn’t feel a single twinge of regret. She needed Haviland.