Norah's Ark

by Judy Baer

  When I remained silent, he added, “I know you and I have some areas of disagreement, but Bryce Morris isn’t one of them. I promised him I’d take him to the State Fair and I was wondering if, maybe, if you wanted to…”

  Deep-fried cheese curds. Corn on the cob. Every food imaginable on a stick. Bungee jumping. Kitschy shopping. Horse barns.

  “On one condition.”

  “What’s that.”

  “That no matter how much I eat, you don’t say a word.”

  His laughter unexpectedly lifted my spirits. “We’ll pick you up at ten-thirty.”

  When they arrived, I had my State Fair uniform on—comfortable shoes, a water bottle, sunscreen, hat, a wad of five-dollar bills and a cell phone. I looked like a tourist attempting a two-week tour of every country on the European continent.

  Bryce was in a uniform I’d never expected to see on him—baggy khaki shorts, a white cotton shirt and, wonder of wonders, tennis shoes instead of biker boots. Even his hair was tipped in a subdued burgundy color.

  Nick, who couldn’t look bad if he tried, was in his typical off-duty uniform—jeans and a soft cotton shirt. “Looks like you’ve done this before,” he greeted me as I scrabbled into his car.

  Bryce offered me his place in the front seat but I declined. “Stay there. This is your day. Besides, I’m a better backseat driver when I’m actually in the backseat.”

  We drove to one of the many shuttle stops around the city and caught a bus to the fairgrounds. Bryce was practically bouncing off the wall by the time we got to the ticket stands.

  “Haven’t you ever been to the fair before?” I asked. “You’re acting as if it’s your first time.”

  “It’s different today.”

  “What’s different?”

  He hesitated before answering. “The past couple years I’ve come with my friend Tony and his buddies. They don’t want to do or see much. They just want to hang out.”

  “And look cool, right? No rides, no food, just smart comments about people and checking out the girls?”

  “Yeah. They could do that at the mall. This is the fair.”

  “What’s first, rides or food?” Nick asked.

  “Rides!” Bryce and I chimed together. “You throw up if you eat first,” I added.

  “I see I’m with professionals,” Nick said. “Let’s go.”

  I am not at my best when hanging upside down sixty feet in the air. Spinning. Or having my skin go all flubbery so I look like Gumby at three Gs on the Turbo Force. They’ve added new rides to the old favorites, all with intimidating names like Mega Drop, Magna, Wipeout and Drop of Doom to go with old standbys like Tornado and Zipper. To prevent any more damage than had already been done to my brain cells I finally had to beg off, leaving Nick and Bryce to ride until Nick, too, decided that he’d had enough whizzing, tumbling and shaking. That left us on the ground while Bryce continued to try everything that moved, including something that looked like a large slingshot which ejected people into space and then let them snap back to earth.

  “I’d never live through that,” I commented, happy to have both feet on the ground, sharing a bucket of fries with Nick.

  “Been there, done that, got it out of my system.” Nick dipped a French fry in my ketchup and put it in his mouth.

  “You’ve done and seen a lot, haven’t you?”

  A look that I’d begun to recognize came into his eyes and made them look like hard, flat bits of obsidian. “Too much.”

  “Is that why you always shut down when the subject comes up?”

  He looked at me steadily. “There are points in my life that I don’t want to revisit. Looking back only scratches the surface of wounds that are finally beginning to heal.”

  Another reason Nick and I weren’t right for each other. I don’t believe relationships can thrive when we keep secrets from those we love. That is part of why I’ve been so miserable over the Connor and Lilly thing. I disliked tiptoeing around Connor to keep Lilly happy. Much too complicated.

  And speaking of complicated, Connor’s words had run through my head all night. I love you.

  Last night I’d seen a different side of him. Although he’s always charming, last night he’d seemed real, approachable, and, well, lovable. I’d been overcome and utterly speechless, which only seemed to endear me to him further.

  “Where’d you go?”

  I looked up to see Nick waving a pork chop on a stick in front of my nose.

  “Away. I just went away for a moment.”

  “You certainly did. Anywhere you can take me?”

  I looked him squarely in the eye. “Maybe, if I felt I could trust you.”

  “You can trust me.”

  I shook my head. “You don’t trust me with your thoughts, Nick. There are a lot of places you don’t allow me to go. It is a two-way street.”

  He nodded but he didn’t volunteer any more about himself.

  Bryce’s gag reflex kicked up when I wanted to look at all the little shops and stands under the grandstand. “Shopping, Norah? You can do that on Pond Street.”

  “But where else could I find a sequined red, white and blue T-shirt that, if you touch just the right bit of bling, plays the Star-Spangled Banner? Or this multipurpose cleaning solution that is equally safe for my finest lingerie and my car engine? Or…”

  “I’ll stick with her, Bryce. You go get some food and meet us at the horse barns in an hour. You’ve got my cell number if you can’t find us.”

  We watched him walk away. There was a relaxed, jauntiness in his step that I hadn’t seen before.

  “He’s a new kid, isn’t he?”

  “And he’s going to be ‘newer’ yet, if what I expect comes down from juvenile services and things work out as I believe they will. It appears Tony, that so-called ‘friend’ of his, may be the one who did all the damage on Pond Street, including stealing the mail and washing checks.”

  “What was he doing in Shoreside causing trouble?”

  “Apparently Bryce was trying to squirm out from under Tony’s control when his parents moved him across town. Tony seemed to think that Bryce would be his puppet in Shoreside. Tony has delusions of grandeur and wants to run some sort of gang. He’s just a two-bit bully, of course, but one with aspirations.”

  “Like aspiring to have the penitentiary as his retirement villa?”

  “Anyway, Tony and his buddies were doing damage over in Shoreside to get Bryce in trouble, to show him what could happen if he didn’t take his directions from Tony. He even lifted a leather wristband Bryce owned and planted it to make Bryce look as if he’d been the one doing the mischief.”

  “What a little creep.”

  “You’ve got that right. Bryce, away from Tony, is turning into a decent kid. Sounds like if they can get enough on Tony, he’ll get into the system, off the street and maybe get some help.”

  “And Julie Morris will get her son back.” Just the thought choked me up. Impulsively, between the nail-art booth and the get-your-name-on-a-fake-license-plate display, I threw my arms around Nick and gave him a hug. His strong, muscular body gave no resistance. Instead, he hugged me back.

  It wasn’t until a lady with a double stroller containing twins and enough paraphernalia and shopping bags to equip an arctic explorer ran into us that we released each other. Red as our cheeks were, you’d have thought we’d both been to the face-painting booth.

  “Sorry, I just got so excited.”

  “Don’t be sorry. That was better than any of the rides I’ve been on so far.”

  Being the sophisticated and classy woman that I am, I gave him an elbow in the side, grabbed his hand and pulled him toward a booth selling chocolate tacos.

  At the end of the evening, while Bryce took a final round of rides—the boy’s stomach must be made of cast iron—Nick and I sat on the top of the grandstand in the last row of seating. It didn’t do much to dim the sound of the monster trucks, but we were in a private little bubble of our own as the moon hun
g plump and ripe in the sky over us.

  “Norah?”

  “Hmm?” I didn’t want to talk or move. I was nestled into the curve of his arm, my head on his shoulder.

  “I want to say something.”

  “So say it.”

  “I know we have our disagreements…”

  Bentley. I stiffened.

  “But maybe we can work it out.”

  Get rid of Bentley, you mean?

  “You’re a very special woman. I want to get to know you better. Much better.”

  My head was still spinning like a Tilt-A-Whirl when Nick dropped me off at my front door.

  There is simply too much going on in my life right now.

  Connor loves me. I can say the word and live a glamorous life and be treated like a princess.

  Joe has grown distant and appears on the verge of going AWOL.

  Lilly avoids me because, as she said cryptically, I don’t know “the half of it.” Whatever that means.

  Nick wants to get to know me “much better.”

  Nick hates Bentley.

  I love Bentley.

  As long as that standoff exists, there is no possibility of Nick really knowing me at all, because Bentley and his kin are part and parcel of my heart. So there’s no point in my even thinking about how I feel about Nick….

  No wonder I’m tired.

  Auntie Lou is thriving thanks, in part, to Bryce Morris.

  “That boy is a tonic for me, Norah. I praise God for him every day,” she told me when I came to check on her.

  “What do you two talk about anyway?”

  “He tells me how it is to be young and I tell him how it is to be old.” She looked at me slyly. “It gives us both an advantage, don’t you think?”

  “His mother says she hasn’t seen him this happy since before his own grandparents passed away. She had no idea how much influence they’d had on him or how much he had missed them.”

  “So I’m still good for something.” Lou had begun wearing some of the vintage hats she had in her shop. She looked like the Queen Mum today in a powder-blue straw hat with huge baby-blue cabbage roses. Though I’d never tell her this, she manages to draw the curious into her store just to see what a woman in thick black stockings and a broomstick skirt, hot pink sweatshirt and wide blue hat might have for sale.

  “Haven’t I always told you that?”

  Lou’s eyes turned watery and I saw her lips quiver. Quickly she dug in her pocket and drew out a small box which she thrust in my direction.

  “Open it.”

  “What’s this?”

  “Quit gabbing and open it.” She dug again in her pocket and came out with a large men’s handkerchief into which she proceeded to blow with a sound reminiscent of a foghorn on Minnesota’s North Shore.

  The box had been carefully wrapped. When I peeled back the paper, I revealed a small velvet jeweler’s box. The fabric was old and faded and flattened in spots. It had been opened and closed many times over the years. “Lou, you shouldn’t have….”

  “Never noticed before how busy your mouth can be, dearie. Stop flapping your lips and open it!”

  Sensing there was something truly exceptional about this moment, I lifted the box’s lid slowly. Inside was a rose gold ring, thinned from long years of wearing, with three stones embedded in the surface, a large radiant-cut diamond flanked by two smaller diamonds. I lifted it out and slid the ring onto the third finger of my right hand. It glided into place like it had been there forever. “It fits!”

  “It’s yours.”

  “Oh, I couldn’t. This must be very valuable.”

  “It is valuable. It came from Tiffany & Co. Ordered especially for me.”

  “It’s yours then? Not something you purchased for the store?” I held out my hand and admired the delicate workmanship.

  “Biggest purchase Silas made in his entire life,” Lou said with a chuckle. “Of course, I took charge of our money after he did that.”

  “Your husband bought this for you?”

  “You’re beginning to sound like that stupid parrot of yours, repeating everything I say. Of course he bought it for me! It’s my engagement ring.”

  I stared at the ring nestled on my finger then tried to tug it off. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be wearing your engagement ring, Lou. I had no idea….”

  “It’s yours now.”

  “Oh, no. I couldn’t. I wouldn’t. Why would you do such a thing?”

  Lou looked at me with such loving tenderness that my chest constricted. “Because you are my daughter. Every woman wants to pass her engagement ring on to her daughter.”

  She reached out and took my hand. “You gave me my life back by fighting for me and bringing me home. I know what happens to old people who don’t have family and no one to take care of them. They can’t live alone. It’s not safe.”

  “But you said you were perfectly safe….”

  “I know, I know.” She looked at me impishly from beneath the overpowering hat. “I lied. But you came in swinging anyway and convinced everyone that you and I could do this. And we did!

  “The store is doing fine considering that my customers have to figure out how to get here during the hours I’m open. Bringing that boy into my life was a stroke of genius and my cat, well…”

  “It’s too much, Lou. I can’t accept it.”

  “Then who will I leave it to? The cat? Norah, you are my daughter now. If you don’t take it, someday someone will sell it in a shop like this and no one will ever know anything about my husband or me. You have to take it.”

  I closed my hand tightly and felt the sweet heaviness of the ring’s weight on my finger. “It will always remind me of you. And if I have a little girl someday, I’m going to pass it on to her.”

  Lou’s eyes began to sparkle and I knew I’d said the words she wanted to hear. “Thank you, dearie, for so graciously accepting my gift.” Then she scowled at me. “Now you’d better quit wasting time and find a father for that granddaughter of mine.”

  Chapter Thirty-One

  I like Connor a lot, but not enough to let him be the father of that granddaughter Auntie Lou wants so badly. Nick, other than the fact that he loathes dogs and abhors Bentley, would be an excellent choice for the job. And Joe, patient, loving Joe, the “sure thing” in my life has been highly underappreciated by me of late. Of course nowhere have I heard those bells I want. God knows the desires of our hearts, but…bells?

  It is human nature to want what you don’t have—thin thighs, for example, or straight hair. People tell me all the time that they’d love to have my mop of curls, while I’d gladly give them away in trade for sleek straight hair.

  “Lord, there has to be something in here for me. Show me what it is.” I pawed anxiously through the pages of my Bible, skimming passages and trying to will the Holy Spirit to toss a verse at me.

  As I cradled my head in my hands and stared at the page, a verse caught my attention. “Disregarding another person’s faults preserves love; telling about them separates close friends.” Proverbs 17:9.

  Nice, but it doesn’t seem to apply to my current predicament. Since God always has a purpose I have to assume this is relevant somehow, although I have no clue as to what its significance might be. I’m trying to listen for Him now, though, so I’ll take this verse for what it’s worth.

  When Joe called to asked if he could come over, I said yes. If Connor could tell me he loved me, who knew what Joe might come up with?

  While I was waiting, I picked up Bentley and staggered to the couch. He’s been overeating lately and resembles a furry lump of concrete. “Diet doggy food for you, my friend.” He whined pitifully, as if I’d sentenced him to a month of hard labor at a canine penitentiary.

  The doorbell rang in minutes. I smoothed down my hair on my way to the door. “Hi, stranger, it’s good to…Lilly?”

  Joe had not come alone.

  Lilly hung behind, urging Joe to enter first. My antennae should have picked
that up right away. Not only that, but instead of her usual flamboyant garb, she wore a pair of light tan pants and a fitted blue sweater. Her lobes were decorated in discreet pearl earrings and her hair was pulled into a knot at the base of her neck. I hardly recognized her.

  “What’s going on, guys?” They both looked somber, as if someone had died.

  “Lilly and I have to talk to you, Norah.”

  “Sure.” I gestured them into my living room. Winky and Asia Mynah eyed the pair but neither had a smart remark to make. Winky didn’t even whistle.

  They started to sit together on the couch, glanced at each other and moved to take the two chairs opposite the sofa. I and Bentley took our places on the sofa, instead.

  “You two look like you’re on your way to a funeral,” I commented, but the joke fell flat.

  “We need to talk.”

  “If it’s about Auntie Lou and the past few weeks, forget it. Everything is turning out fine. I shouldn’t have expected you to commit to helping with her…”

  “It’s not about Auntie Lou, Norah. It’s about me and Joe.”

  I turned to look at Lilly. “What do you mean, you and Joe?”

  To my amazement, two large tears rolled down Lilly’s cheeks.

  “Norah, I am so sorry. I was so nasty to you when I thought you were trying to steal Connor away from me.”

  “It was a misunderstanding, that’s all. I would never, never go behind your back to compete with you over someone you care deeply about.” I thought that would assure Lilly that there were no hard feelings but my words managed to make her cry even harder.

  “Really, Lilly, it’s okay. I understand that things didn’t look good but you can trust me. I’d never…”

  “No, but I would!” Lilly wailed. “You have every right to hate me.”

  This was getting a little surreal for my taste.

  Joe cleared his throat. “What Lilly is trying to say, Norah, is that while Lilly thought that you and Connor were…an item…something happened. Something between us. We’ve been seeing each other.”

  I looked at Joe and back to Lilly. “You two…”

  “I didn’t mean for it to turn out like this,” Lilly interrupted, “but I was so angry with you and I didn’t have anyone else to talk to. Joe listened and tried to help me.”