Queenie's Cafe

by SUE FINEMAN

  These kids had been alone far too long. They needed a real mother, someone to love them and guide their lives in the right direction. Ivy had already made some poor decisions, but she was happy now. “Ivy, I made a doctor’s appointment for you for tomorrow at ten. We’ll have to leave around nine-thirty.”

  “Okay.” Ivy leaned over and kissed Barbara’s cheek. “Thanks for taking my sister.”

  “You’re welcome, honey.”

  After Ivy left, Jay said, “Well, you sure took on a load of responsibility.”

  Barbara sighed. “I know.”

  “Always liked a soft-hearted woman.”

  Jay carried Lily, still sleeping, into Barbara’s guest room and put her gently on the bed. Barbara tucked her in and turned on the nightlight in the bathroom. Jay brought the bear and put it beside her.

  A few minutes later, when they peeked in the door, the little girl had the bear under the covers with her, her arm flung over it, hugging it to her. Barbara quietly pulled the door closed.

  “She bring any toys with her?” asked Jay.

  “No. Lily’s clothes are worn out and covered with mildew, and Ivy has outgrown everything, not that she had that much to begin with.”

  “Maybe we could take ’em shoppin’ this weekend.”

  “We?”

  He shrugged. “I like kids.”

  Barbara laughed softly. In many ways, Jay was a big kid himself. It was part of his endearing personality. She could picture him in a toy store, helping Lily pick out a new bicycle.

  Jay slipped his arm around her shoulders. “I like you, too. C’mon in the bedroom and I’ll show you how much I like you.”

  “You dirty old man.”

  “Somethin’ wrong with that?”

  “Can’t think of a thing,” she said, as they walked slowly toward her bedroom.

  “I hope you got a lock on that bedroom door.”

  It was the first time in years she’d needed one.

  <>

  Luke stayed with Laura Tuesday and Wednesday nights, then drove to Orlando for a business meeting on Thursday. It was a long, exhausting day. He was sure Laura had gone to sleep hours ago, so he drove to the ranch, which was closer by at least a half-hour. He just wanted to crawl into bed and sleep. It was nearly midnight when he slipped quietly through the door and crawled into bed.

  Something woke him early the next morning. He opened his eyes to see a little girl in a long nightgown holding a huge stuffed bear. She stood by his dresser, going through his wallet. “Hey, get out of there.”

  The little girl let out an ear-piercing scream and ran from the room. He grabbed his robe and followed her. Jay stood in the kitchen, the little girl hiding behind him, peering around him with huge brown eyes. A cloud of messy brown hair hid most of her face.

  “What the hell did you do to my girl?” asked Jay.

  “Your girl?”

  “This is Lily, Ivy’s little sister. Lily, this is Luke, Barbara’s son. He won’t bite.”

  “Only if I find her snooping through my stuff again.”

  “Did you do that, Lily?”

  The little girl shook her head. She made no effort to come out from behind Jay.

  Jay turned and knelt in front of Lily. “Baby, if you do somethin’ wrong, you have to own up to it and apologize. Luke won’t stay mad if you apologize.”

  “Sorry,” she whispered.

  Mom came into the kitchen. “What’s going on? Luke, I didn’t know you were home.”

  “Where did this little munchkin come from?”

  “I have custody of her and Ivy. Lily lives with us now. I was going to tell you when you came home, but I haven’t seen you for days.”

  Jay handed Mom a cup of coffee. Luke couldn’t remember the last time she’d had a man spend the night with her.

  “I’ll lock my bedroom door from now on.”

  Yawning, Luke went to shower. Who would’ve thought Mom would take custody of a little girl. Cute little stinker.

  When Luke came out for breakfast, Jay was gone. Lily sat at the table, munching on some kind of cereal. Luke pointed at the bowl. “What’s that pink stuff floating in there?”

  The little girl shrugged.

  “I’m sorry I scared you. I didn’t know you were here.”

  Mom said, “I’m going to help Laura this afternoon. Lily is going to stay with Maria and Ivy while I’m gone.”

  “And Molly,” said Lily.

  Mom smiled. “And Molly.”

  Luke cocked his head. “You like my dog?”

  “I didn’t know she was your dog.”

  “Yep. She likes to play catch.”

  “I know.” Lily grinned. When her dimples deepened, Luke couldn’t help but smile.

  “Lily and I are going to the beauty parlor this morning. We’re both going to get haircuts.”

  “Well, that should be fun.” Luke didn’t know what else to say. He winked at Lily and she smiled again. “I’ll be with Laura for a few days, Mom. Is Jay here all the time now?”

  “Are you with Laura all the time now?”

  Just like Mom to answer a question with another question. Her relationship with Jay was apparently off-limits as a topic of conversation.

  “Jay gave me Snickers,” said Lily.

  “Who’s that?”

  “My bear. He’s the same color as a candy bar.”

  “So he is. I’ll see you in a few days, Lily. I have to go to work now.”

  Luke’s mother walked out with him. “How did this happen, Mom? I thought you were just taking Ivy.”

  “Her mother brought her to the hearing. She told me to take them both. What was I supposed to do, send her back with a mother who doesn’t want her? She’s a little wild, but she’ll be all right.”

  “What about Ivy?”

  “Her baby is due in late August, but the doctor says it’ll probably come sooner.”

  “She offered it to me and Laura. Blew me away.”

  He leaned on the truck. “We need to talk about Laura, Mom. I want to marry her, but I don’t want to be on the road all the time if she’s in Kingston, running the café. That’s no way to begin a marriage.”

  “Let Judy manage the café and take Laura with you. You and I will still be equal partners in the corporation. If Laura works with you, we’ll pay her a salary, too.”

  “That might work.”

  If he could persuade her to leave the café.

  <>

  Luke and Jay sat down with Laura that afternoon to talk about the manager’s apartment. Luke didn’t want to go ahead with the renovations without her approval.

  Jay rolled out the plans. “We got the basic plan done, but we can change it if you want.”

  Luke pointed at the rooms on the plan as he spoke. “You’ll have two big bedrooms, two bathrooms, walk-in closets, and a bigger living area that’ll include the old office area. We’ll expand the laundry room, add some cabinets, and replace the water heater with a new, energy-efficient one. Each one of the apartments has its own water heater, so that one will be for the laundry. I have two new heavy-duty, coin operated washers and dryers on order.”

  He pointed to a little area off the living room. “This is an office. It’s not very big, but there’s plenty of room for a desk and file cabinet for the apartments.”

  “Anything you want to change in these plans?” asked Jay.

  “I’d love to have a window seat overlooking the yard in front. Is that possible?”

  “I’ll see what I can do. Anything else?”

  “I don’t think so. If Dad and Florence come back, I’ll give them this apartment and I’ll take one of the others.”

  Luke knew Laura wanted her parents to come back, but if she agreed to marry him she wouldn’t be here much. He hoped he hadn’t made a mistake in asking Bruce to come back here to manage the apartments.

  <>

  Bobby Wharton didn’t come back to Queenie’s, but he didn’t resign. Marv Walker wrote a petition asking the Kings
ton Town Council to fire Bobby. He and Charley and Carmen and several others collected signatures at all the major businesses in town. They took the signed petitions to the next meeting of the town council.

  The room was filled to overflowing. Some people stood in the back because all the chairs were filled. Laura stood quietly in the back corner with Luke, trying to make herself invisible. She was the reason all these people were here, but she didn’t want to make a spectacle of herself. She just wanted to observe.

  Marv Walker stood in front of the room and read the petition. He explained what happened to Laura and ended with his request. “On behalf of more than sixty percent of the registered voters in this town, I demand that Bobby Wharton be removed from his position in the police department.”

  The room erupted in applause.

  “You finished, Marv?” asked Frank.

  “No, sir.” Marv looked at the audience and back at the mayor and council members. “I don’t believe Kingston is big enough to support an effective police force. In my opinion, we’d be better off not having one at all than having an ineffective one. We need law enforcement and protection and we’re not getting it.”

  Frank flashed his plastic Mr. Mayor smile. “Now, Marv, you know havin’ our own police force gives us a certain status in the county.”

  Charley Fenderman shouted, “So what? If they don’t come when you call ’em, what good are they?”

  The crowd buzzed as people talked to each other. Laura was afraid someone would expect her to speak. She didn’t want to talk about this; she just wanted Bobby gone.

  “May I continue?” asked Marv.

  “Yes, sir.” Frank rapped his gavel and the room grew quiet.

  “I did some checking with the King County Sheriff’s office. We can contract for protection from them for less than it costs to support our own department. And there would always be trained deputies on duty, not just part of the time like we have now. We may even be able to entice them to open a sub-station here in Kingston.”

  Frank said, “Aw, c’mon, Marv. We don’t pay Bobby that much.”

  “We pay rent, utility bills, insurance, and they have a car. We spend a lot of money for what we’re getting, which in my opinion is less than nothing.”

  The crowd buzzed again.

  Frank scanned the crowd. “Does anyone else have something to say?”

  Several people stood, but Charley didn’t wait to be recognized. He shouted, “Whatever you decide to do ’bout providin’ police protection here in Kingston, we want Bobby Wharton gone. Laura Whitfield coulda pressed charges. Shoot, she coulda sued the town for what happened to her, but she didn’t.”

  Several people shouted their support.

  “As elected officials, I’d give it careful consideration,” said Marv. “This is what the voters in this town want.”

  “We can’t do nothing ’bout Bobby Wharton ’til we investigate,” said Frank. “Could just be a little misunderstandin’.”

  Marv didn’t back down. “If you don’t, at the very least, get rid of Bobby Wharton, you will not win the next election. And that’s a promise,” Marv said firmly, as every person in the audience stood and applauded. Laura had never seen Frank look so uneasy.

  None of the other council members spoke. Frank ran things his way and no one ever stood up to him, until now. Marv stood up to him and the town stood solidly behind him.

  Frank was losing control of Kingston, and it was about time.

  <>

  The next morning, the café buzzed with people talking about the meeting last night. It was almost like another town meeting, and they all looked to Marv.

  Carmen said, “Marv, why don’t you run for Mayor next time? I’ll help run your campaign. I’m sick and tired of Frank Fosdick undercutting my business and cheating people.”

  Laura listened quietly, filling coffee cups, as another person spoke up, then another and another. Frank had been mayor too long. This was the first time in years anyone dared to challenge his leadership in the community. “With Frank out of office, maybe we could entice another bank to come to town.”

  “Great idea, Laura,” said Carol Jones. “I don’t like the way he treated us when we applied for a loan.”

  “Did he at least consider it?”

  “Yes.”

  “When I applied, he wouldn’t even consider it. He said I should find myself a nice young man, get married, and have a bunch of kids. He wouldn’t even listen to what I wanted to do to this place. He didn’t care.”

  “That’s sexual discrimination,” said Carol.

  “Why wouldn’t he listen?” asked Marv.

  “He wanted me to sell. I refused, but he brought a buyer out the next day anyway.”

  “He had no right to do that,” said Carmen.

  “What do you think, Marv? Will you run for mayor?” asked Meg.

  He smiled at her. “I’ll consider it.”

  Marv would do anything for Meg. Laura set down the coffee pot, took Marv’s hand, and pulled him to his feet. “Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Marv Walker, the next mayor of Kingston.”

  Applause and whistles filled the room. “You’ve got my vote,” someone yelled, as others yelled words of encouragement.

  Marv stood tall and proud. He’d win if he ran. He was a good man and everyone loved him. Unless Frank did something sneaky and underhanded, there was no way Marv could lose.

  As people began to leave, Laura stood at the door, thanking each of them for coming. A voice behind her said, “Laura, could we have a minute of your time?”

  She turned to see Clyde Higginbotham and Ben Fester, two members of the Kingston Town Council. “Find a table and sit down. I’ll be right with you.”

  What did they want? She stopped Marv at the door. “Marv, would you mind staying a little longer? Clyde and Ben asked to speak with me and I’d sure feel better if you were with me.”

  Marv stretched to stand a little taller. “Of course.”

  Clyde raised his eyebrows when Marv sat at the table with them. “This may get a little personal, Laura.”

  Ben said, “Bobby Wharton said you were working on the side... ah... you know what I mean.”

  Laura looked Ben in the eye. He squirmed uncomfortably, but she wasn’t going to make it easy for him. “No, Ben, I’m not sure I know what you mean. Why don’t you spell it out for me?”

  “Bobby said you was working as a prostitute,” Clyde blurted out. He looked as uncomfortable as Ben.

  “And you believed him?” asked Marv. “You know Laura better than that.”

  “Do you think I was selling sex, Clyde?”

  “No, no, but we had to ask.”

  Laura called, “Meg, please give these men a cup of coffee. I’ll be right back.”

  She walked to her apartment, where Luke sat talking on the phone. He looked up and quickly ended his call. “Laura, what’s wrong?”

  “Two members of the town council are in the café. Bobby swears I was working as a prostitute. It’s his word against mine.”

  “And mine.” He took her hand and they walked back to the café together.

  Marv rose to meet Luke and Laura. “Luke, this is Clyde Higginbotham and Ben Fester, two members of the Kingston Town Council. Clyde, Ben, this is Luke Windsor, Laura’s business partner and friend.”

  Luke didn’t offer to shake their hands. “Are you the ones accusing Laura of prostitution?”

  “No, sir,” said Clyde. “We’re just checkin’ out Bobby Wharton’s statement. He’s the one who’s sayin’ she is.”

  “He’s lying. I know for a fact that this young lady had never been touched that way until after that night.”

  “How do you... oh!” said Ben, his eyes growing.

  Luke slipped his arm around Laura’s shoulders. “Now it’s my word against Bobby’s and Earl’s and whoever the hell else is saying those things about her. Is Frank behind this?”

  “He said he remembers when you were born,” said Ben.

 
So Frank knew about Florence. Apparently everyone knew except Laura. “That doesn’t make me a prostitute, or are you tarring me with the same brush?”

  “Frank seems to think...” Clyde’s voice trailed off.

  Laura leaned down in Clyde’s face. “No woman, including a prostitute, should be ignored when she calls for help.”

  Marv’s lips were pressed tightly together. He was clearly angry. “Next election, every damn person on that town council will be replaced, including both of you. I don’t know who we’ll get to run against you, but we’ll find someone.”

  “I didn’t want to be on that damn council to start with,” said Clyde. “Frank pushed me into it, but I can’t do this no more. If Frank takes my business, he takes my business.”

  “How much training has Bobby had?” asked Laura. “Is this the first time he’s been a police officer?”

  “He worked as a security guard for one of those fancy hotels out on the beach,” said Clyde. “He said they gave him training.”

  Laura shook her head in wonder. Frank liked the idea of Kingston having police, but he wouldn’t hire trained officers. The next time someone called for help, they could die, because Bobby wouldn’t have a clue what to do in a real emergency.

  “Maybe it’s time to give Frank Fosdick a taste of his own medicine,” said Luke. “Get him where he lives. Boycott the bank. If he threatens to foreclose on anyone, we’ll find another bank or finance company.”

  “I have two checking accounts and a sizable savings account in that bank. I’m moving it all today,” said Marv.

  “Frank financed my house and my business,” said Clyde. “I can’t move anything.”

  “Hold off a few days, Clyde,” said Luke. “I’ll make some phone calls and see if I can’t find a bank to take you on. Ben, what about you?”

  “My house and my daughter’s student loans. My in-laws financed the business.”

  “Is your daughter still in school?”

  “She has one more year, if she can get another loan.”

  “We need another bank in Kingston,” said Laura. “I don’t want to deal with Frank, but it’s too inconvenient to drive twenty minutes each way to make a deposit.”

  “I agree,” said Marv. “There’s enough business here in Kingston for another bank. A few years ago one of the banks in the Melbourne area wanted to open a branch office here. I wonder what happened.”