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Chapter 33
It was dark when Harriet woke with a start. She was still sitting in the gray chair, but she was alone in the room, and she'd been covered with a plaid flannel log cabin lap quilt. Fred rose up from his spot next to her left thigh and meowed.
"Where is everyone?” Harriet asked her cat. He meowed again.
"I'm coming,” said a disembodied voice from a small white speaker on the pie-crust table. A moment later, Aunt Beth appeared, carrying a glass of water in one hand and a white capsule cupped in the other.
"Here,” she said and handed the pain pill and then the water to her niece. “How are you feeling?"
"I know I just woke up, but I'm still sleepy. How long was I out? Is Detective Morse gone?"
"A couple of hours, and yes, the good detective left not long after you fell asleep. She didn't ask anything else, and we didn't offer up anything, either. And you needed the rest. We left you in here with the baby monitor so you could have some peace and quiet."
"We had an idea about our quilting,” Mavis said as she, too, came back into the studio from the kitchen. She was carrying a small plate of triple chocolate cookies and a fresh cup of tea for Harriet. “We were thinking maybe we could change up who was working on what."
"What do you mean” Harriet asked.
"We're getting to crunch time for the auction quilts,” Mavis started.
"And I'm going to be running the long arm machine,” Beth added.
"You aren't going to be able to sit at your sewing machine for a few days,” Mavis continued. “So, we thought I could sew your tumbling blocks together on the sewing machine, and if you can, we thought you could work on appliquéing the dog-bone wreath block I'm supposed to do. My block is more than half-done, so it won't take much to finish it."
"You can start on that first thing tomorrow,” Aunt Beth interrupted. We're going to stitch a little more, but Aiden brought you a couple of movies and we thought you could watch them upstairs. We moved the television into your bedroom so you could keep your foot up."
"Aiden was here?” Harriet said. “Wait, you moved my TV?"
"Well, you can't watch in your TV room,” Mavis explained. “You'd have to prop your foot on the table. You're using your ottoman down here."
"How could I forget? Is there anything else you've done on my behalf I should know about?"
"Well, we did ask Aiden to bring us all burritos from Tico's,” Aunt Beth confessed.
"That part's good. About the quilt project, don't forget I'm supposed to be appliquéing a dog-bone wreath block, too."
"I think you can hold off till tomorrow and still have time to finish all the appliqué,” Aunt Beth said.
Any further argument on the topic ended when the doorbells tinkled and Aiden came in carrying two large white paper bags from Tico's Tacos.
"Jorge sent you your own carton of guacamole and a bag of chips that are still warm from the fryer,” he told Harriet. “He also sent some of his special soup that he says is guaranteed to cure your kidney.” He set the bags on the big work table and crossed the room to lean down and kiss her. “How are you feeling?"
"I've been better, but the sleep and pain meds are helping."
Beth and Mavis picked up the two bags and carried them into the kitchen.
"You need to take it easy for a while,” Aiden said. “These should help.” He held up two red envelopes Harriet recognized as DVD movie mailers. “Guaranteed to make you cry."
"I take it you're not staying to watch,” she said, knowing how much he hated watching chick flicks with her.
"I wish I could, but after dinner I've got to go back to work. A small group of patients are well enough to be neutered, which is one of the hurdles they have to get over to move toward adoption."
"That's so sad,” Harriet said. “It seems like all they've known in their lives is pain, and now, in order to help them, you have to cause them more pain."
"I try not to think of it in those terms,” Aiden said. “And we will provide anesthesia and pain medication."
"I'm sorry—I wasn't trying to be critical. I just feel bad for the dogs."
"Well, I feel sorry for you. You were only trying to help a friend, and someone had to do this to you."
"I just wish I'd learned something that could help DeAnn."
"Well, superwoman, sometimes it has to be good enough that you simply survived to fight another day."
He was holding her hand when Aunt Beth and Mavis came back into the studio. Beth carried a tray with the guacamole and chips and Harriet's soup. Mavis followed with a stack of plates, utensils and the foil-wrapped burritos.
"I can't eat another bite,” Harriet announced when she'd finished all of her guacamole, her soup and half of her barbacoa burrito. “Jorge once again outdid himself."
"The man can cook,” Mavis said. “I'll give him that. He's nosier than my pappy's old bluetick hound, but he can surely cook."
"Can I quote you?” Aiden asked with a grin.
"Brat."
Aiden looked like he was going to say something, but his cell phone rang, interrupting their banter. He listened, letting his caller do the talking.
"Wow,” he said after a moment. “I do remember that."
He gestured toward Aunt Beth, making writing motions in the air. Beth got up quickly and grabbed a pen and pad from Harriet's desk, then put it into his outstretched hand. He lodged the phone between chin and shoulder and scribbled a name and address on the tablet.
"Thank you so much for getting back to me,” he said. He talked for another minute, pacing across the room as he asked how his caller was and listened for the reply before saying goodbye and ringing off.
The three women were looking expectantly at him when he turned around and returned to the sitting area.
"Ladies, I think we just got a piece of the puzzle.” He sat down and picked up the large cup of cola he'd brought with him from Tico's, taking a drink before continuing. “That was Nabirye Obote. She said she didn't have any half-sisters who could fit the bill, but she did have a cousin who had been adopted as a baby."
"What's the cousin's name?” asked Harriet.
"I'm coming to that. This cousin was adopted in America and...” He exaggerated the and. “...she happens to have visited Africa while I was there."
"And her name was Neelie Obote,” Harriet interjected.
Aiden looked at her but continued his story at his own pace.
"While she was visiting, I was working in the same village Nabirye was. It was the rainy season, and just before the visitors arrived we had a mudslide that filled the hut I was staying in with slime. I had to temporarily share Nabirye's tent."
"Ah, it all becomes clear,” Harriet said.
"No, it doesn't. I wasn't the only one who had to move to the water project tent, but maybe her cousin didn't realize that."
Harriet started to interrupt, but he went on speaking.
"Her cousin's name was—"
"Neelie,” Harriet guessed.
"No,” he said. “It was Nancy—Nancy Lou, to be exact. I'm sure she picked Neelie because it's an African name, and honestly, would you have believed her story about bringing her sister's child if she'd said her name was Nancy Lou?"
"Good point,” Aunt Beth said. “And who knows, maybe her birth name was Neelie."
"Did your friend say how old her cousin was?” Mavis asked.
"She said she wasn't sure. She was a child herself when the adoption originally happened. And the aunt who gave Nancy or Neelie up for adoption died from AIDS when Nabirye was a teenager. Given her age now and her memories of the incident, she's guessing Nancy Lou was probably in her late twenties when she visited."
"So, she went back to discover her roots or something,” Harriet said. “Then she saw her cousin and a man with distinctive eyes, who she presumed was her cousin's lover, and a plan was born."
"That's about it."
"Wait a minute,�
� Mavis said. “Aren't you forgetting something?"
"A big something,” Aunt Beth added.
Harriet looked at them without saying anything.
"Kissa,” Mavis said. “I think we've already established they don't hand babies out at the local Walmart. Somehow, that young woman came up with a blue-eyed baby of an appropriate age to be passed off as Aiden's offspring."
"Maybe that's the connection to Rodney,” Harriet speculated. “He seems like the kind of resourceful guy who could come up with a baby—his own or otherwise—on short notice."
"Well, we're not going to solve this tonight, and I've got to get back to the clinic and someone here needs to rest.” Aiden crumpled his burrito wrapper then stacked the used plates and carried them to the kitchen.
"He's right,” Aunt Beth said. “Let's get you upstairs so Mavis and I can come back down and sew."
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Chapter 34
The next two days passed in a blur of stitching, movies and sleeping. Aunt Beth and Mavis let the Loose Threads know Harriet wouldn't be receiving visitors until the weekend, and everyone respected that, which was strange given Sarah could almost always be counted on to do the exact opposite of whatever the rest of the group decided on.
"Good morning, Merry Sunshine,” Aunt Beth said on Saturday morning when Harriet crutched downstairs.
"What's got you in such a chipper mood this morning?"
"I'm just being my normal cheerful self."
Harriet laughed. “Since when?"
"Okay, maybe I'm a little hysterical with relief that I finished quilting the last quilt this morning."
"You finished our applique quilt?"
Beth made a face. “Oh, please. It's not like it was a California king or anything. Get yourself situated in your chair, and I'll bring you some breakfast."
"You don't have to fix me breakfast on top of all the quilting you've been doing."
"Don't worry, Aiden stopped by with some breakfast burritos Jorge made us. He was on his way to work and said to tell you he'll be back in a couple of hours. He said all the clinic vets were going to have a meeting to decide if any of the hoarding victims could be adopted out in conjunction with the auction. I guess the fundraising committee is really pressuring the clinic. They think the hoarding story will bring in big-dollar donations and having a few survivors at the dinner and auction might help."
"I'd like to be a fly on the wall for that meeting. Aiden told me he feels it would be like abusing the dogs twice, making them go out in public so soon,” Harriet said. “I'm just glad we're going to have quilts finished to auction."
A knock sounded on the studio door, ending the discussion. Aunt Beth headed to answer, talking as she went.
"I volunteered to host the Loose Threads meeting here today, since you can't go anywhere yet.” She opened the door, letting Jenny, Connie and Carla in along with a crisp gust of wind.
"Oh, honey,” Connie said and came to stand by Harriet's chair. “We've been so worried about you."
"As you can see, I'm fine."
"You don't look fine."
"The doctor put me in an over-sized cast to force me to stay off my ankle, but it really is just an ordinary sprain. And my kidney is much better."
"I'm glad to hear that, but you just take it slow for a while anyway."
Carla brought Connie a cup of tea then pushed one of the wheeled chairs from the desk area to the space beside the gray chair and sat down.
Mavis and Lauren arrived together, each carrying a pillowcase that appeared to be holding a quilt.They set their bags on the large cutting table and continued on into the kitchen to prepare their drinks.
Everyone was surprised when DeAnn arrived with Robin. They, too, were carrying bags with quilts in them.
"I take it things are going better with Iloai,” Harriet said when DeAnn had pulled a chair into the circle and sat down.
"Quite a bit has happened since...” She nodded at Harriet's foot.
"Since my accident?” Harriet suggested.
"I didn't want to say attack, but it sounds like that's what actually happened."
"True, but it sounds so dramatic, don't you think? So, enough about me, tell us what's happened."
"I think you know that Joseph has gone missing,” she started, but was immediately interrupted by Sarah, who had come in while DeAnn was getting her chair and getting situated.
"Joseph's not missing,” she said. “I just saw him. I was at the pet store getting some of those green treats for my Rachel, and I saw him there buying insect larvae for his dragon."
"Excuse me?” Harriet said. “He has a dragon?"
"Well, not exactly.” Sarah sat down in one of the wingback chairs. “I think it's some kind of lizard. The geeks that keep them call them dragons."
"You seem to know a lot about it,” Lauren said.
Sarah pinched her lips together in an apparently successful attempt to stop whatever rude remark she was about to make.
"Ever since my parents decided to let anyone in the community use the all-purpose room at the senior center for meetings if they were willing to let residents sit in on the gatherings, any time more than three weirdoes want to get together, they come there, including the dragon people."
"And Joseph's one of them?” Harriet asked.
"Isn't that what I just said?"
"How long ago did you see him?” DeAnn asked. “We've been trying to reach him for days. He doesn't answer his phone, and Phyllis doesn't know where he is. And she said he took our file home."
"I'm telling you, I stopped at the pet store on my way here."
"Are you sure it was Joseph?” Harriet asked.
"Now you're getting insulting,” Sarah said with an affected pout.
"So, what kind of game is he playing?” asked Harriet.
"That's what I'd like to know,” DeAnn said.
"He did look a little stressed, but I thought it was because he was grossed out about the larvae. You know how some people don't think ahead when they get exotic pets. He probably just decided how cool it would be to have a frilled lizard, and didn't even think about—"
"Sarah,” Aunt Beth said in a firm voice, “exactly how was he acting stressed? Tell us what you saw."
"Well, first of all, he completely ignored me when he came in the store, and I was standing right by the checkout register, looking through the sale bin and—"
"Joseph, Sarah—what was Joseph doing?” Mavis asked.
"He waited until there was no one in the bug aisle, and then he went to the larvae tray and started picking larvae into a carton. But he kept looking from side to side, like he was watching for someone. And he dropped the carton once and had to start over, and he didn't even pick up the ones he dropped. And—"
"Thank you, Sarah,” Aunt Beth said.
"So, he's hiding somewhere,” Harriet said.
"He's not hiding,” Sarah protested. “I'm telling you, he's at the pet store."
"Okay, we get it, he's at the pet store,” Harriet said. “Do you think he's still there?"
"Well, no. I waited until he left, just to see if he'd talk to me after he got his baby bugs."
"Did he?"
"No, he went right by me like I wasn't there—and after I've been so nice to him and his geeky friends. I even touched his lizard."
"I'm not sure I'd mention that in polite company,” Harriet said.
Carla chuckled then blushed. Aunt Beth glared but didn't say anything.
"So, DeAnn,” Harriet said. “What were you about to say you're doing in the absence of Joseph?"
"We went to Phyllis, of course, but as I said, she told us he had taken our file home and apparently everything else associated with Iloai."
"I wonder if that's usual,” Mavis said. “We'll have to check with Phyl."
Aunt Beth excused herself and went into the kitchen. Harriet watched her leave and wondered what she was up to. Everyone had fresh drinks, and Connie had brought a plate
of layered bar cookies.
"Go on,” Harriet said, giving DeAnn what she hoped was an encouraging look.
"My husband decided we needed to investigate more, so he called a friend of his at the University of Washington, and that guy checked with the campus foreign studies center and found us a translator. The guy is great. He speaks several island dialects, and he has small children himself. He agreed to come to our house yesterday and talk with Iloai."
"And?” Harriet was anxious to hear the punch line.
"She was quite chatty with him, once she got comfortable. Unfortunately, she was chatty at a three-year-old level. The perplexing thing is that she talked about Mama, Dada, Sister and Aunt—in Samoan, of course. She talked about a dog and about fish, and she said her dad fished. She has a whole fantasy world peopled with family members who work a lot and fish a lot."
"That's weird for a child who was raised in an orphanage,” Harriet said.
"Maybe it was in a fishing village, and they took the children to the beach,” Jenny suggested.
"Children are able to do imaginary play when they're that age,” Connie said. “But usually it's simple—they pretend they're their dolls’ mother, or other basic games. I'll look in my child-development book when I get home and see what it says, but I think that kind of detail isn't usual. I don't know how being in an orphanage might affect a child's fantasies at that age."
"Lauren's list of words has been a big help, and the professor helped us with proper pronunciation, but it's clear, even though she's not crying all the time, Iloai wants to be somewhere else."
"Oh, honey, I'm sorry this has been so hard on you and your family,” Mavis said.
"I just feel for Iloai,” DeAnn said. “She's been miserable, and until Lauren brought us the Samoan word list we weren't getting anywhere. Now at least we have somewhere to start trying to figure this thing out.
"And I'm here. Things were calm enough this morning that David and the boys should be able to handle it. I put the binding on one of the quilts last night. I needed to do something that wasn't related to small children for a few hours and to feel like I'd done something toward the auction."
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