“I’d like a slice of the cheesecake, please,” Alex said
Jessica’s gaze shifted to him, panic filling her chest at the idea of staying a moment longer. What if Kyle saw her? Or what if Melanie did? But what could she do—tell Alex she needed to leave because her former fiancé, who by the way was doing renovations on her aunt’s house, was there with his girlfriend and their child and making Jessica uncomfortable? She found herself twisting her fingers together in her lap, trying to control her agitation.
“Are you okay, Jessica?” Alex asked, staring at her.
“Um, well, actually I’m not feeling very well.”
“Oh. Is there anything I can do?”
You can skip dessert and take me home, she wanted to scream. “I’d really just like to go home.”
Alex didn’t hide his disappointment. “Of course.” He looked around the restaurant. “I don’t see our waitress.”
Frantically looking around, Jessica spotted the woman and pointed. “There she is.”
Alex turned towards Jessica, his eyebrows drawn together, and she realized how manic she must have sounded.
Ignoring Alex’s puzzled expression, Jessica picked her purse up from the floor and pretended to be looking for something. She saw Alex motion to the waitress, and when the woman approached their table and Alex asked for the check, Jessica felt her nerves begin to settle.
A few minutes later when they stood to leave, she led the way, winding through the tables that were on the opposite side from where Kyle sat. Once they were on the way home, Jessica remembered her manners. “Thanks for dinner, Alex.”
“You’re welcome. I hope you feel better.”
“Thanks. Me, too.” Now that they were safely away from Kyle and his family, calmness had begun to replace her agitation, but as she thought about Kyle and his complete rejection of her in favor or Melanie, her calmness faded as self-doubt took its place. Will I ever find happiness?
“I really enjoy spending time with you, Jessica.”
She turned in his direction, almost having forgotten he was there. She didn’t respond, not knowing what to tell him.
“I hope to take you out many more times.”
Jessica heard the question in his comment. Though she was trying to come to terms with the fact that Kyle surely was a father and committed to Melanie, and therefore not available, the knowledge that Alex really cared about her sent a jolt of self-confidence through her, buoying her up. The more she thought about it, the more the idea of choosing Alex, who was right in front of her and actually wanted her, settled over her like a brand-new wool blanket—a bit scratchy, but with time and use it would feel comfortable. “Me, too,” she said, surprising herself as much as Alex.
“Really?” The hope was plain in his tone.
She smiled as they turned up the road to her aunt’s house.
“I’d love to take you to lunch tomorrow,” he said.
“I think that would work,” she said, forcing cheerfulness into her voice.
He parked in front of the house, then came around to Jessica’s door and helped her out of the car. They walked up the steps to the porch, and when they reached the door she unlocked it but didn’t open it.
“So, I’ll see you around noon tomorrow?” Jessica asked.
He nodded. “Sounds great. I’ll see you then.”
Impulsively, Jessica threw her arms around his neck. He immediately responded with a warm embrace. She had to admit that the physical contact was comforting, even if she wasn’t in a romantic mood. She’d missed having his strong arms around her.
He pulled away and gazed into her eyes. She knew he wanted a kiss, so she quickly stood on her tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek. “Good-night, Alex.”
He let her go, and she smiled at him before opening the front door.
“Good-night, Jessica.”
She went in the house and closed the door behind her, relieved to be by herself so she could think. Without consciously making the decision, Jessica found herself walking over to the desk and putting the disc with the pictures into her laptop.
“Why do I torture myself?” she said to Hudson, who jumped into her lap and began purring. She scrolled through the pictures, her eyebrows pulling more tightly together with every picture as she absently petted her cat.
When she got to the last one, she sighed. Then she picked up Hudson and held him in front of her, face to face. “He went on without me, big guy.” Her voice shook a little as she spoke. “I can’t believe he replaced me. It’s like I didn’t even exist for him anymore.” She set Hudson on the floor and went to the bathroom to splash water on her face.
Staring at herself in the mirror, she wondered what was wrong with her. Why hadn’t he chosen her? Suddenly a new idea occurred to her. Maybe he’d known Melanie even then. Maybe he’d chosen Melanie way back then. The thought hurt more than thinking he’d been alone after he’d left her.
Finally getting her emotions under control, Jessica went back to her laptop and ejected the disc before putting it back in the drawer.
I need to give this to Kyle. Then I won’t be able to look at it anymore. Then she realized that since Melanie was back in town, she must have asked Kyle if Jessica had given him the disc. What must he think? Jessica thought. That I’m a pathetic old girlfriend? Holding on to his things?
Chapter Twenty-One
Early the next morning Jessica drove toward the diner, gratified she’d thought of a way to avoid Kyle. She’d left a note on the front door telling him she had an errand to run and to let himself in. The idea of facing him after seeing him with his child had been too much, and Jessica had tossed and turned the night before until she’d remembered she wanted to talk to Thomas Naylor about Charles and Teal Harrington. Once she’d settled on the excuse to avoid Kyle, she’d fallen right to sleep.
Now, as Jessica pulled into a parking space at the diner, she considered how to get the information she wanted. She didn’t want to tell him about the letters and the fact that Teal Harrington may have had an affair, and then a child out of wedlock. She wanted to find out just enough to help her decide if Teal Harrington was B.
The moment Jessica entered the diner she spotted Thomas sitting in a booth. But this time there was someone with him. It was a man that appeared to be around the same age as Thomas. She stood there a moment, trying to decide if she should come back another time. Then Thomas waved her over.
Smiling at the invitation, Jessica walked over to the booth.
“Hello there,” Thomas said. “Jessica, isn’t it?”
“Yes. Good morning.”
“Jessica, this is my good friend, Paul.”
She greeted his friend, wondering if he might have any information on the Harringtons.
“What brings you to this lovely diner so early in the morning?” Thomas asked.
“I was actually hoping to talk to you again.”
“Is that so? Well, slide on in next to me then.”
She did as instructed, pleased he was willing to talk to her.
“Jessica here is doing some research on some of our old-time families,” Thomas said to Paul. “Isn’t that right?” He directed his question to her.
“Yes, that’s right.”
“How’s that going?”
“Pretty well, although I wanted to talk to you a little more about the Harringtons, if that’s all right.”
“Jessica is staying with her aunt, who lives in the old William Donohoe place,” Thomas said to Paul.
“That right?” Paul said.
Jessica thought she saw a look pass between the two men and wondered if that had anything to do with what she’d discovered in the letters. “Did either of you know William?” She hoped the question was natural enough, since they’d brought him up.
Thomas nodded toward Paul, who said, “I worked with him.”
“Really? Where did the two of you work?” Jessica asked.
“The U.S. Postal Service.”
“Oh,” sh
e said. “What did you do there? Did you both deliver mail?”
“Indeed we did.”
“What was it like back then? Nowadays so many mailboxes are clustered together. Did you drive your entire route, or did you do some walking?”
“Most routes were a mix. The rural routes were mostly driving, but we certainly did a lot more walking up to doors than they do now.” He paused. “I rather liked going to the houses. Gave me a chance to chat with members of the community.”
“That would be nice,” Jessica said. “What about William?”
“He liked the walking part the best, I reckon.” Paul winked at Thomas, who looked down and smiled.
“Why’s that?” Jessica asked, not getting the joke.
Paul smiled at Jessica. “Same reason as me. Mix with the folks.”
A sudden realization swept over her. “Did you have the same route all the time, or did they change it up on you?”
“It was pretty consistent. Sometimes we’d sub for each other when the other went on vacation though.”
“Where was your route?” Jessica asked, pretending to be interested in that detail.
Paul told her the general area.
She nodded. “What about William’s?”
As Paul named the boundaries of William’s route, Jessica repeated them in her head, memorizing the street names. “Did you spend much time with William outside of work?”
“I thought you wanted to know about the Harringtons,” Thomas interjected.
“I do. But I’ve always been curious about the man who once owned the house my aunt lives in.”
“Sure, we’d go out for a beer after work on occasion,” Paul said.
“I understand William never married. Do you know if he had girlfriends?”
This time Jessica was certain that a look passed between the two men.
“To tell you the truth, he didn’t talk much about his personal life. I did get the impression that there may have been a special lady in his life though.” Paul drank from his coffee cup.
“If he had someone special in his life, why do you think he didn’t marry her?” Though Jessica knew the answer perfectly well, she wanted to see if Paul knew anything about it.
“I don’t rightly know.”
She waited to see if he would go on, but he said nothing more, just drank his coffee.
“About Charles and Teal Harrington,” Jessica said, watching Paul’s reaction. She thought he flinched ever so slightly at the mention of Teal’s name. “Did you know them, Paul?”
“I may have met them a time or two, but that’s it.”
“Do you remember what the occasion was when you met them?”
“Most likely one of those annual things,” Paul said, looking to Thomas for confirmation.
“Annual things?” Jessica asked.
“They held a community cookout each summer,” Thomas said. “I guess it was Charles’ way of thanking the community for their support in his businesses.”
“Did most people go to the cookout?”
“Well, it was free food.” Paul chuckled. “And very good food at that.”
“Did the whole Harrington family attend?”
“Usually. But there was one year Mrs. Harrington didn’t go.” Paul paused. “I think it was when Douglas was a baby. There were rumors that she was depressed and she didn’t go out much at all for a long time after he was born. I think nowadays they call it post-partum depression.”
“Did she experience depression with any of her other babies?”
“She had one other,” Thomas said. “I don’t recall there being issues with that one.”
Interesting, Jessica thought. I would be depressed too if I had made the choice to give up my true love when I gave birth to his child. “I have to admit, I’m kind of surprised that you would know so much about her state of mind. I would think that kind of thing would stay pretty quiet.”
“Like I said,” Paul said. “There were rumors.”
“Just about her being depressed, or about other things?” Maybe now we’re getting somewhere, Jessica thought.
“The Harrington’s were wealthy and well-known in the community. People are always interested in what goes on in the lives of other people, but especially rich people. Look at those magazines at the check-out line in the grocery store.”
Jessica nodded, hoping he would give her something to lead her to the truth. When he didn’t say anything, she said, “I really appreciate you talking to me, and I don’t mean to be pushy, but what kind of rumors were there?”
“They were just rumors,” Paul said.
“Why do you want to know?” Thomas said at almost the same time.
Flustered by their reluctance, she hesitated. “Just curious, I guess.”
“I have to be honest with you, Miss Jessica,” Thomas said. “Your interest in the Harrington’s, added to your interest in William, makes me wonder if you know something you’re not sharing with us.”
“I don’t know what you mean.” She wasn’t about to tell them about the letters, or her suspicions that Teal was William’s secret love. “I’m just doing research on some of the people who lived here in the past.”
“Well,” Thomas said, “I think we’ve told you all we know.”
He was obviously dismissing her. Jessica stood. “I really do appreciate you both talking to me.”
“What are you going to do with this research?” Paul asked.
“I haven’t decided yet. Right now it’s mostly for my own information.”
“You’re a curious one, aren’t you?” Paul said.
Jessica smiled, not sure if that was a compliment or an insult.
“Well, I don’t know about Paul here, but I enjoyed talking to you,” Thomas said.
“’Course I did,” Paul said.
“You take care now,” Thomas said.
“I will.” She gave them both a warm smile before walking out of the diner and out to her car. As soon as she closed her car door, she pulled out a pen and a scrap of paper and wrote down the streets that defined William’s mail delivery route. Then she drove to the long-term care center to talk to her aunt.
“Sounds more and more like Teal Harrington may be the mystery woman,” Ellen said, after Jessica had finished telling her what Paul and Thomas had told her. “But don’t you think it’s kind of a cliché that the mailman is the father of the child?”
Jessica couldn’t hide a smile. “I thought the cliché involved the milkman.”
Ellen laughed. “In any case, it’s interesting that William was the Harrington’s mailman.”
“You’re certain that their house was on his route?”
“I’m certain their house is within the boundaries you told me, which leads me to believe he was the one who delivered the mail each day,” Ellen said.
“I wonder if Teal left the letters for William in her mailbox and he picked them up without them even being mailed to his house.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised.”
“Seems risky though, if he was sick or on vacation or something. Someone else might pick them up.”
“She probably had them addressed to him and stamped, and if for some reason he wasn’t the one to pick them up, they’d be mailed.”
“I wonder if William ever sent letters to her,” Jessica said. “And if he did, how did he know someone else wouldn’t get the mail?”
“Maybe they had some sort of arrangement where he would respond to her letters within a certain number of days or something.”
“I guess we’ll never know,” Jessica said, more curious than ever about the relationship.
“Well, I’m glad you were able to speak to those men at the diner.”
“I think they knew more than they were willing to tell me.”
“That doesn’t really surprise you, does it? They’ve lived here their whole lives, I guess. I’m sure they feel a certain loyalty to the townsfolk, even if they don’t know them all personally.”
�
�And I’m a stranger who may be stirring up old rumors,” Jessica said.
Ellen nodded. “You know, Jessica, to you it may seem like it was a long time ago that these things happened, but to the people who were around back then it probably doesn’t seem quite so ancient.”
“But it was fifty years ago. And William is dead, and both of the Harrington’s are dead.”
“Don’t forget about the child. Douglas. You don’t know what, if anything, he knows about what happened.”
“Do you think there were rumors about his birth? Do you think anyone suspected anything?”
“I have no idea.”
“Well, I guess I’ve found out what I wanted to know. At least, I’m pretty sure Teal Harrington is B.” Jessica paused. “But I still wonder what the B was for.”
“Maybe it’s time to leave it alone, Jessica.”
Surprised by her aunt’s suggestion, she hesitated. “But aren’t you curious?”
“At first I was. But now, with the information you’ve discovered, I worry that some people might get upset with you if old hurts resurface.”
“I suppose you’re right.”
Ellen smiled. “Now, tell me how things are going on my renovation.”
The sudden shift in topic caught Jessica off guard. “Uh, well, the renovation is going fine.”
“What aren’t you telling me?” Ellen’s eyebrows went up in question.
“No, really. The renovation is moving along.”
“Jessica. How are you getting along with Kyle? And what about this Alex fellow?”
The scene from the previous night’s dinner flashed through her mind. Everything was so complicated—more than before. The thought of explaining it all to her aunt exhausted her, but she needed to talk to someone about it, and her aunt knew more about the situation than anyone else. “Oh, Ellen.” Jessica sighed. “I hardly know where to begin.”
“Yesterday you told me your last boyfriend, Alex, had shown up unexpectedly, and that Kyle had said some rude things to you. What happened after that?”
She replayed the conversation she’d had with Kyle the previous morning.
“I’m sorry, but why do you care?” she’d asked.
“I don’t,” he’d said, his eyes narrowed.
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