Twenty minutes later, Megan joined them at the booth. “Tell me everything,” she said.
“We will. But first, do you have any idea what happened to your grandmother’s car after she died?”
Megan thought for a moment. “No, but my Uncle Jack will know. He’s a mechanic, and Mom says he’s always been interested in cars.”
“Let’s go see him right now!” exclaimed McKenzie.
“That will be hard. He lives in Houston,” Megan said. “But I can call him.”
The girls leaned their heads together, whispering and planning for the next half hour.
That evening, Elizabeth’s backyard was filled with laughter and the scent of grilling hamburgers. James and Evan ran around playing cowboys and Indians, and Mr. Jacobs pretended to get shot in the crossfire. The man seemed to enjoy children, and moved back and forth between playing with the boys and helping Mr. Anderson flip burgers.
Elizabeth was inside filling red plastic cups with iced tea. She had left McKenzie sitting near the men in case anything was said about the jewels. She looked out the window at her friend, who looked bored. The last bit of conversation Elizabeth had heard was about football.
“You did invite Megan and her mom, didn’t you?” Mrs. Anderson asked Elizabeth.
“Yes, ma’am. Megan said her mom gets home tonight around seven thirty, so they’ll be a little late.”
Mrs. Anderson looked out the side window toward the Smiths’ house. “I sure wish she didn’t have to work so hard. I wish we could do something more for them,” she said.
“We’re actually working on that,” said Elizabeth without thinking.
“What do you mean?” her mother asked.
Catching herself, Elizabeth thought quickly. “Oh, just that Megan is working now, earning some extra money. She also makes straight A’s in school, and in a few years she’ll probably get a full scholarship to some college.”
Mrs. Anderson ran a gentle hand across Elizabeth’s hair. “That’s nice, dear.” Then, the woman held open the screen door with her backside, and the two joined the party, delivering iced tea to their guests.
A short time later, Megan arrived with her mother. When Mrs. Smith was introduced to Mr. Jacobs, the cowboy stood and took her hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ruby. You add a whole new loveliness to your name,” he said.
Mrs. Smith smiled and blushed, and the three girls looked at one another in alarm. What did that cowboy think he was doing? Did he know about the jewels and Megan’s mother?
They continued to watch the interaction between Ruby and Mr. Jacobs throughout the evening. Those two didn’t talk much, but their eyes kept wandering to each other. Finally, Megan whispered, “We need to have an emergency meeting in your room. Now!”
The three girls excused themselves. As soon as Elizabeth’s door was closed, Megan burst into a chain of broken sentences that showed her anxiety, but didn’t really make much sense.
“What in the—who does he think—and my mother! I’ve never seen her—she used to flirt with my dad but—of all people! I’ve wanted her to start dating—but not like this! Not with that no good, sweet-talkin’, connivin’, manipulatin’ cowboy!”
“Whoa, calm down, Megs.” Elizabeth put her arm around her friend. “She’s not dating anyone. Sure, there were some sparks out there. But let’s face it. She’ll probably never see him again after tonight. Unless…”
“Unless what?” Megan and McKenzie asked in unison.
Elizabeth paused. If the looks on their faces were any indication, her two friends were thinking exactly what she was thinking. “Unless he knows the jewels were given to your grandmother. Do you think he’s traced them to your mother somehow?”
“How could he? My mother didn’t know about them until the other day. And she doesn’t even care about them.”
“She may not care about them, but he doesn’t know that,” said McKenzie.
The three girls moved Elizabeth’s pink ruffled curtains to the side and peered at the group in the backyard. Cowboy had moved his lawn chair closer to Megan’s mother, and the two looked engrossed in conversation.
“We’d better get out there. Now!” exclaimed Megan.
“Not just yet,” McKenzie interrupted. “First, tell us if you had a chance to call your uncle.”
Megan kept peering out the window as she answered. “Oh, yeah. I called him this afternoon. He doesn’t know anything about any marbles. He said the car stayed impounded for a couple of years while they investigated the accident. After that, he took it apart and sold it piece by piece. They needed the money. But if there were any marbles hidden in the car, he would have found them.”
McKenzie let out a disappointed sigh. “I was just sure that’s where they were.”
The sound of Mrs. Smith’s laughter floated through the window, and Megan said, “That does it. I’ve gotta get that cowboy away from my mother.”
“Yep. And we’d better get crackin’ on this mystery, before your mother really gets hurt,” said Elizabeth.
The cookout ended around 10:30, but had seemed much longer. The girls did all they could to interrupt the conversations between Megan’s mom and the cowboy, but the man was not easily deterred. This gave the three sleuths even more reason to think he was up to something shady.
They spent the night in Elizabeth’s room and were awakened early the next morning with the sounds of humming from Megan’s driveway. Megan sat up in her sleeping bag and peered out the window to see her mother leaving for work.
“My mother hasn’t sounded like that in a long time,” she said.
Elizabeth rolled over and propped her head on her elbow. “She really misses your dad, doesn’t she?”
“Yeah,” Megan answered softly. “So do I.”
They were interrupted by James. “Who wants breakfast?” he asked, opening the door without knocking.
Elizabeth squealed, “Shut the door! James, you know you’re not allowed in here without permission!”
He backed out and shut the door. “Sorry, Beth. But Mama wants to know who wants breakfast.”
“I do,” called all three girls in unison.
“Little brothers…,” muttered Elizabeth, and her friends chuckled. The three girls dressed quickly and dashed to the kitchen, where Mrs. Anderson had left toaster pastries, fruit, orange juice, and milk. James had already eaten, so they had the kitchen to themselves.
“We’re supposed to meet Jean Louise at the restaurant at nine forty-five so she can drive us to her mother’s house. Did you check with your mom, Elizabeth?” asked Megan.
“Mom,” called Elizabeth around a mouthful of toaster pastry.
Mrs. Anderson popped her head around the corner from the laundry room. “Don’t talk with your mouth full, dear.”
Elizabeth swallowed her food and wiped her mouth with her napkin. “Sorry. May I please go with Jean Louise this morning to meet her mother? Megan’s coming, too, and McKenzie is going to ask her parents.”
Mrs. Anderson smiled. “I think that sounds lovely. I’m glad to hear you girls are doing something constructive with your time. It reminds me of James 1:27.”
Megan and McKenzie looked at Elizabeth after Mrs. Anderson went back to her laundry. “James 1:27?” Megan asked.
“ ‘Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world,’” Elizabeth quoted.
The other two listened in stunned silence. “How do you do that?” asked McKenzie. “I know a lot of Bible verses, but you’re like a walking encyclopedia!”
Elizabeth smiled. “I don’t know. I’ve just heard them all my life.”
“Well, we’re not exactly going to see this woman because she’s in distress,” said Megan. “So I’m not sure this visit will count.”
“Maybe not, but I’ll bet she’ll enjoy our visit anyway! Hopefully, we’ll get some information we can use,” replied Elizabeth. “We�
��ve got to find those jewels before the cowboy does.”
A short time later, having gained permission from McKenzie’s parents, the three girls slid into Jean Louise’s red convertible sports car.
“This is a cool car!” McKenzie exclaimed.
“Thank you,” said the waitress.
The girls enjoyed the ride, laughing as their hair–blond, brunette, and auburn—flapped in the wind.
They arrived at Shady Acres Retirement Community a short time later, and Jean Louise led them through the well-kept apartment complex. She knocked and then used her key to open the door. “Mama!” she called. “We’re here. I brought the girls I told you about.”
A small, white-haired woman appeared, using a walker. Her eyes were bright, and she wore a cheerful smile. “Come in, come in!” she said. “I’ve been looking forward to this.”
They entered the small, well-kept apartment, and smelled something delicious. Jean Louise wasted no time in introducing the girls, one by one. “And this, ladies, is my mother, Mrs. Wilson.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Wilson,” the girls said politely.
“Sit down,” she gestured, and moved slowly to stand in front of Megan. “Except you. I want you to stand here and let me look at you.”
Megan smiled a bit uncomfortably while the woman looked her over, head to toe. Then, she reached out a gentle hand and touched Megan’s hair, then her face. “Such a beautiful girl. You’re the spitting image of Emily Marie.”
McKenzie looked questioningly at Elizabeth.
“Megan’s grandmother,” Elizabeth whispered, and the redhead nodded.
“Your grandmother would have been so proud of you,” the woman continued. “She was my best friend, you know. A real jewel. Your mother and your uncle Jack were her world. She would have loved watching you grow up.”
Then, she gestured for Megan to sit down before taking a seat herself. She turned to her daughter. “Jean Louise, I made some lemon bars for these girls, and there is lemonade in the refrigerator. Would you get them, please?”
“Yes, ma’am.” The woman moved swiftly to obey her elderly mother.
“I hope you didn’t go to any trouble, Mrs. Wilson,” Elizabeth said.
The woman responded by waving her hand in the air, as if any such talk was nonsense. Elizabeth liked this woman.
“I understand you have some questions for me,” she said, keeping her eyes on Megan.
“Yes, ma’am,” Megan said. “Jean Louise told us about some marbles, but I don’t know anything about them, and neither does my mother.”
The woman smiled. “Oh, the marbles. I remember that day so well. Emily Marie came walking into the break room at the restaurant, white as a sheet. She closed the door, and it was just the two of us. Then, she pulled out a little white cloth sack, and poured out the contents on the table in front of me. They were marbles, and they were the prettiest things I had ever seen.”
She paused, as if remembering, then continued.
“ ‘They’re real,’ she told me.
“ ‘Real marbles?’ I asked. I was confused. Of course they were real marbles.
“ ‘Real gemstones,’ she said, and plopped down in front of me. ‘Foster gave them to me.’
“Now, Foster was the tall, handsome cowboy who had taken a shine to Emily Marie. He wasn’t from around here, but he came through town a lot on business. He began to have more and more business in Amarillo, but no one was fooled. He came to town to see your grandma. She was a beautiful woman.” Mrs. Wilson pushed her hair back from her face.
“I was speechless. I had never seen anything like the marbles in front of me. I picked up the emerald and held it up to the light. Then, we both started giggling like school girls.”
Elizabeth smiled at the image.
The woman paused as Jean Louise brought in the refreshments and placed them on the coffee table. “Keep going, Mama. Don’t stop on my account,” Jean Louise said.
The woman leaned back in her chair with a smile. “After our giggles were under control, I held up the ruby. ‘Won’t this make a nice gift for your little Ruby, one day?’ I asked her.
“She looked at me like I’d gone crazy. ‘I can’t keep them!’ she said.
“ ‘Why in the world not?’ I asked her.
“ ‘It’s too much. It would be different if Foster and I were engaged, but we’re not.’
“ ‘Oh, you will be,’ I told her. ‘I’ve seen the way he looks at you. And I’ve seen the way you look at him. You’ll be married before the year is out.’
“When I said that, Emily blushed four shades of red. But she was smiling. ‘Maybe so,’ she said.
“ ‘Besides,’ I told her. ‘You can’t give them back. He’ll think you’re rejecting him.’
“She sat quietly, looking at those jewels long after my break was over. I covered for her for a while. I knew she needed some time to think. Finally, she joined me back on the floor, waiting tables like nothing had happened.”
“What happened to Foster? Was he still there?” Elizabeth asked.
“No, I don’t know where he had disappeared to. But he was back later that evening. And before the night was over, Emily Marie was the happiest woman alive.”
The Journals
The girls leaned forward, drinking in every word the elderly woman spoke. It seemed more like the makings of a romance movie than a real story.
The woman paused, and looked directly at Megan. “At closing time, Foster showed up again, wanting to talk to Emily Marie. They sat in one of the booths while I cleaned up. I tried to give them privacy and turned on the jukebox to a slow country song. But even over the music, I could hear bits and pieces of the conversation.
“ ‘Emily Marie, you must know how I feel about you. You must see it my eyes,’ he told her. The whole thing was quite romantic. ‘I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I’m going to sell my ranch in Colorado, and move down here, and we can get married. That is, if you’ll have me,’ he said.
“There she was, tears streaming down her cheeks. ‘But Foster, I have my two kids to think about,’ she said.
“ ‘I know I haven’t met Ruby and Jack yet, but I promise I’ll love them like my very own. I know things have been hard on you since your husband died. Let me rescue you,’ he begged.
“Well, at that point I left the room. I figured the cleanup could wait. Emily Marie and I were best friends, and I had watched her struggle to make ends meet since Paul died. It looked to be a fairy-tale ending for her,” Mrs. Wilson said as she leaned back in her chair.
The room was silent, except for the tick-ticking of the old grandfather clock in the corner. Finally, Megan broke the silence. “It sounds like my mom and my grandma had a lot in common.…”
Elizabeth reached over and squeezed her friend’s hand.
“So what happened next?” Elizabeth asked.
Mrs. Wilson frowned. “The next few days are hard to talk about. I prefer to remember my friend in that moment, her face shining with joy.”
The three girls remained silent. They didn’t want to push the woman or be disrespectful, but they needed more information.
Jean Louise rescued them. “Mama, Megan wants to find out what happened to the marbles. Is there any more you can tell her?”
The woman looked at Megan again and smiled, a sad kind of smile. Then, she pulled herself up with her walker and started toward her bedroom. Jean Louise helped her mother, leaving the three girls alone in the living room.
“Why did she leave like that?” McKenzie whispered.
“I don’t know, but it looks like she’s our only hope for more information. We’ve got to find out what happened next,” whispered Elizabeth.
Megan remained quiet, and Elizabeth put her arm around her friend. “This is hard for you, isn’t it?” she asked.
“Not really. I mean, I never knew my grandmother. It’s just strange that she and my mother were both young widows.”
The girls heard
the walker approaching and ended their whispered conversation. Jean Louise followed her mother, carrying several old notebooks. She handed them to Megan.
Mrs. Wilson was seated once again and took a moment to get settled. “These are my journals from that time. The whole story should be there, from the time Foster began coming to the restaurant, until…”
Megan looked at the books. It seemed she had just been handed her own treasure.
“You take them home and read them,” the woman told her. “I hope they’ll help you find what you’re looking for.”
Megan placed the journals on the coffee table in front of her, then walked to Mrs. Wilson’s chair. She leaned over and hugged the woman. “Thank you so much,” she said.
The old woman patted her on the shoulder, then wiped a tear from her wrinkled cheek. “You’re welcome, my dear. You are more than welcome.”
Back at the Big Texan, Megan had to report for work. “Here,” she told Elizabeth, handing her the journals. “We can’t afford to waste any time. Y’all start reading through these and see what you can find.”
Elizabeth and McKenzie spent the better part of the morning by the Texas-shaped pool, reading through the yellowed pages and looking for clues. Much of what they found was insignificant—Mrs. Wilson’s thoughts about her husband, her children, her job, even the price of groceries. Finally, McKenzie sat up in her lounge chair and said, “I found it! Listen to this: ‘A man has been visiting the restaurant regularly and is obviously smitten with Emily Marie. He seems like a kind man. I hope she gives him a chance; she’s been so sad since Paul died.’”
Elizabeth read over her friend’s shoulder. “Jackpot!” she cried. “Now we have our starting point. Let’s keep reading.”
McKenzie wiped the sweat from her brow. “Okay,” she said, “but can we continue this in the restaurant? I’m burning up out here, and I’m starving!”
“Me, too,” agreed Elizabeth.
They gathered the journals and headed toward the restaurant. Passing the stables, they noticed a regal looking horse across the paddock. “Wow, what a beauty,” said McKenzie. “Let’s get a closer look.”
Elizabeth's Amarillo Adventure Page 4