As she neared the breakfast room, pushing the wheel chair with all the clothes piled in it, she heard voices – Wylene’s and her mother’s. She rushed in and grabbed her mother. “I’m so glad you’re back,” she said kissing her on the cheek. Della returned her hug and kiss, still Addie clung to her.
“Is everything all right, honey? What’s the wheel chair for? Where did you get it? And what’s all this?” she asked of the garments hanging over the chair, and the other things piled up in the seat.
Mooney came bounding into the room from the back stairs. “I helped William move the big pieces. He said he could do the rest. What else can I do for you?” he asked Addie, then greeted Della and Wylene.
“We have to go see Miss Judy’s truck,” she said to Mooney, then to her mother, “Mama, there’s a lady in the kitchen I want you to meet. Then, Mooney, would you take Jo Ann Simmons and those two suitcases up to the bedroom across from the hospital room. It has twin beds. And, Wylene, could I get you to help the two Simmonses to get settled in that room? And, Mama, I have to do some explaining to you. Could we go to our bedroom as soon as you’ve met Miss Simmons?”
In the kitchen she introduced Della to Jo Ann, then said to the woman, I know you’ll need more clothes than you brought with you. See if these will do.” Then she laid everything except the three gowns for her mother into Jo Ann’s lap. Jo Ann thanked her, and Addie guided her mother toward the hall that led to the front of the mansion, and their bedroom.
Addie was right. Della didn’t like the situation she had gotten herself into, but she understood how it had all come about, and said, “Honey, if it doesn’t work out with Deena and her mother, you can see if Wylene and her mother could help you,” she advised her daughter. But please, don’t get yourself involved in anything more.”
Addie promised that she wouldn’t, but that she and Mooney had to go see her former music teacher about buying a truck from her. Then she spread the three new hostess gowns out on the bed. “What do you think of these?” she asked her mother.
“Oh, Addie! They’re lovely.” Della exclaimed as she picked up the rose one. “Where did you get them? Don’t tell me – Miss Willy’s closet?”
“Right. They’ll be perfect for you when you get bigger.” She kissed her mother again as Della was holding a gown up to her. “I have to go with Mooney to see that truck now. See you later. Put me some supper up, please.”
As they were driving out the Stonegate drive in Addie’s car, she asked, “Can the truck be used to move the Castle’s furniture?”
“Sure. It’s a full size pick-up truck.”
“Great, because I have a feeling we’ll be using it a lot.” Then she asked Mooney, “Do you know much about Wylene and her family?”
“Oh, we know each other pretty well. Something you want to know?”
“Did her mother used to be a school teacher? Wylene once mentioned it.”
“Yeah. Taught third grade. But when the clock factory closed, people began to move away to find jobs, then they didn’t need as many school teachers. She hasn’t taught in two years. Right now, she cleans houses for other teachers two or three days a week. If she didn’t, they wouldn’t eat. Her dad manages to get an odd job every now and then. He drove a truck for the clock factory.”
“He did? Then maybe he’d like to drive one of the trolleys if we can put them on the streets as public transportation.”
“I’m sure he would, and so would his friend, Wesley. Do you think Mr. Morgan can get the job done?”
“I’m sure hoping so.” Then an idea occurred to Addie. The day-care center. “If Mrs. Mitchell was a school teacher, she knows children. Wonder if she’d be interested in running a day care center?” she asked mostly of herself, but Mooney answered.
“I’m sure she would, Addie. It’s a big comedown from teaching to cleaning houses. And look where they have to live – the slums.”
“I know. I want them out of there.”
“I’m sure they’d like nothing better. They’re good people, Addie – just down on their luck. I don’t know who left you all this money, but it seems like a lot of people are benefiting from it.”
“And that’s what I want to do with it – help other people.”
Judy Arnold lived on a farm up on a hill on the Nashville Highway. A road ran between the farm and the crest of the hill on which stood a white, wood building with a steeple. It had a small porch with double doors, and it appeared to be a small church. As they turned into the road, Addie looked for a sign, but there was none. “What kind of a church is it that doesn’t have a sign telling you what denomination it is?” she asked Mooney.
“It’s not a church anymore. Not enough people to support it or the preacher. That tall, gray haired man who sacks groceries at the super market was the preacher. Name’s Alton Davis.”
“Oh, that’s a shame,” she said. “It’s a pretty little building, and that looks like rose bushes growing under the windows. If they all bloom at one time, won’t they be pretty?”
“Yes, it is. I’ve seen them in bloom. They’re all white.”
Then she saw a small, white house about two hundred feet from the back of the church. ‘Church/House’. That was on a tag connected to two keys in the box when she was looking for the fire hall keys. Surely, not. Why would Wilhelmina Stone buy a church and a parsonage? But she must have. After all, why would she buy a fire hall with Nicki’s money? Well, apparently, she owned a church and a parsonage. What next, she wondered as they came in sight of a large, white farm house with dark green shutters at the end of a short driveway off the road. Miss Judy was standing on the porch waiting for them since Mooney had called to tell her they were coming.
“She must be awfully lonely way out here by herself.”
“She’s moving soon. She’s trying to sell as much of her things as she can. Hazel, at the dry cleaners, is Miss Judy’s sister. She has kept their old home place in town all these years, and now both of her sisters are moving back. Lois, her oldest sister moved back a few months ago.” Mooney stopped the car in front of Miss Judy. They got out and walked up the few steps to the porch.
Miss Judy’s eyes were red and puffy. She’s been crying recently, and hard, Addie thought. Mooney hugged her, and Addie offered her condolences.
Judy Arnold, middle aged, blond hair and brown eyes, was dressed neatly in slacks and a sweater. She wasn’t as tall as Addie, and she was rather slim, Addie thought. She thanked them for coming and led them to the garage a few feet from the house where the black pick-up truck and a small silver car were housed.
The shiny, black truck looked to be everything Mooney had said it was, and Miss Judy insisted that the price to Addie was the same as she had offered it to Mooney. Addie gave her cash, and Miss Judy signed over the title of the truck to Addie. Then Addie asked, “Now, what can we do for you?”
“Thank you, Addie, but I guess there’s nothing anyone can do. I have to have a sale to get rid of my possessions. The bank is foreclosing on the farm. They say they can’t get as much out of it as I owe on it, and Hazel, my sister doesn’t want me to move anything but my bedroom furniture into the house – not even my organ,” stumbled the last almost in a whisper, a catch in her throat. She was very close to tears again, Addie realized. They had taken a seat on the porch furniture, and Miss Judy sat with her head bowed.
“You should hear her play that organ. She plays beautifully. Miss Judy, how much room could it take for the organ?” Mooney asked. “It’s not all that big.”
“Hazel is not a music lover, and my bedroom is very small. It will be crowded with just my bedroom furniture. There’s just no place for it, and it’s my only solace.”
Addie thought of the spaciousness of Stonegate, and the breakfast room came to mind. It held only the big round table, six chairs, a china cabinet, teacart, and a love seat, and it still had empty space. Maybe they could move it to Stonegate and Miss Judy could come there and play her organ. Then she remembered Miss Mattie’s
dinner club. Wouldn’t it be nice to have soft organ music while people ate their dinner? And that study of Miss Willy’s with its bath between the breakfast room and Eli Gates’s rooms. Why couldn’t Miss Judy live at Stonegate and play her organ for Miss Mattie’s dinner club? Of course, assuming that Miss Mattie could have a dinner club at Stonegate.
Mooney had left the porch to open the garage door to move the truck out. Addie wondered if she’d be intruding to mention the prospect? But why not? She wondered. “Miss Judy, she said, “you really don’t want to move back to your old home, do you?”
“No, Addie, I really don’t. I’d rather move anyplace but there, but I have no choice. And I’m sure Hazel doesn’t want me, or my sister, Lois. But Lois is a good cook, and Hazel loves her cooking. She’ll probably have me keeping house for all three of us. Oh, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be telling you my troubles. It’s just that I’ve had a bad day, and there’s no one to talk to way out here.”
Mooney returned to the porch and handed her the keys to her car. She excused herself and went over to the garage. Just inside the door, she paused and took out her cell phone and dialed Stonegate. When Miss Mattie answered, she asked, “Miss Mattie, are you planning to have a piano or an organ for music if we can have the dinner club?”
“Why, yes, Addie. I have the price of a small piano figured in my three pages of figures. I’m sure I can find a piano player. Organ music would be nice, but finding an organist would be difficult. And, dear, I’ll put your supper in the microwave.”
“I know an organist, and she has her own organ,” Addie announced smiling, “and thanks for saving me some supper. See you in a little while and tell you all about it.”
She rushed back to the porch where Miss Judy and Mooney stood talking. “Miss Judy,” she said excitedly, “how would you like to move to Stonegate in a nice big bedroom, bath, and big closet, all your own? And how would you like to play your organ for a dinner club there?”
Miss Judy looked at Addie, then Mooney, than back to Addie. “If you’re making light of my situation, I think it’s cruel.”
“Oh, no, no, Miss Judy! Miss Mattie Horn, the chef at Stonegate is hoping to open a dinner club there, and she would love to have organ dinner music. Of course, right now, it’s in the planning stage, but if it comes about, would you be interested?”
“You’re serious?” She asked incredulously.
“Yes, ma’am, I am. And there’s a bedroom and bath on the second floor, where the dinner club will be located, that you could have. And it’s a very big bedroom. Your organ could be placed somewhere in the dining room, and you could play it anytime you wanted to.”
“And I could have my own bedroom furniture?” She asked hopefully.
“Yes, ma’am. And the room is large enough that you could probably have a few other pieces.”
“Oh, Addie, just the hope of it means more to me than you can possibly know,” she said with a catch in her voice. She was close to tears again.
“Remember, it’s just in the planning stages right now. I’ll let you know any progress on it as soon as Miss Mattie and I know. Miss Mattie is very excited about the prospect of it.”
Addie followed Mooney in the shiny black truck back to Stonegate. She tried to keep her mind on her driving, but she kept wondering if she had been too impulsive? Had she risen hope in Miss Judy that would never come to pass? She sure hoped not, for Miss Judy had seemed so unhappy, so lost and lonely. Then she wondered if she wasn’t jumping too quickly into situations without first considering the consequences? Like the Simmons women. That’s what her daddy would say she was doing. And all she wanted to do was help people. Then she remembered her promise to her mother not to get involved in anything else. Uh, oh. Maybe she wouldn’t have to tell her about Miss Judy until she was sure things would work out.
Miss Mattie just had to have her dinner club. It would solve so many things. Surely the rent would keep Stonegate from having to be sold, and she could have the child-care center. That would get the Mitchels out of the slums. She had to go see Mr. Sully tomorrow before grandpa came up with something else.
She breathed a sigh of relief when they were finally turning into Stone Drive, yet she wasn’t anxious to get back to all the problems she had inside the mansion. As soon as they were parked in front of the garages, Mooney rushed over to her. “You sure got yourself a beauty of a truck. Drives like new.”
“Thanks to you,” she said. “And I sure appreciate you, Mooney. Will you be able to help me tomorrow. I’ll pay you whatever you say your time is worth.”
“Just let me know when you want me and what you want done. Want me to keep the truck keys?”
“Yes. And thank your mother for letting me have you today. And I hope she does go to work for Mr. Sully again. I really like him.”
He bent over and kissed her on the cheek. “And I really like you.”
For once the kitchen was empty, but the delicious aroma of Miss Mattie’s homemade rolls still lingered. No doubt, her mother and Miss Mattie had just gone to their rooms. She took the elevator to the third floor to tell Miss Simmons that she had hopes of getting someone to help care for her and her aunt, at least until school started in a week.
Mrs. Simmons was asleep, and Jo Ann was sitting at the dressing table trying to straighten her hair with one hand.
“I’m so grateful to you for taking care of Aunt Beth for me,” she said, as she had already done several times. “And now for taking us in. I never dreamed I’d ever see inside this place much less be staying in it. Of course, I will pay you for your troubles. I don’t know how long we’ll be here, but Aunt Beth’s Social Security check and the mortgage money she gets from Stonegate should cover her up to forty dollars a day. I know it’s worth much more than that, but that’s all she has. And my insurance company will pay that much, I’m sure, for me.”
“Miss Simmons! I have no intention of charging you. If you will pay Deena Castle something to help care for the two of you, that will be great. But we don’t charge for doing a Christian deed. But tell me, what did you mean by the money your aunt receives from Stonegate?”
“Why, that Mr. Ryker bought Uncle Harry and Aunt Beth’s house a few years ago. She receives a check the first of the month. It’s to be paid until the death of both of them. Of course she can no longer live in the house. She’ll have to go to a nursing home somewhere. I hate it, but there’s nothing else I can do. I’m all she has except for a no account brother who’s not worth the buck shot it’d take to blow him away. She hasn’t heard from him in twenty years. He may not even be living still. And I do have to work.”
“What kind of work do you do?”
“I’m an administrator for a home health agency. I’m an RN. By-the-way, who owns this place now that Miss Stone is dead?”
Grandpa had appeared, and he was up to something. She could tell from the look on his face. “Tell her,” he said.
“No. I don’t want people to know I own Stonegate, at least not yet,” she said to him silently.
“Who inherited it?” the woman insisted.
“Tell her,” grandpa demanded firmly.
Addie took a deep breath. Why not? She thought. She’d never get rid of him if she didn’t. “I, uh, I guess I did.”
Jo Ann looked at Addie as thought she was kidding her.
“See,” she said to grandpa, “she doesn’t believe me, and no one else will either.”
“Maybe not, but you left the wheel chair, and she’s been using it to snoop about. I think she has something in her mind. It would be interesting to know what it is.”
“What are you going to do with it? It sure would make a great nursing home.”
“A nursing home!” Addie said to grandpa. “Well, now you know what she has in her mind. A nursing home!”
From the way she looked at her, Addie still wasn’t sure she believed her. Then she said, “Surely, you don’t plan to live in this big place.”
“Mr. Cutler, the attorney has id
eas of what he plans to do with it for me. He’s away in England right now.”
“You’re not being truthful, young Addie. What about Mattie’s dinner club and the child-care center? I think you should listen to her.”
“You can’t be serious?” Addie was saying to grandpa as Jo Ann was continuing.
“I’ve looked in some of the other bedrooms. They’re so big. They’d hold six beds nicely, but they could each be made into four semi-private areas. It could be real nice. Families would appreciate the patient having a good sized private area all their own. They’d be glad to pay for more space and a little privacy that’s not customary in nursing homes. And it could be done real easy with heavy curtain partitions. Eight bedrooms. Thirty-two patients. Why, you’d have a gold mind here. And believe me it’s badly needed in this area. And I could get you dozens of patients overnight. Then there are some dressing rooms with indirect lighting. There’s no telling how many patients could be accommodated.”
The Daughters of Julian Dane Page 49