“But what can you do now?”
“Leave, but I’ll be back. I just have to figure out another approach.”
Addie had planned to spend the morning with her mother, but apparently, her mother wanted to be alone to think and plan her next course of action. She wished she could think of something to suggest, but she’d get out of her way and go do some shopping for school clothes. Miss Mattie couldn’t keep washing her clothes every day or so, and school would start on Monday.
Later, as she drove around the Riverbend shopping center, she was pleased to see that just about every store had signs in the windows announcing an ‘after Easter’ sale. The big signs in the department store windows were announcing a 35% off on all winter merchandise. It may be spring, she thought, but there is still plenty of chilly weather ahead before summer. She would need warm clothes, and some light weight ones.
The department store was on the corner of a short drive- through to the shops and offices in the back. The store across the drive- through was vacant. She wished it was rented. It looked so forlorn. She drove through and parked behind the department store and entered through the side door, which had just been opened for the day.
The beauty salon was on the left, just inside the door. She walked past a large mirror and couldn’t help but look at herself. She recalled grandpa’s remark that she needed to look more mature – not wear her hair in a teenager’s ponytail. She paused to look at some pictures of hair styles on the walls.
A tall, thin woman with light brown, long hair, dressed in the salon’s uniform approached her. “May I help you?” she asked.
At first, Addie started to move on, but then she thought, I can’t keep putting off my own needs, and she did have a little extra time. “Could you suggest a hair style for me that would make me look a little more mature?”
The woman laughed. “Honey, the people who come in here want to look younger. It’s refreshing to meet someone who doesn’t. Come with me to my station. We’ll see what we can do.”
An hour and a half later, Addie looked in the mirror and couldn’t believe what she saw. Her heavy hair had been cut shoulder length, thinned, shaped in layers, and was fluffy, and almost curly. Its brightness had been toned down with a darker, wash out rinse – in case she didn’t like it. Her pale eyebrows had been shaped and darkened a medium brown, and medium brown mascara adorned her almost blond eyelashes. complementing the foundation and light blush that had been applied. Her full lips glistened with a natural, glossy lipstick. She did look more mature, and glamorous, she thought. And she loved it.
She hoped grandpa would approve. And her mother and daddy? What would they say? And Donnie? Would he like it? Well, she liked it. Yes. She really did. That’s what mattered, she told herself, as she tipped the woman a crisp, new twenty-dollar bill. The surprised woman thanked her and asked if she’d like an appointment for next Saturday? Addie assured her that she would, but she would call her.
The shoe department was next. She found that eight narrow was not easy to find in the styles she liked. It took her almost an hour to purchase two pair of school shoes, two pair of dress shoes, another shoulder bag to match the school shoes, and she told herself that a bag that she had gotten at Lilly’s would go well with the new dress shoes. She headed for the dress and sports wear department searching for the lady who had waited on her when she couldn’t get her check cashed on Friday.
Even with a sale on, there didn’t seem to be a lot of customers. She found the woman straightening a table of sweaters. “Ma’am,” Addie said to her back.
The woman turned. “May I help you?” she asked, a puzzled look crossing her tired looking face. She was middle aged, overweight, with dyed blond hair.
“Do you remember me?” Addie asked. “I chose an arm load of clothes from you last Friday, but the store wouldn’t take my check. Today, I’m paying cash.” The woman still looked at her, frowning. “I just got my hair darkened and cut,” she explained.
“Oh, yes. I remember. I just couldn’t place you, but it’s very becoming to you.” She paused a moment. “And you’re paying cash today?”
“Yes, ma’am, I am. And I need just about everything. I’ve outgrown all my clothes. And I’m sure you know more about clothes than I do, so I’d appreciate your helping me to choose the right colors, and help me to coordinate things. I need school clothes, no jeans, and at least two dress outfits. I’ll even need a raincoat and one of those automatic umbrellas. And I’ll need warm clothes as well as spring things.”
The woman was smiling and eager now, and Addie wondered if she worked on a commission. If so, the incident last Saturday had hurt the woman financially. She wondered if she dared ask? Why not? “May I ask you a personal question?”
“Why, I suppose so,” The woman answered, a bit surprised. “It depends on how personal.”
“Do you work on a commission?”
The woman looked around, then stepped closer to Addie, and said quietly, “We get a bare minimum salary, but we have to meet a quota. After we’ve met it, then our commission begins. I’m afraid several of us haven’t been meeting our quota lately. People just aren’t buying. So many people are out of work. Two of the women were laid off last Friday. I’ll probably be next, and I sure appreciate your looking me up to wait on you again. I’ll do my best to help you choose the right clothes. I’m sorry about last Saturday. I know you were embarrassed.”
“I was, but it doesn’t matter now, and I know it wasn’t your fault.”
“Thank you. I have an outfit of several coordinating pieces that would be good for school, and the colors are just right for your new look.”
Three hours later, as she hung the last garment bag on the rack in the Lincoln, she realized how hungry she was and knew she was late for lunch again. She hoped Miss Mattie hadn’t waited lunch on her. She should have called. She just couldn’t remember having a phone in her bag. It was so exciting – getting herself made over, and all the new clothes, and having money to spend for what she wanted. No more jeans and T-shirts. She would be truly happy, if her daddy would just see reason.
She had to get to Stonegate and pay Deena, Mrs. Castle, and William. He had to take some money now. His workload had increased so much. He hardly had a minute to call his own, and she realized it. She still wished he’d go back to school. And she had to tell Deena about the sale. She was very pleased with the amount of clothes she had gotten for her money. She should have paid her help on Friday, and Deena could shop today. From now on she would. And she’d bring Deena to the shopping center if she wanted to come.
She apologized to Mattie for being late and promised to remember to call the next time. But she wasn’t sure Miss Mattie was listening to her. She was just staring, and Addie was awaiting her comment. “Do you like it?”
“Addie, you were pretty before, but now you’ll beautiful, and glamorous as well. Like it?” she exclaimed. “I love it. I think everybody will, especially Donnie.”
The woman couldn’t have said anything that pleased Addie more. The unloading of the car of all her new clothes was finished by the time Miss Mattie had their lunch on the table, but then the phone rang. It was her mother wanting to know if she was going to church with Mattie on Sunday?
“I suppose so. Are you and daddy going to Community Church? You know that Reverend Kyle Etheridge is back. Of course you and daddy could come to Stonegate and go with Miss Mattie and me.” she said hopefully.
“I don’t know, honey. It’s something I’m going to have to give some thought to. And, oh, I meant to tell you that Ben got a job to do for the bank. He said if he got one more job, he was going to have to hire Hester Beale. The man has only one arm, but Ben says he’s the best painter in town, and he needs the work.”
Addie was glad that Mr. Arbuckle had kept his word, and she hoped that Miss Penny had talked to her daddy, but she didn’t dare mention it. Then she gave her mother a brief description of the new clothes she had bought. Mattie called to her that lunch was getting cold. De
lla heard her and ended their conversation, saying she was headed to South Street to stay with Denise a while, that she had just gotten the Ford back and it looked great, except, it hadn’t been painted yet. That was scheduled for next week.
The meeting with the new vice president of the bank had gone well, Ben thought, and he was driving around the square on his way home for some lunch. He was tired and needed to take off for the day. Then he saw the black truck turning out the Nashville highway with Donnie Whitefield at the wheel, and his gramps with him. What on earth? He wondered. What did they mean leaving Denise all alone? He had told them she was not to be left along yet. Didn’t he have enough on his mind? Not that Denise wasn’t always on it – always there in the back of his mind. What was wrong with him? He couldn’t stop thinking about her – the way she felt in his arms when he had carried her from the van’s sofa to the outside to exercise her legs, to eat, to go to the restroom. It had gotten to the point, before they reached Riverbend, that he couldn’t wait for their next stop. He hadn’t seen her now in three days. Three long days and three long nights. The nights were the worse. He couldn’t sleep for thinking about her. He needed to see her. He had to see her. His need to hold her again in his arms was driving him crazy.
Suddenly, he realized that he was headed toward South Street. She was alone. He had to make sure she was all right. Donnie and gramps were going to hear from him for leaving her alone, even for a short time. And he didn’t have time for this. Surely, they didn’t plan to be gone very long. But what if she needed something? What if she tried getting up by herself and fell? She could manage the walker, but she shouldn’t be using it when she was by herself, just yet.
And the Reverend Etheridge! He couldn’t get him off his mind either. He should have hit him. Did Della know about the gossip? Surely, she did. Why hadn’t she told him? Did she think he wouldn’t hear it? Or did she hope he wouldn’t hear it? That Mobley girl who had seen her coming out of the parsonage – she and her mother were the biggest gossips in town. Everybody knew that, he was telling himself as he turned into the driveway of the South Street house.
He stopped the car at the front porch. He’d just check on Denise, find out when Donnie and gramps were expected back, and be on his way home. He had to talk to Della. But just the thought of seeing Denise made him jump out of the truck as soon as it stopped and rush onto the porch. The front door was open. Good, she needed fresh air.
As soon as he entered the hallway, he saw her lying on the couch in the living room. “Denise, honey!” he exclaimed. It was just natural for him to pick her small figure up in his arms. “What on earth do those two mean leaving you alone?” He hugged her to him, his face nestled in her long, brown hair.
“But Ben!” she said, as he held her even closer and headed for her bedroom across the hall. “Ben!” she exclaimed.
“You’re going back to bed. How long do they plan to be gone? I passed them on the square. I can’t stay long, but I’ve missed you so. It’s been the three longest days and nii…” Then he saw her. Della was standing in the doorway of Denise’s bedroom, her arms full of bed linens from where she had just changed Denise’s bed.
“Wha…, what are you doing here?” he asked just above a whisper.
Della didn’t answer. She just stood there looking at her husband with another woman hugged close in his arms. Tears blurred her eyes. His face was red, and she felt like all the blood had drained from hers. Slowly, she said, “I’m, uh, staying with Denise while Donnie and Gramps go to Nashville to pick up Gramps’ things. I left you a note to come here for supper.” Then she moved from the doorway and down the hall toward the washer and dryer fitted in a closet in the kitchen.
“I, uh, I thought they had left Denise alone. I didn’t know you had your car back,” he said to Della’s back.
“So, I gather,” she said in a stronger voice.
Several minutes later Ben entered the kitchen where Della stood looking out the window over the sink, tears rolling down her cheeks. Poor Ben, she was thinking, such confusion in his face when he had looked up and seen her. So that’s why the lack of appetite, the tossing and turning at night, the silence and lack of affection from him that she thought was due to exhaustion from working so hard, and such long hours. Poor Ben. Did he even know what had happened to him? The one thing she had feared all these years would happen – that one of them would experience a hot, passionate feeling for someone else, had finally happened. Theirs had been a love that had grown slowly through the years, but now, Ben, her Ben had become hopelessly, helplessly infatuated with another woman, Denise. Why did it have to be her? Why couldn’t it have been someone she didn’t know, didn’t have any connection with?
She knew he was there, but she didn’t turn to him. After several moments of silence, he said simply, “I’ll be going. Don’t wait supper on me. I’ll be working late.”
He sounded so lost. She turned to him. He looked so miserable, so confused. She wanted to go to him, take him in her arms, comfort him, even though her heart was breaking. She loved this man, and she knew in her hear that he loved her, had loved her since the night of her seventeenth birthday, the night they had first made love. Addie was almost five months old then. They had been husband and wife for a year.
What was she to do now? She was pregnant with his child, a son, she was sure. That should be enough. He’d wanted a son all these years. But how did a wife and an unborn child fight a hot, passionate infatuation? She had no earthly idea. Just keep busy, she told herself, don’t think. Maybe that would help the pain. The laundry. Yes. She would get the laundry caught up for Denise.
Mattie sat on the sofa, and grandpa sat silently in the blue chair in Addie’s bedroom, as all the new clothes were opened and displayed for her and grandpa’s approval and admiration, until the last item was folded and put away. All the while, Addie wondered what Miss Mattie would do if she knew that just a few feet from her sat a spirit? And she hoped that the woman didn’t mention the TV that stayed on in her dressing room with the other blue chair sitting in front of it.
Silence was unusual for grandpa. She knew he was waiting to comment on her new look, and she had to admit that she was anxious to hear his opinion.
“I think all you’ve bought is just lovely,” Mattie said, “and they’re going to look so good on you, especially now. I still can’t believe what a big difference a little change has made. I know Della will be surprised, but I think she’ll like it once she gets used to it.”
But mama might not want to get used to a new Addie, and a new look too. She hadn’t thought of that. She just hoped it wasn’t too much for her mother.
“I guess I’d better clean up from our lunch and think about our dinner. See you in a little while,” Mattie said as she took her leave.
“I’ll be there to help you in the kitchen in just a few minutes.” And as soon as the door shut behind Miss Mattie, Addie asked in a low voice, “Okay, what have you got to say?”
“Your new clothes are very nice, and I approve of what you’ve done to yourself, or had done. You’re almost as pretty as your mother now.”
“Why, thank you, Grandpa. I couldn’t hope for a nicer compliment. But do I look more mature?”
“Yes, and more business like,” grandpa answered as the faint sound of the front door knocker was heard.
“Who can that be?” she said as she left to go find out. When she opened the door, she almost gasped at the sight that met her eyes. It was the smallest man she had ever seen, about the size of a ten year old boy. He whipped off his tall, black hat revealing a thick, curling head of silver hair that matched his bushy, silver eyebrows.
“Tobias McIntosh at your service, ma’am.”
Addie wanted to laugh, but held it back. Is he for real? She wondered. “How do you do? I’m Addie Martin. What can I do for you?”
“I’d like to speak to Miss Wilhelmina Stone, if you please?”
“Oh, uh, I’m sorry, but Miss Stone met with a fatal accident
a few weeks ago.”
The little man looked absolutely stricken. “I’m so very sorry,” he said. “Yes, very deeply. Please accept my condolence,” He said with a slight bow. “Then may I assume that the auction is cancelled, or could it be that it is just postponed? I’ve been traveling the past couple of weeks, and I’ve been out of touch.”
“What? What did you say?” Addie asked rather confused.
“The auction, Miss. Is it canceled? Or just postponed?”
“Auction? What auction? I don’t know what you’re talking about. Are you sure you’re at the right place?”
“I asked the cabbie to deliver me to the place called Stonegate,” he was saying as he fumbled in his pocket. He withdrew a white card and held it out to Addie. “I assume this is Stonegate?”
Taking the card, she answered, “Yes. This is Stonegate.” The card was the size of several white envelopes that had been arriving which Miss Mattie had added to the overflowing wooden tray on the desk in the library, which she said she was keeping for Mr. Cutler. She read the card in shocked amazement. It was addressed to a Mr. Rafael Tigbee, inviting him to attend a private auction of rare paintings to be held at Stonegate this coming Monday. Monday! Addie looked down at the little man, and all she could think of to say was, “But you’re not Mr. Rafael Tigbee,” and then thought how dumb it sounded in light of the surprising and shocking news. What did it matter that he wasn’t Mr. Tigbee? The point was that an auction was to be held at Stonegate on Monday!
“You’re right, Miss. I’m Tobias McIntosh. Mr. Tigbee is a dealer in fine art, and a friend of mine. He is a cripple, confined to a wheel chair, and does not travel. I was in his office when he received the invitation. He graciously let me have the invitation knowing that I was going to be traveling, and would be interested.
“I usually attend such private sales before they take place to see if the owners might have any objects d’art they would be interested in selling? They usually do. That is my business, a dealer in objects d’art.”
The Daughters of Julian Dane Page 62