Mrs. Mitchell came in to report that she had a list of mothers who wanted her to call as soon as the day care center was open for business.
Jo Ann Simmons said she had eight families in the area who had senior members that were interested in finding a good nursing home. But she reminded Addie that she could fill the nursing home with her connections as soon as it was open.
Judy Arnold had caught the excitement of the students and their parents who couldn’t wait for the swimming pool to be opened up to them. But then she told Addie that Donnie Whitefield had to leave. And he had asked her to tell Addie that there were a good number of adults who were interested in evenings of swimming and using the exercise equipment. He said she was going to have a problem though, because some wanted to come as couples, while others wanted men’s nights and women’s nights. And they all wanted at least three nights a week.
Addie listened to Judy give Donnie’s report, but wondered why he had been in such a big hurry to leave? All afternoon she had looked forward to them having some time together after the open house. He could have at least come to say good bye, she thought.
She had to go tell her mother and aunt that the coast was clear. They could come down for supper. Mattie already had the chicken casserole in the oven. She had prepared the casserole and a large bowl of tossed salad that morning and saved some of Edna Murcheson’s homemade cookies and fresh strawberries for their meal.
It had been a good day. She wasn’t going to let Donnie Whitefield ruin it by disappointing her, she told herself as she took the elevator to the fourth floor. She found her mother and Aunt Henrietta elbows deep in an old trunk of silver pieces that were badly tarnished, and grandpa sitting in a cherry wood chair close by them. “Grandpa, I thought you were going to be watching pretty ladies this afternoon,” she said silently.
“I have been. The two prettiest ladies I’ve ever seen. They look enough alike to be twins. Henrietta let me feel her hair.”
“Grandpa!” Addie exclaimed aloud. “Mama, what’s been going on here?”
“Don’t worry, Dear. I’ve explained Julian Dane to Henrietta, and she’s met grandpa.”
“How?” Addie wanted to know, and wasn’t at all sure she liked the idea.
“Young Addie, don’t looked so shocked. It was simple. I touched Della’s hand lightly, to let her know I was here. Then we worked it out that I’d touch her hand once for no, and twice for yes. I’ve really been enjoying it. I haven’t had so much fun in years. Tell the ladies for me, will you? And tell Henrietta, I think she is beautiful, and I’m glad to have met her, and glad she’s here.”
Addie repeated grandpa’s message to the smiling Henrietta.
Both ladies thanked grandpa for keeping them company, and excused themselves to gather up their treasures and go to their rooms as Addie gave all three of them an accounting of the open house. Then Della and Henrietta left Addie and grandpa alone.
“I’m tired,” Addie confessed to grandpa, but I think we did a lot of good for the different businesses. I just hope we made some money. Tobias is going to count it tonight.”
“I like Tobias,” grandpa said. “Do you think I could meet him?”
“Grandpa! Don’t start getting too bold. You’ll get me in trouble.”
“Especially with Mattie,” grandpa laughed.
“Yeah,” Addie said. “I’ve got to go. I still wish I could kiss you goodnight. How about giving me a quick, light touch?”
The Daughters of Julian Dane
Part Three
New Beginnings
Chapter Forty-three
He had figured on three weeks at the most, that he would be gone, when he left Riverbend. And here it was more than six months later, Grant Cutler thought as he drove his Lincoln Continental into his parking space at the side of his office building. And now that he was back, he wondered why he had ever left England? Was it to escape the problems there? He would just be walking into more, but of a different kind here. Was he just tired and worn out? Did he need a long rest? How long would it take for his heart to heal from the loss of his beloved father?
He parked beside Sully’s old blue Chrysler New Yorker. Probably no more than thirty thousand miles, he thought. It would be good having his father’s old law partner occupying Ryker’s office. He had to find out what exactly had happened with Ryker. He knew Elinor’s bent for telling him only what she thought he had to know, and leaving the particulars for a later time. He cut the motor, but just sat there.
Gazing at himself in the rearview mirror, he figured it was a good thing he didn’t look as bad as he had last night, or Elinor would send him home and back to bed. At least he had gotten a half way decent night’s sleep – the first in a long time. He needed a haircut. That alone would speak volumes to Elinor. He knew her well. She wasn’t just his secretary, she was his best friend – had been since kindergarten when he rescued her from the class bully by bloodying his nose, for which he had gotten punished. The bully just happened to be the teacher’s nephew.
He had missed Elinor. She would understand that his sister and Lady Ann’s grief had weighted so heavily on him that there hadn’t been enough energy or space for his own. His father had been a much loved man, dead much too soon. No man should die at sixty.
But his mother had died at thirty-four. He had been ten and his sister eight. The three of them had become a very close family after they lost her. The home she had made for them had become their sanctuary. Nothing in it was ever changed – until Helene had taken over.
Helene’s interest in homemaking had lasted no longer than her interest in their marriage. At least his father had known the kind of love a man dreamed about twice in his sixty years. Would he ever find that kind of love even once? He had loved Helene in the beginning – at least he thought he had, until he had found, and all too soon, that she wasn’t the person he had thought her to be.
Their plans for a family had never materialized. The quiet life in a small town with a comfortable living, that he thought they both wanted, turned out to be his dream only. But maybe she was right. This was a dying town that held nothing for her. Did it hold anything for him anymore? It had been home to him all his life, but there was nobody here for him anymore. So why did he stay here? He was thirty-six. If he was ever going to marry again and have a family, it was high time he did. His dad wanted him to. He had told him that. But where does a man start looking? There was certainly no one in Riverbend.
Perhaps he should have stayed in England. Lady Ann had certainly made him an attractive enough offer: That spacious, beautifully appointed apartment, manage her estate until her death, and become her legal heir. All right there with the only family members he had – his sister and brother-in-law, and those twins who had stolen his heart so. He had promised all of them that he would give it some careful thought. But he had obligations here that had to be taken care of before his mind would be clear to think of anything else. So, you’re here now, get on with it, he told himself.
He opened the heavy car door and stepped out. There was the Stone estate to settle. What kind of a mess would he find it in? He pushed the button to lock the doors, and shut the door. And Addie Martin – all the worthless real estate she had inherited, and Stonegate, that white elephant. What was he to do with it? The golf committee had turned it down as too big, too much upkeep, and they were right. Who would want to buy such a place in a dying town like Riverbend? He wondered as he opened the door to his office.
Elinor was at the computer typing. Sully’s door was open, his office vacant, and Ms. Mooneyhand wasn’t at her desk. Elinor saw him immediately and was repeating his name, as she arose to rush toward him. “Oh, Lord, but you’re a sight for sore eyes.” She grabbed him in a big bear hug which was returned by Grant. “I can’t tell you how much I’ve missed you, and you know how badly I feel about your dad. “Oh, Grant, it’s so good to have you back.” she said almost in tears.
“I’ve missed you too, and a million thanks for all you�
�ve done: Holding down the fort, cleaning the house, doing the laundry, filling the fridge, and that chicken casserole is delicious. I had some for breakfast.”
She leaned back and looked at him. “It’s not for breakfast.”
“Then I’ll have it for dinner tonight.”
“No, you won’t. I’ve made reservations at the dinner club.”
“Dinner club?”
“Yes. The Stonegate Dinner Club, actually, Mattie Horn’s dinner club. The food is fabulous. You’re going to love it. Addie gave you a membership to it.”
They had walked to Elinor’s desk. She had taken her seat, but he still stood. “Somebody has turned Stonegate into a dinner club?” he asked incredulously.
“No. Mattie rents the front part of the second floor and the kitchen area, and her apartment for her dinner club. The back part belongs to the Stonegate Nursing Home.”
A troubled, stormy look crossed Grant’s face. “Would you mind if I sit down?” he asked mockingly.
Elinor grinned. “Please do.” And she pointed to the seat beside her desk.
“Why didn’t you tell me this? Who gave anybody permission to do anything with Stonegate? WHAT DO YOU MEAN A NURSING HOME?”
“Calm down, Grant, just calm down. You’ve been gone a long time, and a lot has taken place in our small town since you left. Let me tell you about some of it before you come unglued.”
“Sully! Is this his doings - turning Stonegate into a restaurant and nursing home?” he demanded.
“No. I’m afraid it’s Addie’s. Sully is just putty in Addie’s hands. He does whatever Addie asks him to. She has someone advising her. Who, we don’t know. Sully has tried every means to find out – even to checking on who she sees, where she goes, and her phone calls. Nothing. But I’d say the person is pretty smart – knows what he or she is doing. Their goal is to put Riverbend ‘back on the map’ as Addie says.”
“Well, I’ll find out who ....There it is again! What is that thing doing here in Riverbend?” Grant had jumped up and rushed to the window.
“Would you be referring to the town’s public transportation, the trolley cars?”
Returning to the desk, “I think I’d better sit down again. Apparently, Elinor, you’ve been keeping an awful lot from me.”
“I guess I have, Grant. But what more did you need? You already had more on your plate than you could say grace over.”
He sighed heavily. “You’re right, Elinor. I’m sorry. I’m glad Crumbley has finally done something for this town, but trolley cars? I got a glimpse of it as I tried to come around the Square, then learned that it could, but I couldn’t.”
“Only the trolleys are allowed on the Square. Oh, Grant, you must go see the Square. It has brick sidewalks, herringbone pattern mind you, cobblestone streets, gas lights and flowers everywhere, park benches, and awnings over the store windows. Each store has a new Victorian, glass door. Everything is done Victorian, all due to Addie. Oh, and she bought the trolleys, not Crumbley. There is five of them now. One is kept at the transfer station for relief, and the fifth one belongs to the school children. The merchants and citizens bought it for them when Addie opened the Stonegate pool to the students and the Board of Education wouldn’t let the school buses be used to get the students back and forth to Stonegate. The other three trolleys run regular routes, and everybody rides them. Even I do. I get to the transfer station every morning, get me a cup of coffee and stroll across the Square and to our office.”
“And the trolleys belong to Addie?” he asked almost in shock.
“Grant, please settle down. There is a lot I have to tell you.”
“You mean there’s more!” he exclaimed.
“I’m afraid so. At first, the trolleys did belong to Addie, but when Crumbley vanished, and Sully became acting Mayor, the city bought them and the transfer station from her. And Sully said the city paid her very well for them.”
“Wait a minute! You told me about Crumbley disappearing right after the slum fire, and Sully becoming mayor, but you just said ‘acting’ mayor?”
“Grant, Sully has never wanted to be mayor. He ran just to keep us from handing the town to Crumbley, at each election, on a silver platter. And I’ll bet Sully was elected each time. One of the rumors of why the Federal Marshall had come to Riverbend was concerning the elections. And Crumbley disappeared in the middle of the night before he had an appointment with the Marshall at nine the next morning.”
“But those trolleys, and getting them on the streets must have cost a fortune.” Grant had calmed down. He needed to know everything that Elinor had to tell him. “I know she had to have found the rest of that million dollars, but would even that have been enough? Has she been drawing money out of the accounts?”
“Nope. No need to. Addie just seems to manufacture money. You don’t have to worry about Stonegate’s upkeep. She opened up a bank account for that purpose and I can tell you that Clay Dewitt says it has a very healthy balance. Don’t ask me where it comes from, because I don’t ask, and she doesn’t say. It could be all of the businesses from the childcare center on the ground floor to the nursing home on the third and fourth floors, or it could just be the rent from the dinner club.”
Grant had gotten up and was pacing the floor. He stopped. “You mean there’s a childcare center also? And what do you mean she manufactures money? Is she counterfeiting?” he demanded rather irritably.
Elinor laughed. “Sit down, and I’ll tell you everything I know. Which was all about the many business ventures at Stonegate, and Della finding her mother and sisters, and that one of them, Henrietta, was scheduled to return from the rehab center in Nashville that very day. “And as for Addie creating money, well, a lot of it came from the sale of the trolleys, the sale of the Stonegate acreage, and the old hotel, and some pieces of real estate, we know that she had an auction and sold all the paintings at Stonegate. I told you about that.”
“Do you have any idea what the paintings brought?”
“No. But soon afterwards, she banked one million dollars,” and Elinor began to giggle. Grant just dropped down into the chair, shaking his head in disbelief. “Oh, I have to tell you this, Grant,” Elinor said amid her chuckles. “Addie had all this money, a million dollars, and she asked Arbuckle, at the bank, how much interest the bank would give her to deposit it in the Riverbend Bank? He told her, and she said if that was all, she’d have to deposit it in the new bank at the Creek Falls shopping mall, because they would pay her one percent more. Well, they said Arbuckle almost had a stroke. That he told her she couldn’t deposit her money in some other bank. She let him know that she would deposit her money in the bank that would pay her the most interest, and nobody could keep her from it. So the Riverbend Bank came up with the other one percent. Arbuckle told Sully about it. And as far as any anybody knows, that one million dollars is still laying there drawing interest.”
Grant sat there in a stunned silence. Finally, he said, “I can’t believe all this,” he said almost in a whimper. “I leave an innocent, sixteen year old girl with fifteen thousand dollars, and come back in six months to find a business magnate. So what else has she done?”
“Well, for one thing, she hasn’t touched the fifteen thousand. I’ve made you a list of everything she has sold. All the stores on the Square but one is rented. She doesn’t own it. And all the vacancies at the shopping center are filled. The high school kids use one of them as a swap shop. She doesn’t charge them any rent. I’ve gotten a couple of good bargains there. Oh, and you remember Tess and Buford Oakley, who live in that big house out there on Oakley Road? The North bound trolley turns around at their place, so they are turning it into a bed and breakfast. Tess has Buford planting blooming trees and bushes everywhere. It’ll be so pretty in the spring. Tess is also going to have a tea room and gift shop. I can’t wait to see it. Tess has a real flair for decorating. She’ll do it up right.”
Grant looked puzzled. “How is that putting money in Addie’s pocket?”
“Oh, it isn’t. I just wanted to tell you about it. But when Doyle and Eilene French bought that farm that Addie owned next to theirs, they paid well for it. They’re going to make a campground for trailers, RV’s, even tents. Doyle says they’re going to have a playground, swimming pool, a tennis court, and shuffle board.”
“That’s down there on the river, isn’t it?”
“Yes, and, Grant, for the first time in years, anybody in this town that wants to work has a job.”
“Oh, I guess that’s due to Addie also,” he said a little sarcastically.
Elinor looked at him in disapproval. “Well, it just about is. See this,” she said pointing to two charcoal drawings on the wall behind her desk.
“I was wondering if your taste in art had changed?”
“This, Grant Cutler, was Bakers landing. It’s now Victoria Park. It’s going to be absolutely beautiful. Riverbend is no longer a dying town. People love our trolleys, and our Square, and all the changes we’re making in our town. Donnie Whitefield drew these. He’s very talented. This single drawing here is my new home. It’s the last one on the left before you get to the river. Of course there’s that vacant lot between us and the river. But I hear that Donnie has his eye on it.”
Grant had walked up to the drawings to see them better. “I thought a Miss Neilson lived in that house.”
“She did, but Addie traded her the Simmons house for it. It’s only one floor – no steps for her or her friend, Ellie Mae, to climb. And all these woods on the right side of the road have been cleared out, and see these houses here. They’ll be small, but elegant two bedroom houses on three floors. There’ll be a garage, laundry and utility room on the ground floor, the living room, dining room, and kitchen on the second floor, and bedrooms and baths on the third floor. Sully is buying this one closest to the river. The park will be like the Square with a cobblestone street and gas lights when it’s finished. I can’t wait.”
The Daughters of Julian Dane Page 72