by Lynn, JB
My face tingled with embarrassment. I sipped my hot chocolate hoping the creamy sweetness would soothe me.
“I am a trained medical professional,” Angel confided to Cam in a deeper than usual tone. “I do know my way around the human body.”
Cheeks burning, I ducked my head. Thankfully Katie chose that moment to hug me, so I was able to hide my blush behind her.
“I’m sorry I missed the end of the tour,” I told her.
“It’s okay,” she said with a weighty seriousness. “Miss Cam explained that little boy could have ended up very hurt or even,” she paused for a moment before whispering in my ear, “dead.”
My heart squeezed and my embarrassment was forgotten as I thought about how unfair it was that the little girl was so familiar with death after losing her parents. I hugged her tighter.
“I paid off your debt,” Cam said.
I looked up at her. “What?”
“The bribery deal you made with the kids,” she elaborated.
“What did you do, Margaret?” Susan’s voice cracked like it used to right before she’d send me to my room without dessert.
“She told us that we had to keep our backs to the wall and hold hands and if anyone moved before Miss Cam got there, nobody would get a souvenir,” Katie supplied helpfully, disentangling herself from my embrace.
I flinched at how mercenary the deal sounded from her perspective.
“I had to go find the boy…” I began to defend myself.
Darlene began to laugh. “Oh my goodness, you’ve turned into Aunt Susan, using all-or-nothing rewards and peer pressure.”
I shrugged, knowing I was guilty as charged.
“Whatever,” Cam dismissed. “It worked like a charm. It was a thing of beauty to come around the corner and see those kids lined up like perfect angels.”
“How much do I owe you?” I asked.
She shook her head. “It was my pleasure to take care of it. Besides, the expression on Megan’s face when that reporter told her of your heroics was priceless. Priceless!” She threw back her head and laughed, the sound echoing off the walls.
I winced at the mention of the possible news coverage, but found her amusement contagious.
“I’ll see you around,” Cam said. Wagging her finger at Katie she added, “And you, little miss, you stay out of trouble.”
Katie’s response was to giggle.
With a wave and a pat to Angel’s bulging bicep, Cam left.
“Come over to the other house and meet my daughters, Maggie,” Darlene offered, smiling brightly continuing the façade that I hadn’t met her kids, when in fact I had.
“Marlene had mentioned that you have a family,” I said smoothly. “I can’t wait to meet them.”
“Who are you?” Katie asked curiously staring up at Darlene.
Darlene’s smile softened as she answered the little girl. “I’m your Aunt Darlene.”
Katie screwed up her face in confusion. “I have Aunt Marlene, not Darlene.” She pointed to Marlene as evidence of her claim.
Marlene, who still looked distracted, smiled weakly at her.
“But surely you see their resemblance, Katie,” Susan coached.
“What?” the little girl asked.
“They look alike,” I translated.
She looked from one twin to the other, studying them carefully.
“You have both,” I told Katie gently. “Darlene is my sister and Marlene’s sister and she was your mommy’s sister.”
Katie considered all the new information for a long moment. She looked to Marlene to confirm the news. “Since when?”
Darlene grinned. “Since before we were your age.”
Katie’s eyes widened. “That’s a long time.” She stretched her hands apart to illustrate her point.
“That’s because we’re old,” Darlene told her, laughter dancing in her voice.
Katie giggled, eyes shining.
I looked away for a second as a twinge of jealousy caught me off-guard. It felt massively unfair that Darlene could waltz in and charm Katie, when I’d sacrificed and done so much for her. Immediately I berated myself for being childish, that Katie needed as many people to love her as possible, but for that one instant, I wanted to chase Darlene away.
There was a knock at the front door.
I didn’t move since the last time I’d answered it, I’d literally gotten knocked on my ass.
DeeDee ran right to the door barking, “Away go. Away go.”
“Expecting anyone?” Angel asked, already moving toward the foyer.
“No,” everyone in the room answered. Even Darlene.
“I still don’t understand why you don’t have anything on your feet,” Susan muttered, staring down at my naked toes like they offended her sense of morality.
“My shoes got soaked in the stream.”
Susan’s gaze narrowed and her voice sharpened. “And are you wearing wet jeans?”
“Damp jeans,” I responded weakly.
“Um, Maggie?” Angel called. “This guy wants to see you.”
“Send him in,” Aunt Susan ordered before I could get to my feet.
We all watched the doorway expectantly, unsure of who would show up.
An older man in a chauffeur’s uniform, down to the cap he clutched in his hand, surveyed us all. “Miss Maggie Lee?”
“Maggie!” DeeDee called excitedly.
The man jumped a little, frightened by her bark.
“That’s me.” I raised my hand.
“Mrs. Concord requests the pleasure of your company.” He even made a slight bow as he delivered the formal invitation.
“Why?”
He blinked, taken aback.
I doubted that most people questioned his employer.
“Margaret, manners,” Susan hissed.
I raised my eyebrows letting the chauffeur know that I was still waiting for an answer.
“Mrs. Concord doesn’t share her private business with me,” he replied stiffly. “I’m simply here as a messenger.”
“How’s Alton?” I asked.
“The boy is well,” he confided, a note of fondness creeping into his formal tone. “They’re going to keep him overnight in the hospital, but he’s expected to be sent home tomorrow and they say he’ll make a full recovery.”
I nodded, letting out a shaky breath, relieved that the little boy was okay.
“Will you accompany me to the Concord Estate?”
“You should,” Loretta whispered, batting her fake eyelashes.
“I’ll drive myself,” I decided aloud.
“Oh for heaven’s sake,” Susan muttered. “Must you be so stubbornly independent about everything?”
“But first I have to change into dry clothes, so you’ll have to give me a minute.” Standing, I grabbed my hot chocolate, pecked Katie on the cheek, and hurried toward the stairs to the basement with DeeDee racing ahead.
As soon as the door closed behind me, God said from my bra, “The Concords are a rich family. I just saw a report about how they’re funding a new group home for unwed mothers.”
“Thank you,” I said, walking down the stairs, taking care not to slosh my drink.
“For what?”
“For staying quiet when I was with Angel and just now.”
“You’re welcome.” He sounded quite pleased as he used my bra strap to climb his way up to my shoulder. “I’m glad to know you were able to appreciate my restraint.”
“We all appreciate your restraint,” Piss drawled sarcastically as she emerged from beneath the couch. “Silence is golden and all that.” Her whiskers twitched. “You smell like fish.”
God gasped his indignation. “I do not!”
“Not you, Maggie.”
“Maggie fish like smell,” DeeDee agreed.
“I was in a stream,” I explained.
Piss shuddered, revealing her revulsion to water. “Why?”
“She was saving a child’s life,” God explained proudl
y.
“Hero Maggie,” DeeDee concurred.
“It was so nice to spend the day away, not being subjected to your mangling of language,” the lizard told the dog.
“You missed I too,” DeeDee happily panted back.
“I wasn’t saying—” God began.
“Enough,” I warned, plucking him from my shoulder and placing him inside his terrarium. “I’ve got to get changed. The chauffeur’s waiting for me.
“I don’t think you should go to the Concord place alone,” the lizard said.
“Where’s Zeke?” I asked.
“Kids Darlene babysitting,” DeeDee supplied helpfully.
“Thank you.” I patted her head, translating that to mean he was watching Darlene’s kids. “Guess that means I’m on my own.”
I quickly changed into dry clothes, choosing to wear something I wore to work when I was gainfully employed at Insuring the Future. “Aunt Susan would approve that I’m dressing for the occasion,” I murmured aloud.
“Why do you need her approval?” God snapped back.
“I don’t. It’s just that the older I get, the more I appreciate some of the lessons she taught me.”
“You should tell her that, sugar,” Piss purred. “Might make her feel better. She does seem to be in quite a tizzy lately.”
I nodded my agreement. Lately my usually high-strung aunt seemed like she might shatter into a million pieces at the slightest provocation.
I pulled out the small box I’d found hidden in the tree branches in the backyard. Teresa had said I’d find what I needed there, but I couldn’t understand how its contents could help me. Lifting the lid, I stared down at the plastic broach in the shape of a mouse with a piece of cheese.
Lifting it, taking care not to prick myself on the slightly rusty pin on the back, I sniffed.
I could still smell the faint aroma of sweet honeysuckle.
The pin had been my most prized possession when I was ten. A gift from my mother during one of her lucid times, she’d presented it to me saying, “A young lady should have her own signature scent.”
I slid the piece of cheese over and looked down at the waxy blob in the hidden compartment. After all these years, the solid perfume was still there, barely touched.
Barely touched because the pin had disappeared two weeks later. I’d assumed that my mother had taken it in one of her episodes, but I’d been wrong. Teresa had taken it and hidden it away. The note in the box was written in her childish scrawl, and all it said was my name.
I didn’t understand why her ghost thought I’d need it.
“You’re not going to solve any mystery staring at it, sugar,” Piss said quietly, reminding me I had other more important things to worry about at the moment.
I closed the cheese, put the mouse back in the box, put the lid on it, and tucked it into the back of my dresser drawer.
Giving myself a once over in the mirror, I swiped on some lip gloss and extended my palm to the lizard. “Coming?”
He twitched his tail. “No.”
“No?” Piss, DeeDee, and I all said simultaneously.
“I think this is a bad idea and to protest, I refuse to participate.”
“How very mature of you,” Piss drawled sarcastically.
“With go,” DeeDee ordered on a snarl, baring her teeth at the little guy in the terrarium. “With go.”
“I don’t need him,” I assured the animals.
They all gave me disbelieving looks.
DeeDee cocked her head to the side. “Sure are you?”
“Sure I am,” I promised, kissing her on the snout, waving to Piss, and running up the stairs to the kitchen.
Thankfully no one was there, so I was able to sneak outside without anyone seeing me.
Of course the second I stepped out, I heard a low whistle of appreciation.
“You look good, doll.”
Looking around, I found Mike sitting on a branch hanging above my car. His tail twitched. I tried not to think about what the roof of my car looked like if he’d been at that vantage point for any length of time.
I waved hello. “I didn’t get to thank you for your help before.”
“Happy to help,” he squawked. “What about the kid?”
“He’s going to be okay.”
“Glad to hear it.”
A familiar voice interrupted our conversation. “You talk to birds too?”
Turning, I found my former co-worker, recent lottery winner, and steadfast, if a bit kooky, friend, Armani Vasquez, leaning against the wall watching me.
“What are you doing here?” I said with a warm smile, pulling her into a hug.
“I have to go with you,” she announced, squeezing back.
“Where?” I asked, hoping she wasn’t going to insist once again that we needed to take a road trip.
She shrugged. “Dunno. Wherever it is you’re headed, I guess. Seems important.”
Have I mentioned that Armani is psychic? She is. The real deal, though you won’t find me admitting to that very often. I used to be a skeptic, but too much of what she’s predicted has come true, and her inside information has saved my life on more than one occasion.
“Okay,” I said, knowing better than to argue with her. “Glad for the company. Hop in.”
We both got into my car and I drove around to the front of the B&B and honked the horn a couple of times.
The chauffeur, looking harried, just like most people who get stuck talking to my aunts do, rushed out of the house and nodded in my direction before climbing into a fancy black sedan.
“So where are we headed?” Armani asked as I started following the black car.
“Aren’t you supposed to already know that?” I teased.
“Ha ha.” She didn’t sound amused.
“The Concord Estate.”
“Wow,” she said, suitably impressed. “They have even more money than I do.”
I chuckled. “Glad your lottery winnings haven’t gone to your head or anything.”
“They’ll probably look down their noses at me because I’m nouveau rich,” she predicted miserably.
I gave her a sidelong glance trying to determine whether she was serious about her new status in the world.
She let out a hearty guffaw. “Had you going there for a minute, didn’t I?”
“You did.” I let out a sigh of relief. My life was crazy enough and Armani was plenty different already without her being changed by the lottery win.
“But seriously. What are you doing interacting with such an important family?”
I shook my head. “Not sure. I’ve been summoned.”
“Why?”
“I may have helped to save the Concord kid’s life today while on Katie’s field trip,” I answered carefully.
“May have?”
“I did.” I admitted.
“You’re a hero!” Armani slapped her hand against her thigh. Her version of clapping ever since the tragic Zamboni accident left her with a damaged hand and a severe limp. Thankfully, the incident had left her ego unharmed.
“I’m not a hero. I was in the right place at the right time to do something good.”
Even though my gaze was focused on the road, I sensed her looking at me carefully. “What? Anyone else would have done the same.”
“Was the bird involved?” she asked.
Startled, I glanced over at her. “What?”
“The bird. You were thanking him and telling him someone was okay—watch out!” She pointed at the road.
Swinging my gaze back to the road, I realized I’d almost drifted off the pavement. I corrected with a sharp tug to the steering wheel to ensure we didn’t go careening off.
“Remind me to never hire you as a chauffeur,” Armani joked.
I nodded tightly.
“So…the bird?” she continued.
I tried to sound light and breezy, despite the fact I was freaked out. “Even for you that’s an out-there idea.”