“Sure, Rog. Just be quick about it.”
Within seconds Roger and Adolph padded back into the room, the dog’s tail thwacking chair legs and peoples’ legs as he walked by. Pink tongue lolling, he sat down beside Hope and gave each child that came up a quick face-washing.
Carlos’s eyes narrowed as he looked down at the dog. “He’s mighty big for a Lab, isn’t he?”
“Yeah, might have a bit of Great Dane in him or mastiff, but the soul of a Lab. Couldn’t find a better friend if you tried.” Roger tightened the leash as Adolph sidled on over to the cop. He sniffed the man’s pants, nosed up his leg, and planted his nose on the holster on his belt.
“What’s he doing?”
“He doesn’t like guns,” Roger said in a voice that told Hope that he was proud of Adolph.
“Roger, for crying out loud, call off your dog.”
“Adolph.” Roger made a down motion with his hand. The dog looked at him, gazed with slightly slit eyes at Carlos, and backed off, never taking his gaze from the holster.
“He helps us on intake.”
“I can just bet. I didn’t know you were a dog trainer.”
“Just one of those things to help pass the time when I was laid up. Some drink, some gamble or do drugs; I trained a dog.”
The three uniforms clunked down the stairs and made their way back into the room. “Clean.”
Carlos sighed in relief. “That’s all, then.” He turned to leave.
“You might want to apologize to all these good people for taking up their time.” Roger spoke in an offhand manner, but one eye twitched.
“Listen, Rog, you know the drill … ”
Adolph stood with his nose pointing to the men, his tail perfectly still.
Carlos raised his hands and let them fall to his sides. He turned to face the crowd. “Sorry, folks, for the inconvenience. You’ve been patient, and I appreciate that.” He turned back to Roger and raised an eyebrow.
Adolph sat and yawned, mouth wide, showing the black spot on his tongue. Then after a gargantuan belch that made the kids laugh, he lay down with a sigh.
“Next time phone ahead, and we’ll save you the trouble.” Hope knew she should keep her mouth shut, but this burned her. As soon as Carlos walked away, she added, “They could have waited another half an hour. This was out-and-out harassment.”
Roger gave her a thoughtful look. “Yeah, I wonder why.”
Hope grinned at her husband. Once he put his snoop skills to work, all manner of interesting things happened. She locked her arm with his and raised her voice. “Lunch in ten minutes! There’s plenty of food for everyone.”
Before they all left, Hope acted on her idea. She invited Julia and Clarice to join her for coffee Tuesday morning. She was sorry Andy wouldn’t be able to make it, because she sensed the woman could use a friend to talk to.
Tuesday morning, Hope fled to the john before even kissing her husband. Clutching the cold porcelain stool from a kneeling position reminded her to appreciate the days when this didn’t happen.
Roger handed her a wet washcloth. “I thought you would be done with this by now.”
“Me too.” She staggered to her feet. “I never even had time to put the Sea-Bands on.”
“Wear them to bed.” Roger had thought the elastic bands with a knobby button on the inside were like snake oil, but he’d changed his mind when Hope wore them and had felt better.
“You want to go back to bed?”
“Only for a bit.” Hope stumbled back to bed and sat down before digging in the nightstand for the package. “Not here?” She held up the empty plastic container. “You know where they are?”
“Nope, but I’ll look.”
“That should be helpful.” Hope lay back down. Her husband might be one of the best snoops in the city, but he couldn’t find his socks in the dryer. Arm over her eyes, she added, “I have a meeting at ten.”
“I’ll make breakfast.”
She groaned and tried to think what she could throw at him without causing any head movement.
“You feeling all right?” Clarice asked when Hope entered the office some time later.
“Morning sickness. I’ll be all right after I get some fresh air.”
“I set up a coffee tray in the kitchen. Roger said he’d bring rolls from the bakery.”
“Ms. Van Dam, how did we get along before you showed up?” Hope cocked her head. “Edie, mon.”
“That’s good. Right?” At Hope’s nod, she continued, “I’ve been thinking … ”
“Huh-uh, save it for the meeting. Adolph and I are going to walk around the block—or at least up to the corner and back—or perhaps around the garden.”
“Did you try crackers?”
“Not much help. Have you seen my Sea-Bands?”
“Those gray things?” Clarice pulled open the shallow middle drawer of the wooden teacher’s desk. She held up the bands. “Right here.”
“I knew Roger wouldn’t find them.” Hope slipped the bands onto the proper places on her wrists and headed out the side door. Celia, earphones in place and rear wiggling to the beat of the music only she
could hear, was kneeling on the flagstone walk, trowel in hand and a basket beside her.
“Where’s Adolph?” Hope had glanced in his empty run. She tapped Celia’s shoulder.
“Huh, no need to scare me white-headed! Couldn’t you just yell or something?”
“I did the something. Where’s Adolph?”
“Gone with Roger. You think I should put the tulips or the daffodils here?”
“Why not mix them together?”
Celia shrugged and put her earphones back in place.
Hope sucked in a deep breath and blew it out, rising up on the balls of her feet to loosen the ankles. She sure hoped she’d feel better at the end of the week than she did now.
Hope strode to the end of the block, crossed, and continued up the hill. Glancing up toward Coit Tower, she saw a familiar figure turn the corner on Montgomery and start down. “Andy.” Hope called and waved.
“I know I’m early, but.
Hope sucked in a deep breath. She hadn’t taken the hill fast, so why was she dizzy? She staggered over and leaned against the light post.
“Hope, are you all right?”
“I’m not sure. I feel really dizzy.”
“You’re whiter than a sheet.” Andy took her arm and guided her toward the curb. “Sit down and put your head between your knees.” When Hope started to say something, Andy silenced her. “Don’t talk, just relax.”
“Yes, Mother.”
“Sorry, sometimes I can be a bit bossy.”
“Andy, I’m teasing.” Hope eased upright, sucked in a deep breath, and let it out slowly.
“I sure thought I was through with this part of it—you know—the queasy stomach, the lightheadedness.”
“Oh, I see. You’re pregnant. Congratulations. I didn’t know.”
“Thanks.” Hope took the hand Andy offered and let herself be pulled to her feet.
“Are you ready to amble back down to J House?”
“Yes, ambling would be good.” Hope laughed, then waved at a woman climbing the block below J House. “That’s Julia Collins, an attorney from Kansas City. She’s looking for her runaway granddaughter.”
“Oh.” Andy glanced sideways at Hope. “You collect all kinds of strays, don’t you?”
“I collect interesting people, and I have a feeling we four women—” She stopped and looked at Andy. “Hey, I thought you said you had a flight.”
“I did, but I decided to stay in town a little while longer, to get things in order. I spent all day yesterday buying stuff to stock the refrigerator and the cupboards so Martin would have everything he needed.”
They stopped at the wide steps up to the front door. “There’s Roger coming with the pastries. Just in time.”
“I brought some lavender tea, by the way.” Andy held up a zippered plastic bag.
; “But how—?”
“I had my mom overnight it to me.”
Andy kept an eye on Hope as unobtrusively as possible as the four women came together in one corner of the common room. Two wing chairs, one with fraying arms, and a well-loved sofa were pulled into a circle around a low table, inviting them to enjoy the coffee and now a steaming pot of lavender tea.
Roger set the box of pastries in the middle and took two out. “Come on, Adolph, let the ladies get to their meeting.”
Adolph ignored Roger’s command and stood staring up at Andy with eager eyes. She patted him and scratched him behind his ear. “You better go now,” she said, gently shooing him away, when she would have loved for him to stay. She’d only been gone from home a few days, and already she missed Comet and Chai Lai. Fluffy was a great diversion, but they hadn’t bonded yet.
Hope sat forward. “Okay, ladies, we have lots of history to share. “I thought we’d start with my reason for inviting you all.” She looked from one to the other. “I know I made it sound like we were going to meet for coffee and friendship, and that’s really what I intended until God impressed on me that we need each other. Now, all I have to do is find out what He had in mind.”
Andy’s brow furrowed. What was she talking about? She liked Hope, but she didn’t need her, and she certainly didn’t need either of the other woman. She didn’t even know them.
Do you trust Me?
The voice was so loud, Andy wondered if anybody else had heard it. She looked at each of the women. Their eyes were riveted on Hope, who was sipping her tea. Andy crossed her arms, physically and mentally closing down.
“The three of you are new to San Francisco, so you have a common thread. So how about each of us take a few minutes to give a bird’s-eye view of our lives and how we came to be here?” She didn’t wait for an answer. “I’ll start,” she offered, obviously eager to begin. “I was born in Jamaica and born contrary. Dr. Dobson calls children like me strong-willed. I have no idea where my father is, and my mother died of a drug overdose when I was fifteen. I did well as a hooker, but thanks to our heavenly Father, I never got hooked on the hard drugs. Booze and marijuana were bad enough. A young cop got through to me after I’d been badly beaten, and I took his advice in two ways.” She held up two fingers. “I accepted Christ as my Savior, and I got off the streets. Thanks to a wonderful couple who had pity on one of God’s least ones and put up with her mouth, I got my GED, finished college, and Big Dad called me into the ministry. When I came back to the Bay area, I had a new name—Hope—and I married that no-longer-young, badly bent cop. Not too much later, God gave us J House. I was told we’d never have children because of my former lifestyle, but now here I am, pregnant.” A slight shrug raised her shoulders and eyebrows. “Hey, mon, my story, all by the grace of the Man upstairs, Big Dad to me.”
“So that’s where your accent comes from.” Andy made sure her mouth was still smiling. She’d never dreamed by looking at her that Hope had been through so much. What a story. Her admiration for Hope tripled.
Julia popped the last of her cannelloni into her mouth and dusted the powdered sugar off her hands. “I’m next.” She pointed to her mouth. “As soon … ” She wiped her mouth with her napkin. “I came here on a mission—to find my granddaughter, who, it seems, is now on the streets. I, too, was a rebellious teen, pregnant at seventeen, but God saved me from marrying the loser. I kept the baby girl, finished high school, hated menial jobs, and went to college. I am eternally thankful for government assistance and college and law school grants. My daughter was making all the same mistakes I did, so she and I battled. When she started doing drugs, my granddaughter came to live with me part of the time, but as she got older and I insisted on rules, she went back to Minnesota to stay with her mother. When that got to be too much, she split for California. I’m an attorney, currently on leave, who specializes in adoptions and family issues.” She heaved a sigh of relief and sat back.
Andy shrank back in her chair, wishing she could be invisible. This kind of sharing was not her cup of tea. She was a private person, and she didn’t particularly care to know this much about people she had only just met.
“I might as well go next.” Clarice set her coffee cup on the table. “I grew up in Newark, New Jersey, the protected daughter of blue-collar parents, and married my Herbert right out of high school. Herbert was a dreamer, but he also learned how to put feet to his dreams. A hard worker was my Herbert. In spite of all our prayers and novenas, we were never blessed with children, so when Herbert’s tailoring business grew to needing help, I was there. He moved his shop to a bigger place, then went into making shirts, then silk shirts. He hired some women to sew, and pretty soon he was selling shirts in the finest stores: Bloomingdale’s and Saks. Then, just as I had convinced him to retire, without any warning he up and died. I wasn’t at all prepared. I sold everything, banked the money, and moved to Florida to be near my sister. And that’s where I made the biggest mistake any fool woman can do. A good-looking younger man, name of Gregor, convinced me that he loved me.” She grabbed the sides of her hair. “Oh, to think I was so stupid, so gullible,” she said between her teeth. She sniffed and dabbed at her eyes. “He took all of Herbert’s hard-earned money, even made copies of my rings.” She held out her hands. “Good copies, but … ” She sniffed again. “He promised me a new life and said we were moving to San Francisco. He said he had us a place to live, helped me pack, and bought my plane ticket. He was going to wind up his business and meet me at the airport.” She shook her head, as if she could hardly believe her own stupidity. “I got off the plane, and no Gregor. I took a cab to our supposed new home, and no Gregor. Funniest thing, the key he gave me didn’t work. So there I was all alone and in shock. I had less than fifty dollars in my purse, I learned my credit cards were maxed out, and I had no place to go. That’s when I met Angel Annie, who made me flag down a cop, and he brought me here.”
Andy was dumbfounded. How could a man do that to a woman? How could Clarice not have recognized what kind of man she was dealing with? She seemed to be an intelligent woman.
“I’m sure there’s something we can do legally.” Julia’s voice snapped, matching her eyes. “We can’t let him get away with this.”
“Roger is investigating.” Hope handed Clarice a tissue.
Hope nodded to Andy. “Your turn. You can’t hide in that chair any longer.”
“But I have a boring story.”
“Thank God one of us does.” Hope reached for a cannelloni. “Go for it.” She stretched, rolling her shoulders forward and twisting at her waist.
“What’s wrong?” Andy asked.
“I’m just feeling a little tight. I’m probably not getting enough exercise.” Hope turned to Andy and gave her the nod.
Andy wished the chair would swallow her up. She really didn’t want to do this, but if she didn’t, she would look foolish. Maybe even snobbish. If only she had known that this wasn’t going to be just a gab session. “I grew up in Medford, Oregon,” she began. “All through school I was known as one of the ‘good’ girls. I met Martin in college. We both attended Pacific Lutheran. We married shortly after graduation, had our first child within a year, and then had two more. Martin provided everything, allowing me to be a stay-at-home mom. When my mother gave me a lavender sachet, I was so taken by the fragrance that I bought a couple of lavender plants so I could make my own sachets. One thing led to another, and when the children went to college, I started selling some of the sachets. At first it was just to fill my time, and then when I realized that with a little more effort the business’s profits could help support my parents, I worked at making it grow. Everything was going great. Business was booming. Is booming. And then Martin came home and said he wanted me to sell out and move here. He didn’t seem to—” With a start, she realized she was giving away far more information than she’d intended. She threw up her hands in a gesture that said she’d gotten carried away. “That’s really all there is. I
hope I didn’t bore you.”
“Your own business—in lavender, how wonderful.” Clarice inhaled from the cup of tea she’d refilled. “It smells so good. Who would have thought of putting lavender into tea?”
“And scones and salads and … Lavender has many uses,” Andy elaborated.
Julia sat up straight. “Well, if our goal is to help each other, I know where I can get right on it.” She turned to Clarice. “You have to write down all you know about this Gregor jerk.”
“We can find out from Roger what he’s learned, if anything.” Hope ran her tongue over her bottom lip. “I wonder if he fleeced any other women.”
Julia wrapped her hands around one knee. “Sad thing is, too many women are so ashamed that they never tell the police. But let me check with some of my colleagues. We’ll see.”
“What about your granddaughter?” Clarice asked. “What’s her name?”
“Cyndy. Roger has his contacts out looking for her. If something doesn’t break in the next few weeks … ”
Hope reached over and touched her arm. “It will. Have faith.” She switched her gaze to Andy. “What about you, Andy?” Hope shifted in the sofa corner, her hand going to her middle. “What can we do to help you?”
Andy shrugged. “I don’t know that I need any help, unless you want to help me paint my kitchen cabinet doors.” Even as she laughed, she wished she had the nerve to ask them advice on how to handle a jealous and selfish husband. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Hope shift in her chair. She looked very uncomfortable. “Are you all right?”
“I need to get up and move, that’s all.” She stood behind her chair and stretched. “I have plenty I need help with. We need supplies for Julia’s training classes and clothes for the girls who are going out on job interviews. The only way I know how to get the things we need is to solicit small businesses and corporate sponsors.”
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