Something to Talk About

by Melanie Woods Schuster

  “Allie, that’s one of the advantages of belonging to a large family. There’s so many people around no one’s sure if you’re there or not. We won’t be missed, trust me. And there’s no place I want to be more than right here with you. If it’s a choice between a long weekend with the woman I love and a horde of screaming Cochrans, what do you think I’m going to choose? Besides, Benita and Clay will be here for a week. We’ll have plenty of time to see her and those BLKs. We’ll have a party at the loft later in the week and have everyone over. That should make up for my absence. If anyone notices I’m gone, that is.”

  Alicia was satisfied, although she had a question. “What are BLKs?”

  “Bad Little Kids, that’s what. I love ’em to death, but those twins are a mess. So don’t worry about this weekend, let’s just concentrate on each other, okay?”

  She smiled. “It sounds like a perfect plan.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Martha Davis Cochran looked at her husband with worry in her eyes. She was always concerned about his health, especially his blood pressure. Andrew Bernard Cochran Sr. was in good health but he had a volatile temperament that could leap out of control at a moment’s notice. He was already uneasy about what he was about to do, and Martha didn’t like the effect it was having on his blood pressure.

  “Ben, honey, are you sure you want to do it this way? Maybe there’s another way it could be handled,” she said in a soft voice.

  They were sitting in the sunny breakfast room off the kitchen of their former home. Big Benny had an announcement to make and he wanted all his children present when he did. He was already irritated that Adam, his next-to-youngest child, wasn’t present, but he was determined to get it over with. The cookout wasn’t until Monday, but everyone was having brunch together on this Saturday morning and he wanted to get it over with before the weekend really got under way. He looked at his lovely wife and patted her hand in reassurance.

  “Martha, it needs to be said and be done. I’ve waited long enough to handle my business and it’s not like I have a whole lot of time left to get my affairs in order. I can’t think of a better way to do it and that’s a fact I just figured it was better to have everyone in one room and tell them all at once. The only reason I told Donnie’s wife anything was that I needed a way to get the ball rolling, so to speak. And she was a good person to confide in. She only told her husband, and that’s what I wanted her to do, anyway.” He looked over at Martha and smiled. “Not sorry you married me, are you?”

  Martha took his hand in a tight grip. “Absolutely not and don’t you ever ask me that again. You know how much I love you, Ben. Marrying you was the best decision I’ve ever made. The past five years have been the joy of my life. As for your announcement, it was something that happened a long time ago and it doesn’t affect how you feel about any of them, so they will understand. This could be a wonderful thing, in fact, for everyone concerned.”

  Big Benny squeezed her hand in return. “I just hope you’re right, because it’s going to happen whether they like it or not. But I could wring Adam’s neck, I really could. Of all the weekends for him to go wandering off, he had to pick this one. Well, it’s just too bad; I’m getting this over with today.”

  ***

  “Adam, that lady is following us. I swear she is,” Alicia whispered. They were sitting in Jones’s Ice Cream Parlor in downtown Baldwin eating the best ice cream she’d ever tasted when she noticed the older woman. Adam glanced in the woman’s direction and raised an eyebrow at Alicia.

  “Baby, why on earth would someone be following us? Unless she mistook us for someone else.”

  “Oh, I’m just kidding, you know that. But I’ve seen her at least three of the places we’ve been today, and we’ve been a lot of places,” she said. “I saw her at the grocery store, I saw her when we went to Patti’s Drugstore, and I swear she was at Road Runners, too.”

  Alicia had been totally taken with the venerable store that had served several generations of Idlewilders. The selection of goods available was amazing in the small store, everything from beverages to imported African clothing and hair-care products. Alicia pulled down the brim of her new Negro League baseball cap, bought at Road Runners, and clicked her tongue as she went back to eating the divine ice cream and looking at some of the pamphlets she’d picked up at the chamber of commerce. It had been a long and wonderful day. She was surprised at all the changes that the spring weather had made in Idlewild. The trees were in full leaf and wild-flowers were blooming and she could see the true beauty of Lake County all around her.

  “Adam, it’s so beautiful here,” she marveled. “All these trees, all the lakes, it’s so fresh and peaceful. I’ve never seen anything quite like it.”

  They had driven slowly through Idlewild, looking at the houses and cottages that dotted the heavily wooded resort town. The thing that amazed her most were the houses that encircled the lakes. You could be driving down a path that looked like it led to nowhere and suddenly there you were in a lane with a row of houses. The backs of the houses looked like normal, everyday cottages with an occasional two-story thrown in here and there. But the fronts of the houses faced the lake and there was usually a long set of steps that led down to a pier that extended out into the lake, a lake that was clear and inviting and serene.

  ‘There’s a lot more water this year than in years past,” Adam informed her. “I heard a couple of men talking about it this morning when we were having breakfast.”

  After checking into the Pier Marquette Lodge the day before, they had gone to the site where the house was going to be built and Alicia was thrilled to see that the ground had been cleared for construction. Adam had designed a beautiful home, a two-story frame house with a stone foundation and fireplaces and a huge veranda that spanned the entire back of the house with a deep roof to take advantage of the fantastic Lake County summers. There was also a front porch big enough for summer entertaining. He was having three cottages built for guests, since the Cochran family was big and the growth showed no signs of flagging.

  “I think we’ll be spending a lot of time up here, even in the winter,” he said carelessly as they walked around the site, imagining what it would look like when it was completed.

  Alicia got a special thrill when she heard him say those words. It seemed as though he was planning their future together. Not wanting to spoil the moment, she just smiled and marveled at the wonderful view of the lake from the property.

  After their long walk around the lake, they decided to have dinner out and get groceries the next day. Neither one of them felt like cooking anything, both too eager to enjoy their private getaway. They’d had dinner in Baldwin and driven back to the motel holding hands in anticipation of the passion they knew would explode in a very short time. And like the times before, their love-making was intense and intimate, increasing their closeness and affection for each other. Now, as she was spooning the last bit of homemade black cherry ice cream out of the dish, she met Adam’s sultry gaze across the table. The heat that he could generate in one glance was enough to melt the old-fashioned ice cream parlor chair in which she was sitting.

  “Stop that,” she murmured, lowering her lashes. “Stop what? Looking at you like I wish you were that ice cream so I could lick you all over?”

  Alicia’s eyes widened, and then crinkled at the corners in a smile. “You shouldn’t be saying things like that to me in a public place. What would someone think if they overheard you?”

  “They’d think the same thing I think, that we’re very lucky to have found each other,” he said with a devastating smile.

  He held out his big hand and she laid her small one on top of it, resting it in a gesture of love and trust. She looked into his eyes and felt her heart melt at his expression, so tender and adoring.

  “Adam, why didn’t you say something before? Why didn’t you put me out of my misery? You must have known I had feelings for you.” She sighed.

  Adam brought her finge
rs to his mouth and kissed the palm, then licked the tip of her little finger, sending a thrill up her arm that radiated all over her body. “Because, my sweet Allie, I made you a promise. I couldn’t go back on my word, could I?”

  “Yes, you could,” she said instantly. “Mmm-mmm-mmm, if this is the result, you could’ve broken your word the next day, buddy.”

  Adam smiled back at her. She was teasing him and he loved it because it meant she was completely comfortable with him.

  “Yes, but if I’d gone back on my word the next day we might not be here now,” he reminded her. “We were young and impulsive then. Now we have years of friendship and trust between us. We know each other, we respect each other, and we’re ready to be in love with each other.” He paused, loving the beautiful smile she was giving him. Her smile was so warm it lit him up from the inside, but it didn’t prevent him from asking a question of his own.

  “So why didn’t you say anything to me? You had to know how I felt about you, Allie.”

  She sighed deeply and laced her fingers through his, admiring the way her much smaller hand looked entwined with his.

  “I made a promise, too, Adam. And, like you, I consider that to be sacred, I couldn’t just ignore it. And besides,” she added, so low that he had to lean in close to hear it, “I was so crazy about you I couldn’t stand the thought of losing you. I didn’t want to risk chasing you away by coming on to you, so I made myself believe we could be friends forever. I took all those feelings and put them in a box in my head with a big padlock on it. And then I put it behind a door marked ‘do not open—ever."’

  Adam rose from the small table and pulled her up with him. They gathered their belongings and headed out into the afternoon sunlight. He draped his arm over her shoulders and pulled her closer to him while he smiled down at her beloved face.

  “So what made you change your mind? What made you decide we should be together?” he asked as he kissed her cheek.

  “Because I couldn’t stand not having you anymore,” she said honestly. “I just wanted to be with you so much I would have risked anything to make it happen.”

  Adam’s throat constricted with emotion and he was about to drag her back to the cabin for a demonstration of how much her words had affected him when a sharp tap on his arm interrupted him.

  “Excuse me, young man, but what is your name?”

  An older woman put the question to him. She was dignified and attractive in appearance and obviously determined to get a response. It was impossible to determine her age. She could have been anywhere from fifty to eighty years old. Her medium brown skin was unlined, although her short, nicely styled hair was white. Her posture was erect and she was a tall, handsome woman, almost as tall as Alicia with the same kind of athletic grace about her. Adam tried not to let his surprise show as he graciously answered, “I’m Adam Brantley Cochran, ma’am.”

  To his utter shock the woman turned pale and covered her mouth. She rallied at once and said, “You come with me, right now. My car is across the street. You just follow me, please.”

  Adam and Alicia looked at each other for a few seconds before doing exactly what the woman said. It wasn’t until they were under way in the Range Rover that Alicia reminded him of her earlier remark. “I told you she was following us.”

  He conceded she was right, but asked rhetorically, “Yes, but where is she leading us?”

  * * *

  Adam’s question was answered in a very short time. The woman led them into Idlewild, through a densely wooded area, turning into a neat lane with a cluster of small houses on either side of the road. She deftly steered her car into the driveway of a small robin’s-egg-blue cottage with bright blue trim. There were flowering shrubs and a neat border of flowers all the way around the house. The woman led them up the stairs to a glassed-in front porch that was rather like a sun parlor with two comfortable-looking settees, well-tended green plants, and magazines displayed on a small table. Stepping over the frantically barking schnauzer who accosted them in the doorway, she ushered them into a cozy parlor and instructed them to sit. She turned on the anxious dog, who was sizing Adam up as if to decide which limb to take a bite out of first.

  “Dusty, you little ring-tailed baboon, sit down and at least pretend to be civilized,” she said sternly as she left the room.

  The dog sighed deeply and hung his head for a second, then seemed to brighten up as he realized he had company. Adopting a winsome grin, he trotted over to Alicia and sat down with his paw out to shake. Alicia laughed and shook his paw before taking a seat as she was bid, although Adam continued to stand. The room was utterly lovely and homey, warm and sweet with the fresh, earthy smell scent of houseplants and potpourri.

  There were two side-by-side wing chairs separated by a lovely mahogany table with an antique lamp on its shining surface, a large television, a plump sofa with inviting pillows, and a beautiful wooden bench with ornate scrolling and Florentine-finished leather padding on the back and seat. Two tall bookcases flanked the large window and were filled with family pictures, shelf after shelf of memories. Adam and Alicia could hear the woman’s voice as she left the room, calling to an unseen person.

  “Mother, Geneva was right Come here, Mother, I want you to meet someone,” she said, her voice shaking with emotion.

  Alicia stared at Adam, who was looking around the charmingly decorated room with an unreadable expression on his face. She was about to say something to him when the woman returned, accompanied by the unmistakable scrape-roll, scrape-roll of a walker. The woman stopped dramatically in the wide doorway of the living room and gestured to the smaller woman at her side. “Adam Brantley Cochran, this is your great-great-aunt Emmaline, your grandmother’s sister. And I’m your great-aunt Reba,” she added. “Welcome home.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Adam couldn’t have been more surprised if he’d been told that the elderly woman was the Dalai Lama. He tried to cover his shock as Aunt Emmaline scrape-rolled across the carpet to stand in front of him. The look on her face was so naked with elation it was hard for him to react, but she made it unnecessary. Clasping her small wrinkled hands together, she stared up at him as though she’d been awaiting his arrival for years.

  “Well, bless my soul,” she breathed. “You look just like your daddy did when he was a young man. I thought I’d never see any of my family again and here you are.” She sniffed and wiped away a tear, then turned to Reba. “Let him sit down, Reba, him and his wife. My goodness, they must think we have no manners at all,” she fussed.

  Reba quickly got Aunt Emmaline situated in one of the wing chairs, and Alicia moved to the couch with Adam preparing to follow her.

  “Oh, please, sit over here.” Aunt Emmaline indicated the other wing chair. “I want to take a good long look at you, son. It’s been so long I thought I would make my transition before I ever saw Andrew or his family and here you are!” The joy in her voice was evident and Adam had no choice but to take the seat she indicated.

  Reba sat on the sofa and gave Alicia a comforting look that said she understood their confusion.

  “I think an explanation is in order,” was her understatement. “My sister-in-law Francine was Andrew’s mother. Andrew left here years and years ago after a terrible disagreement and he hasn’t been back since. There were three girls and one boy in our family. My brother, Calvin Cochran, married Francine Brantley and had Andrew Bernard. There was another child who died in childhood and so it was as if Andrew was an only child. Francine doted on him so it was a wonder he could breathe,” she said ruefully.

  “Anyway, when Andrew came of age, something happened to drive a wedge between him and the family and I’m sorry to say it made him leave town, never to return. He came back only once during all this time. We always heard he had family somewhere in Detroit, but we never knew how to contact them and never knew if we should, frankly. A few weeks ago Geneva Williams, a busybody if ever one lived, told us that she’d sold some lake property to a young ma
n named Cochran, but we thought it was a coincidence. There wasn’t any real resemblance, Geneva said, the man had a long ponytail or some such and we knew he couldn’t be Andrew’s child.”

  She paused and took another long look at Adam, who was staring at his aunt Emmaline in shock. “But when I saw you in the grocery store today, I knew it had to be you. You look so much like your father it’s amazing. There was no way you could be anything but a Cochran, the son of my only brother’s only child.”

  She stood up and went to the bookshelf nearest her and took a photograph from the middle shelf, handing it first to Alicia, who gasped aloud. It was Big Benny, taken years and years before, and from the tilt of his head to the rakish grin on his face, the young man in the picture was the very spirit and image of Adam.

  “Oh, my goodness. You really do look just like Big Benny,” Alicia said as she stared at the picture, then at Adam.

  “Like who, dear?” asked Reba

  Adam finally found his voice. “My father, Big Benny Cochran,” he replied. “No one ever calls him Andrew, he’s known as Benny Cochran. In fact, my sister Benita is also called Bennie as a nickname.”

  Emmaline smiled happily and reached for Adam’s hand, which he extended over the small lamp table. “How many children does he have, dear?”

  Adam rubbed his thumb against the delicate warmth of the older woman’s hand. “There are six of us, Aunt Emmaline. Benita and Andrew are the oldest, they’re twins, just like Alan and Andre, who come next. Then there’s the youngest, my brother Adonis, and me,” he told her. He almost hated to impart the information since it was painfully obvious that until this day he had no idea his father had any relatives. Emmaline was delighted with the news, however.

  “Six children? My goodness, he made up for being an only child, didn’t he? Any grandchildren?” she asked hopefully.