by Curry, Edna
“No,” Laurie said. “The previous check stub clearly states the days it included.”
Geri flushed to the dark roots of her silver-blond hair as she met Laurie's determined stare.
Neither Laurie or Jass said anything, they just patiently waited for her to explain the obvious discrepancy.
Geri cleared her throat, then opened a drawer and took out a ledger. After comparing the ledger with the calendar, she said, “I’m just a small agency, here, Mr. and Mrs. Markham. I’m very busy and try to do too much myself, so sometimes mistakes happen.”
“I understand,” Laurie said smoothly, doing her best not to smile. I understand you know you’ve been caught out.
“I’ll have my secretary draw up a new check for the correct amount immediately.” She pressed a button on the intercom and gave her secretary the order with the correct amount, then wrote ‘void’ across the original check and put it in her drawer with the ledger. She closed the drawer with a sharp slap, and handed Laurie’s calendar back to LaRae.
“Thank you. I’m sure Laurie would be pleased.” Laurie rose and held out her hand, allowing her lips to smile.
Geri smiled, too. “If you ever change your mind about modeling, come and see me.”
When pigs fly. “Thank you. By the way, did my sister leave anything here?”
“Why, yes, I believe she did leave some personal clothes and pictures. My secretary will find those for you as well. Goodbye.” They shook hands in farewell.
Jass put his arm around his wife as they walked back to the outer office. The very flustered secretary handed her the new check, then led them down the hall to find Laurie’s things.
Laurie felt an odd sense of de-ja-vu as she stepped inside the small, crowded room. A brown sofa sat along a wall opposite a table with lots of drawers and a well-lit mirror. Make-up littered the dressing table.
The secretary said, “Annette has this room now, but Laurie’s things should still be here somewhere. We put them in a box, but had no idea where to send them.” She rummaged around in the closet, and pulled out a cardboard box with Laurie’s name on it and handed it to Jass. “Here it is.”
As they walked back out to their car, Jass said, “You handled Geri beautifully, LaRae.”
She grinned. “Thanks for letting me deal with her on my own. I was afraid you’d try to take over.”
“You were doing fine without me.”
The grin burst into a giggle. “Wasn’t that a hoot, to see the perfectly-groomed woman blush?”
“Laurie would have been proud of you.”
“Do you think so?”
Jass nodded and pulled out into traffic. He dropped Laurie at the apartment and went to see the dealer about selling Laurie’s car.
Feeling exhausted, Laurie lay down for a nap.
When she awoke, Jass still hadn’t returned. A few minutes later, Mary, her night nurse at the hospital arrived. They shared coffee and chatted and Mary bought some of Laurie’s furniture.
Jass returned shortly after Mary left and she told him happily, “Mary was here. She said she’d be moving right in and bought some of the furniture, too.”
Jass looked at her warily. “Get a decent price?”
She made a wry face. Not a tenth of what I paid for it, Jass. But she couldn’t say that. LaRae wouldn’t know that. “Probably not. But I thought not having to go through the hassle of hunting for someone else to buy it was worth something, too. Mary said she’d have Goodwill come to pick up what she doesn’t want.”
“That’s good.”
“So we just have to arrange to ship the boxes of stuff we want to keep back to Minnesota.” Yikes, she should have said ‘home.’ Would he notice?
She sighed in relief when he didn’t seem to.
They spent the next day sorting and packing the few things they planned to keep from the apartment. Laurie packed her suitcases to take on the plane, and they shipped the rest by UPS.
LaRae felt a strange sense of loss as they left the apartment for the last time.
“Feeling sad?” Jass asked.
“I’m just being nostalgic,” she said, giving a little shrug. She couldn’t tell him that she was panicking at closing off her life here and burning her bridges as Laurie, so to speak. She’d felt tempted to tell him the truth more than once, but couldn’t.
She still felt confused about whether or not she’d really seen and talked to Emy. But Emy’s reminders seemed real enough, and she couldn’t take the chance that it had all been a hallucination. Not when Susie’s safety was at stake.
She was glad to be flying back. Maybe after things settled down a bit, she’d start feeling more at home in Canton.
Chapter 9
One morning a few days later, after Jass and Susie had left for work and school, the UPS man brought the things they’d shipped from Laurie’s apartment in California.
George carried them into LaRae’s bedroom for her and Agnes helped her with the unpacking. Their handyman still gave Laurie the creeps, but with her arm in a cast, she had little choice but to accept help.
“Could you bring the table in from the family room and set it up in this corner, George?”
“Sure thing, Ma’am.” In a few moments, he was back and placed it where Laurie indicated.
She struggled to open a box, and he did it for her, putting the computer, monitor and printer on the table for her.
She thanked him, but breathed a sigh of relief when he left, taking the empty boxes with him, saying he’d make good use of them to store things in the garage.
Laurie unpacked the power strip and keyboard, then bent to plug everything in.
“A computer!” Agnes exclaimed, sending her a puzzled look. “Are you going to learn how to use one? You never went near the one in Jass’s den.”
Oh, oh. Agnes thought LaRae couldn’t use a computer, too? “That one belongs to Jass, Agnes. I don’t want to mess up any of his business files. This was Laurie’s, and now it’s mine, so I don’t have to worry about that. I learned years ago, in college,” she hedged, hoping LaRae had never denied that.
“You did?”
“Yes. I think it’s high time I made some use of that knowledge.” She wasn’t going to let Agnes’ opinions keep her from her computer. She was itching to get her fingers on the keyboard, even if she had to type one-handed for now until her cast came off.
“Humph,” Agnes said. “Well, I suppose Jass wouldn’t mind teaching you some stuff. He certainly offered to do it enough times. What made you change your mind?”
“Jass showed me how to use some fun software, you know, games and stuff on this one in California. I enjoyed it and played around with it a bit while we were out there.” That, at least, was no lie. She’d done a bit of stuff on her computer while Jass was out.
The phone rang, and Agnes said no more. It was Aunt Martha, wanting her to come over for lunch. “I’d love to, but Jass doesn’t want me to drive,” Laurie said.
“I’ve asked George to drive you over.”
Laurie swallowed. She didn’t like the idea of riding with the handyman, but she could hardly disappoint dear old Martha. Nor could she tell her about her silly nightmares. “All right. I’ll be ready.”
She explained to Agnes, looking at the jumble of suitcases and boxes scattered about. “I’ll unpack the rest when I get back.”
“Nonsense. I can take care of most of it, hanging up the clothes and stuff.”
At lunch, Martha chatted constantly, and Laurie had to ask only an occasional question to keep her talking. Thus, she filled in some of the details of LaRae’s life in Canton for her.
“Are you still playing that bridge game on Wednesday nights? I don’t understand that game. Guess I’m too old to learn complicated stuff like that,” she said with a long sigh. “But I suppose you enjoy talking to the other women, too.”
Yikes! LaRae liked bridge? Laurie had never learned to play that game. Would she have to learn? Or could she find a way out of it? She nodde
d, trying not to show her dismay and changed the subject.
Later, Martha wanted to talk about the past. “I remember the first time you brought Jass home and introduced him to our family as your future husband, LaRae,“ she said, nodding her white head. “It was Thanksgiving Day and your mom had fixed a turkey and all the trimmings, like always. You and him popped in just before we were ready to eat. Your mom got up and set more places, ’cause she’d given up on you coming.” She grinned at Laurie. “We all thought you’d chickened out on telling your pa about him.”
“Oh,” Laurie said, not knowing what to say to that.
“I could tell that Laurie liked him, too, the minute she saw him. Her eyes hardly left the man most of the time. But of course, you knew that, eh?”
She smiled. “Yes, Aunt Martha, I remember.” Laurie bit her tongue to keep from asking how had Martha known that? I didn’t know I’d been that transparent. Had anyone else guessed? If they had, they’d probably felt sorry for her. And she hated having people feeling sorry for her.
“From the time you were little, your parents wanted you girls to be different instead of alike. They wouldn’t dress you alike or buy the same toys for you like most parents do with twins.”
“We dressed a lot alike later, though. We even bought the same brands without knowing what the other had bought.”
“That’s true. You two had minds of your own and did as you pleased when you got older. I never liked that idea of putting you in separate schools.”
“Yes.” Laurie sighed. “We hated being apart. They thought it would be better if we didn’t grow up depending on each other.”
Martha got up and brought out a plate of homemade cookies. “These will have to do for dessert.”
Laurie reached for a gingersnap cookie. “They’re delicious as usual, Martha. Yes, we each had our own friends. They said we should each develop our own interests.”
“And you did each go your separate way without the other.”
“Well, that was during school. But we were home together on weekends.” She winked at Martha.
Aunt Martha chuckled. “You always seemed to enjoy doing the opposite of what your parents wanted. Many’s the tale I heard about you two purposely confusing people by dressing alike and pretending to be each other.” She poured them more tea. “Have some more tea, LaRae. Yes, I heard from your mom about some of the phone calls you girls got from teed off dates.”
Laurie grinned, remembering confused young men. “They weren’t too happy about that.”
Aunt Martha shook her head. “’Course, it all changed after you brought Jass home. In your senior year of college, wasn’t it?”
“Yes, Martha. It was.” She bit her lip, wishing she could confide in her. She hated fooling her dear old Aunt Martha. What would Martha say if she knew Laurie was falling in love with Jass? She’d probably laugh, and say, ‘you two always did have the same tastes.’ But this was no laughing matter. Susie’s safety and both her and Jass’ future happiness was at stake this time. She didn’t dare blow it.
***
Later that afternoon, Susie wanted to take her nap in her mother's room. Laurie paused in the doorway of her bedroom. Agnes had made order, but there were still boxes of books to be shelved and papers to be filed.
After Laurie read the little girl a story, Susie almost immediately fell asleep.
Laurie decided not to chance waking her by unpacking. Instead, she turned on the computer to make sure it had survived the move without damage. All seemed to be well, and soon she was engrossed in a game of solitaire. She jumped when Susie spoke behind her.
“What’re you doing, Mommy?”
“Oh, you’re awake. I’m just playing a card game.”
“Where’d the computer come from?”
“The UPS man brought it, today. It was Aunt Laurie’s, Sweetheart. Daddy and I had it sent here from California.”
“Didn’t she want it anymore?”
Laurie caught her breath. Susie was only five. Did she really understand death? She put her free arm around the little girl and pulled her onto her lap. “Aunt Laurie died, Sweetheart. Remember when we went to her funeral and then visited her grave on the way to Aunt Martha’s house?”
Susie’s blue eyes regarded her solemnly. “By my Grampa and Gramma Johnson?”
“Yes, that’s right.” Laurie’s heart contracted. She should be telling Susie the truth. True, she was only a little girl, but she had a right to know that it was her own mother lying in that cold ground, not her Aunt Laurie. She bit back tears.
“Are you sad, Mommy?”
She closed her eyes and nodded.
“Me, too. I wish she hadn’t a died.”
Laurie hugged her tightly. Susie allowed this for a moment, then squirmed and asked, “So we got her things ’cause she doesn’t need ’em anymore?”
Laurie nodded, her throat tight.
“Can I play? Daddy sometimes lets me play games on his computer.”
“He does?” Laurie looked doubtfully at her. Could a five-year-old really use a computer? Well, it couldn’t hurt to let her try.
“Sure. Go ahead.” She gave up her chair and pulled up another chair beside her so she could watch the little girl.
She thought it was cute the way Susie stuck out her tongue a bit as she concentrated on the colorful card game. Susie seemed to have no problem using the mouse and evidently knew her numbers and the card sequence quite well. It was easy to see that she’d been allowed to do this before.
Susie soon tired of the game. She seemed pleased when Diane arrived and came to find her, saying it was time to take Trixie for a walk outdoors. She and the nanny disappeared down the hall.
Laurie listened to their happy chatter with a heavy heart. How long would it be before she felt that comfortable with Susie? What would Susie say if she knew she was really Laurie and not her mother? Would Susie hate her then? And if she did find out, would she ever forgive her and accept her as her step-mother?
Stepmother? What was she thinking? When Jass found out he would probably throw her out. Would he even ban her from seeing Susie as her aunt? She had no idea how he might react. Why had she been so dumb as to do this?
She’d believed LaRae when she said Jass was making her unhappy. Now she could see Jass’ side of the story as well, and sympathized with him. Worse, she’d fallen in love with him.
Laurie turned back to her keyboard. She wouldn’t worry about it now. She’d cross that bridge when she came to it.
She found it frustrating to type one handed, and awkward using her mouse left-handed. Damn this stupid cast, she thought. It’s got to come off soon. But the thank you notes had to get done. It was easier to try to do one explanation and apology on the computer and then personalize each one, than to try to hand-write them left handed. So she brought up her letter template and began writing.
“LaRae? Where are you?”
“In my bedroom, Jass.” She stretched her tired muscles, and glanced at her watch, amazed to realize that it was after six o’clock.
“I brought the pizza.” Jass said behind her. He came into her bedroom and stopped short. “What the—? When did you learn to use the computer, LaRae?” He came closer and stared at the screen over her shoulder.
Too late, Laurie remembered that in California, Jass had said LaRae hadn’t used one. Another goof. And she remembered Agnes’ surprise, and her comment that maybe now LaRae would let Jass teach her how to use one.
“It’s Laurie’s.” She tried to sound nonchalant. “The UPS man brought it today, and George and Agnes helped me set it up.”
His dark brow dipped in a puzzled frown. “Yes, but you always said you didn’t know how to use a computer.”
“Nonsense, Jass. I told you, I used one in college.”
“You did? But you said you couldn’t—”
Refusing to look at him, she improvised, “I guess it was more like I didn’t want to. You’re so smart at using them, I was afraid I’d mess som
ething up on your computer.”
“Oh.”
She shrugged. “So, now that I have my own, I changed my mind. That’s a woman’s privilege, you know.”
“Of course.” He sounded doubtful. “So what are you typing?”
“Thank you letters for the funeral flowers and memorials. I decided it would be easier to type one-handed than to write left-handed.”
“I see. So, you’re using Laurie’s word-processing program?”
“Yes. And her letter template,” she said, hoping she didn’t sound too knowledgeable. “Laurie showed me some stuff in California. Okay?”
Her heart pounded and she dared to look at him. His lean jaw was set; the look on his face puzzled and angry. Well, tough cookies if it isn’t okay with him. I’m not giving up my computer.
“Sure, Honey, whatever you want.” His frown disappeared and his lips twisted in a wry smile. “But don’t you think it would be better to change the heading? It might come as a bit of a shock to them if they get a letter from Laurie after attending her funeral.”
She gasped and turned back to stare at the screen. He was right. She hadn’t changed the return address to LaRae Markham, or the address from San Francisco to Canton, MN. Swallowing, she managed a light laugh. “I guess that would be a good idea.” She began to type the change.
Jass took her arm and urged her on her feet. “Do it after we eat. Come on, the pizza’s getting cold.”
Over canned peaches for desert, he offered, “I could give you some tips on the computer, if you like.”