by Eve Fisher
Kate glanced over the bureau to see what else was there, and she reached for the top drawer, then stopped herself. Yes, Mindy Corson had lost a necklace, Betty Anderson a ring, Ada Blount a rhinestone brooch and a book of poetry, Mabel Trout, a creamer—maybe—but she didn’t know what any of these items looked like, and she certainly didn’t have the right to start rummaging through Amanda’s place like a burglar. The obvious thing to do was to take the scarf to Amanda and ask her about it.
Kate gathered up the bags and the mail from the hall table, put everything in the backseat of her Honda, and drove first to the Bixby house, where she put the perishables in the refrigerator, and then home, where she wrote a note to Paul to let him know where she was. Then she headed to Pine Ridge Road.
When she walked into Amanda’s hospital room, Amanda turned her head and smiled at Kate.
“Kate. How nice to see you.”
“Hello, Amanda. You look like you’re feeling better.” And she did look much better. There was color in Amanda’s cheeks that hadn’t been there the night before, and her hair had been brushed away from her face.
“I am. Just tired. But I ate a nice breakfast and a lovely lunch. Now, what’s in all those bags?”
“Well, I stopped by your house and got your mail and a few things I thought you might like,” Kate said, setting the bags down. “Oh, and I pulled the milk and bread out of the refrigerator.”
“Oh, thank you! I hadn’t even thought of that.”
“You’ve got plenty to think about with getting well. I took all the perishables over to the Bixby house. I hope you don’t mind.”
“Not at all,” Amanda said. “Better than throwing them out.”
“I brought you hand lotion,” Kate said, pulling things out of the bag, “and some lipstick.”
“Oh, praise be,” Amanda said.
“And a bathrobe, for when they get you up and around.”
“Wonderful!” Amanda exclaimed. “The trouble with hospital gowns is that they gape in the back, if you know what I mean.”
“I certainly do,” Kate replied, smiling. But her heart was beating fast as she pulled out the scarf and said, “I also brought you this. It’s a lovely scarf.”
Amanda blushed, and Kate’s heart sank for a moment. “Isn’t it? To tell you the truth, it was a present,” she said shyly. “From a secret admirer.”
“Really?”
Amanda nodded. “I think...To be honest, I think it was from Junius,” she said almost defiantly but looked away from Kate as she spoke. “I didn’t have a chance to ask him, but I found this little package outside my door yesterday when I stepped outside for a breath of air. I brought it in and opened it, and I couldn’t believe it. It was so beautiful! I was going to ask him about it while we were doing the meals, but of course, by the time he showed up, I felt so bad I wasn’t thinking of anything but going to the hospital. Thank God he got me here in time.”
“Amen,” Kate agreed. “So it was from a secret admirer?”
“Yes. I have the note in my handbag. I think it’s in that closet, if you’ll get it out for me.”
Kate got up and opened the closet. There were Amanda’s clothes and shoes and handbag. She brought the handbag over to Amanda, who opened it and looked through it. “Oh, it’s not here. I’ll bet it’s in my bureau drawer at home. The truth is,” she confided, “when Junius came and I needed to go to the hospital, he suggested I not take anything with me but my ID and my insurance card. He said I really didn’t want my wallet and checkbook lying around while I was out of it. And you know, he was right. After all, you never know.” She smiled faintly. “Not a Copper Mill attitude, but I lived long enough in Knoxville to be cautious, and, of course, Junius is from Asheville.”
“I understand,” Kate said. “I always lock up when I leave the house, but I know most people here don’t.”
Amanda nodded. “Old habits die hard.” She had been fingering the scarf the whole time, and now she looked down at it. “It is beautiful, isn’t it? I’ve never received anything so lovely. Except, of course, from Walter. My mother would never allow it. She always said that a lady should never accept anything other than candy and flowers from a gentleman...” She chuckled. “People were much stricter when I was a girl. Of course, I’m an old lady now, so I suppose I can accept a silk scarf.”
“I think so,” Kate agreed. “And you’re sure it’s from Junius?”
“Well, I’m assuming it’s from him,” Amanda said. “I can’t imagine who else could have sent it to me.”
“Maybe Joe?” Kate asked.
“Oh no. Joe would never be that subtle.” Amanda glanced at Kate. “Have you talked with him yet?”
“This morning,” Kate said. “He told me the whole story.”
Amanda nodded. “Good.”
“Yes.” Kate thought for a moment. Should she tell Amanda that the scarf was hers? No, not now. Later, when Amanda’s stronger. “Well, I’d better get going and get some dinner on for Paul.”
“Thank you so much for bringing me all my things,” Amanda said.
“You’re quite welcome. And you let me know if there’s anything else you want. I’ll be up again tomorrow.”
“Oh, you don’t have to do that,” Amanda objected.
“How else are you going to get all your get-well cards?” Kate said. “Oh, and everybody sends you their love and prayers.”
“Thank you. People are so wonderful, aren’t they?”
“Yes, they are,” Kate agreed.
Kate gave Amanda a delicate hug and left. As she walked down the hospital corridor, she thought about what Amanda had said. There was the card, but then she had only Amanda’s word that it came with the scarf. What if she was lying? Kate frowned in confusion as she entered the hospital lobby. As she looked toward the entrance she saw Junius walk in, dressed in a dark blue suit that set off his shining white hair.
“Kate!” he cried cheerfully. “How is she?”
“Much better. She has some color in her face, and her voice is stronger.” Kate looked at him earnestly. “We all know how lucky she was that you found her.”
“Yes, well, I’m just thankful it happened when it did, if it had to happen at all.” Junius studied her for a moment, then he said, “You know, I’ve been wanting to talk to you privately. Would you mind if I bought you a cup of coffee in the cafeteria?”
Kate smiled. “I’d love it. I’ve been wanting to talk to you too.”
“Lucky me.”
Anyone expecting a full-scale cafeteria from the Pine Ridge Hospital would have been sorely disappointed. The hospital was too small. Instead, as people entered the cafeteria, they saw a refrigerated section with prepackaged sandwiches, salads, milk, and juice along one wall, a couple of vending machines with snacks and soft drinks and tall coffee urns against the other, and a steel table down the center that had two entrées in stainless-steel chafing dishes.
Kate and Junius got cups of coffee and went up to the cashier, who put down her magazine to ring up their bill. Junius paid, and they went into the small dining area, which was flooded with light from two walls of windows that looked out on grassy berms. The place was almost empty, except for a nurse who was reading a book at the table nearest the door. Junius pointed to a table in the corner and said, “Let’s sit over there by the windows.”
“Fine.” After they sat down, Kate asked, “What did you want to talk to me about?”
“Oh, ladies first,” Junius said gallantly.
Kate wondered if she detected a faint note of irony.
“Well, I’ve already thanked you for saving Amanda’s life,” she said, stirring creamer into her coffee and thinking furiously. She really wanted to ask about the silk scarf, but she wasn’t sure how to bring it up.
“Saved her life?” Junius seemed slightly surprised. “Well, I suppose I did.” He smiled. “Do you think it will help me in my pursuit of the fair lady?”
Kate chuckled. “Oh, it’s a pursuit, is it?”
“I know she’s been hurt before,” Kate said, taking a sip of her coffee.
“Mmm. I suspected as much.” Junius stared thoughtfully out the window. “That’s a shame. It makes it that much harder...Oh well, faint heart and all the rest.”
“And gifts always help,” Kate said.
Junius raised his eyebrows quizzically.
“The silk scarf?”
He continued looking at her—for a shade too long?
“An anonymous gift from a secret admirer? She seemed to think you gave it to her.”
Junius’ mouth twisted humorously. “Ah romance. Personally I don’t believe in anonymous gifts.” Then he leaned over and said in a low voice, “It’s all too easy for someone else to take the credit.” He picked up his cup and took a sip of coffee and grimaced. “I didn’t send her a scarf.”
Kate was surprised. Who else could have sent it?
“I must have a rival,” he continued, setting the cup down. “That’s not good. On the other hand, I think it’s a good sign that she thought I sent it...” He grinned. “I might be making more progress than I thought.”
“I’m sure you’re making as much progress as anyone could,” Kate said.
“Well, I can hope so.” He pulled a sugar packet from his pocket and poured it into the coffee, stirred, and took another sip. “That’s better.” He looked at Kate from over his cup and added, “I’ve heard that you’re asking questions about my son and Lawson Investments.”
Kate flushed. “I suppose he told you?”
Junius leaned across the table earnestly. “Could you please tell me what’s going on? I’m worried. Matt didn’t tell me much, just that you’d asked him if he’d been talking with Ada Blount about investments. He had the impression that it was somehow slightly...irregular.”
Kate sighed, wondering how to proceed. There was the problem of violating Ada’s confidence, and Emma’s. But she could simply tell Junius what she had told Matt. “Someone, some man, talked to Ada about investments. Promised to double her money for her. I was trying to find out who it was because, well, Ada’s somewhat vulnerable.”
Junius nodded. “I know. Alzheimer’s is a terrible thing. My wife, God rest her soul, was developing it before she died. I suppose some people thought it was a blessing when she got influenza and died.” He shook his head. “I still miss her, but in some ways I’m glad I didn’t have to see her get to the stage where she didn’t know any of us any longer. It was frightening enough as it was.”
“How long has she been gone?” Kate asked.
“About five years,” Junius said. His finger traced the rim of his cup.
“I’m so sorry to hear that.”
“It took me a long time to get over it. But I don’t know if you ever get over something like that.”
“I’m sure you don’t,” Kate said. “All you can do is go on.”
“And that’s what I’ve been doing. Moving here helped,” Junius said. “There were too many memories in Asheville. I’m thankful Matt got the job here too. In more ways than one.” He sighed. “Would you like some more coffee?”
“Yes,” Kate said. “Here, let me get them this time.”
“No, no,” Junius said. “One of the perks of being a gentleman is being able to buy a cup of coffee for a lady.” He reached out a hand, a bittersweet smile on his face, and Kate handed him her cup.
She gazed out at the grass, the willow trees rising beyond them. She was glad that Copper Mill had given Junius a fresh start after such sorrow. And maybe Matt too.
Junius returned with fresh coffee. “Here you are,” he said. “And”—he pulled two creamers out of his pocket—“I know you take these.”
“How observant,” Kate said, pleased.
“Well, they say it’s the little things that count.” He sat down and stirred sugar into his coffee.
Kate poured the creamers into her coffee and stirred. “I’m glad you enjoy living here. Does Matt?”
“Oh heavens, yes. At least as far as I know.” Junius took a deep draught of coffee and sighed. “We haven’t always had a close relationship. After Muriel died, I asked him to come up to Asheville. He was living in Atlanta then. I hoped that we could rebuild our relationship. It had been rocky for a long time.” He looked up at Kate, his eyes anxious. “He’s always been different.”
“I’ve noticed some things,” she said carefully.
“Even as a child, he never...he never had any real emotional connection to me or to Muriel. No, maybe to Muriel. She loved him so much, surely he felt it. But I can’t say I ever saw it. He was always...cold. He froze me right out. Muriel said he loved us, deep down.” The sadness in his voice almost broke Kate’s heart.
“I’m sure he cares,” Kate said.
“I wish I could be. You don’t know what it was like. Oh, we tried. We did everything we could, but it just wasn’t there.” He hunched over his cup for a moment before looking up.
“You know,” Kate said quietly, cradling her coffee cup in her hands, “I was wondering if maybe Matt has a form of autism.”
“Autism?” Junius looked at her. “Isn’t that where they can’t even speak?”
“Oh no, there are mild forms of it too.”
“I don’t know. We never heard of autism when he was a boy. I don’t know what his problem is, but I do know what it’s cost me. And it’s a sight more than affection, though that’s the hardest part, of course.”
He fell silent as a group of nurse’s aides surged into the room, laughing and talking. Kate and Junius drank their coffee as the aides joked with the cashier. Luckily, they were all passing through, their drinks to go, and the dining room was soon silent again. The nurse in the corner looked at her watch, closed her book, and followed them out of the room.
Junius continued, “I don’t know what it is. I just know that the one thing he loves is money. He was always good at mathematics in school. He’s a whiz at finances, but by God, he doesn’t understand right from wrong. If he can make money, he will, no matter what it takes.” He groaned. “I can’t believe I’m saying this about my own son.”
Kate patted his hand. “I’m so sorry.”
“Not half as sorry as I am. If you knew all the trouble we went through when he was young.” Junius’ mouth twisted bitterly. “Back when he was in grade school, we got called in because he’d been caught stealing money from the other children. Muriel nearly had a heart attack. She tried to make him see what he’d done wrong, but you could tell he never understood it. I gave him a good whipping, hoping that that might knock some sense into him. But in high school he got in trouble for betting on the homecoming game. When all the stuff came out around that, I found out he’d been gambling for a long time.”
“Gambling?” Kate asked, surprised.
“He’s an addictive gambler,” Junius said flatly. “It’s all part of that money thing. He gambled away almost everything he had down in Atlanta. I think...”—he winced, then continued—“I think there was some problem with the firm’s money as well. I don’t know. But by then Muriel was developing Alzheimer’s and didn’t understand all that was going on, thank God.
“After she died, I took him on in Asheville. I had a small investment firm that I’d built up over the years. Very small, just a few clients, people I’d worked with for years. I thought I could keep an eye on him. But...”—Junius looked at Kate with unmistakable pain in his eyes—“there was a...a discrepancy with the accounts. I managed to put it right and keep Matt out of jail.”
“I’m so sorry,” Kate repeated, her mind whirling. “I’d heard that something had happened.”
“Yes, well, I haven’t told anybody what I’ve just told you. Most pe
ople just know that we went under. I didn’t tell them why.”
“I can understand,” she assured him. “You wanted to protect Matt.”
“Yes. I was so happy when Matt got this job here in Copper Mill. Especially since I could come here with him. I wanted us to be a real family, a real father and son. I even thought we could maybe share an apartment.” Junius shrugged and took another sip of coffee. “Oh, I know that a young man wants to live on his own, but I really didn’t think I would have been in the way, and I hoped I might be able to keep him on the straight and narrow.” He looked down at his coffee cup, then directly into Kate’s eyes. “Do you think Matt’s stolen money from Ada?”
“I...I don’t know,” she said earnestly. “I honestly don’t know, Junius, but I hope not.”
Junius nodded. “So do I. But if he has, is there any way...Is there any way we can keep it quiet? If I could convince him to pay it all back? I mean, if nothing else, I can find the money, if necessary.”
“Junius—”
Junius put his hands over Kate’s. “I just want you to know that I would do anything, anything, to help my boy.”
“I’m sure you would.”
“Just please remember that.”
Kate nodded and set her empty cup on the table.
“Well,”—Junius sighed and withdrew his hand from hers—“I’d better go see Amanda. Please, remember what I said.”
“I will,” Kate promised.
She watched as Junius got up and threaded his way between the tables and out of the cafeteria.
Chapter Twelve
After a hectic weekend, the normal lot for pastoral families, Kate was looking forward to a quiet Monday morning with Paul. But he left early, saying he had to go out but giving her no idea where he was going. The nagging thought about the Dew Drop Inn stayed with her as she made herself a steaming cup of coffee, sat down in her rocking chair, and opened up the library book on autism. She’d meant to read some of it earlier, but she just hadn’t had time. Now she looked up Asperger’s syndrome in the index and read the characteristics carefully.