Lowcountry Stranger

by Ashley Farley

  “Let what happen, Uncle Mack?”

  “Don’t let your stubborn notions get in the way of your happiness. I know you, girl. You’re as bullheaded as your father. And not unlike me. You can talk yourself into believing the ocean is red when you know damn well it’s blue. You and Eli belong together. Don’t let your misguided conscience convince you otherwise.”

  “How did you know we were having problems? Did Eli tell you?”

  “He didn’t have to. When you get to be my age, Sam, you see things most people don’t see. I’ve been catching fish nearly all of my life. Eli has cast his line. And while my gut tells me he’s prepared to wait awhile for you to take the bait, I’m not sure that’s a risk you should take.” Mack stared over at the monitor, beating a perfect rhythm of his heart as the blood pumped through his newly bypassed arteries. “I’ve just had a hell of a reminder of how precious our time is on earth.”

  Twenty-Three

  Faith

  After Moses’s abrupt departure for Charleston, Eli and Jamie had taken off together, and left Annie and Faith to close up the market.

  “Hop in, Annie. I’ll give you a ride home.” Aiming her key at the car, Faith clicked the doors unlocked.

  Annie hesitated. “Thanks, but I think I’ll walk.”

  “And I think that’s a really bad idea. There is a lot of traffic on the road this time of day.” Faith opened the front door for her.

  “Come on, Annie,” Bitsy said, taking her by the hand. “Don’t you want to ride in my new car?”

  Once they were all buckled in, Annie said, “This is nice,” running her hand across the wood-paneled dashboard. “What did you do with your truck?”

  “Mike took it to the truck graveyard.” Faith started the engine. “That old truck has seen me through a lot, good and bad. I was sad to see it go, but it’d become pretty unreliable.”

  “Can Annie come over for a sleepover?” Bitsy asked, kicking her feet against the back of Faith’s seat.

  Faith was too exhausted to entertain company, but she couldn’t bring herself to tell the girls no. “Sure, if she wants to.”

  “I’m not sure that’s such a good idea.” Annie looked down at her khaki shorts and work shirt. “I’ve been wearing these clothes for two days. I feel pretty grimy.”

  “Why don’t I run you out to the farm to get your things? Then you can have a long hot shower in our guest room.”

  “Or a bubble bath,” Bitsy threw in.

  Faith winked at Annie. “She loves the new spa tub. I promise I won’t let her get in with you.”

  “I’m not much on taking baths,” she said over her shoulder to Bitsy. “But a long hot shower sounds perfect.”

  Faith waited for traffic to clear before turning right onto Creekside Drive. “Bill is taking the boys to Charleston to see Mack anyway. I don’t think you should be alone. Not tonight.”

  “Yay!” Bitsy clapped her hands. “Can we get pizza takeout?”

  “Of course,” Faith said in the rearview mirror. “We’ll pick it up from Angelo’s on the way back from the farm. Mike has to work late at the hospital. How about we have ourselves a girls’ night in?”

  Bitsy clapped her hands again. “What kind of pizza do you like, Annie? Pepperoni is my favorite.”

  Annie turned her head so she could see her little friend in the backseat. “I like anything on my pizza, Bits. Pepperoni, sausage, mushrooms, anchovies.”

  Bitsy crinkled her nose. “Ooh, gross. What’s an anchovy, Mama?”

  For the rest of the drive, they discussed the various options for toppings and grew hungry for pizza in the process. By the time they arrived home with two large steaming pizza boxes on the backseat beside Bitsy, they were starving. But an hour later, Annie’s two slices remained untouched on her plate on the table beside her. Her left hand resting on her iPhone in her lap, she rocked slowly back and forth on the porch, staring out across the water at the disappearing sun. Bitsy gobbled down the last bite of her crust and crawled onto Annie’s lap with her coloring book and Dolly. Opening the book, Annie absentmindedly thumbed through the pages until Bitsy picked out the one she wanted to color.

  Faith and Annie sat together in comfortable silence while Bitsy scribbled away with her crayons. Several boats passed by, out for an evening cruise, the passengers waving up to them. When Bitsy grew tired of coloring, she put her book down and reached for Dolly. She curled up in Annie’s arms, stuck her thumb in her mouth, and was asleep within a matter of minutes.

  Faith knew what it was like to watch one’s father dying from cancer; and despite her grievances toward the girl, she was worried about her. Usually talkative, Annie had hardly completed a sentence since they’d gotten home. Taking a sip of Chardonnay, Faith said, “I was a little hard on you at the market earlier. I’m worried about Jamie. And I’m worried about you too. I’m truly sorry about your father, Annie. If there is anything you want to talk about, I’m a pretty good listener.”

  After several long minutes of awkward silence, Annie said, “I know all of you hate my dad after what he did to Sam. But he’s not the same man anymore. Believe me, his life would have been a lot easier if he’d just dropped me off in some foster home. But he didn’t do that. He made sacrifices for me, and I’m grateful to him for that.”

  “I gather your mother’s not involved in your life?”

  Annie shook her head. “She took off when I was a baby. I’m better off without her.”

  Faith thought back to the night of her wedding reception at Jackie’s, and wondered how much of what Annie had said was true.

  “Did you ever live in Florida?”

  “I was born in Fort Lauderdale, and that’s where we lived until I was about eight, when my dad lost his job. After that, we went to the Keys, moved around a lot down there, living in motels mostly. I went to nine different schools in five years.”

  “I imagine that can be tough on a kid,” Faith said.

  Annie shrugged. “I got used to it. My dad is not a drunk, Miss Faith, and he doesn’t steal. He just has really rotten luck. Every time he found a fishing job he liked, the owner would sell the boat or move it to the Bahamas.”

  “Did your father ever work construction?” Annie rolled her head to the side, facing Faith. “He did, actually. When I was fourteen, we moved back to Lauderdale, and Dad got a job building houses. He really liked it, too. That was the most normal year we had. But then he got sick and had to quit. I got a job waitressing after school to support us while he had chemo. He made it through one round, and we thought he was going to beat the cancer, but then he got sick again. This time it’s really bad. The doctors say he needs a transplant. I got tested. When we found out I wasn’t a match… that’s when Daddy told me he had another kid.”

  Faith nearly choked on her wine. “You mean Allen never mentioned Sam or Jamie before then?”

  “Nope. He didn’t even know if his kid was a boy or a girl.”

  Settling back in her chair, Faith watched a man and his young son putt-putting down the creek in their boat, two fishing rods hanging over the back. She would never understand what made some parents treat their children so poorly—beating them or becoming alcoholics or leaving home to chase their own selfish dreams. Women were often just as guilty as men. Annie’s mother was a perfect example.

  “I wonder why he never bothered to find out.”

  Annie shrugged. “I guess he was ashamed of the way he’d treated them. Now that I know the truth, I think maybe the reason he has taken such good care of me is to make up for what he did to them.”

  Faith considered Annie’s assessment before answering, “That’s one way of looking at it.”

  “I had to beg my dad to come here. He refuses to ask Jamie for his help. But I think he wants to meet him. You know, in case he dies.” Annie’s voice cracked.

  “I’m so sorry, Annie.” Faith stroked the girl’s arm. “I can’t imagine how hard this has all been on you. You’re so young to have been through so much.”
>
  “We spent every last penny we had on our bus tickets to Charleston. Daddy got sick during the trip. An ambulance met us at the bus station and took him straight to the hospital. He’s been there ever since.”

  Annie checked her phone, and let out a sigh when there were no messages. “I wish someone would call from Charleston and let us know everything’s okay.”

  “Don’t worry. Moses will call when he has something to report.”

  “What if something happened to Sam?”

  “No news is good news. Moses knows this family well. He’ll know how to handle the situation and how to break the news to Jamie.”

  Annie relaxed. “I hope you’re right.”

  Bitsy woke up when Faith tried to move her to her bed. She insisted Annie read her a bedtime story. Faith peeked in on them a half hour later when Mike came home and found them both sound asleep in Bitsy’s bed.

  “Let’s not disturb them.” Faith turned out the overhead light and closed the door halfway. “I have some pizza in the warming drawer. Are you hungry?”

  “Starving.” He followed her to the kitchen. “Sounds to me like you’ve changed your mind about Annie.” He removed a Coast craft beer from the refrigerator for himself and refilled Faith’s empty glass with Chardonnay.

  “I think that’s fair to say.” Faith transferred some Greek salad from the Angelo’s plastic container to a plate and added two slices of warmed pepperoni pizza. “Annie opened up to me about her past tonight. Which has helped me to understand her better.” She handed Mike his plate. “Let’s go out on the porch and I’ll tell you about it.”

  Once they’d settled into the rocking chairs, Faith said, “All this time I thought Bitsy was the one who needed Annie, but after what she told me tonight, I think it may be the other way around. The two of them are kindred souls.”

  While Mike ate his dinner, she told him all about Sam’s discovery and subsequent disappearance, and then her talk with Annie that evening.

  “Whoa.” Mike wiped his mouth with his napkin and set his empty plate on the table in front of them. “I’d say the Sweeney sisters have had a rough day. Poor Sam. And poor Annie.”

  “And poor Jamie,” Faith added.

  Mike nodded. “What’s he like, Jamie’s father?”

  Faith had to think about Allen for a minute. She didn’t remember that much about him, it’d been so long ago. “He seemed like a nice enough guy at the time. We were all surprised when he ditched Sam the way he did. I think her breakup with Eli stems from all the pain Allen caused her back then.”

  “Maybe Moses can talk some sense into her.”

  “I certainly hope so.” Faith sat back in her chair and pulled one leg underneath the other. “What’s up with you? How was your day?”

  “Well…” Mike took a long swig of his beer. “I’ve been dealing with my own share of craziness today. I’m hesitant to tell you about it with all you already have on your plate, but I think you need to know.”

  “Are you kidding me? I’m constantly burdening you with my family’s drama. I want you to talk to me about your problems.”

  He drew in a deep breath. “Well, there’s this nurse at work. She kind of has a thing for me.”

  Faith’s stomach lurched. She’d been married less than a week and already there was another woman. “Should I be worried?”

  Mike reached for Faith’s hand. “No! It’s nothing like that. Several years ago, she made it known that she had a crush on me. I asked her out once, but I felt absolutely no chemistry toward her. She took a job in Columbia shortly after that. She moved back to Prospect about a month ago, apparently to take care of a sick parent. At least that’s what she told everyone.”

  “What does she look like?” Faith asked.

  “She’s pretty, if you like female wrestlers.”

  Faith popped Mike’s arm with the back of her hand. “Seriously?”

  “She’s alright-looking, I guess, if you can get past the hook nose. She has blonde hair and blue eyes, but she recently dyed her hair dark brown and started wearing green-tinted contact lenses.”

  “That’s strange. I thought all women wanted to be blonde.”

  He tugged on Faith’s ponytail. “I prefer brunettes, myself.”

  “They call my color mousy brown, but I’m glad you like it,” Faith said, running her hand across the top of her head. “Do I need to take up weight lifting to defend my territory?”

  He chuckled. “You have nothing to worry about.”

  Faith raised an eyebrow. “But she’s been hitting on you at work?”

  His chubby cheeks flushed red. “It was innocent enough at first. She’d bring me coffee or a soft drink from the cafeteria. Then, she began leaving heart-shaped chocolates on my desk and texting me with sexual innuendos. When I blocked her number from my cell phone, she started writing me notes. Finally, today, I confronted her. I told her I have a new bride, whom I love very much, and that her advances are making me uncomfortable. She apologized, said she only meant to be friendly.”

  “This is kind of creepy, Mike.”

  “I know. I’m sorry.” He squeezed her hand. “We haven’t exactly had the easiest first week of marriage with Annie, Sam, Mack, and now Chloe.”

  “Chloe? I knew a girl name Chloe in high school.”

  “Did she have thunder thighs and huge biceps?” Mike teased.

  Faith giggled. “She had bad BO and bucked teeth. That’s all I remember.”

  “I suggest we go on our honeymoon sooner rather than later,” Mike said, cupping his hand behind her head. As he was drawing her in for a kiss, Faith caught a flash of movement in the living room behind them.

  She jerked away. “Did you lock the front door?”

  He followed her gaze. “I’m sure I did. Why?”

  She pointed to the french door, which they’d left cracked. “I thought I saw someone in the living room.”

  He jumped to his feet. “I’ll go check.”

  Too freaked out to stay on the darkened porch alone, Faith went inside and closed the door behind her. She was placing Mike’s plate in the dishwasher when he returned several minutes later, carrying a glass of milk.

  “Everything is locked up tight, and the guest room door is closed. You probably saw Annie when she moved to her room. I found this”—he held up the glass of milk—“on Bitsy’s bedside table. Annie must have gotten it for her. I’m surprised she hasn’t learned yet how much your daughter despises milk. Bitsy told me the first time I took her to lunch.”

  Faith broke out in a cold sweat. “Annie knows all right. I heard her mention it the other day.”

  Twenty-Four

  Jackie

  Jackie waited for Bill and the boys out in front of the Heart and Vascular Center. “What took you so long?” she asked when they finally arrived a few minutes after eight.

  “Cooper and Sean were starving. I had to stop and get them something to eat,” Bill said.

  Jackie smiled. “Imagine that.”

  “You know how much we hate hospitals, Mom,” Sean said, an irritating whine in his voice. “I don’t understand why we couldn’t wait for Uncle Mack to come home before we visited him.”

  Jackie placed a hand on her son’s back. “Some things just shouldn’t be put off.”

  Cooper shot his father a look of alarm. “I thought you said Mack was going to be fine.”

  “I said he made it through the surgery.” Placing his hand at the small of Cooper’s back, Bill guided him toward the entrance to the building. “He’s a long way from being fine. I’m sure he will appreciate seeing the two of you.”

  On the way to the fourth floor, the boys gave a spirited recounting about the day’s escapades on the water. They’d gotten stuck on a sandbar at low tide. While waiting for the tide to come in, they dug up three buckets of clams. And then, on the way home, they ran out of gas and had to flag down help from another boat.

  “It was so embarrassing.” Sean hung his head. “We’ve never run out of gas
before. Some of our friends came by while we were getting towed in.” He looked up at his father. “Something must be wrong with the gas gauge.”

  Lovie was pacing back and forth in the ICU family waiting room when they arrived. “Thank goodness you’re here,” she said to Bill, wringing her hands. “I’m worried about Mack. He’s talking out of his head. I can’t understand a word he’s saying.”

  “Calm down now, Lovie,” Bill said, taking her by the shoulders. “There are any number of things that can cause confusion after a major surgery. His oxygen levels could be low, or his electrolytes might be out of whack. Has his doctor been in to see him tonight?”

  Lovie shook her head emphatically. “I told the nurse to call him, but I don’t think she did.”

  “I’ll go check on him. I don’t have privileges at this hospital, but I can at least take a look at his chart.” Bill motioned for the twins to follow him and they disappeared behind the double doors leading to the intensive care unit.

  Jackie walked her mother to the closest vacant seat. “I know you’re worried, Mom. But you need to try and calm down.” She dropped to the love seat, pulling her mother with her. “You need to stay strong for Mack.” She wrapped her arm around Lovie, drawing her near. “We can’t have you getting sick on us, now can we?”

  Shaking her head, Lovie collapsed against Jackie. They sat in silence, watching a ceiling-mounted TV across the room as the Atlanta Braves’ pitcher struck out the Yankees. Fifteen minutes passed before the twins reappeared and plopped down in the chairs opposite them.

  Lovie sat up straight. “Where’s your father?”

  “He’s back there with Mack,” Sean said, aiming a thumb at the ICU.

  “Something bad happened.” Cooper raked his fingers through his orange mop of hair. “We were talking to Mack, or trying to anyway—he didn’t seem to know who we were or what was going on—when all these alarms and buzzers started going off.”

  Nodding his head vigorously, Sean added, “A whole basketball team of nurses came rushing into the room at once. It freaked me out.”