Lock, Stock, and Over a Barrel

by Melody Carlson

  “And I’m heading for the shower and a quick change. John Junior is picking me up at eight.”

  Daphne just nodded, then continued on outside. Going out at eight on a weeknight was no big deal for New Yorkers, but it suddenly sounded like craziness to her. Clearly, this was a sign she didn’t belong here anymore.

  Chapter 15

  Daphne could hardly believe what a change the new interior paint colors made to the house. At first, she felt slightly shocked and, to be honest, a little upset to think she’d made such a drastic change to Aunt Dee’s sweet old house. But the more she walked around, talking to the cats who were happy to see her, and the more she looked at it from all angles and various forms of light, the more she thoroughly loved it. It brought a whole new energy to the old house.

  “It feels like it’s given the house a brand-new life,” she told Olivia as she walked her through the rooms on Sunday evening.

  “It’s fabulous. Lighter and brighter and yet the colors we picked have a classic old-fashioned appeal that are respectful of the house.”

  “Yes. The house seems happier.” Daphne looked around the cluttered tables and shelves that had been somewhat rearranged by the paint crew. “Except for all this stuff. But after cleaning out my place in New York, using your three simple rules, I think I’m ready to attack this space too.”

  Olivia glanced around the front room. “And yet I think this might be a different kind of challenge.”

  “How do you mean?”

  “It might be a little like a treasure hunt.”

  Daphne nodded. She knew she wanted to keep some things. But which ones?

  “Because there are definitely some treasures here.” Olivia pointed to a group of dusty-looking china figurines cluttering the top of a bookshelf under the window. “For instance these—they feel a little busy and a bit too sweet.” She picked up a figurine of a shepherdess. “But this one. Well, it’s actually quite nice. And I’m guessing it’s old and maybe valuable too. Not that you want to pick things just because they’re valuable. But if you grouped this piece just right with some other things, it might be rather attractive.”

  “I’m not sure I understand.” Daphne tilted her head to one side, trying to figure out what she’d do with the figurine.

  “Mind if I show you?” Olivia’s dark eyes twinkled.

  “Please do.”

  Olivia bustled about the room, picking up this and that, and then clearing a mahogany side table of its fussy crocheted runner and numerous dust-catching unrelated knickknacks, she set a brass lamp, which she’d switched lamp shades on, along with an African violet that she’d placed into a pretty pale blue bowl she’d found in the kitchen, and then she set the shepherdess just so in between.

  “Voilà,” she proclaimed as she turned on the lamp. “It’s simple but elegant.”

  “Wow, that looks really nice.” Daphne stepped closer, examining Olivia’s magic. “How did you know how to do it like that?”

  “From working at the flower shop. I’m always rearranging things there. It’s kind of like playing house. And I’m not saying you need to leave the table like this.” She turned the African violet around so the blooms faced out. “It’s just to show you.”

  “No, I want to leave it just like that. It’s the best-looking thing in this room.”

  Daphne glanced around. “I get what you’re saying about having treasures here. I’m just not sure I can pick them out.”

  Olivia stuck around for about an hour, helping to choose what she called the “keepers,” which they set on the dining room table. “But don’t take my word for it,” Olivia said as she was getting ready to go home. “Maybe there are still some pieces that are special to you. Go ahead and set them aside too.”

  “Good idea. But I wonder what I’ll do with the rest of it? Aunt Dee really managed to collect a lot of stuff. I suppose I could just store it.”

  “Or you could sell it on eBay or consign it in town or a yard sale.”

  Daphne remembered Jake’s warning that she wasn’t to profit from her aunt’s estate yet. But he had said she could give things away. Maybe after she figured out what she wanted to remain with the house, she could offer the rest to her relatives. Certainly there were those like Martin who would probably turn up their noses, which were already out of joint, but there might be others, like the women, who might enjoy a memento or two from dear old Aunt Dee. And for all Daphne knew, some of these things might be valuable. Perhaps the relatives would find a treasure.

  As Willie’s paint crew worked on the exterior of the house, Daphne started to sort and sift on the inside. She quickly realized this was a huge undertaking for just one person. If Daphne had accumulated a lot in twelve years, Aunt Dee had managed to accumulate about a hundred times more in her lifetime. Daphne was going to need some help. Especially if she was going to start working on the Dear Daphne column as planned by the end of the month. But after she’d taken all of Dee’s jewelry to be assessed by The Jewel Box, a place recommended by Olivia, she decided to call her young cousin Mattie.

  “Hi, Daphne,” Mattie said cheerfully. “How’re you doing?”

  “Very well, thanks.” She was relieved that Mattie wasn’t one of the relatives with an ax to grind. “I sorted through Aunt Dee’s personal things and I have a nice assortment of costume jewelry and old hats and handbags and scarves and things. I remember how you’re a collector and I wondered if you’d be interested in any of them.”

  “Really?” Mattie’s voice was full of enthusiasm. “You’d let me have them? To keep?”

  Daphne laughed. “Of course. I think Aunt Dee would be happy for you to have them. And I’m sure you’ll take good care of them too.”

  “Cool. When can I come over?”

  “Whenever you like.”

  “I’m on my way. Hey, is it okay if I bring a friend?”

  “Sure. And I’m not sure how busy you are, but I need to hire some part-time help this week. Just to sort and clean and move some things. Probably several days’ worth of work. Maybe you know someone who’s looking—”

  “I’ll do it,” she said eagerly. “I don’t have a summer job yet. Besides babysitting, which I am so over.” Mattie promised to be there within the hour and Daphne returned to sorting.

  She’d decided to utilize the basement as her holding area. Fortunately, other than cobwebs and dust, it was mostly empty. She wanted to set up sawhorse tables, which Mrs. Terwilliger had offered to loan her after Daphne gave her a tour of the freshly painted house and explained her ideas. The basement would look kind of like a tag sale, except there would be no tags involved since everything would be free to the relatives to pick and choose from. She was calling it a Grab and Go instead. And she hoped to kill two birds with one stone—to thin out her aunt’s belongings and win back some of her relatives.

  But first she wanted to put the house back in order, which hopefully Mattie would be helpful with. When it looked presentable, she would invite all her relatives to browse in the basement as well as the yard, where she would set out the larger items of furniture she wanted to share. She had no doubts that many of the older pieces were valuable. But she was trying not to let monetary worth cloud her generosity.

  Appleton was a small town and already she had crossed paths with various relatives here and there. A few, like Mattie, were pleasant and sweet. Others were polite but cool. And then there were some, like Martin and his wife Diane, who were civil but downright frosty—as if they personally blamed Daphne for the way Aunt Dee had set up her last will and testament.

  “Come in,” Daphne told Mattie and the bright-eyed blond girl with her.

  “This is Jenna McPheeters,” Mattie said.

  “Oh, you must be Jake’s daughter.” Daphne shook the girl’s hand. “Your dad mentioned that you’re starting to collect costume jewelry too.”


  “Yeah. Mattie’s gotten me hooked.”

  “Everything is in my aunt’s old bedroom,” she said as she led the way. “I’ve laid it all out on the dressing table and the bed.”

  Both girls were suitably impressed with the display. They took turns oohing and aahing over the various pieces and exclaiming over what decade they thought items were from. “Do I really get to keep all of this?” Mattie asked incredulously.

  Daphne nodded.

  “I’ll share some with you,” Mattie told Jenna.

  As they continued to gush over their bounty, Daphne went to get them some bags to carry it in. When she came back, Mattie asked if Jenna could work for her too. “We decided we want to work for free,” she told Daphne. “Just to thank you for all this.”

  “Oh, I can pay you.”

  Mattie shook her head. “No. Some of this stuff might be valuable. I mean—” Now she looked worried, as if she expected Daphne to snatch it back.

  Daphne just smiled. “I’m sure some of it might be valuable. That’s why I think you should have it. You appreciate it for what it is, but you understand its worth.”

  “So can we work for you in payment?” Jenna asked hopefully.

  “I really do need help. But maybe we can talk about reimbursement at the end of the week,” Daphne told them.

  They agreed. And for starters she walked the girls next door to where they picked up the old sawhorses and plywood from Mrs. Terwilliger. “They belonged to my late husband,” Mrs. Terwilliger told them. “But I used them for garage sales from time to time.”

  Daphne thanked her and before long there were several tables set up in the basement. And thanks to Mattie’s energetic incentive and a couple of brooms, the cobwebs and dust were soon cleared to the corners. Then, slowly but steadily, the girls helped Daphne get load after load of things down the steep stairs, where they dusted and cleaned each item and placed it on the tables.

  It was five and Daphne proclaimed an end to the day’s work, but when she offered to pay them, once again they refused. “But will you come back tomorrow?” she asked. To her relief they agreed.

  For the next few days the two hardworking girls helped her to make amazing progress in her plan. Whether it was cleaning or carrying or sorting, they both labored steadily. As they worked, the girls chattered back and forth. Sometimes they talked about the old things they found, trying to figure out the age or the value of an item. Sometimes they talked about boys or clothes. And one time, Daphne overheard them talking about their families. She didn’t really mean to eavesdrop, but since she was in the laundry room and they were in the kitchen, it was hard not to hear.

  “I think my mom wants to get back with my dad,” Jenna was saying. “I heard her talking to my aunt about it.”

  “That’d be cool,” Mattie replied. “I mean, I guess it would. What do you think?”

  “I think it’d be awesome.”

  “Yeah, even though my parents fight a lot, I’m glad they’re still together,” Mattie said. “If they split up, I don’t know what I’d do. I mean, it’s like you get caught in the middle.”

  “Tell me about it.”

  “My grandparents almost got divorced a few years ago,” Mattie confided, and naturally Daphne’s ears pricked up at this. Was she talking about Martin and Diane? “I almost wished they would because sometimes my grandpa can be so mean to Grandma.”

  “Really?” Jenna sounded surprised. “They seem like such nice people.”

  “Yeah. But I heard Grandma telling my mom that she couldn’t afford to get divorced. Can you imagine what that would be like? I mean to be an old woman and stuck in a miserable marriage and feel like you couldn’t get a divorce?”

  “It’d be rough.”

  “I think it’s because my grandpa’s an attorney and Grandma’s worried he would have the advantage.”

  “That’s not right. I mean, Dad’s an attorney and he was really fair about their divorce.”

  “Yeah, well, your dad’s not like my grandpa.”

  Suddenly the subject switched to guys and Daphne, feeling guilty for eavesdropping—what else could she call it?—hurried out the back door and into the backyard where a couple of painters were painting the main body color. Pretending to be inspecting their work and relieved to see that they had taken the care to cover the plants near the house with drop cloths, she walked around the house to admire the front where Willie was just starting to work on the trim.

  “That’s looking really good,” she told him.

  “You’re just who I needed.” He stepped back from the house. “I want you to make some decisions. We’ve got the olive and orange trim colors, but I’m not sure which goes where.” He pointed to a column. “I thought that might look nice in the green, but what do you think?”

  She studied it and nodded. “I think that would be pretty. And maybe that band above it could be orange.”

  He agreed, then pointed out several other parts of gingerbread, window trim, and other decorative elements, dabbing each one with the appropriate color of paint as they made their decisions. Finally, although the house now looked a bit splotchy, they seemed to have it worked out. “And if you change your mind, don’t worry, it’s only paint.”

  She stepped back and looked over it, imagining how it would look completed. “No, I think it’s going to look just perfect.”

  As she went inside, she was still pondering over the conversation she’d just overhead. It saddened her to think that Martin and Diane had marriage problems, but at the same time it softened her heart toward Diane. Maybe she’d been acting chilly because she was unhappy. Anyway, Daphne would do what she could to be kinder to the older woman.

  Perhaps more disturbing, and she felt blindsided by her reaction, was that it sounded like Jake and his wife might be getting back together. She should be delighted to hear of their reconciliation, especially for Jenna’s sake, but the truth was, Daphne felt dismayed. She would never have admitted it to anyone, and hardly even to herself, but Jake had held a high position on her “eligible bachelor” list. Now she had to mentally scratch him off. But as she did this, she said a silent prayer, asking God to bless him and his ex-wife and Jenna. She knew it was just plain selfishness to wish for anything else.

  By the following week, with the continued help of Mattie and Jenna, Daphne finally felt like her task was nearly complete. As she paid the girls on Tuesday afternoon, convincing them that their efforts had helped her accomplish her goal, they seemed disappointed that their temporary employment was ending.

  “If you ever need more help be sure and call us,” Mattie said as the girls lingered on the steps of the front porch. The three of them had just put the last of the furniture out there. Not the best way to show off the house’s lovely new paint job, which was finished, but it was only a temporary place to store the furnishings she planned to offer her relatives in her Grab and Go on Saturday.

  “Don’t worry, I will,” she assured them. “You girls are at the top of my list.”

  Now Mattie nudged Jenna, quietly saying, “Go ahead—ask her.”

  Jenna tossed Mattie a slightly aggravated glance.

  “Come on,” Mattie urged her. “It’s okay.”

  “Daphne’s busy,” Jenna told her.

  “What is it?” Daphne gently pressed Jenna. “What do you want to ask?”

  “Nothing.” Jenna just shrugged. “We should probably go.”

  “Jenna wants to be a writer,” Mattie blurted out.

  “Oh, that’s great, Jenna.” Daphne smiled at her.

  “And she wants to ask you some writer questions,” Mattie continued.

  “But I know you’re busy,” Jenna told her.

  Daphne nodded. “I am a little busy just now. Olivia wants me to pick her up at four. We’re going to look at some new f
urnishings for the house. Fill up some of those empty spaces we just made.”

  Jenna gave Mattie an I-told-you look.

  “But you could come by another time,” Daphne told Jenna. “I’m not the best writer, but I can try to answer your questions.”

  “But you worked for The New York Times, didn’t you?” Jenna asked. “Anyway, that’s what my dad told me.”

  “Yes. I was at The Times for twelve years. But I was only a wedding writer.”

  “But you’re writing a novel now, aren’t you?”

  “Well, I hope to start one . . . when things settle down.”

  “And your aunt wrote books, didn’t she?” Jenna persisted.

  Daphne tried not to react, but how much had Jake told his daughter? Worried that they might stumble upon something revealing, she hadn’t even let the girls go into Aunt Dee’s office. “Yes . . . she was a writer too.”

  “She wrote textbooks,” Mattie filled in.

  “So maybe we could get together after I have the Grab and Go,” Daphne told Jenna. “Life won’t be so hectic then.”

  “Yeah.” Jenna nodded. “That’d be great.”

  “Do you want us to come on Saturday, to help you with the Grab and Go?” Mattie offered.

  “Sure, I’d love some help. I plan to serve a light luncheon in the backyard. Just sandwiches and finger food. But you girls can help with that. And I’m sure there will be lots more to do.”

  “I told Grandma about what you’re going to do,” Mattie confessed with some hesitation. “I hope that was okay.”

  “Sure. I’ve got the invitations ready to send out.” Daphne had been careful not to mention anything about the silent family feud. She didn’t want Mattie to feel caught in the middle. “Do you think your grandma will come?”

  “Oh, yeah.” Mattie nodded. “She’ll be here.”

  “Good. I hope they all come.”

  “I’m sure they will,” Mattie said.

  Daphne smiled. “Hopefully we’ll have good weather and a pleasant day.” She glanced at her watch. “I’m going to head out, girls, to pick up Olivia.”