by Deborah Heal
Merri smiled slyly. “Hmmm. You’d better be nice to me.”
“Come on, brat,” Abby said, edging her way past a man carrying two heaping plates. “Let’s show Kate where we’re sitting.”
Abby was glad that she’d worn shorts. Hiking first one leg and then the other over the picnic table bench, she managed to sit down halfway gracefully and then glanced doubtfully at Kate’s skinny white dress.
Seeing her look, Kate said, “Don’t worry. I’m the queen of picnic table sitting. I did a lot of contortions wearing fancy dresses when I ran for Miss Sangamon County. I didn’t win the crown, but I did pick up this skill. Watch and learn.”
Kate pulled it off gracefully, quickly, and without once flashing her underwear.
“Amazing,” Abby said. “I can’t imagine why they didn’t pick you for queen. So quick, tell me all about it before the guys get back. Did Ryan get down on one knee when he proposed?”
“Yes, he did. Of course, he asked the waiter to bring an extra napkin to kneel on so he wouldn’t mess up his pants. He took me to Sixteen in the Trump Tower. It looks out over the lights of downtown Chicago. It was so romantic. I wish you could have been there. Well, not really. But you know what I mean.”
“Did they have waiters in tuxedos?” Merri asked. “I always thought that’d be cool.”
“They did,” Kate said, grinning at Merri. “And it was cool.”
“Did he hide the ring in your dessert?” Merri asked.
“No, I don’t think that’s Ryan’s style,” Kate said, laughing. “But it was wrapped in beautiful paper and ribbons. I nearly fainted when I opened the box and saw the size of the diamond.” She held her ring out for them to admire again.
“Kathryn, you’re going to ruin your Manuela sitting on that picnic bench.” Ryan was back with two plates. A small frown marred his handsome face for a moment and then was gone.
“It’ll be fine,” Kate said.
“Hey, Merri Christmas, move over,” John said.
When she had scooted over, Merri looked up at Ryan. “What’s a Manuela?”
John and Ryan set down the plates they carried and then squeezed in at the picnic table.
Kate smiled her thanks and answered the question for Ryan. “Manuela is a designer from New York,” she explained. “I’m wearing one of her dresses.”
“I bought that dress for Kathryn last weekend in Chicago. It set me back three hundred dollars.” He smiled down at Kate. “But she’s worth every penny.”
Abby concentrated on keeping a pleasant expression on her face. People who dropped price tags into a conversation never impressed her. It was a pretty dress but not Kate’s usual casual style. And she wasn’t wearing the bright, funky jewelry she usually did—jewelry she had designed, created, and made a small business of selling on campus.
Kate looked from John’s plate heaped high with fried fish and various side dishes to the plate of raw broccoli and carrot sticks Ryan had put in front of her. “Where’s the food, Ryan?”
“Oh, drat. Is all the good stuff gone?” Abby asked.
“I assumed you wouldn’t want any of it, Kathryn. It’s all loaded with carbs and fat.”
“Well, I do,” Merri declared and headed back to the food table with her plate.
Ryan watched Merri leave and muttered something that Abby didn’t quite catch. It sounded like, “I rest my case.”
Abby blinked. She waited for her roomie to say she loved carbs and fat. That she lived for carbs and fat. That her favorite entertainment was carbs and fat.
But Kate merely smoothed the front of her dress and smiled. “You’re right, Ryan.”
“We’ll get something later in the city.” Ryan took a meager bite of fruit salad from his plate. “I was reading online about St. Charles and the downtown St. Louis scene. Sounds like there are a few decent restaurants around.”
“Yeah,” John said drily, “they have a few.”
“We want you to come celebrate with us,” Kate said.
Ryan patted his lips with a napkin and took out his phone. “You, too, Roberts, of course. I’ll make reservations. Is seven o’clock all right?”
“And then, after dinner,” Kate said, “we can zip on down to Equality so that tomorrow we’ll have all day to—”
“About that. What made you choose Equality for our little friend-fest weekend?” Abby said, using air quotes. “John says it’s just a tiny town.”
“Tiny town, but a big help with my project. At least I hope so.”
“Kathryn says you have some kind of weird genealogy program.” Ryan’s voice rose at the end and Abby wasn’t sure if he was making a statement or asking a question.
“That’s not what Beautiful Houses is… not exactly.”
“It’s all your fault, Abby,” Kate said. “I made the mistake of telling Mom about your adventures with the Old Dears’ genealogy. Now she is obsessed with tracing our family tree. But we came to a dead end with the Greenfield side of the family. Since you got us hooked, it’s only fair you lend us your expertise.”
“Genealogy is kind of addictive,” Abby said. “And Eulah and Beulah are so happy we found their Buchanan relatives for them.”
“Mom wants me to paint a wall mural of our family tree in Dad’s den as a surprise. Here, let me show you what I had in mind.” Kate took a pen from her purse and began sketching a whimsical tree on a paper napkin. “I thought I’d draw faces on the leaves. And each person will have some sort of item symbolizing them. Like for me, I’ll put a paint brush to show my love for art.”
In mere seconds, Kate had drawn an amazingly detailed sketch, and as always Abby was astounded by her talent.
“That is so cool,” Merri said, returning with a plate of mostly potato chips and pink fluffy salad.
Kate smiled. “Thanks, sweetie. But it won’t look very cool if it’s all lopsided. And I’m running out of time. The only opportunity I’d have to paint it is next month while Mom and Dad are gone to Colorado on vacation. So that’s why I thought if you went with us and we used the program…”
Abby shot a meaningful look at Kate, willing her to stop talking. Fortunately, she seemed to get the message.
“Let’s talk about it later,” Abby said, tipping her head toward Merri. Whether or not she agreed to go along with them to Equality, it sounded like the girls-only night was off the agenda, and she needed time to figure out how to tell Merri.
Abby glanced at John for his take. He didn’t look happy. It was flattering to think he was disappointed that she’d be gone for the weekend. But then, he was probably only worried about losing control of the program.
Abby had been telling Kate about Beautiful Houses and all they’d uncovered with it for the past two and a half months. And for those two and a half months, Kate had steadfastly insisted Abby was joking about the program’s abilities. Eventually, she had decided it was just as well Kate didn’t believe her because they had begun to realize how dangerous it would be if the program fell into the wrong hands.
But now that Kate had finally come, she couldn’t resist setting her straight. “Listen to me,” she said, putting her face up to Kate’s. “Look at my face. Read my lips. Notice that I’m not kidding around. This is not ordinary genealogy software. It—”
“It no longer works,” John said, staring at Abby behind Kate’s back. “Not right anyway, not since the Fourth of July.”
“But it does still work a little?” Kate said hopefully.
“Yes, but—” John said.
“Great,” Ryan said. “Let’s go have a look at it.”
“Okay,” Abby said, shrugging her shoulders at the look John gave her. “But first I want you to meet the Old Dears. There they are at the far end of the pavilion.”
The twins, in their identical lavender pants and sequined tops, stood one on either side of Doug Buchanan, as he struggled with a karaoke microphone.
“Aren’t they cute,” Kate said, laughing. “How do you ever tell them apart?”
The microphone squealed. “Test, test, test,” Doug said into it. “Can you hear me in the back?”
A woman behind them called out, “Louder, Dougie.”
A man two tables over called out, “Hey, if you’re taking requests, I want Proud Mary.”
The crowd laughed, and Ryan rolled his eyes. “If they’re going to start singing, I’m leaving.”
“No, wait,” Abby said. “Doug’s up to something.”
“By now,” Doug said, “you’ve all met these two sweet ladies. Now, it’s time to welcome them officially into the Buchanan clan.” One of Doug’s sons handed each beaming lady a yellow T-shirt.
Grinning happily, the Old Dears held up the shirts so the audience could see that printed on the fronts were the words, I Survived My First Buchanan Reunion. The crowd erupted in applause and whistles.
“And we put their names on the back so you can tell them apart,” Doug continued.
The cheers turned to laughter when the audience realized the twins had been handed the wrong shirts. After trading, Eulah and Beulah held the shirts up again for everyone to see their names in blue script. Doug went on to remind everyone to be back tomorrow for more great food, the water balloon war, the quilt auction, and the washer tournament.
“Can we leave now?” Kate asked. “I can’t wait to try out your program.”
“You sure you don’t want to stick around?” Ryan said in a fake southern accent. “I have a hankerin’ to play worshers. I bet you five dollars I can whup you, too.”
“Okay. I guess we can leave now,” Abby said. She had looked forward to Kate meeting the ladies, but Eulah and Beulah would have lots of questions that were bound to take more time than Kate—and especially Ryan—would want to spend.
On the way to their cars, John waited until Kate and Ryan were out of earshot. “I thought we agreed not to let anyone else in on this until we could figure out what to do with the program. You know how dangerous it could be if this gets out.”
“Yeah,” Merri said. “That’s the first rule. Besides, we’re the three musketeers. Whoever heard of the five musketeers?”
“I know, I know,” Abby said. “I don’t know what came over me. Kate’s always been so…so…annoying about it, an agnostic, you might say. I don’t know what made her change her mind, and I had no idea she had told Ryan about it.”
“Speaking of which, how well do you know Turner?”
“I’ve only met him a few times when he came to campus to visit Kate. He seemed nice enough. Then.”
“I think he’s a jackass,” Merri declared.
John snorted a laugh. “Yeah, you’re right about that, squirt. But don’t say that word, okay?”
“We just have to give it time,” Abby said. “Maybe he’ll grow on us.”
“Well, until he does,” John said, “I think we should stall on showing them the program.”
“Why?” Merri said. “Now that it’s not working right, all they’ll see is a bunch of houses from around the world.”
“It won’t hurt for them to see that,” Abby said, “We just won’t mention that the way we helped Eulah and Beulah fill out their family tree was by time-surfing back to meet their ancestors.”
Chapter 2
The late afternoon sun was making Abby squint and she wished she could remember where her sunglasses were. She sat between John and Merri on Merri’s front porch in Miles Station, thinking about her first day as her tutor back in June. She had sat on the same steps and told Merri that Kate wanted to come meet her. Merri, sullen in her misery, had not believed anyone could like her. Merri’s attitude had changed so much since then, and she had taken to Kate right away. She was bound to be hurt when she realized Kate wouldn’t be staying for their planned girls’ night.
Abby sent up a little prayer for Merri. She didn’t need any more disappointments in her life.
“I thought they were right behind us. I hope they didn’t get lost,” Merri said.
John, looking movie-star quality in his own sunglasses, propped his forearms on his knees and gave a little grunt of disgust. “Maybe they decided to go to ‘the city’ to get tofu or sushi. Or whatever meets Turner’s exacting culinary standards.”
Abby laughed and swatted John’s arm. “Oh, stop it.”
“They’re here,” Merri said, jumping up from the step.
Kate’s blue car pulled sedately up in front of the house and stopped. For once, she was driving below land speed records. Abby saw why when the driver’s side door opened and Ryan got out. So Kate had actually let another human being drive her beloved PT Cruiser. It must be true love.
“We’ll have to have your tires checked, Kathryn,” Ryan said. “You’re bound to have a flat from these wilderness trails that pass for roads.”
“They are pretty rough,” Abby said.
“Oh, don’t mind Ryan,” Kate said, studying the old house before her. “Wow. How old did you say this is? Let’s have the tour, Abby. I want to see where you’ve spent the summer doing your Jane Eyre thing. Which reminds me, I’ve got to choose my service project soon. Ambassador College has been hounding me unmercifully. I got another letter yesterday.”
“I hope you’ll select something that isn’t so far from civilization,” Ryan said. “This is really…rustic.”
Abby, too, had thought the ancient, sagging house was rustic at first, creepy even—that is, until she got to know it better. She put a protective arm around Merri.
“It’s been the perfect service project. Merri’s great and this house is really special. It was built in 1847 by Jonathan Miles. At one time there was a thriving little town here called Miles Station. It was really something back in the day.”
“We’ve done some repairs,” John said. “We’ll get the house back the way it was.”
John’s generosity made Abby feel all warm and gooey inside, and she contemplated awarding him another imaginary star. The good thing about imaginary charts is that she could put as many stars on them as she wanted. John had spent most of his summer break renovating a house in Alton for Habitat for Humanity. As if that weren’t enough, in his spare time he’d been doing repairs for Merri’s mom. “Yeah,” Merri said. “John put the trellises back up, and he told Mom he’s going to help us paint the house before he leaves for college.”
“Saint John, is he?” Ryan said, jingling the change in his pockets.
“And a girl named Charlotte used to sleep in my room,” Merri said. “She was really nice and we—” Merri stopped and looked apologetically at Abby and John.
“Where is your mom, anyway?” Abby said.
“Right. Mom. She’s showing a house. She won’t be back until late. Come on, Kate. I’ll show you the inside of the house.”
Merri’s brown cat Kit Kat greeted them at the door. Merri scooped her up and led them through the bare, shabby rooms, proudly explaining all the repairs and decorating her mother planned to do as soon as they had the money. She didn’t appear to notice Kate’s wide eyes and Ryan’s curled lip as they took in the house’s condition. Abby could appreciate their culture shock. It had been an adjustment for her, too. But being a “companion and tutor to an economically disadvantaged adolescent,” as Ambassador College described it, was an experience she would never forget.
Merri opened the door to the spare bedroom they used as a schoolroom. A top-of-the-line computer looked incongruous on a scarred table in the dingy room. Merri’s dad had sent the computer to her as a sop for his guilty conscience. It was his meth-making in their backyard that had caused Merri’s mom Pat to take her and flee to safety and him to end up in Joliet Prison. The irony of an educational gift bought with drug money was not lost on Abby.
“And here’s where my heartless tutor has been torturing me with participles and long division all summer,” Merri said, grinning at Kate.
“Hey, you had a break the week we got to stay at Lucy’s house,” Abby said. “M
erri wrote an excellent report on Lewis and Clark. Didn’t she, John?”
Ryan brushed past John before he could answer and went through the doorway and to the computer. “Not a bad model,” he said. “Is the genealogy program on it?”
“It is,” Abby said. “I mean, it’s not really a genealogy program. But yes, the Beautiful Houses program we used is on this computer—and on John’s laptop, too.”
Merri edged around Ryan and sat down at the computer. When Beautiful Houses finished loading, images of all types of houses from around the world scrolled by on the computer screen. The title at the top invited users to Take a Virtual Tour.
“What does this have to do with genealogy?” Ryan asked.
“The way it is now? Nothing,” John said. “But as we said, it’s not working right.”
“Sorry,” Abby said, seeing Kate’s disappointed expression.
Merri looked desperate to cheer up her new friend. “But even though we can’t time-sur—” she broke off. “I mean the program won’t let us…well, anyway, it’s still fun. Here, Kate. I’ll show you. Pick whatever house you want.”
“My favorite is a thatched cottage in the Cotswolds in England,” Abby said. “Merri’s is a castle in Scotland.”
Kate leaned over Merri’s shoulder and pointed to a photo of a huge house that hugged a steep terraced hill covered in lush greenery and colorful tropical flowers. “Oh, I like that one. Does it say where it is? It looks like Hawaii, maybe.”
Merri clicked on the image, and the screen filled with an enlarged view of the hillside house.
“I wouldn’t mind a house like that one day,” Ryan said.
Even though it was undoubtedly worth tens of millions of dollars, he said it with a perfectly serious voice. Abby didn’t risk looking at John, but she pictured his eyes rolling.
“You’re right,” she said to Kate. “It says Honolulu. You can look at all the rooms inside and see the back of the house, too.”
“Here, Kate, you try it,” Merri said, getting up from the computer.