by Karen Kelly
After enjoying the rest of their meal and fresh coffee, the women returned to the Brown Library. Knowing the routine now, they quickly put their purses into lockers and hurried either to the computers or to find Mr. Gerrish.
Kate sat next to Peggy as she logged onto the HeritageQuest database and spoke quietly. “Can you imagine leaving Wally behind in order to keep Emily safe, Peggy?” She was thinking of how her concern for her own daughter’s safety had given her the courage to leave the danger of living with her alcoholic husband.
“I don’t even want to think about it,” Peggy whispered back as her nails clicked on the keyboard. “I can’t imagine what Dante’s wife must have gone through. Especially if she had left thinking they’d return when things had settled down some, only to have him die a few years later. I’d never forgive myself!” She turned to look at Kate as she waited for the Canadian census to load, her eyes showing she felt as unsettled as Kate did.
Across the room, Stella, Gwen, and Alice separated to track down Mr. Gerrish. Stella checked the main-floor stacks, while Alice climbed the mezzanine stairs, and Gwen approached the staff desk to ask if the docent was behind the closed doors of the offices. Before the young lady behind the desk could check, she glanced up to see him coming down the mezzanine steps with a large envelope in his hands, followed by Alice. “Oh, there he is,” she said, pointing behind Gwen.
“Thank you,” Gwen said to her before hurrying to the bottom of the stairs.
Mr. Gerrish smiled at Gwen and held the thick envelope out to her. “These are photocopies to take with you.”
“What a help this will be, Mr. Gerrish. What is the fee we owe for your assistance and the copies?” Gwen took the packet of information.
The man waved off the question. “No charge. It was a pleasure to hear about your friend’s artifact. I do hope someday she’ll perhaps be willing to bring it in to allow us to examine it.”
“I’ll be sure to forward the request to her.” Gwen shook his hand, and then Alice did the same. After that, the two women located Stella before checking on Kate and Peggy.
Peggy was just logging out of the computer when they approached.
“Did you find anything?” Alice asked.
Peggy shook her head. “Only that there’s no record of a Bianco woman, with or without a husband in the Canadian census database.”
Kate added, “And I checked some ships’ passenger lists the library has on CDs. No Daisy Bianco or woman with Bianco as her last name and of the appropriate age, even. Of course, the records never claim to be exhaustive, but at least we know they weren’t on those particular ships.”
“We have the information on the Maine wood-pulp companies, thanks to Mr. Gerrish,” said Gwen, showing the packet to Kate and Peggy.
Peggy stood up from the workstation. “Does anyone mind if I hog the info on the drive home?”
“Not if you read any interesting parts out to the rest of us,” answered Alice. “Then I can give Annie a synopsis when we get home, if she’s up to hearing it, that is.”
For the final time, the women collected their items from the lockers and left the library, wondering if the mystery of the missing widow would ever be solved.
15
Orange flames explode, soaring above the brick buildings. Annie gasps for air and digs her back foot into the ground to propel her body forward, toward the water. She must get to the docks. Adrenaline rushes through her. Expecting her body to surge along the sidewalk, she is surprised to find it has barely moved at all. The air thickens around her like ice-spiked gelatin, pushing against her attempted progress.
“Someone will die!” The words she shrieks catch in the gelatin too, and hover before her face where no one else can hear them. She flails her arms to clear a path and stomps her other leg forward, muscles straining. The outline of a ship can be seen in the midst of the flames, engulfed. She won’t get there fast enough.
She won’t get there at all.
“Annie.” Alice laid the back of her hand against her friend’s forehead. It wasn’t as hot as the morning before but still very warm. Boots was curled up in a tight ball by Annie’s side, eyes open and watching Alice.
Annie’s eyelids fluttered, and then were still. Alice had almost decided she was too deep in sleep to be awakened when her eyes opened and struggled to focus, her arms jerking under the quilt.
“I didn’t mean to startle you,” Alice apologized, when she saw the initial panic in Annie’s eyes.
Recognition finally dawned, and Annie croaked, “Not you. Dream. Bad.”
“Hmmmm. Now might be a good time for some medicine to reduce that fever.” Alice waited for Annie’s nod of approval and then brought a fresh glass of water and two capsules to her. After being assisted in sitting upright, Annie swallowed them gratefully, drinking the entire glass of water to relieve her parched throat. It felt like she had actually been breathing the smoke-heavy air in her dream.
“Thanks,” she muttered, handing Alice the empty glass. Her brow furrowed as she tried to remember. “Did I see you last night?”
“I checked in on you for a minute.” Alice handed her an herbal throat lozenge. “I dropped off the packet from the library.” She gestured to the spot on the bureau where the packet could be seen.
Understanding smoothed out the furrow. “OK. Didn’t dream that.” Annie had been too tired the night before to try to read the information her friends had retrieved from Portland. And too sick. It had been easy for the nightmares to disorient her in her weak state.
“I have some appointments this morning, but I’ll bring you a little soft food before I go, if you’re up to eating something.” Alice picked up the water pitcher to refill. “And I’ll be back to sit with you this afternoon. Hopefully, the medicine will have brought that fever down.”
Annie didn’t feel hungry at the moment, but she knew she should probably have something close by, just in case. “Little and soft is OK.”
“I know Boots is up to eating something, so I’ll leave her some food too.” Alice stopped by the other side of the bed to give the cat a little love before heading downstairs to the kitchen with the pitcher.
By the time Alice locked the door of Grey Gables to begin her work, Annie’s bedside table was stocked with fresh water, tea with honey and lemon, and some soft carrot-zucchini bread. Boots’s bowls were also replenished in the kitchen. Annie gazed longingly at the fat packet of information Alice had moved over to the other side of the bed and hoped a little more sleep would give her the energy to actually read it. After finishing her tea and eating a half-slice of the bread, she lowered her pillow and drifted back to sleep, Boots still keeping watch beside her.
When Annie woke again, it was afternoon, and she could tell her fever had broken. She finished the rest of the slice of sweet-bread and sipped more water, a little more optimistic about actually feeling human again, eventually. As she picked up the packet of copies, Boots raised her head and nudged against her hand. Annie smiled at her protector, set the packet down on her lap, and rubbed the cat’s head, ears and chin. Apparently, Boots was optimistic about Annie’s recovery as well, springing off the bed and out of the room. Annie had no doubt the cat would make short work of the food Alice had left for her.
She read the company profile of one of the wood-pulp companies and was starting the second, when the phone rang. Grabbing it off the side table, Annie said, “Hello,” which came out like she was still the Frog Princess.
Peggy’s voice sounded in her ear. “I hope you feel better than you sound!”
Annie tried to chuckle, not very successfully. “A little, finally.”
“Emily and I made a wicked pot of chicken soup last night. I’m working a split shift today, so I thought we could bring some by during my break. How about it?”
Alice did say she needed to eat to keep up her strength. “Sounds yummy.” She grimaced when her voice cracked like an adolescent boy’s.
“Be there in about an hour,” Peggy info
rmed her and said goodbye.
By the time Peggy arrived, Alice had returned from her work to check on Annie. Answering Peggy’s knock, she let her and Emily, who was cradling a large crock in her arms, into the house. “How’s Annie feeling?” Peggy asked, taking off her coat and lifting the crock from her daughter’s arms so that she could shed her outerwear too.
“Compared to this morning, she’s ready to run a marathon,” said Alice. She told Peggy about her earlier visit.
“Mama’s soup will help her get better!” Emily declared. “She chopped enough vegetables to choke a buff-lo, she told me.” She flung out her hands to show just how huge that buffalo was too.
Alice smiled into the young girl’s eyes. “I hope you and your mama cooked all those veggies until they were really soft because Miss Annie’s throat is very sore right now.”
Emily nodded her head in big, slow motions. “Uh huh, we did. It cooked for hours and hours.”
“Miss Annie is sure to get well as fast as possible, then. I brought her some orange juice I squeezed from fresh Florida oranges. Some vitamin C to go with all those wonderful things in your soup.” Alice turned to Peggy. “I need to leave again soon. One of my hostesses called me in a panic right before I got here, and I need to run over to calm her down. I’ll be back later, if I’m able.”
“No problem,” said Peggy. “I don’t have to be back at the diner until five o’clock, so there’s plenty of time. We’ll just put the soup on to simmer before we go upstairs.” Peggy and Emily disappeared into the kitchen, and Alice ran upstairs to let Annie know they had arrived. She explained that she had to run out for a quick visit with a hostess but would be back as quickly as possible.
Annie had been engrossed in the library papers and had not even heard Peggy’s knock at the front door. She croaked out, “Alice, you’ve taken such good care of me. But I know this is your busiest time of the year, so please take care of yourself. I don’t want you getting sick too!”
“I will,” Alice promised. “I made myself a pitcher of orange juice while I was squeezing yours. And you know I don’t allow anything to interfere with my beauty sleep.”
“True!” Annie chuckled as her best friend left for her hostess intervention. She wasn’t alone but for a minute before Emily and Peggy were peeking their heads in the doorway.
After Annie waved them in, Emily danced into the room on her toes. “How are you feeling, Miss Annie?”
“Better than I did this morning, Emily.” Annie’s voice crackled. “But I’m tired of looking at these same walls, even in this pretty room.”
Peggy moved closer to the bed and peered into Annie’s eyes. Seeing they were not overly bright with fever, she asked, “Would you like us to move you downstairs for a couple hours? We can help you up the stairs before we leave.”
Annie knew better than to suggest it was too much for the young mother to spend so much of her break from the diner taking care of her. “I would like that very much, Peggy.”
“Now just tell us what you want to take downstairs with you, and Em and I will carry it downstairs. Then I’ll make you some fresh hot tea to drink with your soup.” Peggy saw Annie’s robe draped over a chair and brought it over to the bed for her.
Sliding an arm into a sleeve, Annie gestured at the packet on the bed and her project bag where Alice had returned her notebook and spreadsheet. “I’ll try to concentrate on the new information everyone found until I get tired again.” She looked around the room, as she drew her robe on the rest of the way and tied the belt. “Oh, and my Bible and the lozenges.”
Emily had been staring at Annie’s robe of indigo blue with wildflower blooms of every color. “You’ve got the prettiest robe, Miss Annie. You look like a flower princess.”
“I think it’ll be a few days before Miss Annie feels like a princess again,” Peggy said as she picked up the items Annie had asked to be carried downstairs and gave the bag of lozenges to her daughter. “Here, Em, take these down to the couch in the living room.”
Annie opened her mouth to respond but discovered nothing would come out. Her voice had finally disappeared altogether.
“It looks like we need to find you an erasable board for writing on until your throat is better,” said Peggy. “Do you have one around here?”
Annie shook her head.
“Don’t worry, we’ll find one for you.” Peggy added Annie’s Bible to the project bag and positioned the bag over her shoulder. “Let’s get you downstairs. Em, bring the pitcher too, after Miss Annie and I get moving.” She moved close to the bed where Annie had swung her legs over the side and was ready to stand. Peggy crooked her arm to give Annie a place to hold onto and use to pull herself upright.
Annie stood up, pausing to allow her body to adjust to being in a different position. Then she took a deep breath and nodded to let Peggy know she was ready to try walking. With her friend’s arm around her waist for support, Annie shuffled through the door and down the hall to the stairs.
Emily followed them with the lozenges and water pitcher. “You’re doing good, Miss Annie!”
Peggy whispered in Annie’s ear. “Em is learning the power of cheering from her dance teacher.” A smile was Annie’s response as she prepared to take her first step down. By the time they reached the living room couch she felt as though she had just sprinted up Maple Street to town. Collapsing gratefully onto the comfortable piece of furniture, she leaned back and enjoyed the view out the front window.
“Time to make the tea.” Peggy laid the project bag on the floor, propped against the couch near Annie’s feet, and headed for the kitchen. Emily set the water pitcher on the coffee table and sat down on a chair, swinging her legs.
“Miss Annie,” she began. “I’m drawing a picture for Joanna as part of her Christmas present. I was gonna draw me dancing in the Christmas recital. But Daddy said he would make a video, and we could send that. So I’m making a picture of Joanna’s favorite things about Maine.” She rubbed her palm against her nose. “Hope I don’t make you look too funny. You gotta get better soon, Miss Annie, ’cause I don’t want you to miss my recital. I need lots of clappers.”
Annie nodded her head as vigorously as she could without making herself dizzy to communicate her support to Emily. It was easy to see why Emily and Joanna had become fast friends almost immediately.
In the midst of Emily’s detailed description of the various costumes she was going to be wearing during the recital, they heard knocking at the front door. Annie smiled and pointed first at the young girl and then toward the door, nodding. Emily hopped up and bounded through the foyer, putting all her energy into hefting open the sturdy door.
“Hi, Mrs. Palmer!” Annie heard her enthusiastic greeting. And then Gwen’s more reserved reply. Just before the two entered the living room, Annie heard Emily’s warning: “Miss Annie can’t talk right now. She’s not being rude or nothing. But she did good walking down the stairs.”
Gwen stepped into the living room, a large plastic storage container in her hands. “Hi, Annie. I’m glad to see you’re feeling well enough to come downstairs. We all missed you yesterday.” She lifted the storage container a few inches. “I can’t stay, but I wanted to drop this off to you. I hope you like fennel-and-apple soup.”
Annie had never eaten fennel-and-apple soup before, but since she wasn’t a picky eater, and she’d never known Gwen to ever make unappetizing food, she nodded to her friend.
“Mama’s in the kitchen warming up some chicken soup right now,” Emily informed Gwen.
It didn’t surprise Gwen that Peggy wouldn’t come to visit their sick friend empty-handed. “Then I’ll just put this in the refrigerator.”
Annie mouthed “Thank you,” as her friend passed by her to the kitchen door. After five minutes in the kitchen, Gwen could see Peggy had everything under control, so she felt confident in leaving for her volunteer work at Ocean View Assisted Living.
Patting Annie on the shoulder, she said, “Annie, make sure you
don’t overdo it, trying to do too much by yourself. If you need me for anything, just have Alice or Peggy call me.” Her face lit up as she thought of another option. “Oh, or you can text my cellphone! You don’t need to talk to do that. I finally figured out how to check my text messages on that fancy techno-phone.”
Waving goodbye to Emily, Gwen let herself out, and met Jason on her way down the front porch steps. He also carried something for Annie in his hands. “Good afternoon, Mrs. Palmer,” Jason said. “Pardon me for not tipping my hat. Stella would fire me if I dropped the casserole she made for Annie.”
“I am most sure Stella would not fire you, Jason, but we don’t want her delicious cooking to go to waste before Annie can enjoy it.” Gwen stepped back up to the front door to open it for him, first leaning into the foyer to prepare Emily and Annie for his arrival. Then she shut the door behind her, pleased to see how her friends were rallying around the newest member of the Hook and Needle Club as though she had lived in Stony Point her whole life.
After asking Jason to relay Annie’s thanks to Stella, securing the door behind him as he left, and placing Stella’s casserole in the refrigerator, Peggy brought Annie’s soup to her and then disappeared upstairs while the patient ate. She was determined to freshen the bedroom as much as she could before Annie returned to spend the evening and night there. Emily remained with Annie to keep her company and fetch anything she might need. That turned out to be helpful, as she was able to open the door when Vanessa arrived to deliver some potato rolls she had baked and another casserole from Mary Beth.
Annie had finished eating and had stretched out on the couch, when she heard the front door open without a knock. Alice paused to shrug off her coat and then strode into the living room with something tucked under her arm. Emily jumped up to meet her. “Miss Alice, whatcha got there?”
“Something your mother tells me Miss Annie needs.” Alice pulled out a white board and showed it to Annie and Emily. Handing it to Annie, she reached into her purse for a smaller box. “Here are some markers and an eraser.”