by SUE FINEMAN
“Did she find a place?”
“Hell, no. She doesn’t like anyplace, she won’t go without her cats, and she orders Jenna around like a slave. She tried to hit me with a ceramic horse when I tore the fireplace mantel off, and she nearly ripped Jenna’s hair out a few minutes ago. That’s it, Gerry. If the nursing home won’t take her back, we’ll have her arrested for assault and the sheriff’s department can deal with her.”
“I’ll call Phillip and see what we can come up with. Is the room still available at the nursing home?”
“Yes, Jenna told them to hold it.”
Gerry blew out a breath. “This is turning out to be a major headache.”
“It sure is. I tried to do something nice for an old lady and look where it got me.”
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Mattie turned on the burner under the kettle and found a cup and a tea bag. Spying the little box of matches on the counter, she slipped it into her pocket. They might come in handy later on.
The kettle boiled and she poured the water into the cup. She sat on a stool at the bar and blew on it until it was cool enough to drink. Charlie’s bastard and that young man had no right to treat her like this. The inn was her home, and he said she could live here.
Jenna had lied to her about Charlie having another bastard. If he had another kid, she would have known about it. He’d always had a wandering eye, but the only woman he’d ever cheated with was Kate Madison.
Kate worked here one Thanksgiving weekend when she was in college, but they were so busy there was no time for hanky-panky. That was years before she spent a week at the inn and seduced Charlie. The little slut. She knew Charlie was a married man and she went after him anyway. And then she and her husband and her little bastard had the unmitigated gall to move into the inn – her inn – and leave Charlie’s bastard here. She wanted to send the girl off somewhere, and Charlie wouldn’t hear of it.
Now Charlie was dead, and if Mattie had her way, the girl would be dead, too.
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Brian called Jenna and asked if he could take Katie for dinner. “Take her where?” Jenna asked, but she knew.
“My dad promises not to smoke around her this time.”
“No. She’s not going there until she’s big enough to tell him to go to hell.”
“But my mother—”
“Your mother lets it happen, Brian. She’s as bad as your father.”
“Then I’ll take her to McDonalds.”
Sure he would, and then he’d take her to his parents’ house. “If you want to visit Katie, you’ll have to come out to the inn.”
“I thought you didn’t live there anymore.”
“It’s temporary, until we send Mattie back to the nursing home. Push the button on the gate and I’ll let you in.”
“Why is there a gate?”
“To keep you and your parents out.” She disconnected and looked up at Alessandro, who was smiling.
“You are one tough broad.”
She sat near Alessandro’s computer, with Katie standing between her knees. “It’s easy with Brian. He’s a wuss.”
“He used to talk about you in the locker room at school, about how hot you were and how many guys you’d slept with, but he got there first.”
Jenna took a deep breath and blew it out. She’d suspected as much, but it was more about Brian than about her. He’d wanted all the other kids to think he was special. Brian had always acted like he was better than anyone else, but his parents had him so beaten down, he was as insecure as a little boy inside. That insecurity was what had drawn her to him in the beginning. She knew he needed her, and nobody else had ever needed her.
She’d calmed down from Mattie’s attack, and it was quiet downstairs. It was time to start dinner, but she wasn’t anxious to go down there. Mattie Worthington had always been surly and unappreciative, but Jenna had never known her to hurt anyone physically until recently, when she learned that Mattie had killed Charlie. Was age playing games with her reasoning, or had she always been this dangerous?
The buzzer for the gate sounded and Mattie yelled, “What’s that noise?”
It was probably Brian. Ignoring Mattie, Jenna walked down the stairs and pushed the button to open the gate. Brian’s car was followed by two others. It looked like a sheriff’s deputy had arrived with Mattie’s attorney.
Brian came in first. “What’s with the cops?”
“Mattie attacked me and tried to attack Alessandro.”
“I most certainly did nothing of the kind,” Mattie yelled. “You’re lying.”
Jenna sighed. “Katie is upstairs. I don’t want her down here right now.”
“My parents are waiting.”
“I don’t give a shit what your parents are doing, Brian. She’s not going to that house again.”
“She’s my daughter, and I have a right to see her.”
“Yes, you do, but not at your parents’ house. If you want to take Katie and your parents out for dinner in a restaurant where smoking isn’t allowed, be my guest, as long as you don’t take her inside their house.”
“Come on, Jenna,” he said in that wheedling tone she hated.
“Katie is waiting for you upstairs.” Jenna turned away. She didn’t want to deprive Brian’s parents of their granddaughter, but she didn’t want her little girl sick again. Brian would have to deal with it. He didn’t have custody, she did, and she was the one who made the decisions about what was best for Katie.
The deputy stayed outside talking with Mattie’s attorney, and Jenna wondered what was going on. Were they going to take her or not? And then another car pulled in. A man got out carrying a doctor’s bag. Now she understood. If Mattie wouldn’t go willingly – and she wouldn’t – they might have to sedate her. All three men walked toward the door, and Jenna let them in. Mr. Collier introduced the nursing home’s doctor, and the men all went into the living room, where Mattie sat muttering to herself.
Jenna walked upstairs, where Brian asked, “What’s going on?”
“They came to take Mattie back to the nursing home. She’s attacking people and acting irrationally.”
A loud wailing came from downstairs and Katie wrapped her arms around Jenna’s leg. “It’s okay, honey. Aunt Mattie is sick, and the doctor is giving her a shot.”
“Do I hafta get a shot?”
“No, not today.”
Jenna sat on Katie’s bed with her while Brian sat in the rocking chair. Alessandro had made himself scarce. Mattie screamed and cried, and Katie sobbed. “I want ’Sandro.”
“Let’s go find him.” Jenna took her daughter’s hand and they walked into Alessandro’s study.
He sat staring out the window. “I wish to God I’d never agreed to let her stay here. I knew she was old, but I didn’t know she was obsessed with this place.”
Brian walked in the door behind Jenna. “She’s wacko. She always was, even when we were in high school. Charlie was an okay guy, but the old lady is nuts.”
Something crashed and shattered downstairs and then Jenna heard footsteps on the stairs. The deputy called her name, and Jenna met him at Alessandro’s office door.
“Miss Madison, it’ll be a few more minutes. The doctor thinks she’ll be better off in the hospital where she can get psychiatric help. He said the nursing home wasn’t equipped to deal with a person who was a danger to herself and to others.”
“She killed her husband five years ago and she’s so angry now I don’t know how to deal with her.”
“I can see that.” The deputy went back downstairs.
Brian gaped at Jenna. “The old witch killed Charlie?”
“Stuff it, Brian.”
Jenna’s stomach growled. Alessandro said, “If Mattie was gone, we could go out to eat, but we can’t leave now. Can you eat pizza?”
She nodded. “No pepperoni, or you can get two and Brian can eat here with Katie.”
“My parents are expecting us.”
“Then go, Brian, but Katie stays here
with me.”
“If I don’t take her there, my old man will be here asking why.”
“He knows why,” said Alessandro. “Go ahead, but this little girl is not going to end up in the emergency room again. She stays with her mother.”
“This is none of your damn business.”
Al stood to face Brian. “I’m making it my business.”
Brian took a step back, no doubt remembering the last time they’d tangled, and Al knew he had him. “Would you like to have pizza with your daughter, Brian?”
“Yeah, sure, but don’t be surprised if my parents show up here.”
Jenna shook her head. “Leave, Brian. Go have dinner with your parents. If you want to come back later, you can read Katie a story and tuck her in bed.”
Al took a step toward Brian, and Brian galloped down the stairs.
An ambulance drove up as Brian left, and they took Mattie out on a stretcher. The crying and screaming had stopped several minutes ago, so they must have given her something to sedate her. They’d have to keep her that way if she was going to return to the nursing home. Al didn’t care what they did with her as long as they didn’t bring her back.
He walked downstairs and shook hands with the deputy and Ma’s friend, Phillip Collier. “Thanks for your help, gentlemen. We tried to find her another place to live, but she wouldn’t leave.”
“We know,” said Phillip. “I’m afraid age has taken a toll.”
Al suspected it was more than age with Mattie. She was off his hands now, and Jenna didn’t have to deal with her again.
Now, if he could just convince Jenna to stay with him at the inn instead of going back to his mother’s house. This old inn was like a tomb without her there.
Al ordered a ham and mushroom pizza and made a salad to go with it while Jenna cleaned up the broken ceramic horse in the living room.
“Who knew a frail old woman could cause this much trouble,” said Jenna. “If I’d known she was this unstable I never would have agreed to take care of her.”
“But look what you would have missed out on.”
She looked up. “What?”
“Me.”
She laughed so hard she had to sit down.
“Woman, you’re hard on a man’s ego.”
Chapter Seventeen
After Mattie left, Jenna decided not to move back to Sophia’s house. Alessandro’s mother had a man in her life, and there were times when Jenna thought being there interfered in their relationship. It wasn’t easy sleeping down the hall from Alessandro after all the nights they’d spent together, but she’d find an apartment soon and move out of the inn for good.
Aside from her job with Cara, she needed to distance herself from the Donatelli family. Jenna loved Sophia – she loved them all – but Sophia wanted a wife for her son, and she’d decided that wife would be Jenna. Knowing she was pregnant had increased the pressure. The whole family probably knew about the pregnancy by now, although the only one Jenna had talked about it with was Cara.
Alessandro had made his feelings known. He wanted her to stay with him, he wanted to have sex with her, and he wanted the baby, but he didn’t trust the baby’s mother. Without love and respect and trust, what was the point? She didn’t need a man to take care of her. Except for her college tuition and a little child support for Katie, she’d been paying her own way since she was seventeen.
Hearing him sing along with his Italian opera and having him play with Katie and give her horsy rides softened her feelings toward him. She still loved him, and she knew Katie loved him, too. He’d always be in her life because they’d created a baby together, but their relationship would have to be kept at the friendship level.
Jenna found a day care for Katie and spent her lunch hours looking for another place to live. There was a nice townhouse for rent, but the thought of carrying a baby up and down those steep stairs didn’t sit well with her, so she kept looking. Everyplace wanted hefty pet deposits, but she couldn’t deprive Katie of her kitty friend. Callie had become a part of their family.
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Maria and Blade hosted the family dinner that Sunday afternoon. Phillip was treated like an honored guest. Sophia was half afraid her sons would grill him, but aside from a little teasing, which Phillip handled well, they behaved themselves. Maria was a gracious hostess, as always.
Alessandro brought Jenna and Katie, and Katie immediately sought out Sophie. Jenna was quiet, and she didn’t eat much, but everyone went out of their way to talk with her and make her feel welcome.
The little children in the family watched Phillip, seemingly in awe of his white hair and mustache. Finally, little Jeannie walked over to Phillip’s chair and raised her arms to be picked up. He lifted her to his lap, and she touched his mustache. He rubbed it on her hand and she giggled. She wasn’t quite two, a precocious little tyke with Maria’s dark hair and Blade’s striking blue eyes.
After that, all the little kids stood around his chair wanting to touch his mustache. After dinner, while the mothers cleaned up their little ones, Phillip did a few magic tricks for the older kids. Vinnie leaned close to Sophia. “Nice guy. Papa would have liked him.”
Yes, Vincent would have liked him.
Gina was the only one Sophia worried about. Even as her two boys watched magic tricks and laughed with Phillip, she stayed back. Maybe she was remembering her broken engagement with Phillip’s son, Chip, but Sophia’s friendship with Phillip had nothing to do with her or Chip. She’d have to have a heart to heart talk with Gina one of these days, but not today.
Al pulled Phillip and Jenna aside for a little talk. “Phillip, how is Mattie doing?”
“The doctors are trying to stabilize her. The nursing home won’t take her back unless the doctors can get her on the right medication to keep her under control. I’d hate to see her end up in a mental institution.”
“Me, too, but I can’t handle her,” said Jenna. “I don’t know anyone who can. What are we doing about the nursing home?”
“I can stop paying the bill if that’s what you want. It’s a waste of money if she won’t be able to return there, but if they release her from the hospital, she’ll need a place to go.”
“They have a locked unit at the nursing home. Isn’t that for people with mental problems?”
“It’s for people with memory problems who are prone to wandering off by themselves. A nurse at the hospital found matches, a garage door opener, and several hundred dollars in Mattie’s pocket. Mattie tried to hit the nurse when she wouldn’t give them back. You don’t want to put someone like that in with confused but docile or sick old people.”
“No.”
“Let’s think about this for a few days and see how Mattie does in say a week. We can reevaluate at that time.”
“Yes, all right.” Unless they kept her sedated, Jenna doubted there’d be any improvement in a week.
In spite of the way Mattie had treated her, Jenna felt sorry for her. She was sick in her mind, but looking back, this had been coming on for years. At least she wouldn’t be coming back to the inn. After this little episode, they’d keep a closer eye on her.
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Al worked day and night on the plans for the Dead Man’s Point project until he had a total of five plans with features that most of Nick’s upper end buyers wanted. Only one of the plans had a basement, but basements could easily be added to the other plans, depending on the lots they’d be built on. The land sloped down from the street toward the water, and some lots were perfect for daylight basements.
Jenna often came into Al’s office to see what he was working on. She pointed out the features she especially liked, but in one plan, she shook her head. “I know sliding doors let in more light than a door and window, but…”
“But you don’t like it?”
“No. I looked at an apartment that had a slider like that. Everything else was nice, and the price was right, but I like to sleep with a window open, and there was no other window in the room. I
’d be afraid to leave a sliding door unlocked all night, especially in an apartment complex. If I was paying this much money for a home, I’d probably have valuable things in the house, and I wouldn’t want to entice someone to walk in and steal something.” She glanced at his face. “Or hurt someone.”
Al examined that part of the plan again. The guest room on the main floor opened to a walled-in courtyard, but the wall was only two feet tall, with a built-in bench on top, easy to step over.
He removed the slider from the plan and replaced it with a French door with narrow windows on either side. The windows were too narrow for a person to get through and they didn’t open near the door latch, so someone couldn’t reach in and unlock the door. These homes would all have state of the art security systems, so if someone broke a window or opened a door, an alarm would go off. They’d also have air-conditioning, although they didn’t really need it along the water.
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A few days later, Nick brought a couple out to the inn. The woman said, “This view is absolutely breathtaking.”
The man didn’t say much until after they walked around and talked about which lots they liked. He walked inside and looked around the living and dining rooms of the old inn. “What are you doing with this building?”
“Tearing it down,” said Nick, “unless you’re interested in having it renovated for your new home.”
“That depends on what else you have to offer.”
They sat at the dining room table and Al handed them one of the plans. “These are preliminary plans that can be customized to fit your own personal needs. This plan has four bedrooms, four full baths and two half baths, a home theater and exercise room in the basement, a library, and a study. It should have views from nearly every room in the house.”
Al put the pictures he’d drawn of the kitchen, library, front of the house, back of the house, and the master bedroom on the table around the plan, and then he put the picture of the sun room in front of them. He’d sketched in plants and wicker furniture. “The sun porch will go on the south side of the house to catch the winter sun. If you choose this plan and we put it on a waterfront lot, it would go here.” He pointed to the plan. “It would open off the family room and the library.”