Blood Sisters

by Melody Carlson

  “Yes, I didn’t quite understand that. Why was it that you decided to bury Jasmine’s body in Mississippi?”

  “Well, it was Burt’s idea, and at first I couldn’t understand it, but then he explained that it was a show of loyalty to our Southern roots, and that since she’d been born in Mississippi, she should be buried down there too. He also told me about this time when she was just a little girl and we went to his mother’s graveside—Grandma Morrison— just shortly after she died, and I don’t recollect this myself, but Burt clearly recalls how Jasmine said she wanted to be buried right next to her grandma. Now isn’t that just dear?”

  Judith nodded, all the while thinking it didn’t sound a bit like what a child, especially Jasmine, might say. First off, Jasmine had always had a horrific fear of death and mortality. And she had absolutely hated graveyards and would never go anywhere near them. Not even on the Halloween when they were twelve and Judith had begged her and finally dared her. And even though Jasmine rarely gave up a dare, she had flatly refused. But Judith kept this memory to herself. “So is that where she was buried then? Next to Grandma Morrison?”

  “Well, no.. .the family plot was already full. We had to go to another cemetery. But at least it was in the same town that she was born in. That was something, after all.”

  Judith sighed. “Yes, I suppose so. But it’s still so hard for me to let her go.”

  Ellen slipped her arm around Judith and gave a little squeeze. “We miss her, don’t we, honey?”

  “Yes. It was too soon for her to go.”

  Ellen nodded, then wiped her hands on a towel. “Now, I’ll just get out the potato salad that I made yesterday and open a can of peaches, and I think we’ll be all set.”

  Judith glanced over to the breakfast nook. “Can I set the table for you?”

  “Sure. But Burt likes to eat dinner in the dining room and on the good china. He thinks it’s more civilized. To tell you the truth, I find the kitchen more comfortable. Cozy, you know. But the dishes and silver are in the china hutch out there. The same one we got back when you and Jasmine were just kids. A little outdated I s’pect, but I like it just the same.”

  Judith recognized the Danish modern hutch and matching dining room set. She had admired them as a child, but wasn’t so sure anymore. They seemed rather cold and formal now. She set three place settings, one at each end in the way that she remembered Jasmine’s parents sitting from years ago, and one for herself in the middle. She heard the phone ring, but continued to arrange the table.

  “Looks like you’ll need to set another place,” called Ellen. “Burt’s bringing home another mouth to feed. I hope I made enough chicken. I wonder if I should make some more dessert.”

  Judith set another place setting across the table from hers, then returned to the kitchen. “Anything I can do?”

  Ellen was holding what was more than half of a two-layer chocolate cake. “Just tell me, do you think this cake’s big enough for four people, Judith?”

  “Goodness, yes. Unless everyone is absolutely ravenous.”

  Ellen laughed. “Well, Burt’s been trying to cut down on sweets, and Hal could certainly afford to. I think we’ll be just fine.”

  So that’s who was joining them for dinner tonight. The idea of sitting across from Hal Emery put another knot in her stomach, and she began to feel, once again, that she had gotten into something way over her head. How she longed to call Adam, to simply hear his calm, soothing voice. But now she wouldn’t be in touch with him for at least two, maybe three, days. And what would he think when she wasn’t at home tonight? Would he get her phone message? Would he be worried? Would he call out the guard and blow her whole cover? And what would happen if they found out that she was really working for him? Once again, she sent up a silent and desperate prayer for help. This scheme was fast becoming too complicated for her.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  JUDITH WAS JUST PLACING the bread and butter on the table when the two men walked in. “Hello,” she called in her friendliest voice, yet at the same time she longed to flee this place, to get away from everyone and everything even remotely connected with the Morrisons and the community at the lake.

  “Hi, Judith,” said Burt. “Did Ellen tell you I was bringing this stray along home with me?”

  “Yeah,” Hal laughed, “I happen to know just how good Ellen’s cooking is, and believe me, I never pass up a chance to sit at her table.”

  “Oh, there you are,” called Ellen happily. “Right on time too. Y’all go ahead and sit down now, and I’ll bring in the chicken.”

  “Fried chicken?” Hal rubbed his rotund midsection. “I guess I really got lucky tonight.”

  “Yes,” said Ellen as she proudly set the steaming platter in the center of the table. “I just hope there’s enough to go ’round.”

  Judith laughed. “Good grief, it looks like you’ve enough here to feed ten people.”

  Ellen grinned. “Well, I always like a little fried chicken for leftovers the next day. I think it tastes real good cold.”

  Then Burt bowed his head and said a brief and formal blessing. Although Judith didn’t find it as surprising as she had the first night at the restaurant, it still disturbed her. She wondered if it were possible that she and Burt actually prayed to the same God, and if so, would God listen and respond to both of them in the same way?

  Ellen handed the platter of chicken to Judith first. “Hal, I told Judith you might be willing to give her a little tour of your new house, if you’re not too busy with the conference that is.”

  “Sure, it’s fine with me.” said Hal as he took a piece of bread. “Although we will be pretty busy during the next couple days.”

  “Well, you could probably take them on over there tonight before the meeting starts,” suggested Burt as he dished out some potato salad. “They’re having a big spaghetti feed over at the lodge tonight, and then the first meeting will start at eight-thirty.”

  “Yeah, I s’pose we could run on over there after we finish up here,” offered Hal.

  “I’m surprised you didn’t go to the spaghetti feed too, Burt,” said Judith. “I certainly hope you didn’t feel like you needed to eat at home on my account.”

  Ellen laughed. “I don’t mean to hurt your feelings, Judith, but Burt came home on account of just one thing.”

  “Burt can’t stand spaghetti,” whispered Hal as if he were telling a deep, dark secret.

  Burt nodded as he bit into a juicy thigh. “That’s right. And besides, I’ll be spending plenty of time with these fel-lars before the weekend’s over.”

  “Well, that makes me feel better.” Judith focused her eyes on her plate, willing herself to at least appear to be eating, although she felt certain she could not.

  Burt and Hal dominated the conversation during the meal, and Judith tried to memorize the names that were mentioned, but before long all the Jims and Bobs and Bills seemed to mix together. And suddenly she wished that she had been wired like Adam had wanted. But then, on the

  other hand, maybe not—especially considering the scanning system they had going over at the clubhouse.

  “Did you get your gate security all straightened out?” asked Judith.

  “You better believe it.” Burt pushed his chair back. “And we got the guard dogs out and everything.”

  “Our official welcoming committee.” Hal chuckled.

  “I’ve got German chocolate cake for dessert,” offered Ellen.

  “How about if we take that little walk over to Hal’s place first,” suggested Burt. “Let our supper settle a bit.”

  “Sounds good to me,” said Hal, following Burt’s lead.

  “But you’re not finished, dear,” said Ellen, eyeing Judith’s nearly full plate.

  “I guess my eyes were bigger than my stomach,” said Judith as she began to stand too. “But, really, I’ve had plenty. That was delicious, Ellen.”

  “Are you sure, honey?”

  “Yes, shall I clear the ta
ble?”

  “No, you go along with the boys now, and I’ll take care of this. I’ve seen Hal’s house plenty of times.”

  “Oh, let me help—”

  “Come on, Judith,” said Burt in a commanding voice. “You let Ellen take care of this.”

  They went outside and began to walk down the graveled road. “It cools off nicely out here by the lake,” commented Judith as they went past a newer home.

  “That’s where the Smiths live,” pointed out Hal. “They’ve got a couple of grade-school-age boys.”

  “Where do they go to school?” asked Judith, as she studied the square, plain house. One thing she’d noticed out here was that although everything was neat and tidy, there seemed to be no architectural interest in any of the homes and minimal landscaping.

  “We have a small private school over by the lodge,” said Burt. “About thirty kids altogether, kindergarten through high school.”

  “How many teachers?” she asked.

  “Just one.”

  “Oh my, that must be quite a load.”

  Burt looked at her with a slightly raised brow. “That’s right, you’re a teacher too. Maybe we should try to talk you into sticking around.”

  Judith laughed, hoping that it sounded more light-hearted to their ears than it did to hers. “Oh, you just never know, Burt. What sort of curriculum do they use anyway? Similar to what homeschool kids use?”

  “Similar, I suppose, but we have our own curriculum with a focus on religion and national pride. Our goal is biblically based—we believe if we bring up our children in the way they should go, when they become older they don’t depart from it.”

  “I see.” Judith wondered how Burt managed to explain his own two daughters to his followers.

  “That’s my house there,” said Hal, proudly pointing to a two-story boxlike house straight ahead.

  “It looks big,” said Judith.

  “Yes, I had hoped we might’ve filled it with children.” He sadly shook his head.

  “Ellen said that there’s a three thousand-square-foot limit on homes,” said Judith, hoping to change the subject. “Do you have to comply to any other building codes out here?”

  “Just our own.” Burt laughed in a cynical way. “‘Course, the county might not be too pleased with that—if they knew, that is. But their stupid permits are just another way the government tries to get its hand into our pockets.”

  “Welcome to my castle,” said Hal as he unlocked the door. “Give me a minute to disengage this.” He began to punch buttons into a security system that looked exactly like the one in the Morrisons’ house.

  “Does everyone have the same security system?” she asked.

  “You bet.” said Hal as the green light came on. “And all are connected to the main security back at the lodge.”

  “I’m surprised you’d need all that when you live in such a remote and gated community.” She walked past the entryway and looked around to furnishings that appeared startling similar to those in the Morrison home.

  “We have reasons to be careful.” said Burt. “We leave nothing to chance.”

  “This reminds me of your house, Burt.” said Judith.

  Burt grinned. “They say imitation is the highest form of flattery.”

  Hal nodded. “Burt’s been like a dad to me. I guess I don’t even realize how much his life has influenced mine.”

  “How did you guys meet in the first place?” she asked as they walked through the living area.

  “Hal’s daddy, Clarence Emery, was a good friend of mine back in Mississippi. Our families were real close. Clarence was a little older than me, and I greatly admired him. We both worked at the lumber mill after the war. And it was Clarence who first began dreaming of starting a place like this. He thought we’d build it in Mississippi, but when I was transferred out here, we started dreaming up bigger and better things. He was the one who kept things going back home, recruiting and gathering funds.”

  “Yep,” added Hal, “my daddy ran all sorts of meetings and things to raise money and get people fired up about this place.”

  “What happened to him?”

  “Heart attack.” Burt shook his head. “Right in the prime of life too.”

  “Yep, it was a sad day.” Hal leaned against a counter in the sparsely furnished kitchen. “He never even got to see this place.”

  “So I’ve tried to make it up to him.” said Burt, “by taking Hal under my wing, so to speak.”

  “That’s good of you.” Judith turned from the men and studied the kitchen. And you gave him your daughter too, she thought. “Did Jasmine spend much time in this house?” she asked, hoping her voice sounded innocent, maybe even wistful.

  “Not as much as I’d have liked,” said Hal. “For some reason she just couldn’t seem to get comfortable here.”

  Judith turned and studied his face. “That’s too bad.”

  “Yeah, she just didn’t seem to be comfortable much of anywhere.” He shook his head. “Not even in her own skin.”

  A shiver ran down her neck. “May I see the rest of the house?”

  “Excuse me,” said Burt. “I need to make a phone call.”

  “Why don’t you use my office,” said Hal as he opened the door to a room with an intricate looking computer system that filled the top of a large desk.

  “Wow,” said Judith. “That looks impressive. You must be a real computer whiz.”

  “Nah, I just use it to order stuff for the hardware store, and I like to surf the Net and see what’s going on in the outside world.”

  “Anything interesting?”

  “Just things that make me glad I live where I do.” Hal closed the door to give Burt privacy for his phone call. “Do you want to see the upstairs?”

  Judith shrugged. “Sure, if we have time.”

  He showed her several identical bedrooms upstairs. “These were going to be rooms for the kids.” Then he opened the door to a larger bedroom. “And this was supposed to be for me and Jasmine.”

  “Supposed to be?”

  He forced a laugh. “Yeah, Jasmine never slept a single night in this room.” Then he closed the door.

  “Where did she sleep?”

  He nodded toward a closed door. “In there. That is unless she was down at the trailer. She stayed there sometimes too.”

  “Can I see this room?”

  He shrugged. “I guess it don’t matter, being that you were a good friend of hers and all. But I haven’t moved a thing—since she—uh, left us.”

  Judith felt her breath catch as he opened the door and then stepped back to allow her in. She started to enter the room, not quite knowing what to expect, then paused. Meanwhile, Hal remained in the hallway.

  “I don’t like to go in there,” he quickly explained. “Not that I believe in ghosts or anything.. .but...”

  She turned and studied him. Did he look slightly frightened? “No, of course not. I can understand that.” She stepped into the room, surprised at how it felt cooler, but then it was on the shady side of the house. She quickly took in the small room. Nothing unusual or out of the ordinary. Just a single bed, or perhaps it was only a cot, against the far wall, pushed up into the corner with a heap of blankets piled up, almost like a nest of sorts. She walked over and touched the top blanket. Jasmine had slept here. Next to the cot was a small low table, empty except for a small, familiar-looking worn Bible. A large lump grew in her throat as she reached for the Bible, then almost reverently opened it. She knew it was Jasmine’s. It had been presented to her by Aunt Lenore on her twelfth birthday. Judith remembered that day which, of course, had also been her twelfth birthday. They had both been invited to Aunt

  Lenore’s for tea. And Aunt Lenore had given both girls identical Bibles, explaining to them that twelve was the “age of accountability” and a time when they needed to take their own spiritual well-being more seriously. Both girls had listened politely, but perhaps not too intently because they were more consumed with the sl
umber party they were jointly having at Judith’s house later that day. Judith ran her hands over the Bible. Jasmine still had this, after all these years. Judith wondered if she could even find hers. Probably buried deep in one of the many boxes stored back in her lonely apartment.

  “Are you okay?”

  She started at his voice, jerked back into the here and now. “Yes. I...I’m just so surprised to see Jasmine’s Bible here. I mean, I had one just like it, and I haven’t seen it in years. It just brings back so many memories for me.”

  “Yeah, Ellen had saved it for her. I think Jasmine had actually been reading it quite a bit. I had hoped it might even help to straighten her out some.”

  “Straighten her out?” Judith moved to where she could see his face more clearly.

  “Well, she was pretty mixed up, you know.”

  “Oh.” Judith turned and stared at the room. “Do you mind if I look a bit more?”

  “Go ahead. I’m sure there’s not much to see.”

  And there really wasn’t much to see in the barren room. A small painted dresser with only a few clothing items in it. Plain and practical looking underpants and bras and socks and a few pastel colored T-shirts. But what really caught Judith’s eye amid the white under things was a coral-colored pair of silky panties and a matching bra—both trimmed in lace, but tucked discreetly beneath the other more sensible looking items. And although the coral pieces didn’t appear new or unused, they were definitely quite nice. Judith peeked at a tag. A French label! How strange.

  She quickly closed the drawer and looked away. “You’re right.” she said as she walked casually toward the closet. “There’s really not much to see. But somehow it’s a comfort to me just knowing that Jasmine was really here. And that these were her things.”