If You Ever Tell

by Carlene Thompson

  Meanwhile, Gus went on talking loudly. “I thought Marielle had some fondness for me, too. She never said anything, but sometimes it seemed she gave me a certain kind of look, a sort of caring look, but maybe that was just wishful thinking on my part.”

  “I’m sure it wasn’t.” Teresa wasn’t being polite or tactful. She could easily imagine her mother in love with this kind, placid, intelligent man—a man who would have treated her with warmth and gentleness, a man who must have been as handsome in his youth as his son was now, the son who was brushing Cleopatra with unusual vigor. Teresa could tell that the more Gus talked about Marielle, the angrier Josh grew, his face flushing to a deep red beneath the bright morning sun.

  Teresa knew she should change the subject, but she couldn’t hold back her next question. “Mom wouldn’t have been interested in money, Gus, so how did she end up with Dad?”

  Gus glanced away for a moment, looking thoughtfully over the rolling green acres of the farm. Teri thought he seemed to be deciding whether to answer. Then his gaze returned to her. “You’re right, Teresa—your mother didn’t give a whit about money—but her parents did, and they were a strong pair. Of course you’d know that, them being your grandparents and all.”

  “Actually, I was only around them a few times when I was little. Then they were killed in that train wreck. My grandfather always insisted trains were safer than planes.”

  “Yeah, I forgot how young you must have been when they died. Well, anyway, they ruled Marielle with an iron hand. They were always real pleasant to her in front of people, but I’m not so sure what they were like when there was no one around to see them. Anyway, your mother was timid with them.”

  Gus paused, frowning. Then he burst out, “Ah, hell, I’ve already called you Teresa, which I always vowed not to do, so I might as well come out with everything. You’ve got a right to know about your own mother. Marielle was downright scared of her parents. She’d never admit it, but when they were around I could see it in her eyes. And I remember how her parents’ faces lit up one day when Hugh dropped by the stables to watch Marielle ride. I could tell she’d caught Farr’s fancy and they were over the moon with joy.

  “Not Marielle, though. She told me he’d been comin’ by her house a lot, visitin’, stayin’ for dinner. She seemed troubled. One day we were riding and she was doin’ a poor job of it, handlin’ the horse all wrong, and finally she burst into tears and said she wished she never had to talk to Hugh Farr again. That’s all she’d say. A week later, out of the blue, her father sold her horse she loved so much and she stopped comin’ to the stables.

  “About three months later, I read in the newspaper about her engagement to Hubert Farr. I tell you, Teresa, I just about cried. Me, a grown man. The paper ran their betrothal picture.” Gus made a face as if he’d just swallowed something incredibly sour. “Hugh was smilin’ all over the place and Marielle was tryin’ to smile, but it wasn’t workin’. I’d never seen her look like that, and I knew she was sad about the engagement, but she married him anyway.”

  Gus sighed. “I didn’t see her again for years, not till she came to the stables with you a few times, but she never did more than say hello to me. At first that kind of stung, but then I realized she wouldn’t want it gettin’ back to your father that she was even comin’ to the stables, much less talkin’ up a storm with me.”

  “No, she wouldn’t have,” Teresa said vaguely, still surprised by all she’d learned in the last ten minutes. Although she had known Gus since she was an adolescent and he was working at the Point Pleasant stables, she’d never heard him talk so much. She sat stunned on the fence top, not knowing what to say after Gus’s information about Marielle’s “courtship” with Hugh Farr and Gus’s own revelation that he’d been in love with her. Finally, Teresa blurted, “I wish she’d never married Dad.”

  “Then you wouldn’t be here, Teresa, and you’re just as nice as she was. You’re just feistier, good for you. You’ve come through fire the last few years and I’ve felt real sorry about it, but you’re just that much stronger for it.” Gus, satisfied with Caesar’s grooming, picked up his pail of water in his right hand and Caesar’s lead rope with his left. Then he once again turned to Teri and said, “Your mother wasn’t strong like you, Teresa. That’s why I worry about her and I pray every night that poor Marielle finds her way home someday.”

  2

  Sharon arrived promptly at ten o’clock for Daniel’s first lesson, which was a near disaster. She pulled into the small gravel parking lot near the barn, where Teri, Josh, and Gus waited. Such a welcoming committee wasn’t par for the Farr Fields staff, but Teri had warned Gus and Josh that they needed to give Sharon all the assurance they could.

  Sharon popped out of the car, already looking worried, even slightly frazzled. Daniel emerged more slowly. He wore a cowboy hat and boots, which Sharon told Teri had been bought by Kent at Daniel’s insistence. The child looked ridiculous in the black hat too big for his little freckled face, and for some reason he was trying to walk bowlegged. A half-smothered snort of laughter emerged from Josh, who was promptly nudged in the ribs by his father. “Well, hello there, cowboy,” Gus said heartily to Daniel.

  “Hello, Mr. Gibbs.” Daniel touched the rim of his hat first at Gus, then at Josh, and finally nodded to Teri. “I’m here to ride Caesar,” Daniel stated with an air of sophisticated calm.

  Aware that all three of them were about to burst out laughing, Teri quickly said, “Mr. Gibbs has him groomed and ready for you. His son, Josh, is going to give you your lesson this morning. Caesar can’t wait to see you again.”

  At her last sentence, the child’s face broke into a huge grin, showing a gap where his front tooth had fallen out, Teri hoped it had happened last night so the tooth fairy could come while he slept. “And I want to see Caesar!” Daniel said joyfully. “Mr. Josh, are we going to ride him downtown?”

  Josh seemed to think over the matter for a moment, then said, “I think it would be better if we stayed here for your first lesson. But you’ll have a good time; I promise. We’ll go all around the ring and maybe even farther out into the fields.”

  Daniel beamed. Sharon’s eyes widened. “Maybe he should just sit on the horse today.”

  “Just sit on him!” Daniel looked horrified. “Mommy, I came here to learn how to ride, not to sit. I know how to sit!”

  “Not on a horse!” Sharon argued.

  Annoyance flooded through Teri. Had Sharon brought Daniel only to forbid him to ride even with an experienced trainer standing right beside him? Teri was on the verge of snapping at Sharon when Josh intervened. He turned his boy-next-door smile on Sharon and stepped closer to Daniel, placing his hand protectively on the enraged child’s shoulder. “Mrs. Farr, I start out children real slow.” His voice was soft, reassuring, almost wooing. “We get to know the horse—Daniel has already met Caesar, but they need to talk man-to-man again today, and then I’ll show him how the saddle fits; then I’ll help him mount the horse and show him how to hold the reins just so. Today, we’re going to concentrate on how to sit on Caesar. We’ll walk around a little bit if Daniel’s comfortable, but I’ll be holding the lead rope the whole time. I’ll take extra good care of him.”

  Daniel had taken Josh’s hand and was holding on for dear life, looking at his mother with a mixture of pleading and determination. Sharon glanced at him, then back at Josh, still smiling, still maintaining an expression of confident reassurance. At last, Sharon relented. “All right, but don’t turn your back on him for a second.”

  “I wouldn’t dream of it, Mrs. Farr.” Josh looked down at Daniel, whose hat had slipped sideways in his distress, showing his bright strawberry blond hair and one eye brimming with an unspilled tear. “Daniel, let’s you and me go talk to Caesar for a few minutes. I’ve got a couple of apple slices you can give to him. He’ll like that. But you’d better take off that hat, first. I know you two took to each other like milk and honey yesterday, but he’s never seen you in a hat and h
e might not recognize you. He’d be real upset if he thought anybody except Dan Farr was comin’ to ride him this mornin’. He’s been lookin’ forward to it.”

  Gus winked at Teri, who was amused by the drawl Josh had adopted clearly for Daniel’s benefit. Meanwhile, Josh simply turned around and began leading Daniel to the barn, not waiting for another objection from Sharon. Josh kept up a steady stream of chatter, and in a moment Daniel was laughing, the incipient crying fit a thing of the past. Teri took Sharon’s arm. “I just made fresh coffee. Let’s go up to the house. We can visit without Kent interrupting.”

  Sharon finally gave her a tight smile. “Okay, Teri. You don’t have to get out the handcuffs. The overprotective mother will go quietly.”

  While Teri bustled around the kitchen pouring coffee, Sharon sat at the table—detached and clearly not in the least interested in anything her sister-in-law had to say. Teri chattered about a couple of her other students who were doing well on Caesar, the man who owned Captain Jack but rarely came to ride him, how she’d heard this year’s fireworks display at Tu-Endie-Wei State Park was to be the biggest ever. She listened to her own voice, skimming over the surface of light topics while her mind churned with images of the fax and the note she’d found in her car, and finally Snowflake. Teri wished she had someone to talk with about it all—someone besides Carmen, who was busy at her store—but Sharon was not the person, particularly today. Today Teri wanted to keep things as placid as possible for Daniel’s sake.

  Thirty minutes later, Gus called Teri from the phone in the barn. “Miss Farr, I just wanted to let you know Mrs. Bailey called and said Polly wouldn’t be coming to her lesson today,” he said. “She said she’d call when Polly was ready to come back.”

  “She called the phone in the barn?” Teri asked. “When Polly has to miss a lesson, Mrs. Bailey always calls me at the house.”

  “Well, that’s what I thought, but she said the line was busy.”

  “I haven’t been on the phone. And she said she’d call when Polly was ready to come back? She didn’t say Polly would be here for her regular lesson next week?”

  “Well, yeah, that’s what she said. I asked if Polly was sick, and Mrs. Bailey said no then she said yes real quick.”

  “Which means she was lying,” Teresa said flatly. “She didn’t want Polly taking lessons here anymore because of the Roscoe Byrnes business yesterday.”

  “Oh now, Miss Farr, don’t get upset.” Gus was making an unsuccessful attempt to sound cheerfully scornful. “Mrs. Bailey is kind of flighty sometimes. Maybe she just decided to send Polly to summer camp or the Baileys are gonna take a vacation.”

  “Then why couldn’t she have said so?” Gus was obviously trying to soothe Teresa’s nerves, but she could hear the insincerity in his voice. Lying didn’t come easily to Gus Gibbs. “Mrs. Bailey is not in the least flighty and she told me back in early June that she wasn’t sending Polly to camp and also that they wouldn’t be taking a family vacation until August.”

  “Well, there could be another reason—”

  “Yes, and I know what it is.” Teri drew a deep breath, forcing herself not to fall apart because one student had canceled. “Oh well, at least Cleopatra gets the day off. How is Daniel doing?”

  “Just fine. He’s not timid around Caesar. He won’t ride without his hat on, though.”

  Teri couldn’t help smiling. “As long as Caesar doesn’t mind the hat, we shouldn’t, either. Sharon and I will be down to get Daniel in about half an hour.”

  As soon as Teri put down the receiver and turned around, though, Sharon was already rising from the kitchen table. “Daniel has been with the horse long enough for one day. I think I should take him home now. I don’t want him so cranky he won’t take his nap.”

  “Cranky! A nap!” Teri knew her voice was rising, but she couldn’t stop objecting. “Sharon, he’s almost eight. You can’t tell me he still takes a nap! Good heavens, they don’t have nap time in school!”

  “When he was in nursery school—”

  “Exactly. Nursery school. He was what—three, four? You’re just snatching him away because Polly Bailey’s mother canceled!”

  Sharon’s color heightened in her tight face, but she kept her voice maddeningly calm. “Teri, please don’t get so worked up about this. I couldn’t care less about Polly Bailey. I simply think Daniel has been on that horse too long already. His legs will be sore or… or…”

  “Or what?” Teri flashed. Then she noticed how stiffly Sharon stood, how she’d lifted her chin as if steeling herself for a verbal or perhaps even physical attack. She acts like she’s afraid of me, Teresa thought, both shocked and hurt. “I’m sorry I snapped at you.” The apology was genuine, but even Teri thought it sounded artificial. “I’m certainly not going to hold Daniel hostage here if you want to take him home.” To Teri’s horror, she felt her throat tightening as tears threatened. “I just hate knowing…”

  “Knowing what?” Sharon asked cautiously.

  “Knowing that my own sister-in-law wants to get her child away back to safety, and that means getting him away from me as soon as possible.”

  CHAPTER NINE

  1

  IT COULDN’T HAVE BEEN more than twenty minutes after Sharon had led a weeping Daniel to her car and driven away with unusual speed when Kent called. “Just wanted to let you know we have a buyer for the house,” he said abruptly.

  “The house?” Teresa repeated blankly, still ruffled by Sharon’s hasty departure.

  “Dad’s house. You know, the one we’ve been trying to unload for nearly eight years? The realtor just called me and said someone offered to buy it for twenty thousand below our asking price. Considering how long it’s been vacant, I think we can lower the price to get rid of it. At least I’m willing. How about you?”

  “My God, yes.” Teresa was stunned. For so long she’d thought no one would buy the house where two people had been murdered. Just a few months ago, she and Kent had talked about waiting another year and then tearing down the house and selling only the lot, which was in an excellent neighborhood. “Do you have any idea who’s up for buying the local House of Death? That’s what a lot of people call it, you know.”

  “Yes, I know. Especially teenagers. They think the house is cool because of its gory history. Anyway, the realtor didn’t say much, but it seems the potential buyers are a young couple from California and they thought the house’s history was intriguing—it seemed to be more of a selling point than a detraction, because the husband is a writer of horror novels. He’s not famous, but he’s sold a couple of books. I have no idea why the couple decided to move to West Virginia, and in my shock over being able to finally unload the place, I’ve already forgotten their name,” Kent added dryly.

  “Who cares?” Teresa asked, elated that the place was selling. So often she had overheard people referring to the house in which she’d grown up as “horrible” or “a house where no normal person would want to live.” Yet she hadn’t liked the idea of destroying the house, in spite of its tragic past, because her mother had loved it, appreciating its fine craftsmanship, cherishing its history that dated back to 1925, when it was built. Nothing bad had ever happened in that house—nothing bad until Hugh Farr had bought it and soon begun setting off a chain of events that would end in murder.

  “So is it all right that I told the realtor we accept the offer?” Kent was asking.

  “Thanks for waiting to ask me first,” Teresa answered wryly. “But yes, it’s all right. We still have to move out all the furniture. What will we do with it?”

  “Taken care of,” Kent said briskly. “You go to the house tomorrow and see if there’s anything you want right now. I don’t want anything and neither does Sharon. After all, Wendy got rid of most of the stuff that belonged to Mom. Anyway, I’ll let Jason know, too. Maybe there’s something left in Celeste’s room he wants.”

  “I doubt it and who could blame him? His daughter was almost murdered in there,” Teresa said,
feeling a shiver even in the heat of the afternoon. “But after all these years, he might feel different.”

  “Yeah, maybe.” Kent sounded hurried and distracted. “Anyway, I’ve rented a storage space and arranged to have the furniture moved there in a couple of days.”

  “You don’t waste any time, do you?”

  “I just want to get this deal done. I thought you’d feel the same way, but if I’ve jumped the gun…”

  “No. I want the deal done, too, as you put it. I’ll check out the house tomorrow, and if I want anything, the movers you’ve hired can bring it here.”

  “Great.” Kent paused, and Teresa had a feeling that for a minute he’d stopped shuffling papers, signing his name to letters and contracts, and given himself time to think. “Teri, I will be so glad to be rid of that place. For eight years, we’ve made sure it’s well maintained. I know I should go by regularly to make certain it is being maintained properly, but frankly, I usually assign that task to a guy I trust who works for me because I don’t even like to think about the house, much less look at it.”

  “I haven’t even driven past it for over a year, and I haven’t been inside since a couple of weeks after the murders. Now neither one of us has to worry about it anymore. It’s finally become someone else’s problem.”

  “Thank God.” Kent sounded happier than she’d heard him for a long time. “This is shaping up to be a good day. By the way, how did my son do during his first riding lesson? Was he tired after the first whole hour?”

  “Well…” Teresa hated to spoil Kent’s mood, but there was no point in lying to him. He’d just find out the truth from Daniel. “He didn’t stay for a whole hour.”

  “Why not?” Kent asked warily.

  “Sharon got nervous and thought half an hour was long enough for his first lesson and she—”

  “Made him leave.” Kent’s voice somehow sounded flat and angry at the same time.