"I can understand your concerns," Hazel told her. "Especially if you had strangers here. This is an isolated place, Anna. You'll need to keep that in mind."
"But I did want to set up some beds and things down here." Anna pointed to the room behind them. "I obviously don't have it all ready yet, but I might be able to get it set up for you, Clark, if you don't mind roughing it a bit."
He laughed. "I was actually thinking about just camping out under the stars tonight."
"Wouldn't you rather have a comfortable bed?"
He shrugged. "I suppose that would be nice."
"Why don't you help Anna set things up in there," Hazel suggested. "That way you won't have to sleep on the ground or drive all the way back to town."
"Sounds good to me, if Anna is OK with it."
"That'd be great. You can help me bring a mattress down from upstairs,"Anna said suddenly. "There are new ones coming, but that one up there is perfectly fine. It was from the spare bed in my old bedroom and it rarely got used."
Suddenly, they were all up and moving. "You should turn in, Mom," Clark told her. "I can tell you're tired and you've had a long day."
"That's right,"Anna agreed. "We can handle this. We'll have a makeshift room set up for Clark in no time."
"I am feeling a little worn out." Hazel rubbed her back as she stood. "And I must admit I'm relieved not to give up my little cabin. I'm getting quite comfortable in there, Anna. I might just take up permanent residence here if you don't watch out."
"That would be perfectly fine with me." Anna assured her.
While Clark walked his mother to her cabin, Anna went in and turned on the overhead light in the room where Clark had unloaded today's purchases. It was such a big space, she wished there was a way to make it more cozy. She moved some things around, pushing the two red chairs over by the old woodstove, laying out the carpet, which actually looked rather homey. Then she dragged the headboard to one of the beds, setting it near one of the windows at the front of the room. That might work. She slid one of the bedside tables over next to it and even set a lamp on it, although there was no outlet to plug it into there. But it did make it look a bit less like an empty storeroom.
"Looks like you've made a good start," Clark told her as he came in and looked around.
"Just playing house," she told him. "And feel free to put up the bed wherever you like."
"I like it right there." He pointed to the window. "I can even have fresh air if I want."
"Someday I'd like to redo this whole space." She waved her hands. "But not for a while, I'm afraid." She smiled at him, then suggested they move the mattress down and finish setting up. They went upstairs and he followed her into what had once been her room. Since returning to the river, she'd been sleeping in her parents' old room since she liked the light in there and how its window looked out over the river. She pointed to the only mattress remaining in the room. "That would be the one."
Before she could remove the bedding, Clark picked up the whole works, cradling it in his arms. "Then I'll just be on my way."
"Don't you want me to put on some fresh sheets and things?"
He laughed. "I don't care. Unless there's something special about these things and you want them left up here."
"No, of course not."
"Then I think I'll just take my bed and wish you good night."
Anna felt unsure now, as if she wasn't being a very good hostess. "You don't need any help?"
"No. I'll just put that bed frame together and put this mattress on it, and I'll be asleep before you know it."
"Would you mind turning off the generator down there?" she asked. "When you're done with the light, that is."
"No problem."
But as she was cleaning up in the kitchen, she realized that he would have no source of light whatsoever once the generator was off. What if he got up in the middle of the night and stumbled over some of the things piled up down there? So she grabbed one of the kerosene lamps and some matches and shoved a flashlight in her jacket pocket, hurried down, knocking quietly on the door. She explained her concerns about his lack of light and he opened the door to show her that the bed frame was already assembled. "It looks nice and solid too."
She smiled. "Oh, good, I'd hate to think of it collapsing on you in the middle of the night."
He laughed. "So would I." Now he lifted up the mattress and slightly disheveled bedding and put it onto the wooden frame. "There. That should be just fine."
"If it's too cool down here, feel free to make a fire," she told him.
"Thanks, but it feels just about perfect."
She just looked at him for a long moment. "Are you always so agreeable?"
He seemed to consider this. "Nope." He shook his head. "I can be downright cantankerous sometimes."
She tilted her head to one side. "I'm not sure I believe you."
"It's true. If one of my subcontractors doesn't deliver the level of workmanship I expect, I can get quite disagreeable."
"Well, that's understandable. You want a job done right."
"I appreciate quality." His face lit up with a smile. "And what I said about dinner tonight was absolutely true, Anna. That was quality."
"Well, thank you." She felt her cheeks warming again. "And thank you for ensuring the quality of work around here today." She clapped her hands together. "And that reminds me— I have a phone now. I could even call my daughter." She glanced at her watch. "And it's not even too late—for her anyway." And hopefully Eunice would've gone to bed by now; she often did.
"Don't let me keep you."
"Thanks again. And sleep well. Breakfast is usually around eight, if that's OK."
"Perfect."
She hurried up the stairs, planning out what she'd first say to Lauren, how she would carefully invite her to visit, painting a lovely picture of how nice it would be, and how Lauren could even bring her friends along if she liked, as soon as Anna got things set up—and that would be as soon as possible. Anna couldn't wait to hear her daughter's voice. She hoped Lauren would be glad to speak to her mother by now too. After all, wasn't absence supposed to make the heart grow fonder? Oh, how Anna missed her little girl!
16
Anna found the newly installed phone on the kitchen wall near the refrigerator. She couldn't believe she hadn't even noticed it there before. With trembling fingers, she placed the call, not even bothering to reverse the charges this time. And to her relief, Lauren answered with a cheerful hello, almost as if she'd been expecting someone to call her.
"Hello, Lauren, this is your mother. How are you, darling?"
"I'm still here at my parents' home on the river. Didn't your grandmother tell you that I called not long ago? I told her I planned to stay a bit longer?"
"Mom?" Lauren sounded slightly irritated now. "Where are you?"
"You mean you're still there?"
"Yes, I just got the telephone working again, and I had one installed in the kitchen too. That's where I am right now. I can't believe how well it works, honey. You sound as if you're in the very next room."
"Well, I'm not in the very next room. And neither are you. I cannot believe you're still there, Mom. Why haven't you come home by now?"
"Didn't you get my letter explaining all that?"
"Yes, but I didn't think you were serious. Do you really plan to stay down in that backwater place? How can you possibly stand it?"
"It's actually quite lovely here, Lauren. There are boats out running the river and I've even done some canoeing myself. And I've been visiting with friends. And I went to the beach today and it was so beautiful. I even waded in the ocean, then I took a nap in the sunshine. It's not always warm and sunny like that on the beach, but it was today."
"Oh, fine. So you're off lollygagging at the beach and playing on the river and I'm stuck here doing all the housework."
"You're doing all the housework?"
"Who do you think does your work when you're off on some never-ending vacation?
"
"You mean you're doing everything?"Anna could not even imagine this.
"Well, not everything. How could I possibly do everything and have time for a life, which I barely do now anyway, thanks to you."
"Thanks to me?"Anna couldn't help feeling indignant. Who did Lauren think she was cleaning up after anyway?
"Because you're not here to do it, Mom."
"And you think I should be there to clean up after everyone?"
"Well, it's your job, isn't it, Mom? That's what Grandmother says. She says if I should be mad at anyone, I should be mad at you."
"Oh." Why was Anna even surprised.
"Do you know what I am doing right now?" Lauren's voice was tight and angry and Anna imagined her down on her knees scrubbing a filthy toilet.
"No, dear . . . I uh can't . . ."
"I am folding laundry."
"Oh. Well, what's so terrible about that?"
"Folding stupid towels!" Now her voice had a high-pitched mimicking sound. "First you fold the towel the long way, in thirds, so it will hang on the towel bar nicely, and then you fold it in half and in half again, so it will sit in the linen cabinet nicely. Everything needs to be nice and neat and straight—in the stinking linen closet where no one even looks. Have you ever heard of anything so completely ridiculous in your life? They are just towels for Pete's sake, who cares how they are folded or if they are folded at all?"
Anna remembered when Eunice had taught her to fold towels "properly" too. But she'd been doing it for so long, she never even thought about it now. However, she'd been about the same age as Lauren and her initial reaction had been similar back then.
"I'm sorry, Lauren."
"That's all you can say, Mom? That you're sorry? What about me? I feel like Cinderella—I mean Cinderella before the prince, back when she had to do everything herself—and I don't have any little mice to help me."
"If it's any comfort, I do understand." Anna did understand . . . only too well. "And I know how you feel, but—"
"You know but you don't care, do you?" Lauren sounded like she was on the verge of tears now.
"I do care, Lauren. I honestly didn't realize that you'd get stuck with all the housework after I left."
"Well, who did you think was going to do it?" "I thought maybe your grandmother would help out. Or hire someone."
"She keeps saying you're coming back. You are, aren't you, Mom?" The pleading in Lauren's tone sounded genuine now, like she really did want her mother to come back. The question was why did she want her to come back?
"I don't know, Lauren. If I did come back, some things would have to change. Big things. And I'm afraid your grandmother wouldn't agree to it."
"What kinds of things?"
"For starters, I can't keep being your grandmother's slave. I'd need to be respected as a member of the household—not like an employee, one who isn't even paid." Anna sighed. "Really, I don't think any of that will ever happen anyway, Lauren. Your grandmother is too set in her ways."
"But if she agreed to those things? Would you come back then?"
Anna wanted to say no, she would never come back. But there was Lauren to think about. How could she burn that bridge? "If you could get your grandmother to change that drastically, Lauren, I'd be willing to discuss it with her. But the last time I spoke with her, I didn't get the impression she was open to that sort of a relationship."
"Well, I'll talk to her, Mom. I'll make her see that she needs to be nicer to you. I know she's been unfair to you. And now she's doing the same thing to me. She can't keep treating people like that. She needs to understand that."
Anna smiled. "Well, darling, if anyone can make your grandmother understand that, it might be you."
"I should go now. Susan is supposed to call and the line will be busy. But I will talk to Grandmother."
Anna looked at the phone now, seeing the number in the white circle. "Let me give you my telephone number, in case you need to reach me." She told her the number and Lauren insisted she needed to go to take Susan's call.
"Good luck with your grandmother,"Anna told her as they said good-bye. "I'll be curious to hear how it goes."
She hung up the phone and returned to cleaning up the dinner things. She wanted to get them done before the generator was shut down, but just in case, she lit a kerosene lamp and set it by the sink. But the electricity went out just as she started to wash the dishes. Of course, this had no effect on the hot water and, she decided, washing dishes by kerosene lamplight was rather nice. She hoped the dishes would come out clean. However, she told herself, even after the electric was hooked up, she might have to wash dishes by kerosene light from time to time. Just for the fun of it.
She chuckled to think of Lauren complaining about folding the towels. What Lauren didn't have the sense to appreciate was that those towels had been tumbled soft in an electric clothes dryer. What if she'd had to wash the towels in a wringer washer, like Anna had been doing lately, then lug them outside in order to hang them to dry? How would Lauren like to remove the towels from the line later, attempting to fold them in thirds after they'd become stiff as a board?
As Anna watched the dishwater draining out of the sink, she wished she'd gone ahead and invited Lauren to come out here for a visit after all. Maybe Lauren would've been tempted by the lure of escaping the drudgery of folding towels or other forms of menial housework. Although it was impossible to imagine Lauren or Eunice stooping to such drudgery as scrubbing floors or cleaning toilets. Not only did they lack the skills, they lacked the wardrobe. Despite glossy advertisements, high heels and housework did not mix.
Anna hated to think what the house might look like by now, or how long it would take to get it back to shipshape, the way Eunice had always insisted it must stay. The kitchen alone would be a fright. And even though Eunice had told Anna in no uncertain terms to never ever use the automatic dishwasher (Eunice insisted the dishes never came out clean enough) Anna would lay bets that that particular appliance was in full operation now.
Anna rose early the next morning. Partly because she wanted to get a head start on the day and partly because she was concerned that Clark or even Hazel might wish to take a morning shower and she wanted to be sure to be finished with her own morning grooming before either of them came up. This business of only have one fully operable bathroom might put a damper on her plans for an inn. Although Hazel hadn't complained about her lack of facilities and had only bathed up here a couple of times, claiming that too much showering was hard on old skin (Babette said the same thing), so maybe Anna didn't need to be too up in arms quite yet.
But it did feel good to be clean and fresh—and neatly dressed—and ready for the day. She realized she'd taken more care than usual today and although she didn't want to consciously think about it, she knew the reason for this effort had slept in the old storeroom last night. Of course, it was difficult for her to attempt to look very stylish. She'd long since given up on that. It hadn't helped that Lauren, once she'd become a teenager, made it perfectly clear that Anna was far beyond help in that area anyway.
Fortunately, not many people here on the river (including Babette) were overly fashionable. Most leaned toward the practical. Although sometimes, like today, Anna wished she had something more feminine to wear than her crisp white shirt tucked into her neatly belted jeans with loafers. However, she had tied a red and blue scarf around her neck. It was somewhat jaunty and might even pass for fashion in some places, like the river.
"Don't you look pretty this morning," Hazel said as she poured herself a cup of coffee.
"Thank you." Anna smiled nervously. Maybe the scarf was a bit much.
"Clark said he slept divinely last night."
"Divinely?"
Hazel pursed her lips. "Perhaps he said 'heavenly.' "
"And he's already bathed and—"
"Oh, that's good."
"Bathed?"Anna paused from turning the bacon.
"In the river." Hazel chuckled. "I told
him he might be taking after his great-grandfather after all, and he said that maybe it was about time."
"Oh." Anna wasn't sure how to respond to that. Instead she peeked into the oven to check the status of the huckleberry muffins, which hadn't even risen yet.
"I don't know if Clark's had a chance to tell you anything about his wife—I should say ex-wife—but she was not an easy woman by any means."
"I see . . ." Anna cracked eggs into a bowl with her back to Hazel. She was extremely curious to hear this, but didn't want to seem overly eager. Although she did wonder why Hazel was going on so about Clark.
"The truth is, I had my doubts about Roselyn right from the beginning." Hazel came over to the stove now, speaking in an intimate tone as if worried Clark might walk in on her disclosure. "And I suppose I've always been extra protective of my boy. You may have wondered why his name is Richards and mine is Chenowith. Well, Richards was my maiden name. I assume you know what that means."
Anna turned down the flame under the bacon and barely nodded.
"It was something of a scandal back then, but I considered myself a progressive girl. Quite independent, going to college, breaking from tradition. Clark's father and I never married. Neither of us was ready for that. I was in my third year of college . . . and well, I had other plans, or so I thought. My mother helped me with Clark until I finished school—several years later. Of course, I did marry eventually. I suppose I felt sorry for Clark. He was six and wanted a father, so I settled for a conventional life. Not that it turned out so well. Anyway, long story short, I've always felt protective of Clark, or maybe I was overcompensating for his early years, always trying to mother my male child." She chuckled. "Silly considering what a big boy—rather man—he grew up to be. Hardly needs his mama watching out for him. But old habits are hard to let go of."
River's Song - The Inn at Shining Waters Series Page 14