The Empty Nesters

by Brown, Carolyn

  Chapter Ten

  Diana awoke from a nightmare, her whole body clammy and her hands shaking. She sat up in bed and opened her eyes, but there were no shadows, nothing but total darkness. She held up her hand and brought it close to her face but couldn’t see it until her eyes readjusted to what little light there was.

  “No electricity,” she muttered. She threw the covers back and crawled out of bed and was amazed that the bedroom was still reasonably warm. She remembered seeing the breaker box in the utility room off the kitchen, so she headed that way. “Hopefully it’s just a matter of throwing a switch.”

  In the complete darkness, she hit her knee on the nightstand, bent to rub it, and smacked her forehead on the old iron bedstead. She seemed to be the only one awake, and the house would cool down rapidly if the switch that had flipped controlled the heating unit.

  It was no different from when she was at home in Sugar Run. She’d make her way to the back bedroom closet where the breaker box was located and take care of things. But at home she knew her way around her bedroom in the dark; here, not so much. Holding her hands out in front of her, she found the chest of drawers. The chair where she always dropped her purse was just to the left of that. She felt her way carefully but still bumped her shin on the chair before her fingers located it.

  “If this is what it’s like to be blind, I never want to lose my eyesight,” she muttered as she searched her purse by feel for the flashlight. She found it and pushed the bottom, and nothing happened.

  “Dammit!” she swore under her breath. “The battery is dead.” Then she realized that what she was holding didn’t have a key chain on the end.

  “Lipstick,” she giggled as she fumbled around again, finally bringing up the flashlight. She held her breath as she pushed the button and bit back a shout when a small ray of light appeared.

  The tiny thing was to help you find a keyhole, so it didn’t offer a lot. She focused it on the floor and took one step at a time. She’d made it halfway down the stairs when something hit her on the cheek. She’d forgotten about the chain that turned on the light at the top of the stairs. It wasn’t all that big, but the crystal ball at the end hit her square in the eye.

  “Ouch!” she groaned. She threw the tiny ray of light upward and sat down on a step until the ball stopped swinging. Then she got up and made her way to the bottom. Once there, she held up the flashlight so that she wouldn’t stumble over an end table or a kitchen chair.

  A really nice blaze was going in the fireplace, throwing not only warmth throughout the room but a golden light. She frowned, remembering that Luke had banked it so that nothing but embers were glowing before he’d left the evening before. Had Tootsie gotten up in the night, found the electricity was out, and put more wood on the fire? If so, that meant that they hadn’t popped a breaker but that the power was out in the whole area. She held up the flashlight to light the way to the kitchen and didn’t even see the big lump on the floor.

  One minute she was taking a step, the next she stubbed her toe on what she’d figured was an ottoman and was falling forward. The flashlight flew out of her hand and landed on the floor, and suddenly she was lying on top of Luke. His eyes opened, and his expression registered total shock. She tried to roll to the side but couldn’t because his arms were wrapped around her, her breasts pressed against his hard chest.

  His hands, splayed out on her back, jacked her pulse up at least ten notches more. Suddenly she was too hot, and his lips were too close. Even though his face looked eerie with the light shining on it from the side, she wanted to lean forward and kiss him.

  She couldn’t breathe—not only from having the wind knocked out of her but because of a desire to throw back the quilt and crawl inside the cocoon with him.

  Tootsie pulled up the covers around her neck and still couldn’t get warm. She turned toward Smokey to snuggle up against his warm back, only to realize that she was holding on to a cold pillow.

  “I miss you so much,” she sighed. “You were always there to keep me warm on these cold nights.”

  Rain beat on the window like BB pellets, and all was darkness when she finally sat up in the bed. “Dammit! The electricity is out,” she moaned. “I’ve got four kids here and no power. What am I going to do, Smokey?”

  First you check the breaker box, remember? His voice was clear enough that she made sure he wasn’t lying beside her. She grabbed the flashlight from the nightstand drawer and started across the cold floor. A burst of warm air hit her when she opened the door. She heard a noise like something falling, then heavy breathing.

  Starting back to get her pistol, she caught sight of a bit of light in her peripheral vision and followed it to the living room, where she found Diana stretched out on top of Luke.

  “Well, well!” she said. “Am I interrupting something here?”

  Luke sat straight up, rolling Diana off to the side. “No, ma’am. I was out cold, and suddenly Diana fell on me.”

  Diana sat up beside him. “I didn’t know he was—”

  Tootsie laughed out loud. “I was teasing y’all. I can see you’re both dressed and that Luke is wrapped up like a cocoon in that quilt. Why don’t we look at the breaker box? ’Course I’m thinking the electricity is blown for the whole area. That’s not unusual up here when it storms. Might be out for a few hours or days if this weather don’t let up.”

  “I’ll go check it. Y’all might want to grab a blanket and claim either a recliner or the sofa to stay warm.” Luke got free of the quilt, stood to his feet, and started that way only to bump his leg on a chair. “Mind if I use one of those flashlights?”

  Tootsie handed him the one she had and then sat down in the recliner. “I can leave the door to my bedroom open, and heat rises, so y’all should be fine upstairs until the power comes back on. But it’s not going to be as warm as usual. Hope y’all brought plenty of clothing, because the washer and dryer won’t be working.”

  “We’ll be fine.” Diana moved from the floor to the sofa. “We caught up the laundry yesterday, so we’ve got plenty to hold us for a few days. That’s a minor thing compared to cooking.”

  Tootsie pointed to a clock hanging on the wall. “Smokey bought that ugly thing years ago after we spent a day without electricity. I hated the damn thing, but the next time the power went out, I learned to appreciate it. At least we knew what time it was. He changed the battery when we got here every fall and then when we left and kept extras in the kitchen drawer. Lord, I miss that man. He was so organized.”

  “It’s not the breaker.” Luke slumped down in the recliner. “Three thirty. We’ve still got hours before it’s time to get up.” He yawned. “I’m going to curl up in my makeshift sleeping bag again. Y’all going to sleep right here or going back to your rooms?”

  Tootsie eased up out of the recliner. “I’m going back to bed, but I’ll leave the door open to get some of the heat from the fireplace.”

  “I’ll just pile on another blanket and go back to bed.” Diana picked up her flashlight and headed toward the stairs. “See y’all when daylight comes. Maybe the power will be back on when we all wake up again. Good night.”

  “Good night,” Tootsie and Luke said at the same time.

  Tootsie turned her eyes back toward Luke. “We’ll make you a softer bed for tomorrow night if we’re still without power. Smokey bought one of those air mattresses when his old army buddies came to visit one fall, but we didn’t need it, so it’s still in the box somewhere. And we’ll have to get out the generator and hook it up. It’s only big enough to run the refrigerator and freezer, not the heating unit, but at least we won’t lose all our food.”

  “I’ll be fine, Aunt Tootsie, and I’ll keep the fires burning to keep the chill off. Last weather report I saw on my phone said the rain was supposed to continue through Friday, but the temperatures are well above freezing.” He yawned again. “If I had a fireplace in the motor home, I’d stay out there.”

  “And miss all the fun of having a
tall redhead fall for you,” Tootsie teased.

  “Not for me, on me.” He grinned.

  “Potato. Pa-taw-toe. Ain’t much difference,” she threw over her shoulder as she started back to her room.

  She snuggled down into the covers, laid her hand on the extra pillow, and whispered, “You’re never going to believe what happened, Smokey.” She went on to tell him all about Diana’s fall. “And they were both embarrassed, so it proves that there’s something going on there. What would you tell me to do about that? Ignore it and hope it goes away? Or encourage it?”

  Smokey didn’t have any words of wisdom for her.

  “No electricity. Cold house and cold rain. You could at least whisper something in my ear.” She waited and then sighed. “Okay, then, good night, darlin’.”

  The sound of rain falling all night gave Carmen the first good night’s sleep she’d had since the divorce papers had been served. She checked the time on her cell phone and found that it was seven o’clock, so she pulled the chain on the antique lamp on her bedside table, and nothing happened.

  “Bulb must be burned out,” she muttered as she slung her feet over the side of the bed and pulled a sweatshirt over her head. With clouds still covering the sky, very little light came through the window. It seemed like a sign to her as she struggled to find two matching socks. Her marriage had grown dimmer by the day, but the storm wasn’t really over yet.

  Diana met her in the hallway. “Electricity is off.”

  “How are we going to make breakfast?” Carmen asked as she followed her downstairs.

  Diana shrugged and dodged the crystal ball just in time. “The fireplace?”

  “Good mornin’,” Joanie said cheerfully from the kitchen. “I guess we’re going to pretend that we’re camping out today.”

  In the living room, Luke was bending over a big cast-iron skillet set up on an apparatus above the blaze in the fireplace, and the smell of bacon filled the whole room. “Soon as this is cooked, I’ll make us a skillet of camp breakfast.”

  “And that is?” Diana asked.

  “Potatoes, peppers, and onions cooked together, and then when that’s done, I scramble eggs in with it,” he answered.

  “I lit lamps so we can see,” Tootsie said.

  Carmen looked around the living room at several oil lamps burning brightly. “I thought those were for decoration.”

  “Honey, when this house was first built, it had no electricity or water. Lamps were necessary, and they come in real handy when we lose power. My parents had the place wired and plumbed when they moved in. The only thing Smokey and I wished they’d have done different was put in a propane cookstove for times like this. We talked about having a gas stove in the motor home, but Smokey liked electric ones better. I may change it out to propane when I get home, just in case we ever get in a bind like this again,” Tootsie explained.

  “Wish I’d known that all I had to do was light one of them last night,” Diana grumbled.

  “And miss all the fun of falling on top of me?” Luke joked.

  Carmen whipped around. “What happened?”

  “I only had a little flashlight, and it didn’t throw nearly enough light. I thought he was one of the ottomans.” Diana blushed.

  “I might have been sleeping on the floor, but I don’t like to think that I look like a footstool.” Luke grinned.

  “I stumbled over him and fell. It was an accident,” Diana stammered.

  “And I found them all tangled up together like a bunch of baby kittens,” Tootsie giggled.

  “Now we want the real story,” Joanie teased.

  “That’s their story, and they’re stickin’ to it,” Tootsie chuckled.

  “It’s the truth, and the bacon is ready,” Luke said. “Joanie, do you have the potatoes all cut up?”

  “All ready when you are,” Joanie said. “And thanks so much for taking my day. I’ve never cooked over a fire like that.”

  “I’ll take care of the fire and food as long as we’re without power,” Luke said.

  Diana groaned.

  “What? You don’t like that idea?” Luke asked.

  “No, it’s my job that I’m worried about. I need to send things to the company on Wednesdays and Fridays at the latest. Then they send me work on Mondays and Wednesdays. No internet or—”

  “I can help there, too. I have a device on my laptop that lets me access internet anywhere, anytime. But we’ll be running on battery and not electricity, so you’ll have to be careful how much power you use,” he warned. “I keep extra batteries for my business, so if you use up all yours, you can use my computer to send your work.”

  “Thank you. That’s a load off my mind,” Diana said.

  “Now that we’ve got everything figured out about how we’re going to survive in the wilderness, let’s get the table set.” Carmen tugged on Diana’s arm and motioned for her to follow her to the pantry.

  “Paper plates and plastic cutlery,” Tootsie reminded them. “There’s no hot water to do the dishes.”

  “What’s going on?” Diana whispered.

  “I think this storm and power outage is a sign. Eli has been cheating on me for years. Couples therapy probably wouldn’t fix that. He’s betrayed all the trust I put in him,” Carmen said.

  Diana gave her a side hug. “Without trust, there is no marriage. That’s what my counselor told me when I was trying to hang on to what was already gone. The only thing left is for you to get what is legally yours and to learn to survive.”

  “That’s sure enough not easy.” Carmen drew in a long breath and let it out in a whoosh.

  “No, honey, it’s not, but you will live through it, just like I did,” Diana said. “We’ve had each other’s backs for the past eighteen years. Remember when the girls all got mono at the same time?”

  “And when I had that miscarriage two years after Natalie was born? I thought for sure I’d lose my mind from worrying about if I caused it, because Eli didn’t want more children and I wouldn’t tell him I was pregnant,” Carmen said.

  “Are we remembering times when we had to lean on each other?” Joanie joined them at the middle of what Carmen said. “If so, how about when I fell off a ladder and broke my arm? The guys were gone, like they always were in any major problem, so y’all had to help for six weeks. You gave Zoe her baths every night and fixed her hair for school every morning, Carmen. And you did the cooking and cleanup for me, Diana.”

  “What would we do without each other?” Carmen tiptoed and hugged Diana. Joanie took a few steps forward and made it a three-way hug.

  “We’re sisters, not by blood but by the heart,” Diana said. “You won’t ever be without us.”

  Chapter Eleven

  The whole idea of cooking over an open fire, eating by candlelight, and listening to rain hit the roof wasn’t so bad the first day. But after breakfast on the second day, Joanie was ready to make a meal on a real stove, ready for the sun to shine through the window, and ready to use the lamps for decoration again. She’d gone to her bedroom and pulled a quilt up over her as she tried to read by the dim light coming through the window.

  Carmen rapped on the doorjamb and stuck her head inside Joanie’s room. “Are you as tired of this as I am?”

  Joanie motioned her inside. “Worried as much as I’m tired of it. I don’t want to be without a phone if Brett calls or if Zoe gets kicked out of basic.”

  “Don’t worry about that.” Carmen sat down in an old wooden rocking chair and set it in motion with her foot. “Luke’s got a charger for his computer, and he’s got spare batteries. He can keep our phones powered up. I love this place. It’s like going back in time—from the iron bedsteads to the rocking chairs—and it’s peaceful. I don’t even mind eating soups cooked over the open flame. But I hate not having hot water. My hair feels like a grease pit. I’m tempted to take a cold shower and wash it.”

  “I will if you will.” Joanie laid the book she’d been reading on the coffee table. “But someth
ing else is on your mind other than electricity and boredom. I can see it in your face.”

  “I’m going to let Eli have the divorce, but I’m not giving up everything. I’m going to fight him for the house. I’ll find a job and take over the rest of the payments. The lady at the base where we take our clothing donations has been after me to come work for her for years. She takes care of a couple of dozen children at a time—those who’ve been separated from their parents or who have no legal parents. I may call her when I get home and see if there’s still an opening,” Carmen said. “But my home is Natalie’s place to come to when she has time off, and I refuse to sell it.”

  “Okaaay.” Joanie dragged out the word.

  “That doesn’t mean I’m not still angry,” Carmen said.

  “Understandable.” Joanie tried to imagine how she would feel if she were walking in Carmen’s shoes. One of those icy shivers chased down her spine when she thought of how distant and hasty Brett had been when he called the last few times.

  Carmen swallowed a couple of times. “My marriage is like a dirty paper plate. It’s time to throw it away. Even with counseling, things wouldn’t ever be the same.”

  A loud clap of thunder rattled the windows at the same time Diana joined them.

  “Well, that startled me,” she said.

  “As much as falling flat out on top of Luke last night?” Joanie teased.

  Diana sat down on the edge of the bed. “No way. It’d take more than thunder to give me that kind of shock. I think I came in on Carmen saying her marriage is like paper plates.”

  “She’s right about things not being the same,” Joanie said and then turned her attention to Carmen. “You might be able to start all over and rebuild what you had, but it would take even more than the twenty years you’ve already put into the marriage.”

  “Why?” Carmen leaned forward, and the chair stopped rocking.