by Diane Moody
As he pulled out his keys to unlock the door to the church office, he realized it was already open. A flash of pink passed by inside as he entered.
“Sug, what are you doing here so early?”
“I forgot to print off the announcement insert for the program.”
He noticed she was flitting more than usual and avoiding eye contact.
He set his Bible on the counter while he poured himself a cup of coffee from the pot she had brewed. “How are you this morning?”
“I’m tired and cranky, if you must know.”
He stirred cream into his mug. “And why is that?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know.”
He stared at her, though her eyes stayed fixed on the stack of papers coming out of the printer.
“Okay, Sugar. Stop right there. What’s going on?”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Well, I hate to pull rank on you, but I’m pretty tired myself, and I don’t have time for games this morning. So either tell me what’s wrong or snap out of it. Because either way, I’ve got—”
“Well then, FINE.” She turned around and folded her arms across her chest. “I might as well tell you. I saw your car this morning parked in the driveway of Faye’s house, and I’m sure I’m not the only one.”
Peyton pinched the bridge of his nose as he prayed a silent prayer to guard his tongue.
“And I know there were others that stopped by, but yours was the only vehicle there, and you know how that looks. I can’t tell you how disappointed I am in you, Pastor. And God only knows how many other church members knew you spent the night there.”
He stared at her, careful to select the precise words he spoke as anger boiled just below the surface.
“I’m not even going to dignify that with an answer, Sugar, apart from this one thought: if you have so little compassion for someone who’s had a family member go missing, then perhaps you should find another job.”
He walked into his office and slammed the door behind him.
Around seven that morning, Julie and Emily insisted on cooking breakfast while Aubrey went upstairs to take a shower. She hadn’t realized it was Sunday until she asked where Peyton had gone. But that also meant it had been more than twenty-four hours since she’d last seen her mother. The knot in her stomach twisted tighter with each passing hour as her mind flashed images of her mother, lost and alone.
She locked herself in the bathroom, turned on the faucet in the shower, and dropped her clothes on the floor. Stepping into the steady stream of hot water, she squeezed her eyes shut and tried to blot out the horrible “what ifs” swirling about in her head. Was this how it felt to lose your mind? The inability to control the thoughts in your head and the emotions wreaking havoc on your entire body?
Think of something else. Think of something else …
Peyton.
Her heart stuttered at the thought of him. She found it hard to believe they’d known each other for little more than a couple of weeks, and yet she’d come to depend on him and crave his company. Despite her best efforts, the carefully constructed safety checks on her heart had vanished one by one, leaving her vulnerable to this kind and gentle man who surely must know she was falling in love with him.
The thought flashed a shard of guilt through her. Stop it. Just stop it. Now is not the time to contemplate notions of romance. Mother is missing! For all I know, she could be dead on the side of some backwoods road …
Aubrey shook the thoughts from her mind. As rivers of hot water soaked her hair and body, she retreated the only way she knew how. By focusing on the here and now, devising a plan of action, and obliterating all the obstacles until the goal was accomplished.
The goal? Finding her mother. Nothing else mattered.
Not even Peyton.
As soon as she finished breakfast, she would drive to City Hall and speak to Jeff face-to-face. Look him in the eye and find out what was being done, what needed to be done. Because another day of sitting and waiting, hour after hour, and Aubrey knew she would truly lose her own mind.
They’d just finished eating when Peyton sent her a text, telling her he was praying for her and for Faye, and promising to come over as soon as the service ended. She responded with a brief word of thanks then added a note.
I miss you.
I miss you too.
A few minutes later, as she laced up her sneakers in the living room, Jeff called to check on her.
“Actually, I’m heading over to see you in about five minutes. The walls are closing in on me here.”
“Let me save you the trip for now, because I’ve really got nothing new to tell you except that we’ve now added a radius of about three hundred miles to search, with help from all the neighboring law enforcement agencies. I’m heading home for a quick break to grab a shower, but I’ll be back in about an hour. Why don’t you wait and come with Peyton when he’s finished at church?”
“Okay, thanks. I’ll do that.”
“Other than walls closing in, how are you, Aubrey?”
“Trying to stay focused and not doing a very good job of it.”
“Hang in there. I’ll see you soon.”
She leaned back in the armchair and blew out a sigh.
“Any news?” Gevin asked as he entered the living room.
She told him about the search radius expanding and Jeff’s suggestion that she wait and come with Peyton later.
“Sounds good. Is there anything you need? Just say the word and whatever you need is yours.”
“How about a new brain?”
“Not a problem,” he said with his usual sweet grin. “Though I should tell you mine is back-ordered, so no telling how long it would take for yours to arrive.”
She gave him a tired smile. “No, Gevin, I’m okay. But please don’t feel like you have to stay. I hate for you all to lose your whole weekend.”
“Don’t give it another thought. Besides, we’re not losing anything.”
The others joined them, and the conversation helped ease the tension. She appreciated their efforts to steer the topics in other directions. She asked Gevin and Emily about their honeymoon in Provence, a place she’d always longed to visit.
“You have to go,” Emily said. “You get this idea of how incredibly beautiful it is with the sloping vineyards and the quaint villages from all the photographs and travel commercials, but seriously—you cannot believe how stunning it is in person.”
“I’d move there in a heartbeat,” Gevin added, “except Em’s got a bunch of gigs coming up with the mop head otherwise known as her songwriting partner.”
“Ignore him, Aubrey. Tripp is adorable, and he’s got more talent in his pinkie finger than I’ll ever have.”
“And then there’s the whole Carrie Underwood thing,” Gevin groaned, as if bored to tears.
“Peyton was telling me about that the other day,” Aubrey said. “That must have been so exciting.”
“She hasn’t recorded it yet, so I’m not holding my breath,” Emily reasoned. “But yeah, it’s been fun.”
“Have you met her yet?”
“No, but my agent is trying to schedule a meeting sometime next month.”
“I met her once,” Julie added. “We were at the same charity event at Cheekwood, and she had on these mile-high stilettos which aren’t the best for walking on thick grass. Anyway, she started to trip, and I held out my arm to catch her. We had a good laugh. She’s really sweet. A minute later, her husband Mike came over and thanked me. And let’s just say that I might or might not have the biggest crush on him. That is one handsome man.”
Just then, someone opened the front door while knocking on it.
“Anybody home?” Peyton called out.
Macy trotted in to join them a second before Peyton appeared in the living room.
“Hey, girl,” Aubrey said, petting the sweet dog.
Peyton reached down to give her a hug, pressing a kiss on her head. “How’re
you doing?”
“I’m okay,” she said, standing again. “It helps having friends with so many wonderful stories to tell.”
“That certainly sounds intriguing. Sorry I had to miss out.”
“How was church?” Gevin asked.
“Packed house. I was really surprised. But we had a good service. I gave a brief message to bridge the awkward gap of these last two weeks and all that’s happened, then we had a prayer time with lots of folks coming to the altar to pray. Many of those prayers were for Faye and Aubrey, of course.”
“Sounds good,” Julie said.
“It was. And brace yourselves, I understand there’s a whole legion of casseroles coming this way. The hospitality committee is outdoing themselves.”
“That’s so sweet,” Aubrey said. “Though I have no idea where we’ll put them all.”
“Speaking of sweet,” Gevin said, “Sugar is coming up the sidewalk.”
“Uh oh,” Peyton muttered as he glanced out the window.
“Uh oh?” Julie asked.
“You’ll see,” he answered.
“Yoo-hoo? It’s me Sugar. Mind if I come on in?” she hollered as the door shut behind her.
She entered the living room in all her bright pink glory, carrying a flat box of Krispy Kremes which she held up to them as her brows danced. “They’re still waaa-arm.”
They all spoke at once, greeting her and reaching for the glazed donuts.
Aubrey’s stomach roiled in the wake of yeasty donuts competing with Sugar’s heavy dose of Tabu cologne. The combination made her eyes water and teased at a headache.
Sugar set the box on the coffee table, stashed her purse on a chair, then folded her hands and cleared her throat.
“Might as well get it over with, and might as well do it with all of you as witnesses. Pastor, I owe you an apology. I spoke out of turn when we talked this morning, and it was wrong of me. I take back any incorrect inference I may have made, and I hope you’ll forgive me.” She dipped her chin as final punctuation, only then making eye contact with him.
“Thank you, Sugar. I appreciate it.”
“Yes, well, no need to speak of it again. Here, have a donut.”
Aubrey exchanged confused glances with the others, assuming an explanation would come later.
The house began to fill again with people still dressed in their church clothes, all bearing covered dishes. She was never so grateful for Emily and Julie who took charge and started setting up the impromptu buffet in the dining room.
An overwhelming sense of gratitude almost undid her, as if she might explode with appreciation with no adequate words to express it. Something akin to anxiety grew inside her, and she didn’t have a clue what to do about it.
Half an hour later, Jeff called suggesting he and Aubrey come over to City Hall to see how the search was progressing.
No sooner had they climbed inside Peyton’s car and he started driving, than Aubrey abruptly turned in her seat to face him and grabbed his hand, holding it tight.
“Peyton, I need to say something. This is all so surreal to me. And I need you to know that all of this—with you, with all these people that came to help, with Julie and Emily and Gevin and Matt—nothing like this has ever happened to me before. I’m scared to death about Mom and where she could be and what might have happened to her. But I am so blown away by all of you and how you’ve smothered me with so much compassion and kindness. And I know I’ll never adequately be able to thank them. And you. Well, all of you.
“But beyond all of that, I realized I’ve been living such a lie. I’ve established my entire life on my own abilities and my own strengths, and I’m just so tired of having to rely solely on myself for everything. I don’t know why, but coming here … with all that’s happened … I know none of it was an accident. I can’t begin to explain it, but I know that something very significant has happened.”
As Peyton pulled into a parking space at City Hall, he turned off the ignition and took both her hands in his. “Aubrey, I can’t tell you how much that—”
Suddenly, Cameron pounded on the windshield, scaring them both to death.
“Peyton! Miss Evans! You need to come inside! Hurry!”
Chapter 29
Peyton and Aubrey jumped out of the car and rushed inside behind the deputy.
“Here they are,” Jeff said, waving them over to a desk. “Aubrey, I’m on the line with a Metro Nashville policeman who needs to speak with you. Officer Stanford, I have you on speaker. This is Aubrey Evans, daughter of Faye Evans. Please repeat what you just told me.”
“Yes, Miss Evans. I’m Officer James Stanford from the West Nashville Precinct. I had just returned to the station about twenty minutes ago and was in the process of reading the Missing Persons Alert about your mother, when we received a call about a woman found sleeping on the ground outside the Farmer’s Market off Rosa Parks Boulevard.”
Aubrey lurched closer toward Jeff’s cell phone. “Is it my mother? Is she okay?”
“I can’t be absolutely sure, ma’am, as she doesn’t seem to recall her name, but she kept saying ‘Braxton’ over and over, saying she wanted to go home. I figured it must be her, since the alert came out of Braxton. That and the fact she’s wearing a pale blue sweater which was also mentioned in the alert.”
“Is she okay? Is she hurt? Can I talk to her?”
“She seems to be all right physically, though she’s clearly disoriented. We’re transporting her to St. Thomas Midtown to have her looked over out of an abundance of caution. We should be there in about five minutes.”
“We’re on our way,” Aubrey said.
With Jeff at the wheel of his cruiser, exceeding the speed limit with lights flashing but no siren, they arrived at the Emergency Room at St. Thomas Midtown in less than twenty minutes.
Aubrey and Peyton ran inside and rushed to the check-in desk. “Faye Evans? They just brought her in. Can I please see her?”
“Are you family?”
“Yes, I’m her daughter, Aubrey Evans. Please, can I just—”
“If you’ll have a seat, I’ll check and see if she can receive visitors.”
Peyton guided her to the nearest row of chairs in the waiting room. They found two open seats below a television tuned to CNN. Thankfully, the volume was barely perceptible.
“Are you all right?” he asked, wrapping his arm around her shoulders.
She looked at him with unseeing eyes as her mind dashed around an obstacle course of impossible situations. “I don’t know. I keep picturing her in my mind, lost and wandering around Nashville in the darkness of last night, and I just can’t …”
He drew her closer. “She’s going to be okay, Aubrey.”
“How do you know that? Seriously, how can you possibly know that?”
“Because she’s alive. And she’s here in a hospital, where she can be checked out by doctors and nurses who know what they’re doing. And now we can start searching for answers.”
She trusted what he said, if only because she was too tired to think otherwise.
When Jeff joined them, Peyton filled him in on what was happening.
When Aubrey’s name was called, she accepted the hand Peyton offered her and followed a nurse into one of the rooms. There, looking pale and so small and years older, her mother lay entombed beneath a tan blanket.
Aubrey fought the rush of emotion, trying to focus on what was important. Her mother was alive. That’s all that mattered.
“Mom?” she said, placing her hand over her mother’s, careful not to touch the tubes taped to the back of her hand. She leaned closer, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “Mother, it’s Aubrey. I’m here.”
When her mother’s eyes fluttered open, they looked this way then that, before settling on her daughter’s face. “Oh honey, what are you doing here?”
Tears filled her eyes. “Because you’re here. I was so afraid I’d lost you.”
“Oh, you mustn’t worry. I needed some … oh, what
is it …” She waved her hand, as if she beckoning an answer to fill in the blanks. “I knew they’d have them. This time of year they’re so pretty.”
Aubrey watched and listened, wondering how her mind could have grown so confused. “What’s pretty this time of year?”
She closed her eyes again and waved her right hand in a circular motion. “Those flowers we like. I always put them in those big planters beside the front door.”
The house in Memphis. “You mean the mums?”
Her eyes flew open again. “Yes! Mums. I should have bought them weeks ago. The planters look so empty, don’t you think?”
Aubrey didn’t trust her voice. She turned to Peyton and pleaded silently for help.
He moved closer to the bed and reached for Faye’s hand. “Hello Faye. How are you feeling?”
Her other hand flew up to her hair, patting and fluffing it. “Oh Pastor, I’m such a sight. I must look frightful.”
“Are you kidding? You are indeed a sight for sore eyes. It’s awfully good to see you.”
She dropped her hand, surrendering any pretense about her appearance. “It’s nice to see you too, though I don’t know what all the fuss is about. I don’t know why the market wasn’t open. The young man told me it would be.”
“What young man?” Aubrey asked.
Faye’s eyes drifted shut again. “The one who gave me a ride. Such a polite young man. All dressed up in a gray pinstripe suit just like Jed’s. I asked if he knew Jed, but he said he didn’t.”
“Where did he pick you up, Mom? I went to the shop and you weren’t there.”
Her eyes opened again. “Really? Why would you go there? You know the shop is closed on Sundays.”
Aubrey gave herself a moment to quell the questions jamming her thoughts.
“We’re just glad you’re all right, Faye,” Peyton said.
“Yes, but shouldn’t you be at church? Why aren’t you preaching?”
“I preached this morning, so don’t you worry about that.”
Faye dropped her head back on the pillow and closed her eyes. “That’s fine. Just give me a minute to rest, then we can go. Don’t let me forget my purse. It’s over there in the dresser.”