Eight
Adrienne found Maggie back at Carriage Hill, in the garden, assessing a half-dozen tall, bushy basil plants. “It kills me they might go to seed before I can make pesto,” she said, sighing. “Basil doesn’t like cold weather. A few cold nights, and these plants will be done for. It’s almost Labor Day...”
“There’s time,” Adrienne said. “I’ve never made pesto but I bet I could.”
“I freeze batches in ice-cube trays.”
“It must be like having summer in the freezer.”
Maggie smiled then, reluctantly. “I want to have a look at the cellar hole where you and Adam found the boys. It’ll help me sleep, being able to picture it. I’m not an anxious person by nature but—” She licked her lips. “Let’s just say last night wasn’t good.”
“You had a scare yesterday, and getting banged up yourself can’t have helped. Are you up to walking out there?”
She stood straight, squaring her shoulders. “I am. Absolutely.”
“I’ll go with you.”
“Would you? That’d be great.”
Maggie was eager to go. Adrienne followed her through the garden to the spot behind the shed where the boys had played, encountering the moose, and then onto the path on the edge of the field. Maggie didn’t move fast but she wasn’t as unsteady as she’d been that morning, whether because she’d taken something for pain or was feeling better.
“Russ Colton has been overhauling security but a moose isn’t anything to worry about,” she said, slowing slightly as she brushed past ferns. “He wants to add an alarm system to the inn, but without overdoing it. Most of what he has in mind are passive steps we won’t see. He’s good.” Maggie smiled back at Adrienne. “Buster doesn’t count as passive anything, in case you were wondering. He was our security before Russ. But with Dylan’s ventures—it makes sense to take reasonable precautions.”
Adrienne agreed. They continued in silence along the stone wall. Maggie paused a few times to gather herself, but she never complained or turned ashen. Adrienne hoped the fresh air and exercise would do them both good.
They were about a hundred yards from the cellar hole when Adam eased in next to them. Maggie looked surprised. “How did you find us?”
“Vic’s car, Maggie’s van, no caterer and no innkeeper at the house.”
“You put two and two together,” she said.
He winked at his sister-in-law. “I also heard you.”
Maggie grinned at him. “I hope you didn’t think we were a couple of moose.” She motioned vaguely ahead of her. “I want to see the cellar hole.”
“Understandable. How’s Tyler’s leg today? I meant to ask earlier.”
“It aches when he has to do his chores and isn’t a problem when he wants to play outside.”
“Sounds about right.” Adam nodded back toward the inn, now out of sight. “I left Violet in the kitchen.”
“She’s a good dog,” Adrienne said.
“She is,” Maggie said. “I brought fresh bread from home. Violet won’t steal it off the counter. Buster would.”
“You didn’t make bread this morning, did you?” Adam asked her.
“Got it out of the freezer.”
There was no hint of defensiveness in her tone. Adrienne again could feel the tight bond between them, not just as siblings-in-law but as two people who’d known each other all their lives. He joined them as they continued on to the cellar hole.
Maggie immediately climbed onto the remains of the old foundation. Adrienne stood next to Adam by a birch tree. “Do you know who lived here?” she asked.
“No idea,” he said. “You could probably find out at the library or historical society. Thousands of houses were torn down to make way for the reservoir and its watershed. This could have been one of them, but I’d guess it was abandoned before then.”
“Someone who cleared out of New England and headed west in the nineteenth century.”
“Possibly.”
Maggie descended deeper into the cellar hole, to the spot where the boys had taken refuge from their moose. The rock on which Adrienne was standing wiggled slightly. “I don’t want to collapse what’s left of the wall.”
“You won’t,” Adam said.
Despite his certainty, she decided not to take any chances and jumped off the rock into ferns. She did not want to break an ankle and have Adam carry her back to the inn, or even just skin her knee and look like an inept city girl.
“Are the cellar holes and stone walls protected?” she asked.
“Not by law, no.”
“I guess it’s not worth the effort and expense to mess with them unless you’re developing the property. Do you ever scavenge them for your stonemasonry work?”
He shook his head. “There are other places I can get what I need.” He pointed down the hill through the woods. “That’s one of the small streams that feed into Cider Brook, which empties into the reservoir.”
Maggie rejoined them. “Cider Brook used to empty into one of the branches of the Swift River before Winsor Dam was built. It’s a north-south valley. That added to its attractiveness for a reservoir. This area was so different back when this house was built.”
She stepped up onto a boulder and wobbled, but Adam caught her by the arm. “Steady.”
She blew out a breath, shut her eyes a moment, then opened them as she smiled. “Phew. We don’t need me to pass out and hit the other side of my head.” She grinned at him. “Then I’d have matching scars.”
“Not funny, Maggie,” Adam said.
“Shall we count your scars?” She laughed and turned to Adrienne. “Don’t mind us. Sloans and O’Dunns aren’t known for being overly cautious, but I like to think we’re not reckless.”
“You know your own minds,” Adrienne said.
“Yes, there you go. That’s it, right, Adam?”
“Right. Sure thing, Maggie.”
She sat on a boulder, catching her breath. She looked up at Adrienne. “Samantha was following Cider Brook when she and Justin met last fall. She ducked out of a storm into an old nineteenth-century cider mill he owns. It got struck by lightning and caught fire. Honestly. It’s been through hundreds of storms without getting struck by lightning. Meant to be.”
“Vic told me that story,” Adrienne said. “Samantha was hunting for buried pirate treasure, wasn’t she?”
Maggie nodded. “She worked with Dylan’s father on his treasure-hunting expeditions. She was convinced a notorious New England pirate had ventured out here from the coast with his treasure and suspected he’d buried it along Cider Brook.”
“Did you two ever follow the brook as kids?”
“Not Cider Brook,” Maggie said. “Adam, you and your brothers followed it into Quabbin a few times, didn’t you?”
“Yeah,” he said. “I tagged along with Eric and Justin when I was seven or eight. They say I bitched and moaned the whole way.”
“I would have, too,” Maggie said. “Heather was never interested. I remember that. Maybe if she’d had sisters like I did instead of you lot.”
“She was always the smart one,” Adam said.
Maggie got carefully to her feet. “No argument from me.”
“Following brooks.” Adrienne smiled. “Something to do growing up here. Do you still enjoy walking in the woods?”
“Today,” Adam said. “Not yesterday with the boys missing.”
“That’s an understatement,” Maggie muttered.
That was Adam Sloan, Adrienne thought. A man of understatement.
“I’m glad you found the boys before it got dark and rained,” Maggie added. “It feels safe here. Safer than what I envisioned last night.”
“Ready to head back?” Adam asked her.
“Yeah. Yeah, I think so.”
“Head?”
She swallowed visibly. “Pounding.”
He stayed close to her as they returned to the trail through the field back toward the inn. Adrienne glanced behind them at the cellar hole. “Do you just see the stonework when you look at the remains of an old house or stone wall, or do you picture the people who lived there—the people who built them?”
“Hard to picture them since I don’t know who they were.”
He was being intensely literal. It was probably deliberate. She doubted much he did wasn’t deliberate. “Could any of them have been Sloans?” she asked.
“Maybe.”
“Well, I’m envisioning cozy nights by the fire in days gone by instead of early death through infectious disease and such. I can smell a steaming pot of New England baked beans and see children contentedly reading poetry by candlelight while Dad fills the wood box and Mom darns socks.”
Adam looked amused. “Would you know how to darn socks?”
“I hear skepticism in your tone.”
“Not for no reason,” he said.
“Mm. Yes. Your suspicions are correct. I have no clue how to darn socks. I’m not sure I even know what darning is. But I can read poetry. You?”
“I can load a wood box.”
Adrienne laughed. “I can do that, too, and I expect I’ll have to soon enough with summer winding down. What made you decide to become a stonemason?”
“Opportunity,” Adam said. “I apprenticed with a master stonemason in high school. The work took.”
“I remember him,” Maggie said. “He was a third-or fourth-generation stonemason, wasn’t he?”
“At least that.”
“Your work will outlast you. Mine doesn’t outlast the night. Well, unless there are leftovers. Then it lasts for a few days.”
“But it tastes better than rocks,” Adam said.
She turned to Adrienne. “Adam also handles finances for the family business. Justin and their dad hate it and Adam doesn’t mind.”
“Justin’s not as cranky with Samantha in the picture,” Adam said, good-humored. “She’s as stubborn as he is. Someone else he can butt heads with besides me.”
Adrienne could imagine the strong-willed Sloan siblings having epic disagreements, even as tight-knit as they were. She noticed a dinosaur figure lying on the side of the trail and scooped it up. “Know what it is?”
“I have no idea,” Maggie said. “I’m not sure I want to know.”
Adam glanced at it. “It’s a gorgosaurus.”
“You remember that from when you played dinosaurs as a kid?” Adrienne asked him.
“No. I recognize it from the movie Walking with Dinosaurs. Tyler and Aidan had me watch it with them one snowy Saturday afternoon while I was looking after them.”
“You’re a good uncle,” Maggie said.
“It’s a good movie, and they kept up their end of the deal and helped me shovel snow after it ended.”
“Was it dark out?” Adrienne asked.
“Not that dark. Maggie and Brandon have lights at their place.”
“We have streetlights, too, in the village,” she added.
Adrienne pushed through tall field grass on the edge of the path. “I shoveled snow at Vic’s on my own a few times. I often wondered what would happen if I tripped with no one out there. I always had my cell phone with me.”
“Vivid imagination,” Adam said.
“Very vivid when it’s ten degrees, icy and dark.” She held up the gorgosaurus figure. “Carnivore?”
He nodded. “Big-time.”
She handed the dinosaur to Maggie, who slid it into her vest pocket. Adrienne glanced back across the fields, out toward the hill that gave both the inn and the dead-end road their name. Colorful wildflowers lit up the landscape. “It’s so pretty out here,” she said. “Maggie, have you and Olivia considered doing nature trails? We could make up guide sheets and markers. It’s not a priority, of course—”
“It’s a great idea. We just haven’t had the time. We’re so glad to have you, Adrienne.”
Adrienne thought she noticed Adam smile ever so slightly, as if he were pleased with his sister-in-law’s comment, but she couldn’t be sure. “I’ll see what I can do to get a start on walking routes. Keep it simple for now. Planning upcoming events and finding someone to do the towels and sheets are priorities.”
“Makes sense to me,” Maggie said, then went pale and sank—but Adam caught her by the waist before she collapsed. She rallied, insisting it was a momentary lapse, but he and Adrienne got her between them as they finished the rest of the walk to the house.
* * *
Maggie sighed when they cut through the garden to the terrace. Adrienne followed her gaze and saw Brandon Sloan pacing from the catmint across to a pot of yellow mums and back again. Adam glanced at his sister-in-law. “You did tell him you were going out to the cellar hole?”
“I figured we’d be back before he got here.” She waved to her husband. “Where are the boys?”
“Up with Olivia and Dylan,” Brandon said. “How did you do tramping through the woods?”
“We stuck to the field.” As if that made a difference. “I could use a glass of water.”
He motioned to a pitcher on the table. He’d also set out glasses and a plate of sliced apples and cheese. “I anticipated that when I saw you limping back here.”
“I was not limping. I hurt my head not my legs or hips or—”
“Staggering. That better? I saw you, Maggie. You almost passed out.”
“Almost passing out isn’t actually passing out.”
He studied her. “You look ready to keel over.” He shifted to his younger brother and Adrienne. “Justin said she’d insist on going out there. Thanks for going with her.”
“I already thanked them,” Maggie snapped. “Honestly, Brandon, I’m not one of the boys.”
He sighed. “I know.”
She sighed, too. “I’m sorry if I worried you.” She set the gorgosaurus figure on the table and scowled at it as she sank onto a chair, Brandon hovering at her side. “I’m tempted to throw the damn thing in the garbage. I guess it wasn’t the dinosaurs’ fault. The boys could have been weeding and the moose still would have startled them.”
“It wasn’t one thing that led to yesterday,” Brandon said, handing her a glass of water.
“Yeah, I know. I’m trying not to get lost in all the bad things that could have happened but didn’t.” She picked up the dinosaur again. “Ugly fellow, isn’t he?”
“I’m not sure it’s a he,” Adam said. He took the pitcher from his brother and filled two glasses, handing Adrienne one.
“Tyler mentioned they were one dinosaur short. He’d know,” Maggie said, setting it back on the table. “I guess I’ll look back fondly on their dinosaurs one day.” She looked up at Brandon and Adam. “I should ask your mother if she does.”
“Or maybe you shouldn’t,” Adam said.
She laughed, wincing. “It still hurts to laugh.”
Brandon touched her shoulder gently but said nothing. Adrienne drank her water and half listened as Adam and Maggie chatted comfortably about family goings-on. The latest from Heather in London. Concerns about Eric, who apparently had been surly lately. Adrienne thought she had everyone they mentioned clear in her mind, but she didn’t have Vic’s cheat sheet memorized yet. She’d have to figure out how to manage her work with people coming in and out with little or no warning. Maggie and Olivia were used to a fluid schedule, but they had different roles.
Violet wandered out to the terrace. Brandon had left the mudroom door open. The golden retriever yawned and plopped at Adam’s feet. “Lazy day,” he said affectionately, petting her.
“I should have followed Violet’s lead and taken a nap instead of tramping up to the cellar hole.” Maggie helped herself to cheese and apple. “Don’t say
you’d have told me so if you’d had the chance.”
Adam grinned at her. “Never.”
“I wouldn’t, either,” Brandon said. “I’d have done the same thing and gone out there if it’d been me. You okay, Maggie? For real?”
“Yeah. Headache. Wobblier than I want to admit. Getting rehydrated will help.” She nibbled on her apple slice as she shifted to Adrienne. “I’m more outnumbered with the Sloan men than usual with Heather in London. Helps to have Samantha now. I thought Christopher and my sister Ruby might get back together, but she’s still in Hollywood with stars in her eyes. He’s not leaving Knights Bridge. He loves being a firefighter. And Eric...” She sighed. “I don’t know what’s up with him. Maybe nothing. It can be hard to tell with a Sloan.”
“Saying we’re hard-hearted as well as hardheaded?” Brandon asked cheerfully.
“Reluctant to show emotional pain,” she said, clearly tongue-in-cheek.
“Ah. That.” Brandon shrugged. “Eric and Christopher are fine.”
Maggie smiled at Adrienne. “See what I mean?”
Adrienne wasn’t getting mixed up in that one. She grabbed some apple and cheese. “Can I get you all anything else?”
Brandon shook his head. “Sorry for the trouble yesterday.”
“The boys are safe,” Adrienne said. “That’s all that matters.”
Maggie perked up. “I finalized the menu for next weekend.”
“What’s next weekend?” Adam asked.
“Eight women will be here. They’ve been friends since college, and they’re all turning forty this year.” Maggie turned to Adrienne. “I really should be here for your meeting with Felicity in the morning.”
Brandon refilled his water glass. “But you don’t need to be here, do you?”
Maggie adjusted her ice pack. “I trust Adrienne and Felicity completely, but I’m responsible for the catering, and with Olivia taking it easy—”
“You want to be helpful,” Brandon said. “Adrienne, you and Felicity will let Maggie know if you need her for anything, right?”
Stone Bridges Page 10