Chapter Twenty-four
Melody managed to get Mums dressed and downstairs for dinner, a fact that seemed to surprise not only Bunny and Fred, but Helenka as well, who was utterly delighted that her mistress was up and about again.
Melody had done her mother’s hair and encouraged her to dress in her favorite red polka-dot dress, which, Melody observed sadly, was now rather too big.
Thankfully, her mother did not seem to notice, even when Melody suggested tightening the belt a little.
Leola Merriweather had never been what one would call thin, even as a young woman, but she was the type whose extra curves were attractive. In short, she suited being plump, and now that she was not, she looked drawn and old. How could she have lost this much weight in such a short space of time?
Well, she had decided as she handed her mother a bright red lipstick, she would find a way to fatten her up.
She had also found, while rummaging around the room, several bottles of pills, one of which appeared to contain sleeping pills!
No wonder her mother had seemed catatonic.
Why had Doc Hodges prescribed them? She longed to question Fred, but she knew she would have to wait.
Dinner was pleasant enough. The food at Mundelein was exceptionally good, and she had been out for countless dinners with Eustace, but Melody welcomed one of Helenka’s home-cooked meals.
Tonight, she had prepared a lovely roast chicken, the skin golden and crispy, with fluffy mashed potatoes, gravy, early spring peas, a dandelion salad, and a lemon cream cake for dessert.
As they ate, Melody attempted to regale them with stories about Chicago, but she quickly realized that unless she wanted to reveal her relationship with Eustace, there was not too terribly much to tell.
Likewise, seeing as she had thrown all that over for good, it didn’t make sense to start explaining everything from the beginning.
“Did you see much of Douglas?” her mother asked pertly.
As much as she wanted her mother to participate in a conversation, this was not a subject she wished to dwell on. “Not much,” Melody answered with a small shrug.
“But why not? He seemed so keen when he came at Christmas,” Mums mused. “You haven’t argued, have you? I really thought you’d be engaged by now, Melody.”
Melody let out a little sigh. “Well, things didn’t really turn out with Douglas, Mums. He’s . . . he’s actually seeing a friend of mine now.”
“What?” Mums cried. “Well, it can’t be anything serious. I know a man in love when I see it!”
“Yeah, Mel. How’d you screw that one up?
” Fred asked as he bit into a roll slathered with butter.
He had been as surprised as the rest of them to find Melody flitting around the house when he walked in the door after work and, like the rest of them, had initially queried what had happened.
Melody had breezily informed him that she had decided to come home and would explain it all later.
She had no desire to battle Fred after what was probably a stressful day at the Merc.
She needed him to relax before she sprang her ideas on him.
“I didn’t ‘screw it up,’ Freddy,” she retorted. “He proposed to me, and I rejected him.”
“Rejected him? Why?” Mums exclaimed.
Melody shifted in her chair. She squirmed to think what they would say if they knew she had rejected yet another young man in the meantime.
“I don’t know, Mums. He wasn’t right for me.”
“Wasn’t right for you, my foot! In my day, girls weren’t so choosy.”
“Yes, but there was a war on then.”
“I don’t see what that has to do with it. I think you’re just being silly, Melody.”
Melody resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She didn’t need Mums confirming what she sometimes suspected about herself. However, she was glad that Mums was showing some of her old spunk. She was glad she had removed all the pills, tucking them safely away in one of her own desk drawers.
“How is school, Bunny?” Melody asked in an attempt not only to change the direction of the conversation but to include her younger sister more. Perhaps then she wouldn’t want to leave. “Only four weeks left, isn’t there?”
“Yes. And it can’t go fast enough. I don’t see why I have to learn geometry and typing and home economics! It’s all so meaningless.”
“Well, I’m not sure about geometry, but I should think typing and home economics would come in handy. Thank you, Helenka. That was delicious,” Mums said as the older woman began clearing the plates.
“I am glad you think so.” Helenka beamed. “I will bring dessert now and coffee.”
“They won’t help me in the slightest at Juilliard,” Bunny rebounded.
“Juilliard?” Freddy scoffed.
Bunny’s chin jutted. “Yes, Juilliard, Freddy. I’m planning to apply.” Bunny glared at Melody. “I thought you said you would talk to him.”
“Well, I haven’t exactly had a chance!” Melody retorted.
“We’ll talk about it later, Fred. Why don’t you tell us about the Merc?
I’m dying for all the news.” And she really was.
It was all she could do upon alighting from the bus from Chicago to not immediately rush to the store instead of trudging toward the Willows.
Seeing how badly Mums was in need of help, however, she was infinitely glad she had resisted.
“News?” he said sourly. “There isn’t any. Everything’s the same. Nothing ever changes there. You know that.”
Fred, however, had. In the past, he had always been a bit of a teaser, but now he was decidedly more bitter. Almost mean.
Melody knew from Harriet’s letters that the Merc had in fact changed, but she didn’t press the point. “Well, how’s Mrs. Haufbrau?”
“Yes, how is Marcella? Oh, this looks delicious, Helenka!” Mums said as Helenka placed a piece of lemon cream cake in front of her. It was an extra-large piece, Melody noticed, and she was grateful that she and Helenka seemed to be of one mind regarding the fattening up of Mums.
“She’s fine. The same,” Fred answered.
“Well, how about Harriet? Is she ready for the wedding? It’s June, right?”
“How should I know? I didn’t even know she was engaged. Look, I don’t get involved with the employees like you did, Melody. Maybe that was your problem.”
“Well, Pops did,” Melody retorted, taking a bite of cake and glancing briefly at Mums, hoping the mention of Pops would not upset her.
“Listen, I didn’t critique you when you were running it, so maybe you can lay off,” Fred snapped.
“No, but you’re sure doing a good job at it now. According to you, I didn’t do anything right!”
Fred shoved a huge bite of cake into his mouth. “Well, if the shoe fits!” he garbled.
Irritated, Melody was tempted to flounce upstairs as she might have done in the past, but she had no wish to leave her mother, who might then be tempted to go back to bed.
“Must you two fight?” Mums said tiredly. “You haven’t been back two minutes, Melody, and now you’ve upset poor Fred.”
Poor Fred?
Melody bit her lip. “Why don’t we have a game of rummy after dinner?” she suggested.
“Oh, yes!” Mums replied with surprising eagerness. “I haven’t played in ages.”
“You three can, but I’m tired. I’m going to relax a bit.” Fred tossed his napkin onto the table and rose. “I’m glad you felt well enough to come down, Mother,” he said to Mums and then retreated to the parlor.
“See what I mean?” Bunny snipped. “He’s insufferable!”
***
Several games of rummy later, Mums, Melody could tell, was exhausted.
Not only was she making mistakes, but she kept asking whose turn it was whenever it was hers.
Likewise, Bunny claimed to have homework and again complained about not being able to practice in the evenings because it bothered Fred.
Helenka kindly offered to help Mums undress and get her into bed, so Melody took it as the perfect opportunity to approach her brother.
He was sitting in Pops’s study, in Pops’s old chair, a cigar smoldering in the ashtray beside him and a glass of what looked like whiskey on the side table.
He was rifling through the newspaper. It was such an obvious attempt to be Pops that she didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
She took a seat on the sofa near his elbow.
“Hey, Fred.”
“Mmhmm?” he said from behind the paper.
“I think we should talk.”
“About what?” He lowered the paper. “About what you’re doing home? I have a sneaking suspicion that you quit, but I’m hoping I’m wrong.”
Melody rolled her eyes. “Well, I did quit, Fred. I’m home for good, and I’m taking the Merc back!” she declared and then instantly regretted it. Hadn’t she planned to carefully ease into the topic? In her eagerness, however, she had stupidly blurted it out.
“No, you’re not!”
“Yes, I am!”
“No, you’re not!” Fred crumpled the paper and tossed it aside.
“Look, Fred, this is silly. I’m not happy at school, and you’re not happy here. Let’s just go back to the way things were.”
“We can’t, Mel. Pops is dead, for one thing. And the Merc is in trouble.”
“Yes, I’m aware. I was trying to do something about it.”
“By selling baskets and bottles of cider?”
“Well, it was a start. Frank says that—”
“I’m not interested in what Frank and Julius have to say. They’re a couple of pansies, if you ask me. If they want to waste their time and money buying up old mining cottages and trying to make them into tourist attractions, good luck. We need cash! Now.”
“Yes, but reverting the Merc to what it was fifty years ago isn’t going to do it.
Think about it. In Grandfather’s day, it was a supply store that outfitted men for the mines.
Then when Pops took over, he expanded it and made it more of a general store.
Now it’s our turn. If Frank and Julius are going to bring tourists in, we should at least be considering that.
Homemade, local things are appealing to travelers. ”
“I don’t know, Mel.” He took a drink of his whiskey. “The whole thing seems a bit harebrained.”
She crossed her arms. “Well, I’ve got other ideas, too.”