Chapter Nineteen Jasmine #2
“Had.” She sighed. “She’s been gone for about five years now, but I miss her every day.”
I really wanted to ask more about her sister and what happened to her, but I wasn’t going to dig for more information than Eleanor was willing to give. Instead, I said, “I’m so sorry to hear that.”
“I appreciate that.” She smiled before she pulled out a large, worn-out yellow binder.
“I’m sure you’d expect me to have some kind of fancy digital system to organize my recipes.
” She was right. Based on everything else in their house, I had expected a more high-tech filing solution.
“David keeps offering to do it, and I will let him one day, but this book makes me feel connected to every person who used these recipes before I did.” She placed the book on the countertop and carefully opened the pages.
There was a mix of pages and plastic sheets stuffed with scraps of paper and index cards.
The handwriting varied from page to page.
“There are recipes from David’s family dating back over a hundred years. A few of these are from my family, though my mother didn’t really care for cooking, and some of them”—she flipped to the end which held newer pages—“are mine,” she finished proudly.
“This is amazing.” I sighed. I was awestruck as I carefully flipped through the pages of recipes for everything from cake to cough syrup.
A familiar ingredient seemed to feature in almost every recipe.
“I meant to ask you before. What exactly are Pike berries? After dinner last week, I tried to Google them, but nothing came up.”
“Well, it wouldn’t.” She turned away from me and began pulling ingredients from the cabinets and setting them on the counter. “Pike berries don’t exist outside of Miller’s Cove.” She handed me a jar of perfectly round pink, purple, and red berries floating in a clear liquid.
“How is that possible?” I took the jar from her hands and examined the berries from every angle I could. They were bigger than cranberries but smaller than grapes.
“Did Derek tell you how Miller’s Cove was founded?”
My head snapped up to meet her gaze, and I shook my head.
“Well, I thought he might have. He looked a little shook up when he left here. My husband tends to overshare when he’s had too much to drink.”
“No, Derek didn’t mention it.” When I thought back to last night, I remembered Derek seeming tired, maybe a little lost in thought, but not shaken up.
“My husband’s great-grandfather was a very gifted inventor, especially when it came to farming.
I think he might hold some kind of record for patents held; I’d have to ask David.
” She shrugged and shook her head before pulling a heavily creased index card out of one of the plastic sleeves.
“Pike berry tarts?” She raised an eyebrow while holding up the card.
“Sounds delicious.”
“Good.” She pulled a bag of flour out of a nearby cabinet and handed me a measuring cup. “Now, where was I? So, he studied in Alabama, and when he graduated from college, he settled in Tulsa, Oklahoma.”
“The Greenwood District?” I snapped to attention and had a feeling I knew exactly where this story was headed and why Derek would have been upset. “What year was this?”
“I think John William Pike got there in 1906 or ’07, but that’s where he amassed his fortune, creating innovations in farming equipment and selling the patents.”
“Was he there when…?” I trailed off, knowing Eleanor would understand exactly what I was asking without my having to say it.
“Oh, yes.” She nodded solemnly before scooping a few cupfuls of berries into a saucepan. “He managed to get his whole family to safety unharmed. So many others didn’t. I need two cups of sugar.” She pointed to the glass jar labeled “sugar” on the counter, and I got to work.
“Their home and all of their possessions were destroyed, and I suppose there were too many bad memories, so three families from Greenwood, including my husband’s family, decided to buy this land and settle here.
They each bought a thousand acres—in each generation, it gets passed down to the oldest member of that family. ”
“Is David the oldest Pike?” I folded the butter into the flour to make the pie crust.
“He is.” She nodded.
“And who are the other families?”
“Those are the Walkers and the Hodges. You met Minnie Hodge at dinner.” She smiled.
“Were there any Walkers at dinner?” I tried to think back to all the people I met that night, but I couldn’t remember anyone with the last name Walker.
“No.” She sighed and continued to stir the thickening, bubbling filling that was giving the kitchen the most delicious smell. “My husband had a falling-out with Dennis Walker.”
“What was it about?” I tried to keep my voice as calm as possible, though the curiosity was killing me.
“I’m gonna need a drink if I’m gonna keep telling this story.” She shook her head and wiped her hands on her apron. “Take over stirring the filling while I pour us a couple of glasses of wine.”
A few minutes later, the tart crust and the filling were chilling in the fridge while Eleanor and I sat at the kitchen table with our wineglasses.
“It was 1992, I was pregnant with our first, and we had just moved to Miller’s Cove.
Both of David’s parents were still here, and they welcomed me like the daughter they’d never had.
Things were pretty close to perfect until we got the word that Dennis Walker had sold his family’s share of Miller’s Cove to some corporation. ”
“Why?”
“I don’t know for sure, but if you asked my husband and his parents, they would tell you that Dennis Walker was a gambling addict and a complete fool who didn’t have the sense that God gave a gnat.
” She shook her head and took another sip of her wine.
“They were furious. They tried everything to stop the sale, but it happened so fast that there was nothing they could do.”
“Why didn’t Dennis Walker offer to sell his portion of the town to the other two families?”
“That would have been the sensible thing to do, but as I said”—she waved her wineglass at me—“a complete fool. Rumor is that the Walkers were always jealous of the Pikes. While the fortunes of the other families waned, David’s family’s fortune continued to grow, thanks to the patents and a few wise investments over the years.
I heard Dennis was the type to always have a plan or scheme that never seemed to pan out.
I think he was too proud to come to the other families for help and probably sold the land to strangers out of spite. ”
“So what happened to the land?”
“Oddly enough, nothing.” She shrugged and stood from the table.
“It’s still there. Nothing’s changed. Initially, there were some rumblings about a resort, but that died away.
David thinks the land is a tax shelter. Every once in a while, someone from MasonCorp—” My heart stopped at hearing the name of my company coming from Eleanor’s lips.
“—that’s who Dennis sold the land to—will come sniffing around, but that hasn’t happened in over ten years.
We were hoping to make MasonCorp an offer to buy the land back, but David doesn’t want to rock the boat. ”
We rolled out the pie crust and cut it into squares before ladling the chilled filling onto half of them.
“Eleanor, what about the berries?” I watched as she used a fork to seal the tarts’ crusts.
“Oh yes, I was getting to that. John William Pike made his fortune with his many inventions, but he didn’t give everything away.
He loved to experiment with plants: ways to make them grow faster, to get greater yields from harvests, and to increase their nutritional and medicinal values.
” She closed the oven door after sliding the full trays of tarts inside. “He even created new species.”
“Created new species?” I tilted my head in confusion. “Do you mean he invented Pike berries?”
“Among other things. Like the wheat we use, for example.” She pointed to the burlap sack on the counter. “But Pike berries were his pride and joy. They contain more nutrients and antioxidants than any other edible plant on this Earth, and they grow nearly all year round.”
“Are you serious?” My mind was immediately whirring with all of the amazing ways I could monetize Pike berries and seal the deal to keep my job at MasonCorp.
If what Eleanor was saying was true, Derek’s hotel idea wouldn’t stand a chance against a newly discovered superfood growing in our own soil. “Why doesn’t everyone know about this?”
“According to my father-in-law, John William Pike watched his community be razed to the ground and his neighbors be slaughtered because of greed and jealousy. He wanted Miller’s Cove to be an oasis from all the ugliness in our world.
Some of his finest work will never pass town limits, except for the occasional cookie”—she winked at me, and her trusting smile made my heart break—“and that’s the way he wanted it.
I think these might be just about ready.
” She used a dish towel to pull a tray of golden-brown tarts out of the oven.
“And that is why you can’t find Pike berries outside of Miller’s Cove.
” She broke a corner off a tart and blew on it before popping it into her mouth. “And you never will.”
I understood Derek’s beleaguered expression from last night. I had no recollection of the taxi ride home, and I couldn’t shake the overwhelming feeling of guilt and shame that clung to me like a second skin.
Derek and I had infiltrated Miller’s Cove like a virus, a Trojan horse in the form of a newlywed couple with an adorable dog. They’d let their guard down and welcomed us past their gates, so that when they least expected it, we could destroy everything they loved.
By the time I’d gotten to the front door, I realized I had been crying.
The Derry house had a large wooden wraparound porch with a bench swing that I’d barely registered until this moment.
I decided to sit—and swing—for few minutes to compose myself before facing Derek.
He would immediately know something was wrong by the look on my face.
I would’ve been happy to talk to him about it, but he’d received this information a day before I had and had chosen not to share it with me.
I briefly wondered if this was what he’d been trying to tell me this morning before changing his mind.
I didn’t know if it was because he still didn’t trust me or if he was having just as much trouble wrapping his head around it as I was.
Whatever the reason, I knew it would be better to keep it to myself while I figured out my next move.
The only thing I knew for sure was that I wasn’t going to submit my proposal, and I was going to do everything in my power to protect Miller’s Cove and preserve John William Pike’s vision.
I just wasn’t sure how I was going to do this and not lose Derek in the process.
After taking a deep, cleansing breath and wiping away my tears, I stood to enter The Derry House. Before I could reach the handle, the front door flew open, and I was standing face-to-face with Derek.
“Hey,” I called to him in shock. “What are you doing?”
“I came out here to look for you.” His expression was sheepish, and it made my heart clench. “I heard your car pull up and pull away. Then when you didn’t come inside…” He trailed off.
“Derek Carter.” I wrapped my arms around his neck and fluttered my eyelashes at him. “Did you miss me?”
“Miss you?” he scoffed, “Girl, please.” He wrapped his arms around my waist, interlocking his fingers on the small of my back. “You weren’t gone that long.”
“Mm-hmm.” I raised a skeptical eyebrow.
“I really came out here to make sure you didn’t get snatched up or lost again.”
“Whatever.” I shook my head at him, and he grinned down at me.
“Yes, okay.” He pressed his lips against my forehead. “I missed you. I missed you like crazy. You happy now?”
“Yes.” I smiled up at him, feeling the stress, guilt, and worry melt away. “I’m happy now.”
“What were you doing out here anyway?”
“Just getting some air.” I sighed.
“Well, there’s plenty of air inside if you’re interested.” He waggled his eyebrows at me.
“I’m very interested.”
“Good.” He hoisted me onto his shoulder, eliciting a surprised squeal, and carried me inside, kicking the front door of The Derry House closed with his foot.