Chapter Twenty-Four
“So, where do we want to start?” Beth rubbed her hands together eagerly.
“We can do the kitchen cabinets and the pantry, or we can do the dining room,” Kit replied.
“Oh, the dining room, to be sure.” Without waiting, Beth headed in.
“Mom, would you mind if I took Benny outside for a bit? He needs to run off some energy.” Abby had remained in the front hall when they entered the house. “He saw some ducks on the lake and wants to make friends with them.”
“Duckies!” Benny exclaimed.
“Of course. Just be careful if you go onto the dock. There are some loose boards and a few are missing.”
“Thanks for the tip. Come on, little person. Let’s go see the ducks!” Abby held out her hand and her son happily took it.
“Oh, and take a canister of bear spray. There’s one on the kitchen counter.”
Abby frowned. “Bear spray? You have bears?”
“Just in case. We haven’t seen any, but—just in case.”
“How do I use it if I need to?” Abby looked worried.
“I don’t know. I guess read the instructions on the can before you leave the house.
Hold up and I’ll get a can for you.” Kit disappeared into the kitchen and came back with a canister in hand.
She and Abby read through the instructions and Abby clipped the canister to one of the belt loops on her jeans.
Kit walked out onto the front porch with them. Halfway across the parking lot, Abby began to skip, and Benny mimicked her steps. The sound of their laughter drifted on the morning’s light breeze, and Kit smiled. Abby seemed so much happier here.
Once inside, Kit went into the dining room to find the table laden with sets of napkins and their matching tablecloths.
“Someone had a thing for matching,” Beth was saying as Kit joined her. “Look here. These”—she pointed out a pile of pale-blue linens—“perfectly match the blue flowers on those dishes on the second shelf of the china cupboard. Who does that?”
“Maybe not a lot of people in this century, but apparently one of our great-grandmothers—or someone—enjoyed it.” Kit looked into the open drawer. “I didn’t think to look at the china in terms of things matching. What do you think we should do with them?”
“They should stay with the table. The question is, what are you going to do with the furniture?”
“I think it’s not strictly up to me. I think it’s a decision we should make together.”
Beth shook her head. “Nope. Maxine left it all to you, not to us.”
“Still, you’re her niece as much as I am,” Kit protested. “We should share—”
“Not according to her will.”
“How much does that bother you?” Kit leaned on the back of the nearest chair. It was a question that had haunted her from the day she’d gotten the packet in the mail from Banks.
“Some. Not as much as you might think, so get that look off your face. It does make me wonder, though. Did she just not know about me? Or did she know and for whatever reason think, ‘Eh, another niece. Who needs you, Bethany Joy?’”
Kit laughed in spite of herself. “Beth, I’m sure if she had known about you, everything would have been split fifty-fifty between us.”
“So then the question is, of course, how did she know about you? She knew enough to give Banks your name—your married name—and your address.”
“Maybe Banks did some investigation on his own and found me.”
“Why just you? Why not both of us?”
“I don’t know. I’ve asked myself the same thing. But as far as I’m concerned, you’re in this for half, and I won’t discuss that with you further. So—what do we do with all this stuff?”
“I’d love to keep it. Did you see how all of the napkins have a fancy M embroidered on them?
And this china—you know I’m a sucker for old china.
” She held up a white cup with yellow flowers painted around the outside rim.
“I know this Wedgwood pattern. It’s called Mimosa and it’s hard to find and there’s a ton of it in here. ”
“It would make more sense to sell it.”
Beth looked pained. “Do we have to?”
Kit grinned. “No, but we’re going to have to draw the line somewhere.
We can’t keep everything. Where would you store it all in that sweet little house of yours?
Do you have plans to move to a much larger place that I don’t know about?
Unless of course you want to use the cups and saucers and the dessert plates in the café.
” Kit’s expression brightened at the thought. “That would make sense.”
Beth looked horrified and clutched the cup to her chest. “Have you lost your mind? That makes no sense at all! I wouldn’t dare let my clientele near these.
Those kids from the college are clueless, and the early-morning business crowd is always in such a rush.
They just grab and go!” She carefully returned the cup to the cupboard and lowered her voice.
“Don’t listen to her, my precious little porcelain beauty.
I’ll save you from Bad Kitty, who would put you at the mercy of the heathens who frequent my coffee shop. ”
“Drama queen.” Amused, Kit rolled her eyes. “A simple no, not for the café would have sufficed.”
“Well, you’re right, I don’t know what I’d do with them at home, but I do love them.
And someone had the most lovely Limoge, did you see?
” Beth half disappeared into the deep cupboard again.
“I used to know this pattern—can’t remember its name now, but it was very popular around the turn of the last century. ”
“How do you remember all that?”
“You know I love antiques.” Beth stepped out of the cupboard, a small plate in her hand. “I had such a grand collection before the divorce.”
“What happened to it?”
Beth shrugged. “I had to pay the lawyer somehow.”
“You could have asked, you know. I’d have gladly given you the money.”
“I don’t know when I would have been able to pay it back,” Beth told her. “Besides, I know that Russ was on Kevin’s side, and I—”
“Whoa. Where did you get that idea?”
“Kevin said Russ thought if he needed to be in nature, he should go live in nature.”
“I never heard Russ say anything like that, and if he did think that, he had no business telling Kevin. Unless he was saying it sarcastically, like, Yeah, go ahead. Live in a yurt in the wilderness.”
“That was probably it, but Kevin took it as a green light, that you guys were cool with it.”
“I was only cool with the fact that you weren’t going to be burdened with a man who was so foolish and idiotic that he’d rather live in a tent in the middle of nowhere than with my beautiful, clever little sister. That’s what I was cool with. He didn’t deserve you any more than Evan deserves Abby.”
“Well, that sure says a lot about the Meadows women’s ability to choose a life partner, doesn’t it?”
“Mom did okay. Aunt Maxine did okay. The fact that Miles died before they could marry was very sad, though.”
“True. Maybe it’s just the current generation of marriage-age Meadowses who are cursed. And I notice you left yourself out.”
“To be continued.” When she realized the implications of what she’d said, Kit covered her face with her hands, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. “Oh my God, Bethany. I don’t know—”
“I saw duckies.” Benny ran into the room at full speed.
“We did, and now it’s nap time.” Abby tried to rein him in.
He shook his head. “Snack!”
“Well, let’s go into the kitchen and see what we have.”
“Peanut butter and crackers,” Kit offered. “That’s about it.”
“We never did make a run to the general store.” Beth put the plate back into the cupboard. “I can go now. Let’s make a list—”
“Wait for me and I’ll go with you.” Abby followed Benny into the kitchen.
Thirty minutes later, armed with a list and after having tucked in Benny for his nap, Abby and Beth set out for Tolerance after assuring Kit they knew exactly where to go and how to find their way back to camp.
Kit had opted to stay at the house while Benny slept and to return the phone messages that she’d neglected to check over the last few days.
There were voicemail messages from several Realtors offering their services to appraise the house and give their expertise on how best to prepare the house for sale.
“Lock the front door and walk away would be the quickest and easiest,” Kit had mimicked the last caller. She kept a list of their names and phone numbers but wasn’t ready to have that discussion with any of them.
Would she ever be? She wondered. Another conversation to have with Beth.
There were also a number of messages for Maxine from would-be campers wanting to make reservations for the coming summer. Kit hated returning those calls, hated having to tell people that Maxine was gone and there were no immediate plans to open the camp this year.
“Yes, of course, I’d be happy to call you if plans change. Yes, Mrs. Thompson, I have your name and number right here . . .”
It took the full hour that Beth and Abby were gone for Kit to finish making the calls, and when she heard a car pull in, Kit went to the front door. But instead of Beth and Abby, she saw Hal walking up the steps.
“How’s it going?” he asked.
“Going okay, thanks. Do you have any news for me?”
“About the DNA? No. No, I just wanted to come out and see if you’ve had any other uninvited visitors this week. Sap poachers, fishermen or fisherwomen. Cabin crashers.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t know. I haven’t been down near the cabins or the lake since the other day. But I have had visitors. My sister and my daughter are here for a few days.”
“Yeah, I did hear that.”
“Already?”
“They got here like twenty-four hours ago. This is Tolerance, lady. I bet I could tell you what you had for dessert at Ruthie’s last night.”
“I bet you probably could.” She didn’t know whether to laugh or cringe. She wasn’t used to having her every move discussed by everyone in shouting distance of the restaurant.
“Apple pie,” he said confidently.
“Sorry to say but the gossip train has failed you. Lemon meringue.”
“Damn. I thought for sure you’d be going for the apple.”
“I admit I was tempted, but I couldn’t do two double-crusted foods at the same meal.”
He nodded. “Yeah, that makes sense. But the pot pie was pretty good.”
“The best. Beth—my sister—thought it was better than our mom’s.” The sound of tires on gravel drew their attention to the parking lot. “Speak of the devil. There’re Beth and Abby now.”
Beth parked the car and turned off the engine at the same time Abby got out of the front passenger seat. She eyed the strange man on the porch curiously, as did Beth when she got out from behind the wheel and closed the driver’s-side door.
“Hi,” they said in unison as they marched toward the front steps.
Kit correctly read the look on the faces of her sister and her daughter, so she began making introductions.
“Chief Hal Anderson, this is my sister, Bethany—Beth—and my daughter, Abby.” Hal greeted them with a touch to the brim of his cap.
“Beth, Abby, the chief just stopped by to—” What had he said he was here for?
“To check on the cabins, make sure no one’s stopped in for a day of fishing or helped themselves to some maple sap,” he explained.
“Does that happen often?” Abby asked. “That someone just takes up residency in one of our cabins and fishes in our lake without permission?”
Kit smiled at Abby’s use of the possessive. From her expression, Beth had caught it, too.
“Not often. But in town, it’s known that there’s good fishing here on Meadows Lake. This time of the year, the maples are ready to be tapped, and you may have noticed, you have a full forest of trees out there.”
“Have you already made your inspection?” Abby continued her questions until she was standing right in front of Hal.
“No. Actually, I just arrived a few minutes before you pulled in,” Hal told her. “I’m heading down to the cabins now.”
“Mind if I come with you? I’ve been wanting to take a look.”
“I don’t mind at all,” he replied.
“Good. It’ll just take a minute to get the groceries out of the car.” Abby went down the steps quickly.
“I’ll give you a hand.” Hal followed Abby to the car.
“Is she up to something?” Kit asked Beth.
“No way to tell.”
“It’s Abby.” The sisters looked at each other for a moment before Kit added, “She’s up to something. Did she say anything while you were gone?”
“Not really. Just how much she’s already in love with Maine and Tolerance and the house and what a shame Benny wasn’t older so he’d remember it all. But you know Abby. It could have meant nothing, or something.”
Abby and Hal brought the bags into the kitchen, then headed out the back door. Beth and Kit began to put things away. When they heard Benny calling from the top of the steps—“Hey, someone!”—Kit made a beeline for the front hall.
“I’ll come up there, Benny. Don’t try to come down the stairs in your stocking feet. The steps are slippery.”
She helped him downstairs and made a snack, keeping an eye on the back window, wondering what Abby was doing.
“Mommy?” Benny asked.
“Mommy went for a walk,” Kit told him.
“Wanna walk!”
“After you finish your snack.”
“All done!” He climbed down from the chair.
If we were to be here longer, we’d need to get a proper high chair, Kit thought, or a booster seat. Neither Abby nor Beth seemed to know how long they’d be staying. Then again, neither did Kit.
Benny struggled to get the back door open, and Kit went into the front hall for his jacket and her own. After she bundled him up, they headed out, though Kit wasn’t sure which path Abby and Hal had taken.
But it didn’t matter. Ten steps off the back porch, Kit saw Abby at the top of the trail.
She was speaking to Hal and he appeared to be listening closely to whatever she was saying.
When she saw Kit and Benny, she waved, and Benny took off to meet her.
Kit watched as the threesome walked slowly back toward the house.
“What do you suppose is up her sleeve?” Beth had stepped out to the back porch. “He’s clearly too old for her.”
“I don’t think that’s it.” Kit watched her daughter’s face. “I’m sure that’s not it.”
“What do you think it is?”
“Only one way to find out.” Kit walked out to meet them.