“Me, too. Don't worry about the computer thing. Only take classes if you want to, Lily. Do it for yourself, not someone else. Everyone isn't computer literate. There are many people in this world who are totally turned off by computers, and yes, I know it's the future. Another thing, remember where we've been for the past ten years. When would we have had time to learn about that stuff? I have to believe Matt knows what he's doing. I think it's commendable that he puts his investors ahead of himself. Foolish but commendable.”
Lily sighed. “We had the winter months. We could have done it then. I think I have a mental block where Matt's business is concerned. I need to get back to the apartment and bring him here. I think the roast will be okay. The bread machine shuts off when the bread is done, and keeps it warm. Are you going to move into the cottage today, Sadie?”
“No. I think I'll stay in the apartment tonight. I want you two to have the whole place to yourselves. Remember, you have no coverings on your windows.”
Lily laughed. “I can't wait for the yard to be done and for spring so I can plant flowers and work outdoors.”
“Oh, Lily, you are going to have such a wonderful life.” Sadie beamed with enthusiasm.
“I know, Sadie, I know. God really did bless me this time around.”
Buzz bounded to the door, Gracie behind him, the moment Lily fitted the key into the lock. Her eyebrows rose at their quiet greeting until she looked into the living room to see Matt sprawled asleep on the sofa. She smiled, and whispered, “I could sit and look at him all day long, Sadie. My heart just feels like it's going to overflow. Those first days were pretty dark, and this heart of mine was black and ugly. Why are we so prepared always to believe the worst? Dennis didn't. He hung in there and wouldn't budge. That doesn't say much for me, does it? Do you think I'm insecure or something?”
“You had every right to feel the way you did. I would have felt the same way. What's that old saying, once burned, twice shy or something like that. That's all in the past. This is now, and your future is looking bright and rosy. Enjoy every minute of it. You do your thing. I'm going to start gathering up my stuff and pack everything. Sunday is going to roll around real quick.”
“Sadie ...”
“Shhh, this is the way it has to be for now. I'm okay with this. It's not my time to make heavy-duty decisions. Boy, am I glad I didn't go to Australia. I'd be one cranky girl about now. Lulu said Larry and Annie are there already. Seems Ozzie wants to give the place a face-lift for the new season, and there's plenty of work for everyone. I'm looking forward to seeing the gang. They're like family. Who knows, maybe some of the others will show up, and it will be like old times. At least we'll have some time to enjoy some winter sports. I haven't skied for so long I don't know if I'll remember how to make my feet work. C'mon, Lily, wipe that awful look off your face. I'll just be a phone call away.”
“I know but . . .”
“I have to think about me now, Lily. Smile. If you don't, I'm never coming back. I'm going down to the storage area for my trunks. I'll try not to make any noise. Do you want me to leave the door ajar?”
Lily shook her head as she shrugged out of her jacket and threw her purse on a chair in the small hallway. “Do you want some help?”
“Nope.”
Matt rose up on his elbow the minute the door closed. “Lily, what's wrong? Why are you crying? Come here. What happened?”
“I'm not crying. I was thinking about it, though. Sadie's leaving on Sunday. She's going back to Ozzie's camp. She thinks three's a crowd. It wouldn't be like that. She said she wants to get on with her life. I understand that part of it. She stayed on here to be with me instead of going to Australia. Sadie has always been my one-man support team. I just feel bad. You know, kind of lost. We've never really been apart before. We walked to school together for twelve years. We roomed together at college. We traveled together, then worked for Ozzie for ten years. She hasn't even gone, and I miss her.”
Matt stared helplessly at Lily, uncertain as to what he should say. He put his arm around her shoulder. “I think I know how you feel, honey. If Dennis up and left, I'd feel like I lost part of me. You're thinking right now if she leaves, she's taking part of you with her, and you're losing part of her. If it was a perfect world, this wouldn't be happening, but it isn't a perfect world. Sadie's right, she's doing what's best for her. You can't be selfish with your emotions. I remember some very long discussions you and I had last year where we both agreed that when you loved someone totally their happiness came first. Love is being generous, wanting that person's happiness more than your own. I bet you thought I wasn't paying attention, huh?”
Lily sniffed. “No, I knew you were paying attention. I'm going to miss her. It's a girl thing, Matt. I know you understand, but you don't
really
understand. I'll be okay. Hey, Sadie found your car! Do you believe that? I was going to bound in here and stun you with the news. That's the really important news, and here I am blubbering like some silly little girl. I'm sorry, Matt.”
“How? Where? How'd she do that? You girls are amazing!”
“Wait, there's more,” Lily said, running to the dining room to where Sadie tossed her purse. “Look at this!”
“Holy shit! That's them! They're the bastards that robbed me and left me to die! Son of a bitch! Where did you get this?”
“Sadie got it. I think she missed her calling. She should have been a detective. Are you going to the police now, Matt? I think you should.”
“I need to digest all of this. I want to talk to Dennis. I can't believe this. Look at the bastards, they're wearing suits and ties. They look like fucking upstanding citizens!”
“We know for certain now who they are and we have names. The one on the right is Junior or Calumet Laroux Jr. The one in the middle is named Hawthorne and is called Thorny. The one on the left is obviously the youngest and goes by the name Tolly. His real name is Bristol. You have Sadie to thank for all this, Matt.”
“I'm feeling kind of light-headed right now. Do you mind if I go outside for a while and get some fresh air? I can't believe this! I thought I'd never be able to find them. You need to tell me how this all happened. Didn't you say you wanted to show me something?”
“I did and I do. How about a ride in the truck with the windows down? We can take the dogs. Otherwise, are you feeling all right?”
“I'm fine. I was waiting for Dennis to get back to me earlier. I closed my eyes, and I guess I drifted off. We didn't make much headway in tracking my money. It all went to the Caymans and from there it's a blizzard of transactions. Even Dennis can't get a handle on it.”
“I just have to gather up a few things. I'll meet you by the truck.” Lily tossed him the keys just as Sadie opened the door to shove her trunks into the hall. She watched, a smile on her face, as Matt twirled her friend this way and then that way, shouting his thanks over and over.
“I owe you, Sadie Lincoln. Big-time.” Sadie flushed at his praise. “Considering all you've done on my behalf, I wonder if I might impose one more time. Do you think you could pick Dennis up at the airport? He's coming in on a seven o'clock Continental flight from New York.”
“Of course. I really didn't have anything to do this evening anyway.”
“Good. See you later.”
Lily trotted into the living room, her makeup case and Matt's shaving gear clutched in her hands. “I heard that,” she chortled as she looked pointedly at the two trunks standing in the hallway.
“Don't go down that road, Lily,” Sadie snapped.
“I'm outta here,” Lily said, dumping the two plastic cases into a Kroger grocery bag. “Keep your fingers crossed that Matt likes the place. I don't know what I'll do if he doesn't. He will, won't he, Sadie?”
“Of course he will. Go on now, make Matt's day!”
“I'm going, I'm going, but I feel all twitchy and jittery inside. If you need me, call, Sadie. Or better yet, after you pick Dennis up, stop by the house and we'll all have a nice glass of wine. Will you promise?”
“Nope. Go, Lily. I have things to do.”
A gust of wind blew in the door when Lily opened it She ran down the steps shouting, “I'm coming, Matt!”
Chapter Thirteen
Lily cuddled deep into the crook of Matt's arm and sighed contentedly.
“I don't believe I've ever been happier in my life, Lily. When are we getting married? I want us to have kids right away. You okay with that, honey?”
“Oh, yes, to the kids, but no to a wedding. I'm not going through that again. Let's just wake up someday and say today is the day and go for it right then and there. I can't do it again, Matt, I just can't. If you want, we could go to Las Vegas and get married in one of the wedding chapels or go to city hall and get married by a justice of the peace. That's about all I can handle in the way of a wedding. The question now is, are you okay with
that?”
“I'm for whatever you want. I like the idea of eloping. Just us. We can always throw a big party after we get back right here in our new house, which, by the way, is something I never expected in my wildest dreams. I don't know what to say.”
“It's not finished. It will look a lot different when the curtains are hung. Pictures on the walls make another big difference, and scatter rugs here and there always add something to a room. Not many rugs, though, because I want everyone to appreciate these old floors. Plants in the corners, a few ficus trees, knickknacks, that sort of thing. That's what makes a house a home. It's called
stuff.
I just love stuff. A couple of more weeks, and it will look really beautiful. Owning an old house is an ongoing project. Something always goes, a leak, a wire, an appliance, the roof, a leaky window, faulty furnace, that kind of thing. I know this sounds crazy, but I am actually looking forward to all those disasters.”
“Me, too. We have the dogs and the house, so all we need now are the kids.” Matt grinned from ear to ear at his pronouncement.
“I wonder what it will be like to have a baby in the house,” Lily murmured.
“Damn wonderful would be my opinion. What do you think it will be like living here, Lily? You know, putting down roots, belonging to a community. What if the townspeople don't accept us? There are a lot of what-ifs when you take a big step like this.”
“I see it all in my mind's eye, Matt. That doesn't mean it will work that way, but it's a place to start. In order to belong, you have to join up as they say. You have contributions to make. I'm sure I can donate time to any number of worthy projects, at least until our babies come along. Oh, Matt, there is such history to this town. So many stories to tell. Sadie and I took a tour of the Natchez City Cemetery last year. Don Estes, a retired banker and amateur historian, gave us the tour, and he was so knowledgeable he boggled my mind. He seems to know everything. There was one grave where this little girl died who was afraid of the dark. The mother wanted steps built in behind the stone so she could walk down there and sit with her little girl. Can you imagine that? And then there was Louise the Unfortunate. If you don't want to hear this, I can tell you another time.”
“No, I want to hear it. I want to know everything if we're going to live here. Then when our friends come to visit, I can tell them what you're telling me. Go ahead, Lily, tell me the story.”
“Sometime after the Civil War, a young prostitute at Natchez Under-the-Hill died of a disease described as a âdisorganization of the lungs,' probably tuberculosis. As she had no family, no known last name, and no funds, Reverend Stratton took up a collection from the saloon keepers and merchants from Under-the-Hill to pay for her funeral and a small headstone on Jewish Hill. He directed his eulogy of Louise toward her âsisters' in the oldest profession, with the goal of swaying them from their chosen paths. He's the one who had her tombstone inscribed âLouise the Unfortunate.' Isn't that sad, Matt? Can you imagine being buried without a name on your marker? It's like Mary Margaret, who was buried as the Wish Keeper.
“Sadie went ballistic once when we went to the cemetery in Florida to visit our parents' graves. There was this big, elaborate stone with a man's name on it and next to it a little stone, no bigger than a tablet with the words
His Wife
. She was buried without a name. After that, every year when we went back, Sadie and I visited that grave and put some flowers on it. When it's time to die the only thing you can take with you is your good name. Both Louise the Unfortunate and the wife of that man didn't have even that. It makes me mad, Matt.”
Lily leaned up on her elbow. “I don't want to get mad all over again. One day, I'll take you to the cemetery and show you the graves. Right now, though, I have to talk to you about something really important. But first I think we should talk about what you're going to do. I really wish you would go to the police. If not the local police, the FBI. You were kidnapped, Matt. You were left to die out there. If we hadn't found you, you'd be dead by now.” She shivered at the horrible thought.
“I didn't die, Lily. I'm here, and I'm okay. This isn't as easy as you make it sound. I have to think about the company, the investors, and a host of other things. We're days away from making our big contributions to the high-tech world. I don't want to spoil that. I can file charges anytime. Yeah, the trail is going to grow cold, but somehow I'll find those bastards. If I report this now, it will be plastered all over the papers within hours. We also have to deal with what Marcus has done. Things like that affect your investors. It's like they can't trust the company. That's about all the negative publicity we can handle right now. Even though we had nothing to do with it, we're going to get a lot of adverse publicity. One of our own was a traitor. I'd like to strangle the guy. I suspect he's going to be easy to find because Marcus is too damn arrogant for his own good. You know what, there's nothing we can do. So he snookered a couple of competitors for a big score. Do you think they're going to go after him? I think not. They were trying to steal our company secrets. I don't know if they approached Marcus or he approached them. In the end it doesn't make any difference. He sold out It will circulate in the industry, and by next week it will be old news. It happens every day of the week. So I lost someone I thought I could count on. We have backup. Dennis has a protégé he's about ready to give some authority to. The kid kind of reminds me of Dennis and myself when we first started out.”
“I'll still feel better if you go to the authorities, Matt.”
“Lily, look at me and listen to me carefully. I can't prove anything. Think about it. So my car is in their garage. They'll say I parked it there. I'm assuming it wasn't damaged. How can I prove otherwise? I stood you up at your wedding. They'll say I did it once before and I got cold feet again and took off and landed myself in a mess. How can I prove that's not true? So I transferred large sums of money from my accounts to other accounts all over the world. That's done twenty-four hours a day seven days a week. So what if I never did it before? I did it this time. My dog got lost. Dogs get lost all the time. I got lost. You found me. Yep, I almost died because I was foolish and did foolish things. I'll look like a fool, and I don't want the CEO of Digitech looking like a fool. Do you see what I'm talking about, Lily?”
“So they get away with it is what you're saying.”
“For now. Dennis and the new kid are going to be working on it day and night. If there's a way to track the money, they'll find it. First rule in business, follow the money. So, can we lay this to rest for now?”
“Yes, but I don't like it. I hate it that they're off spending your money. I hate it that they dumped Gracie and left her to fend for herself, and I want to kill them with my bare hands for leaving you out there to die. I won't talk about it anymore, if that's what you want.”
“Okay, it's your turn. How about telling me whatever it is you've been teasing me with. Whatever it is, I can handle it. I can, can't I, Lily?” He sounded so anxious, Lily smiled.
“I don't know, Matt. I'm having a hard time with it. It's this gizmo hanging on my neck. If we move into this house and raise a family here, I officially become the new Wish Keeper. Promise me you'll keep an open mind, okay?”
“I promise.”
“You know how you're always throwing stuff out to the universe.... It's kind of like that with me and this ...
thing
. Now listen carefully. I'm going to give you a test when I'm finished.”
Matt propped the pillows behind his head as he listened. When she finished a long time later, clearly agitated, he fingered the pendant around her neck. What do
you
want to do, Lily?”
“That's just it, Matt, I don't know. At first I thought I was meant to wear it to find you. Make no mistake, without it, without the visions or whatever they were, I never could have found you. I feel like I
am
the Wish Keeper. I know secrets, but I don't know what they are. They're just there. Wishes are something different. I don't understand that part of it. What I do know is when I take it off, I feel different, lighter if that makes sense. But something always makes me put it back on. Wishes and secrets are more or less the same thing, don't you agree?”
“Yes,” Matt said.
“Isn't this kind of like when you're at your wits' end and you toss it out to the universe and then sit back and wait for things to happen?”
“Yes and no. You touch it, and you see things. Things that are happening or have already happened. That's almost like an instant response. I guess that's the difference. Are you afraid of it, Lily?”
“In a way. It's a tremendous responsibility. What if I see something, and I don't understand it and don't know what to do?”
“Did you ever make a wish on it?”
“No, not really. What I'm asking you is this. Are you okay with me keeping it and acting on something if I get one of those . . . whatever they are, visions or spells?”
“Yes, I'm okay with it.”
“You don't think I'm crazy, do you, Matt?”
Matt's arm tightened on her shoulder. “No, I don't think you're crazy. I think things happen all the time in this life of ours that have no explanation. Either you accept it as it is, or you reject it. I don't see anything evil in it. I think you'd feel that. What do you feel?”
“Sometimes burdened. Sometimes I feel heady, like I can literally take on the world. It's difficult to explain. I feel different when I'm wearing it. There's a gravestone in the backyard that says
Mary Margaret
and underneath her name are the words,
Wish Keeper
. There's no last name. No date. I guess she was the official Wish Keeper here in this house. The job and the pendant were supposed to be handed down to Sadie's mother and then to Sadie herself, but her mother refused to accept it. Sadie found the pendant in the back of the closet and gave it to me. She said I needed something from the house to make it officially mine. Up to that point, she didn't remember any of this stuff, and it wasn't till we were spending such long hours at the hospital that little bits and pieces came back to her.”
“If you're asking my opinion, Lily, it would be this. Wear it until you no longer want to. If you feel it affects you adversely, take it off. Everything in life is not explainable. I certainly learned that.”
“I wish it was pretty. Actually, it's kind of ugly,” Lily said, yanking at the chain to center the pendant.
Matt watched in horror as Lily fell away from his embrace and rolled off the bed onto the floor. Her eyes were glazed as her hands tried to reach out to him. He was off the bed in a second, her head cupped in his hands. “Lily, Lily, what's wrong? Snap out of it. Lily!” He shook her shoulders to no avail. “Lily, it's me, Matt. C'mon, honey, sit up. What's happening here?”
Lily jerked free, sat up and stared at Matt. She struggled to take a clear, deep breath. “It happened. This is the way it always happens.”
“Jesus,” Matt said, rocking back on his heels. “You scared me. Did you see something? Talk to me. What the hell did you see?”
“I saw the three brothers. And then I saw Marcus in a different place. I don't know where it was.”
“What?” The single word exploded from Matt's mouth like a bullet.
“The brothers were at a beach bar. One of those resort places where there's a cabana bar right on the beach. They were together laughing and talking. That's all I saw except their bare feet. One of them was really sunburned.
“Are you suggesting that Marcus engineered the whole thing? I can't believe that! Those guys were amateurs. They didn't know who I was until they looked at my ATM card. Lily, take that damn thing off. If this is what happens to you, then I don't want you wearing it. Take it off, Lily.”
“Marcus wasn't with them. He was separate, in a different place.” Lily reached up and removed the chain and pendant. She laid it on the floor in front of her. Suddenly she felt like crying and didn't know why. “Where would someone like Marcus go with all that money? You know Marcus, try and think. You said the brothers were amateurs. Would they stay close to home, go far away? This whole thing is so bizarre it's making me crazy. Where would Marcus go with all that money?”