“It’s a digital. You don’t need film. You can download the photos to a computer, then print them out if you like.”
He turned the box over in his hands. She hadn’t bought the cheapest model, but neither had she bought the best. It was a good sturdy starter camera, capable of photographs he could be proud of.
“It’s for me?” he asked at last.
“All yours. And if the Claibornes don’t have a computer for downloading the photos, you can come over anytime and use mine. Pretty much everything’s digital now, and I didn’t want you to worry about buying film.”
“I never had my own camera.”
“Well, you do now. But there’s a condition.”
That seemed to make him feel better. “You need me to do something?”
“I’m interested in what we learned up at the park. I’ve been looking up the history on the Internet this afternoon. I want to do some more research, maybe even write some articles about what happened and the aftermath, the way lives are still affected. And having photos will be a big help. So I’d like you to be my photographer. Would you be willing?”
“I never had a camera, and now you want me to take pictures for something like that?”
His speeches were getting longer. She was delighted. “I know you can do it. For practice, there’s the Community Church fair coming up this weekend. I thought maybe you could go and take photos, just to get used to it.”
“I’m not much for churchgoing.”
Cissy had told Kendra she wished Caleb would get involved in the youth program at Community. There were a number of boys close to his age, and Caleb needed friends. Kendra waited and hoped.
“But I guess I could,” he said.
“Terrific. I can pick you up. I’m going in the morning.”
“I guess I’d better go back to the Claibornes and read up on how to use it.” He held up the box.
“Need a ride?”
“Nope.” He started down the steps; then he turned. “I never had a camera,” he said again, then paused. “Thanks, Ms. Taylor.”
She smiled. “It’s Kendra, and you’re welcome, Caleb. And thanks for Dusty. I’ll take good care of her.”
“I know.”
He nearly smiled. She could see it in his eyes, and that was good enough for now.
He’d vanished into the distance before she looked down at the dog. “What in the name of heaven am I going to do with you?”
Dusty still looked dejected. Kendra doubted the dog was capable of any other expression.
“Great, a depressed dog. I’ll be taking care of
you
. Some protector you’ll be.” She considered what to do with the dog now. She didn’t want to tie her up while she made supper, but she knew if she left her alone, Dusty might wander off. And how would she explain that to Caleb?
She didn’t want the dog underfoot while she cooked. She decided to imprison her in the bedroom. With some coaxing, Dusty followed her inside, and Kendra installed her in the bedroom, along with the water bowl. A quick investigation for fleas and ticks turned up pink skin under the tangles and snarls, and nothing creepy-crawly. The dog’s nose was cool and moist, and her eyes, though droopy, were clear.
Dusty flopped down on the rug, and Kendra left her to her own devices.
She was chopping mushrooms for pasta sauce when she heard a car honk outside. For a fleeting moment she hoped the dog’s real owner had come to get her. Someone who trained service dogs, maybe. Someone genuinely tearful. Someone who wasn’t looking for Rusty, too.
“Right.” She rinsed her hands and grabbed a dish towel, drying them as she walked outside.
Isaac was just getting out of his Prius.
She was so surprised that for a moment she didn’t know what to say.
“I know you weren’t expecting me,” he said.
Her hand went to her hair, the dish towel flapping against her shoulder. “You don’t need an invitation.”
“You may change your mind about that.” He slammed his door; then he opened the back door before she could ask what he meant. Isaac was still wearing his work clothes. A blue Oxford cloth shirt, charcoal-colored trousers, polished loafers.
When he didn’t reappear immediately, she called to him, “Don’t tell me you brought me a present. You’re not the first.” He reemerged, and her eyes widened when she saw what he had in his hands. “You’re kidding, right?”
Isaac held the cat carrier straight out from his side. She could hear the cat yowling loudly as Isaac walked toward the porch. And Isaac? Her self-confident, unemotional husband had never looked so sheepish.
He set the carrier down at the bottom of the steps. “I didn’t know what else to do.”
She stared down at the cat inside, then up at her husband’s face. He looked sheepish, yes, and something else. Confused. Isaac could not figure out why he had done this. It went against everything he believed about himself.
“This isn’t happening,” she said.
“I never planned to bring him here.”
“Isaac, what is that…that thing?”
He looked away, as if anything else would be easier to stare at. “It’s kind of a long story.”
“We don’t have time for a long story. That monster’s going to claw its way outside and take over the universe.”
He shoved his hands into his pockets and rocked back on his heels. A lock of hair fell over his forehead, and he didn’t even brush it away. “K. C.—”
“Don’t K.C. me.”
“Okay, here it is. I found him dying in the alley across from the office. I, well, I rescued him, and the vet saved his life. John—you remember John, Craig’s partner?” When she didn’t nod or encourage him, he sighed. “John nursed him back to health after his surgery.”
“Surgery?”
“Quite a bit, actually.”
“Isaac. That’s an alley cat.”
“I know.” One hand snaked out of his pocket to push through his hair. “I just couldn’t let him die. I thought he would calm down after he was all fixed up, that I could find him a home. But he’s a mess. He attacked John’s other cats. He wants to be free. He wants to roam, but I couldn’t just stick him back in the alley. He’d get hit by a car again, or Animal Control would catch him.”
She stared at her husband. This was not the man she thought she knew. She would have bet money Isaac wouldn’t rescue this cat. That instead he would call Animal Control and hope for the best and quickest end to the story. He wasn’t one to spend money freely. He wasn’t stingy, but he knew how to be frugal. She could only imagine the vet bill.
Or maybe this was the real man, the one locked inside him.
“I gather this isn’t simply show-and-tell?” She was still trying to sound stern.
“I’m in a real bind here. I know it’s asking a lot.”
“What’ll I do with him?”
“Well, I think the best thing would be to put him inside for a few days. Then you can let him out and see what he does. When he feels at home—”
“Feels at home? Would you like me to throw fish bones on the floor and park cars by the sofa?”
“It’s been a while since he’s been in the alley.”
“You never told me a thing.”
He smiled. “I was embarrassed.”
His smile totally melted her resolve. She remembered this smile too well. He used it rarely, but when he did…
She tried not to let him see she was relenting. “Then what would I do with him? You know, after I’ve made him feel at home?”
“By then maybe he could go in and out. I think he’ll stay close by if you feed him. He likes tuna, by the way. And his name is Ten.”
“You
should
be embarrassed.”
“I know. I’ll owe you big time if you do this.”
Then, and only then, did she remember Dusty. The irony of being presented with two misfit pets in the same day wasn’t lost on her.
Isaac came up the steps. “K. C., you always said you wanted a cat. Well, I listened.”
“I
never
said that.”
“Okay, but you were thinking it. Who knows you better?” He rested his hands on her shoulders. “But if this is too much to ask, I’ll understand.”
He never asked for anything. That had been their bargain. “Did you rescue alley cats when you were a little boy?”
“Not successfully.”
That spoke volumes. She stood on tiptoe and kissed him. He returned it doublefold. She wrapped her arms around him and leaned closer.
They were interrupted by a series of furious yowls from below.
“What was the other present?” he asked, his arms still around her.
“What?”
“When I got out of the car, you said this wasn’t your first present of the day.”
“Um…Caleb brought me some surplus…from the Claibornes’ farm.” She only wished it had been that simple.
“I have a nice roomy cat kennel in the back of my car. John loaned it to me. You couldn’t keep Ten in the carrier for long.”
She was disappointed when he moved away, but resigned. She didn’t want Isaac walking into the bedroom right now, anyway. The moment he saw Dusty, he would disappear with his favorite alley cat, and her chance to help him would be over. For now, the existence of the dog would have to remain a secret.
“You can put the kennel in the main room,” she told him.
“I can see why you wouldn’t want him in your bedroom.”
He didn’t know the half of it.
She helped him set up the cage by the door, with a small litter box, water and food; then she watched as he brought in the carrier, positioned the doors so one opened into the other and jostled Ten into the cage. He slammed the door in the nick of time and fastened it.
“This will do for a day or two.”
Kendra had already crossed the room to pour them both half a glass of red wine, finishing what was left of a bottle. She didn’t even ask. She handed one glass to him, and he took it gratefully. She hoped Dusty would remain true to form and comatose.
“To Ten,” she said. “May he like his new home.”
“To everything that moves within two hundred yards of the house. May they escape while they can.”
“To my husband, who thought I wanted a cat.”
“To my wife, who always comes through in a pinch.” They sipped.
“I’ve got to get back tonight,” he said at last. “I wish I could stay.”
“How about some dinner first?”
“I have a meeting at eight. I’ll pick up something along the way.”
She was just as glad. As unlikely as it seemed, Dusty might bark and spoil the moment. “Finish your wine and I’ll walk you to the car. I have something to tell you.”
He did, and they went outside together after he’d said a gruff goodbye to the cat, who was hissing and glaring at them from the kennel. A cool breeze rustled through the leaves. It was going to be a beautiful evening.
“I went up to the park on Saturday.” She stopped beside his car, and he folded his arms. Then she told him what they had discovered.
“You had to pursue it.”
He didn’t sound angry, and she was relieved. “Isaac, don’t you think if your grandmother had killed two people, giving away the location of the bodies would be the last thing she’d do?”
“We don’t know anything about my grandmother other than a few reminiscences. And the fact that she probably had some connection to a place called…what?”
“Lock Hollow.” She hesitated. “There’s more to the story. After we realized the quilting stitches were a map of the area—”
“A map that emphasizes the location of a cave where two bodies were found.”
“Okay, but
afterward
, Hank found a list of people who lived in that area before they were removed. There was a farm right there in the hollow that belonged to a Jesse and Leah Spurlock. And Hank says it’s some of the nicest land there.”
“Sounds like you got your answer, then.”
“Isaac, all the names embroidered on the quilt were on his list. Every single one of them. It’s more proof that Lock Hollow is the place where your grandmother came from.”
“Okay. So?”
“Hank told me about a group that meets monthly. It’s made up of people who were evicted or are related to people who were. The evictions were in the thirties, so most of those people are gone now, but not all. Turns out they have a meeting this week.”
“Something tells me you’re not done investigating.”
“Do you want me to be? So far it’s not a happy story, and I’m afraid it’s reinforcing all your stereotypes of your family.”
He pondered that. She could see him turning it over in his mind. Somewhere nearby a dog barked. She was afraid she knew where.
Isaac was lost in thought and didn’t pay attention. “You’ve gone so far already that I’ll just wonder now. I guess you should go on and find out what you can. But don’t expect to have this story handed to you. Either nobody knows the answers, or nobody’s going to tell you.”
“And if I do find out, I’ve made things worse, haven’t I.”
He considered that, too, then gave a single shake of his head. “No.”
“No?”
“It’s always been a shadow hovering over my life.” He touched her hair, winding a curl around his forefinger. “Go ahead and let in the light, K. C. It can’t be any worse.”
She looked up at him, at this man whose heart and soul had been buried under emotional debris for far too long. She thought that with each newly exposed layer, a new man, a man she could love even more, was emerging. “Come back this weekend, Isaac? There’s a fair at church. We’ll have fun.”
He smiled at her, a slow, lazy smile. “Can I sleep here?”
She sent him the feminine version of his smile. “You’d be welcome.”
“If I don’t get here in time, go on to the fair without me. But I’ll be here by the afternoon. You can count on it.”
“Okay.”
He kissed her, a gentle, searching kiss that promised more; then he got in his car and drove away.
He hadn’t been gone more than a minute when another car replaced his. Kendra recognized Marian Claiborne’s Buick. Marian rolled down her window.
“Caleb’s got something for you.”
Caleb got out of the passenger side and opened the rear door. He pulled out a huge sack of dog food. “You’ll need this.”
She wondered what the boy would do if he saw Isaac’s cat. Ten would take all the pleasure out of giving her the puppy. “Of course I will. What a good idea.”
“I’ll just take it in the house.”
“Um…Don’t do that. Just put it on the porch. I’ll keep it outside for the time being. I’ll probably feed her out there.” She manufactured a big smile.