“Hey, wait up,” he called. “Do you mind if I walk with you?”
She did, but she couldn’t very well say so. If only he’d really been from Jupiter instead of Pelphrey, Ohio. If only Zella had minded her own business. Jocie stood in the snow and scratched Zeb around the ears until Robert caught up with her. Then she led the way out to the tumbling down rock fence between the backyard and the old apple orchard. The rocks looked like marshmallow cushions.
Robert picked up a handful of snow and tried to make a snowball, but the snow was too fluffy. “How much do you think is on the ground?”
“Seven inches,” Jocie said. “I measured earlier. It’s drifted higher in places though. Do you get a lot of snow up where you live in Ohio?”
“Piles of it.” He gave his handful of snow a fling. “But that’s okay. I like snow. How about you? Do you like snow?”
“As long as it doesn’t make us miss too much school. The buses won’t run when there’s snow and then we end up going to school into June. I hate going to school in the summer. But of course right now we’re off for Christmas anyway.” Jocie was rambling. She shut her mouth, stepped through the breach in the rock fence and looked up at the sky. It was extra blue. The Lord had known what he was doing when he made snow white and the sky such a vivid blue.
Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised
. Aunt Love was always quoting something like that out of Psalms. Jocie would have said it out loud if she’d been alone, but she wasn’t alone.
They walked along without talking for a little ways. Jocie was thinking about claiming she was cold and suggesting they turn around when Robert said, “Your father told me you and my grandfather are real close.”
Jocie wasn’t sure what he wanted her to say to that, so she just nodded a little and kept walking. They were almost to the end of the apple orchard, but Mr. Crutcher didn’t mind her walking in his pasture fields. Her dad walked there all the time when he was praying through something for a sermon or whatever.
Maybe she should be praying through something. She just wasn’t sure what. She wasn’t sure why she had that spider crawly feeling inside and tears in her eyes that weren’t there just because of the cold wind blowing in her face. Just because proof that Wes wasn’t from Jupiter was walking beside her didn’t mean Wes had to stop telling her Jupiter stories. And even if he did, so what? She was too old for Jupiter stories anyway.
“Tell me about him,” Robert said.
“What about him?”
“I don’t know. Tell me why you love him.”
“Why do you want to know that?”
“So I can love him the way you do. Like a real grandson would.”
It seemed only fair, so she told him about the spaceship from Jupiter. And about the motorcycle and how Wes talked to the press to keep it running. She told him about the tornado and the tree falling on Wes. She didn’t tell him why they were out in the tornado. She figured that would just confuse things. Last she told him about Wes being baptized in the river even though it almost made his ears freeze and fall off. They both laughed about that.
By the time they walked back to the house, she’d passed some of her love for Wes over to Robert, but the funny thing was she didn’t have a bit less inside her. Maybe love really was like a candle flame that kept burning just as brightly no matter how many other candles were lit from the flame.
The snowplow was coming down the hill when they went back inside.
T
he phone woke Leigh. She sat up in bed and looked at the clock. She blinked her eyes and looked again. It said eight thirty. She must have forgotten to set her alarm. And no wonder after the ordeal of visiting her parents and then the wild ride home in the snow. She had been exhausted.
The phone was still ringing. She got out of bed and ran for the kitchen in her bare feet. The cold wooden floor shocked the last of sleep out of her. Leigh dropped a dishtowel on the floor to stand on as she reached for the phone that was still jangling. It was no doubt Judy to check on why Leigh wasn’t at work. Or maybe David letting her know his phone line was fixed. Or perhaps her mother to say she was sorry she hadn’t acted happier about Leigh’s engagement. That—her mother being happy—was about as likely as temperatures in the eighties today.
Leigh picked up the phone and said hello. No one was there. She said hello again. Still nothing. There must be trouble on her line now. She was about to hang up when she thought she heard something. She pushed the receiver up closer to her ear. It sounded like someone breathing on the other end of the line. “Hello. Is somebody there?”
No answer, but the breathing got louder. Definitely someone there. Edwin Hammond. Leigh took the receiver away from her ear and gently hung it back on the phone hook. Why did she think of Edwin Hammond every time something happened that made her uncomfortable? And why in the world would he call her up just to breathe in her ear? But then again, why would anybody?
The phone started ringing again almost at once. She stared at it a minute before she picked it up. “I want to know who this is right now,” she said without even bothering with a hello.
“Whoa, Leigh! It’s Judy. Judy Mitchell. What ever happened to hello, how are you?”
“Oh, I’m sorry, Judy. I just got a prank call and I thought he was calling back.”
“What? Did he say something ugly to you?”
“No. Whoever it was didn’t say anything. Just sat there breathing in my ear.”
“Maybe it was a bad connection,” Judy said. “There’s a lot of snow out there. It’s probably messing up some of the lines.”
“I guess so. I think David’s phone is out.”
“Hey, I heard about the engagement. Congratulations. Or maybe I’m supposed to tell David congratulations and you best wishes. I never get that straight. He’s not there, is he?” Judy’s voice changed to a teasing tone. “Maybe that’s why you’re late to work.”
“No, of course not. We got engaged, not married. Yet,” Leigh said and felt a lift of her heart. If she hadn’t been on the phone, she would have twirled across the kitchen floor in a happy dance. She made herself think about talking to Judy again. “I’m sorry about being late, but I just woke up. I must have forgotten to set my alarm. Tell Ralph I’ll be in as soon as I can get dressed.”
“That’s why I’m calling. To tell you Ralph said not to bother. We’re both down here at the office, but the snow’s practically up to your knees out there. Nobody’s going to be coming into town this morning. If you want to, you can come in at lunch and I’ll take the afternoon off.”
“Sounds good. That’ll give me time to hunt my snow boots.”
“You’d better dress warm. That wind’s whipping out there and it is cold with a capital C. I keep telling Ralph he needs to retire so we can go to Florida every year for the winter.”
“You can’t do that. I need my job,” Leigh said.
“Now maybe, but who knows what will happen after you get married? I’ve heard being a preacher’s wife can be a full-time job. Not to mention headache.”
“I’ve got plenty of aspirins,” Leigh said. “How in the world did you find out about it so soon? I was looking forward to springing the news on you myself when I came in.”
“Are you kidding, kid? The news was all over Hollyhill before three o’clock yesterday afternoon even with a blizzard going on. We have a fine network of news that doesn’t depend a bit on your future hubby-to-be’s newspaper.” Judy laughed. “And that’s not the only news going around. You should hear what I heard last night at church.”
“I don’t know if I want to,” Leigh said. “Is it good or bad?”
“More like wild and crazy,” Judy said. “Have you talked to Zella today?”
“No, I told you I just got up. Why? Is something wrong with her? Wasn’t she at church?” Leigh had no trouble imagining Judy’s face. Her eyes would be wide and she’d have that knowing smile. Judy loved being in the know on the latest gossip going around town.
“No. She asked Gertie to pick her up, but then when Gertie got there, Zella ran out in the snow to tell her she was sick. Didn’t even put on a hat. Now can you imagine Zella out in the snow without something protecting her hairdo?”
“Not really,” Leigh said. “But I don’t know if I’d qualify that wild and crazy.”
“You haven’t heard everything yet. There was a strange car parked in front of her house. And that’s not all.” Judy paused to let a little silence gather on the line between them for the dramatic effect. “She had a man in the house. Gertie saw him through the window.”
“Gertie’s half blind.”
“True, but Eldon Johnson who lives across the street isn’t. He was outside clearing the snow off his walk when the man got there. Said he was young. Said he asked where Zella Curtsinger lived. Eldon saw the car’s license plate. It was Ohio. Now who in the world does Zella know in Ohio? And then she lied to Gertie. Have you ever known Zella to just out and out lie?”
“She could have been sick even if she did have company.” Leigh took up for Zella. “He was probably a long-lost relative come to visit.”
“That’s the story going around. A long-lost relative she never expected to show up in Hollyhill. Like a son she adopted out years ago after an indiscretion.”
“An indiscretion? That’s crazy,” Leigh said. “We’re talking about Zella.”
“I told you it was wild and crazy, but sometimes wild and crazy turns out to be true.” Judy laughed. “I can’t wait to see that ring.” Then she hung up.
Leigh put the receiver back on the hook and stared at the phone. She forgot about her cold feet. Should she call Zella? But what was she going to say?
Oh, Zella, I heard
you had a man in your house last night and the rumor’s going
around that it might be your son.
She couldn’t say that over the phone. That would be something better said in person. That way when Zella fainted, Leigh would be there to catch her and fan her face.
Or maybe she should just tell David. He’d know what to do. That was one of the things she loved about David. He always knew what to do. Hadn’t he been great with her parents the day before even though they’d been far from great?
“How do I love thee? Let me count the ways,” Leigh said out loud and twirled happily around the kitchen and back down the hall toward her bedroom. She stopped at the front door and peered out to see how much snow was out there. Hers and David’s footprints had been covered up, but a fresh set of prints traced a path up the steps to her door. Narrow, long footprints.
She unlocked her door and peered out almost as if expecting somebody to rise up out of the snow that covered her small stoop. Nothing there but the footprints. Coming up the steps and going down. And the wind was cold the way Judy had said. It was already sweeping away signs of some of the footprints. She was shutting the door when she noticed the tiny roll of paper tucked in her keyhole.
She took it out and slammed the door shut and locked it. Then she unrolled the paper. It was about the size of a playing card. The writing on it was very small, almost tiny, but each letter was perfectly formed in black ink.
Don’t throw yourself away on a man without wings. I have wings that will let me soar. Your love will be the wind beneath my wings. So beautiful as you sleep.
Leigh looked at the door and then toward her bedroom. There was no way he could have seen her sleeping. No way. Still, she went to the bathroom and got a towel to drape over top the curtains that covered the window in the door. Then she went back to the bathroom and tore the note into pieces and dropped it into the commode. She watched to be sure every piece disappeared when she flushed the water down the drain.
That helped, but it didn’t completely get rid of the vision of Edwin Hammond standing on her stoop, peeking through her window. She shook herself as she filled her teakettle. The man was an English teacher. He wasn’t dangerous. He’d just read too many Shakespearian tragedies or whatever. And now he was playing some weird game. Well, she wasn’t going to play.
Of course, who knew what Mrs. Simpson might have already told all her telephone friends about him coming to her door so early in the morning. There would be wild and crazy stories circulating about Leigh the way they were about Zella. Only in Hollyhill could anyone ever imagine a woman like Zella had a hidden past. The only things Zella had hidden were a couple of romance novels in her purse.
Still, there had been a strange man hunting for Zella’s house the night before. Definitely something Leigh needed to know more about. She’d just walk on down to the
Banner
offices after breakfast and see what was going on. Besides, she’d promised to come by and let Zella see her ring. Could be David might make it through the snow and be at the
Banner
by the time she got there. That would definitely be worth the walk.
First, just as soon as she got her shoes on, she’d go out and sweep the snow off the stoop outside her door and the steps. She didn’t want even a trace left of Edwin Hammond’s presence at her door.
Z
ella couldn’t believe it when she got the first phone call Monday morning even before she left her house to walk to the
Banner
. A person missed church one night in the middle of a blizzard and let a poor boy come in out of that blizzard to keep him from freezing to death and everybody was talking. About her.
Or at least that was what Agnes had told her when she’d rung her up at seven o’clock. Zella hadn’t even finished her oatmeal, and Agnes had talked so long she’d had to scrape the rest of it out into the trashcan. By then she’d lost her appetite anyway.
Agnes hadn’t even been at church the night before either. Heavens no, she’d said. She couldn’t go out in that kind of weather. But she’d talked to Josephine who had talked to Lenora who had talked to Gertie who of course had been there. And who obviously had spotted Robert Wesley Green Jr. standing in the middle of Zella’s living room after all.
“It was just somebody needing directions,” Zella had told Agnes when she asked about the boy.
“To your house is what they’re saying,” Agnes had yelled into the phone.
Zella pulled the receiver away from her ear. Agnes thought just because she was hard of hearing everybody else in the world was too. “So I could give him directions somewhere else,” Zella said loudly.