The House on Sugar Plum Lane (13 page)

“It's nice to meet you.” Amy gave his hand a gentle squeeze before releasing it.

“The pleasure is mine.” The charming old man, his skin as weathered as a piece of leather that had been left to the elements for a long time, beamed.

“Captain and Ellie have been friends for years,” Maria said. “A few weeks ago, when he stopped by to visit, he mentioned that he was going to have to give up his apartment and that he wasn't sure where he'd be moving. He thought he'd feel better living in an intermediate care facility, and I offered him our spare room. Now he lives here.”

The screen door swung open, and the girls bounded out.

“Can I take Sara to the other house now?” Callie asked. “We're going to play the game, and she gets to go first.”

Before either of the mothers could give them the go-ahead, Ellie bent forward and clasped Callie's arm. “Angel?”

“I'm
not
Angel,” Callie said. “Don't you remember?”

“Of course. I'll never forget you, honey. Now you go on inside and get your jacket. It looks like rain today.”

Callie's gaze sought Amy's, silently asking,
What do I do?
And Amy's heart twisted.

It didn't seem fair. Why couldn't she have found Ellie sooner?

But life wasn't always fair.

Amy carefully withdrew her daughter's arm from the elderly woman's grip. “Thank you, Ellie. I'll make sure she stays warm and dry.” Then she reached into her purse, pulled out the keys, and handed them to Callie. “Why don't you and Sara unlock the door? I'll be right behind you.”

As the two girls dashed off, Maria nodded toward the house. “I'd better get inside and finish the breakfast dishes. I was sidetracked earlier this morning and want to get some work done and the house picked up before Pastor Craig comes. He usually stops by to see Ellie and Captain after he's made his hospital visits on Wednesday.”

“You've certainly got your hands full,” Amy said, realizing that Maria had taken on a lot for a single mom.

“There are some rewarding moments,” she said.

Something told Amy they were few and far between.

“Maria is a special lady,” Captain said. “But she doesn't get out very much.”

“Yes, I do,” the petite brunette countered. “Well, on occasion. My friends, Walter and Hilda, sometimes come by and sit with Ellie and the kids. They also run errands for me, but they're on vacation and won't get home until next week.”

“If you need someone to give you a break,” Amy said, “just let me know. I'd be happy to help out whenever I can.”

“Really?”

The offer had rolled off Amy's tongue without her giving it any thought, but she nodded. “Yes, really.” Maria had no idea there was a biological connection, and Amy wasn't going to mention it now, but looking out for Ellie seemed like the right thing to do.

Maria bit down on her bottom lip, then asked, “I don't suppose you'd be able to stay at the house for a couple of hours on Saturday, would you?”

“Sure. What time?”

“From about ten until noon?”

“That works for me.”

“You have no idea how much I appreciate this.”

Amy smiled. “I think it's wonderful that you've tried to keep Ellie in a loving and familiar environment. There aren't many people who would.”

“Well, it seems to me that you're one of those people, too.”

Was she?

Amy had no idea why she'd gotten so involved. She supposed it made her feel better about what she was doing.

And maybe it would help ease some of the awkwardness when Maria found out that she and Amy weren't neighbors at all.

 

Chuck didn't remember much about how he got to the hospital. He was told that he'd been brought in by an ambulance, but that entire afternoon was pretty much a blur to him now.

Apparently, while getting off the bus, he'd passed out for some medical reason unrelated to the cancer and fell. But then he'd cracked his head on the curb, and he'd gone down for the count.

When he finally came to, he was lying on a gurney in the ER and some woman was asking him the typical questions needed to admit him: name; address; date of birth; religious preference; nearest relative; whether he had insurance or not.

He answered each one truthfully. Well, everything except next of kin. He didn't know where Brandon was living nowadays—even if he'd wanted to give them his name. But he didn't see any reason to do that. Too much time had passed since they'd last seen each other, and there was too much murky water under the bridge.

But almost everyone had a family, and Chuck had spent enough years without one. He hated to make it sound as though he was alone in this world, which wasn't the case any longer. He had tons of close friends, most of whom either worked at or frequented the soup kitchen.

So Chuck had told the woman from the admissions department that Craig Houston, the associate pastor of Parkside Community Church, was his nearest relative.

And hey, that wasn't such a big stretch. Biblically speaking, they were brothers—joint heirs in the family of God, right?

And now here he was, banged up and as weak as a newborn kitten. He reached up, felt the bump on his noggin, fingered the stitches that held the gash together. It still smarted, and it was also the least of his troubles, but he needed to get out of here. The hospital bill was going to be outrageous, and there was no way he'd ever be able to pay it on his wages.

A knock sounded at the doorjamb that led to the busy hall, and when he turned to see who it was, he spotted Pastor Craig.

“Hey, Chuck,” the fair-haired young minister said as he entered the hospital room. “I'm sorry I didn't get here sooner, but my wife and I were out to dinner when the call came in. And we didn't check our messages until morning.”

“Young love, huh?” Chuck offered him a smile. He remembered those days, back when he and Marianne were first married. “Lucky you.”

“My wife is pretty special. But it wasn't a romantic dinner. We went out with friends last night. Do you remember Ramon Gonzales?”

“Is he that fella who works with that youth baseball league?”

“Yes.” Craig crossed the shiny tile floor and took a seat in the chair next to Chuck's bed. “But how about you? What's going on?”

Chuck made an attempt to laugh it off. “Tripped and fell while getting off the bus. I wouldn't be surprised if the transit district made me wear a football helmet next time I tried to get on board. Either that or ban me for life.”

For
life?
That wouldn't be all that long, Chuck supposed. The doctor had come in earlier today with the test results. The numbers hadn't made him too happy, and he'd been talking about a bone marrow transplant. But Chuck wouldn't agree to one of those.

What was the use? His liver was shot already. And since the odds were stacked against him, why go to all that time and trouble and expense?

A simple cost/benefit analysis had been enough to tell Doc Williams that ol' Chuck was going to pass.

Pass on the test, pass from this life. Hey, how about that? He was getting clever with words in his old age.

But what difference did it make?

His best bet for a matching donor would be in finding Brandon and asking him to submit to a test. But Brandon could be anywhere these days. And even if he was up for a reunion, he didn't feel like looking him up.

Okay, call him a coward. As long as Chuck didn't meet up with his son, he wouldn't have to face the fact that Brandon had probably written him off for good.

God might have forgiven Chuck for his failings—he truly believed that, too.

Trouble was, Chuck hadn't forgiven himself.

And then there was the question that had been niggling at him for years, the question a simple little blood test would answer—if Chuck had ever found the guts to pursue it.

Was Chuck truly Brandon's father?

Eddie stood on one side of Maria's freshly mowed lawn and threw the baseball to Danny. The boy wound up and pitched it back.

“You've got a good arm,” Eddie told him.

“You think so?”

Eddie nodded. “In fact, I think you should join my brother's baseball team. They're practicing again at Mulberry Park on Saturday at ten o'clock. Are you interested?”

“I guess, but it depends on what my mom says. And I have a feeling she's going to say no.”

“I've been talking to her about it, and we might be able to work something out.” Eddie glanced up at the porch to see if Maria might have come outside again, but she hadn't.

The elderly couple remained, but the man had leaned back in his chair, his fingers clasped and resting on his chest, his eyes closed and lips parted. Snoozing, Eddie suspected.

He seemed like a nice enough guy. It was obvious that he wanted to help Maria out with Danny, but Eddie figured his ideas about strict discipline might be making matters worse.

As Eddie tossed the ball back to the boy, he asked, “How good are you with a bat?”

“I'm okay. But I don't get much chance to practice.”

Eddie had to reach to snag the next throw. “Does that bother you?”

“A lot of things bother me. Mostly, it's hard being the only guy living here.” He shot a glance at the elderly couple on the porch. “Well, I'm not exactly the only one, but you know what I mean.”

Eddie had a pretty good idea what he was getting at. “Do you miss not having your dad around here?”

Danny caught the ball Eddie had just thrown, but held it in his mitt. “He was never around all that much anyway. But he was nice to me. And a lot of times he would say, ‘Come on, Danny. Let's you and me go to the store or to the post office,' or things like that. And we'd leave Mom and Sara at home. I know he did something really stupid and got himself in big trouble. And that sucked for all of us. So I guess I don't miss him. But it would be nice to have a dad around, like my friends have.”

“I can understand that,” Eddie said. “But you're lucky in some other ways.”

“How's that?”

“You've got a mom who loves you.”

“Yeah, I know.” Danny wound up and finally threw the ball back. “But she's always giving me all these chores to do. And when…” He looked up at the porch. “Well, the more people who move in here, the more work she has to do and the more help she needs. I know a lot of kids who don't have to do any work at all. They just get to play all day. And they get to go fishing and join Boy Scouts and stuff like that.”

“I know what you mean. My old man was the gardener on a big estate, and he had way more work than one guy was able to do alone. So my brother and I had to help him. There were a lot of times we had to miss out on fun things because we had to work on a Saturday.”

“That's too bad.”

“You know what, though? I learned a lot.”

“Yeah, but at least you got to learn things like using tools and lawnmowers and stuff like that. I have to learn how to do dishes and the laundry. And how to clean the house.”

Eddie chuckled. “So you think that some jobs are for men to do and others are for women?”

“Yeah. Don't you?”

“You ought to see my brother Ramon. He and his wife Shana are foster parents to a couple of boys who play on the baseball team. And there are a lot of nights when Shana has to work late, so he cooks dinner and cleans up the kitchen. The boys, Luis and Carlitos, help out, too. In a way, a family is a team, Danny. Sometimes you play left field, and other times you have to cover third base. That's just the way it is.”

“That makes sense,” Danny said. “So do you cook dinner for
your
wife?”

“I'm not married, but if I was, I'd help out doing whatever I needed to. And that won't be hard because my mom taught me some of the basics in the kitchen.”

As the boy slipped into a pensive mood, Eddie dropped the subject, hoping his words would sink in.

But Danny slowly crossed the lawn to where Eddie stood. “There's something else.”

“What's that?”

The boy sighed and shifted his weight to one foot. “The other day, my friend Jason was kind of messing with this older guy, a sixth grader named Doug. Jason didn't mean anything by it, you know how it is. But Doug flipped out and hit him in the nose. And it bled. When a teacher asked him about it, Jason said he sometimes gets nosebleeds. That it was no big deal. He didn't tell on Doug because…Well, you know how it is. He didn't want to be called a snitch.”

Eddie understood, although he didn't think it was wrong to tell on someone for hitting.

“Then the next day, Jason didn't even do anything. He was just walking to the cafeteria when Doug stopped him and told him he'd better watch his back. That one day, on the way home, he was going to kick his butt.”

Scary stuff for an eleven-year-old, Eddie thought. “So then what happened?”

“At first, Jason didn't tell anyone 'cause he didn't want to be called a wimp or a sissy or anything. But then he went home and told his dad.” Danny shrugged. “Well, it wasn't exactly his dad. It was his stepfather. But the guy is a cop. And he called the school, and the next thing you know, Doug quit picking on Jason.”

“So, from what you're telling me, you think a dad comes in handy sometimes,” Eddie said. “Even if he's only a stepfather.”

“Yeah. But who am I supposed to call if something like that happens to me? My mom?” Danny shook his head. “She's just a girl. And she's big on saying sorry and turning the other cheek and that sort of thing. So if someone picks on me, I'm gonna have to fight 'em myself. Either that or get my butt kicked.”

Eddie placed a hand on the boy's shoulder. “You're right, Danny. It's tough when you don't have a dad. But sometimes a male friend, like a coach or a teacher or someone like that, can step in and be the man you need.”

“Well, I don't even have one of those. My teacher is Mrs. Dobbins, and she's almost as old as Ellie. What's she gonna do?” Danny slowly shook his head. “It really sucks.”

“I can understand that. But you seem to be lashing out at everyone. And that doesn't seem fair. Who are you really mad at?”

Danny shrugged and clucked his tongue. “Heck, I'm not sure. My dad, I guess. My mom, too. And maybe I'm even mad at God. Isn't He supposed to fix things like this?”

“Maybe things aren't really broken. And maybe you don't need to be mad at anyone. Why don't you just take one day at a time? And if you ever have a problem with a bully, you give me a call. I'll do whatever I can to help.”

“Really?”

Eddie wasn't sure what he was promising or why it felt like the right thing to do, but he nodded. “Yeah. Really. I'll give you my telephone number. You can call me anytime.”

“Cool.”

They continued to play catch for another ten minutes or so—more time than Eddie really had to spare. But he liked Maria's oldest son, and he wanted to help.

“I'm going to have to get back to work,” Eddie finally said. “Maybe we can play catch later this afternoon. If you're going to join the team, it won't hurt to get some practice in.”

“I appreciate you helping me and all,” Danny said. “Especially since you're supposed to be working. I sure wouldn't want to see you get fired for being nice.”

“Don't worry about it. If I was getting paid by the hour, it wouldn't be right, but I'm getting paid by the job. So it just means that I'll need to stay late today.” Eddie handed over the ball, then pulled out his business card and handed it to the boy. “My cell phone number is on this. Call me anytime, even if you just want someone to talk to.”

“Thanks, Eddie. This is really cool.”

“Why don't you go and put the baseball gear away before your mom has to tell you to do it? That way, you'll show her that you're a responsible member of the team. And it also lets her know that you can be trusted to do the right things, even when she's not around to watch you. Trust and freedom go hand in hand.”

“Okay. I'll do that. Thanks.”

As the boy headed for the house, the old man, who'd apparently woken up from his nap, got up from the rocker and started down the steps. Eddie was about to turn away and go back to work when he realized Captain was heading toward him.

“Thanks for playing ball with the boy. If I got around better these days, I'd do it myself.”

So Captain wasn't always going to advocate taking a don't-spare-the-rod approach and regular trips to the woodshed? That was good to know.

Eddie wasn't against an occasional spanking, but he considered it to be a last resort. “Danny's a good kid.”

“You're right. He's one of the best. But he's got a man-sized chip on his shoulders these days, and he's adding a lot of extra stress to his mother's full days.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“Do you fancy Maria?” the old man asked.

The question came at Eddie from out of the blue, and he found himself trying to backpedal. “No. Not really. I mean, she's a pretty girl and all.”

“She certainly is. And she's also got a heart of gold. That's why Ellie is staying here and not parked in some convalescent home for the rest of her days.”

Eddie didn't know what to say. He'd come to that same conclusion himself, but he didn't want to show his hand to Captain. Not when he wasn't sure how to even approach Maria and actually ask her out.

“I just want to make sure your intentions are honorable,” Captain continued. “She's been through a lot, and she doesn't need any more headaches.”

“Adding to her trouble is the last thing I want to do. But to be honest, I would like to get to know her better.”

“I can't blame you for that.”

Eddie's hopes rose as he realized he'd gotten the old man's blessing. At least, it sure felt that way.

Captain straightened, as if he was going to head back to the porch and let the whole thing drop.

But he didn't.

Instead, he asked, “You ever been in trouble? Served any time?”

Hope dropped into the pit of Eddie's stomach like a load of bricks.

What should he admit? That he wasn't a bad guy? That he'd made a stupid mistake when he was a teenager? That he'd been responsible for someone's death and had been incarcerated?

“Why?” he asked instead.

“Don't know. Just a gut feeling, I guess. I used to work at a halfway house for years and saw a lot of guys come in and out.”

Had Captain spotted something in Eddie's demeanor? Maybe the way he checked out his surroundings and watched his back?

Eddie tried to tell himself that what he'd done to end up in prison hadn't been as bad as what Maria's ex-husband had done, but he'd caused someone's death just the same. Still, he'd paid his debt to society.

“Danny told me you used to be involved with the Salvation Army,” Eddie said.

“Yep. For more than twenty years.”

“Then you ought to be familiar with concepts like forgiveness and second chances.”

The old man nodded. “I certainly am.”

“Well, good. Because I'm not the kid I used to be. And no matter what happens between Maria and me, I'll never intentionally hurt her or break her trust.”

“Fair enough,” Captain said.

Eddie hoped so, because life wasn't always fair.

He'd found that out the hard way.

 

Back inside the house, Maria put away the last of the breakfast dishes, then reached for the dishcloth in the sink and wrung it out. As she was wiping down the kitchen table, she realized she'd just dumped the mail on the counter and left it. So she separated it once again. After carrying the ads and junk mail to the recycling bins, she tossed them out, only to see an envelope flutter out.

It was a letter from Ray, and she'd almost thrown it away. To be honest, that's what she'd like to do with all of his correspondence—trash it or recycle it, which seemed especially fitting, since she rarely responded to him anyway.

But while she had a few minutes to herself, she pulled out a chair, took a seat at the table, and read what he had to say this time.

Maria had been on the receiving end of her ex-husband's song-and-dance routine too many times to fall for it again. But she truly wanted to believe him this time—at least, for the kids' sake.