The Quaker Café (38 page)

Maggie adjusted her pillow and sat up a little straigh
ter in the chair. “Why for Josh?”

Miss Ellie bent her
head without speaking for what seemed like a long time. Finally she looked back at Maggie. “Josh is his son.”

             
Maggie stiffened immediately, her eyes wide open. “His son?  My daddy’s son?”

Miss Ellie nodded her head
. Maggie shut her eyes and took a deep breath. The room was silent.

A nurse slipped in to change the IV drip
. “Everybody doing okay?” she said in a cheery voice. She looked at Maggie and saw her eyes shut and whispered. “Sorry, didn’t realize she was asleep.” 

             
When the nurse left the room, Maggie spoke without opening her eyes. “I have a brother? Wow.” She blew out a long breath.

             
“Josh is your half-brother.” Miss Ellie pulled a tissue from the side table next to Maggie’s bed and wiped away a tear.

             
“Why didn’t anyone tell me?”

             
“We really weren’t even sure, Maggie. It was just one night after your mother died. Walter and I were deep in debt, and he had become very depressed. Without telling him, I went to your father after my shift at the café to ask to borrow some money.”

  Ellie stopped and blushed
. “I’m ashamed to even say this; I started to cry. He wrapped his arms around me. Suddenly, we were in high school again…just him and me. Life was a lark when we were young. Your father made everything look so easy. We ended up in bed that night. When I left he gave me a check.”

             
“Oh, Miss Ellie,” Maggie reached over and put her other hand on top of Ellie’s. “He loved you. You do know that, don’t you?”

             
“I do know that, but the next morning I felt so miserable, so cheap. Corbett and I were always better friends than lovers. I tore up the check. I told him that I loved Walter and we would work out our money problems on our own.”

             
“I’m sure he felt badly too,” Maggie said.

             
“He did. He apologized. Things were very strained between us for a while, but it’s a small town. In small towns there are a lot of things that happen behind closed doors. In the morning you still have to walk back onto the street and look your neighbor in the eye. Life goes on.”

“Did Walter ever know?”

“No, he didn’t,” Miss Ellie said. “I’m sure he didn’t because a month later Corbett went to Walter and told him he thought Cedar Branch needed its own auto repair shop. He asked Walter if he’d consider leaving the shop in The Neck and managing a new one if the Kendalls provided the capital. Walter considered your dad a saint. He never stopped talking about the big break we got. I guess the rest is history. We did well. Eventually Walter and I bought the shop from your dad.”

             
“And Josh?” Maggie asked.

             
“Josh,” Ellie smiled and shook her head. “Who would have ever believed? One night? When I got pregnant, I was sure the baby was Walter’s. He adored that child. You and Josh used to play together at the café. You remember?”

             
“Sure, I remember. He and your two girls were in and out all the time, between the café and the repair shop. Then he left for boarding school and hardly ever came home.”

             
“Yes, Corbett talked to Josh at the café about going away to school and encouraged him to apply. He’d tell Josh he could get a scholarship. He told him that so much we all believed him.”  Ellie looked over at me. “Reckon I could get a soda somewhere?”

“Just down the hall, Miss Ellie
. I’ll go get you one,” Liz said.

“A Coke would be good, thanks.”

When Liz returned she handed Miss Ellie her Coke and sat down with one of her own.

“Walter didn’t want
Josh to leave, but he admired your father and thought a prep school might give Josh a leg-up in the world, so he tried not to discourage him. Then lo and behold, when Josh turned fourteen, he applied to boarding school and got a full scholarship.”

“Surprise, surprise,” Maggie said.

“Of course, I suspected your father paid the tuition, but Walter and Josh didn’t know otherwise. Josh loved Woodberry. He stayed there year round, helped at their camp or in the admissions office in the summers. We hardly ever saw him in Cedar Branch again. We’d go up once a year for homecoming. Your dad would drop by when he had a meeting up that way and take him out to dinner. Josh loved that.”

“And then he went to St. Mary’s
College in Maryland?”  Maggie said.

“You knew that?” Miss Ellie said.

“I saw the invoices in the files, but I hadn’t put it together.”

“When we drove him up to Maryland the first year, I watched him hobnob so casual with the other boys and throw his head back and laugh like your father
. What Corbett realized when Josh was fourteen, I knew for sure when he was eighteen. Josh was a Kendall.”

Maggie closed her eyes again and squeezed Miss Ellie’s hand
. “I think I need to get back in bed, now,” she said. Liz went through the process of helping Maggie move from the chair to the bed and repositioned the pillows.

When she was finally settled, she as
ked, “Why are you telling me, Miss Ellie?”

“The will, and
now with this bone marrow thing...”

“Does
Josh know?”

             
“He didn’t know up until now, which is why I’m telling you. I called and asked him to give blood to see if he might be a match for you as a donor. He couldn’t understand why I became so insistent. Finally I told him.”

             
“How does he feel about it?” Maggie asked.

             
“He’s confused right now…needs to work it through.”

             
Maggie seemed uncertain. “Thank him for me, will you?”

             
“I’ll tell him.”

             
“Would he like to talk?”

             
“Would you?”

             
“I guess so. Why didn’t my father name him in his will?”

             
“I asked your father not to, Maggie. We planned for me to pass the money on to Josh at my death, but I have decided I can’t give something to Josh without giving equally to each of my girls. I didn’t want the girls to know that Josh had a different father. That’s probably a pipe dream now. No telling how long before the entire town knows.”

             
“And you weren’t going to ever tell Josh?”

             
“No, I wasn’t. Corbett left that decision up to me.”

             
“Miss Ellie,” Maggie said with a certainty that surprised Liz. “Josh needed to know. I needed to know. Still, I’m glad Walter’s no longer living.”

             
“Maggie, if Walter were living I never would have said the first word.”

As long as Liz had been in Cedar Branch, all visitors who came to Grandpa and Grandma’s house entered through the back door and sat in the den
. The two large recliners signaled a passage of Quaker custom from the simple to the more comfortable. The living room was rarely used except at Thanksgiving and Christmas. A dark room with heavy curtains to hold the heat in winter, it still had most of the original furniture from Grandpa’s youth. Liz expected that Grandma might redecorate at some point before she realized that redecorating constituted frivolity. When what one has is adequate, why should anyone want more? The two rooms symbolized the past and the present.

             
Grandma Hoole met Chase and Liz at the back door. “Thank you for coming,” she said. “He’s in the living room. Last night we talked for hours. I’ve asked Anna Reed to join us.”

“Anna Reed?” Liz asked
.

“I thought it would be good to have an elder here.”

“Does he want her here?” Chase asked.

“He does
. He thinks the time has come to speak to the elders and we agreed she’d give the best counsel. She’ll be honest but have compassion.” 

“Wh
at do you want us to do, Mom?” Chase seemed hesitant.

“Your presence is all I ask
. He needs you for support.”

It was not without irony that Grandpa had chosen the living room to sequester himself
. A glass of untouched orange juice sat on the side table. The curtains were drawn and a small desk lamp filled the room with shadows. Liz immediately wanted to push open the curtains and let in more light, but there was no light outside at this hour.   Grandpa stared into a corner, a man consumed by the guilt he’d carried for fifty-six years. Liz’s heart broke knowing the pain he undoubtedly felt.

Chase pulled a straight back chair closer to the sofa
. Liz did likewise and Grandma Hoole sat down on the couch next to her husband of fifty years. She had thought she knew everything she needed to know about the man she’d married. Apparently, what she knew wasn’t enough. Grandpa looked up but said nothing.

“Nathan,” Grandma said gently. “Chase and Liz are here.”

“And Anna?” he asked.

“She’s on her way.”

As Grandma spoke Liz realized how much Grandpa leaned on her. In her mind Liz had chided him for not being a more assertive partner in their marriage. She realized now that Grandma’s clearness of purpose had given him the strength he needed.

“Dad,” Chase began softly
. “We’re going to work through this together.”

“I have spent my life try
ing to right the wrong I did so many years ago, but I’m not sure that redemption is even a possibility anymore,” Grandpa said. “I stayed silent far too long.”

“Nathan,”
Euphrasia said gently. “Leave it in the hands of God. Even King David was forgiven. You are no less than he.”

A
slight tapping at the back door told them Anna had arrived. Grandma rose to let her in. One year older than Grandpa, Anna grew up in Cedar Branch as a birthright Quaker; born into a family of Quakers. Their parents had been second cousins. She had outlived her husband and two children, who had both died of cystic fibrosis. Liz had a great deal of admiration for the fact that Anna never complained, but always found God in her life and expressed appreciation for all that she had received.

Anna entered the room, le
aning heavily on a cane that made her instantly recognizable throughout the town. Her decisive use of her crutch became legendary. She used it to point at what she wanted, motivate those moving a bit too slowly, and stop traffic when she ventured across the road.

“Nathan,” she said as Grandpa rose
. They exchanged an embrace. Anna gave each person a hug before settling into a straight back chair that Chase offered her.

Anna slipped into the familiar plain language using
thee
and
thy
she and Grandpa had been raised speaking. The usage had emphasized equality in place of social distinctions but had fallen away among most people with their parents’ generation. While it had confused Liz at first, she came to appreciate the usage as a sign of affection and an affirmation among the elders who still spoke it.

“
Euphrasia tells me thee is deeply troubled.”

“I am,” Grandpa said, his eyes lowered.

“Tell me thy story.” Anna reached out and placed one of her hands over his. The arthritis was visible in her fingers and nested in her back, yet her eyes and mind remained as clear as a fresh blanket of snow. She listened.

Grandpa told the story he had told Liz and then Chase and finally
Euphrasia, each separately. This time there were no tears, only a sense of release as it poured out like water through a canyon.

“And thee never so
ught counsel from the elders?” Anna asked softly.

“I feared I would be read out of meeting
,” Grandpa said. Anna nodded in understanding.

“And thy parents?” she asked.

“I spoke with my father, only after I could no longer bear my pain alone.”

There was silence
. For Liz this was the first time she had heard Grandpa reference his father.

“What did thy father say?”
Anna asked.

“He grieved deeply. I shall never forget the pain I inflicted upon him, as I know he suffered throughout the remainder of his life. After seeking clearness from the Lord, he and I went to the sheriff.”

Anna paused.

“Did thee tell the sheriff of thy affair?” Anna asked.

“I did
. I told him I had been with Sarah Kendall when Isaac came in to help her unsaddle her horse. I told him I did not believe that Isaac had done anything wrong. I confessed I ran from the barn when Corbett Kendall arrived.”