Threads of Steel (Bayou Cove) (38 page)

“But you paid the full appraised value. I know how real estate is. Had someone else bought the house, they might’ve chiseled the price down.” She looked down at the check with tears in her eyes. “You’re a good friend, and now that you have a house, I can see you more. What more could I ask for?”

“You can ask that your friend be able to face this community with a smile on her face and not high-tail it back to New Orleans.”

“It’s Bayou Cove, Anna Marie. Some of these people haven’t been away from here for more than a few days at a time. You’re the worldly one. You can handle them.”

Anna Marie had her doubts, but she only hugged her friend back.

CHAPTER
24

Two weeks is how long Anna Marie had told Stephen she’d be gone. He had taken the same and didn’t blink an eye when she told him. Now on her first day after the closing, she knew that two weeks wouldn’t be long enough if she wanted to get things done.

The first thing she did was to laundry the linens, something she’d been meaning to do since she and Doug had used one of the beds. When she pulled that sheet, she held the sheets close to her nose and tried to recapture his smell. She sat on the side of the bed and let the ecstasy of that afternoon wash over her again. The afternoon sun shone through the blinds just as it had done that day, making her almost giddy with delight.

She looked around the room. Would she leave the guest bedrooms as they were? Miss Ellie’s taste in décor certainly wasn’t her own, but the thought of changing it didn’t sit well with her at the moment. Making a decision, she stood up. Nothing had to be changed now. She could move as slowly or as fast as she’d like, leave the rooms as they were, or change the interior completely.

A thought about making the room something a little girl might enjoy squeezed into her consciousness, but she immediately pushed it aside. There would be no little girls in her future. It was a fact she’d have to live with.

Still, she could think about decorating it in colors that Caitlyn might enjoy if she ever had the opportunity to spend some nights with her.

Again, she reminded herself that nothing had to be decided today. This was her house now, she thought, and let a smile spread across her face.

After putting the linens in the washer, she went back upstairs to the master bedroom. All of the furniture had been removed, leaving dust balls and bits of trash on the floor around the room-size rug. The Persian rug had been one of the things she asked the family to leave. She’d always loved the pinks and the greens of the delicate flowers in the rug and wanted to work her room around those colors. Even the hardwood floors around the rug were in good shape.

Making the decision to clean this room first, she went through the house looking for cleaning items that the family might have left. She’d have to spend enough time in stores refurnishing the house so anything she could use from Miss Ellie would be appreciated. She opened the door to a hall closet and found brooms, an ancient vacuum, and an assortment of other cleaning supplies.

By late afternoon, she’d cleaned the master bedroom and put clean linens on one of the guest beds for her use tonight. Tomorrow she might buy paint and start repainting the walls in the master bedroom, but right now she wanted to enjoy her first night. Having Doug here with her would’ve made the evening more enjoyable, but he hadn’t called and she didn’t want to call him. Even Nancy was tied up with one of her girls so she’d have to make do with her new surroundings.

Shortly after dusk she took a glass of iced tea out to the front porch and sat in the swing. With the warm June night surrounding her, she laid her head back and enjoyed the light squeaking as she swung to and fro. She remembered the squeak from years ago. No one had ever bothered to oil it, and she decided it wouldn’t be the same swing if the squeak wasn’t there. She’d leave it as it was and would enjoy the sounds from her past.

That thought gave her pause. Could she ever think about her past and enjoy what those
thoughts dredged up?

A car passed her house, slowed down, then backed up and stopped at her front gate. Anna Marie sat up and watched as Angela Mason
Holbert
walked around her shiny silver
Towncar
.

“Is that you, Anna Marie?”

“Sure is, Angela. Come on up and visit a while.”

Angela’s
lycra
pants were different from the ones she wore the other time she’d talked with her, but they were just as tight and showed off a body that she had kept in shape. She probably still could get into her old cheerleader uniform. That brought a smile to Anna Marie.

When Angela sat down on one of the porch rockers, she looked serious and she hoped this wouldn’t be like the Harrington encounter. Anna Marie wasn’t sure she had ever seen Angela not bubbly and bouncy, but then eighteen years out of high school seemed to do that to people.

“Would you like a glass of tea? That or a diet cola is all I have right now.”

“Tea would be fine if it’s unsweetened. Thank you.
”

Glad to have something to do for a moment before having to talk with her, Anna Marie freshened up her glass,
then
poured a glass for Angela. She couldn’t imagine why Angela had actually stopped in to visit, but, looking for something positive, she decided the girl was trying to make her feel welcome to the neighborhood.

Yeah.
Right.

Juggling the two glasses, she opened the front door. “Here you are. I have to admit
it’s
wonderful tea. I stopped at one of the local delis and picked it up after the signing today.”

“You mean signing for the house?”

She kept her head raised high and didn’t blink. “Yes. I decided to keep the house. I bought out
Doti’s
and Nancy’s share. I didn’t have it in me to let it go to a stranger.”

Angela squirmed at bit in her rocker. “I’d heard you were going to do that.”

She couldn’t keep the laugh from breaking through. “I guess I’d forgotten how fast news travels in a town this size. I had another visitor yesterday and he’d also heard.”

“You mean one of Miss Ellie’s nephews?”

“Yep.
Just proves my point. News travels fast.”

“Anna Marie, I’m not sure the entire community knows what’s happening on this street or even cares what happens, but I guess because we live here, news does spread through the neighborhood. Her nephew had come around several times with one of the
Lowerys
to pick up things from the house. I stopped in to offer my condolences and he let me have an earful. The family’s not real happy about what Miss Ellie did.”

“That’s obvious, but like I told him, had they been more of a family to her, maybe none of this would’ve happened.”

“I agree.”

Angela sipped on her tea, her words nearly knocking Anna Marie over. “I’m glad you agree and understand why she gave the house to us. We had no idea what she was planning until the will was read.”

Angela nodded. “Everyone knows that.”

There was an awkward silence. Angela squirmed again before she looked directly at Anna Marie. “That’s not why I’m here today. I wanted to come over to welcome you to the street—and to thank you.”

“Thank me?”

She nodded. “Yes. I want to thank you for having your father’s organs donated.”

That got Anna Marie’s attention.

“You see, our family had given up hope for my mother-in-law. Her heart was rapidly declining, and we couldn’t seem to get on the top of anyone’s list, but since you said you wanted to give local recipients first preference, we were able to get her tested and she and he were a perfect match.”

Anna Marie stopped swinging. “Are you saying your mother-in-law has my father’s heart?”

“Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying. At first we didn’t want to know who had donated the organs. That’s kind of weird, you know. But the more I thought about it, the more curious I got. Since you had signed papers giving full disclosure, it only took a minute to find out.”

“And you were okay with where the heart came from?”

Angela chuckled. “At first I wasn’t sure. I mean, the man was in prison and ran over Miss Ellie.”

“Yes, that’s a hard piece of knowledge to accept, even when you’ve lived with some of it for a lifetime. I didn’t have a normal life because of all the things he did.”

“I have to admit, I got kind of upset at first, but then when Jay’s mom started feeling better and her personality hadn’t changed, I had to give my thanks to you and your father. I guess we always have these silly notions that something like a heart will make you change who you are.”

“I’m glad you’re comfortable with it now. Does the rest of your family know?”

“No, only Jay and me.
We’re going to tell his family soon after we’re certain she’ll be okay,
then
if it’s okay with you, we want our friends to know.”

Unexpected tears flooded Anna Marie’s eye. She managed to nod. “That would be fine.” As soon as the words escaped, her body trembled and tears flowed down her cheeks. Embarrassed, she hid her face.

The swing squeaked and she realized that Angela had come over to sit by her. She put her arm around Anna Marie.

“Your dad might not have been an upstanding citizen in Bayou Cove, but what you and he did in his final hours made up for all the bad. His death saved Jay’s mother, and we’ll never forget it.” She pulled Anna Marie close to her body and patted her back.

Anna Marie lay her head against her shoulder and let the tears flow, then took another moment before sitting up. She wiped away the tears with the back of her hand. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to do that in front of you.”

“Don’t you dare apologize for crying about something like
that.
I’m the world’s worse when it comes to keeping my tears inside. I cry at the drop of a handkerchief.”

A smile spread across Anna Marie’s face. “I’d never guess you’d be a crier.”

“Don’t let looks fool you. I was always the big girl on campus, but deep inside I was a basket case, worrying about everything I did, how I looked, what people thought about me, and at night sometimes, I couldn’t stand it anymore. I’d just lock myself in my room and cry.”

Anna Marie stared at the woman who had been the homecoming queen, the Miss-everything that ever got picked, yet she’d just shared a side of her that Anna Marie never knew existed.

“Thank you for sharing that with me, both about my father and about you. For all those years of high school my little group of friends hated you and your group—” she tilted her head and smiled— “but secretly admired what you were. Inside we wanted to be like you. I can’t believe you had your moments of doubt just like we did.”

“Moments?
Oh, honey, more like days, weeks and years. I loved my life back then, but I hated the pressure. The more you do, the more people expect you to do. It wasn’t easy.”

“I guess the high school years are the best and the worst, all at the same time. My friends had some good times as well, but they weren’t in the public light like yours were. Most of ours
were had right here in this house. I think Miss Ellie knew that and wanted us to remember those days.”

Angela leaned over and hugged Anna Marie once more, then stood up. “Jay and I really do welcome you to the neighborhood. Will you be moving back here now that you have the house?”

“No, I’m part-owner of a business in New Orleans. I might be able to do some of the work from here, but the business needs to stay over there.”

“I know about your business. I was curious about that too. I looked you up on the internet. Wow, Anna Marie, I was thoroughly impressed. Your business is spectacular. If you decide to do something here with it, let me know and I’ll spread the word. All of my friends are big in Mardi
Gras
here on the coast. We’re always looking for designers and seamstresses.”

“Thank you, Angela. Thank you for everything.”

She watched her former high school classmate walk to her car. She waved a hand before getting in, and Anna Marie waved back, not like the time she passed her in the yard, but with a genuine warm-hearted farewell.

When the headlights vanished into Angela’s yard, Anna Marie sat alone in the dark and thought about all she’d told her. It was a lot to take in.

For all these years, she’d hated Bayou Cove and its citizens because she thought of herself as someone who didn’t fit in, and for all those years it was partly her own fault. She might not have had what the rest of her classmates had, but she was more like them than she ever imagined.

She leaned her head against the swing. Miss Ellie knew then, and she wanted to make sure her girls understood now.

“Thank you, Miss Ellie. Thank you.”

CHAPTER
25

A pair of Miss Ellie’s old rockers still sat on the front porch. One day Anna Marie would paint them black to match the tall shutters on the porch, but this morning she sat in one and tried to make sense of all that had taken place in the last twenty-four hours.