Secrets of the Greek Revival

by Eva Pohler

  Ellen’s brows flew up in shock. “You know?”

  “Of course I know. I know my Bud, and he was trying too hard, with all the ghost stories. Plus, she’s been in this house too many times for the charade to have lasted.”

  “Why didn’t you tell him?”

  Tears formed in Millie’s eyes. “If he’d wanted me to know, he would have told me. There was a reason he needed to keep her for himself. And after all he’s done for me and my mother, I couldn’t take that away from him.”

  “She was the daughter he always wanted,” Ellen quickly added, lest Millie suspect something else.

  Millie nodded as the tears fell. “Yes, I know.”

  Chapter Twenty-Eight: The Cranberry Sauce

  It was Ellen’s first Christmas without a mother. Tanya’s, too. The feeling of being untethered quickly, faded, however, when Ellen began her preparations for her holiday feast. The preparations weren’t different from any other year, really. She’d been in charge of making the turkey for as long as she could remember. The only thing her mother had contributed was the can of cranberry sauce.

  Cranberry sauce! Ellen had almost forgotten. She didn’t care for it herself, and neither did Paul or the kids, but it was Jody’s favorite. He had even once said that it wouldn’t be Christmas without it. And now, here it was, Christmas Eve night, and she didn’t have a can of cranberry sauce!

  Paul was already snoring in his recliner. She didn’t have the heart to wake him and beg him to go out in the weather. It rarely ever snowed in San Antonio, but tonight it was sleeting and the weatherman had said there was a possibility of snow by morning. The icy roads were the very reason her children had decided to wait and drive over tomorrow.

  Maybe she should wait and run out for the cranberry sauce in the morning. The traffic on Christmas Eve night would be a nightmare—all those other people were out getting the things they’d forgotten, too. How many other people had just remembered the cranberry sauce?

  But would anything be open on Christmas day? And if she did find someplace—maybe a Walgreen’s or an E-Z Mart—would they have a can of cranberry sauce? She couldn’t take the chance. She had to go out tonight.

  First she called Sue and Tanya to see if either had a can to spare. Sue was planning to make homemade cranberry sauce and offered to bring some to Ellen in the morning, but Jody only liked the canned stuff. Ellen had made some for him once, and he hadn’t liked it. Ellen had wondered if he’d only said so to make their mother feel better about her annual contribution. Ellen hadn’t meant to “show up” her mother, but maybe that’s how her brother had taken it, and, as always, he’d come to their mother’s rescue.

  “There’s just something special about that canned stuff,” he had said. “This is good, Ellen, but it’s just not the same.”

  Tanya didn’t have any cranberry sauce, so Ellen put on her shoes and her coat and headed out in the cold sleet and busy roads.

  The grocery store was packed. Ellen got lucky and found a parking spot close to the front. She clutched her coat tightly around her and marched through the sleet and the wind to the double glass doors.

  The heat felt good inside, but she still wanted to get in and out as quickly as possible. She weaved around shoppers and their full baskets as she made her way to the canned goods aisle, the whole way praying there would be at least one can left.

  And there was! She snatched it from the shelf, the last can of cranberry sauce. She felt victorious! Christmas had been saved! Jody’s first Christmas without their mother wouldn’t be spoiled now that there would be canned cranberry sauce. It was even the same brand that their mother had always bought.

  She made her way to the lines and sighed. This was going to take a long time. Even though eight registers were open, the lines were ten to twelve people deep, and the self-serve lines were even longer. All of this waiting around for one can of cranberry sauce. No, it was more than that. She was waiting around to save her brother’s Christmas.

  As she stood there with her shoulders slumped, she occupied herself by watching people.

  And that’s when she saw her at the front of the line two registers away.

  Amy!

  Ellen studied her for a moment to be sure. Without her usual white dress, the young woman looked different. The pale hair and bright eyes looked less, well, ghostly, on a woman wearing a red sweater and black jeans. And her white hair, usually long and straight, was up in a ponytail tonight.

  Amy wasn’t alone. The waiter from Nona’s stood beside her! Ellen couldn’t believe he had lied to them. That had been the Jason after all!

  Oh, no no no no no! Amy and Jason were paying for their groceries and leaving the store. What should Ellen do? She still had seven people in front of her. By the time she’d finish checking out, Amy would be long gone. And if she left the can of cranberry sauce for later, it might not be here when she returned.

  What was more important? Her brother’s Christmas or Cynthia’s peace of mind?

  Ellen stepped out of the line and started to take the can back, but before reaching the aisle, slipped the can into her coat pocket. Then she left the store in search of Amy and Jason.

  Ellen had never ever stolen a single thing in her life—not even a pen from the faculty workroom—so taking the can of cranberry sauce was no easy decision. Her heart pounded against her ribs as she imagined being detained, questioned, and fined. Would she be held in a cell overnight? She had no idea what the punishment was for shoplifting, but she supposed if she was going to be caught, it would happen now, and it wasn’t. She reached her car and climbed in as she scanned the lot for signs of Amy and Jason. Then she saw them, running across the asphalt and laughing in the sleet toward the very back of the lot. It was the white ponytail waving in the wind that gave them away, though they had no idea someone was watching them. Its translucence caught Ellen’s attention, and she would not look away from it.

  The young couple climbed into a red Honda Civic. Luckily for Ellen, the red color was easy to spot as she weaved her way through the crowded lot after them.

  Then Ellen broke the law a second time by calling Sue on her cell phone while driving. She had only to press one number to call her on speed dial, and she put Sue on speaker to be hand’s free, but it was still illegal, as far as Ellen knew.

  “Hello?” Sue answered.

  “You won’t believe this,” Ellen said as she weaved through the lot, trying to catch up to the red Honda Civic before it disappeared in the busy streets of San Antonio.

  “What?”

  “I saw Amy!”

  “Oh my God! Where?”

  “At H.E.B. I had to steal a can of cranberry sauce to do it, but I’m in the car now, following her.”

  “You stole a can of cranberry sauce?”

  “Let’s not focus on that right now, Sue. Okay? I just said I’m in the car, following her.”

  “Be careful. We wouldn’t want you to kill yourself trying to catch up with her,” Sue warned. “The roads are slick tonight.”

  “I’m just a few cars behind her,” Ellen said. “We’re still stuck in the parking lot. Can you get Tanya on a conference call? She’ll want to hear about this, too.”

  “Sure. Let me put you on hold.”

  A family with two small children crossed in front of Ellen, forcing her to wait as the red Honda turned down another row in the lot.

  “Shit, shit, shit,” Ellen muttered, not realizing Tanya and Sue were back on the line.

  “What’s happening?” Tanya asked.

  “Oh, I’m losing her in the parking lot,” Ellen said. “No, wait. I see her car again.”

  “Where are you?” Tanya said. “I’m at H.E.B., too.”

  “Oh my gosh! Is that you coming out of the store now?” Ellen asked.

  Tanya waved. “Yes. It’s me. Can I climb in with you?”

  As soon as Ellen could, she pulled up in front of Tanya.

  “I needed flour for my gravy tomorrow,” Tanya said as she put her
small bag on the floorboard and buckled in.

  “I could have given you some,” Sue said over the phone. “Why didn’t you call? I know how you hate to drive.”

  “Especially at night in the sleet,” Ellen added. Then she said, “You see that red Honda Civic right there? That’s them.”

  “Them?” Tanya and Sue said at the same time.

  “Jason is with her,” Ellen said. “And it’s our Jason from Nona’s!”

  “No way!” Tanya said.

  “I knew it!” Sue cried. “I had a feeling he was lying to us.”

  Ellen rolled her eyes, and Tanya saw her and giggled.

  “I’m telling you, I have the gift,” Sue reiterated. “I sense things.”

  Ellen shook her head. Good ol’ Sue. Maybe she really did have the gift.

  The red Honda Civic turned from the parking lot onto the main road. Ellen was still three cars behind them.

  “Watch them for me,” Ellen said to Tanya. “Help me see which way they turn.”

  “Don’t hit that lady!” Tanya hollered.

  Ellen slammed on her brakes. “There’s a crosswalk, woman,” Ellen muttered, even though she often crossed here, too.

  “Be careful!” Sue said over the phone.

  “There they go!” Tanya said. “They turned right, toward downtown.”

  After Ellen turned onto the main road, she inched her way to the right lane and, as soon as she could, she turned right.

  “Do you see them yet?” Ellen asked as she scanned the cars in front of her.

  “Not yet. Oh, there! Left-hand lane!”

  “Oh, gosh. Are they turning?”

  “Looks like it.”

  Ellen put on her left blinker and hoped these cars beside her would have mercy on her.

  “These people aren’t going to let me in,” Ellen said.

  “Roll down your window and wave to them,” Sue suggested. “It’s harder for them to ignore you that way.”

  “But it’s freezing out there,” Ellen protested.

  “Do you want to catch her?” Sue asked.

  Ellen rolled down her window and shivered with the freezing air that rushed into her vehicle. She waved to the car beside her, shouting, “Please?”

  The car beside her slowed down and let her in.

  “Okay, now once more,” Tanya said.

  Ellen waved and begged.

  The car beside her ignored her.

  “Damn you,” Ellen cursed beneath her breath.

  “Just slow down until someone lets you over,” Tanya said.

  “But no one can get around me.”

  “They’ll have to wait. Come on. Wave to that car, like Sue said.”

  Ellen waved and was full of relief when the white Camry let her in.

  “Thank you!” Ellen shouted into the cold night, even though the couple had their windows up and surely could not hear her.

  Ellen rolled her window up, too, and turned up the heater. “Can you still see them?” she asked Tanya.

  “They just made the left turn right up here.”

  By the time Ellen was able to make the same turn, the red car was out of sight. They had entered a residential area not far from theirs. “What now?”

  “Keep driving down this street,” Tanya said. “I’ll look down all the roads on the right, and you try to look down all the roads on the left.”

  The vehicle hydroplaned when Ellen took her eyes off the road, and it sent her heart pounding. “Shit!”

  “Are y’all okay?” Sue asked.

  “Yes. We’re okay,” Ellen said.

  “You just watch the road,” Tanya said to Ellen. “I’ll glance both ways. Just slow down a little.”

  They drove past six streets. Nausea coated Ellen’s belly. She couldn’t believe they had come this far only to lose them. She’d stolen a canned good from the store, for crying out loud. She’d become a criminal for this! “No. We can’t lose them. We can’t!”

  “Look!” Tanya pointed to an apartment complex straight ahead. “Isn’t that them? They’re carrying groceries up to the second floor.”

  “Do you see their red Civic?” Ellen asked.

  Tanya glanced all around the parking lot. “No.”

  “Then how do we know for sure? I can’t see them from this distance. Can you? Can you see her white hair?”

  “Just pull in and park,” Tanya said. “Unless you have a better idea.”

  “Where are you guys?” Sue asked.

  “The Emerald Forest Apartments.” Ellen turned into the apartment complex. “Did you see what unit they went into?”

  “That one.” Tanya pointed. “I can’t see the number though.”

  There were no available parking places near the unit Tanya had indicated, so Ellen drove around the building. “Oh, my God. Look!”

  Parked in the very first spot around the corner was a red Honda Civic.

  “That can’t be just a coincidence,” Tanya said.

  “What?” Sue asked. “Do you see their car?”

  “Yes!” Ellen said. “Let’s park and go knock on the door.”

  As they took the stairs to the second floor, Ellen’s heart was beating out of control. First, she was worried that they’d already lost Amy and that the people they had seen carrying the groceries were not Amy and Jason. Second, she worried that even if they had found Amy, that Amy wouldn’t trust them, just as Nick had said.

  “What should I say?” Ellen asked Tanya as they neared the unit.

  “Just say we found your mother,” Tanya said.

  Ellen stopped a few yards away from the door. “Listen.” She put a hand on Tanya’s shoulder. “Don’t you think it’s kind of neat that we lost our mothers, but we’re helping Amy to find hers?”

  Tears rushed to Tanya’s eyes. “We didn’t lose our mothers.”

  Ellen nodded. “You’re right.”

  Then she knocked on the door.

  The curtain at the front window moved, but no one came to the door. Ellen knocked again.

  “Leave us alone!” Jason’s voice carried through the door.

  Ellen and Tanya exchanged glances.

  “Please!” Ellen said. “We want to help Amy. We’ve found her mother.”

  “Why should I believe you?’ Amy shouted through the door. “I saw you cooperating with that evil man, the one who threatened to shoot me on Halloween! The one who’s killed every animal I’ve ever loved! You should have freed those cats as soon as you discovered them! Why should I believe a word you say? Now leave us alone. My boyfriend has a gun!”

  Tanya grabbed Ellen’s arm and pulled her away from the door, but Ellen resisted.

  “We can’t just give up,” Ellen whispered.

  “I don’t want us to get killed either,” Tanya said.

  “Are you still there, Sue?” Ellen said into the phone.

  “Yeah. I heard her. And I have an idea.”

  “We’re listening,” Tanya said.

  “Leave her a note with how she can find her mother. Put her mother’s name, the San Antonio State Hospital, Extended Care Ward, and the address and phone number on a piece of paper and put it in an envelope and tape it to the door. Her curiosity is bound to get the best of her.”

  “That’s a great idea, Sue,” Tanya said, “except that we don’t have paper, an envelope, or any tape.”

  “And with all this sleet, I’m not sure the tape will hold anyway,” Ellen said. “The envelope might be gone by morning.”

  “Could you slide it under the door?” Sue asked. “Or is there a doormat?”

  “No. That won’t work either,” Tanya said. “What can we do?”

  “I know!” Ellen said, as an idea hit her. “I just finished my painting of Cynthia Piers. Sue, could you please go over to my house and get it from my studio in back—it’s not locked—and bring it along with paper and an envelope and maybe a plastic bag to protect the painting?”

  “Like a garbage bag?” Sue asked.

  “That would work,” E
llen said.

  “Why don’t we just go get that stuff so Sue doesn’t have to get out in this mess?” Tanya asked.

  “I’m afraid they’ll run away,” Ellen said. “Then Amy will be lost again.”

  “Let me just get dressed,” Sue said. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

  Chapter Twenty-Nine: Christmas Day

  Ellen was tired Christmas morning, but as soon as Lane and Alison walked through the door with their overnight bags, her world instantly improved. Nolan wasn’t far behind them, and within the hour, Jody and his family arrived as well.

  They were all together under one roof. No amount of fatigue could prevent Ellen from being happy.

  As she was transferring her dressing from a pan to a serving dish and Lane was at the stove mashing the potatoes, Paul came in to see if there was anything more he should do. He’d put the ice chest full of ice over by the drinks, he said, and Alison had set the table. Nolan had the turkey all cut up and out on a platter. What else did she need?

  She looked up at Paul and smiled, thinking that she had everything she could possibly need.

  He returned her smile and leaned a little closer and said, “You look absolutely breathtaking today.”

  After her initial shock, she laughed and pecked his cheek, and then turned away to hide the tears that had filled her eyes.

  If only every day could be like this.

  The cranberry sauce! She couldn’t believe she’d almost forgotten after all she’d gone through to get it. She whipped out her can-opener and then poured the sauce onto a serving dish. At that very moment, Jody came into the kitchen to snatch a sweet pickle from a relish tray on the bar, and he smiled at her.

  “You got the cranberry sauce!” he said.

  She smiled. “The canned stuff. The kind you like.”

  He kissed her cheek. “I miss her so much today.”

  “She’ll be there tonight when you go home.” Jody and his family would be staying the night at their mother’s house across town.

  He wrinkled his brow. “You really think so?”

  “I know so,” she said. “I could sense her all around us at Thanksgiving.”