Teaberry Three Part Harmony

by R A Wallace

  Lauren was laughing at something Vince had said just before Megan entered the kitchen. The contrast between Lauren and Erica was poignant. While one had been visited by her parents simply so they could apply stressful pressure, the other was surrounded by loved ones doing everything they could to support her. Megan made a mental note to spend more time with Erica.

  “Vince is baking to fill some of my orders. I already had some things in the freezer just in case I wasn’t able to do it myself, but he’s handling the things that don’t freeze well.”

  Bev turned around with her hands still in the soapy water. “We’ve been delivering everything for her too. So far, it’s been a lot of fun.”

  Lauren looked over at Megan. “Are you okay? You look a little… I don’t know what.”

  Megan explained her day to them. By the time she was done speaking, she realized that Vince and Bev had stopped working. All three were staring at her.

  “You are making that up,” Lauren said.

  “I can’t believe Colin had two wives,” Vince said. “That’s just not possible.”

  “I cannot believe Erica’s parents are that dense,” Bev said.

  Vince was flabbergasted. “Are you sure about all of this?”

  Megan cocked her head in a half shrug. “I’m just telling you what Alaina Boswell said.”

  “How did he get away with that?” Lauren asked.

  Vince thought about it for a moment. “He was away a lot on business.” He looked up at the other three. “Well, that’s what he always told us, anyway. I guess he had a different definition of business.”

  Lauren rested her hand on her belly then turned shocked eyes toward Megan when a thought occurred to her. “Alaina doesn’t have children, does she?”

  Megan frowned as her mind leapt to the same complications Lauren’s had. The subject hadn’t come up. “She didn’t mention any.”

  “And Hilary invited the woman to the funeral tomorrow.” Bev said. “Let’s hope it doesn’t turn into a circus.”

  Vince looked down at the cake he’d been mixing. “Do you think it’s okay if I tell the guys?” He wondered how Daryl and Emmet were going to take the news. Then the realization hit him. “Oh, no!”

  “What?” Bev asked as she grabbed a towel for her hands before walking over to the island. She looked down at the cake.

  Vince followed her gaze. “No, not the cake. I just realized something. Alaina is here because of us. We’re the ones who posted the photo of Colin online. We thought his friends in the harmony circles would want to know. We thought Hilary would be comforted to hear from all of the people Colin has helped over the years.”

  Lauren shared a look with Megan then turned back to Vince. “You might not want to mention that tomorrow.”

  Chapter Seven

  Seth approached the school building Thursday evening with trepidation. He had suggested to Jessilyn that he begin attending the PTA meetings whenever Jessilyn couldn’t make it. Many of the upcoming scheduled meetings coincided with town events that will keep Jessilyn too busy to attend. Since the new PTA president had a past history with Jessilyn, they wondered if the schedule conflicts were really accidental.

  Fortunately, tonight’s event was a parent-teacher conference, not a PTA meeting, and Jessilyn was with him. They had thought it would be helpful to him in the future when he had to attend school events on his own. This way, he could get the lay of the land and meet a few people before he had to fly solo. At the time they had discussed it all, he had thought there would be a relatively small turnout for the conferences. He was surprised to find that wasn’t the case.

  “There’s a lot of people here,” Seth commented to Jessilyn as they walked down the hall. Both Evan and Seth were following behind them. Their neighbor, Cindy, was one of the teachers at the school. Although she normally watched the boys after school and in the summer, Jessilyn had them both this evening so that Cindy could meet with the parents of her students.

  Seth looked around curiously. “Everything seems so much smaller now compared to when we were kids.”

  Jessilyn looked over at the man next to her dwarfing the hallway. “It takes some getting used to, doesn’t it?”

  “Mom! Can we play in the gym?” Evan asked as the two boys stopped by a doorway.

  Jessilyn looked inside the gymnasium. There were a couple of teacher’s aides monitoring the children in there playing. “Okay. We’ll be in your classroom if you need us. Otherwise, we’ll pick you up right here when we leave. Don’t go anywhere else, okay?”

  She looked directly at both boys to make sure they understood her instructions. Both Evan and Logan nodded their understanding, then took off.

  Jessilyn and Seth continued walking down the hall. As they passed other people, Jessilyn made an effort not to grin. Every woman they passed either stopped and stared at Seth outright or turned to get a second look after they passed by them. She snuck a look at Seth. He appeared totally unaffected.

  Just as they neared Evan’s classroom, they saw Brianna, the new PTA president. Jessilyn steeled herself to be civil to the woman. She was surprised when Brianna shot them an evil look and stalked away.

  “I wonder what that was for?” Seth asked.

  “I’m sure we’ll find out eventually,” Jessilyn said quietly.

  “That’s what worries me,” Seth murmured.

  “Jessilyn.”

  They turned when they heard Cindy’s voice. She stepped into the hallway from her classroom and approached them.

  “I’m in between parents. How are the boys behaving?” Cindy asked.

  “They’re great. They’re playing in the gym.” Jessilyn glanced at the clock in the hall. They had a few minutes before their meeting with Evan’s teacher.

  “Did you see her?” Cindy asked quietly as she looked around to make sure no one could hear.

  “Yeah, but she didn’t say anything, and she didn’t wait for us to get close enough for conversation.”

  “I guess she’s not happy with your boss,” Cindy said.

  Jessilyn raised her brows. “Mayor Reynolds?”

  Cindy nodded. “I guess the mayor spoke with the superintendent. They’ve decided that bullying was an important topic that needed a special emphasis. They want to highlight it during the year.”

  Seth knew that Brianna’s son had been bullying Evan, just as Brianna bullied Jessilyn when they were in school. He also knew that Brianna wanted to avoid the topic of bullying in their upcoming PTA meetings. No wonder she’d given them that look.

  “Good for Mayor Reynolds,” Seth said.

  “Did you say anything to her?” Cindy asked.

  Jessilyn shook her head. “I never mentioned it. But I know that she magically keeps current on pretty much everything in Teaberry. I’ve never figured out how she does it.”

  ***

  Matthias muted the television and turned to Barbara.

  “What did you just say?” He was certain he’d misheard his wife.

  Kaylee came into the room and sat down on the sofa next to Matthias.

  “This sounds serious.” She looked at her grandmother with raised eyebrows.

  “Well, it is. For the widow, at any rate.” Barbara stood up from her desk and walked over to the tray of drinks. She motioned to Matthias.

  He shook his head. “You mean widows. Apparently, it’s plural.”

  Barbara carried her drink over to one of the wingback chairs and sat down. “It should be an interesting funeral tomorrow.”

  “To say the least,” Matthias agreed.

  “What do you mean? There are two widows.” Kaylee thought about the implications. “He had two wives?”

  “It can’t be easy for either one of them right now.” Barbara thought about Hilary’s invitation to the other woman.

  Matthias had been thinking along the same lines. “Hilary must be an amazing woman to invite the other spouse to the funeral.”

  “Wow. That sounds really complicated,” Kaylee said. And
she thought she had problems.

  ***

  Caitlyn closed the front door behind her and went into the bedroom. After changing, she headed for the kitchen to figure out dinner. She opened the fridge and found a bottle of wine. Deciding to begin with a glass while she pondered dinner, she took the bottle over to the counter. The doorbell rang before she could open the wine.

  She found Doug standing on the other side of the door. He was carrying two bags of something that smelled really good. He used his shoulder to close the door behind him then leaned down for a kiss.

  “I was hoping you were hungry.”

  “Lucky you, I’m always hungry.” Caitlyn turned to go back to the kitchen with Doug following closely behind.

  “Wine?” she asked.

  “Lucky for you, I’m always thirsty.”

  Caitlyn grinned as she opened the bottle. Doug began getting plates and silverware out. He plated food for both of them as Caitlyn sat down to eat.

  “This looks great, thanks.”

  Doug looked over at her as he sipped his wine. “Bad day?”

  Caitlyn thought for a moment. “Not bad, no. But definitely different.”

  Doug raised his eyebrows in question as he began eating.

  “I took an order for funeral flowers from the Boswell widow today.” Caitlyn picked up her wine glass.

  “What’s odd about that? I mean, I know it’s a little last minute, but she’s probably been pretty upset,” Doug pointed out. “She’s had a very difficult few days since his accident.”

  “Actually, she just found out.” Caitlyn saw the confusion on Doug’s face. “This is the second Mrs. Boswell I’m talking about.”

  Caitlyn explained the situation.

  Doug had stopped eating and was staring at her now. “Really? And both women will be at the funeral? Am I the only one that thinks that’s a recipe for disaster?”

  Caitlyn twirled the wine glass between her hands. “Makes you wonder how much worse things could get.”

  “Aside from two women duking it out over a coffin?” Doug began eating again.

  Caitlyn tried picturing it. “I’m not sure Hilary is the type.”

  “What about the other woman?”

  “Good point. I don’t really know anything about her. Except that she has really good taste in flowers.” Caitlyn set her wine glass down and picked up her fork.

  Doug pushed some barbeque sauce toward her. “You have to wonder why Colin married two different women.”

  Caitlyn thought about the second Mrs. Boswell. “One thing’s for sure. They definitely resemble each other.

  Chapter Eight

  It was cool in the barn early in the morning and not the best place to do wood work, but Dan bent over his project with a smile on his face. It hadn’t been difficult coming up with ideas for Christmas presents for Megan. His problem was stopping himself from overdoing it. One of the gifts he’d decided to make for her was for her yarn. He had constructed a yarn cabinet to hold not only her yarn but also her knitting needles and crochet hooks. There were also smaller spaces for the other things she used for her yarn work. Most of those things were mysteries to Dan. He still marveled at her ability to create things from yarn.

  He was currently hand carving the front of one of the doors. There were shelves and small drawers inside. He had been working on the project in secret whenever he had a few minutes, such as early mornings before work, when he went outside to do the chores. He could only get a few minutes in here and there, but that was why he’d begun the project a long time ago. Once he was done working, he had to hide everything so that Megan wouldn’t find it.

  Dan put the finishing touches on the piece he was working on, then began to clean everything up. He’d already put some hay out for the sheep and miniature donkeys and had fed and watered the chickens. He picked up the basket of eggs he’d collected and headed for the house. As he walked across the barnyard, it occurred to him that one of the nice things about it being dark later in the mornings was not having to deal with Henry first thing in the morning. The rooster was in love with Megan and hadn’t yet gotten used to the idea of sharing her with Dan. At the moment, however, Henry was still in the coop with the chickens. He’d barely stirred when Dan had gone in to collect the eggs.

  Megan was working at the stove when Dan entered the kitchen bringing with him cold air smelling of outdoors that immediately mingled with the smell of bacon sizzling on the stove. He set the eggs on the counter, hung his coat on the back of a chair, and then stood behind Megan and nuzzled her neck.

  “Do you want toast with this?” Megan asked as she turned her head to make it easier for him to access her neck.

  He looked over at the loaf of bread cooling on the rack next to him. He loved it fresh from the oven.

  “I’ll have it warm with butter and jelly.” Their own fresh eggs and also bacon from Tom’s farm to go with it. Dan couldn’t imagine a better breakfast.

  “Which jelly do you want?” Megan began lifting the bacon from the pan and transferring it to a plate lined with paper napkins.

  “Whatever’s open in the fridge. I like all of your jelly.” Dan went over to the fridge to look.

  “I think there’s apple cider jelly and some plum jam in there.” She reached for the eggs and cracked some open, dropping them into the sizzling pan.

  Dan honestly couldn’t decide, then wondered why he was bothering. Grabbing both jars, he took them to the table and eyed the loaf of bread with a satisfied smile. He was going to have two slices of bread and both of the preserves.

  Megan carried the plate of bacon and eggs to the table. “I’ll cut the bread.”

  Dan was hoping she’d say that. “When I do it, it always ends up mangled.”

  “It is harder when it’s still hot from the oven, but this has had a little chance to cool so it should be okay.”

  He figured he could at least handle the coffee so he refilled their mugs, doctored Megan’s up the way she liked it and carried both mugs to the table.

  “What took so long outside this morning?” Megan asked as she sliced the bread.

  Dan smiled behind her back. She had been trying to get him to tell her about his gifts for weeks.

  “Oh, this and that.”

  She half turned to make a face at him. He flashed her a smile then bit into his bacon.

  “Well, I haven’t figured out what to get for you yet.” She’d been thinking about it, but honestly couldn’t come up with anything.

  “Have you heard anything new about the funeral today?” Dan asked as he took a seat at the table.

  “No, not yet.” Megan set a plate of bread slices on the table in front of him and took her own seat.

  Dan took several slices and lathered them first with butter then the jam. He set a piece on Megan’s plate and then tucked into his breakfast. He finished before she did and stood to begin clearing his plate from the table. Megan had just finished her own breakfast when she heard a vehicle outside. She shot Dan a look. He nodded and headed for the front door of the house as Megan began clearing the rest of the breakfast things.

  Dan returned a moment later with Emmet behind him. Megan offered him a cup of coffee and sat down with him at the table. Dan held his own mug and leaned against the counter waiting to hear why Emmet was there so early in the morning.

  Emmet held the mug between his hands and thought about what he was going to say. He’d been running it around in his head for hours. Just as he finally figured out where to begin, they heard another vehicle. Emmet looked at Dan and shrugged. Dan headed for the front door again. He returned a moment later with Vince behind him.

  “You might was well wait a minute to get started. Daryl texted me. He’s on his way.” Vince accepted a mug of coffee and sat down next to Emmet.

  “Why didn’t you tell me you were coming here?” Emmet asked him.

  “Back at you,” Vince said as he lifted his mug.

  Dan began walking toward the front door of the house as s
oon as he heard the third vehicle and returned shortly after. After passing a cup of coffee to Daryl, he again leaned against the counter as the others settled around the table. The three men then turned their focus to Megan.

  “Here’s the thing,” Emmet said. “We’ve been talking.” Emmet looked at the other two men. They both nodded.

  “We’re wondering if Colin’s death was really an accident.” After saying it out loud, Daryl leaned back in his chair and waited for a response.

  There was silence for a moment. Dan broke it. “Say again?”

  Vince held up his hands, palms out. “I know. It sounds odd. But here’s the thing. Before his death, Colin told all of us that he was being followed.”

  Dan nodded once slowly. “Okay.” He stretched the word out, hoping for more information.

  “And now we learn that he had some sort of secret life with another wife,” Emmet pointed out.

  “You have to admit, once you put all these things together, it does seem like there might be more to this story,” Daryl added.

  “What are you hoping for here guys?” Dan asked as he looked at each of them.

  Then all four men looked at Megan. Megan took a deep breath.

  “Hmm. I know that Colin’s accident was a surprise for you. When things like that happen suddenly, it can make you start to wonder about the what ifs.” Megan made eye contact with the three older men and softened her voice. “But you know it was an accident. He was working under a car in his own garage and something happened. The jack failed for whatever reason, but it was an accident.”

  Dan had thought he’d have to talk Megan out of getting involved in another mystery. He was surprised to hear her arguing his point.

  “But that’s the thing. How do we know it was an accident? What if whoever was following him found him there?” Emmet asked.