And to see why I’m the one who found the body, she thought, but she kept that to herself.
Chapter 19
"One, two, three, PUSH!" James commanded, and Ethan and Derek put their shoulders against James' long sofa and gave it their best effort, heaving and bracing their feet against the wooden floor of his old home, but the couch didn't move from the doorway.
Amanda shook her head and sighed. "Guys, I told you it was going to get wedged in there," she said, not being helpful at all. "You're going to have to actually use some strategy, not your muscles."
Her husband straightened up and swiped back a lock of sweaty hair from his forehead. "Thanks, honey. We could never get this thing going if you hadn't told us that," he said dryly, and Amanda made a face at him.
"Fine. I'll leave you boys to it," she said as she smiled at James’ two brothers. She turned to leave, then stopped and thought for a moment. When James had moved in with Amanda he’d left a lot of his stuff in his little home, which they were going to turn into a rental. "I'll just go box up your office. If I find any love letters from former girlfriends, can I burn them, please?" she teased, and James laughed out loud.
"Lady, if you find any letters from old girlfriends I'll eat my best hat."
"Disposed of all the evidence, did ya?" she said, and he laughed again, his brothers watching the exchange with interest.
"Yep, huge bonfire. Had to call Derek and the rest of the firefighters to come put it out."
Derek cocked a skeptical eyebrow and spoke up. "Um, no you didn't..." he started to say, but then caught on. "You always talk to Amanda that way?" he asked as Amanda sauntered toward the office.
She was far enough away she barely heard her husband’s growled reply. "Hey, when you have a wife of your own you'll understand."
By mid-morning, enough people had already shown up and pitched in to help that the truck was loaded and ready to go. Amanda and James had done their best to box up and label everything at James’ place ahead of time. His brothers had loaded a pickup with some items he'd had stored at his parents’ ranch and already delivered them to the new house, and Amanda had hired Sage and a muscular friend of his to move her few possessions out of the Inn. She'd decided to still keep a master suite there with some basics, reserved for her and James in case they needed to spend the night to help their guests, but all the extra items had been carried over to the new home and stashed in the garage.
Riding in the front of the moving van, Amanda was surprised at how emotional she felt as they pulled up into the driveway of their newly constructed house, drawn up to their specifications and planned together. It was the first place they could actually call their own, and it felt like a brand-new beginning. Their family and friends from all over town were parking up and down the street and coming to help. Several pickups full of the more fragile items were already parked beside the garage, leaving room for the packed moving van. As she opened the door and hopped down there was a surge of people toward the back of the truck, already opening the roll-up door and waiting for James to hand things out so they could move them into the house. Henry Crabbe had appointed himself in charge of whatever was going in kitchen cabinets, citing his penchant for cooking, and Eric Spinelli, the medical examiner, was doing his best to organize the garage.
As friend after friend walked by with boxes and lamps and bedding, Amanda had a strange flashback. It had been less than two years since she was living in LA, with an ungrateful boyfriend who constantly criticized her and just a few friends. She didn't know her neighbors, she didn't have any faith in people or in God, and she certainly would never have had forty people show up to move her for just the promise of homemade chili and free drinks. She could feel the familiar sting of tears in her eyes and gulped, doing her best to suppress her emotion and gratitude. What a difference two years made. She looked at her tall husband, wearing his favorite set of cowboy boots and giving directions from the back of the truck, and for a moment she felt almost disconnected from the people around her. She'd made her own reality, and it hadn't been easy, but she'd landed somewhere she was truly loved and that was a new and exquisite sensation. She took a deep breath and walked toward James, her arms out for whatever he might hand down to her. She was deeply happy, it was true, but there was still stuff to be put away.
Amanda was walking out of the house for her second load when James' sister Christy drove up and parked her car on the street. Amanda was surprised, because James had mentioned that his sister would be in Seattle for a few days and wouldn't be part of the moving crew, but she shifted the pillows she was carrying to wave at her. Right away she could tell that something was wrong. Christy was jogging toward them, her face etched with anxiety, her purse flopping on her arm as she ran.
James leaned out of the back of the truck, watching his sister come his way, the moving day forgotten.
"You okay?" he asked before she nearly skidded to a stop in front of him. Christy was gasping for breath, her face twisted with emotion.
"Where's Mom and Dad?" she asked, gulping in air. "Where are the boys?"
"Christy! What is it?" Amanda said, grabbing her sister-in-law's arm as if to steady her.
James hopped out of the truck. "What's going on? They're all inside, I think," he said, and Christy waved a hand at the house.
"Go get 'em," she said, nearly wheezing. "The whole family needs to hear this. You're not going to believe it."
Amanda knew James would want to stay with his sister because she was so upset. "I'll get them," she said. "Meet us in the backyard."
It only took a few minutes to quickly walk through the house and find the rest of the family, and by the time she'd gone out to the backyard, her in-laws in tow, James and Christy were already there, waiting for them. Christy had sunk into a nearby chair, and as soon as she saw they had all gathered around her, she spilled her news.
"Gable is innocent," she said, her voice wavering with emotion. "I know it for a fact now, and I can prove it."
Her words had the emotional impact of a bombshell going off, and everyone seemed to be suddenly talking at once and asking her questions. She frantically waved one hand, trying to quiet them.
"I just came back from Seattle, and while I was there I went to visit the museum that had Grampa's Italian painting. It's actually on display there most of the time, but I got there on a day when they were removing it for some cleaning." She took a deep breath and looked up that the circle of concerned faces peering back at her. "The museum director was supervising the removal, and when I identified myself as the granddaughter of the man who brought the painting back from Europe she was very kind and warm to me. I told her the story of how Grampa got it, and then she told me about the auction the painting had been in, where she’d bought it for the museum. I was so frustrated, thinking of what had happened with Gable, that I started to get upset, but then the most bizarre thing happened." She paused making sure she had their attention.
"There's proof that Grampa gave Gable the painting.” She drew a shaky breath. “He didn’t coerce Grampa at all. It was a gift."
She pulled her phone from her purse and quickly flipped through photos she'd taken, finally pulling one up and thrusting her phone out in front of her, so they could all see.
"It's a tag," she said. "There is actually a tag still on the back of the painting, and the note is written in Grampa's handwriting. I'd know it anywhere."
As the family leaned toward the small screen to see, she explained. "It says ‘I, Arnold Landon give this painting to my grandson Gable with the single condition that it be sold and the money used to start his own business. This darn thing never did me any good hanging on a wall’."
Amanda could see the shock, then the realization, then the sorrow in everyone's eyes. James’ mother turned toward her husband Donald and laid her head against his chest, her lips quivering. He put his arms around her and patted her as she began to cry silently.
James’ face was slack, his eyes empty. "We were wrong this whole ti
me," he said. "I don't know how we can ever make it up to him for doubting his word."
Christy continued. "You remember how Gable said Grampa gave him the painting already wrapped in brown paper, and how he took it straight down to the art dealer to be put in the auction? I'll bet he didn't even know that tag was there." Tears glistened in the corner of her eyes. "I think Grampa's last words were to tell people about the painting being Gable’s, not to accuse him of anything."
Derek glanced at Ethan and walked off, pulling out his phone and punching in the numbers to call as if he could smash through the screen. Knowing him as well as she did, Amanda knew he was already trying to reach Gable to make amends.
The rest of the day was a bit of a blur, trying to keep up a brave face for the rest of the movers, but the Landon family was all hurting from how wrong they had been and how they hadn't believed Gable when he'd protested his innocence.
Just as the last of the boxes were being moved out of the van, a familiar form came trudging up the driveway, and Amanda steeled herself.
"Wendell? What are you doing here?" The words came out in a more unkind tone than she'd wanted, but her father didn't seem surprised.
"James said you were moving and asked if I wanted to help. I've been doing odd jobs at the cannery this morning, and this is the first chance I had to come by and help." He smiled shyly. "Good to see you, 'Manda." Walking up to the back of the truck, he put out his arms and James handed him a box.
"Goes in the kitchen, Wendell," he said, and then watched his father-in-law slowly walking toward the open front door of the house. "Think I'll go inside and see if the boys have the furniture where we want it. Can you take over here?" he asked Amanda, and at her answering nod he hopped down and loped after the old man.
It was just like James to do that, she thought, almost bitterly. She knew her husband would be making sure Wendell was introduced to everyone and shown where the food and sodas were. Somehow, it didn’t seem fair that a man who had abandoned his wife and child to an indifferent fate was being welcomed into her home. Amanda did some fast thinking while she was scooting the last few items toward the back of the truck and handing them down to smiling, eager helpers.
She'd learned forgiveness doesn’t always come quickly, but this was a lot of deal with. As she handed down some bedding, Madeline Wu took it and then said, "Hey, it was nice to meet your father in there. I didn’t know he lived in town."
Amanda's response was instant. "It's temporary," she said, and Madeline seemed disappointed.
"Oh, that's too bad. I was looking forward to getting to know part of your family."
Amanda looked out of the truck and saw Ethan and Derek standing with their parents, talking quietly by Derek’s pickup truck. Her first instinct was to say Wendell wasn’t part of her family, but she knew that would just start more questions than she would want to answer. The truth was, the Landons were her family, and had accepted her for what she was, warts and all. She’d appreciated every hug and joke and meal together she’d had with them.
Maybe today wasn't about forgiveness. Maybe it was about being able to tolerate her father's presence without wanting to scream at him to get out of her new house. Maybe it was about being able to sit across a hastily erected table and eat crockpot chili and not spew the anger she had for him in front of people she loved. Maybe it was about tolerance, and maybe that would someday lead to forgiveness.
Maybe.
"Thank you, Madeline," she said. "Could you put that bedding in the guest bedroom, please?"
Madeline nodded and started toward the house, comforters stacked up nearly to her head.
Chapter 20
Amanda could hear Pastor Fox’s off-key whistling even before he had walked past the pergola in back of the Inn. The yard and carefully maintained orchard were contained in several acres, with a fence entirely surrounding it. Even though she was near the back of the property, she’d know that whistle anywhere. The first couple of times he’d brought his teenaged work crew over to trim up everything, she’d found his whistle kind of annoying, but she’d gotten used to it. It meant she got to see a friend, and it also meant her lush back acreage was going to be beautifully maintained, for the enjoyment of her guests.
Amanda was repairing a board by the chicken coop when she turned to greet her visitor. “Hello, Tom!” she said cheerfully, straightening up with her hammer still in hand. “I wondered if you were going to stop by today. Got the bid for me?”
“Got it right here,” he answered with a smile, holding up a folded piece of paper. “I figured you’d want the bid on your summer maintenance this week, so I got it to you as soon as I could. I think you’ll be pleased. The work crew is raising money for their mission trip to build houses in Mexico, and since you’re our best customer I gave you a really good deal.” He handed the paper to Amanda, who quickly scanned it and gave an approving nod.
“Looks good. I’ll sign it and send it your way when I get back inside, okay?” she said, and the pastor smiled.
“That’d be great.”
Dumb Cluck, Amanda’s obnoxious rooster, had been keeping a wary eye on the stranger. He guarded his harem of hens jealously, and anytime someone new came too close he was all about showing off, scratching and clucking to make himself known, and occasionally throwing back his head and crowing at the top of his little chicken lungs. When he did it the third time in a row Pastor Fox finally put his fingers in his ears.
“I thought they mostly just crowed at daybreak,” he said but Amanda shook her head and laughed.
“Not my rooster. He crows whenever he feels like it. I think he may have brain damage.”
She paused, seeing that the fidgeting man next to her suddenly seemed ill at ease. After a moment, she put a hand on his arm. “What is it? Are you okay?” she asked, and she got a brief nod in return.
“Did you know I got called to pick up my landscaping tools after Radcliffe died? We’d been working at the very back of his lot, so I stopped by there today to get everything. Before I left I had to call George Ortiz.” He shifted from foot to foot, obviously uncomfortable.
“Call George? Why?” Amanda asked. “Was everything okay?”
“Yes, everything was okay,” he said quickly, “but I needed him to take a look at something I found stuck in the fence. I know it wasn’t there the day before Radcliffe died, because we’d been working right in that area and I didn’t see it then.”
“What was it?” Amanda could feel her breath shorten in anticipation, and Pastor Fox looked around before he answered, as if he was going to tell her a secret.
“There was a piece of red yarn stuck between the boards.” He glanced down at his feet, ignoring the bristling rooster who was trying to challenge him to a staring contest. “I think George thought it was important, but I have to admit it reminded me of when we found that… body in your garden.” He sighed, seemingly upset. “I don’t like to think about that too much, really. It was tough on all the teenagers in my crew, too. We did a lot of talking about it afterward, just working through it.”
“I’m sorry,” Amanda said, sympathy in her voice. “It seems like there have been a lot of tough days for people lately.”
He looked at her sideways. “You, too? I mean, besides finding the body and all…?”
Amanda nodded and gave a small shrug. “Today my sole employee told me that she’s quitting.”
“Jennifer’s leaving?” Amanda could hear the dismay in Pastor Fox’s question, and she nodded.
“Yep, to go be a globetrotter with my outcast brother-in-law. Well, ex-outcast. The family’s trying to patch things up with him,” she said, digging into a can of cracked corn and scattering it for the enthusiastic chickens who raced to scratch it up.
“Well, I’m sorry to hear she’s leaving. What is it exactly that she’s going to do?”
“She told me she’s heading off to a new adventure to work with Gable and travel the world.” She sighed. “I can’t believe she’s leaving, t
o be honest. I know she’s been studying and getting ready to try some new things in her life, but I kind of thought I’d have more time before she’d go.”
“I’m sure you’ll miss her.”
Amanda nodded. “I will. We’ve become good friends. So, I have a question for you, Tom,” she said, using the name he’d repeatedly told her he preferred, “Does anyone have a normal family? You know, like those TV families? The Waltons? Little House on the Prairie?”
He laughed out loud and took a deep breath, still smiling at her. “I think they’re pretty rare. Most of us have conflict of some type or another with the people around us. That’s the way God made things. The question is, can we keep loving people even when they disappoint or anger us?”
His simple question brought Amanda up short. Could she love the people who disappointed her or made her angry?
“I don’t know,” was her honest answer, and that seemed to satisfy the pastor.
“I know about the trouble with Landon, at least that there was some sort of split in the family. To be honest, I don’t care what he did. He’d been cut off from the love of a good bunch of people, and that’s a tragedy in itself.”
“I guess so,” Amanda said, thinking back to how confident and strong Gable had seemed when they’d seen him at Ivy’s.
“Maybe it is.”
Chapter 21
Columbia set the pottery plate on her huge belly and gave a sigh of absolute satisfaction. “Holy cow. Why have I never tried out this place before? This chicken and garlic pizza is absolute heaven. And Jennifer, that white cake was amazing. You sure you don’t want a job at my tea shop? My customers would love your baking, trust me!”
Jennifer paused as she cut into the next slice of the coconut-covered sheet cake. She smiled at Columbia’s heartfelt compliment. “I appreciate the offer, but I’ve already got my plane ticket for France.” She suddenly looked a bit embarrassed and glanced at Amanda. “Don’t take this wrong, but I’m really looking forward to starting my new job. I’ve loved my time at the Inn, and I’m going to miss everyone, but I’m kind of excited about a complete change of scenery.”
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