by Kathi Daley
I suggested we call Burt to ask if he remembered an Anna who might have either stayed with or been friends with Edith, but Luke suggested we speak to him in person; he was going deaf and a phone conversation might be tricky. Luke called and made an appointment with Burt’s son, who had moved in to help care for his elderly father, while Hazel headed down the hall to log on to Ethan’s spare computer.
I decided to thumb through the biography, while Ethan saw to the final arrangements for lunch. It seemed that Edith was an opinionated and outspoken woman who had ruffled more than a few feathers in her day. She was an advocate for women’s rights long before that was trendy, and she was well known in the community for temporarily taking in women escaping abusive relationships. That actually fit in with the fact that she had been abused herself.
It dawned on me that perhaps Anna was one of the women Edith had rescued. I wasn’t sure how we could confirm my suspicion, but I was having a wonderful time. While delving into a mystery was the furthest thing from my mind when I woke that morning, I found I was captivated by the story and really wanted to solve the mystery. This birthday, I decided, would be the best I’d had in quite some time.
I’d only managed to make my way through a fraction of the book when Ethan called us in for lunch, which, by the way, was fabulous. Either Ethan normally dines on lobster sandwiches on fresh bread, fruit salad, and hearty clam chowder, or he somehow knew to expect company. I do at times tend to be the suspicious sort and wonder if there might be more going on than might appear on the surface, but I was having a wonderful time and the food was divine, so I decided to set my suspicions aside and enjoy the day with my friends.
Like Edith, who had lived in the same house for most of her life, Burt had lived in the home he now shared with his son since the days the area had been known as Devil’s Den. He was in remarkable shape physically given the fact that he’d recently celebrated his ninety-second birthday, but his hearing was starting to go and he didn’t like wearing a hearing aid, so we had to shout loudly to be heard.
“What is that you say about Gwyneth? Is she okay?”
“No, Pop, not Gwyneth.” Burt’s son, Lance, explained that Gwyneth was his niece’s new baby. “They want to ask you about Edith Hornwell.”
“Thought the old biddy finally up and kicked the can.”
“She did pass away, quite a while ago. They want to ask you about a woman named Anna who may have been friends with or might possibly have lived with her at some point.”
“Edith had boys. Four of them. All strapping young men as dumb as their papa and as muleheaded as their mother. Don’t remember no girls. Pretty sure Edith was much too sour to produce any girls.”
“What about someone in the community named Anna?” Ethan shouted so as to be heard. “Someone who would have lived here in 1956.”
Burt screwed up his face. “There was an Anna who worked at the bar. Pretty sure she was a hooker. Might have been after 1956, though. The years, along with the memories, all seem to fade into a single block of images when you get to be my age. Now Elvira, there was a woman who left a lasting impression.”
“Elvira?” I asked.
“Someone Pop knew in his youth,” Lance explained. “He talks about her quite a lot. More and more often as time goes by. I think she must have been some great yet tragic love from early in his life. I’m not sure Pop can help you. His memory is fading and he really never liked Edith, so the two weren’t friends. In fact, they seemed to have quite a rivalry going over something that happened at least sixty years ago. I never could get a clear answer from Pop as to what started the whole thing, but he really hated the woman quite a lot. Have you spoken to Maude Collins? I know she moved to the area in the early fifties and she would most likely have been around twenty in 1956. Maybe she knew this Anna.”
“Okay,” Luke shook Lance’s hand. Then he turned to Burt. “Thank you for taking the time to speak to us.”
“Have you lived in the area all this time?” I wondered. Lance was probably in his mid-to-late sixties, based on his appearance. He was a good-looking man who I would think I would have noticed prior to this if he’d lived in Ashton Falls for any amount of time.
“No. I left town when I was a young man and only moved back about a year ago to help out when Pop had a fall and needed round-the-clock care. It was clear Pop would need live-in help for the remainder of his days and I’d recently retired and didn’t really have any ties where I was living, so I moved home.”
“Your father lived alone until last year?” The fact that the man had lived alone until he was ninety-one was downright amazing.
“He had day help, a maid and a nurse who checked on him a couple of times a week. But yeah, until the fall he was mostly self-sufficient.”
It was stories like this that gave me hope that I too would be self-sufficient well into my golden years.
We chatted with Burt and Lance a few minutes longer and then headed toward the car. Hazel made a quick call while Luke, Ethan, and I decided what to do. It was still early, so following up with Maude seemed a logical choice should we be able to contact her about an interview. Luke called and made the arrangements. As expected, she was happy to speak to us.
When we arrived at her home we were greeted with tea and pastries that she must have had on hand. As Burt had, she continued to live alone in spite of her age, and it appeared she was still as sharp as she had ever been.
Hazel quickly explained our purpose for being there.
“Edith did take in several women over the years. None of them stayed long. It seemed she provided them with temporary refuge while they made plans to leave their abusive situations.” Maude paused as she tapped her chin, as if deep in thought. “I don’t remember anyone named Anna, however. Of course the women Edith housed more often than not kept to themselves. I suppose that’s understandable, given their situation. I only met a couple of them and then only briefly, so it’s possible this Anna could very well have been one of Edith’s rescues.”
“Do you know if Edith kept any records concerning the women she helped?” I wondered. It would make sense she might keep something concerning their arrangement to fall back on should she need to explain or defend her involvement with these women who were obviously escaping very volatile relationships.
“I’m not sure. Edith was a very deliberate woman, however, so it wouldn’t surprise me in the least. Have you asked the new owner of the house if he came across any records of this type while cleaning out the attic?”
I looked at Hazel.
“No. I just spoke to him for a moment when he dropped off the box of books, and at that time I didn’t know about Anna or the manuscript.”
I frowned. Something was definitely up. It would seem that the first thing Hazel would do if she wanted to find this Anna was to ask the new homeowner if there were photos or other references to a woman with that name.
“I guess following up with him would be a good idea,” Hazel added.
I glanced at her with a look of confusion on my face that earned me a sheepish look in return. If I had to guess, there was something going on that had nothing to do with a novel Hazel loved so much as to go to all this effort but didn’t even bother to keep a copy of. I glanced at Ethan. Could this be Hazel’s way of arranging for Ethan and me to spend more time together? After Will left town Hazel had casually commented that Ethan and I might make a good pairing. Could this whole investigation be nothing more than an elaborate blind date?
“You know,” Maude added after a pause, “there was one girl who stayed with Edith around the time you’re asking about. I never met her, but I did see her in the yard a time or two. She was a tiny little thing. I’m going to guess she was around fifteen or sixteen. I don’t remember if Edith ever mentioned her name. She never went out in public and only ventured into the yard early in the morning or late at night. I imagine she wanted to avoid the curious stares of her neighbors. Edith’s youngest son was still living at home at the time. I r
emember wondering if the girl wasn’t his girlfriend. Of course Edith’s sons are all gone, so I suppose there’s no way to inquire as to the relationship, if there was one.”
“Perhaps someone else in the community will remember more about the girl. Thank you for your time. I think we really should be going.” Hazel seemed to be wrapping up the conversation somewhat abruptly considering the fact that we were all still sipping our tea.
“But you just arrived,” Maude complained.
“Yes, but I have a meeting to get to this evening and I just received a text that it’s been moved up.”
Meeting? What meeting? We’d been together all afternoon and Hazel had never once mentioned a meeting.
After we left Maude’s house Hazel excused herself to make a quick call. I assumed our next step would be to arrange a visit with the new owner of Edith’s house, but when Hazel returned she announced that she really needed to be going and suggested we pick this up another day. We’d all driven in Ethan’s car so we returned to his home, where Hazel and Luke quickly said their good-byes and left.
“That was strange,” I said to Ethan.
“Strange how?”
“I don’t know. We spent the whole afternoon trying to track down a woman who may or may not have lived in the area sixty years ago and all of the sudden Hazel had to leave after Maude made an excellent suggestion about speaking to the man who bought the house. Frankly, I would think speaking to the person who donated the books in the first place would have been the first thing Hazel would have done. The whole thing seems pretty odd to me.”
Ethan shrugged. “Been single my whole life. There isn’t much a woman could do that I would understand.”
If this whole day had been some sort of fix up on Hazel’s part she most definitely was barking up the wrong tree. Ethan was a nice-looking, intelligent man, but when it came to women he was about as clueless as one could be. I couldn’t help but compare him to my Will, who always knew the perfect thing to say and do to make the woman he was with feel like the only one in the world.
“I don’t suppose you’d want to grab some dinner? My treat.” I figured that even if I had to pay, dinner with a friend was better than dinner alone on my birthday.
“Actually, I have plans. Maybe another time?”
“Oh. Okay. Another time.”
I walked out to my car and tried to fight the tears that seemed to come from nowhere. What was wrong with me? I’d spent the majority of the birthdays in my life alone with my cat and never once become weepy over the situation. I suppose living with the girls had created expectations that an old woman such as myself had no right to have. I unlocked my car and stepped inside. I adjusted my mirror, buckled my seat belt, and turned the key in the ignition. Nothing.
Perfect. Just what I needed to wrap up my day. I got out of my car, walked back to Ethan’s front door, and rang the bell. When he answered I noticed he’d already changed into a very nice shirt and slacks.
“Sorry to bother you, but my car won’t start. I was wondering if you could give me a jump. It seems I have a dead battery.”
Ethan poked his head out the door. “I’m already late. Maybe I can just give you a ride home and we can deal with the car later.”
I really hated to leave my car, but Ethan did look like he was ready to go out and I hated to keep him, so I agreed. I had two vehicles, actually—a classic my dad had left me and my Volvo—so I would be able to get around if I needed to.
“Thank you. I would appreciate that.”
I couldn’t help but notice that Ethan smelled good as he helped me into the car. I imagined his plans must be with a woman. Ethan really did look nice when he took a minute with his appearance and I couldn’t help but feel a tiny bit of envy for his mystery date.
“It was fun to spend the day with Hazel and Luke,” I chatted as we made the short trip to my home.
“Yes. It was a good day.”
“And lunch at your house was lovely. I’m not sure I took the time to properly thank you.”
“My pleasure.”
“It’s too bad Hazel had a meeting to get to. I’d hoped she’d be free for dinner.”
“Humph,” Ethan sort of grunted, as if he didn’t have the energy to reply but felt he should respond in some way.
“It’s my birthday today.” I’m not sure why I said that. I really hadn’t planned on mentioning it.
“It is? Happy Birthday. I guess you need to get home to get ready for evening plans as well.”
“Yes. I suppose the day has gotten away from me.”
We pulled up in front of my house. The sun had set and I could see there weren’t any lights turned on inside. I guess the girls still weren’t home.
“Well, thanks again for the ride. I’ll see to the car tomorrow.”
Ethan parked the car and got out. He opened my door for me and walked me up the sidewalk to my own front entry. I turned the key and began to step inside.
“Surprise!” pretty much everyone I knew shouted.
I placed my hand over my heart to slow the jolt it had received from the shock. I noticed Ethan was holding my elbow to help support me.
“A surprise party? For me?”
Brooklyn, Pepper, and Eve all ran forward and hugged me.
“Were you surprised?” Pepper asked as she jumped up and down in typical Pepper fashion.
“I was. My heart is still pounding. Did you girls to all of this?”
“With Zoe’s help,” Eve confirmed.
“But I thought you had all forgotten my birthday.”
“Are you kidding?” Brooklyn plopped a pointed hat on my head. “You’re like our mom now. We could never forget. We love you and are so grateful to you for taking us in. We just wanted to show you how much you mean to us. Happy Birthday, Phyllis.”
By the time the party wound down and everyone left it was well past midnight. I should have been exhausted, but somehow I felt energized as I entered my room to begin my nightly ritual. Charlotte sat and watched me as I began removing my makeup and moisturizing my skin. My mother, God rest her soul, had drilled into my head the importance of a proper cleansing and moisturizing routine when I was still a young woman. She’d taught me the structured ritual I follow to this day.
“I will admit the day has held its share of surprises. I still can’t believe so many people went to so much trouble to surprise me on my birthday. Zoe and the girls did a wonderful job with the food and decorations, and Hazel, Luke, and Ethan all gave up their entire day to keep me occupied while the girls got the house ready. Even Maude, Burt, and Lance were in on it. Can you imagine? I’ve never felt so special.”
I slipped a nightgown over my head and then began sorting the clothes I had removed. I hung those that could be worn again on hangers and separated those that needed laundering into differing baskets.
“I’m sure this day will go down in history as one of the best in my life.”
Charlotte yawned. She appeared to be communicating that she had bored with my chatter. I ignored her.
“And the best part about it was that while I assumed that Hazel had made up the whole mystery just to distract me, it turns out everything we discovered was true. The only part that was fake was that Hazel pretended not to have found Anna when actually she had weeks ago. She must have done exactly as Maude suggested and gone to speak to the new owner of Edith’s home the day she read the manuscript. He was more than happy to let her dig through the boxes of paperwork Edith left behind. Once Hazel had a full name and date of birth for Anna, she’d asked Zak to help her track the woman down.” I set the decorator pillows to the side before fluffing the one I slept on. “It turns out Anna was only fifteen when she wrote the book, which, based on what Hazel had to say about the quality, is simply amazing.”
Charlotte jumped onto the bookshelf as if to remind me that we were due to start a new book tonight. I stood in front of the colorful bindings, trying to decide.
“It seems Anna’s father was physically
abusive and her mother died as a result of his abuse. She stayed with Edith for a summer while they sorted things out. In the end she went to live with an aunt. According to Hazel, she forgot about the novel but very much wants to have it published. Isn’t that amazing?”
“Meow.”
I made my choice and settled onto the bed. I pulled the comforter over my legs.
“Are you ready?”
Charlotte jumped up onto my nightstand, knocking a package off onto the bed. Ethan had handed me a gift as he was leaving and I never had gotten around to opening it. I’d brought it upstairs with me when I retired for the evening but had waited to open it.
“The gift.” I smiled at Charlotte. “Of course I should open the gift.”
I carefully removed the wrapping so as to extend the moment. I don’t know what I thought might be inside, but I certainly wasn’t expecting the book hidden within the wrapping paper.
“Pride and Prejudice. A first edition.”
Charlotte was more interested in the wrapping paper than the book, but I was overwhelmed by Ethan’s generosity. He and I had been chatting about novels a few months earlier and I had mentioned that Pride and Prejudice was my all-time favorite. A tear slid down my cheek. I couldn’t believe he’d remembered. Perhaps Ethan wasn’t as clueless as I’d thought. It took a man who was very perceptive to know what lies within a woman’s heart.
Books by Kathi Daley
Come for the murder, stay for the romance.
Zoe Donovan Cozy Mystery:
Halloween Hijinks
The Trouble With Turkeys
Christmas Crazy
Cupid’s Curse
Big Bunny Bump-off
Beach Blanket Barbie
Maui Madness
Derby Divas
Haunted Hamlet
Turkeys, Tuxes, and Tabbies
Christmas Cozy
Alaskan Alliance
