Assault and Batting

by Rothery, Tess

  Grandpa took his pinochle seriously and only gave her a quick, grim smile as a greeting.

  “He’s losing.” Reid was red-faced and excited. He was not one of the big burly sons of loggers this region seemed to be full of. Like Clay, who Taylor had left in Portland, he was one of the thin shouldered computer types who gets away with murder because he can fix your internet when it goes down.

  Ellery was right in the middle of the mess of cousins, just starting college. Last Taylor had heard, she was thinking of going into medicine. “Do you need coffee?” Ellery tilted her head as she spoke, like she was assessing Taylor’s health.

  “Better not, it’s late.”

  “Tea then. Mama, can you get Taylor some tea? She looks like she could use it.”

  Taylor wasn’t feeling a million bucks, but she thought she was hiding it better than that.

  Aunt Susan went to the sink to fill the kettle.

  Reid grumbled under his breath as Ellery played a card.

  “It’s been a long time since I’ve played this.” Taylor tried to remember the rules as Grandpa laid some cards down, but they eluded her.

  “Never mind the game, bring your scones in here, we need to talk.” Grandma carried a plate into the formal front room.

  Taylor followed her.

  She supposed all of her many cousins and aunts and uncles might have been here earlier, but this was a far cry from the big family reunion she had been promised. And their private chat was certainly not the same as a long visit with her cousins who were dying to see her. Taylor had definitely been played by a master.

  “Sit down, love.”

  Taylor sat on the edge of the fancy couch that they were never allowed to sit on as kids, concerned she might drop whipping cream on the silk damask upholstery.

  “Relax. I scotch guarded it just last week.” Grandma Quinny smiled, but not with her eyes. Today she was dressed in what seemed like a country grandma costume. She wore a soft lemon flannel and gently used denim slacks with wide cuffs. Her immaculate yellow suede Keds matched the shirt. But she still had a hand full of large gemstone rings, yellow, clear, and sapphire. Also perfectly matching her blouse.

  Taylor couldn’t relax in the formal space. “I’m sorry I forgot to come.”

  “It’s to be expected. Susan said I should have texted you a reminder earlier in the day.”

  Taylor shrugged. “It’s hardly your fault.”

  Grandma Quinny picked up a red leather-like binder from the side table and opened it on her lap. “I have heard a rumor that you are selling your home in town.”

  Taylor nodded, not sure if Grandma approved.

  “Your town house condominium in Portland?”

  “Yes. I couldn’t possibly manage it as a rental from here. I knew I’d have my hands full with Belle and the shop.”

  Grandma exhaled with disapproval. “I was afraid that was the case. But just as I was most worried, I remembered something I had for you that might help.”

  Taylor frowned in confusion. “Help how?”

  “If you had enough money you could pull it from the market, no?”

  “You mean enough to pay to keep it empty?”

  “Yes, exactly. Property is a wise investment and I hate seeing you lose yours.” Grandma slipped a page from a plastic sleeve and passed it to Taylor. “Firefighting is a very dangerous job.”

  “Yes…” Taylor stared at the page. The non-sequitur had thrown her.

  “Your mother and father had you so early in their marriage, and your father’s job was very dangerous. I knew they were too young to think of it, so I took out a life insurance policy on him. For you.”

  The words on the page began to make more sense. Twenty-year term life policy. Thirty thousand dollars.

  “You see, if the worst was going to happen, I wanted you to be able to have an education.”

  “But Grandma….”

  “Yes, the worst did happen, but you had so many scholarships you didn’t need this for school.”

  Taylor thought of the hefty grad school loan she still carried but didn’t argue.

  “I’ve been saving it for your wedding, but it seems like you could use it now, to save your home.”

  “I’ve already accepted an offer on it.”

  “You haven’t finalized it, have you?” Grandma Quinny’s face was one of calm assurance, like she knew what the answer would be. The only answer it could be. There hadn’t been enough time to finalize a sale yet.

  “No, that’s still a few weeks away.”

  “Then change your mind.” Grandma Quinny sat back, looking satisfied. “I’m glad you have time to save it.”

  “But I don’t want to save it. It’s not a great place. Bad location. Expensive HOA. It’s better sold.”

  “Oh, darling, property in the city is always a good investment.”

  “But it’s not in the city-city. It’s all the way out in Gresham. My commute was a pain.” Taylor worked hard to keep her voice from whining. If her mother had been alive, no one would press her about what kind of home she bought or sold. They never had before.

  “Gresham has nice areas.”

  Grandma wasn’t wrong, it did, but Taylor’s condo wasn’t in one of them.

  “Please let me do this for you.” Grandma Quinny merely smiled. She had the assurance of someone who knew she was only doing good.

  “Grandma, you are so kind, and this is…” Taylor couldn’t bring herself to say wonderful. The money, wherever she had it stashed, was kind of blood money. A payout because her dad was gone. “I made a solid profit on the condo. I bought low and sold high.”

  Grandma Quinny nodded in approval. “That’s very smart.”

  “After the dust settles a little, I can buy something else….in town.” Taylor was thinking about buying a newer home in Comfort, but Grandma didn’t need to know that.

  “I’m glad to hear you made a profit. When you are ready to reinvest, with this money you should be able to get something nice in the city.”

  “Or there’s Belle’s college to think of. Thirty-thousand dollars would be a wonderful help.”

  Grandma’s face lit up. “Thirty-thousand was the payout seventeen years ago. It’s substantially more than that now.”

  “It’s very generous of you. It will be a big help for us.”

  “This money was for you, darling.”

  Taylor closed her eyes and counted to three. “Thank you. It will be nice not to co-sign loans for Belle.”

  Grandma Quinny’s chin went up, and a half-smile appeared. “True. But don’t make any rash decisions, please. We want to help you set yourself back up. The loss of your mother is dreadful, obviously, but we hate to see you lose the wonderful life you had created for yourself. Please don’t do something you will eventually regret.”

  Taylor didn’t have words for that. How, or why, would she ever regret Belle getting an education?

  “There are so many decisions to make right now, it’s kind of overwhelming.” Though she didn’t want Grandma Quinny dictating her financial decisions, she did need someone she could talk to. And Grandma was smart. Even better, she was wise.

  “I’m sure it is. Do you have a good lawyer?”

  “I have a lawyer, but I don’t know if she’s good. It’s Mom’s old friend Amara. She’s got the will and we’ll be going over it as soon as I make the time. I just…it doesn’t really matter yet, does it? We all want what’s best for Belle right now. That said, I’m lucky Grandpa is still a signer on the business accounts while I’m waiting to get things transferred to my name.”

  “Had your mother bought the shop from him?”

  “No, after Grandma Delma passed, he gave it to her. He kind of lost heart.”

  “Indeed, he did. And I think that’s about the same time his memory started to go.”

  “I wasn’t around enough to notice. I feel awful about that.”

  “Well, don’t. We didn’t raise you to live in their shadows. You have your own light
and need to do your own work in the world.”

  “I know you don’t like it that I came back, but it’s less than two years before Belle goes to college. It will be worth it. For her sake.”

  “I’m sure she’s glad she doesn’t have to move, but she’s got many people to look after her. Who do you have? Clay? I don’t see him around.”

  “No, he didn’t want to move here.” Taylor tried to figure out who Grandma Quinny thought was going to look after Belle. No one came to mind, unless Grandma Quinny knew all about Colleen.

  “So, he’s waiting for you in Portland?”

  Taylor shook her head. She had sold her home out from under him. He was more than capable of making payments on the condo, but somehow, she hadn’t liked the idea of moving away and leaving him there alone. He had been her partner for a long time, but part of her didn’t trust him.

  “Oh, darling, are you sure you made the right decision?”

  Taylor straightened her sagging shoulders, her posture mimicking her Grandmother’s. “There was no choice. Belle is my sister and she needs me.”

  Grandma shut the binder with a snap, but her words were kind. “You have chosen a tough path, darling, but we are here for you, and that will never change.”

  Grandma Quinny set the book down, stood, and held out her hands for her granddaughter.

  Taylor accepted her hug. She needed her hug. She desperately needed someone to lean on, if only for a moment.

  She just wished that someone loved her sister as much as she did.

  * * *

  That night Taylor laid in her mom’s old bed—a surprisingly new mattress for a woman who didn’t give herself a lot. The soft, well-worn, Dove in the Window quilt Grandma Delma had made for her eighth-grade graduation was pulled over her head. She was too warm, but she felt safe. Her mom smiled at her from the screen of her phone. All Taylor had to do was tap the arrow on the screen and her mother would be there, with her again, talking to her, giving her advice, helping her. Sure, it would be about quilting, and it wouldn’t be personal, but that was better than nothing. When Grandma Delma had died, Taylor’s mom hadn’t had a series of videos to turn to in her loneliness.

  Taylor closed her eyes and pressed her face into her pillow, feeling like a child who just wanted her mommy. But she quickly rolled over again, ready to see her.

  She tapped the arrow on the screen, and her mother’s warm, loving voice whispered to her. “You all watched me do that wrong. We could have edited it out, but if I had, I wouldn’t have been able to show you the right way to fix it.” The camera closed in on her hands as she took her seam ripper and placed it with the sharp pointy side on top of the seams and the little ball under it. With one swift motion she slid it across the stitching releasing the two fabrics from each other. “Smooth, isn’t it? And simple. You aren’t kids anymore, picking at stuff and making it worse. You are an expert now, a surgeon who can use their tools to heal.” The camera showed the action of ripping the seam again but in slow motion. “Time spent learning how to heal properly is more valuable than time spent learning to match corners.”

  Taylor watched the video to the end thinking, not of the fabrics her mother was quilting, but of all of the mistakes she had made, all of the times she should have come to see her mom but hadn’t.

  * * *

  Taylor woke a pile of worry at five the next morning. She longed to get to the bed and breakfast to join Belle, but it was far too early. Instead of rushing in with the fools, she watched several YouTube videos about best practices in filming YouTube videos. It certainly didn’t seem like rocket science.

  She stared at herself in the camera of her MacBook. It wasn’t a science, but it was an art, and right now she was a work in progress.

  Around eight, Belle texted.

  Bacon is good. Hot chef keeps talking about you. I kind of hate you for that. But I love you. When are you coming?

  Taylor replied: ASAP. She ran downstairs to see if Grandpa Ernie seemed like he’d be okay at home for a while.”

  “Grandpa, I have to run out to the…” Taylor paused. Would he like this? Would he even understand? “To the river, want to come?”

  He tilted his head, confused. “Did I take my pills?”

  “Ah! Sorry!” Taylor popped some raisin bread in the toaster—it seemed like it had to be done that way, she didn’t know why—then handed Grandpa his pills. He swallowed quickly but with care, then filled his coffee cup.

  “Where’s Delma?”

  Delma.

  Her grandmother.

  Taylor patted his hand. “Sleeping.”

  He nodded and took his empty cup with him back to his room. Nope. He did not seem okay to be alone all day.

  “Don’t forget a jacket, Grandpa,” Taylor called to him. “It can be cold out on the water.”

  Both her detective work and her innocent flirting would be hurt by this new addition to their party, but Grandpa might get hurt if she left him alone, and that wasn’t worth it.

  Chapter Seven

  Belle, Maddie, and Hudson were still lingering over breakfast when Taylor arrived with Grandpa Ernie.

  Breakfast featured the largest plate full of bacon Taylor had ever seen, a matching plate of sausage patties, and a basket of muffins that had clearly come from Costco. It hardened her arteries just to see it, but the dining room smelled like heaven.

  “Help yourself,” Hudson said in response to her gaping maw. “I seem to have overestimated.”

  “Mornin’ Gramps.” Belle pushed a chair out for him. “You’ll like that sausage.”

  “Got any coffee to go with it?” Grandpa picked up a mug and held it in Hudson’s direction.

  “Sure thing, Captain.”

  Grandpa smiled at the promotion in rank he had just been given and helped himself to sausage.

  Taylor caught Maddie’s eye. She just grinned.

  “Have a good night’s sleep?” Taylor asked.

  “Beds were very nice.” Maddie sipped her coffee. “Breakfast is also very nice. I have no complaints.” Her warm smile was sincere.

  Taylor’s heart sparked in rejection. Had Maddie forgotten they were here to learn how her mother had ended up dead? Surely Hudson’s handsome face hadn’t distracted her that badly. “That’s nice.” She pushed out the words.

  Hudson’s presence also meant the girls hadn’t been able to interview the owner about the night in question. But maybe there had been some good heart-to-heart counseling instead. That might have made it worthwhile.

  Hudson was quick with the coffee and brought some in for her as well.

  “Hey Taylor, can I have a word?” His smile seemed innocent enough, but Taylor had that feeling you get when the teacher wants to talk in the hall.

  “Sure.”

  He led her to the hall, which didn’t make her feel any better.

  “How well do you know Maddie?” His face reddened as he asked.

  “She’s happily married.” Maddie was a beautiful woman, Taylor could see why he was interested, but she resented having to turn her attention to this.

  He shook his head a little, and the corners of his mouth turned down.

  “That’s not what I mean.” He exhaled sharply, like he was gathering strength. “Belle is a minor, and it’s highly unusual for an adult to check into a hotel for the night with a minor. You understand, right?”

  “Oh. Oh!” The light dawned slowly. “Oh gosh, I’m sorry they worried you like that. It was supposed to be all three of us, but we hadn’t made plans for Grandpa.”

  “Yeah, I remember, but Maddie was the one who stayed, not you.”

  “He’s not Maddie’s Grandpa.”

  “She’s not Belle’s sister.” His brows were drawn together in what felt like more than concern.

  Taylor had a feeling she was lucky he hadn’t already called child protective services. “But she is Belle’s counselor. Grief counselor.” Taylor stood firm on the Persian rug that ran the length of the hall. She would put a stop
to his worries with her no-nonsense attitude.

  “Listen,” he leaned on the banister to the stairs, an attempt to look casual, though his face didn’t relax, “people do get into fields like child psychology so they can have access to vulnerable young people.”

  He was so off course it made her head spin. She was disgusted, downright angry, even. “You’re slandering a good woman who just wants to help.” She straightened up so she could get a little closer eye to eye with him. “And I don’t appreciate it.”

  “I stayed in the room across from Belle last night and kept my door ajar. I didn’t want to fall asleep, frankly. I put them in rooms on either end of the house too. I admit I dozed off, and I’m sorry I did. About two in the morning Belle left Maddie’s room.”

  “How do you know she wasn’t just leaving the bathroom?” Taylor crossed her arms and scowled at him.

  “Because her room has a bathroom. I made sure she had as much privacy as we offer. This kind of thing is hard to talk about, I understand, but I’m really concerned for your sister.”

  Taylor couldn’t see into the dining room, but she could hear Belle’s laughter, possibly at something Grandpa Ernie had said. This was a sound Taylor hadn’t heard since returning home.

  “This is the last place Belle’s mother stayed alive. Don’t you think it’s possible that last night she was scared or sad, and needed someone to talk to?”

  “It’s possible, but what I’m saying is also possible.”

  “No, it’s not, but since Maddie seems to be someone you can’t trust, I’ll remove all of them from your home.”

  “Please don’t be hasty. I know you have something to do here. I’ll entertain Maddie and Ernie if you’ll take maybe twenty minutes to talk to Belle. I don’t know how you’d get her to open up about something like that, but maybe you could.”

  “I’m surprised she didn’t head to your bedroom last night.” Taylor sneered as she said it. “Or didn’t you notice the way she looked at you?”

  He blushed darker red. He had noticed. “This kind of thing happens, and usually it’s someone the teenager knows and trusts.”