Miss Eunice fanned herself with her napkin as if she were suddenly warm, and even said, at one point, that their guest must have her confused with someone else.
And then Miss Vivian put her fork down, took a sip of her decaffeinated coffee and looked squarely at Miss Eunice. “Have you ever told your family about the time you pretended to sprain your ankle to get my fella to carry you home?”
Miss Eunice sputtered. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Vivian laughed. “Come on, Eunice. It’s been more than sixty years and you have the same tells when you lie. You drum your fingers and your right eyelid twitches. You cock your head to the left.” Miss Vivian turned to Daisy and glared with strong, certain eyes. “You do know she’s lying about the memory lapses, don’t you?”
Chapter Fourteen
Everyone at the table went silent and still. For a long moment you could’ve heard a pin drop. Then Caleb coughed, and Lily put a hand over her mouth and muttered a soft, “Oh, my God.”
Jacob stared at his grandmother and tried to recall how often he’d seen the “tells” Vivian spoke of, since he’d returned home. He would dismiss the bitter old woman’s accusations as a mean-spirited joke, if not for the expression on Eunice Tasker’s face.
She was horrified. Chastened. Guilty. Caught. Those fleeting expressions didn’t last long. She tried to recover and insist that she had no idea what their guest was talking about, but it was too late for proclamations of innocence. It didn’t help matters at all that as Grandma Eunice pretended to be ignorant, her eyelid twitched. She tried to catch the telling tilt of the head—a half second too late—and she clutched at the armrests of her wheelchair, apparently to keep her fingers from tapping.
“Miss Eunice?” Daisy said softly. Even she—who was so willing to look for the good in everyone but him—could see the truth, now. The color drained from her cheeks. “Did you really...all this time...oh, my God, it makes a sick kind of sense.” Tears welled up in her eyes. “That’s why you never spoke of my parents as if they were still alive, even though when Jacob and I were together they were still with us. You couldn’t bring yourself to be that cruel.” She pushed away from the table, stood and ran out of the room without looking back. Lily followed.
Jacob started to rise and follow, but he didn’t. Not yet. Daisy hadn’t been happy with him when the evening had started; she surely didn’t want anything to do with him now.
Maddy looked from her husband to her mother-in-law to the matriarch. It took her a moment but soon she, too, stood. She did not cry as she directed her attention to her husband’s grandmother. “So all this time you’ve been pretending you didn’t remember me, when you’ve been mistaking me for a cook or a seamstress or a maid, it was a joke? You have got to be kidding me,” she added under her breath as she threw her napkin to the table.
She left the room, storming out with her head held high and her husband on her heels. Ben shot one last glance at his grandmother. Jacob read the shock on his brother’s face, the disbelief and condemnation.
“Really, Mother?” Jim Tasker said, sounding both resigned and sad. It was telling that he didn’t sound particularly surprised.
Maybe if she’d been prepared for the bombshell, Grandma Eunice would’ve handled the situation better. But as it was she sat there, guilt written all over her face. She didn’t say a word in her own defense, didn’t attempt to pretend that she had no idea what everyone was talking about. She hadn’t been losing her mind; she was sharp as a tack and as ruthless as ever.
Susan put her palms on the table and took a deep breath. In an instant she left behind her role as hostess and became the woman who’d taken on the family business affairs as if she’d been born to them. The fixer, a level head the family could rely on. “This revelation is distressing, that’s true, but the reunion starts next weekend and we will move on and get past this. No one outside this room has to know...”
Jacob finally stood. “I won’t be here for the reunion.” He didn’t feel the need to say anything more as he left the room.
At the moment he longed for an uncomplicated life filled with work and nothing else. He longed for a schedule he could follow; command and control over the events that ruled his days.
But most of all, he longed for Daisy, and after this...after this he figured there was no way she’d ever speak to a Tasker again.
He couldn’t say he blamed her.
* * *
“You battle-ax,” Eunice said sharply as Vivian rose and stepped in her direction. “How dare you come into my home and interfere in family concerns? Can you see what you’ve done? You’ve ruined everything.”
Those few who remained in the dining room were talking among themselves, ignoring her as they discussed potential ways to fix the damage she’d done. At least, that was the way they phrased it. Eunice didn’t see that she’d done any damage. All she’d done was put Jacob and Daisy together so they could find their way. That wasn’t so bad. Was it?
Susan moved to Jim’s side and put her hand on his shoulder. Jim patted Susan’s hand then left his hand sitting there, on hers. Funny, but she didn’t see them this way often. Together. United. Good heavens, different as they were—imperfect as they were—they were still in love. Maybe her son had done something right, after all.
Jim and Susan, even Caleb, talked about the reunion, Doc Porter and all those who had left the dining room table with hurt feelings.
Eunice only felt guilty about one of them. Daisy.
“What I’ve done?” Vivian repeated. “I told the truth. Not that you’d recognize the truth even if it bit you on that overly generous ass of yours.”
Eunice gasped. How dare this woman come into her home, disrupt all her plans and then insult her? She tried to come up with a proper response, but words failed her. She hadn’t had time to plan for this, to mull over her words, to script the evening.
“You’re the one who’s been lying to your family, Eunice. You’re the one who has once again woven a tale in order to get your way.” Vivian leaned over and gripped the handles of the wheelchair Eunice sat in. “Do you even need this contraption? I can just see you, using the wheelchair to get sympathy, then getting up at night and walking around the house when no one else can...”
“I do need this chair, dammit. I wish I didn’t.”
Vivian placed herself behind the wheelchair and pulled Eunice sharply away from the table. Eunice gripped the armrests and screamed weakly for help. Vivian—her oldest friend, her oldest rival—stopped and looked toward Susan, rightly sizing her up as the one in charge.
“I’ll just take her to her room, if that suits you. Y’all have work to do and I don’t think Eunice will be of much help here, given the circumstances.”
Susan agreed, dismissing Eunice without giving much thought to the obvious peril she was putting her mother-in-law in. The hateful woman who had ruined everything might decide to push an old, helpless woman down the front porch steps, or dump her in the hallway and leave her there to flounder and call for help that wouldn’t come. Panic welled up and she gripped the armrests of her wheelchair and held on. For the first time in a very long time, she was not in charge of the situation.
“Where to?” Vivian asked as she pushed the wheelchair into the wide hallway.
Eunice pointed, half expecting Vivian to turn in the opposite direction out of spite. That didn’t happen.
Vivian pushed the chair slowly, even gently. She sighed. “If I was lucky enough to have a family, I wouldn’t lie to them,” she said. “You should be ashamed of yourself.”
That truth hurt, even though Eunice was still convinced she’d done the right thing. Jacob needed Daisy. If not for the very necessary lies she’d told of late, he’d still be in San Francisco! Didn’t the end justify the means? That wasn’t a discussion she intended to have with this interloper. “Surely you have some family, somewhere.”
“No.” There was sadness in Vivian’s voice. “Frank and I never had chi
ldren. I had two miscarriages, and after that I just didn’t get pregnant. There are a few nieces and nephews scattered about, but we were never close. I doubt they even know I’m still alive.”
“I’m sorry,” Eunice said. “I lost three myself...two stillborn before Jim and one who died at a few days old when Jim was three.” She thought about how nice it would’ve been to have the support of a friend in those tough times. She wondered if Vivian had had a friend to help her when she’d lost her babies. There was no way to describe that pain to someone who had not been there.
Claiming the man she’d loved had cost her a good friend. She’d thought the trade a fair one, at the time. Now she was not so sure.
The past was still between them, a living thing after all this time. “I loved him,” Eunice whispered. “You had Charles, for a while, but you never truly loved him. Not like I did.”
“I know.” Vivian stopped pushing, positioned Eunice, set the brake and walked around the wheelchair to sit in the occasional chair in the hallway. Now they were face-to-face, and for the first time Eunice looked her old friend in the eye without lies between them. Vivian was a strong old bird, stringy and wrinkled and healthy, for her age. She wore a life of hardship on her face; it was clear in her eyes that she had struggled. And yet the face was still much the same. Eunice saw the girl she remembered in those eyes, in the set of the mouth. “But he was still mine, and you took him.”
“If it makes you feel better, I don’t think he ever entirely got over you.”
Vivian smiled. “That does make me feel a little better.”
“Not that he didn’t love me,” Eunice felt compelled to point out.
Vivian waved that statement off with a dismissive gesture of her hand. “We can talk about the past later, if it suits us to do so. For now, we need to fix this mess you’ve made.”
“May I point out that there would not be a mess to fix if you had kept your mouth shut?” Eunice couldn’t help it that her voice was sharp. As far as she could see, Vivian had ruined a perfectly good scheme.
“You may, but that’s not the case. Your ridiculous plan wasn’t working.”
“What do you mean it wasn’t working?” It had been working perfectly!
“On the way here Daisy told me that she’s moving to Atlanta to live with her sister. Is that what you had in mind?”
Eunice pursed her lips. “No.”
“I didn’t think so. Daisy is crazy about that grandson of yours, and he’s definitely got a thing for her. We can’t let this mess you’ve made pull them apart.”
“We?”
Vivian sighed. “Maybe I should’ve kept my mouth shut, but you were so obvious I just couldn’t do it.”
“I wasn’t obvious to anyone else.”
“They don’t know you the way I do.” Vivian stood, kicked off the brake and righted the wheelchair. “Your room?”
Eunice pointed. Before they could enter the room, Lurlene came around the corner, moving as quickly as possible, for her old bones.
“Lurlene, thank goodness you’re here,” Eunice said dramatically.
Vivian sighed and stopped pushing.
Eunice caught Lurlene’s eye. She could have Vivian kicked out of the house. It was her house after all. But even though there were things to be settled between them, she was very aware that life was moving quickly by, and she didn’t have many friends left. She didn’t have any as close as Vivian had once been, and none of them would dare to buck her.
“I’ll need six chocolate covered cherries tonight, three for me and three for my friend. Vivian, would you like another cup of decaf? Perhaps some tea?”
There was a moment’s hesitation before Vivian answered. “Sure. Decaf. Cream and sugar, please.”
“So tell me,” Eunice said as Vivian wheeled her into her suite. “How can we fix this?”
* * *
Daisy ran. Out of the dining room, out of the house, past the cars parked by the front porch. She kept running, realizing on some level that Lily was right behind her. Lily didn’t try to catch up to her sister. She could have, but instead she kept a short distance between them. She was close, in case she was needed, but far enough away to allow Daisy to have some privacy.
Daisy knew she could turn and run into her sister’s arms, she could pour out all her fears and anger and frustration. But she was unable to speak...unable to stop running. She ran up a gentle hill toward the cover of trees that were in stark contrast to the brilliant colors the setting sun had left behind.
At the base of an old oak tree, she stopped. She was out of breath and her legs shook from the effort. She put her hands on the trunk, leaned forward and took a deep breath. For a moment she thought she might throw up, but she didn’t. Her stomach pitched and rolled, and her heart pounded—from the run and more.
She was such an idiot! A gullible fool. She hated the Taskers, each and every one of them. If she never saw a Tasker again it would be too soon.
Lily placed a comforting hand on her back, and with that touch tears came. Daisy didn’t want to cry, but she did. The tears that ran down her cheeks weren’t tears of sadness; they were tears of anger.
Getting out of town seemed even more attractive than it had before. Attractive? Hell, it was necessary.
Then Lily asked the question that had been plaguing Daisy. “Do you think Jacob knew all along?”
It was her greatest fear, that Jacob really had been playing with her from the moment he’d stepped into her shop, that it had all been a game. But she’d seen the look on his face when Miss Vivian dropped the bombshell. She didn’t think a single person at that table had realized what was going on. If any one of them did, they were a great actor.
“No,” she whispered, sniffling. “I don’t think he knew. I think Miss Eunice lied to get him home, and then she lied to try to force us together.” If she’d thought Jacob was involved, if she believed for one second that he’d been in on the ruse, she’d never recover. She’d never trust anyone again. “How the hell far was she willing to go?”
“All the way, I’m guessing,” Lily said, her voice sharp.
Daisy turned, leaned her back against the tree trunk and slid down into a sitting position. She didn’t have the strength to stand, at the moment. Her knees were knocking; her heart was beating too hard. She wiped away her tears, angry at herself for allowing them to fall in the first place.
She was going to have to find strength, and she’d need it for more than standing and walking away. She was going to have to find the strength to start a new life, say goodbye to Jacob, say goodbye to everything she knew. At the moment, escape sounded really good. More than good, she was coming to accept that escaping from Bell Grove, a home she truly loved, was necessary.
Lily sat down in front of Daisy, crossed her legs and leaned forward. “You can’t let one old bat’s sick game send you into a tailspin.”
“What makes you think I’m...”
“You’re pale, your hands are shaking, you’re crying, and instead of heading for the car when the truth came out you kept running. In case you haven’t noticed that we’re sitting in the middle of nowhere.”
Daisy stared at her sister in the dying light. “I’m not as strong as you are.”
Lily’s response was a single word that would’ve shocked their parents. It even shocked Daisy, a little. “You’re the strongest of us all. You’re a rock for me and Mari, and you always have been. There was a time I almost hated you for being so damn perfect.”
Daisy snorted. She was so not perfect.
“It’s true,” Lily snapped. “You gave up everything for us, and don’t think we don’t realize that. Mari and I never wanted for anything after Mom and Dad died, we had a stable home, food on the table, clothes. More than that, we still had a family. Thanks to you. That’s strength, Daisy.”
She leaned forward, and so did Lily. They hugged, tight.
“You really are the strongest person I know,” Lily whispered.
And in the
distance she heard a frustrated Jacob calling her name.
Chapter Fifteen
Her car was parked right where she’d left it, but where was Daisy? Jacob circled the house. As soon as complete darkness fell he’d have a hell of a time finding her and worse, she’d have a hell of a time finding her way back, if she’d wandered far. He checked out the garage and the gardens. Nothing.
The look on her face as the truth sank in and took hold had broken his heart. And he was to blame. He hadn’t lied to her, he hadn’t purposely hurt her, but he’d dragged her into this charade that had hurt her so badly. Where would she go, if she didn’t jump in the car and make a quick escape?
After searching the immediate property as thoroughly as he could without a flashlight, Jacob rounded the house to the front, again. Daisy’s car was still here. She wasn’t in it, and neither was Lily. She couldn’t have gone far. In frustration he shouted her name. Would that call her to him, or scare her away?
Jacob was embarrassed and angry; he felt as if he’d been betrayed. So how did Daisy feel right now? Wherever she might be, he imagined she was experiencing all of the same emotions. And more.
If she hadn’t hated him before tonight, she did now. Not that he’d known what his grandmother had been up to, not that he would ever condone that kind of trickery, but still...he was a Tasker, and the head of the clan had screwed Daisy over in a big way.
After a few very long minutes, movement caught his eye. Finally! Two women—Daisy and her sister—approached from the west. They didn’t seem to be in a hurry. Dusk made a colorful pastel backdrop for them as they headed slowly in his direction. Skirts fluttered in the breeze, and as they came closer and saw him standing there, Lily reached out and took Daisy’s hand.
Comfort offered because he was close.
Jacob was glad Daisy had her sisters; he was grateful to know they would always be there for her. He wished he could be the one to comfort her, wished she would let him take her hand in tough times. And good times, too.
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