Melted Memories: A Cozy Mystery (Caesars Creek Mystery Series Book 6)

by Constance Barker

  Stormi couldn’t hold it in any longer. “How could you take their babies away if they had changed their minds?”

  Madge turned her scowl on Stormi and I felt all three of us wither. “They signed their rights away my dear. Anyway, before the tears had dried on their faces they were right as rain with the situation of their baby being adopted.”

  “That’s because their initial reaction was like any Mother,” Trixie interjected. “The tears flowed because they loved their children, but they also knew they were doing the right thing by giving them up. It was a selfless act.”

  “Selfless!” Madge grunted. “More like selfish. Those girls didn’t want a baby messing up their fun times. They’d rather get drunk and have sex than care for a baby.”

  Trixie threw her hands in the air. “Think what you want Madge, I really don’t care.”

  Madge’s steely eyes fixated on Trixie. “You were the worst of them all. You weren’t unwed like the other girls. You were a widow with a large insurance policy. You had the means in which to support a child, unlike the others. But you didn’t want to spend that money on formula or diapers did you?”

  “You don’t know what you’re talking about Madge…you never did.”

  “Oh don’t I? I read about the supposed accidental death of your poor husband. Maybe you wanted to get rid of him just like your baby.”

  “Okay, that’s enough!” Paige barked. “I’ve heard all the vileness I can take in one day. Come on Trixie, let’s go.”

  During this entire spectacle I noticed Mr. Strickland making several phone calls. He suddenly jumped up from his chair on the other side of the room and was making his way toward us.

  “Yes, let’s go Trixie,” Mr. Strickland said as he waved us towards the door. “I have information on your son, but let’s get out of here.”

  Madge whipped her head around. “Who the hell are you?”

  “Nobody you need to concern yourself with,” I said.

  We all started for the door. I couldn’t wait to get out of there into the cool brisk air. But unfortunately we were interrupted.

  “I don’t know what this man thinks he knows about your son Trixie, but I know exactly what became of him.”

  Trixie stopped. In my mind I was screaming for her to keep going. To get away from this retched creature before anymore of her despicable behavior could rub off on any of us. But she didn’t.

  “Trixie, you don’t have to stay here and listen to her. I have the information you need,” Mr. Strickland pleaded.

  Trixie turned slowly towards Madge, realization sinking in. “You took him didn’t you?”

  An awful grin spread across Madge’s face. “Of course I did. I wanted a son and since I was the administrator I had my pick.”

  Stormi’s hand rose to her mouth and Paige’s face sank. I have no idea how I must have looked, but inside my stomach was in turmoil. Maybe I was wrong. I’d told Stormi and Paige earlier that I would want to know what happened to my child, even if it was bad. Now I wasn’t so sure. This news could cripple Trixie.

  I looked over at Abby. Her head was down and she was looking at the floor. She wasn’t rebutting the news and neither was Mr. Strickland. I knew it was true.

  Red fire burned in Trixie’s cheeks. “How dare you take my child. He was supposed to go to a two parent family. Not to some creature like you.”

  Madge continued to smile that evil grin. “But he did. And as soon as he could understand I told him how his birth mother didn’t want anything to do with him. That she was a selfish woman who had money, unlike the other girls, but was too greedy to want to share it with her baby. And I told him how lucky he was that I adopted him.”

  “Then it’s high time he learned the truth you old crow!” I knew Stormi would get a jab in before we left.

  Madge straightened in her wheelchair. “You can’t…he’s dead.”

  “No he’s not,” Mr. Strickland interjected before we even had time to react to Madge’s last statement.

  “And how the hell would you know?” Madge spouted to Mr. Strickland.

  “I’m a private investigator who’s been on the phone back here locating Trixie’s son.”

  “You mean my son!”

  Mr. Strickland walked towards Madge. “No, not your son. He was never your son. Yes you took him from the unwed girl’s home, but you never raised him. A baby was too much for you to handle so you handed him off to your niece and her husband.”

  Madge turned away from him. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  Mr. Strickland turned to Trixie. “It’s true. She did take the baby as I’m sure Abby will confirm.”

  Abby nodded her head, her face full of anguish. “I didn’t want to tell you Trixie, knowing how we all felt about her. I just thought it better you never found out.”

  “So you didn’t know that she gave the baby to her niece?” Mr. Strickland asked.

  Abby shook her head. “No…I quit not long after Trixie left. When I learned that Madge took the baby I couldn’t take it anymore, so I moved to Atlanta and took a nursing job at one of the hospitals.”

  “I wish you people would quit calling me Madge!”

  “Hush, we’ve heard enough from you,” Paige shot back.

  “Listen Missy, no one tells me what to do…least of all anyone who would call Trixie a friend.”

  I’ve seen Stormi blow, but never Paige. Paige was level headed and never got too out of sorts, but then she’d never met Margaret Kreinhagen. This woman would test the Pope’s patience. Of course when Paige erupted it was more of a controlled explosion.

  Paige walked over to Madge. “I’m not one of those innocent young girls you loved to spew your hatred to. We’re grown women and we don’t cower to the likes of you. You may think you still have power over people, but you don’t. Your reign of terror ended a long time ago. Now you’re just a bitter old woman with no friends who only has herself to thank for it.”

  Madge’s eyes became slits. “You think I don’t like my life the way it is? Well you’re mistaken. I can’t stand people like you who think they’re better than anyone else.”

  “Forget it, “Stormi piped in. “Don’t try and reason with an unreasonable person.”

  But Paige wasn’t finished. “I pity you. You had the chance to form relationships with these young girls but instead you choose to belittle them. They were already frightened and you decided to make it worse. I don’t know how you can justify it in your mind and someday you will answer for it. Or perhaps you already are.”

  With that Paige turned around and we all walked out the door leaving Madge to ponder Paige’s last words. It’s difficult to relay, but I felt as if I’d witnessed hate that day in the purest form. It was ugly and it sucked the air out of the room. As we walked out of the nursing home facility I welcomed the crisp fall air as it touched my skin. The atmosphere inside had been suffocating and it felt like I could finally breathe again.

  Mr. Strickland guided us to the parking lot and away from the building. Trixie had Abby by the arm. She wanted her to hear this news as well. We decided to go back to the diner where we had lunch so Mr. Strickland could explain everything to us.

  It seems Mr. Strickland discovered through his investigation of the unwed girl’s home that Madge had taken one of the babies. It wasn’t a big secret since Abby knew, so likely most of the people working there knew she did as well and that it was Trixie’s child. No one reported her because they were afraid of losing their jobs or simply frightened of Madge. While she was vile to the girls and employees, she was actually quite influential in the small town. She had many connections, including the mayor’s office, so her power was well known. No one wanted to mess with that.

  Fortunately for Trixie’s son, she gave him to her niece and her husband to raise after six months. The niece and her husband were in their thirties and couldn’t have children, but they also couldn’t afford to adopt one. Madge was looking to get rid of the baby so it worked out.
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  Over the next week after our awful meeting with Madge, Mr. Strickland was able to locate the niece. He didn’t approach her, but through his sources discovered that her husband passed away 10 years ago. He also learned that her son went to college and became a doctor….a heart specialist. The son, whose name was William Grant, married his college sweetheart, Miss Julie Temple. They remain married to this day with three children of their own, two girls who are in college and one boy in high school.

  These sources also told Mr. Strickland that William never mentioned being adopted. So either he was never told or he simply didn’t want to share the information. Mr. Strickland asked Trixie if she’d like to arrange a meeting but she declined. She met me and Paige early one morning to explain her decision. Stormi was running late but told us to carry on and she’d be there as soon as possible. Paige and Trixie sat on bar stools in the back as I worked on my new ice cream cookie sandwiches. Winchester watched as I worked, waiting for a crumb to tumble on the floor so he could snatch it up.

  “I’m very content with the information I have about my son,” Trixie said.

  “So you don’t want to meet him or tell him you’re his mother?” Paige asked.

  “No…it would be selfish of me to intrude in his life at this point. Just knowing he is a fine man with a wife and a family is more than good news. Of course it would have been nice to meet him and his wife, and my grandchildren, but I don’t feel as though I’ve earned that right. I wasn’t there for him when he took his first step or dried his tears on his first day of school. I didn’t help him with his homework or guide him towards the exceptional man he’s become. His parents did that and from what Gabe said, they were good people. That’s what I wanted for him, to grow up in a home full of love and with the means to provide for him, and that’s exactly what he had.”

  I finished my work and sat down on the stool opposite Trixie.

  “It must be a relief to know that he grew up in a home full of love and not with Madge.”

  Trixie raised her hand. “Thank God! Any child raised by her would have serious problems. Luckily he was too young at six months to have any of her wicked ways settle into his soul. I’m so grateful though that she did relinquish him to her niece. I know she didn’t do it out of the goodness of her heart because she doesn’t have any in her, but I’m thankful all the same.”

  Trixie seemed at peace with the knowledge she gained from this journey and that was enough for her. “If there ever comes a time that he searches for me, I will be accepting. But it has to be his choice this time not mine. I made my choice a long time ago. Not the one I really wanted to make, but at the time the only one I felt right for my child. Mr. Strickland has put my name on a registry of sorts, that should my son ever want to find his birth mother, there won’t be any complications.”

  Paige patted Trixie’s hand. “That sounds wonderful.”

  We were happy for Trixie that things ended as they did. It was a tough road, full of painful memories, but the light at the end was worth the ride.

  Suddenly we heard a commotion outside the back door. It could only be Stormi arriving.

  The door flew open and Stormi stepped inside, closing the door only half way and bellowing towards the nearby walnut tree situated in the yard behind my store.

  “Quit tossing your nuts at me you little red devil!”

  Paige stood up from the bar stool. “What on earth are you yelling at?”

  We could hear chattering coming from the tree.

  Stormi turned to look at us. “Me and that squirrel are going to have words. He keeps giving me the verbal equivalent of a smack down every time I come to work. And today he threw a nut at me!” Stormi continued to stare daggers at the squirrel perched high in the tree.

  Paige shook her head. “So we’re quarrelling with squirrels now.”

  Stormi turned around to look at Paige, exasperation on her face. “Not squirrels….a squirrel.”

  Paige looked at Stormi like she had two heads while Trixie and I chuckled.

  “See this is why I love hanging with your girls,” Trixie said. “There’s never a dull moment.”

  “Oh, Trix, it’s going to get crazier,” Stormi said continuing to eye her nemesis. “Yeah, you can shake that tail all you want sister.”

  “Are we still talking to the squirrel?” Paige asked.

  Without turning her back on the squirrel Stormi said, “Of course…Yeah I see you eyeing me. Come down here and say that to my face. I‘ll tan your skinny hind end.”

  Paige looked exasperated. “Stormi close that door and stop talking to the squirrel. People will think you’re loco.”

  Stormi closed the door and looked at us. “Oh I’m going to get crazier. Greg and I set a date for the wedding. And my mother is coming to help. Lord help us all!”

  Indeed. Stormi was only a mini me of her mother. The grand champion of all crazy mothers was Brandon and Stormi’s. She could steamroll through a crowd and leave bodies in her wake. No wonder Stormi was in such a hissy fit.

  Stormi laid her purse on the back table and sat down on one of the bar stools. “Hold on tight girls…it’s going to be a bumpy ride.”

  Thanks for reading!

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  You can read my books for free with Kindle Unlimited. These books are all from the Caesars Creek Mystery Series.

  A Frozen Scoop of Murder (Caesars Creek Mystery Series Book One)

  Death by Chocolate Sundae (Caesars Creek Mystery Series Book Two)

  Soft Serve Secrets (Caesars Creek Mystery Series Book Three)

  Ice Cream You Scream (Caesars Creek Mystery Series Book Four)

  Double Dip Dilemma (Caesars Creek Mystery Series Book Five)